Edward thanked his new superior for the position a final time, "As do I Lord Lindemann. A mutual relationship usually reaps the greatest rewards after all."
The meeting had ended and Edward was able to give a quick judgment of the Lindemann patriarch’s character. "Quite a respectable man. Unfortunately he certainly doesn't have the ambition beyond simple revenge."
“Does it somehow affect your decision to assist him?”
“Oh no. Just an observation. I certainly hope that his family hasn’t endured more than what they have already faced.”
“We’ll note your concern Officer.”
Dana stood at the front of the carrier waiting for the trip to begin when she saw the mobile suits being loaded. She turned to Gawel asking, "Are the others ready for the mission?"
"Should be. Milou just found Lindemann in one of the cargo areas."
It reminded Dana why Donna wasn’t seen at the morning exercises. "Probably explains her absence this morning. Keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn’t lose her focus."
Zachariah was in the pilot seat when he asked, "Things go that far south I think she'll be able to handle it. She can't be that troubled from last night can she?"
Dana shook her head when she answered, "You'd be surprised how much it can effect someone."

As Keijo strapped himself into his seat when he reminded Mercurio, "We drop down there and we're going to be classified as enemies by the British defenses."
"As long as the Gundams aren't deployed we should be able to maintain our cover."
"This is just the consequence of working under a hidden government sponsorship isn't it?"
"We just have to make sure we don't do anything to warrant military action against us. I think the Captain will be able to keep us from having to take out any more of our allies."
“You think it’s still right that we are acting semi-autonomously though? We’ll be lucky if Lord Lindemann isn’t planning to use OZ for his own personal gains.”
“We won’t repeat the history of the past unless the Earth Sphere President ends up using it for the same purpose as it was decades ago.”
“True stuff. We’ll have to see if our British allies are going to give us an easy time for now.”
“I think Naina will be able to keep us under a low profile. She did manage to slip into Lord Lindemann’s estate effectively.”
Roy hoped to maintain the optimism when he entered the conversation, “That’s a good thing to assure ourselves. So how about hearing how Patrick is going to find the people who dealt him his injury?”
 
Dana contacted into her intercom, "It's time for us to head out. All personnel prepare for liftoff."
A nearby computer screen lit up with Ludwika announcing, "This is secondary team reporting. We're right behind you Captain."
"We break up at Amsterdam airspace. Report on any enemy activity while we're out. Don't pursue the enemy unless it's something you can handle."
"Easy enough. Just try and get out of there with a clean mission sir."

As the carries began to make their two hour trip across the North Sea another conversation began among the pilots. Pascal was one to point out, "So you think the enemy isn’t going to be powerful enough to overwhelm basic defenses? It should just be enough to drop Naina in there and wait while she does her magic."
Keijo reminded Pascal of the current situation, "The northern German area has taken a serious beating these past few weeks. Just about anything could get through. It would only take the proper strategy to take out a patrol team after all.”
Pascal didn’t bother “Even then, why the Gundams?”
Mercurio added to Keijo’s observation, “We don’t know what could be out there. We’re not going to take the chance of risking the capital being taken under siege again. At least assuming it’s their location, we don’t even have an idea of what enemy we’re dealing with.”
Dana recognized the speculation and wasn’t afraid to be frank with the worst scenario adding, “Well we just found out that our former president was willing to perform some underhanded decisions. We’ll just have to hope the state of the Earth Sphere hasn’t reached its own level of internal fighting.” 
|
The remainder of the Kaliningrad forces made their way through Poland while McNeil managed to use what resources he found from the early wreckages. Oleg heard McNeil’s report and knew he would at least have one advantage in battle. He answered back, “Perfect work, that’s the sort of news we need at the moment.” He looked at the function of the arm and decided to instruct, “Do a full replacement with the gun arm and sensors if you have the time. Leave that reactor until later; we have to work on that thing when we have the proper conditions for installing it.” It was right after he heard Tano’s report on the power of the Sol Theros he felt his confidence shake even more than he though possible.
One of the Leo III pilots was shaken when she asked, "Wait a minute. Two fleets?"
Oleg hoped to see realism in the scenario when he asked, "You have to tell me they had their causalities."
He heard one of the pilots report back, "From what Mc Neil and his guys found even that is debatable. They got done searching and there's no pilot."
Oleg was about to wonder aloud what this could mean but recognized in a moment where this could be headed. Sorry about this granduncle. Your legacy is being used in enemy hands now. He thought to himself while letting out an audible groan.
He heard one of the earlier pilots ask, "So with all of this, how do we stand a chance against those things?"
Oleg gave the only real answer when he said, "Unless the Lieutenant is invincible we don't. We can only rely on our forces in Szczecin to hold them off." He was quick to adjust the communication frequency to the endangered base while announcing, “Attention Szczecin base. We have a first class priority with the enemy. They are going to try and break through. Objective unknown. Repeat objective unknown.”
One of the pilots asked after the communication was finished, “Good that we can warn them. What do we do now?”
Oleg knew that trying another shot like the one at the base would be too costly and gave the only order he could see plausible at the time. “We’ll have to follow those things and keep making an effort to take them out. At least assuming Lieutenant Kiprotich will order something like that.”