//------------------------------// // Chapter Eight: Gundam vs. Red Comet // Story: Civil War // by Lord of Flies //------------------------------// “Turn complete! We are in position for takeoff!” Bright, now sitting in the Captain’s Chair, nodded, “What’s it like in the colony now?” “Oxygen concentration has dipped below 20 percent. It’s a lost cause.” “But the bay is functional?!” “Yessir! We have permission to launch!” Bright closed the comms-link. He looked up at the operators behind him. “Operator! Where is our bogey?” Both operators reported. “The Musai is at 14 degrees past 3 o’clock, sir!” “Twenty kilometers away!” Bright nodded. “Alright. Our helmsman is new to this. Supply directions with plenty of time!” He opened a comms-link to the entire ship. “Check the airlocks on every block! We are exiting the docking bay!” Closing the comms-link, Bright sighed. We don’t have much of a choice if it’s come down to this… ************ “The enemy’s launched.” “Do you copy,” Blitz inquired, “Daisy?” “Yes,” the lieutenant replied, “I copy.” “Equip my Zaku, Gladius’, and Lieutenant Blast’s R-2 with Type 1 Gear and prepare to launch us along the laser line.” “Yes, sir!” Daisy paused, and then she asked, “So-- you’re going to deploy, sir?!” “Yes,” Blitz replied, “and I imagine they will as well. If not, it won’t be much of a fight. I’ve given them plenty of time… I’m not usually so patient.” “Bearings set! Open the hatch! Prepare to launch Zaku units!” Blitz smiled, slightly. ************ Scootaloo watched with interest as the various maintenance personnel worked on the Gundam. “Vernier test, green!” The launch officer announced, “Equipment load complete! Pilot! Board the unit, now!” Scootaloo climbed into the Gundam’s cockpit. Two maintenance personnel came over to the open hatch. “Make sure that you don’t overheat the gatling vulcans. If you burn the barrels out, it’ll take twelve hours for us to swap them out with new ones,” the one on the left said. The one on the right picked up the slack. “The shoulder magnums have a limited amount of ammo, so use them carefully! Any questions about the beam rifle?” *** Merry, from her station, called out, “Gate sensor all clear 360 degrees! Exiting bay!” “Gundam pilot Scootaloo, come in!” Bright barked, “Are you on standby?” Scootaloo nodded, and responded, “Yes, sir! I’m strapped in!” “You’ll be launched thirty seconds after we exit the bay. Stay within a ten kilometer radius and defend the ship!” Sweetie Belle blinked, and looked at Bright, a look of worry on her face. Bright continued, “At this time, the White Base’s firepower is slightly less than a Musai’s. Even with our better shields, that Musai will overcome us. Understand?” “Yes,” Scootaloo responded, “I understand.” Bright nodded, smiling. The light grey pegasus strode from Captain Cipher’s bedside. Bright, Sweetie Belle, and Merry watched him stride over to the communications officer’s station. “Lieutenant Junior Grade Bright! The communication officer’s station is empty, isn’t it?” Bright nodded. The pegasus sat in the communication officer’s chair. He picked up the headset and put it on. “I’ll take care of comms with the Gundam, so please concentrate on running the ship, sir.” Bright, surprised, nodded. “Scootaloo, you got the rundown on your equipment, yes?” “Yep!” “Just remember to make your beam shots count. You don’t have as many as you’d probably like.” “Yep! I’ll keep that in mind!” Bright sighed, then sat straight in his seat. “ALL ANTI-AIR BLOCKS,” he commanded, “GEAR UP FOR INTERDICTION! RAISE SHIELDS IN THIRTY SECONDS AND RELEASE MINOVSKY PARTICLES AT BATTLE DENSITY!” *** “Cargo hatch open! Catapult ready!” Scootaloo gritted her teeth. “Ten seconds to launch! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five!” Scootaloo braced herself. “Four! Three! Ignite Catapult!” The catapult launched forward, and Scootaloo found herself pressed into her seat by the g-force. After a few seconds, she felt the g-forces stop, and she released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding. *** One of the operators called out, “Gundam out! High-heat sources approaching!” The other one called out, “Large missiles from the Musai! Evasive action, twenty degrees left, eight degrees down!” Bright glanced at Merry, and barked, “Merry!!” The pegasus nodded, and began manipulating the controls on her console. Bright facepalmed, a worried expression crossing his face. He knew that the White Base wasn’t going to dodge the missiles. They would punch through the shields and deal heavy damage to their impact points. “Copied that!” Bright looked up. Scootaloo had said that. “I can shoot down the missiles, right? Let me try!” Five tense minutes passed as the ponies on the White Base’s bridge watched the Gundam turn to get a firing line on the missiles, and fire one shot in each missile’s direction. Two explosions erupted in the void of space. All watching released a pent-up breath. “Wow!” One of the operators exclaimed, “She took out both missiles!” The other one called out, “Seven more objects approaching! They appear to be mobile suits!” “But the speed…” “Two of them are faster than the norm! One is approaching at three times normal speed! The other is approaching at twice the normal speed!” “It’s… It’s Blitz…” Bright blinked, and turned his head slightly to look at his captain. “It’s the Red Comet!” Bright turned his entire upper body to look at Cipher. “Captain! Did you say something?!” Cipher, looking very pale, nodded and said, “It’s him… Blitz, the Red Comet!” Expressions of shock and horror spread across the bridge crew. Cipher continued, fear creeping across her face, “At the Battle of Loum, Blitz single-handedly scrapped five of our battleships… T-TURN BACK AND RUN!! ” *** Blitz’s Zaku sped toward the Federation supply ship. The pegasus looked at his target through a zoomed in display. Let’s see what it can do… “The Federal Forces’ touted new mobile suit…” He smiled, slightly. *** “SCOOTALOO, GET OUT OF THERE! YOU DON’T STAND A CHANCE AGAINST THAT RED ZAKU!!” “No! I can do it! I already took out two Zakus without the beam rifle! I can do it!” The Gundam took aim. You won’t get to me!! A purple beam of condensed plasma erupted from the beam rifle. The Red Comet’s Zaku dodged the beam and returned fire. His attacks impacted the Gundam’s shield. Blitz blinked. A direct hit. But… Ah, its shield… Blitz smiled, again. The Gundam targeted Blitz again and fired, only for the ace to dodge out of the way. “Come on!” Scootaloo snapped, “Let me hit!” She fired a third time, and, for a third time, her target evaded her attack. “This… is combat?!” Even with the superiority of the Gundam, Scootaloo felt fear begin to creep throughout her body. She targeted the red Zaku again, only for the impacts of her target’s attacks to throw off the Gundam’s aim. Impacts stitched themselves up the Gundam, and then the feed from the Gundam’s main camera cut out, becoming static. “He shot out my main camera?!” Scootaloo pressed a button her pilot’s console and the static on the monitor was replaced by the feed of the Gundam’s sub-camera. Terror spread across her face, and she shrieked in terror. The right foot of the red Zaku was rushing at the Gundam’s torso. Blitz smiled as his Zaku’s kick connected with the Gundam. He followed up with a trio of quick kicks. “You’re still wet behind the ears, Fed pilot!” Scootaloo, groaning from the repeated impacts to her mobile suit, glared up at her target. Blitz noticed six other Zaku units approaching. He grinned. “Ah! There you are, Gladius and Blast! Are the rest of the pilots ready for this?!” “Yes,” Blast reported, “as ready as they’ll ever be!” “Good! Gladius, take his back! Blast, with me! Everyone else, pick firing positions! We’ll destroy that mobile suit, and then that warship!” *** “They’ve got Scootaloo pincered,” Bright said, “this is bad!” Sweetie Belle covered her mouth with her hands. Bright barked over the comm-link to the Artillery Bridge. “Artillery Command! Arm the starboard mega-particle cannons! We’ll support the Gundam!!” *** “Losing on mobility when I’ve got the new model?” Scootaloo sneered, “That can’t be!! I won’t let that happen!” She smiled, and put her impromptu plan into action. *** Blitz opened fire on the Gundam, rounds impacting into its shield. He paused as he noticed that there was nothing behind the shield. “What?!” A feeling of dread crawling down his back, which he’d felt before, alerted him to the Gundam aiming at him. Dodging out of the way, he sighed in relief as the Gundam fired at his previous position. Narrowly dodged that one… “Commander! Sir,” Gladius said over the radio, slightly distorted by the Minovsky particle density, “that’s it, sir! The weapon that took down Sergeant Ash in a single shot!!” “If we never get hit, it’s no more than a pea shooter. COVER ME, GLADIUS!” “Yes, sir!” The corporal opened fire on the Gundam, drawing its attention. Blitz complemented the pilot, “That’s it, Gladius. Keep its attention!” *** Scootaloo murmured under her breath as she turned her attention to the Zakufiring on her. Getting a targeting lock, she aimed at the Zaku. “THERE!!” She fired. *** Gladius’ eyes widened in surprise and fear as the Gundam’s weapon fired, a purple beam lancing out and punching through his mobile suit’s gut. His Zaku’s reactor detonated, tearing the suit apart. Blitz, keeping his distance from the pink cloud of Minovsky particles, found himself actually surprised. Gladius… “So that thing has a beam rifle with the power of battleship’s main guns…” A blue and white blur drew his attention to Lieutenant Blast rushing the Gundam, a heat hawk drawn. The Gundam reacted quickly, raising its left arm to block the attack. Blast quickly backed off before another purple beam lanced through the spot where his R-2 had been. “Blast! Be careful!” Sub-lieutenant Quartz, acting as the Falmel's operator, having remained quiet until this point in the battle, suddenly barked out commands, “You need to be careful! Work together with the Commander!” “Roger that!” Twin purple beams, fired from the Gundam’s carrier, destroyed two of the supporting Zakus. “Wonderful,” Quartz said, sarcasm in his voice, “that supply ship is firing, too. Make sure to not get hit by it, either.” Both pilots began their team attack, coordinating their moves over the radio. Blast rushed in, attacking with his heat hawks, and backed off before the Gundam fired. Blitz threw off its aim with well-timed bursts from his hyper rifle. For several minutes, the pair continued this attack pattern. The Gundam’s pilot, obviously irritated by both pilots, snapped off two quick shots, one for each pilot. The two dodged the attack with ease. Their support, on the other hand, didn’t react in time. They were clipped by the shots, and their suits exploded. *** A low beeping drew Scootaloo’s attention to a bar on her pilot’s console. The last light on the left was pulsing red. “I’ve used up the charge in the beam rifle. Wonderful.” *** Blitz noticed the Gundam holster its primary weapon on its skirt armor. The white mobile suit began tracking the twin Zakus, both arms raised, intent on using its machine cannons. Blitz and Blast, about to begin a second round of attacks, were interrupted by Quartz calling out, “Commander! Lieutenant! Fall back! We’ll lose one of you eventually!” Blitz sighed in irritation, but complied. “Affirmative!” Blast agreed, as well. Blast, following his commander, heard something over his radio, obviously picked up by the enhanced communications gear attached to his Zaku. He adjusted a few dials and froze upon hearing the exchange, between the enemy mobile suit and its carrier. “Scootaloo… Enemy retreat… Return to… at once!” “Copy that…! Returning…!” Despite the distortion, Blast could hear full well the youthfulness in the enemy pilot’s voice. The pilot was a mare, a pegasus judging by the faint inherent accent in her voice. But, the real kicker was that she was only a teenager. Fifteen, maybe. Fear crept onto his face. Why is that mobile suit’s pilot a teenaged mare? What in Tartarus were we going to do if we’d gotten the upper hand? Kill her? Doubt and suspicion spread across his face, his eyes narrowing. “Commander,” he swore, “I’ll kill you if you kill her. This I swear on my honor as a Blizzard.” He sighed. “I just hope it doesn’t come to that…”