>>6340141“You’ve got three options.”
Grimm points to the first: A Saberfish
“The hangar only has one airworthy unit left. I know you're no stranger to flying under heavy fire. If you can fly, we can scramble you. I'm sure you know you can't win a straight fight against Zakus, but with speed and cloud cover, you might distract them. Just don’t get hit.”
Next, he points to a jeep parked under a camo net near the bunker entrance.
“Some anti-MS squads are prepping to roll out on these, they're still struggling to get their shit together, but maybe you can do something about it. It's loaded with a Regina missile launcher in the back, with plenty of missiles. If you take this, the jungle canopy will be your only defense. Stay hidden, fire, relocate. You could take down a Zaku with a good hit and proper coordination."
Or die instantly with a bad roll of fate, you think to yourself.
Then Grimm motions to the far end of the bunker, to a darkened hangar where floodlights flickered on and off. Through the half-open blast door, Ian saw it:
A Zaku. Federation White. Unit 01. Standing like a sleeping titan.
“Our first captured Zaku. It’s operational, and finely tuned. But its pilot refuses to board, and we don’t have anyone else cleared.” He looks at Ian with tired eyes. “You’ve never trained for mobile suit combat. You’d be going in cold. No familiarity. No simulators. No prep."
He steps closer to you.
“..But a Zaku is a Zaku. If you take Unit 01 out there, Jun won’t be alone anymore.”
Outside, Unit 02 was forced back again. Ian felt the tremors as Jun’s Zaku crashed through trees, narrowly avoiding another bazooka round.
The base alarms screamed. The earth shook. A plume of fire rolled over the northern ridge.
Grimm, and perhaps every officer around, look to you expecting your answer.
What will you do?
>Scramble in the Saberfish, provide aerial support. Disadvantageous against Zakus, but it's the machine you're most familiar piloting. Maybe experience can trump technical inferiority.>Go with the Jeep. Smaller target, plenty of jungle cover, with anti-MS missiles that can be effective with enough skill and luck. You'll have numbers with you too, but who knows how long they'll last.>Sortie in unit 01. You have no fucking idea how this thing works, and you'll have to figure it out while actively getting shot at by pilots who do.. but maybe it's best to fight fire with fire. 