Civil War

by Lord of Flies

Chapter Two: Three Dark Stars Rise

Nine days later…

January 15, U.C. 0079

Loum (Terra's Side 5) Space, Chivvay-class Heavy Cruiser, Sunrise

“Hey, Braeburn,” a voice said, drawing me from the holo-map, “what are you doing?”

“Oh,” I replied, glancing over my shoulder, “Caramel. Ah’m just looking over the battleplan fer the upcoming battle.”

I pointed to the map. “Since the Feddies intercepted the fleet, Big Mac wants to show the true power of Mobile Suits to the Feddies.”

“Ah assume that we’ll get a shot at General Silverstar?”

“Probably,” I said, turning to Wensley, “Ah’ve gone over the battleplan. Ah can’t find us anywhere in it.”

“That’s curious,” Caramel observed, “maybe the Admiral is expecting us to use our free will to capture General Silverstar.”

“Probably. Probably,” I agreed.

I tapped the controls of the holo-map, and pointed. “This is the Ananke, a Magellan-class battleship.

“It just so happens that it is the flagship of the fleet. General Silverstar will be on the Ananke, but he won’t join the battle unless we force him to.”

“How are we going to do that?”

I glanced at Caramel, and pointed, “Simple. We need to destroy enough of Silverstar’s vanguard that the good general will have to fight. Judging from the data collected by the recon craft, these Salamis-class heavy cruisers form the general’s vanguard. We destroy all of them. Then, we do enough damage to the Ananke to force Silverstar to evacuate the ship. After that, we capture the escape craft that he’s on.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Wensley commented.

“Yeah. But,” I countered, “as you know, it’s easier to plan something than to actually carry it out.”

Wensley nodded. “So,” I asked, “are we clear on this?”

Caramel gave a thumbs-up. Wensley nodded again. “Well,” I said, “let’s do this.”

************

“That’s another one down!”

I laughed at Caramel’s cheerful laser-com report. “And another one fer me as well,” Wensley reported, “how many more of these ships do we need to destroy?”

“Fifteen at the moment,” I replied.

I emptied my bazooka magazine into the nearest Salamis. “Fourteen now.”

I began reloading my bazooka, and watched as a purple and black with black-grey streak crossed my field of view.

Wensley’s MS-06R-1A Zaku II swung its sole weapon, a giant heat hawk, at the Salamis that Wensley was targeting.

The resulting strike, fusing beam energy conduits and superheating one of the Salamis’ ammunition magazines, caused a chain reaction that tore the cruiser apart.

“Ha! That one went up real good.”

A red streak came from over my Zaku’s left shoulder, heading for one of the other ships in the Federation Fleet. “Blitz,” I murmured.

Blitz’s red MS-06C Zaku II turned around and snapped a quick salute, having noticed my Zaku. I returned the salute.

The Zaku faced the direction it was facing and attacked the nearest ship, a Magellan-class battleship.

I, shaking my head, targeted another of the vanguard ships. I still threw a glance at the red Zaku, though. What are you up to, Blitz?

************

My bazooka shells tore into the Magellan, making the vessel list. I fired another shell into the battleship, striking the main reactor. I smiled as the resulting detonation consumed the ship.

The blast was brighter than the sun, so much so that my helmet automatically dimmed the light coming in. A reflection, my reflection, stared back at me. The upper part of my face was covered by the mask I wore. Cold, emotionless. Like the stallion wearing it. If it weren’t for the smile that was spread so generously across my lower features, surrounded by dark grey fur.

As soon as it appeared, the bright sphere of light from the explosion of the battleship faded, taking my reflection with it.

I scanned for another target, and accelerated toward another Magellan. Landing on the deck, I fired the rest of my bazooka magazine into the beam turret behind my Zaku. The twin HEAA shells made easy work of the armored structure, destroying it.

Reloading my bazooka, I dodged out of the way of the four missiles that the battleship had fired, snarling softly.

The second dorsal turret, mounted above and sternward of the quad-missile launcher, took three shells before detonating.

I landed where the turret I had just destroyed had been mounted. Drawing a Sturm Faust, I smiled. “Time to be the second kill for me, battleship.”

I fired the Sturm Faust at an angle, intending to create a hole large enough for a bazooka shell or two. The jet of superheated gas, burning a hole into the vessel, stopping just before the battleship’s main reactor. I snorted, then put a shell into the exposed main reactor. “Two for mee…”

************

“Hey, Braeburn,” Wensley’s voice crackled, “you see that? Blitz just took out his fourth Magellan!”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but it doesn’t matter.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Caramel’s voice had cut in, drawing a sigh from me.

“We’re going to capture General Silverstar, remember?”

“Oh,” Caramel said, “right.”

“And that’s his fifth…… Okay, how good is that stallion?”

I chuckled slightly, “He’s a veritable ‘Red Comet’.”

“Yeah, Ah’m with you on that.”

Caramel’s Zaku’s Anti-Ship Rifle fired, taking out a Salamis. “That’s all of them,” he said.

On cue, the Ananke, General Silverstar’s flagship, and two Salamis-class cruiser escorts entered the battlezone. “Caramel, Wensley,” I barked, “deal with the two cruisers! Ah’ll take the Ananke!”

“Right, boss!”

“Affirmative.”

The two charged the cruisers while I rushed the Ananke. “Ah’m comin’ for ya, General. You won’t beat us this time!”

I positioned my Zaku behind the battleship and fired a salvo of shells into its engines. As expected, the battleship stopped. Well, stopped relative to me, anyway.

I needed to cripple the vessel, and get General Silverstar to abandon it. Fire from its portside anti-aircraft machine gun turrets drew my attention to them. Smiling, I realized that the ammo feeds linked to each turret could be used to cause damage to the vessel. Targeting the turrets, I let loose a shell for each of them. An alert popped up on the lower left of my helmet’s hud. “Well, looks like Ah’m out of ammo. Won’t make a difference.”

Returning my bazooka to its weapons rack, I drew my heat hawk. Flying up to the destroyed turrets, I grabbed one of them and tore the wreckage away. The ammo feed, now useless to the Ananke, lay exposed to my view. I shook my head. Swinging up my heat hawk, I smiled. I slammed the superheated blade into the feed. Most of the metal in the feed just melted. Oh right. That actually doesn’t work in space.

“Hey, Caramel,” I said, with an embarrassed tone to my voice, “could you take cripple the Ananke? Ah’m, uh, out of ammo. Aheh.”

Caramel laughed, replying, “Sure thing, just let me get a clear shot… There.”

A glowing tracer round tore through the battleship. I smiled. General Silverstar would leave the battleship, very soon. And then, he’d be ours.

Author's Note:

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