One Year War
Snapshots from the Front

By Nick Davis

Smashwords Edition
Published by Nick Davis at Smashwords
Story Copyright 2010 Nick Davis

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Over the hill and far away...

The One Year War
Snap Shots From The Front

This is a book of fan fiction set in the popular Gundam universe during the 79 Universal Century time period when the Zeon war machine declared war on the Earth Federation, and kicked off the conflict known as the One Year War.
It’s during this time period the genre busting Mobile Suit Gundam Anime series is set in. This revolutionary new series created by renowned animator Yoshiyuki Tomino, aired in Japan in 1979. What made this series ground breaking was it took the first step away from the ‘Super Robot’ animations of the time, and added a gritty realism to the shows stories. 

The show primary narrative revolved around the mobile suits and their pilots fighting in a war, in which destruction and dehumanization was inherent on both sides. Each faction had their own heroes and villains, all of which had their own unique motivations, failings and virtues. It introduced shades of grey, where even the primary heroic protagonist would at times be the villain.

The stories in the One Year War – Snapshots from the Front are all self-contained. Each one of these Snapshots zeros in on one of the many conflicts that covered the Earth Sphere during the One Year War. From the cold reaches of space, to the last desperate actions under took by the Zeon forces as they started to lose. Each piece brings the battle from the perspective of those who fought in them. It ain’t pretty… But war never is… Please read on…

Valkyrie Flight
October 5th, UC0079 – 
One day to Odessa
Near Solomon - outer reaches

Tina Harding glanced down at the auxiliary monitor on her cockpit control array. It showed a small icon representing her Zaku F-Type dead center on the screen and slowly rotated a vector-graphic sphere around the mobile suit. Three small triangles with identification tags appeared near her suit to mark the position of her wingman and the other two pilots of her wing. Further along the line of flight a large glowing orb of a Zanzibar engine glow remained tantalizingly distant.

She smiled, barely feeling the added pressure of her helmets padding against the corners of her mouth. We'll be home soon enough. Back aboard the Zabi and off to another sector. I should have known joining an honor guard would mean spending most of my time doing ceremonial things, but I didn't expect extended tours of duty guarding the Defense Minister as he toured the frontlines around the earth sphere.

Nikkita Hanssen's voice called to her through the speakers built into her helmets. "I've got nothing unusual, Captain."

Tina turned her head to the right and saw Nikkita's Zaku pulled parallel to her own suit and keyed her radio. "Roger that Valkyrie Two. I'm clear. What about you, Adam?"
"Clear as day after a weekend off," laughed Adam.
"Valkyrie Four reports no trouble. He's been watching our six. No one has crept up on us".
"Roger three." Tina's hands danced across the suits keyboard, simultaneously opening a comm-laser to the Zabi, while updating her own scanners from the home ships data. "Valkyrie Flight reporting all clear."
"Roger, Valkyrie Leader. You should be home in time for supper." The male flight controller lowered his voice. "The food's not going to anything like the meal I had two night ago at Solomon, Tina. You should have accepted my invitation.
Nikkita cut into the line before Tina could answer. "Lieutenant Callum, would you mind sticking to business? We are in a hostile theatre of operations."

Tina heard Callum's acknowledgement of Nikkita's rebuke and the radio went dead. She thanked Nikkita silently, but the all-too-familiar feelings of anger and regret began to boil up within her again. She fought to keep her mind wandering off on these unhappy tangents. You made your decision and that is that. You decided to decline Peter's offer and sign on with this company because that made the most sense. You couldn't stay on Side three that's for certain.
A red light flared on her control panel, and she punched it automatically. As though reading Tina's mind, Nikkita spoke with her friend over the private frequency they shared. "Tina, you can't keep kicking yourself, because it's not your fault. What happens happens."

Tina nodded and glanced over to Nikkita's Zaku, "I know your right Nik, even if I had signed with his company I wouldn't have been picked for Commander Char's Special Forces. I was only flying Gattles then. Peter's Zaku unit didn't have fighter cover, so I would not have been there to stop the White Devil from killing him."
"That's more like it." A mixture of relief and exasperation echoed through Nikkita's voice.

Tina glanced again at the sensor scan from the Zabi, but it remained clear. Throughout this 'public relations' tour, she had been hoping the White Devil that killed Peter would stage an attack so she could get a shot at revenge. That's stupid, Just the sort of thinking that could get me killed.
Tina keyed her comm, "Thanks, Nik I'm back when we hit the Zabi, remind me to give Callum a lesson in the definition of the word no."
"Roger"

In that instant Tina saw something new appear on the scanner screen. Four small red triangles appeared at the outer edge of the homeship's scan. Her combat computer brought the secondary monitor up and started flashing known silhouettes that matched the incoming data, she punched the screen when no data came up and the computer couldn't make a final decision.

Tina cut her scanner feed from the Zabi and computer shifted back to her own sensors. It cut down the range of the scan, but gave her combat capability which, all of a sudden seemed a good thing. She keyed her comm to the homeship's control frequency, but already there was a build up of minosky particles and static laced the line. Conscious that there were facing a new type of threat she began to feed her Wings tactical channel into the feed.

"Valkyrie Flight here Zabi. We have four UFO's on the screen." She looked up at the monitor again. "They're coming in on a vector that might have looked like our heat shadows, but I've got them on my instruments. Please confirm."

Tina increased her vector thrust on the right side of her suit, moving it to the left and away from Nikkita's Zaku. She watched as one of the four red triangles following her flight aped her maneuver.

Callum's voice answered Tina's call, but gone was the cockiness of their earlier communication. "Ah, roger, Valflight. We're getting minosky jamming now."
"Roger, Zabi. Do we engage the people on our tails? I have them about a hundred kilometers behind us."
"Negative Valflight, we are clear to Solomon. Just watch them."
Callum's words came slowly, with pauses between them that told Tina the controller was getting lots of input from sources other than hers. She glanced at the auxiliary monitor, the four UFO could be clearly be seen as some type of Mobile Suit split formation and pick up speed. Here they come!
"Be advised, Zabi we are under attack and moving to engage. Valkyrie Two form up on me. Three and four hang together and take the pair at 256 degrees and closing. “Luck.”
"Skill," countered Adam. 

Tina kicked her thrusters in and vectored their output to pull her through a tight turn that stood her Zaku on its left arm. While in space she didn't have to worry about friction or gravity, but inertia still affected her and her suit. Her flight suit pressurized to prevent blood from draining from her head as she pulled four gees coming around, but she knew even the suit would not keep her from blacking out is she maneuvered too quickly. 

Set on her new course - racing back through space she had just patrolled - Tina brought her combat systems up. The computer drew a picture of her Zaku F-Type on her secondary monitor and her 120mm illuminated as it came online. A red crosshair came up on her view screens and tracked her joystick movements as she quickly tested the play in her suit limbs. Keep the crosshairs on the target, in space or on the sensor display and poof it’s gone.

Tina's computer still flickered as it tried to decide how to display the incoming suits from its visual data; she and Nikkita were hurtling toward suits that resembled the briefings on the Federations White Devil, which was disturbing. If it was the fabled Feddie suit it was reported it had superior weapons, armor and handling capabilities that would make it an elusive dangerous enemy. If I can get into its aft-arc, it's vulnerable. 

"Is your computer schizing out on you?" Nikkita asked, apparently having the same problem with hers. 
Tina tried to answer confidently. "Yes, something has definitely addled its little silicon brain." She felt a shiver course up her spine as she recalled her earlier thoughts. 

Before she could say anything to Nikkita lights blazed to life on her command console. Then came the keening alarm resounding through her cockpit. "I've got a hostile lock on me! Juke left high! Tina shouted. 

She sideslipped her Zaku right, which rammed her shoulder into the left side of her cockpit. That dropped her suit directly beneath Nikkita's Zaku, with only twenty-five meters between them. Tina boosted thrust to her right verneir. The Zaku rocketed off to the left, streaking up beyond where Nikkita's suit had been while Nikkita executed a similar move that took her high and to Tina's right. 

The warning lights died. Good, mixing our silhouettes, then ripping them apart confused them. She punched her right fist again the targeting computer. Why the hell did they get lock on me; they are still blips on my viewscreen? This is not the time for my visual computer to go down on me. 

She glanced at the auxiliary monitor as it still tried to come up with an image of her foe; she dragged the crosshair up over the enlarging blips on view screen. Instead of getting a target lock she got a running meter clicking off the distance separating her target from her guns effective range. What? They had lock on me at twice the effective range. What the hell are these suits?

She opened her Comm-laser, trying to ignore the increasing static from the flooding minosky particles. "Valkyrie Three, bogies might have advanced target capability. Advice caution." 
Despite the building static she could hear the lock sirens blaring through Adam's reply. "Roger, kinda busy here Val One." His voice slurred its way through the next sentence as he put his Zaku through a high-gee maneuver to shake the lock. "No dammit… Arrgghh!" 

A sizzling pop snapped through the radio speakers. Before Tina could find what had happened to Adam, the computer gave her lock onto her target. Her right finger hit the trigger beneath it, and the 120mm spat out a score of shots, which streaked away until they seemed little more than stars in the distance, then a series of explosions cast light into the void. Hit! 

She knew better than hope one volley from her 120mm had destroyed her enemy, and she gained confirmation of that fact as both suits shot past each other. Instantly, her computer stopped trying to match profiles and instead filled her auxiliary monitor with a digitized visual representing the Mobile suit she faced. 

The suit had definitely been built along the lines of the White Devil she had seen in briefings, the rectangle body was colored red and it was long limbed and more humanoid than her Zaku. She quickly dismissed it as the Feddies White Devil as it was missing the distinctive V fins on its domed head, where she could pick out the Vulcan ports. In its right arm it held a weapon that she hoped would be a regular machine gun like hers, in its left the suit held a large shield which more than covered half her adversaries suit, which did not please her at all. 
What did please her was the ruined armor on the Mobile suits right shoulder, and the gaping, fire-blackened hole in its upper right chest. Good! In a tight fight that will be to my advantage, which is good because its performance so far suggests it’s more powerful than my suit. 

Tina kicked her Zaku around in a split-S sending it up and off to the right and then rolling the suit back around, its head now pointed one-hundred-eighty degrees from where it had just been. She tried to bring her 120mm around for another shot, but the inertia dragged at her weapon. She watched as enemy pulled a similar move as hers, sending both suits straight at each other. Tina, seeing that the abbreviated range of battle would give her superior adversaries targeting system the advantage, let the Zaku continue its slide to the right. The she brought her suit over and around in a broad barrel roll that looped her around her enemy's line of attack. 

Fighting sudden wooziness that came over from the high-gees she readied her 120mm, as her opponent brought his suit around sharply and rolled into an Immelmann. Fancy flying, but real risky. You gotta be woozy from the gees you've just pulled. She looked at her auxiliary monitor of the suit behind her, waiting for her tracker to bring the range down again. Her crosshairs pulsed confirming she was back in range, she feathered her right booster flicking her suit another one-hundred-eighty degrees, a grimace painted her face as her fightsuit tightened around her and she slammed into the left side of her seat. Here's where you earn your pay. 

Her 120mm spewed hot death towards her target, hitting the suit just as it completed its roll. The explosions marched in succession up the lower right leg of suit and into the cockpit area. Tina's combat computer updated the picture on her auxiliary monitor; her enemy had holes ripped in its armor and dents along its chest cockpit. 

The pilot reacted to the attack after only a moment's hesitation. During that moment, the suit continued its roll, so the pilot increased thrust to bring the suit down and to the right. Tina jerked her suit onto its left shoulder, and then feathered her pitch controls to bring up the head. The maneuver slammed her down into her seat and ground her teeth together, but she hung with it. Boosting the thrust from the right vernier she let the Zaku spin back down diving like a hawk on its prey. 

Shimmering balls of light danced before her eyes as she brought the Zaku's head up. My dive arc is steeper than his. Gotta come up to target…Tina pressed her left foot down, vectoring more thrust to that vernier, which brought the left side of the suit up and around fifteen degrees. Hold it! Hold it! Her Zaku swung in behind the enemy suit as though being towed on a string. Now!

Tina fired at the enemy suit, and in turn, took damage from the adversary's gun as he twisted his suit on its horizontal axis and fired back at her. The series of shells from its guns confirmed Tina's suspicions that she was facing a machine gun as the explosive shells stitched a blackened line through the armor on right side of her Zaku's body. Tina's secondary monitor flashed as it updated her suits status, but no warning lights or sirens sounded. A clean bill of health

Her 120mm poured hot-death into the enemy suit, sweeping over its heavy shield and hitting the suits right front vernier ports. Tina watched as the shells kinetic force fused the port shut and almost instantly bounced the enemy suit to the left. Another quick burst followed her first, but proved ineffective doing little more than melting the insignia on the enemies suits shield. 

Tina rode her Zaku over to the left, relentlessly tracking the enemy. With that vernier port gone, that pilot can't turn easily turn left. I got him!

Before she could lock her weapon onto target for another savage assault, the piercing wail of warning alarms of weapons lock filled her cockpit. She stomped down with both feet, engaging the over thrusters and hurtling her suit forwards. Smashed back into her seat, she overshot her intended target and tried to pull another roll to cut out of her current vector. Just as the Zaku began to react, explosive shots wracked her suit 

One blasted into the surface of her shoulder shield, the explosion rocked her suit and blew chunks of armor from the shields surface, but the inertial reaction to the blast actually helped Tina bring the suit into its intended maneuver. The other shots slammed into the vernier pack on her suits back. The computer dropped her power output by 12 percent and flashed two small icons against the Zaku's outline on the secondary monitor as sparks filled Tina's cockpit. 
A wave of heat washed into her cockpit to tell her what the computer silently displayed. Great, I lose speed and my reactor shielding has taken damage. Now this baby is slowly going to roast and poison me. Well, I won't have to worry about that if this new attacker gets another lock on me.

"Nik, where are you?" 
"On him, Cap. Break left. Three, two, one… Hits away!!!" 

Tina rolled her suit to the left as Nikkita's Zaku shot through the area she had just left. As her suit corkscrewed through space, Tina saw a series of explosions on the suit Nik had been chasing. Righting her Zaku, Tina radioed a quick congratulation to her wingmate, then looked at her viewscreen and located her quarry just behind her. Easing back on the thrust, she launched a cracker into her rear arc at him. 

The resulting explosion and flash of the crackers flare forced the enemy pilot further left in his wild attempt to elude it. That pulled him even with Tina only thirty meters off her left side. The enemy pilot made his suit toss her salute then began to pull up. Of all the… salute this!

The enemy suit whipped his suit on its right side, covering halve its body with its shield, and then attempted to vector thrust through its chest vernier ports to pull away. Tina smiled cruelly as the pilot realized that the right vernier port was wielded shut just as the thrust from the left port flipped his suit over onto its unprotected right. 
Tina's targeting system locked onto the suit and the dot flashed in her crosshairs. Without thinking, Tina triggered her 120mm onto full-auto, armor shedding at the explosive shells caress, and half-melted vector louvers spun away amid clouds of ionized thrust. The hellish fire of her gun stabbed up into the body of the enemy suit, but at first Tina could not tell if the shells had done any. 
Almost as if her attack had not taken place, the enemy suits body continued to roll out of the line of fire. The unbridled thrust pouring through the left forward port caused stress fractures along the suits body, and warped metal out of shape. As the rear vernier pack continued to push the suit forward, the chest vernier continued to push up and around, the suit began to bend at its waist, then the upper body snapped off at the waist. The the legs slammed into the torso, crushing the cockpit like an eggshell, then spun off in a ball of twisted metal and fused armor. 

"Val Two, this is Val One. I'm free. Where are you?" Tina looked anxiously at her visual displays. It still registered two enemy suits and three friendlies, including herself, but the added heat pouring over her cockpit from her damaged reactor was starting to fry the circuits that painted the identifier tags on the scanner icons.
"Who did we lose?" 

Another blip winked out of existence before Nikkita answered. "Sorry, Cap. Needed to concentrate. I have minor damage to a vernier thrust, but I'll survive." 
"Valkyrie Four reporting, my target is breaking off." Karl Nunan's voice carried no emotion with it. "Adam lost it in the first exchange. He took damage to the cockpit and was in and out thereafter. He did box one in for me and I got him." 
Tina felt a lump rise in her throat. "Damn! He was a good man. How are you doing?" 
"I'm leaking propellant, but I should be able to coast to the Zabi. I've already plotted my return vector. If I can't land in the bay, I'll punch out. I can't raise the ship, so I'd appreciate it if you'd radio and have a rescue team standing by." 
"Roger, good luck Karl." Tina looked down at the frozen image of the enemy mobile suit she just faced on her secondary monitor. "Do you think the Feddies have mobile suits now?" 

Giddy with having survived, Nikkita called out, "Does it matter? They die just the same. Whoever they are, we fight them just like we fight everyone else."
Tina felt her mouth go dry. Federation Pilots in new mobile suits? I think we're in for the fight of our lives…

First Contact
October 6th, UC0079 – 
Odessa Day Zero
North America - Utah

Major Soren bit off another chunk of the dark brown ration bar, which tasted to him like old sweat, having picked up the ambiance of his Gouf's cockpit: the suit had run too long without a system flush. Stifling a yawn, he decided he had been too long without a something else as well: a good night's sleep. Ah, the joys of life in the field.
If war's only price were the discomforts, he would gladly pay it to be free of the endless political intrigues of the Zabi court. Years of having to play court games had improved his ability, but could not make him like it any better. He was relieved to be in command of a line unit and pleased that the unit was the Second Zeon Mobile Dragoons. Even with its death and tactical deception, war was cleaner than court intrigue. It left a man feeling less soiled.

There had been too much of the bad side of war, too much death and pain and suffering, here in Odessa. Contrary to intelligence estimates, the Fed's were massing for an all out assault. Their conventional regiments had been in prepared positions, ready for the Zeon probes. The newly deployed Federation Mobile Suits had so far only put in a brief appearance, striking to blunt any Zeon assaults and then disappearing. In spite of that the fighting was ferocious, although each day gained feed the Zeon war machine more raw resources from the strip mines.
Word had come in from scouts in the western foothills that the Fed's were finally stirring. Wanting to see for himself, Soren had set out in his damage Gouf, feeling secure enough twenty klicks behind the lines to travel without an escort. That sense of security faltered when he spotted a tank crawling over the crest of the hill in front of him. The armored vehicle was not emitting any IFF signal that the Gouf could read.

He had not had his 35mm hand cannon brought up to full load and his suits reactor, and heat rod was still malfunctioning from the hits he took in last week's battle. The last thing he wanted right now was a fight. As a precaution, he armed his heat saber and opened the ammo feed to the hand cannon that made up the Gouf's left forearm. Optimistically, he kept the suit on its heading. If the tank was a friendly, it crew would recognize the weathered Zeon symbol in the Gouf's sandy colored chest. If not, at least he wouldn't be a sitting target.

"Shit," he cursed aloud when he spotted the puff of white smoke from the tanks main gun.
He cut right, snapping off a shot from hand cannon as he charged. The tank's shot furrowed the ground between his suit's feet. Soren leaned onto the accelerator, jolting with the rough ride over the broken ground. He continued his harassment fire as he closed with the tank. Only two bursts from the Fed's cannon scored, and they did no more than flake off some of the Gouf's armor plating from its lower left leg.

At seventy meters, Soren triggered his hand cannon at full auto, but the Gouf's violent motion threw off his aim. The hillside cratered around the tank. Belated, it began to move again. Quickly tapping a correction into his targeting system Soren fired again. The high-velocity shells ripped into the tank as it churned at the already-torn ground, seeking purchase for a turn. The armor-piercers cut through the tank's armor plating as though it went through lacquered wood. Chunks scattered on impact, and a second later the whole vehicle burst in an eye-searing explosion.

The Major had no time to congratulate himself. A squadron of Type 61 Tanks crested the hill. "No more point in keeping it quiet." he told himself.
"Soren to Vegas Base, hostiles in sector Tango-Charlie seven-three six. Need support."

Soren opened fire on the tanks. Without waiting to see the results he backed away. A gap in the hill afforded him a glimpse of an entire armored column moving up the reverse of the slope toward his position. He repeated his call, and this time he got a response.

"Pull back, Major." The cool female voice of the base comm officer advised. "Too hot. Vegas, they'll swarm me. I've got a whole company here."
There was a brief delay. "Understood, Major. We have a team on its way up to the front. They're vectoring in on your position. If your luck holds, Major they will be with you in ten."

"You better be right Vegas, if these Fed's get through me, they'll be in your laps in thirty."
"Understood, Major, Good luck."

For the next ten minutes the Major's battle against the Federation Company was a seesaw affair - him trying to stay out of the line of fire; them trying to get as many vehicles as possible in position to fire on him. The Fed's lost no time in adopting tactics that kept them out of range of his hand cannon as much as possible. Meanwhile, the temperature in the Gouf's reactor rose, forcing Soren to fight his machine.

Just as he was giving up hope of timely rescue, the shrill passage of 120mm shells announced the arrival of the Zeon mobile suit team. The Type 61 Soren had just crippled shuddered under the impact of the shells. Black smoke boiled through the gaps the shells tore into its armor. As soon as he saw the survivors of the crew bail out, Soren turned his attention to new arrivals.
The Zeon mobile suit team, a pair of Zaku II's, a Zaku, and a Gouf stormed across the rolling hills. Their sudden, reckless assault stunned the Fed's. The lead Type 61's bursting into fireballs under their concentrated fire.

The 35mm last cassette round clicked empty as Soren bracketed the nearest tank with a burst of fire. The turret burst into flame as the twin guns rocked free of its shattered mount to rattle down the hill's slope. Its drive wheels mangled and treads shredded the tank ground to a halt. The odds had swiftly changed.

Outclassed by the newly arrived Suit's, the Fed's withdrew, Soren forbade pursuit. Feeling nervous about the columns unheralded arrival; he wanted the team nearby. "Take five", he called to his rescuers. "We're heading back to Vegas base as soon as I get this warhorses' reactor to calm down."

"Tough fight, Major?" asked one of the Pilots. Soren comm board identified the signaler as Sergeant Sally Cantrell, the Zaku pilot.
"I wouldn't want to make this sort of thing a habit," Soren allowed. "I'm bushed".
"Welcome to the club, Major." Lieutenant Link's intonation was jovial, but Soren sensed a bitter undertone. "If they're working us this hard with conventional's, what'll they do when they finally cut loose their suits?"
"We're about to find out." Cantrell's Zaku poked its forearm towards the north.

Soren followed the line; Four Federation suits were striding over the low ridge, spreading out in formation.
"GM's," Link called out. "Gotta be, they're don't have any other suits out here. And with 90mm's they'll be easy marks."
"Oughta be" chimed in Cantrell hefting the Zaku's Bazooka onto its shoulder, "Won't be able to hurt us at this range."

Two of the Feddie suits disappeared from Sorens screen in flash of red light. Experience of space battle taught him to recognize the signature burst of a beam weapon. "Break wide!" he ordered, "Evasive!"

The Zeon suits scattered, but the surprise shots had their effect. Cantrell's Zaku went down face first with a crippled leg. Seconds later Soren breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Cantrell scramble free of her suit and back down the hill.

"I don't think these things are GM's," Link said slowly, cutting through the cursing of the team's open link.
"I think you're right," Soren agreed, "The head's different."
"This is going to be a fight," Link returned, " Well, Major your schedule just took another hit"

Soren found the Pilot's easy banter comforting, but he hoped they were not minimizing the problem. Those suits resembled the fabled Feddie White Devil and despite tagging them into his computer as GM-II's, were a rude and unsettling surprise. And the appearance of enemy suits this far behind their lines was bad news. The Federation was on the move…

First Contact Epilogue
October 8th, UC0079 – 
After Odessa Day two
North America - Utah

"Major Soren! The Feddies have breached the perimeter!"
The wail of warning sirens rose over Vegas base, as Soren ordered the security teams scrambled. Directed chaos engulfed the room as men and women hurried to perform the task they had dreaded. The Base was to be abandoned. The door clattered open as an orderly carried the first armload of datadisks and files into the night.

Soren turned to his adjutant, "Where and with how much, Jeanne?"
"North quadrant, looks like two or three Mobile suit teams, backed up by an armored company. We've got reports of Feddie suits breaking through up and down the front. At least a dozen GM's and half a dozen of those Gundams!"
"So many?" Soren and Link's team had barely escaped from a single team of these Gundam Ground types two days ago. He shook his head in disbelief.
"Where'd they all come from?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Well, intel doesn't seem to, either. If we make it out of this it'll be their heads that roll, not ours." He massaged his red-rimmed eyes with both hands. "You oversee the evac. I'm going out to make sure our rear-guard holds. See you at the Gou's"
Jeanne saluted his back as he ran for his Gouf.

The Raid
October 22th, UC0079 – 
After Odessa Day sixteen
North America – Montana

The Zaku loomed out of the blowing sand, hot death spat from its 120mm gun and 60mm demons screamed from its leg launchers. The thunder of its steps was lost in the howling wind that seemed to carry half the desert through the sky.
Half-blinded and choking on the dust, Ensign Terry Tarrant stumbled out of the path of the behemoth just barely before the Suit's massive feet demolished the work shack he had just left.
Trying to shield his face with one hand, he wrestled his sand goggles into place with the other.
His eyes stinging and watering from the abuse. Tarrant was able to discern a wall of the hut was still standing, its door slamming violently in the wind. He fought his way to the lee side and grabbed one of the filter masks still hanging undisturbed on the remains of wall.

He stopped for a moment trying to remember the layout of the base, but without much success. The airfield was already socked in when his Mobile Suit team pulled in for repairs. There had been little to see in the rising storm. He knew that the shack was somewhere south of the terminal building near where he'd parked his GM, but the confusion of the sudden Zeon attack and the raging sandstorm had disorientated him.
Flashing fire split the darkness that ruled the storm's depths. Tracer round from a heavy-caliber autocannon sought out a target finding the terminal building, adding white hot masonry chips to the raging storm.
The originator of the barrage a Zeon Magella Tank appeared briefly through the swirling sand. Tarrant watched helplessly as a pair of Federation grunts struggled to bring their missile launchers to bear, only to shredded by the Tanks 35mm cannon.

The storm whimsy shielded the Zeon's, cloaking the Magella more effectively than the two or three other shadowy shapes that clumped past the ruined shack where Tarrant crouched. He hugged the still-standing wall, knowing the crumbling masonry was no protection, he cursed his helplessness. He was in command of one of the finest Mobile suit teams in the Federation, but he was separated from his GM and out of communication of his command. Carrying only his old 45' automatic there was nothing he could do to stop the rampaging Zeon's.

The wind began to drop suddenly, heralding the passage of the storm eye over the base. Visibility improved, but in every direction, the horizon remained invisible behind the walls of airborne sand. Thick clouds still boiled overhead. In the gray twilight, Tarrant could see the appalling destruction the Zeke's had already wreaked in their sudden raid.

Caught be surprise, the Federation vehicles and the guarding GM had been destroyed where they stood. Barracks and service buildings were a shambles, many completely flattened. His back to the sheltering wall Tarrant looked across the field at the Zeon attackers.
A team of sand-colored Zaku II's stood scattered about the tarmac. Sand-encrusted lubricant oozed from their joints and dripped sizzling to the paved surface. Their weapons stood idle, as the pilots scanned the base, only the light chatters of anti-personnel's going off whenever any Federation troops gutsy enough courage to face the interlopers.

Tarrant recognized the tight beam of communication laser and heard an answering call from the northeast of the base; looking over the upper edge of the wall he saw a pair of olive Magella's crash through the hanger area, collapsing walls as if they were cardboard buildings.
The two Tanks joined the trio of Zaku's already gathered on the runway. The Zeke's sorted themselves out into a loose wedge, with one of the Zaku's at its head and the two Magella's on the outer edge. Gathering speed the hulking machines began to pound down the runway.
Deep throated autocannons, and the pitched whine of the 120mm vied with each other as the Zekes' raced along. Their targets the grounded and tarped over Jet Core Boosters erupted into flames. The oily black smoke that rose from their blasted remains was shredded and dispersed by the winds still raging high above the base. The Zeon attackers continued on when they reached the edge of the runway, weapons silent now. The Zeke's were shadows in the sand, becoming progressively more obscure until they disappeared into the storms embrace.
Tarrant was standing along on the runway amid the burning wrecks when his two-team mates arrived in their GM's.
"Where are they, Sir?"
"Gone. Again."

Tarrant shook his head and started to walk back towards what was left of the hangers, it would be no use trying to pursue them. Even during the first week of the Federation offensive the damned Zeke's had somehow been able to strike and vanish almost with impunity. Now under the cover of the storm, they would be more elusive than ever…

Objective 42
October 30th, UC0079 –
Odessa Day twenty six
North America - Ohio

"Shadow One to Tango Base, do you read?'
Federation Lieutenant Lance Walker waited patiently for a reply, hoping that his reactors minosky particles weren't causing any problems. There seemed no need for worry; no one in his Mobile Suit team had seen a Zeon unit all morning. But that wasn't surprising. The High Command strategy of using Gunperry's to overleap Mobile Suit Teams over the Zeon Ohio lines seemed to be working. His mission to capture Objective 42, a Zeon supply and communication center seemed to be going like clockwork.

Only light resistance was expected at this stage, especially with the main force attacking the Zeon defensive lines, and so far the High Command was proved right. The journey in via Gunperry had gone unopposed: the night drop seemed to have caught the Zeke's sleeping. The Fourth Air arm had found few defenders in their path as they escorted the transports in. His Mobile Suit team made their drop hard and fast scattering the few Zeon conventional units in this area. So far it had been a textbook assault.
Now bereft of air cover Walkers natural caution came to the fore and he was beginning to get worried about things too well. Walker keyed open the circuit to his team. "Let's move up, people. Keep your sensors out. We're getting near target.

As the acknowledgements came in, Walker depressed the foot pedal, throttling his GM to a fast trot; Twenty meters to the left Angela's new GM Cannon matched his pace. Walker knew that his machine was bobbing around as much as hers, but the stabilized picture transmitted to his cockpit screens was steady, undisturbed by the motion of his suit.

The other two Suits in his team were a pair of GM Ground Types that made his four months off production line E-Type look positively old; both suits were considerably faster than their partners were. The Federation suits were in the mottled greens and browns mandated for Ohio plains. Only the bright foxtails of Burensky's machine sported, allowed Walker to distinguish it visually from McDonnell's suit.

In ten minutes, they had covered almost as many kilometers. The Team was still thirty klicks out from Objective 42 when Walker transmitted the code for a halt. Trusting his command to scan the area, he tried again to contact Tango Base. Again, he got no response.
"Listen up, people. I still can't raise the base."
"Let's go in" Angela urged.
"It's to quiet," cautioned McDonnell. "We should've seen some Zeke troops by now."
"Don't overload your tubes, Lance. You Cadets spook too easy. The Zeke's are more scared of us than you are of them."
"Ease off, Sergeant Angela. I'm sure you were nervous your first time out, too."
"Come on Lieutenant," Angela griped. "I was on the line at the Battle of Salt Lake fresh out of academy, now that was hot! All we had then were Tanks and those Zeke's came straight at us. Hell, we lost half a company before we even knew they were on top of us."
"Save the war stories, Angela," Burensky cut in. "If you were so hot, you wouldn't still be a Sergeant."
"I'm not still a Sergeant, Newboy. I'm again a Sergeant. And it's not because of anything I did in the field, unless if was the green-bottomed newboy I skinned for calling me a liar."

Walker shook his head, bemused by his Team's banter. He considered contacting Tango Base again, but figured that if they hadn't answered two minutes ago, they wouldn't answer now. It was time to make a command decision. "All right. Cool the chatter. We've got a schedule to keep, so we're going in."
"Good choice, Lieutenant."

Angela's GM Cannon stalked ahead of Walkers old GM, its long barreled cannon swung from side to side, the bale light of its tracking system searching for prey. Walker could see the Cannons right arm-twitch, and wondered if that was the famous battle itch that Angela was famous for. Cross-streets gave Walker glimpses of the GM Ground Types prowling a parallel course through Objective 42. There were few signs of life. The Zeon Troops stationed here must have gone to ground; on occasion he caught a few fleeting shadows in side alleys. None wore the greens of Zeke Soldiers.

Without warning, a Zaku in dark gray splinter camouflage suddenly burst through a brick wall a hundred meters ahead. Its body swiveled revealing a stump for a left arm, as it scattered rubble stepping clear of the building that had screened it from their sensors. Its right arm was still complete and the Zaku brought its 105mm machine gun to bear, spewing shell casings as it hosed a stream of projectiles at the advancing Federation suits.
Angela fired her Suits jump jets; rising on burnt propellant to evacuate the path of the enemy suits fire. The maneuver simultaneously cleared Walker's line of fire. The Lieutenants thumb mashed down on the firing stud on his right joystick as soon as his targeting systems crosshairs slid onto the damaged Zeon machine. The 90mm in the GM's right arm bucked as it coughed out armor-piercing shells.
Chunks of steel armor blew explosively from the Zaku's barrel like body. Smoke rose from the wounds and joined the billowing clouds of brick dust in obscuring the target.
The Zeon crest on the Zaku was revealed to Walker as it shifted to bring its machine gun to bear on him. Before the Zeke could fire, Angela's suit appeared from an alley thirty meters behind it. The GM Cannon braced itself before the main cannon spat depleted uranium death. The Zaku twisted taking the shot on its shield; the kinetic force from the shell retained sufficient energy to partially melt the armor on the Zeon suits right breast and splintering the shield from its shoulder
Walker ripped another burst from his 90mm; the armor piercing slugs tore through the remaining armor of the Zaku's torso seeking its reactor heart. The Zeon suit tottered under the assault. As it canted over, the cockpit blew forward and the pilot swung clear disappearing over a rooftop. The abandoned Mobile Suit crashed to the ground, bringing its former shelter cascading down around the burning machine.
Angela raised her Suits arm in a salute before pivoting her GM Cannon back down the alley, which she had emerged. "Tally ho!"

"Keep it cautious, Angela. We don't know what they got here." Walker warned knowing it was unnecessary. Despite her lower rank, Angela had seen more combat than he had. She could handle herself. The two young Pilots in the Gundam Ground Types were his real concern. He opened the comm laser. "Burensky, McDonnell. Switch to infrared. You'll have a better chance that way to spot concealed Zekes. It'll be easier to pick out their heat signature than spot a good camo job."
They chorused acknowledgement.
"And don't push it. You run into trouble, call for help. We don't need any dead heroes."

The Federation Suits moved efficiently through Objective 42. Within ten minutes, they rousted a battered Zaku I from a trucking center. The Suit snapped off a shot from 105mm that scarred the chest armor of McDonnell's GM without causing any serious damage. The Federation team pursued, only to be ambushed by two more Zaku's. Concentrated fire from the Teams 90mm left the first Zaku a pitted hulk and the second crumpled under a shot from Angela's GM Cannon.
Over matched by the unblooded Federation Suits, the last Zaku fled the town. It, too, had been unscathed until Angela tagged it with her cannon, depleted uranium slugs tore through its left leg leaving it sprawled across the ground.

McDonnell whooped victorious on the comm laser.
"Good show, kid." Angela conceded magnanimously. "I told you that this would be easier than Salt Lake City."

Half an hour later, the mechanized infantry moved into Objective 42, right on schedule. Under the watchful guardianship of the Mobile Suits, they combed the base in a fruitless search for the supply dump they had been detailed to secure. They even failed to turn up any of the four Zeke pilots who had punched out of their doomed machines. Walker put his frustration on hold as the comm crackled with the voice of Battalion control.
"Tango One to Shadow One, report please."
"Shadow One here, where the hell have you guys been?"
"We had trouble with a suicidal Zeke. The bastard got inside the compound as impressed labor then drove a hovar truck of explosives into the comm. center. It took us a while to rig replacements."
"You want us back to guard you, Tango?" Walker jibed.
"The Major wants your report, Shadow One."
The snap in the comm officer’s voice told Walker his levity was unappreciated. He decided to play it formal. "Light opposition, nothing but damaged Zeke suits, Tango Base. Target secured, but we came up empty."
"Don't sweat it, Shadow One." The reply was in a friendly tone once more. "You'll find it out there somewhere. Just stomp any Zeke's that get in your way. Stomp them good and proper."

Tankers Tale
November 12th, UC0079 –
After Odessa Day thirty seven
North East America - Pine Creek, PA

Shells exploded overhead, startling Lieutenant Thompson making him drop down into his commander's seat, jamming his elbow against the edge of the cupola. He yelped in pain as the hard metal slammed his bone even through the thick padded joint protection of his tanker uniform.
"Move out!" he yelled into the intercom, hoping to hell that the minovsky particles didn't disrupt the signal. He was rocked violently into his chair as the driver obeyed and sent the Type 61 bouncing across the field, its landline playing out in its wake. 
"Johnson, link me to the support truck, I want to know what in hell is going on." 
"Yessir!" Without looking at his commander and ignoring the jolts of the tank moving fast the Comm busied himself with the task. 

Suddenly his Tank was filled full of the thunderous booms from the massive twin autocannons of the two other Type 61's in his command squadron drowned out Thompson's next order. He snapped open his vision periscope in time to see the second volley from his wingmens' vehicles. 
A Zaku was advancing towards his squadron firing as it came. The Type 61's were unable to score against the fast moving mobile suit. The Zeon' pilot controlling the suits firing was much more effective and 120mm shells ripped at the armor of wingman's vehicle until they tore it open and ravaged the tank's innards. Thompson shuddered as he imagined the crew's screams as the flames gouted from the wound. 
"Forward dammit! We've got to close with it" 

A sickening crunch punctuated his words. A quick glance at through the vision port told him his fears were fact. The Zaku had taken to the air, landing directly on his surviving squad mates’ tank, crushing the turret. 
Thompson let out a colorful curse as he watched the suits board feet smash into the Type 61's upper surface. Dust raised by the Mobile Suits jump jets obscuring his view of the damage left by the machines violent impact on the tank. 

The Zaku untangled itself from the wreckage of its victim as the turret of Thompsons Type 61 traversed to bring its guns to bear. The Pilot reacted swiftly, sliding past the outthrust muzzles of the linked 150mm autocannons. The Zaku turned seizing one of the barrels; it froze in place as the turrets overmatched motors burned out trying to beat the steel strength of the Mobile suit. 

Thompson stared helplessly as the Zaku reached down grabbing his tanks armored skirt tilting the Type 61 on its side. The tank's right track dug into the earth, canting the vehicle further. Thompson was thrown from his seat as the tank was rocked up and down and with a final heave upended. Seeming content to leave the machine turtled and helpless, the Zaku moved off to engage the other two tank squadrons of Thompson's command. 

"Sir," Johnson called, hanging suspended in his restraining straps, "Are you all right?" 
Thompson ached all over, but knew complaints would do nothing to enhance his image as a tough tank commander. "I'm alive," he said flatly. 
"Very good, sir," Johnson acknowledged. "You will be pleased to know the landline is still intact and I have Lieutenant Ide on it for you." 

"Great." Thompson tried to switch his helmet comm to the landline, but all he got was a hiss of static. He ripped his helmet off his head and snapped his fingers at Johnson. The Comm nodded and handed down a headset. Thompson slid the earpiece in and opened the channel.
"Thompson, forty second heavy armor." 
"Lieutenant, as soon as you secured Pine Creek, I want you to move your armor through the forest to map reference zeta-two-three. We have broken a squad of Zaku's and chased them into the forest. I have pulled my suits back to regroup and organize a net to surround the Zeke's. 

"Get your platoon in place along the ridge at zeta-two-three. I want to hammer them on the anvil of your tanks. Victory is near Lieutenant. They are demoralized and disorganized." 
"Lost them in the woods, did you?" 
"No need to get impertinent, Thompson," Ide retorted indignantly. 
The comm line hissed with static as another one of Thompsons Tanks exploded, the shattering of the tanks armor could be heard through the hull of his tank. He grimaced as he knew his comm microphone was picking up the sound. "What in hell is going on at your end?" Ide inquired. 

"Nothing much," Thompson replied sarcastically, "We're having a little visit from one of those demoralized and disorganized Zaku's you lost. There stomping my tanks into snail snot."

Ambush
November 28th, UC0079 –
After Odessa Day thirty nine
North America - Harrisburg, PA

The Zaku II shuddered under the impact of armor-piercing shells from the Federation GM's 100mm machine gun. Thiessen stomped down on the throttle, running for cover behind the gutted factory building. Red lightning from the other Federation suits beam rifle ripped the ground at the accelerating Zaku's feet.
The Federation strike team had pierced the Zeon lines and cornered him and his command team in the Harrisburg Industrial district. Bryson had transmitted a warning of the Federation arrival before cutting behind a row of storage tanks, leaving Thiessen and Wenham to face a trio of heavily armed GM's. Wenham's outclassed Zaku I had been gutted in the first rush, but she had punched out as the suit collapsed. He had seen her swing out and assumed she had landed safely. He dared not consider any other result.

Without warning, white hot tracer fire burned across his path. Thiessen twisted the Zaku II to the left, and as he did so, the origins of the shots were revealed: Bryson's Zaku Cannon. Thiessen checked his wide scan and shunted the rear camera to his auxiliary monitor. Bryson's target, one of the GM, was visible there; still reeling from the damage it had taken from the Zaku's Cannon. Spluttering fires burned in the wounded suits left belly.
Turning slightly Thiessen ripped of a burst from his 120mm machine gun. The high-velocity shells clawed through the GM's torso, shredding the armor. Secondary explosions set shards of titanium alloy; internal bracing rocketed from the wound. The GM doubled over and sat down heavily, smoke bellowing ominously from the cockpit.

The second GM rounded the corner behind Thiessen, who fired his Zaku II jump jets, hoping to escape the enemy warrior's sights before he could get a weapons lock-on. The mobile suit rose rapidly as Beam fire ionized the air beneath it. Looking for a safe landing place, Thiessen watched Bryson dodge away as the third GM catered the storage tank behind which the Zaku Cannon had sheltered. The Zeon suit fled for cover, unable or unwilling to stand against the third GM.
The proximity alarm sounded and Thiessen searched out the new threat, a fourth suit another GM emerged from behind the warehouses. Angling his flight, he tried for a landing to the GM's right, into the suits blind spot for its 100mm. The Federation saw him coming, turning as Thiessen recovered from the landing. The GM fired on full auto unleashing a full fusillade of armor piercing death. Most of the shots missed the Zaku II completely, but a burst caught the suits legs savaging the steel sheathing. Armor plates flowed, revealing further layers, shiny from partial melting.

Thiessen fired his jump jets again, trying to overleap his enemy and catch him from behind. The Feddie reacted, the 100mm tracked the flight of the Zaku, white-hot fire sought the suits vitals, but Feddie pilot must have been firing without lock on. The pilot missed what should have been an easy shot.
The Zaku II grounded a scant 10 meters behind the GM, Thiessen fired the 120mm, then closed without waiting to see the results. Fragments pattered against the Zaku as 120mm shells shattered the weaker back armor of the Federation suit. Armor vanished, exposing the machines internal superstructure. It too cratered and disappeared under the explosive fury of the shells. The GM's chest plate blew forward and right arm leaped in the air as the suits ammo storage ignited in a violent chain of explosions. The Federation machine toppled, a disjointed puppet bereft of guidance. Thiessen aborted the kick he had intended to cripple the GM's left leg.

Victory was short-lived. Thiessen's suit rocked under renewed assault by the now persistent second GM. The Feddies beam rifle gobbled the Zaku II's back armor, exposing its inner workings. The Zaku toppled forward under the violence of the attack, crashing to the ground before Thiessen could compensate.

The impact jarred him, costing him precious seconds as the GM stalked closer. The advancing suits pulverized concrete blocks under its feet as it scrambled over a wall of rubble. It swiveled its head to point in Thiessen's direction, and then lined up its Vulcan's, which spat explosive death at the downed Zaku.

Federation shells crawled across the breast of the Zaku and crashed into the torso. The cockpit rang under the pounding, pitching under the release of kinetic energy. Thiessen was tossed violently about. His left control stick ripped free, Thiessen was slammed back against the command couch stunned.

Lacking any feedback from Thiessen's control system, the Zaku II went limp, lying defenseless before the GM. Wary of a trick, the Feddie advanced cautiously. At twenty-five meters, it halted. The right arm raised and extended towards the fallen Zaku's leg. Red energy howled out of the beam rifle to caress the limb, flaying armor plates under its hellish energy. A slight pause followed by the whine of capacitors and the GM pilot fired again, dissolving the rest of the Zaku's leg. Exposed actuators and hydraulics melted and flowed. With the third blast coolant fluid from ruptured lines flash boiled in an explosive burst of steam. Satisfied that the Zaku II was crippled, the Feddie Pilot paced his GM forward to stand towering over his fallen enemy. 

Dazed, Thiessen wondered if the Feddie intended to boil him within his suit or ask for surrender. There was nothing more that he could do. He was trapped in his cockpit, the right side of his body pinned under the tangle that used to be his system function board. Thiessen fought as well as he could against superior numbers; there was no shame in this defeat.

The whine of 120mm rounds heralded another twist in the flow of battle. Several of the shells stitched a line across the GM's right leg, furrowing globs of molten armor from it. Multiple missile impacts cratered the Suits air exchange system high on the left torso. The Feddie pilot crouched his suit down under the impact, and then straightened, shrugging off the damage. It swiveled its Beam rifle to the right, directing a blast towards an unseen target. The whine of a 120mm roared out its own response to the Beam shot. The GM held its ground.

"Did the Feddie know who lay at his mercy?" Thiessen wondered. Another flight of missiles screamed in to chip away the thick plating on the GM's chest. The Feddie, exhibiting admirable fire discipline, paced his shots by firing the high pitched Beam rifle, and while its capacitors recharged for the next shot its Vulcan's howled constantly.
Thiessen was desperate to bring his Zaku II back into the battle, found the amb unit shattered beyond hope and that the autonomic feedback systems that allowed free play of the Zaku's arms were gone. He steadied his breathing, reaching deep within himself. He started to hear the faint voice of his tutor Masamune-sensei whispering in his head. Pain is a thing of the mind, and the mind is the servant of the spirit.

Hai, sensi, I will control my pain. He reached out with his shattered arm, watching bone ends slide past one another as he straightened the limb. Clinically, he observed the fresh blood flow as his fingers tapped out the code to elevate the Zaku's right arm. Through the static filled control screen, he watched the long bore of his suits 120mm cant towards the sky, surprised to see the machine respond. His karma was good, then. He reached for the grip and depressed the firing stud.

A deep booming echoed through the cockpit, and the suit jerked as the 120mm emptied the last of its magazine into the under belly of the GM. The Feddie suit jerked upwards from the impact. Further shots from the right hit it. One of the GM's legs stiffened spasmodically and then contracted under a faulty command. Trailing smoke and sparks, the Feddie suit collapsed onto the Thiessen's Zaku.

Darkness filled the cockpit as sixty tons of incapacitated mobile suit crashed to the ground. Thiessen sighed; releasing his determined grip on the control and letting darkness fill his mind as well. Warm and welcoming, it caressed and took him from the stink and heat of the battlefield.

"Well done", said Masamune-sensei's ghostly voice. 

Last Flight of the Valkyries
December 31st, UC0079 –
A Boa Qu

"I'm sorry, you have cancer."
Tina looked up quizzically at the small rotund white-frocked man behind his shiny metal desk, as the last part of his statement was lost to sudden noise of a claxon.
"Sorry, Doctor what did you say?"
"Lieutenant Harding, you have cancer, most probably from Minosky particle poisoning", again the Doctors statement was drowned as the annoying claxon kept sounding off.
"Did you say I have Cancer?"

The horn mounted in the wall above her berth in the Zabi blasted out a call to battle stations, just as a wave of nausea passed off Tina as she sat up suddenly in her bed. The Doctors last words playing in her mind…Cancer? Cancer… I always knew this war would be the death of me…

The blaring claxon finally knocked the cobwebs out of her head as she realized it was the combat alert. What the hell could it be? We've been leap frogging our way through the shoal zones for almost two weeks, since the fall of Solomon. There's no way they could have tracked us or anticipated our arrival at A boa qu? If some idiot decided we're due a drill, I'll have his head!

She jerked to her feet, and then leaned heavily against the cabin bulkhead as her head swam. She swallowed hard and fought to clear her head. The second the vertigo began to fade, she pulled open the door to her clothes locker and stepped into her green flight suit. While zipping up the front of the garment and fastening the Velcro tighteners on her wrist, she slipped into flight boots that snapped shut around her calves. She grabbed her gloves with one hand, and stepped into the corridor, pulling the door to her cabin shut behind her.

All the other pilots in Valkyrie Flight raced toward the launch bays of the Zanzibar Class Cruiser. Tina, seeing a bottleneck of pilots and technicians near the lift to the hanger, headed down a service ladder. One level down, she swung off it and tumbled to the deck as the Zabi, brought itself up to combat speed. The Cruisers engines sent a tremor through the hull and filled the ship with a low angry growl.

Tina scrambled to her feet and launched herself off a nearby bulkhead and down the catwalk strung across the hanger. Halfway along walkway she grabbed the safety rail and swung herself over and into the waiting cockpit of her Zaku II F-Type. She hauled herself into the cockpit, pulled on her helmet, and snapped the cable coming from it into socket by her left shoulder. As she struggled to pull on her restraining straps and fastened them across her chest, the sounds of a mission briefing already underway came over her helmet speakers.
"We have a three dozen, repeat a three-dozen Federation warships already on intercept vector. At least a dozen are the size of their Magellan battleships and we have a confirmed sighting of the Trojan horse. This must be their flagship and is the priority target for this flight…"

Oh crap, great, just great. We don't get to fight them at Solomon when we're all in top shape. We wait too engage the enemy until two weeks of hiding in space has frazzled everyone. Even as Tina's anger began to flare, she struggled to curb and channel it. No, this is not the time to get so mad you can't see. You've got your wing mate and your flight to worry about, and you've got some damage to do to that Trojan horse. Act now, survive, and then complain later.

She punched a button her console and flash-started her reactor. The cockpit shield slid down into place and her view screens activated. At her right hand, a number pad's keys started to light up. Tina had to type in a four-digit code she herself had chosen to safeguard her machine. Zero-four, two-eight; the day my father lost the use of his legs. It's a date I'll never forget; yet no one else would ever expect me to use it as my own code.

In response to the numbers, the reactor whined to full power and the weapons computer came online. The cockpit filled with the glow of her monitors and computer painted light from her view screens. The joysticks unlocked, and her auxiliary monitor reported her 120mm loaded, armed and ready.
Tina opened a frequency to launch control. "Valkyrie One ready to launch. Request go!"
"Go granted, good hunting Valkyrie One"

She set the Zaku II's feet into the catapult and the suit lunged forward, and then sped down the launch alley. The metallic walls became a solid silver blur as the square black hole at the end of bay grew into a mouth intending to swallow her Zaku. As her velocity indicator climbed past 700kph, her suit shot free of the Zabi.

The sight of so many warships, fighters and Mobile Suits in one place threatened to overwhelm Tina's senses. This is the Ragnorak! So many people, so many war-machines, so much death! I've waited a long time for this, for a chance to avenge Peter and prove myself to my father. Beware, Feddies, you are mine now…

Tina suddenly realized that the Federation Fleet had not launched all their Mobile Suits. Only one or two of the larger ships and the Trojan horse seemed to have launch bays, though their presence could not be utterly discounted on the other ships. Their suits are going to be most vulnerable as they leave the launch bays. If I can get in close, I can do some serious damage.

Before she could put her thoughts into action, Nikkita's Zaku appeared on Tina's starboard side. "The biggest targets are bound to be the easiest to hit, eh, boss?"
"Right, Nik. Stay close. If either of us is hit, we break off, right?"
"Roger."

Tina spiraled her Zaku II down away from the Zabi and then kicked into a long dive towards the Magellan Battleships. Because of her close proximity to A boa Qu's gravity well she had to increase power to maintain her speed. Nikkita's suit lagged behind a few hundred meters, but slowly caught up to reach Tina's side when they engaged the first flight of Mobile suits from Feddie fleet.
"Nik, fire once, then punch it. We'll burst by them, drop a cracker, and leave them to the others." Tina flipped her radio to a broader tactical channel and grimaced at the mounting static from the minosky particles. "Valkyrie One, here we need assist in sector Alpha Xray Two Four, Enemy suits, two by two."
Through the static she heard faint call signs as other Zeon teams answered her.
"Roger, Valkyrie One, Fenir Three and Four on our way."
"And Aesir One and Three as well, Valkyrie One. Save us something."
"Roger." Tina launched a fully auto-volley from her 120mm, then brought her Zaku's head up and launched two crackers into her read arc. Her 120mm shots cut apart the nearest GW, spattering over the suits boxy cockpit. Tina stared at the icon representing her suit on her auxiliary monitor, and then tightened her fingers on the controls.

The Feddies return fire shot wide and low, leaving Tina's suit intact. She sensed that these suit pilots were inexperienced and an easy kill, but she stayed with her original plan. All the fighter kills I get will mean nothing if we can't take out the Trojan horse. She stomped on her foot pedals and cranked the Zaku's speed to maximum. Depressing the thumb button on her right joystick she dropped her right suits arm down and twisted her suit torso slightly and fired behind her to discourage pursuit as she dove hard for the Federation Battleships and the Trojan horse sitting just behind them.

For a second Gattle fighters that had launched themselves from A Boa Qu, swarmed her and then shot past her towards the Federation fleet. Argent explosions filled her view screens as the fleets anti-aircraft guns opened up, to be suddenly supplemented by the first fleet to fleet barrage exchange of the action. For a milli-second her view screen darkened, saving her from the blinding glare of beam ordinance, and she jinked her suit left to right more in hope of dodging the blasts than actually design.

As her Zaku swept towards one of the larger battleships, Tina started to get giddy with vertigo its immense size started to fill her view screens. Dozens of guns studded its side like metallic warts, with all its weaponry pointing to the fore. She could also make out at least one Mobile Suit clinging to side of the ship, must be their escort…

Tina angled the thrust deflectors to take her in a long loop toward the battleship prow. With Nikkita on her tail, she stood her Zaku on its legs, then folded it at the knee and dove down towards the hull like a diver. She launched a volley from her gun, the 120mm shells splattering themselves just below the bridge, and then dodged in and out of the artificial landscape as she began her strafing run down the ships spine.

Almost instantly, Tina recognized a flaw in the battleship design. By taking her suit to the deck the gunnery crews couldn't target her without fear of doing damage to their own ship itself. The deck, while not wide, provided her just enough room to maneuver that made hitting her suit difficult. In her first run, Tina knocked out one main gun turret and a dozen anti-suit guns. And as she got to the end of the Magellan she turned her suit on its horizontal axis to pepper the hull with 120mm shells.

Her suit the launched out into space and sped past the Battleship. Dammit, no external tanks to waste. That would've stopped them in their tracks. She checked her display and saw Nikkita had likewise survived the trip down the Magellans deck. 
"Split-S Nik, and we make another run."
"Roger, I'll go right. And this time," her friend demanded, "I go first!"
"Lead on, Nik. I'm right behind you." Tina vectored thrust to the right, executing a quick turn, then dove down onto the deck of the Magellan, following Nikkita's Zaku II-F Type on the run. They both resisted the temptation to send a volley of shots into the battleships thrust ports because they knew the ships propellant would vaporize the shells before they could do any damage.

"I'm getting a reading up front, Tina. No more turrets. We took them out. Must be a Feddie suit crawling around on the deck to stop us." A trace of anxiety seeped into Nikkita's voice. "No dammit, it's two of them! Going high, you cut them off at the knees!"
Nikkita's suit launched itself from the ships deck, and Tina saw stream of shells lance down from her comrades’ suit. Magenta bolts of beam lightning shot back up from her target, carving armor and vaporizing the left foot on Nikkita's Zaku. Her suit drifted out of sight as Tina suit at full run barreled over the GM's on the hull.
The quick burst she used to announce her arrival badly mauled one of the Feddie suits. The explosions knocked the war machine from it broad flat feet and bounced it off the solid metal surface of the battleships deck. Arms and legs flailing, the suit rebounded off one of main gun turrets and careened off into space. Something exploded in its hand, the blue sparks playing hob all over its metal flesh as it, too drifted up and out of Tina's sight.

The second GM stood its ground. Tina's computer informed her that the suit had already taken damage from Nikkita's run, but somehow that did not matter to her. I don't care what you have or what condition you're in, you're mine. For Nik, for Adam, for Peter and for all the other poor bastards who died defending Solomon. Without conscious effort, she stared hard directly at the center of the GM's broad humanoid chest. Ignoring the beam fire just over her head, she let the suit have it emptying her gun at full auto.

The shells rocketed into the GM's chest. The glowing hole they opened spat out hot shards of armor and internal components. The Feddie suits silhouette flared like a supernova. An internal detonation plumped the torso, and then armor buckled as golden claws of fire sliced their way through its middle. As the upper half of the GM evaporated in the fire from its fusion engine, its legs flew out to careen back and forth along the battleships deck.
Tina launched her suit into space to avoid the fireball, and ran almost head long into the White Devil; the sleek suit filled her view screen causing Tina to hesitate for a second. This is it! Then something exploded against her cockpit, and the flash momentarily blinded her. The jolt shook her as explosions suddenly wreathed her suit and her cockpit exploded into sparks, but she forced herself to ignore it until she could regain control of her Zaku. Kicking in the afterburners, she whirled her suit into a long spiral that took it away towards the Magellan's bow, the spiral maneuver was more violent than she anticipated, something wet hit her shoulder and her sight started to get fuzzy…

Tina's mouth went dry as she pushed through the wooden door, and shuddered at the sight of the man who had been her lover. My God Peter, what has happened to you? Dozens of purplish bruises mottled his face, the top half of his green flight suit, burnt and torn in several places. Both his eyes where blackened, with the left one nearly swollen shut. Pulled tightly across his shoulders he still wore the scarlet trimmed flight jacket marking him as part of Char's Commandos. 

Slowly she stepped through the door, and clicked shut behind her. Peter crossed towards her and she reached out then hesitated. "I want to hold you but I'm afraid it will hurt" 
Peter’s mouth smiled, but any reflection of that smile in his eyes was lost within the bloated, discolored flesh surrounding them. "You can't hurt me, Tina. I could though definitely use a hug" 
Tina held him as tightly as seemed safe, stroking his hair with her free hand. After several moments, she leaned back and tipped his face up so she could look into his eyes. "How did this happen? I mean, where am I?" 
He smiled, "You could call this place, the… Ready room. But your early, you still have your duty to attended too" 
She looked at him puzzled and then nodded as realization hit her, "I know." Then her mouth soured as she recalled her thoughts before the battle 'You've got your wingmate and your flight to worry about. Act now' her right hand rubbed slowly up on his face and stopped as the bruises disappeared at her touch. "My… God… This place it’s…" 

Peter placed his finger on her lips to silence her and smiled once more, "Go, do your duty. I'll be here waiting for you." 
The door behind Tina creaked open again, and she found herself being pulled towards it. Before parting from Peters arms their lips locked and warmth spread through her cold body. Then she found herself floating backwards, Peter held up his right hand out as a farewell then the door swallowed her…

I love you Peter…

"Tina! Tina!" 
The urgency of Nikkita's shout shocked Tina out of the fog. My God zoning out like that in a battle… I must be hit bad. She recognized tightness around her right elbow and across her chest, but it took a moment or two for her to realize that it came from her flight suit's attempt to localize a breach. The wail of warning sirens suddenly impinged on her brain, and as she brought the secondary monitor into focus, she realized her cockpit had been breached. She brought her left hand up to her right shoulder, where it encountered something very hard and came away bloody. 

"Tina, talk to me!" 
"I'm here, Nik. How are you?" 
"Circuit overload from a beam shot shut my engine down. I'm not having any luck restarting. I'll take it all the way off, then do a full restart. The Zabi has sounded a recall they are bugging out just in time your Zaku looks pretty bad" 
Tina glanced out her secondary monitor and barely acknowledged the red outlines indicating the missing right leg and heavy damage all the way down the right side of her Zaku. She blinked and saw the Zabi taking damage and looming in her static patterned view screen, trading shots with the Magellan they had just been strafing. Then she realized the Federation battleship was between the Zabi and Nikkita's immobilized suit.
You've got your wingmate and your flight to worry about. Act now… 

"Tina! My God, how hard are you hit?" 
Tina thoughts came back into focus; "I'm sorry Nik. It's pretty bad." Tina choked down the lump in her throat. "I love you, you know. I'm glad you can't follow me." 
"NO! No, Tina. Don't do anything stupid. Get your Zaku over here. I can help you." 
"Too late for that Nik. If you see my father, tell him I made him proud." Tina cut off her radio and boosted her Zaku forward. She flipped off two switches. One cut off the warning klaxons and the other removed all restraints on the engine power. These suits have more power than a human pilot can normally take. At full power, a pilot will black out, but that doesn't really matter now, does it?

"She laughed aloud and liked that sound. I've not laughed like that or felt this carefree since Peter left Side Three. How fitting. I'll be with him soon enough…

Bringing the Zaku down, she let the suit flip over into a one-eighty, and then she rolled it over so she could watch the Magellan's bridge loom even larger in her view screen. This is it. The Iron Major makes another sacrifice for the Principality. Pushing both over thruster pedals to the cockpit floor with her feet; she flew faster than any human ever did before and kept her Zaku F-Type dead on target. 

###

About the Author

Nick Davis is an Englishman and former feature writer for White Dwarf magazine. Who moved to the east coast of the USA in the early 2000's. He is now lost in the USA in his continually search for a decent cup of tea, while attempting to put his imagination to paper and ignoring the ever growing list of house ‘projects’. To learn more about the author please visit his website at 

No parts of this book can be reproduced without written permission except in the case of brief quotation in review articles.