Prologue

Prologue
Battle of Mombasa

0600 Hours
August 28, C.E. 70
Mombasa, Kenya, South African Union
Earth Forces Alliance Territory


A series explosions rocked the earth as the four missiles fired from the GINN hit their targets. Four Linear Tanks went up in an inferno and ceased to exist. Major Nicolai Petrov scowled in disgust at the GINN’s feat. It had been like this all morning; a Zaft fleet had been sent from Carpentaria and had been assaulting the coastal city of Mombasa since midnight. It was obvious that this attack was merely a precursor to an all out assault of the Lake Victoria Spaceport. Since its failed assault back in March, Zaft had made no major push to take the Spaceport. While Zaft forces had been winning major victories in Northern Africa, such as their successful capture of the Suez Base back in May it was a staggering stalemate every where else on the African Continent incurring massive losses on both sides. If Mombasa fell Zaft would use it as a beachhead and slowly advance inland and attack the Spaceport. The Habilis Mass Driver was easily the only target of interest for Zaft in the African Continent. If it was captured or destroyed it would significantly lower the Earth Forces capability to launch supplies into Space dealing a massive blow to the Alliance. Major Petrov had been placed in command of the base here which was consisted mostly of Eurasian forces. The base responded to the attack with 40 F-7D Spearhead Fighters, 50 Linear Tanks, 20 Linear Artillery units, 30 Missile Trucks, and a sizeable amount of fixed cannons. But they were severely outgunned by Zaft’s 30 AMF-101 DINN’s, 30 ZGMF-1017 GINN’s, and 24 UMF-4A GOOhN’s. Over half of their fighting strength was already destroyed. Missile launchers fired dozens of missiles at the incoming DINN’s and one went up in an explosion. The surviving Mobile Suits fired their machine guns and the destroyed the launchers. A line of four Linear Artillery units were firing at incoming missiles launched from a Vosgulov class attack submarine. They were able to destroy a few of the incoming missiles but were overwhelmed by the shear numbers that were fired at them and they simply ceased to exist. Six UMF-4A GOOhN’s rose from the ocean and walked on the beach. They fired their torpedoes and Phonon Masers destroying several fixed cannons and tanks. The Major was once again angrily demanding to Command for reinforcements. The man on the other end of the channel asked him to remain calm and that their situation was being considered. The Major quietly cursed in Russian; of course they were considered his situation those bastards back at Command were always considering the situation he wanted to know when they were going to do something about it. After five minutes, in which six F-7’s and five Linear Tanks were destroyed, he got a response from Command telling him that reinforcements were on the way. While this was good news it did not change things. The nearby Zanzibar base could get help to them, within an hour but by then the battle would be over.

While Major Petrov was considering whether to order a retreat one of his Lieutenants exclaimed, “Sir were detecting a Descent Pod entering the atmosphere.”

“How many?”

“Just the one,” said the officer in disbelief.

The Major shared in his confusion a Zaft Atmospheric Dropship was capable of launching 11 descent pods each with the ability to hold four Mobile Suits. If Zaft was sending reinforcement why only launch the one pod? Petrov grabbed a pair of binoculars and scanned the sky and spotted it.

“What in God’s name is that!?”

Once he saw it he knew that this was not a normal Descent Pod. It was much smaller probably only containing one Mobile Suit and the design was different from the standard Zaft Descent Pod. Seals on the pod released, the outer layer exploded off, and a single ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type appeared. The Major swore loudly in his native tongue, he had heard of battles where GINN HMT’s had easily massacred everything that opposed them. Although it was strange that a Mobile Suit designed mostly for Space combat would be sent and why only one. The GINN had a custom color scheme of bright and dark green with some white and orange. That and it bore a unique symbol on its shoulders a golden Eagle with two swords behind it of the same color. Its massive wings activated and with great speed flew toward a nearby GINN. The GINN turned to face it. The HMT GINN pulled out a rifle and fired what appeared to be a burst of energy. It reminded him of the beam weaponry used on the space bound warships of both sides, albeit a smaller more compact version of the technology. The GINN absorbed the blast losing its left arm. Two more blasts to its head and chest caused the Mobile Suit to explode. Three nearby DINN’s flew towards it firing their machine guns at it. The HMT easily dodged their bullets and returned fire. Two of the DINN’s were destroyed by the HMT’s rifle and the third was sliced in half by what looked like an energy sword from an old movie made back in the 1970’s of the A.D. era. What was going on why was the Zaft Mobile Suit attacking its allies.

“Do not fire on that Mobile Suit,” Petrov ordered.

“Sir?” “Just do it Lieutenant,”

“Yes Sir!” Petrov wasn’t going to question why this was happening, he was just thankful that it was happening. After the battle was over there would be plenty of time for questions. The HMT continued on its rampage destroying all that challenged it. It had already destroyed seven Mobile Suits in the few minutes that it had been here. Several Mobile Suits became distracted by the situation and were destroyed when they lost focus of their targets. The six GOOhN’s that were on the beach fired their Phonon Masers at the HMT. The GINN avoided the blasts and using its energy sword slashed them all in half. Another GINN came up from behind the HMT and swung its sword at the Mobile Suit. The HMT dodged and swung with its own blade. Their blades met but instead of connecting the HMT’s sword cut right through the GINN’s sword and kept going until it slashed the other Mobile Suit in half. A Vosgulov class attack submarine surfaced from the ocean and its vertical launch catapults extended in preparation to launch mobile suits. The HMT flew toward the carrier sub and hovered over its open launch catapults. It fired several shots into the three DINN’s that were preparing to launch. The sub launched missiles at the Mobile Suit which the HMT easily evaded. It then destroyed all of the subs missile pods. The pods destruction must have ignited the ordinance because the whole sub went up in a series of explosions. The craft then sank as it took on water. Another Vosgulov class surfaced and shot off a series of colored flares. It was a withdrawal signal, they were retreating! The surviving Mobile Suits broke off and sped toward their carriers. Once they had returned the subs submerged. Radar showed that they were heading up the coast toward Zaft controlled territory of the African Community. Major Petrov breathed a sigh of relief. They had survived, not only that they had won. It was a small victory in a war of seemingly endless defeats. But their job was not over. There were still fires to put out, wounded to treat, and dead to bury. Petrov thanked whatever deity watched over the military. If that GINN HMT had not shown up when it did, they would have been overrun within the hour. Still they had suffered heavy losses 25 F-7D’s, 30 Linear Tanks, 20 Missile Trucks, 14 Linear Artillery Units, and most of the fixed armaments were destroyed. The Mobile Suit landed outside the command center and deactivated.

“Surround that Mobile Suit!”

“Yes Sir!”

A squad of five Linear Tanks surrounded the GINN HMT and aimed directly at its cockpit. Major Petrov grabbed a bullhorn a bellowed loudly into it “Exit your Mobile Suit immediately or we will open fire!” The cockpit opened and the pilot came out. The pilot was wearing a bright green pilot suit that matched the color of the GINN. The pilot came down from the cockpit on the mobile suits mechanical rope lift and took his helmet off. The pilot was only a teenager probably only fifteen or sixteen. He had shiny brown hair, his face was cleanly shaven, and had hazel eyes. And unlike other members of his age group he appeared not to suffer from facial acne. While it was not uncommon to see 15-18 year olds enlisting in this war, it was shocking that someone so young had defeated so many of Zaft’s Mobile Suits. Even more shocking was that this soldier bore the symbol of the OMNI Enforcer on his pilot suit. That meant this pilot was a member of the Earth Forces. What would a member of the Earth Forces be doing in a GINN?

“Identify yourself,” ordered Petrov. The pilot came to attention and saluted

“Sir, Lieutenant Junior Grade Richard Onasi of the Special Forces.”

“At ease Lieutenant, may I ask why you here and why the Hell you were piloting that GINN?”

“Sir Command sent me to reinforce your base and keep it from falling to the enemy. I cannot answer your second question sir, it is classified and you do not have the proper clearance. In fact this incident has been classified and you are ordered by Command not to mention this to anyone understood, sir?”

“Yes I understand my orders Lieutenant.”

“Sir,” said a NCO as he ran to them. “A transport plane has just landed; we have received orders to have the Mobile Suit and its pilot loaded on board.”

“Very well have the GINN loaded on the transport.”

“Yes Sir!”

Petrov realized that he would probably never see the Lieutenant again and wondered what would happen to him. As the pilot started to walk toward the transport the Major took the opportunity to call out to him, “Lieutenant Thanks for getting us out of that jam, if you hadn’t shown up we all be dead by now.”

Richard turned around and replied, “No problem Major, just doing my job.”

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

Richard had just begun climbing up the stairs that led to the passenger compartment of the plane when he started to review today’s battle. He had done well today destroying seventeen Mobile Suits and a Vosgulov class attack submarine. Quite the achievement, his superiors would probably pin another medal to his chest. While serving his country brought him great pride, he had long ago stopped keeping track of the honors that he had been awarded. Though many in the Earth Alliance viewed Coordinators as nothing more than weapons to be used to achieve victory in this war, a good number of high ranking military officers decided to recognize the achievements of their Coordinator soldiers. As a result many Coordinators who served in the Earth Forces had been awarded with an assortment of commendations for their actions. That is the ones that weren’t brainwashed. Once he had entered the passenger compartment he sat down in a seat, placed his helmet on the seat next to him, and leaned his head against the wall. He was exhausted; he had participated in several skirmishes over the last week and had barely finished a battle in space when he had been ordered to aid in Mombasa’s defense. Hopefully he would be able to get some down time before he was issued another assignment. The door that connected the cockpit and the passenger compartment opened and a man stepped into the room. The man was in his late twenties to early thirties, had blond hair, and wore a business suit. So much for some time off. It was Muruta Azrael, the last person on the planet he wanted to see right now. Muruta Azrael was the director of the Atlantic National Defense Conglomerate, a weapons company that is the primary supplier of munitions and vehicles to the Earth Alliance. Because of his position he held great power within the Alliance and was recently appointed as a member of the Alliance ruling council. But his true power came from the fact that he was the leader of Blue Cosmos, a terror organization that publicly advocated for the destruction of all Coordinators in the name of environmental protection. The organization had people infiltrating almost every level of the government and military. While Azrael had no military rank he was still Richard’s superior because he had control over those that were. Richard was a member of the Combat Coordinator Program which consisted of Coordinators that were serving in the Atlantic Federation military and under the control of Blue Cosmos influenced officers. Richard had recently been taking orders directly from Azrael and fulfilling some of his personal missions. One such assignment had been the eradication of a rebel group operating against the Alliance in the United States of South America. Another had been the assassination of the leader of an anti-war Zaft sympathetic group advocating for a peaceful end to the war. He hated this man with every fiber of his being and had even considered killing him. But as long as he served in the Combat Coordinator Program and followed orders his family would be safe.

“Good performance out their today Lieutenant,” he said. “Though you could have done a lot better, you let a large number of their Mobile Suit get away.”

“I will endeavor to improve, sir.”

“Good, see that you do. Now I have another assignment for you.”