Story - The Battle of the Dark Graveyard
From Gwn
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Chapter 1
Alexander Whitewolf stood before his war council. Before him stood his assembled Generals and commanders. The looked at a hologram of the Earth, their adversary. The Governor-General had to react to his missing pilots, a grave situation. The council assembled to discuss this, though everyone there knew the inevitable conclusion.
Alexander observed the different individuals before him. His admirals commanded their battleships, though ultimate command rested with him. His generals were otherwise useless in space battles, resigned to command only defensive forces and the Martian guard. He and his personal knights, the mobile suit pilots, commanded battles ins space. Alexander looked to his mobile suit pilots, noting who he decided were capable of this ambitious offensive.
The General's mobile suit commanders, while young, held veteran status as acclaimed warriors. Thomas Epsilon wore the Martian uniform once again. Though he served for a brief time as commander of the Pluto outpost, he quickly absorbed himself back into the main Confederate army after scandal. Alexander knew he still remained a powerful ally in his war, though he could not help but be wary of the young Colonel. Beside Thomas, Ashe Merquise wore the UPD dress blacks. The new commander of the Pluto Auxiliary, Alexander trusted his aristocratic cousin to command his soldiers in battle. Ashe became commander after Epsilon resigned. While Ashe remained a highly competent pilot, he was still unsure if he was capable of leading an army in a battle. Enigma Ichime stood next to Ashe, the final mobile suit commander. Enigma held a horseman rank like Merquise and Epsilon. Enigma also wore the UPD uniform, though he would not serve as commander like Merquise.
Alexander stood up, his brilliant while uniform reflecting the hologram’s pale blue light. “Thank you for assembling with me, my comrades. We sit on the razor’s edge, threatened with terror by our nemesis. I will not lie, this current situation has plagued me. We cannot remain passive to this silent invasion any further. Your comrades and peers have vanished from our ranks, and all signs point to the EFF as the sole culprits. Fourteen pilots and officers have vanished while on leave or even from training maneuvers. I have assembled you to plan war with me. We cannot remain silent while we have a technological advantage over the EFF. The Lightening Wave is no longer a salient threat, we have to strike now.”
The captain of the Tsunami spoke out to the war-cry, “What about their technology? We have reports that they’re increasing their research budgets and upping their technology threshold with an outside contract with the outer colonies.”
“I am aware of that,” Whitewolf responded, “Which is why we need to attack now. All simulations show us decisively defeating the EFF’s military with ease, especially with the UPD’s reinforcement. Commanders, what say you?”
Ashe Merquise looked at the data. Whitewolf watched the aristocrat calculate in his head, before speaking. Like all aristocrats, he choose his words carefully. “We need to be cautious. We do not know what intelligence they have gained through the abductions. But, I agree that invasion remains our only recourse. If we sufficiently destroy the main EFF defense forces, the instability will consume the EFF’s command of the Earth.”
“Current intelligence shows they exhibit high weakness in China and South America. Both regions have always remained disloyal. Without an proper army, the EFF will not be capable of holding those regions.” An intelligence officer chimed into the discussion. He stood behind the Governor-General. Alexander prided his intelligence staff, who retained close ties with the Chinese separatists.
“So, we are agreed?” Alexander asked his commanders.
Each member of the war council withdrew their officer’s knives. Each soldier promoted to officer rank were awarded with a crimson blade constructed of Gundanium alloy. The knife signified rank, and were always used whenever a blood oath became called for. The officers each flipped out the blades, and proceeded to cut into their palms. Crimson drops fell to the floor, and each bowed to Whitewolf. Their leader smiled.
“Then prepare for invasion. We will strike here, at the region around La Grange Point 2.”
Colonel Ichime looked at the hologram, “Hmm, the Dark Graveyard. What a fitting name for the EFF forces.”
Chapter 2
A small satellite sat among the debris strewn throughout the wreckage field around the second La Grange Point. Space debris accumulated here throughout the 300 years of human presence in space. Many old spaceship hulls, construction vehicles, and hollowed out asteroids orbited the Earth in this point. Many citizens of the LG2 colonies made their living scrapping the debris and recycling the metals. Despite the proximity to colonies, controlled by a separate government, the EFF claimed the Dark Graveyard as their territory. The LGPC complied, and a tender treaty between the two allowed peace. The satellites remained LGPC property, but data they collected also made its way to the Earth.
The satellite detected the Martian vanguard assembling far from traditional Earth scanning. Martian intelligence did not know about LGPC sensor technology, and did not factor it into their battle plan. For two weeks, massive Martian ships silently constructed a makeshift warp-gate to connect Mars to the Earth via a large hyperspace window. The EFF was aware of this structure, and allowed it to be constructed.
General Paul Greego also gained intelligence that a Martian war council was called. His own intelligence gathered the council blamed his forces for kidnaping Martian soldiers. The EFF signed a treaty with the Martian government to prevent war. The Martian’s were beyond saber rattling, and it seemed that they decided outright attack became their only option.
The General sat in his special quarters aboard his personal Battleship, the Rejuvenation. The battleship became the crown jewel in the EFF armada, showcasing many new technologies both developed by the EFF and her trading partner the Gemini Foundation. The Martian Confederation had designed her own fleet, though their strength still relied on mobile suits.
“SIR!”
An ensign rushed into his chambers, holding a small data disk. The news announcing official confirmation of a Martian invasion would come this way. The data would be bio-encrypted, so only he could read the report.
“Thank you, ensign. Please return to your command and await my orders.” Greego responded to the disk. He took the object, staring at it. The brilliant purple shine of the disk inside the glass sleeve masked the dire news it held. The General placed the disk onto his data-pad, which absorbed the disk inside the mechanics. A display soon came up, reading the DNA from the Generals hand that held the device. A report soon appeared, simple white text against a black background. The report was short;
Martian Gate Active. Shadow Satellites confirm a sizable force entered the gate at 09:22:42:29 GST. Invasion vector confirmed to 55.6 Sun-side, target confirmed to be Dark Graveyard region. Threat level 1, immediate response suggested.
Greego grimaced, this was his worst fear realized. He immediately sent the data to his officers, who in turn would look to him for orders. The General scanned over the region, noting a specific base capable of serving as a rally-point. The EFF installed a base in a former research satellite, 2062 Aten. The garrison held a small contingent of mobile dolls, but served in a highly defensible position within the Dark Graveyard. He decided, this is where his armies would collect.
A red alert spread throughout the EFF ranks. Invasion soon poured through to the media, with soldiers and civilians alike looking to the stars. They wondered if their military could protect them from the Martian barbarians, while some others wondered if the Martians would deliver them from EFF oppression. The fourteenth day of July would become noteworthy in the history of the Earth and her human population.
Thomas Epsilon sat in his Gundam Shadow Blade, which stood atop the Battleship Apocalypse. The Battleship served as the flagship of the UPD fleet, a small Auxiliary force created by Alexander Whitewolf to maintain Martian presence in the Outer System. Thomas had been promoted to Commander of the army, but scandal soon forced him to resign the command. Despite this, Alexander ordered him to defend the Apocalypse and represent Confederate presence among the UPD line.
“Angel of Death, checking in. All systems are green. Let’s win this one for Neo.” Thomas called out to his allies. Serving alongside him, 2 of the other four horsemen would fight in this battle. The horsemen made their name defeating Lightening Wave dolls in great numbers, and successfully commanding the UPD garrison.
“Roger, AoD. All units stay frosty and maintain your lines.” Ashe ordered his units.
Some chatter along the lines between two Martian pilots filled his ears, though he ignored them. He focused his eyes onto the distance. The debris field would prove difficult for both sides, though the Martian fleet held offensive advantage. Even though the EFF would be defending, they did not have enough time to out-plan the statistical disadvantage they faced. The two pilots were afraid nonetheless, and reassured themselves of the pain and stress that soon approached.
Sensor alarms rang throughout the cockpit. Alexander ordered all forces to deploy upon confirmation that mobile suits had deployed. Ashe responded by ordering all UPD forces to comply. Tom’s eyes focused on the displays, muddled by the debris field. “Where are they?”
“Ty, how are you doing?” Thomas Goch spoke out to his friend. The soldier had 'risen' from the dead, a victim of the incident that cause AoD to resign his command. He now resigned himself to execute Martian will. That involved invading the Earth. To do this, Thomas changed himself to Amorphous, a nameless warrior. This meant his onetime friend did not know of his indentity under the crimson and black martian suit.
"You're here too? Aren't you new to this?" Ty Willis replied. He and Thomas joined the academy together, yet his friend did not recognize him. This situation was painful for him, though his personal pennance had only begun.
"Yeah, of cou-"
Captain AoD cut off the pair. "Cut the chatter, you two. We're preparing for deployment."
"Sorry, sir." Thomas replied. He had no idea he shared a first name with his superior. His actions caused AoD's fall from the UPD command. Now they both served as tools of Alexander Whitewolf's aggressive foriegn policy.
"This is Alexander Whitewolf. Everyone begin preparations to battle. The time for talking is over!" Whitewolf's propaganda overrode all communcations. All Martian viewpoints gained a red outline, signalling all units within a certain radius were in a 'hot' zone.
Thomas flipped on his weaponry system, common on all Martian Scutum-model Gundams. He named his Death Dragon, though the model had only minor differences. He assumed command of the suit despite it being his former persona's command. The incident did not result in the Death Dragon's destruction. Many pilots took over deceased pilot's suits, though not many took over their dead-former-identity Gundams.
"Weapons systems armed. Time to try out this new Buster-cannon."
Chapter 3
Characters
Related Topics
The Battle of the Dark Graveyard
Origin Links
- The Battle of the Dark Graveyard - January 14, 2001[1]
