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Post by AEUG on Jan 5, 2015 0:42:56 GMT
Zodiac Squadron had limped away from the Titans, concerned about the mobility-crippled unit of Petrenko. They'd been too far away to support the primary landing at Jaburo base - but not so far out that they didn't know the damage caused by the missile battery they couldn't break through to eliminate.
The nuclear detonation over Jaburo made that kind of moot.
No one in the Zodiacs wanted to believe how many of both the AEUG and Federal Forces had been wiped out by that nuke, but they knew the number wasn't good. The Zodics dug in, looking for transport out of there.
The revelations that some of the combat chatter between Finley and the Titans CO, Ennis, coupled with Finley's complete usurpation of command during the fight had the entire squadron inquisitive. They hadn't been able to act on that, though, as Steiner had pointed out they were still deep in enemy territory, damaged and unsupported. Witch hunts could wait for when they were safely away.
Thankfully, Steiner's sensor board showed that there was an Audhumla class carrier squawking AEUG IFF, whose course would take it conveniently close to their position...
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Post by Edward LeNoire on Jan 5, 2015 1:48:29 GMT
Rick Dias Taurus Leader
Eddy leaned back into the linear seat, thankful that the manufacturer still used comfortable leather for those things. His helmet was off and sitting in his lap, his eyes closed as he quietly reflected on how much of a turkey shoot this simple support mission had turned into. About the only thing we accomplished was laying enough damage into Ennis’ squadron so they couldn’t join in the fun back at Jaburo...
But he couldn’t permit himself the personal victory of besting his mentor in combat, if only once. Everything was now overshadowed by the mushroom cloud bellowing from the smoldering crater and burnt trees where Jaburo had once been. He was doing everything he could not to think about about how many had been incinerated by the detonation or how this would paint either side in the eyes of the Earth Sphere.
Well, almost everything. It was clear to everyone that Finley was no longer the person they thought he was. Finley, what am I saying? It’s Anderson. Eddy couldn’t wait to get back to space and compare his findings with whatever Langstrom managed to dig up. For the moment, however their main priority was to get up to the Garuda with the AEUG IFF and escape to a more secure location, figure out what to do next. I’m going to have a lot of fun laying into Anderson for playing identity thief...
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Post by Hilda Steiner on Jan 6, 2015 2:19:49 GMT
Hilda looked at her sensor board, not at all happy about the way things were going. I swear to God, if Forer used one of the ones we pulled, I'm gonna bury that Feddie asshat myself she fumed, pausing to think. And he's not the only one I'm gonna bury she thought, glancing over at the damaged GM with the 'Z02' hull number. Finley has exactly three seconds once we get recovered to tell me precisely, and in great detail, how he was able to talk with a Titans squadron commander like old friends before I empty a magazine into the little rat she thought.
Her sensor board dinged, haloing a yellow 'UNK' icon with the green of a friendly. That's a damned Garuda-class carrier. And a ticket home she thought, keying her comm after confirming the friendly IFF code. "AEUG Garuda, AEUG Garuda, this is Zodiac-Actual. My unit is an advanced strike force with heavy battle damage, request pickup at grid Kilo-Two-Niner for 9 birds" she called, hoping that there would be an answer.
Thankfully, a few seconds later, her comm crackled. "Zodiac, Audhumla, copy, we can fit you, but just barely. Adjusting course now for pickup, request mark pickup zone at 30 seconds out" she heard back, thanking whatever deity was out there that they had an expedient ride. A quick acknowledgement from her and the carrier descended to nap of the earth and vectored so that her squadron would be able to manage landing on it without landing. Tricky maneuver, but we can make it work she thought as she keyed squadron comms. "Pickup in two, ladies. Gonna have to jump for it, but it'll at least get away from this goddamn jungle" she called, popping a flare as she spotted the thing fast approaching their position.
A few seconds later, she jammed her thruster pedals and leaped into the air, angling for the top of the carrier. Better than making bug on a windshield she thought, thudding down on the top of the thing. A few seconds later, she'd crawled into the hangar and her damaged Dias was tucked into a berth on the carrier deck. Running through an abbreviated power-down checklist, she spilled out of her cockpit, eyeing the damage unhappily. That's three straight sorties you've come back worse for the wear. Of course, you've given better than you got all three too she knew. She turned and began walking towards Finley's unit, a scowl on her face as she glanced around the hangar.
Her eyes stopped for a moment on a red-uniformed, sunglasses-decked Commander to whom she needed no introduction. It was... 'Quattro', right she recalled as she parked herself by Finley's unit, waiting on the little shit to come out and explain himself.
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Post by Edward LeNoire on Jan 6, 2015 4:30:01 GMT
Eddy listened to Steiner’s call as his eyes spotted a particularly large transport aircraft approaching, its hull painted in a gaudy red-orange color with the command block and engines painted a darker shade of red. Well, no one said it had to look pretty. “Copy that, Zodiac Actual. Taurus Flight, prepare for extraction. Rey, pair up with Petrenko and help her make the jump, over.” He stopped short of throwing a snarky comment towards Anderson. Wouldn’t do that much good, anyway.
A few seconds later, the Audhumla was in range and Eddy’s Rick Dias leaped into the air with a flash of shining blue fire, ensuring his trajectory would land him on top of the carrier alongside Steiner. He stuck the landing, albeit with a thud, following Steiner into the hangar and parking his mech into one of the spare berths. After rapidly going through the shutdown checklist until the Rick Dias was powered down, Eddy dumped his helmet on the floor and opened the hatch.
As he rode the guide line down, Eddy took in the various mobile suits sitting at rest inside the hangar. We’ve got a few GM IIs, plenty of Rechts', a couple of Rick Dias’ and oh my God... Making contact with the deck, Eddy stepped off the guide line as it retracted and his eyes were glued to the sight of the Gundam Mark II, parked in one of the berths further down the hangar. “Back during the first war, I always wanted to see one of these. Check one thing off my bucket list.” He said to no one in particular.
Spotting Steiner standing in front of Finley’s GM Rechts, Eddy quickly walked over and joined her, the look on his face not quite as harsh but enough to make someone nervous. “I have the sensation we’re going to be jockeying to see who gets to chew out Finley first."
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Post by Jim Anderson on Jan 6, 2015 16:52:22 GMT
Looking down at his board, Chuck closed his eyes, recalling the mushroom cloud over Jaburo. Fucking pricks.... he thought, having a hunch about what had just happened. Kowen would never authorize that. Not to mention that if half the chatter is accurate, we lost almost as much as they did. No, only one person who would come up with a plan like that, and he's a fucking Black Leg he seethed.
Of course, memories of Bask trudged up other ones which probably were gonna get him killed in a few minutes. Why did I let Ennis bait me like that? I haven't even thought about him in years. Of course, if you didn't step in when you did, LeNoire and Steiner were gonna get us all killed with their laissez-faire tactics he fumed. Speaking of Steiner, she called in a carrier for pickup, and he simply acknowledged the call. Been a long time since I had to jump onto a moving carrier he thought, smiling a bit as he stomped on the thruster pedals and jumped into the air. Latching on to the roof of the carrier, he shimmied down into the hangar bay.
Traffic direction pushed him into a slot a few alcoves down from a frakking Gundam, and Chuck was appreciatively impressed by the monster. Damn, wish we could have had one of those he thought. Looking down, he also saw Steiner and LeNoire waiting for him, both looking impatient and angry. Fuuuuuck. This isn't gonna be fun he thought, reaching under his seat and taking a healthy belt off the flask he'd stashed underneath his seat. Sealing that in his leg pouch, he kicked out of his hatch and started going over the damage to his unit, completely ignoring the pair of Lieutenants who seemed to be interested in him. Piss off clowns he thought as he started opening the tiny cargo hold in his suit's leg.
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Post by Benjamin Regard on Jan 8, 2015 1:43:24 GMT
Though he and the squad had quite the view of the Jaburo fireworks, Ben still couldn’t believe what he had seen. Their failure to blow the missile batteries aside, things seemed to be going in favor of the AEUG. Most of the invasion force made it in, Zodiac wasn’t hunted down by that patrol or whatever backup they might’ve had, no one was shot dead from a shotgun trial. There were a few bumps along the road but it had been working out. Then, a bright flash wiped all that out in an instant, a billowing mushroom cloud in its wake.
Now, this wouldn’t be the first time that he had narrowly avoided an instant death just by being a few steps to the right, so to speak. Right there at A Bao Qu, his team was fortunate enough to be in another part of the Federation fleet as Zeon’s Solar Ray blew a third of it away, even claiming General Revil with the shot. But back then, it was just one army against the other looking to get an edge. It was clear who the target was. This? It was a giant mess. All sorts of guys were in there and all of them went up in an instant. No, scratch that, most of them went up.
“At least someone made it out of that disaster,” Ben mused in response to Hilda’s call, the distant Garuda’s shape making itself known as it drew closer to their position. Whoever made it out of there, they made a real getaway. Its thrusters propelling it upwards, the Rechts made the high jump needed to get where it needed to go, the machine stomping down on the carrier’s top hull with a rough landing before carefully making its way to the open hangar, the personnel guiding it towards the far end where the rest of Zodiac was making a home for itself. Soon enough, it was in its own slot and going through the final bits of powering down.
Popping the hatch, Ben stepped out and stretched, his helmet left behind in the seat and suit half-unzipped. “Feels good to get out of there,” he said aloud, taking a look around their new ride. It was pretty packed with mobile suits, mostly the older GM II but there were some Rechts hanging around, a pair of Rick Dias and some garish-looking gold mobile suit. And…
“No way,” he whistled as he grabbed the guide line, lowering himself down to the floor. It was different than the ones he had seen back during the war, both the ground-based RX-79 and the famed White Devil, but the distinctive faceplate and V-Fin proved it was exactly what he thought. It was an honest to god Gundam. With one of these on their side, it was no wonder they made it out of Jaburo like they had. “Hey, you guys have gotta come check this out! I haven’t seen one of these in years…” he trailed off with a glance towards his team as both flight leads stood outside one of the Rechts. He hadn’t thought much on it, what with being a tad busy with his own scuffle, but it was pretty hard to ignore all that talking back in the Amazon. And it looked like there was no ducking out of this one…
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Post by Fred Castle on Jan 8, 2015 2:37:00 GMT
While glad that they had managed to get away without any casualties, they had failed the objective and once they had retreated, had to carry Petrenko along. The worst was what happened later, their allies managed to practically take the base when what seemed to be a nuclear weapon had been detonated, destroying the base and a gpod chunk of the attak force. He had only seen one nuclear weapon used himself but knew of one time Zeon used one during the war, and had been near Torrington when they had attempted to steal one durimg the war. Being on the receiving end of the weapon again pissed him off, but he hadn't been hit by either one himself, which was something.
The only good thing about eighty-three was that after the nuke, there was still an enemy to fight, this time he had time to think about how badly they screwed up, and how completely the operation had failed. Steiner managed to find them a ride though, so they could at least get out of here, but he was sure they'd all rather shoot something, and after what they all heard he wouldn't be shocked if someone wanted to shoot Finley. Obviously Fred was pissed that the man had lied about his identity, but that by itself wasn't something to kill him over, even more so if he could provide intel first. For now though, they still had a job to do, something to keep them moving and occupied, like getting out of here while there could still be enemy forces around.
Once they made it to the transport, he had followed Steiner's machine up and landed on top of the vessel before entering the hanger. After securing his machine in a berth, he looked at the rest of the team and now saw how damaged they were, Steiner was combat ineffective, and yet her machine was not even in the worst condition, that dubious honor went to Petrenko. He felt pretty good about only losing his shield, but then he had also failed to land any good hits on his target as well and had gone through a lot of ammo. Looking around the hanger he saw some other machines that had already been there, including one that looked like the famous "Gundam" unit, he'd seen a couple RX-79s after the war, but heard they hadn't been anything special, though to be fair he had also heard that the famous Gundam had an amazing pilot as well.
Even so, he saw Steiner and LeNoire closing on Finley which meant this wasn't important, so he exited his unit and followed after the two Lieutenants, partly to hear what they found out, assuming they stayed here of course, but also to punch Finley once they finished with him. Finley of course was ignoring them, which he was sure the two Lieutenants would hate, but he wanted to know what was going on more than he was going to laugh at that, plus after thay failure he really didn't feel much like laughing anyway.
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Post by Hilda Steiner on Jan 8, 2015 4:13:22 GMT
Hilda wasn't surprised as Eddy came over to join them. He's probably more pissed off than me. Of course, I didn't train someone and completely miss that he had a full military background along with a very, very keen grasp of tactics. I imagine I'd be a might bit pissed if I missed something like that too she thought, letting her nasty side entertain a brief fantasy of an old foe and a white-hot knife.
Eddy, naturally, asked her a few questions that brought her out of the pleasant thought. "You could say that, Eddy. I'll be interested to see how he talks his way out of this one..." she said, eyes raising as Finley - or Anderson, or whoever the hell this guy is - finally left his cockpit. Of course, his contempt in ignoring them did nothing good for her blood pressure, but she wasn't going to let herself be baited. "Nothing to say for yourself, Ensign?" she asked in a tone that could've punched through Gundarium.
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Post by Marika Petrenko on Jan 8, 2015 4:28:24 GMT
To say Marika was happy would be a straight up lie and one would have to slap yourself if you even muttered those words, the girl was pissed and in a crippled machine she'd rather set on fire herself. Likely if she had the chance she'd sneak out and douse the damn thing in fuel, light it and then shove it out of the catapult. That however was one of the last things on the blonde's mind as she tried to land the Recht on the carrier, something which would've been hard to begin with was exasperated by the lack of a leg, thus after struggling with the 'flight' in the landing was rough and shook her far more then she was comfortable with.
Still after a moment to groan Marika shook it off before dragging the GM to the side and finally left the damn thing to the mechanics once she popped the hatch. It wasn't hard to notice all of the squad file in, the one she was looking for however was more noticeable thanks to Hilda and Edward standing infront of it. Without a care about Edward, Marika slipped her way by; although she was more careful around Hilda and moved around her. To his credit Chuck was doing his utmost to ignore everyone, well that'd change soon one way or another as a smirk began to form despite the crap she'd been going through. "Chuck you saved my butt out there, come on I gotta do something for you. Before my mobile suit sets itself on fire."
Without worrying about her superior and their concerns and definitely not Chuck's own reservations on the matter Marika hurried over to the grump to drag him off by his arm towards the nearest door. Forget explaining himself, forget answering questions Marika owed him and getting him out of trouble for a few minutes would go a ways she hoped. Plus a grand escape through halls seemed to always go well at home.
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Post by Jim Anderson on Jan 8, 2015 5:18:53 GMT
Chuck sighed, retrieving the duffel that had a few things he didn't want the others to see from the leg compartment as he turned back to a disturbingly calm Hilda. Well, never good when they're calm. The screamers at least you can tell are assholes; the calm ones are the dangerous ones he knew. He shook his head at her, not really caring where it went, the belt of whiskey helping his don't-give-a-shit factor up considerably. He pulled the flask again with a flourish, taking a deep pull, and responded "Not a damned thing, Steiner"
He was quite sure the only thing that kept her from ramming his head against the wall was the unexpected arrival of Petrenko. She spoke up quickly, grateful for the save, and dragged him off before Steiner and Eddy could get a word in. Well, 'dragged' is a little generous since I think I've got a good thirty pounds of muscle on her at least, but I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth he thought as she pulled him into a passageway. "Thank you" he said, with heartfelt intensity.
Not wanting to get chased down by either Steiner or Eddy, he quickly spotted an empty room nearby. "Let's... well, let's keep moving" he said, ducking them out of the corridor and into the small side compartment. Once in, he quickly grabbed a seat and pulled his flask. "Bottom's up" he said, smiling at her. He was disappointed, though, to find that he'd drained it. "Or not.." he said again, disappointed. Well, you do have another bottle in there... he thought. Smiling, he reached into his bag, then pulled the false bottom out. If Petrenko looked into the bag, she'd see a wooden box at the bottom from which Chuck was retrieving a somewhat ornate liquor bottle right next to - was that a gun!? but only if she looked at what he was digging into.
With a show, he flourished the bottle. "This is the good stuff. To saving each other's assess" he said, pouring a generous measure into his flask and taking an appreciative pull. He then looked back up at Petrenko. "Care for a belt, Marika?" he said, offering the flask to the young pilot.
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Post by Edward LeNoire on Jan 8, 2015 6:50:05 GMT
“If he manages to talk his way out of this one, anyway,” Eddy replied to Steiner’s comment, a half-smile on his face as he looked over at Anderson retrieving something from one of his mech’s leg compartments. His response to Steiner’s question was typical of the prick, nonchalant and dismissive of her authority, something Eddy had coped with from the moment the guy had first set foot on the hangar deck of the Geronimo.
But before either one of them could really begin to lay into him, Eddy felt a body push him aside without much care as Marika quickly latched onto Anderson and pulled him away and out of the duo’s sight.
She almost ended up like Emir today and the only reason she didn’t is because he saved her. What the hell am I doing with this bunch? I should be back where I belong, where I actually make a difference, not having to deal with a shadowy prick like Anderson... Suddenly, there was a radical change in Eddy’s demeanor and body language. Up until now, he’d been relatively relaxed and jovial if definitely irritated but now he’d shifted to a fierce blend of melancholy and joylessness.
Still aware that Steiner had a death glare in her eye that would have torn Coblenz’s Efreet in half if she stared it long enough, Eddy gently placed his hand on her shoulder and spoke, the energy that his voice once had replaced by clear-cut exhaustion. “Lieutenant Hilda, I’d like to suggest leaving this matter alone for today. I don’t know if he told you, but Captain Langstrom and I had a discussion not long after that turkey shoot protecting the stolen cargo. I confessed some misgivings about Finley’s true identity and he arranged to have a friend of his run a background check, find some abnormalities or cracks in the man’s story. Once we return to space, the Captain and I can compare notes. Besides, it seems clear that Mr. Anderson is the only one who doesn’t think the jig is up.”
Eddy’s voice then took on a more personal tone as confessed something he’d wanted to say for a long while now. “And personally...I’m tired of fighting the man, Lieutenant Hilda. I’ve had to fight him since Day One and for once, I’d like to not to have to fight with that disrespectful, ill-tempered, egotistical and arrogant son of a bitch.” He stood and waited for the woman's reply, which he anticipated would be less than pleasant. A slap to the face seems appropriate...
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Post by Hilda Steiner on Jan 9, 2015 4:25:29 GMT
Hilda was rather surprised as Finley just ignored the pair of them. Ballsy. Stupid, but ballsy she thought, stepping forward and preparing to remind the cat sunning in the window that he really, really ought to be afraid of the dog glaring up at him angrily. Before she could, though, Petrenko dragged the prick off, and with nary a how-do-you-do the pair was gone. Hilda sighed. Time to settle the bastard's hash later. For now... she thought as Eddy spoke up. Her eyes narrowed as he mentioned that he'd already discussed his... suspicions about Finley - or is it Anderson? - with Langstrom. Her anger did cool, though, as she agreed that the man had always been a royal pain in her ass and living proof that 10% of your people occupy 90% of your time. His anger stuck a chord with her, though, and Eddy would see her nod in agreement at how much of an asshole he'd been. But even then... without him, the unit would've fallen apart out there. Petrenko would be dead, and L'Ciel or Rey with her, more than likely. Not sure what to make of that... she thought, giving Eddy a brief glare before she spoke up.
"Then I suppose I should discuss the matter with Captain Langstrom" she said plainly, not letting her anger leak into her tone. "Take some time to cool off, Eddy. I'll talk to Lars and we'll figure out the next move" she closed before stepping off and heading towards the Bridge.
Once up on the command deck, she looked at the nearest rating. "I need a secure line to the Polaris" she said in the tone of one who expects to be obeyed. That fast one of the Bridge gang gave her a handset and started fiddling with the radio. Amazing what can happen... and I wonder what he's doing here? she thought, thinking idly of her old comrade as the crypto burst resonated in her ear. "You there old friend?" she asked as soon as she had a line to Lars.
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Post by Edward LeNoire on Jan 9, 2015 4:36:40 GMT
Rather than verbally reply to Hilda’s statement, Eddy simply nodded and snapped a polite salute to her in acknowledgement as she headed off to make contact with Langstrom and get further in the know. With that matter settled for the time being, he decided to stroll around the hangar for a while to try and take his mind off the thoughts that bothered him so deeply and so suddenly.
After a minute of inspecting the company of mobile suits that had survived the nuclear surprise that had engulfed Jaburo, Eddy stopped at the berth containing a particularly interesting mech. It appeared to share some design traits with the Gundam, particularly its head design, but what made it stand out was its shining gold armor plating. Where the Gundam had inspired the youthful side of him, this brought out the snarky and sarcastic jokester. “Well, I see someone decided to toss all sense of subtlety into the wind and created a mobile suit that’s equal parts ostentatious and gaudy. How the Hell does bling help on the battlefield?”
Of course, Eddy couldn’t have known that its pilot was close enough to hear his comments.
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Post by Marika Petrenko on Jan 9, 2015 8:20:52 GMT
A little escape from the officers always a good way to get the blood flowing and put something behind you, but the big surprise came when he thanked her. Any plans of savoring that or even think more heavily on the matter were yanked away when Chuck moved to get them a better place to hide which jarred her thoughts. Once inside Marika was surprised how quickly the squad grump went back to his favorite hobby as he raised his flask up, or not as he spoke up disappointed which prompted her to chuckle. "Nice Chuck I thought that would be the one thing you make sure you have enough of." With that she walked next to him as be began to dig curious what he was working at until he finally pulled it out to reveal a bottle o' booze.
She really should've known better and the look of amusement on her face along with her smirk reinforced the fact she should've known better. The offer however quickly piqued her interest as she focused in on the flask. "I was told by plenty of gruff and scruffy guys that turning down a drink was one of the rudest things you could do." While she was hardly one to drink, alcohol had been one of the luxuries that she'd been around and never gotten to try. Thus with her chance in front of her Marika accepted the flask and held in both hands tentatively, then slowly she raised it up to her lips to take a sip. That first taste which likely would've been better appreciated by more seasoned tastes soured Marika's expression as she squirmed and lowered the flask down, doing well to not spit it out before finally drinking it down.
"Oh jeez...you drink this all the time too right?" She stuck out her tongue briefly more as a jest against Chuck and quickly chuckled as she swished the liquid around in the flask and one against braved the unfamiliar taste with a quick sip before passing the flask back to Chuck as she squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed the alcohol down again. "Man that's going to take some getting used to."
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Post by Quattro Bajeena on Jan 10, 2015 5:13:49 GMT
“Well, I see someone decided to toss all sense of subtlety into the wind and created a mobile suit that’s equal parts ostentatious and gaudy. How the Hell does bling help on the battlefield?” "If I had a choice, I'd rather it be that all enemies see and attack me than take the life the life of another foolish soul fighting for a cause he never understood." The voice came from above. Its pilot was on a gantry arm. He had hit the down button. As the platform slowly made it descent into inevitability, the Lieutenant in the red uniform sized him up through his thick shades. "Who might you be, Lieutenant?"
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