Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: The Forgotten Fleet ❯ Azimuth ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Zinegata 
Just part 2. Nothing much else to say:-)
Anime/Manga: Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Drama | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 08.31.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 279 | Status: Completed
Just part 2. Nothing much else to say:-)
Anime/Manga: Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Action / Drama | Type: Self Insertion | Uploaded On: 08.31.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 2.9K | Visits: 279 | Status: Completed
Chapter 2: Azimuth
Nov 4, UC 0079
Somewhere near Kiev, Ukraine
A lone Zeon lookout peered out nervously from the top of a large, rocky hill. Known to both Zeon and Federation as Hill 14, it overlooked much of the main Zeon defenses a few miles east of it. Defenses that guarded the Headquarters of the 1st Mobile Division at Kiev, the single most important piece of real estate on the continent, maybe even on all of Earth. That was why even now a few MS-05 Zaku Is were busy improving the defensive positions. Long since discarded by Zeon forces as a combat unit, MS-05s still found profitable use in construction roles. The real defenders of the hill were the eight J type Ground specialist Zaku IIs and a company of fourteen Magella Attack tanks, all of whom were currently digging in for the expected attack.
There should have been a hell of a lot more... the lookout thought, but most of the Zeon forces had been ordered by commanding general Ma Kube to sectors far from this location, despite the growing number of Federation units in the area. He had heard all his assurances that there was no way the Federation was going to attack this sector, but he just didn't trust that lackey of Kishira Zabi. Kishira might be the daughter of Zeon's ruler, Degin Zabi, but she was not a true warrior like her brother Dozul. He personally would have preferred the more soldierly General Yuri to be in command, but he didn't have all the necessary connections for that. Damn the stupid Zabis and their nepotism! He thought. He wasn't a Zabi supporter like some of his comrades, and now he was being sent off to die in a faraway land. Damn them. He ducked back down to his foxhole, still unable to spot any of the Federation positions. But they were there, he was sure.
--------------------------
They were. Lt. Sylvie was also quietly observing the Zeon positions from the 25mm machine gun position of her Type 74 Hovertruck. Being hull down in a tank sized foxhole and covered with protective matting, the tank was impossible to spot. Protruding from its side, a pole-like device was already implanted into the ground. It was the HoverTruck's ground sonar, it main "weapon" as a reconnaissance/support platform. Beside her, a RGM-79G GM Sniper was also similarly camouflaged, and also observing the Zeon positions. Although still having the same optics as a regular Ground Type with the exception of the rifle sight, it was still far more accurate than the naked eye. And besides, its pilot, Lt. Max "Rifle" Harper, had the eyes of a hawk.
"Rifle here, I see two Zakus and fourteen Magella Tanks on the base of the hill, and six more Zakus and a pair of turrets on the hilltop," He reported in his quiet, usually reserved tone, "And a pair of Old Zakus improving the positions on the hilltop. How about you Sylvie?"
"Me too, hey Earl, waddya think?" referring to Earl Williams, the operator of the Type 74's ground sonar.
He held up his hand first to warn Sylvie to keep quiet as he carefully adjusted several knobs on his panel. The improvements on listening devices had been remarkable, but it still took trained operators and sophisticated computer analysis to distinguish different sounds. "Yeah, got them on my sonar too, wait... two Old Zakus are moving away..."
"Rifle here, I confirm movement, they are leaving. Earl, are there any units coming towards us?" Max inquired.
"Aside from a couple of Desert Zakus heading for the main defenses, I have no further contacts." Earl replied with full self-confidence.
Sylvie nodded, "Hey Pat, you ready?" Pat Summers was the driver of her Type 74. Officially, Hovertrucks had four crew, but it was more common to have only two. She, however, had the luxury of three. However, there was a reason for that, she was also the battalion camera unit and main communications link to high command.
"Let's get this show on the road!" he replied with a grin.
"Alright, I'm sending coordinates to the artillery section. Time is now 0630 hours. Thirty minutes to H-hour."
-----------------------------
Captain Karl Grunther was napping quietly in his Mass-Production Type Guntank when the coordinates came in. About time he thought. Now he had targets to hit, even though he only had a ragtag collection of artillery consisting of two half-tank, half-MS Guntanks and a dozen old-fashioned 155mm towed artillery pieces that had been in use since the Second World War. However, it was his talent to put such diverse forces together. He'd come a long way from being a tank commander, and his scarred body and tough, determined face certainly emanated that. Now currently the expert artillery commander of the 71st Battalion, he'd show those Zeon b*****ds what he thought of them... He looked quietly out the semi-arid plain of Ukraine, trying to remember the how it was, eight months ago...
------------------------------
March 1, UC 0079
Baikonur Spaceport, Ukraine
It was snowing lightly, he thought, looking at the sky. Another gift from those Zeon murders, no doubt. And it was also getting dark. He was worried a bit, Zeon just might be able to land forces in tonight. Beside him, fourteen other Type 61 tanks were waiting quietly just outside the Baikonur spaceport, just in case they did come...
"Comrade Sergeant," a familiar voice asked from behind him.
"You know Igor, it has been a long time since Communism fell in Russia, are you trying to revive it in this day and age?" Karl asked his gunner, "Call me sir."
"Yes sir, comrade Karl!" Igor replied proudly. Both men laughed. They needed it. They had been best friends since they had been assigned to the same Type 61 tank two years ago. Who would have thought, Karl reflected, that a German and a Russian would be friends fighting a different enemy? Well, the colonization program broke a lot of racial boundaries...
"But seriously sir, it's part of my heritage and my great-great..." Igor started. Karl smiled, Igor's father had been a history teacher.
"Arguing about ancient history again?" the driver, Marko Sergetov, asked as he returned from a nearby field. And he was carrying a bottle, smiling.
"Marko, speaking of ancient history, don't tell me that..." Igor cautioned.
"The best quality vodka sir. Found some home-made in a nearby farm. I erghh... convinced the farmer to put in on the tab for us since it's a tough job to..."
"No drinking on duty Marko," Karl ordered firmly. Marko was a good driver, but he liked liquor a little much for his taste. And they might be fighting tonight.
"Yes, we'll drink it when we kick Zeon's a**!" Igor replied confidently, and then carefully taking the bottle and putting it gently into a locker. Drinking may be illegal, but good vodka was still too good to waste...
Karl nodded, "Alright, get on the tank," He looked quietly to the sky above him. It wasn't a friendly sky, he knew. But it also had been one hell of a speech that the commanding General Revil had given them a month ago after his heroic escape from the hands of his Zeon captors. "There are no warriors in Zeon," he had said in that speech, describing the dismal state of Zeon's manpower, which was enough to convince the rest of high command to continue the fight. Better yet, even if they did come those new Mobile Suits wouldn't be so useful on the ground. They were just too big and slow for that. But still... He searched his pockets and produced a picture. It was of his wife, now living in Belfast. They had a lot of problems since he had joined the military but...
"She's waiting for you, don't worry," Igor said with a touch of envy. He was very young, only 20, and had yet to have his own family.
Karl nodded. He looked back at the sky, wishing he could go home. She wasn't writing him at all... maybe... He then saw something out of the darkening sky. It looked like a shooting star, but then...
"Sarge! Visual contact! We have ten HLVs coming down. Landing in 14th Company sector!" Igor reported excitedly.
Karl gulped. HLVs or Heavy Launch Vehicles were giant rockets used for carrying heavy equipment to and from space, and would most certainly form the vanguard of an invasion force. To make matters worse, the 14th Company was just west of them..."Any attempt at intercepting those HLVs?"
"Minovsky particles interfering with radar! I don't think they can..."
A huge explosion suddenly filled the sky as one of the HLVs exploded from a very, very lucky missile hit. Pieces of the HLV rained down on their positions, and Karl immediately closed the hatch above him. He cringed as he heard the pings as numerous fragments hit his tanks. After a few seconds, it stopped, and he opened the hatch and peered out of his tank. There were more lights coming down from the sky, almost like rain, and from the west, he could hear explosions...
"14th Company is in heavy contact, commander is ordering us to support!" Igor reported.
"Alright, Igor, check the autoloader, make sure it works. Marko, let's get there fast!"
The tank suddenly lurched as it started moving towards the west. Thirteen other tanks went with them, their twin 150mm guns trained out menacingly at the darkening sky. Ready to be fired for the first time...
"14th company is no longer responding," Igor reported grimly. They had just been annihilated, and that was that. "I have a target!"
Karl peered out and saw a huge humanoid machine, some 20 meters high, covered in white canvas, giving it some camouflage in the snow covered ground. A MS-06C Zaku II, bearing the Insignia of the Zeon Earth Attack Force. Around it several charred remnants of what had been tanks of the 14th Company littered the ground. The suit's head turned, and it mono-eye sensor flashed a bright red as it started to swing it machine gun around...
"Target, lead Zaku! Fire!" Karl ordered.
Igor adjusted the twin barrels of the tank slightly, compensating for the tank's movement and the light snow, and depressed the trigger. Two 150mm shells streaked towards the Zaku, both hitting the torso area and shattering it. The Zaku went down, its chest now engulfed in flames..."Hit! Gotcha!"
Igor was not the only one to fire, Karl saw. Twelve of the tanks had already found targets for their own guns, and the Zakus were caught looking the wrong way. Six of them went down, four more were damaged. Karl waited for a long few seconds as the guns reloaded, before ordering, "Target damaged Zaku to the left. Fire!" Igor complied, and another Zaku went up in flames. Karl would have grinned, but now more Zakus were coming up to reinforce them, and they had their guns trained out at them. "Nice one Igor! Marko, start maneuvering! Get us out of here!"
Marko scarcely needed any encouragement as a stream of 120mm shells exploded the Type 61 just left of theirs. He put the tank in full reverse, allowing it to evade a burst from one of the Zakus. He pulled the tank away and swung wildly left and right as shells began to explode all around them, killing more members of their tank company.
Karl saw the explosions all around him, and decided that it was time to leave. Only four Type 61s were still active, and they could not hold the enemy unless help arrived, which was probably not forthcoming. He did though, spot one of the squadron leader Zakus with a "horn" on it. Killing it might break the attack for a while... "Igor, can you take out that squad leader?"
"No problem," he replied as he fired another volley of 150mm shells. Both hit the cockpit, and another Zaku joined the wreckage that now decorated the bloody landscape.
Karl was just about to commend Igor on another good shot when a 120mm shell hit the Type 61 in the turret. The shell instantly destroyed both guns, but the armor in turret was harder that anywhere else in the tank, preventing it from exploding the tank immediately.
Karl though, was in no mood to wait for it to brew up, "Bail out!" he screamed as he scrambled to get out of the tank. He had just pulled himself out of the hatch when a second shell struck the Type 61, sending him flying into the air. He hit the ground, face down. He tried to stand up, but couldn't. Something was wrong with his leg... he looked back at his tank, and it was burning, with Marko and Igor still in it...
"Get him in!" a female voice screamed. Karl felt a pair of arms holding and carrying him away. He was still looking at his burning tank when they closed the hatch on the Type 74 Hovertruck. He peered out of one of the slits in the truck as they left, and he saw that explosions were still everywhere. They were leaving behind thirty Type 61s, twelve Zakus, and the first ground casualties of the One Year War. Among them were Igor Sakharov and Marko Sergetov...
------------------------------
Karl looked back at the plains of Odessa. It was now arid instead of snowy, but that wasn't important. He was finally going to avenge them, even if he couldn't see his work. The Guntank's 180mm tubes were elevated up the proper angle, and he stared on impassively at the clock. It was now exactly 0659 hours. One minute to go...
------------------------------
Now, as for the consistency questions I know will crop up (from all you veteran UC fans out there![like Shin;)] And for those who don't care about realism, please just skip this unless you are a mecha freak).
GM Grounds were used in Odessa, so the Sniper attachment for them was probably available too. (The GM Sniper is just a GM Ground with a sniper rifle, and has no special strings attached).
I put two MPT Guntanks with the arty(artillery) section. Okay it was NEVER mentioned they were deployed in Odessa, but if YOU were launching the single most important operation of the war would you hold back any strings? (and I haven't found anything saying that MPTs are exclusive to the Kojima Battalion, in fact, good bet is that the rest of the RX-79Gs went to Odessa[OR Jaburo...],though it may have been temporarily, but I won't use the RX-79s.).
Since no one has a factual idea what the crew of a Type 61 is, I'm sticking with 3. One gunner, a commander and one driver. However, some tanks may be undercrewed(like the Type 74s) and have only 2 crewmen per tank(based on a pic I saw) with one gunner, and one driver.
Also, I'm just covering a part of Odessa, so I won't estimate the whole ORBAT of the battle (sorry Shin, couldn't wait...I'll just rewrite it if it's way too inconsistent.[like changing the location...argh, not fair, even the 08th MS violated a heck of a lot of the Gundam canon...])
I think they still have vintage artillery by UC 79 for their artillery sections( In the Original Gundam I saw a few old towed artillery pieces during the Odessa episode)
Finally, and I'm sure as hell with this one. It was snowing(or rather, it HAD snowed) when Zeon took Odessa, unless Giren's Greed(PS version) screwed up big time in their original animation(Zeon Odessa Victory, I think it's no. 4 or 5)...(maybe effect of the Colony drop?) AND the Zaks used were covered in white canvas or textile(but not the same as Shin's Zaku color scheme). Also, the insignia I mentioned also appears in the Gundam Strategy game Giren's Greed with these Zakus. I believe it is a wolf clutching the Earth firmly in its fangs.
------------------------------
Real History stuff:
Just for those who are interested, Odessa is in the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. Lots of battles had been fought over it for the same reasons as Zeon... resources. Most memorable though, is the Battle of Balaklava. In October 25th, 1854, a 600 man British Cavalry troop was mistakenly ordered to make a hopeless charge against Russian artillery. Though hopeless, they followed their orders and were reduced to less than two-thirds their strength. Their selfless heroism though, would forever be immortalized in Alfred Tennyson's poem, Charge of the Light Brigade.
Theirs is not to make reply,
Theirs is not to reason why,
Theirs is but to do and die
Into the Valley of Death,
Rode the six hundred...
(Sorry again for poetry, but the battle is special for me and my country for a reason. Because ninety years later, _to the day_, something similar and significant would occur in my country, and would forever spark my interest in fighting ships and the men who crewed them.)
----------------------
Notice:
This story and all related material is copyrighted by me, no part of this story may be taken by any other person. If you wish to use any material, please contact me first. Gundam and all related trademarks are owned by their respective companies.
Nov 4, UC 0079
Somewhere near Kiev, Ukraine
A lone Zeon lookout peered out nervously from the top of a large, rocky hill. Known to both Zeon and Federation as Hill 14, it overlooked much of the main Zeon defenses a few miles east of it. Defenses that guarded the Headquarters of the 1st Mobile Division at Kiev, the single most important piece of real estate on the continent, maybe even on all of Earth. That was why even now a few MS-05 Zaku Is were busy improving the defensive positions. Long since discarded by Zeon forces as a combat unit, MS-05s still found profitable use in construction roles. The real defenders of the hill were the eight J type Ground specialist Zaku IIs and a company of fourteen Magella Attack tanks, all of whom were currently digging in for the expected attack.
There should have been a hell of a lot more... the lookout thought, but most of the Zeon forces had been ordered by commanding general Ma Kube to sectors far from this location, despite the growing number of Federation units in the area. He had heard all his assurances that there was no way the Federation was going to attack this sector, but he just didn't trust that lackey of Kishira Zabi. Kishira might be the daughter of Zeon's ruler, Degin Zabi, but she was not a true warrior like her brother Dozul. He personally would have preferred the more soldierly General Yuri to be in command, but he didn't have all the necessary connections for that. Damn the stupid Zabis and their nepotism! He thought. He wasn't a Zabi supporter like some of his comrades, and now he was being sent off to die in a faraway land. Damn them. He ducked back down to his foxhole, still unable to spot any of the Federation positions. But they were there, he was sure.
--------------------------
They were. Lt. Sylvie was also quietly observing the Zeon positions from the 25mm machine gun position of her Type 74 Hovertruck. Being hull down in a tank sized foxhole and covered with protective matting, the tank was impossible to spot. Protruding from its side, a pole-like device was already implanted into the ground. It was the HoverTruck's ground sonar, it main "weapon" as a reconnaissance/support platform. Beside her, a RGM-79G GM Sniper was also similarly camouflaged, and also observing the Zeon positions. Although still having the same optics as a regular Ground Type with the exception of the rifle sight, it was still far more accurate than the naked eye. And besides, its pilot, Lt. Max "Rifle" Harper, had the eyes of a hawk.
"Rifle here, I see two Zakus and fourteen Magella Tanks on the base of the hill, and six more Zakus and a pair of turrets on the hilltop," He reported in his quiet, usually reserved tone, "And a pair of Old Zakus improving the positions on the hilltop. How about you Sylvie?"
"Me too, hey Earl, waddya think?" referring to Earl Williams, the operator of the Type 74's ground sonar.
He held up his hand first to warn Sylvie to keep quiet as he carefully adjusted several knobs on his panel. The improvements on listening devices had been remarkable, but it still took trained operators and sophisticated computer analysis to distinguish different sounds. "Yeah, got them on my sonar too, wait... two Old Zakus are moving away..."
"Rifle here, I confirm movement, they are leaving. Earl, are there any units coming towards us?" Max inquired.
"Aside from a couple of Desert Zakus heading for the main defenses, I have no further contacts." Earl replied with full self-confidence.
Sylvie nodded, "Hey Pat, you ready?" Pat Summers was the driver of her Type 74. Officially, Hovertrucks had four crew, but it was more common to have only two. She, however, had the luxury of three. However, there was a reason for that, she was also the battalion camera unit and main communications link to high command.
"Let's get this show on the road!" he replied with a grin.
"Alright, I'm sending coordinates to the artillery section. Time is now 0630 hours. Thirty minutes to H-hour."
-----------------------------
Captain Karl Grunther was napping quietly in his Mass-Production Type Guntank when the coordinates came in. About time he thought. Now he had targets to hit, even though he only had a ragtag collection of artillery consisting of two half-tank, half-MS Guntanks and a dozen old-fashioned 155mm towed artillery pieces that had been in use since the Second World War. However, it was his talent to put such diverse forces together. He'd come a long way from being a tank commander, and his scarred body and tough, determined face certainly emanated that. Now currently the expert artillery commander of the 71st Battalion, he'd show those Zeon b*****ds what he thought of them... He looked quietly out the semi-arid plain of Ukraine, trying to remember the how it was, eight months ago...
------------------------------
March 1, UC 0079
Baikonur Spaceport, Ukraine
It was snowing lightly, he thought, looking at the sky. Another gift from those Zeon murders, no doubt. And it was also getting dark. He was worried a bit, Zeon just might be able to land forces in tonight. Beside him, fourteen other Type 61 tanks were waiting quietly just outside the Baikonur spaceport, just in case they did come...
"Comrade Sergeant," a familiar voice asked from behind him.
"You know Igor, it has been a long time since Communism fell in Russia, are you trying to revive it in this day and age?" Karl asked his gunner, "Call me sir."
"Yes sir, comrade Karl!" Igor replied proudly. Both men laughed. They needed it. They had been best friends since they had been assigned to the same Type 61 tank two years ago. Who would have thought, Karl reflected, that a German and a Russian would be friends fighting a different enemy? Well, the colonization program broke a lot of racial boundaries...
"But seriously sir, it's part of my heritage and my great-great..." Igor started. Karl smiled, Igor's father had been a history teacher.
"Arguing about ancient history again?" the driver, Marko Sergetov, asked as he returned from a nearby field. And he was carrying a bottle, smiling.
"Marko, speaking of ancient history, don't tell me that..." Igor cautioned.
"The best quality vodka sir. Found some home-made in a nearby farm. I erghh... convinced the farmer to put in on the tab for us since it's a tough job to..."
"No drinking on duty Marko," Karl ordered firmly. Marko was a good driver, but he liked liquor a little much for his taste. And they might be fighting tonight.
"Yes, we'll drink it when we kick Zeon's a**!" Igor replied confidently, and then carefully taking the bottle and putting it gently into a locker. Drinking may be illegal, but good vodka was still too good to waste...
Karl nodded, "Alright, get on the tank," He looked quietly to the sky above him. It wasn't a friendly sky, he knew. But it also had been one hell of a speech that the commanding General Revil had given them a month ago after his heroic escape from the hands of his Zeon captors. "There are no warriors in Zeon," he had said in that speech, describing the dismal state of Zeon's manpower, which was enough to convince the rest of high command to continue the fight. Better yet, even if they did come those new Mobile Suits wouldn't be so useful on the ground. They were just too big and slow for that. But still... He searched his pockets and produced a picture. It was of his wife, now living in Belfast. They had a lot of problems since he had joined the military but...
"She's waiting for you, don't worry," Igor said with a touch of envy. He was very young, only 20, and had yet to have his own family.
Karl nodded. He looked back at the sky, wishing he could go home. She wasn't writing him at all... maybe... He then saw something out of the darkening sky. It looked like a shooting star, but then...
"Sarge! Visual contact! We have ten HLVs coming down. Landing in 14th Company sector!" Igor reported excitedly.
Karl gulped. HLVs or Heavy Launch Vehicles were giant rockets used for carrying heavy equipment to and from space, and would most certainly form the vanguard of an invasion force. To make matters worse, the 14th Company was just west of them..."Any attempt at intercepting those HLVs?"
"Minovsky particles interfering with radar! I don't think they can..."
A huge explosion suddenly filled the sky as one of the HLVs exploded from a very, very lucky missile hit. Pieces of the HLV rained down on their positions, and Karl immediately closed the hatch above him. He cringed as he heard the pings as numerous fragments hit his tanks. After a few seconds, it stopped, and he opened the hatch and peered out of his tank. There were more lights coming down from the sky, almost like rain, and from the west, he could hear explosions...
"14th Company is in heavy contact, commander is ordering us to support!" Igor reported.
"Alright, Igor, check the autoloader, make sure it works. Marko, let's get there fast!"
The tank suddenly lurched as it started moving towards the west. Thirteen other tanks went with them, their twin 150mm guns trained out menacingly at the darkening sky. Ready to be fired for the first time...
"14th company is no longer responding," Igor reported grimly. They had just been annihilated, and that was that. "I have a target!"
Karl peered out and saw a huge humanoid machine, some 20 meters high, covered in white canvas, giving it some camouflage in the snow covered ground. A MS-06C Zaku II, bearing the Insignia of the Zeon Earth Attack Force. Around it several charred remnants of what had been tanks of the 14th Company littered the ground. The suit's head turned, and it mono-eye sensor flashed a bright red as it started to swing it machine gun around...
"Target, lead Zaku! Fire!" Karl ordered.
Igor adjusted the twin barrels of the tank slightly, compensating for the tank's movement and the light snow, and depressed the trigger. Two 150mm shells streaked towards the Zaku, both hitting the torso area and shattering it. The Zaku went down, its chest now engulfed in flames..."Hit! Gotcha!"
Igor was not the only one to fire, Karl saw. Twelve of the tanks had already found targets for their own guns, and the Zakus were caught looking the wrong way. Six of them went down, four more were damaged. Karl waited for a long few seconds as the guns reloaded, before ordering, "Target damaged Zaku to the left. Fire!" Igor complied, and another Zaku went up in flames. Karl would have grinned, but now more Zakus were coming up to reinforce them, and they had their guns trained out at them. "Nice one Igor! Marko, start maneuvering! Get us out of here!"
Marko scarcely needed any encouragement as a stream of 120mm shells exploded the Type 61 just left of theirs. He put the tank in full reverse, allowing it to evade a burst from one of the Zakus. He pulled the tank away and swung wildly left and right as shells began to explode all around them, killing more members of their tank company.
Karl saw the explosions all around him, and decided that it was time to leave. Only four Type 61s were still active, and they could not hold the enemy unless help arrived, which was probably not forthcoming. He did though, spot one of the squadron leader Zakus with a "horn" on it. Killing it might break the attack for a while... "Igor, can you take out that squad leader?"
"No problem," he replied as he fired another volley of 150mm shells. Both hit the cockpit, and another Zaku joined the wreckage that now decorated the bloody landscape.
Karl was just about to commend Igor on another good shot when a 120mm shell hit the Type 61 in the turret. The shell instantly destroyed both guns, but the armor in turret was harder that anywhere else in the tank, preventing it from exploding the tank immediately.
Karl though, was in no mood to wait for it to brew up, "Bail out!" he screamed as he scrambled to get out of the tank. He had just pulled himself out of the hatch when a second shell struck the Type 61, sending him flying into the air. He hit the ground, face down. He tried to stand up, but couldn't. Something was wrong with his leg... he looked back at his tank, and it was burning, with Marko and Igor still in it...
"Get him in!" a female voice screamed. Karl felt a pair of arms holding and carrying him away. He was still looking at his burning tank when they closed the hatch on the Type 74 Hovertruck. He peered out of one of the slits in the truck as they left, and he saw that explosions were still everywhere. They were leaving behind thirty Type 61s, twelve Zakus, and the first ground casualties of the One Year War. Among them were Igor Sakharov and Marko Sergetov...
------------------------------
Karl looked back at the plains of Odessa. It was now arid instead of snowy, but that wasn't important. He was finally going to avenge them, even if he couldn't see his work. The Guntank's 180mm tubes were elevated up the proper angle, and he stared on impassively at the clock. It was now exactly 0659 hours. One minute to go...
------------------------------
Now, as for the consistency questions I know will crop up (from all you veteran UC fans out there![like Shin;)] And for those who don't care about realism, please just skip this unless you are a mecha freak).
GM Grounds were used in Odessa, so the Sniper attachment for them was probably available too. (The GM Sniper is just a GM Ground with a sniper rifle, and has no special strings attached).
I put two MPT Guntanks with the arty(artillery) section. Okay it was NEVER mentioned they were deployed in Odessa, but if YOU were launching the single most important operation of the war would you hold back any strings? (and I haven't found anything saying that MPTs are exclusive to the Kojima Battalion, in fact, good bet is that the rest of the RX-79Gs went to Odessa[OR Jaburo...],though it may have been temporarily, but I won't use the RX-79s.).
Since no one has a factual idea what the crew of a Type 61 is, I'm sticking with 3. One gunner, a commander and one driver. However, some tanks may be undercrewed(like the Type 74s) and have only 2 crewmen per tank(based on a pic I saw) with one gunner, and one driver.
Also, I'm just covering a part of Odessa, so I won't estimate the whole ORBAT of the battle (sorry Shin, couldn't wait...I'll just rewrite it if it's way too inconsistent.[like changing the location...argh, not fair, even the 08th MS violated a heck of a lot of the Gundam canon...])
I think they still have vintage artillery by UC 79 for their artillery sections( In the Original Gundam I saw a few old towed artillery pieces during the Odessa episode)
Finally, and I'm sure as hell with this one. It was snowing(or rather, it HAD snowed) when Zeon took Odessa, unless Giren's Greed(PS version) screwed up big time in their original animation(Zeon Odessa Victory, I think it's no. 4 or 5)...(maybe effect of the Colony drop?) AND the Zaks used were covered in white canvas or textile(but not the same as Shin's Zaku color scheme). Also, the insignia I mentioned also appears in the Gundam Strategy game Giren's Greed with these Zakus. I believe it is a wolf clutching the Earth firmly in its fangs.
------------------------------
Real History stuff:
Just for those who are interested, Odessa is in the Crimean peninsula of Ukraine. Lots of battles had been fought over it for the same reasons as Zeon... resources. Most memorable though, is the Battle of Balaklava. In October 25th, 1854, a 600 man British Cavalry troop was mistakenly ordered to make a hopeless charge against Russian artillery. Though hopeless, they followed their orders and were reduced to less than two-thirds their strength. Their selfless heroism though, would forever be immortalized in Alfred Tennyson's poem, Charge of the Light Brigade.
Theirs is not to make reply,
Theirs is not to reason why,
Theirs is but to do and die
Into the Valley of Death,
Rode the six hundred...
(Sorry again for poetry, but the battle is special for me and my country for a reason. Because ninety years later, _to the day_, something similar and significant would occur in my country, and would forever spark my interest in fighting ships and the men who crewed them.)
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Notice:
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