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Post by Daniel Gage on Jan 5, 2015 0:29:55 GMT
0087.03.12 Somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean... Four hours after the incident...
Nothing felt right. They spent two hours dashing through the woods back to the outpost. He could see the fighting in front of him. His sensors when haywire. The sky was lit up like a magnesium torch. His sense of direction and time were lost. Everything sort of fell into place during the aftermath. Their evac, a Garuda-class carrier, came swiftly. They were picked up, ejected from their suits, and corralled in a corner by a bunch of MPs. He could see the technicians in the back- scanning any of the metal on their suits for radiation.What have they done?
The writing was there on the wall: The AEUG, the Anti-Earth Union Group, used tactical nuclear weapons at Jaburo. They wanted to remove that symbol of power from the Earth Federation and the Titans. They wanted to taken seriously. The gloves were now off. The guards were unwilling to talk, but his compass told him they were now going somewhere east- over the Atlantic Ocean.
Its not like him or the other pilots were being neglected. On the contrary, they were given some free space to move around and got plenty of food/water. But someone wanted to make sure that they got to their destination in one piece. We'll find out soon enough.
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Post by James Ennis on Jan 5, 2015 2:43:02 GMT
Marching so far out, and several suits being near-lamed, had been what had saved them all. The march back towards Jaburo had been a long, frustrating one. They'd warned Control about the enemy squad's likely target, putting the whole base on alert. From where the Magi were marching they could see the anti-air batteries thinning the tide of AEUG suits but not stopping it. Afterwards beam fire and missiles still rose above the horizon and the canopy, telling a tale of vicious fighting that they maddeningly could not reach. And then a second sun came to Jaburo.
James Ennis had spoken very little once he had seen that the needs of his pilots were being seen to. He sat with one arm across his chest, the other hand clenched in a fist upon which he rested his chin, his legs crossed at the ankles. He still wore his flak jacket, and his helmet lay discarded on the deck next to his feet, as he tried to organize the facts he'd garnered.
"Nukes stolen from the Titans by the AEUG. Some time later the AEUG launches an assault on Jaburo. Jaburo is annihilated in a nuclear blast. Seems cut and dried," he thought. "But the blast had to have come from within Jaburo; the place could eat nukes from above like cereal, otherwise Zeon never would have tried a colony drop. So the AEUG had to use a drop operation to bring it inside. Makes sense. But the fight was still going. So they lose people to their own bomb, probably quite a few. They're not strong enough to be making the sacrifice play, not unless Intel has completely screwed their math up. And using a nuke groundside will put a huge dent in their public image. Maybe some Zekes would think up such a thing, but would Furor and and Kowen let it happen, never mind authorize it? No, that doesn't quite fit. Maybe a rogue element . . . maybe, but still. The whole thing smells rotten."
Ennis uncrossed and recrossed his ankles, brows furrowing as he moved to the next set of facts.
"Anderson. He wouldn't just buy a rumor without some evidence. Could've been fed some false evidence. But Nero adds a personal touch, so either he saw that part in person or whoever fed him info knew what buttons to push. Now how do I look into that without raising any eyebrows? Could make some calls . . ." The legs switched places again as the veteran struggled to think of a method to dig his way to the truth.
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Post by Victoria Sinclair on Jan 6, 2015 2:29:09 GMT
Victoria watched the scene with the mobile suits with some grim concern, things were ramping up and in ways that seemed familiar yet at the same time going far enough to make Victoria uneasy even with the memories of the last questionable scenario in her mind. Weapons of this grade on anyone was always questionable, but being that close to a nuclear weapon was enough to knock Victoria from her desire to look over the Marasai again, not that the MPs or techs would've likely let her even if she had wanted to. With little to distract her she was left to constantly fiddle with her coat now that they were away from the humidity of South America of course once she realized she was smoothing out nonexistent folds, or once again triple checking her collar the lieutenant forced her hands down to her sides. Even before this she'd been distracted and had talked little as worries and mild paranoia built up.
While she wanted to check on her pilots, she felt the first things needed right now was to see if Ennis knew anything about what was going on. He was easy enough to find and with she promptly made her way towards the commander. "Penny for your thoughts? You look like you have enough to share." A fake smile was all she could offer at this point, but it was likely James Ennis would know something given how much battle chatter had been going on during the fight. "Although I don't have much money on me, with my wallet where it is right now."
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Post by Katharyn Holcroft on Jan 6, 2015 4:49:38 GMT
Katharyn Holcroft was seated, still in her normal suit, the top of which was opened. Her helmet lay at her feet. She still had her sidearm - her father’s old .357 SIG semiautomatic - belted to her waist. Once they got to wherever they were going, it would have to go back into the armory. But for now, she still had it on - not loaded, but still, its weight on her hip was comforting. Externally, she seemed impassive, legs crossed, her eyes closed. She was exhausted, but she looked almost bored.
Internally, she was seething with rage. Not at the outcome of their battle, necessarily. They’d all made it out more or less in one piece, and they’d achieved the objective by beating back the AEUG formation that they had engaged, preventing them from targeting Jaburo itself. The slog back to Jaburo, then their flight out onboard a Garuda-class transport. All that was fine.
No, what had her so enraged was what had happened after their battle. The total destruction of Jaburo itself, the heart of the Federation Forces. She knew what the AEUG had done. She had seen something very like it before. It was why she'd joined the Titans.
‘Operation Stardust all over again' she thought. ‘Those goddamn Zeke-loving traitors nuked Jaburo…something even that sadistic pig Gihren f***ing Zabi failed to do, and the bastards did it.’
What really drove her up the wall was the revelation that Jim Anderson, a man whom she had respected and who had saved her ass back in the days of DEVRON 17, was a traitor - rubbing elbows with the kind of people who would do something like this. Why? It didn’t seem possible. But possible or not, the truth was what it was. And what was that crap he’d said about nerve gas?
She shook her head. She didn’t really know what to believe. But after this, she didn’t doubt that they hadn’t seen the last of Anderson and his band of traitors… ‘And next time…well, we’ll see what happens next time.’
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Post by Julian Miller on Jan 6, 2015 6:07:41 GMT
Adrenaline was pumped through his veins, vision tunneling to focus on the enemy in front of him. He had given this enemy a second chance at life, sparing them from a quick and inglorious end by his Beam Saber. His kindness had only been spat upon, this AEUG pilot trying to attack him from behind. They wouldn't get a second chance. They would pay for their foolishness with their life and the glow coming from the barrel of his Beam Spray Gun would dispense the verdict.
Suddenly a heavy tremor shook his machine. He didn't have time to prepare for the hit, his chest falling forward to slam against his control panel as his Mobile Suit crashed to the ground. The air vented from his lungs, leaving him gasping for breath. His ears were ringing and vision was blurred as he tried to get a hold of his situation. Something had slammed into his machine, something hard. It wasn't a weapon, he'd be dead if it was. What had happened?
Then he remembered it. An alien yet familiar voice coming over the comm at the moment of impact.
"Outta my way, jerkass!"
As stupid insult. Childlike. Unbecoming of a soldier. Still, why did it resonate so strongly in his mind?
No time to worry about that now. The AEUG were retreating, fleeing in the face of his units dogged defense. Had they won? How many were dead on either side? Would there be more comrades to bury now?
As his GM Quel rose to it's feet with the help of his comrade, he saw the real reason for the retreat. The sky was full of fire, balls of glowing red and orange, hundreds of them, descending from the heavens towards the earth below. Then came the roar of countless defense batteries, heavy caliber automatic weapons and rocket launches firing their payload into the sky at the incoming invaders. He knew what this meant. This battle they had fought so hard meant nothing.
Now the true AEUG attack was coming.
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Like many of his fellow Titans, Julian was deep in thought. A lot of things had been on his mind since the hasty retreat from Jaburo. Frustration at having been unable to stop the AEUG attack, regardless of whether his team's defense of the defense battery had been considered a victory. Anger at the fact that their enemies had apparently utilized a nuclear weapon to wipe Jaburo off the map, irradiating miles of Amazonian jungle. Mourning for all those Federation and Titan soldiers who had been unable to escape the doomed base before the explosion.
More than anything else, however, he was thinking about the AEUG pilot who had spoken to him moments before his team had been forced to withdraw. Normally he would think much of what an enemy said to him in the heat of battle. After all, he had gotten use to the frenzies cries of Zeonic fanatics before he ended their lives. The words themselves meant little as well. What stood out was the voice that had said those words and the sickening familiarity of the voice.
"It couldn't have been. There's no way...."
Shaking his head, Julian turned away from the window located on the side of the Garuda-class transport that his team had made their escape on. Dressed in a white t-shirt, his flight suit still hanging down from his waist and golden pendant hanging from his neck, he decided that there'd be plenty of time for fact finding later. If the voice belonged to who he thought it did then they'd definitely meet again. Fate had a funny way of working out like that.
For now he decided that a little social time with the team would do some good. They had managed to emerge from the battle without a single fatality which wasn't something many could claim after what had happened at Jaburo. Perhaps it was time he gave this team a chance and accepted his place in it. It'd be nice to belong somewhere after so long.
Deciding to approach Katharyn who herself seemed to be contemplating something, he came up to where she was sitting and said, "Hey Katharyn. Thanks for the help out there. I got into a bad place and probably wouldn't have made it alone. Thanks."
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Post by Daniel Gage on Jan 7, 2015 4:11:37 GMT
"It couldn't have been. There's no way...." "A lot of people have asked that question- most of them are dead now. Consider yourself lucky."Leave it to the spacenoids to pull something like this. Kowen et al must've been hoodwinked. "I think we all know now who's really in charge of the AEUG."The Lieutenant had his moment of smug satisfaction. They could hear from all the way down the hall, the distinct clacking of dress shoes. Gage looked over and saw the first signs of trouble from beyond the guard: Three white uniforms, three officer hats, and three disgruntled officers with pale faces that matched their suits. Their unison was offset by a peculiar haste. One of them was holding something in his hand. Oh boy, who did we piss off? The three of them walked a semicircle around the MPs until they were in front of Ennis. "Please confirm, are you the 15th Tactical Mobile Suit Squadron?"Soon, Daniel's faced that matched that of the officers. This isn't happening.
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Post by James Ennis on Jan 7, 2015 21:49:38 GMT
"Hang on to that penny, Victoria. Might have something worth sharing in a bit," Ennis responded to Sinclair's inquiry, spotting the three white uniforms, led by a Captain, heading towards him. Earth Federation Army. Not a branch of the EFF that Ennis had ever had very much to do with, but a few tank drivers had made MS pilot during the War, and in general he respected their pedigree; infantry and tanks stood even less chance than a Saberfish against Zakus, but the crazy bastards had held the line until they got suits of their own.
Still, his sense of respect for the Army was tempered by politics and, today, caution. This was hardly a normal day.
"That would be us, yes sir," Ennis said, standing and saluting the Captain. Formal respect seen to he returned both hands to his belt, standing mostly at ease. It was a balancing act he'd had to learn over the years as a Titan, showing respect to regular forces but maintaining the Task Force's sense of autonomy. Most Titans didn't seem to even bother with the respect part these days, but Ennis was nothing if not old-school. "Lt. Commander James Ennis, commanding officer. I have to say I'm surprised, it's not often we see you boys in our line of work. What can the 15th do for our comrades in the Army?"
Truly they didn't; the Titans' targets were usually in space, after all, far beyond the Army's reach, and Ennis hadn't fought alongside an Army unit since the War. Although, looking them over, it didn't look like these three had ever seen combat period. Troublesome, that.
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Post by Yazan Gable on Jan 7, 2015 22:47:03 GMT
Jaime had busied himself throughout the trip. There was still plenty to be done, not the least of which was seeing to his machine. He had taken a proper beating in the last battle, no two ways about it. Things had just been so unexpected, and any tactical guidance was so minimal that the entire encounter had worked out to be "Chase after Gage, and make sure that he doesn't do anything stupid"
And I still get read the riot act for getting shot to crap while helping him...
It normally had been a dark thought, except for the fact that part of the reason why they still alive as because they had been so battered. Too damaged to be called back to Jaburo proper, they hadn't been at the site of the blast, improbably surviving. Jaime shut his eyes, remembering the sound and the tug of the air looking on at the explosion.
There but by the grace of god go we. Had we never run into those bastards, had we finished our rotation and went back to base we might be cinders now.
The AEUG had made use of those nukes they had stolen, blowing up the base in spectacular fashion. To their very little credit, they had actually gone after a hard target this time, attacking a hard target instead of just blowing away a day care center for kicks. And yet, the chain of events seemed to run perfectly: The AEUG had stolen them from an undermanned shuttle, and then went off chasing the best target they could find. The fact that their ships had been battered in the process was cold comfort.
Work let Jaime forget about that for a while.
He had been hoping to talk to Commander Ennis about the words he had overheard, but there hadn't yet been the time. Jaime considered going over and asking the man for a moment of time when the door burst open.
In spite of everything, Jaime couldn't help himself. He knew it was stupid, but at this point he was too tired, too worn down and burned out to care.
"No, we're the other irradiated Mobile Suit Squadron you had sent out here with the 15th's flash on our shoulders..." Jaime muttered sarcastically under his breath, but he fell into line, adopting a similar "at ease" posture as Ennis. It wasn't as if the 15th had anything to hide. Hell, they'd done their damndnest to kill the Zekes when they had the chance, so it was strange to be given such treatment by fellow Federation soldiers.
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Post by Daniel Gage on Jan 8, 2015 0:38:23 GMT
"That would be us, yes sir, Lt. Commander James Ennis, commanding officer. I have to say I'm surprised, it's not often we see you boys in our line of work. What can the 15th do for our comrades in the Army?" After returning his salute, the man withdrew the envelope in his hand and read its contents aloud. The Lieutenant could only sit back and listen to the man delivering their death sentence. "You have all been subpoenaed by the Earth Federation. You are required by law to stand before the Assembly Majority Leader and the Secretary of Defense for testimony. Failure to do so means you will be held in contempt. I've been ordered to to escort you to Dakar. You have approximately four hours to prepare your testimony. These men here before you have been ordered to protect accommodate you. You're now free to wander about the ship but you're strictly forbidden from disembarking until ordered to do so."The older officer finally gazed up at the others. "Do you have any questions?"Oh shit. Gage was as white as a ghost. It took several seconds for reality to sink in. He then directed his prompted panicked question at Jaime, tapping him on the shoulder. "Are these guys serious?!"
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Post by James Ennis on Jan 8, 2015 3:06:05 GMT
Ennis's eyes flicked to Neston and Gage, off to the side and whispering furiously among themselves. If he wasn't the commanding officer, he'd probably be doing the same. Couldn't blame them. Ennis looked back to the EFA Captain and nodded.
"Understood, sir. Thank you for informing us. Will we be granted any legal counsel, or are we on our own? And will I be able to represent the unit, or are all my pilots to be interviewed personally? Most of them aren't experienced with the politics of our work, so if they're going into it I'd like to know so that they can get the advice they'll need."
Privately the veteran cursed the entire situation. His own issues aside his pilots had been handed the short end of the stick since the unit had been incorporated: sudden deployment, shoddy logistic support, completely insufficient intel from both sides of the coin, and very close to the front row seat of a war gone nuclear, one way or another. And now things were getting political. Lovely.
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Post by Victoria Sinclair on Jan 8, 2015 3:37:13 GMT
Timing seemed to be on James's side as the trio of white uniforms walked in, not exactly a comforting sight given their situation. Still the potential for more info had increased with their arrival so there was some hope. Following his example Victoria turned around promptly but only saluted after her commander had done so, being a Titan came with many perks, but if Ennis wished to play diplomatically she'd play along. A glance at Jamie at his remark was all she had time for however when they dropped the bombshell on them. Confusion spread quickly in Victoria's mind as she looked at her fellow squadmates. "Ah testify for what the nuclear attack?" There could only be so many people they'd be called to testify for or against right?
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Post by Katharyn Holcroft on Jan 8, 2015 5:00:05 GMT
Katharyn’s eyes opened, and she glanced at Julian Miller. She still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of him. But in combat, they’d somehow ended up thrown together engaging the same target, and that had worked out to their advantage. She caught a flash of gold, and saw a pendant around his neck.
“No problem,” she started to say, with a small nod. She was going to say more, but at that moment a couple of MPs stalked over to them asking stupid question, and she snorted derisively at Neston’s response. It was so typical of him - sarcastic, completely irreverent, and totally idiotic. Still, she agreed with him. Then, the pompous ass who seemed to be their leader replied that all of them had been subpoenaed. As if THEY, not the AEUG, had been the ones that nuked Jaburo.
Momentarily, she debated the propriety of drawing and drilling him through the head. She made no move, however, to act on that thought - they were, after all, in an aircraft, and the risk, however minor, of punching a hole in its hull was enough that she knew it was a bad idea. Plus, it’d be a terrible waste of a good bullet - and they weren’t cheap. So she sat without moving, not even bothering to glance at the MPs, and listened.
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Post by Julian Miller on Jan 8, 2015 16:44:34 GMT
The moment the three EFGF officers entered the room backed by a group of MPs, Julian's eyes narrowed into daggers and he crossed his arms over his chest. Almost immediately he could guess about what their purpose was in looking for this team in particular which made the muttered response by Jamie and Katharyn's giggling even more important. To him it was obvious the moment the words left their mouth. They were here to find a scapegoat for the fiasco at Jaburo and 15th Tactical was a perfect target.
Personally he didn't understand why the other people on the team seemed to shock. After all, the Federation had become known for doing things like this. One just had to look at the Witch Hunt that took place after the events of the Delaz Fleet Incident to see just how desperate the big-wigs could get to blame someone, anyone for disasters when the true culprits were either dead or far out of reach. At the end of the day the 15th had failed to recover the nukes stolen by the AEUG and now Jaburo had been annihilated by a weapon of mass destruction. Everything seemed pretty cut and dry to Julian.
That being said, he was curious to see where things would go from here. Regardless of whether the Federation leadership wanted to blame them for what had happened they still were members of the Titans which didn't make them member of the regular forces Not to mention people like Bask and Jamitov still had a lot of pull and could get them out of a sticky situation like this. The question in Julian's mind, however, was whether or not they'd want to. With things as tense as they were regarding the political situation in the Federation, would Bask and Jamitov want to risk giving the AEUG more favor by putting up a fuss over a single Mobile Suit team? Politically it might not be the smartest of moves and neither men had proved to be exactly compassionate or empathetic over the years.
More specifically, Julian wondered what his role would be in all of this. Unlike the other members of the 15th, he had been transferred to the unit after the nukes had been stolen and the unit had failed to recover them. With that in mind he couldn't really be blamed for anything that had been done or failed to be done before he was an actual member. He supposed it would be possible to jump ship, it wouldn't be the first time, but did he want to? Looking around the room at his fellow pilots, he wondered if he'd be willing to betray all of their trust and see them thrown to the wolves. The thought didn't sit well in his stomach but then again, was he willing to let his military career go up in smoke because of a team he barely knew?
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Post by Yazan Gable on Jan 9, 2015 1:47:53 GMT
What surprised Jaime the most about the turn of events was probably how nonplussed he was about the whole thing. So he was going to be brought up and questioned…again. In this case, getting reamed out by Commander Ennis worked to his advantage. He’d faced a withering barrage from a man he deeply respected, so what would it be to take a stern look from some scumbag politician.Besides, they had done nothing wrong, so what were they going to find out?
“Yeah, they are for real.”Jaime responded to Gage with a stage whisper, smirking a little as he heard a snort from Holcroft.
Jesus. From her, that’s practically rolling on the floor laughing.
“They really did need to ask who we are. Well, what do you expect, they’re Army.”
Jaime gave the lead officer a cocky grin. “What would we need to prepare for? Not a single one of us did a damn thing wrong, unless you count getting shot to shit by a bunch of fucking Zekes defending a base.” Jaime shrugged, trying to give off his best. “I don’t really give a fuck” vibe.
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Post by Daniel Gage on Jan 10, 2015 5:38:01 GMT
"Understood, sir. Thank you for informing us. Will we be granted any legal counsel, or are we on our own? And will I be able to represent the unit, or are all my pilots to be interviewed personally? Most of them aren't experienced with the politics of our work, so if they're going into it I'd like to know so that they can get the advice they'll need."]
"You have yourselves for legal counsel. These are special circumstances." “Yeah, they are for real.” Gage said back in a state of stupor- eavesdropping on the crowd of panic and uncertainty. "Ah testify for what the nuclear attack?" "I cannot say for certain, but it's circumstantial."“What would we need to prepare for? Not a single one of us did a damn thing wrong, unless you count getting shot to shit by a bunch of fucking Zekes defending a base.” "I cannot comment on that." Things became clear after the officer's response. That was just a polite way to say that he didn't know. Everyone was being kept in the dark about this. And for good reason. Everyone was caught with their pants down- especially the Earth Federation government. They were looking for a way out, and they turning to them for answers. "Let em' go. You've got your four hours, gentlemen. That's all I can give you. Good luck." With the tip of a hat, he was off to the bridge- leaving the rest to console amongst themselves.
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