Your training time is up, and the Gaw you came in with and three other Fat Uncle transports will be transporting your unit back to Ground Forces HQ: California.

HANGAR
2x MS-06F2 Zaku II
1x MS-06K Zaku Cannon
1x MS-06E Recon Zaku
1x MS-07B Gouf (Zolomon Custom)
1x Rhinoceros Mobile Armour

1x MSM-08 Zogock
1x MSM-04N Aggugguy
2x MSM-04G Juagg
1x EMS-05 Agg
1x MSM-10 Zock

... Jolyne nabbed the Zock at the last minute, you might get into trouble for that. Ah well, it's not like you can argue with results.

Pilots

Lt. David Lister
Ensign Zolomon Ringo
Corporal Jolyne Brande
Pvt 1st Hovis Goddard
Pvt 1st Elaine "Ruubens" Arronax
Pvt 1st Calvin Hobart

>>7825755
YAY! ZEONQUEST!

Even it comes back to bite us in the ass, the Zock might be useful at Jaburo. It's always easier to ask forgiveness than permission I always say!

You are currently flying back over the pacific to California, mounted up in your F2 Zaku in the Gaw, along with Zolomon and Ruubens. (In the Gouf and F2 respectively)

Jolyne is in her Zaku Cannon along with Calvin in his Recon Zaku, the remaining space in the Fat Uncle is taken up by Jolyne's Zock.

Hovis and his Rhino share a spot with a couple of Juaggs, and the remaining MS are in the last Fat Uncle. It's a good thing the Juaggs are smallish, they wouldn't have fitted otherwise.
Then you might have had to go by sea, and you've had QUITE enough of naval operations for now, thank-you-very-much.

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOUR SQUAD ABOUT?

>>7825834
>IS THERE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO TALK TO YOUR SQUAD ABOUT?

"Don't worry guys, I'm sure that when we get to HQ we won't end up in another sudden huge battle... again."

>>7825872

This... Although we know how THAT will end.

>>7825834
Finally get to talking to Hovis and Hobbes about their respective fields. See if they have any tips for our little Combined Arms essay.

Maybe find out if Hobbes has a thing for Ruby?

>>7825872
>"Don't worry guys, I'm sure that when we get to HQ we won't end up in another sudden huge battle... again."

"STOP TRYING TO JINX IT! YOU'VE BEEN SAYING THAT SINCE THIS MORNING!"

Jolyne reprimands you over the intercom.

"Well, uh were ARE due to arrive somewhere and for it to be totally normal and quiet." Zolomon interjects.

"I mean, it hasn't happened since Nicuragua right? So we MUST be getting close again. Right?"

Ruubens enters the conversation: "Really? I just thought it was because we were an ace unit and we kept getting sent into hotspots?"

"No Ruubens, were just, REALLY unlucky." You inform her.

"If you're all so unlucky how come I'M the one who lost a leg?" Hovis mentions.

"You can't blame that one on us Hovis, nobody ASKED you to catch that cruise missile with your face."

"Uh. Right." Jolyne states.

>ZEONQUEST Pt31
>Pt31

>>7825954

Now for this, we need to know if we have a "rival" so to speak... Or if we stand no chance at all.

You arrive to a somewhat misty California at around 10am. Your units disembark and gingerly check the area.
An aide from the mansion comes to greet you by Jeep. The engineers are telling you that if you dismount they'll park the Mobile Suits into the Hangar for you.

"Huh. I guess we WERE due..."

You all dismount and you greet the aide.

"Good morning Lieutenant! Welcome back to California! I hope your journey was uneventful?"

"Yes, it made a nice change."

"Yes, I suppose it probably did. Well, Garma has requested your audiance once you returned, no need to get changed, it's not a formal meeting."

>>7825994
See Garma. Resist urge to touch his hair.

Hope it's a big conference room, our squad's just a tiny bit bigger than it was when we last saw Garma.

You all mount a couple of Jeeps and drive back to the Mansion. It's only been 10 days since you left, but it feels like longer. Ah well, once the naval battle was over, it was good to finally get some R&R. You managed to write some good sections on Marine Combat for your Tactical Doctrine Thesis "Mobile Suits in Action."

You are ushered into Garma's office shortly after returning to the Governors Mansion. Despite no longer being Garma's Honour Guard, you're still afforded the same quarters, except now you get your own briefing room as well.

You see Garma on the military phone line with someone.

"No, Ghinius, I am not unaware of the tactical specifications for the Mark 3, but we do not have the time or resources to make the design worth our while, regardless of it's power. If you can't get the Mk 2 functional by the time of the attack, I want you to scrub the entire project and return to Solomon, work with the MA team and brother, sorry, Admiral Dozle on his projects. I thought your designs for MAN-05 had some promise, perhaps you should return to those? No Ghinius... I will not.... you have 20 days.... Possibly, but I still will not give the green light for you to build the Mark 3. It's just not an effective use of our resources. Goodbye."

He puts the phone down.

"Ah. There you are David. My my, bad luck does seem to follow you around doesn't it? Well, alls well that ends well at least... Now then: I'd like to talk to you about finally completing the Nachtmaren Unit."

>>7826165

YAY! Gineas is getting removed... Hopefully.

"Now, the Nachmaren Unit was never intended to operate without a mobile MS carrier to act as a base of operations. Originally this was intended to be the King Dabude Land Battleship: "Roter Mond", but new assets have become available to me recently, and I have decided to revise that plan. The only downside is, that you have to go and collect it."

"Sir?"

"You see, one of the stipulations levied about being able to take the vessel was that you would help with testing some prototype units that have recently been developed, and I agreed to a short 5 day testing period."

"Just me sir?"

"Well, the entire unit really, but you WERE asked for by name. I also beleive that some other aces from various theatres may also be taking part in the unit testing."

"I don't suppose I'll be able to keep the prototype afterwards?"

"Ha! Not this time I'm afraid, my dear Lieutenant!"

He hands you a dossier containing the mission outline and you return to the barracks.

"Well crew, it looks like were off to Pezun." you tell the rest of the unit.

YOU LEAVE TONIGHT - YOUR ORDERS?

Hm. Anyone with more Gundam knowledge than me care to tell what these things are that Garma's on the phone about? It might be good to know just what he's pulled the plug on.

>>7826255

Talk to team, Tell them that "Look we didn´t get attacked this time, And i bet that everything is fine at Pezum too."

Also, Time to act like a kid the night before christmas, Prototypes=Presents, Even if we won´t get to keep them.

>>7826260
Short answer is that Ghinius Sahkalin's Apsauls project just got canned by Garma, which is something we've been aiming for since the beginning. This is a great logistical victory for Zeon, since money, engineers, and scientists won't be wasted on the pet project of a dying madman.

>>7826260
Basically the man Garma was talking to on the phone, Ghinius, was a designer obssessed with creating his Mobile Armor the Apsalus. In his quest to create it, he gets a lot of good Zeon personnel killed not to mentioned many civvies.

>>7826310
>>7826318
Oh good, cheers for clearing that up.

>>7826255
Also, Pezun? Fuck yes, time to test some super-advanced and occasionally very bizarre prototypes. If we can get the Act Zaku or even better, the Galbaldy Alpha mass produced that much sooner, we might even stand a chance against the Gundam.

>>7826260

Gineas Sahalin, Mad scientist, Built a giant flying mega beam launcher Mobile armor.... That was incredibly expensive.

It was the most important thing to him, And since he was a total jerk we are discontinuing it.

He deserves it since he kills ALOT of capable zeon soldiers and scientist.

Oh, And it would free up a very capable test pilot too.

>>7826334

Screw those, give us Pezun Dowages!

Okay. You will be leaving into space via an HLV. You will be able to take 3 MS with you. However, on space capable MS are worth taking, as the rest are unable to move in space.

Looking at your hangar, the only options available are the two F2's and the Recon Zaku. You don't HAVE to take any MS with you if you don't want to.
If there are any long term projects you want Ookawara to do whilst your gone (only the pilots of Nachtmaren will be going this time.) now would also be the time to tell him.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>7826395

Ask Ookawara to use his imagination while we are gone. Worked well with the Rhino.

>>7826395

Ask Ookawara if he can design a long distance MS-Grade sniper rifle, A precision long-range weapon for the Recon-Zaku.

Also, Bring the MSes, We know how these things always go.

>>7826407

When Ookawara asks if there's anything you want him to do whilst you're gone you tell him to "suprise you."
You quell the mild feeling of doom this brings.

At 7pm that night all 6 of you are strapped down and ready to return into space.

"Getting back into micro-gravity is going to be fun." Zolomon comment.

"It has been a while since we were out in space hasn't it?" Hovis comments.

"Well you most of all LT. I mean you;ve been here since March? Longer than any of us." Ruubens adds.

Then the HLV hits the thrusters and talking is more or less impossible.

>>7826470

Once we're spacebourne, unstrap and enjoy the weightlessness.

Your journey to space takes a good half an hour, and though the G-forces are uncomfortable, the journey is at least uneventful.
You arrive in orbit over the planet, surrounded by left over HLV's which now litter the various obital zones across the planet.
Your lifter docks with the Musai cruiser Neoptolemos and you are all welcomed aboard whilst it loads your Mobile Suits into it's empy bay. The Zaku's that WERE stationed within, now escorting the vessel.

Inside you are met by a Captain Angor, a thin man of indian descent in his early 30's.
"A pleasure to meet you all. I have allotted quarters to you for this journey which should take around 4 hours, so I advise you to get comfortable."

YOU HAVE A FEW HOURS TO KILL. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

>>7826543
Brush up on space combat tactics with the rest of the team.

>YOU HAVE A FEW HOURS TO KILL. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

Chill

>>7826589

You manage to snag a couple of combat simulators down in the rec area and manage to set up some short training exercises to see how the team manage in space combat after spending so long out of it.

All in all they do quite well, you think that the weeks spent training underwater helped them out a lot. They're a little rusty in places, but overall everyone on the team seems to be in good form.

GOING TO DINNER. BACK IN 30 MINS.

>>7826633
>Zakrello picture

Oh god you're not going to put us in one of those are you?

Woo, Zeonquest!

And FUCK YEAH, SPACE!

Also, putting Ginias on MAN-05 might be a good thing. The Gromlin looks like it could actually be useful, unlike the Apsalus.

We'd better spend our time wisely, though, because we have less than a month left before Amuro starts ruining Zeon's shit.

>>7826255
>other aces from various theaters

I wonder who we'll be meeting. Besides Char, anyway.

On a completely unrelated note, is White Base in that picture somewhere? Because I can't seem to find it.

>>7826934
Best guess is Johnny Ridden and Shin Matsunaga, or maybe Thomas Kurtz. And no, it appears the Grey Phantom and Albion are the only Pegasus-classes in that pic.

The Musai reaches Pezun after several hours. Like most Zeonic military bases, you're on Side 3 time, which roughly the same as East European time, meaning that whilst it feels like 11 at night to you, is 10am in the morning here.

Space Lag is going to be bitch.

As the Musai docks, a familiar face greets you.

"Well, well, well, Welcome to Pezun Station rookie."

>>7827024
STRAUSS!

Ask this badass mofo what he's been up to since we last saw him.

>>7827024
"So, how many mushroom clouds have YOU left behind you since Mastodon broke up?"

>>7827065
seconding this

>>7827024
BROFIST IS NEEDED

>>7827065
>>7827039

As he walks you though to the OPs center you and Zolomon talk with him about what he's been up to.

"Well, after Mastodon got broken up I got stationed up in Canada. Me and the rest of the 333rd pushed as far north as we could. Paradropping tanks are novel the first time you see them, but after the 30th airdrop attack from Greenland it wears pretty thin. Anyway, we had Midnight Fenris jump in and take out a few runways, but we were never able to take out enough to take the pressure off to move forwards. Last I heard before I was transferred up here, they were bandying about the idea of taking Greenland with a mixed air and naval assault from Hawaii Base. But apparently they lost all of the forces cached for that during the Battle of Midway."

"Ha ha ha ha, well these things happen." You nerveously remark.

>>7827144
Introduce the man to the rest of our motley crew.

Also mention our visit to Quebec, ask if he was in the area at the time.

>>7827144
Make introductions with all the new guys. Show him our kickass new MA sometime.

You move through the MS hangar on the way. You lean over to see some of the forces present.

"Oh hey, is that the Black Tristars?" Zolomon asks.

"Yeah, they arrived this morning from the Luna 2 Blockade Fleet. Looks like wherever they've been, they've given the R-1A's a good workout."

You pass by a second white MS-06R-1A in white.

"Shinn Matsunaga's been here all week, testing out his. We had Johnny Ridden in the previous week, testing out the R-2."

You move out of the hanger and up to a lift to OPs.

>>7827242
mwhahaha high maneuverability types = THESEX
also, like other stated, introduce our team

>>7827144
What rank is Strauss these days?

Out of character curiosity, I suspect Dave doesn't care about it. Just wondering what size unit Strauss is running these days.

On an in-character note, this would be an excellent opportunity to get some feedback on what we have so far in terms of our essay on combined arms. Not just from Strauss, but from the general collection of aces being assembled here at Pezun.

Let's smuggle a pregnant female cat onboard. We need to get put into statis fast if we're to survive the radiation leak that's going to wipe out the entire crew.

>>7827242
Aw, we missed an opportunity to piss off Ridden by calling him the Red Comet?

>>7827326
It's okay, we can piss off Char by mentioning that his "red" looks suspiciously close to pink.

Once up into OP's you are introduced to the command. You recognise him instantly by his huge size, and the fact that his dress uniform has spikes on it.

Garma's big (in every sense of the word) brother: Admiral Dozle Zabi.

"HAH HAH! Well if it isn't the David Lister I've heard so much about!" He practically booms.
You're pretty sure you can see the Station Commander in a con station in the back. He doesn't seem all that anxious to talk to you at the moment.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>7827372
Salute Dozle.

>>7827372
Wow, we must be making some waves if the head of the Space Attack Force knows us by name already. Express our flattery and reverence towards this guy, he deserves it.

>>7827372
What a guy!

We smoke him a kipper, and call him 'Ace'.

>>7827406
Well we were looking after his little brother for a while.

Salute the Admiral.

>>7827372
Think "so that's why Zeonic MS have spikes on their shoulders..."

Say "I'm not sure what you've heard, sir, but I can state with confidence that your brother's hair survived our protection unscathed."

>>7827372
btw is his woman pregnant yet? public knowledge?
if so, congratulate - 'future of zeon, etc etc blah blah"

>>7827439
True enough. Plus we gave him a major shove in the right direction, I'm sure Dozle approves of what he's become now.

>>7827406
Assuming that his wife's pregnancy is common knowledge, congratulate him on his impending good fortune.

Mineva's scheduled to be born at the beginning of September, after all.

>>7827457
See >>7827476. She's probably 1-2 weeks away from giving birth at most, and she's married to one of Zeon's ruling family, so I expect everyone knows about the pregnancy.

>>7827372
Once we finish with the various pleasantries, we should ask Dozle why he took time out of his busy schedule to come here.

Even for something like Pezun, the Head of the Space Forces doesn't drop in every day. Especially when there's a war on.

>>7827421
>>7827406
>>7827395

You smartly salute him. Which he finds hilarious.

"Hah! No need to be so formal! Come! After the Commander has quartered you you must meet me in the Officers mess for Lunch. Except for you it will probably be a late supper! Ha! Ha! Ha!"

What a nice fellow.

His greetings made he leaves the OP's room, attended by a couple of bodyguards. Not that you think he really needs them.

Afterwards you meet up with the Station Commander who allocates you several quarters and a briefing room of your own for while your here. He dismisses you and you make your way over to your quarters.

>>7827526
Get our stuff unpacked, then head over for lunch.

Congratulate him on he and his wife's impending good fortune while there. Or even better, propose a toast to said good fortune and to the continuing of life even in the midst of war.

Then get down to business.

>>7827550
This.

>>7827550
If we know his wife is pregnant which I assume is pretty much common knowledge by now then do this.

>>7827499
ah, thanks for clearing that up, i'm good with mechs, not the minor plot details!

>>7827550
>>7827609
>>7827499
I am now imagining that they have been keeping it a secret. They pass it off as her gaining weight. It is very. Very. Awkward.

I agree with the toasting for the soon-to-be-born Minerva...

She IS the best Zabi after all.

>>7827668
Obviously, given that she's a major character in the upcoming show. And on the "good guy" side to boot.

>>7827550
>>7827575

Once your stuff is squared away, you make your way to the Officers mess, a fairly formal affair, although in microgravity, all food and drink comes from a straw. Meaning that the dinner is light on gourmet food (even if the space food is of a very high quality.) and larger on conversation.
One of Dozle's right hand men introduces himself as Shin Matsunaga.

"It's nice meet another ace. Ok, a quick heads up, no more toasts to his good fortune vis-a-vis his wife's condition. The Black Tristars did that yesterday, and The Red Comet did it the week before. I think it's wearing a little thin."

"... he means Johnny Ridden, I think. Last I heard Char's still hanging around Grenada."

YOUR ORDERS?

>>7827748
Well even if we don't do a toast, we should still congratulate him.

>>7827748
Mingle. Have the rest of Nachtmaren do the same, although we should be ready to introduce them if necessary.

Comment on the fact that if Char thinks his MS is any color other than pink, he's deluding himself.

And mention our combined arms essay. Offer to distribute what we have after lunch, and ask for contributions to it.

>>7827759
Also this. We do it quietly, when Dozle isn't occupied with something. And we make sure not to hand him our essay too close to when we congratulate him; we don't want to seem like we're trying to use flattery to advance our ideas.

Also, trade war stories with the surrounding fellow aces. I'm sure the Tri-Stars have some interesting comments about Revil by now.

>>7827759

You are ushered into Dozle's inner circle of officers and guards.

"Good to see you made it Lieutenant Lister! Come! Sit, take a pack of something refreshing! Strauss has told me some things about Mastodon Battalion! I hear you took part in the Battle of Midway! Care to share some warstories."

Oh good. Telling war stories. THIS you can do.

You spend a good hour talking about the battle of midway, then about your adventures in Arizona. That alone takes another hour and half.
During this time the rest of the unit talk to the officers, Jolyne and Strauss are talking about something in the back. The operation in San Jose you think.

Anway, around 3 in the afternoon you're able to extricate yourself from the lunch and return to your quarters.

WHILST IT IS 3:00PM ON PEZUN, DUE TO SPACE LAG IT FEELS CLOSER TO 4AM AT NIGHT. THOUGH IF YOU GO TO SLEEP NOW YOUR SLEEPING PATTERNS MIGHT NOT SETTLE PROPERLY.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO FOR THE REST OF THE DAY?

Talk to other pilots about our papers.

>>7827972
We stay awake to try to reset our body clock. Work on essays or something.

>>7827972
Try distributing your combined arms essay to the other aces, ask them to tell you what they think about it.

>>7827972
Chat with the rest of Nachtmaren about what they heard at lunch, then do some more work on our essay until we can go to sleep and get ourselves onto Pezun time.

>>7827972
Get some space-coffee to keep us awake. Then try to find a gym or some other kind of workout room and do some light athletics. Without proper exercise, muscles can quickly atrophy in a zero-g environment.

>>7828004
>>7828005
>>7828008
>>7828032

You take some coffee and do some work on the essays. After a couple of hours you decide to send a couple of copies to some aces with mail accounts on the asteroid. Shinn, the Black Tristars, Strauss, just to see what they think of it. You doubt too many of them will read the thing, but you never know.
You consider sending a copy off to Dozle, but you don't know if it'd be too forward. He IS an Admiral, presumably he has a lot to do.

You then reach about 5:00 and decide to get some excersise before going to bed.

You find the rec room containing various exercise machines and get a workout.

>>7828254
Wow, great update. Surely worth 25 minutes of typing.

>>7828254
If there's the possibility of something interesting happening (say, Jolyne coming in and something continuing from the awkward conversation we had after the drinking party), we do that.

If nothing, then timeskip to tomorrow morning.

>>7828303

The next morning you wake up relatively fresh. The rest of your unit are showing mixed signs of Space Lag, but you're pretty sure you'll get through.

Shortly, several engineers from the MS design labs come round to meet you to talk about what's on today's agenda.

"Well, we've just recieved the first of the mass production models of the Dom you helped test out, but it looks like the Black Tristars have already nabbed those for testing in the Washer..."

"The washer?"

"Oh sorry, it's out centrifugal system, we use it to create pseudo-gravity and test out gound type mobile suits. Anyway, aside from that we've also got a couple of Zaku refits to test. We've also some MA's to give some shakedowns."

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT FIRST?

>>7828381
Ask about the Zakus first. MAs are Hovis' forte, we can lend him to them if we end up testing them.

>>7828381
Run through the Zaku types first, then the MAs.

>>7828381
Ask about the Mobile Armours first, might be some interesting stuff there.

>>7828381
Mobile Armors, then Zaku refits.

Might as well hear about those cah-razie MAs first.

>>7828397
>>7828399

You ask about the Zaku's first.

"Okay, the first test type with have is a prototype model of the R-Series. Essentially we've been using it a test model for various designs for a while now, anyway, we've been working on a MS usable Beam Weapon for a while, and we think we've come up with something.
Basically we'd like you to test out our new Beam Bazooka!"

>>7828446
>Beam Bazooka.

FUCK YES

>>7828446
"But wouldn't a Beam Weapon require tremendous amounts of power and a massive cooling system?"

>Beam weapon Zaku.

Pic related?

>>7828446

The second one they'd like you to test out is a new refit designed to try out new technologies that will be incorporated into a new Next Generation mobile suit.
Called the MS-06R3.

"...basically, were going to take the test data and transfer it into the MS-17 project."

I give a great big fuck yeah to that suggestion.

>>7828483
MS-17 being the Galbaldy?

Getting that suit out faster wouldn't hurt either.

MS-17!

>>7828475
Hence the bazooka part. Zeon actually did build a few of these, but they were truly gigantic weapons, almost as long as a Rick Dom is tall.

>>7828483
And prioritize this. The sooner we get the Gelgood and Galbaldy series operational, the easier the war will become.

>>7828483

"So... What team made it? If it is the 603rd we might need to have some medics stand by."

Lastly he talks about the new mobile armour.

"The MA-05 Bigro here is based on an earlier MA design, MIP have been refining this design until we've ended up with what you see today. To be honest all this needs is a quick shakedown and a rubberstamp to be approved."

SO, WHO WILL BE TESTING OUT WHAT?

>>7828531
Hovis in the Bigro, obviously. We need to take the R-3 for ourselves.

The Bazooka can be assigned to Jolyne, she has the most experience with artillery-grade weapons. Especially after her run in the Zock.

>>7828483
>"...basically, were going to take the test data and transfer it into the MS-17 project."

Development of the Galbaldy line?

>>7828531

BEAM WEAPON ZAKU!

>>7828554
That sounds good.

>>7828554
Seconding this.

Hmm. Out of curiosity, is the Val Varo going to be coming out any sooner? It seems like the Bigro, except better. And more multipurpose.

>>7828554
I am ok with this.

>>7828643
Maybe, if the Bigro turns out to be a success. That seems to be a trend with us, we prove a certain design is actually a good one worth expanding on, and Zeon does so instead of creating more bullshit prototypes.

>>7828481
Nah. The best thing about the Act Zaku is the magnetic coating on the joints. More responsive suits would be another nice thing to have.

>>7828554

You set up the squad and the Pezun staff begin setting up the test area.
It is 10am, and you are in the R3.

Your Zaku can arm itself with anything that the F2 or Dom can.
Your initial test run will be against 2 Musai Cruisers and 30 fighters, inside a debris zone in space.

YOUR LOADOUT AND ORDERS?

Let's have that big ass beam bazooka, as well as a rifle or MG.

>>7828747
Heat saber, Panzerfaust, machine gun with reloads.

High speed run at one of the Musais. Heat saber to the bridge, panzerfaust to the other one's bridge. Switch to machine guns to deal with fighters.

Make good use of AMBAC to twist ourselves out of enemy line of fire.

>>7828747
The 90mm machine gun and either the 280 or 360mm bazookas, but I doubt we'd be able to fit much else on if we took the 360.

>>7828816
Actually, this sounds a lot more sensible. Seconding this loadout.

>>7828816
My mistake. Dom's giant bazooka instead of Panzerfaust.

360mm 'zook, 90mm machine, reloads, and a Panzerfaust or two

>>7828835
To clarify further, the 360mm one. Stupid misleading weapon names...

I'm assuming that the 880mm one is just not a good idea to put on something that's working off of a Zaku frame.

>>7828860
As far as I can remember, the 880mm isn't issued until the special-environment Doms are developed.

>>7828817
I suppose the question is whether or not we'd need the 360mm to guarantee kills on warships, or whether the 280mm bazooka would do.

>>7828901
The 280mm carried Zakus just fine through half of the OYW. I doubt Musais really require 360mm shells to be taken out if you know what you're doing.

By the by, is Dave's mechanical skill/beam weapon knowledge just high enough that he could reasonably speculate on using some sort of external capacitor to dump power into an MS-scale beam weapon, rather than running it directly off of the suit's own reactor?

>>7828813
>Let's have that big ass beam bazooka, as well as a rifle or MG.

Unfortunately, the Beam Bazooka is still in testing. On the other side of the Asteroid in fact. By one of your wingwomen actually.

>>7828816
>Heat saber, Panzerfaust, machine gun with reloads.

Gouf type saber or Dom type?

>machine gun with reloads.

What type? 120mm or 90mm? You want Grenade Launcher with that?

>>7828930
Then let's stick with the 280mm. Less weight is always better in space if you can do it without losing effectiveness.

>>7828943
What are the differences between the Gouf and Dom type sabers?

90mm for the machine gun, and no grenade launcher. Explosions aren't as useful in space, unless they're really big, and big explosions are what the 280mm bazooka is for.

>>7828943
90mm, with grenade launcher. I'm tempted to say Gouf saber since it has an actual blade.

>By the by, is Dave's mechanical skill/beam weapon knowledge just high enough that he could reasonably speculate on using some sort of external capacitor to dump power into an MS-scale beam weapon, rather than running it directly off of the suit's own reactor?

Not really. Even then, you'd need something absurdly big to store that much power. You saw how big the Aegis equipment was back in Midway.

So, do you want a Bazooka or not?

>>7828985
Yes on the bazooka. The 280mm one is fine. Again, what are the practical differences between the Dom and Gouf heat sabers?

>What are the differences between the Gouf and Dom type sabers?

This basically, one is a heated rod, the other is like a heat machete.

>>7829016
Gouf heat saber is basically like a shortsword. The Dom one is longer, but looks more like a staff, and lacks either a blade or edge.

>>7828985

MG with GL will be fine - we need it for the fighters.

Also, Alpologized - I'm paining up an MG F2, Zaku Cannon and Gouf Custom in Nachtmaren unit colours - do I have your permission to use your unit logo for decals? Just figured i'd check.

>>7829039
Gouf saber, then, because it seems less likely to break if we look at it funny.

I would say that we should take MG reloads instead of grenades, though. MG is going to be much more useful against the fighters than grenades, because in space explosions need to be literally right on top of the target to do any noticeable damage.

>>7829056
>Also, Alpologized - I'm paining up an MG F2, Zaku Cannon and Gouf Custom in Nachtmaren unit colours - do I have your permission to use your unit logo for decals? Just figured i'd check.

Well considering that the Nachtmaren Logo is just the title screen for UN Squadron from the SNES inverted in photoshop. I don't really have that much ground to stop really. But go ahead.

Just to check, you do mean this when you say Nachtmaren Unit colours?

>>7829056
We need a bazooka to kill the Musais.

Or at least to kill one of them, given that we're going to heat saber the other.

>>7829056

>>7829039
Dom version. Looks kinda like lightsaber.

>>7829039
Let's take the Dom one.

>>7829094

Hum. Well, i'll do it anyway. I'm bothered less by annoying a company than I am of anyone Zeonquest-related.

Well, I was going to use those colours for Lister's F2 - I figured everyone else just had black-on-blacker-black-on-dark-grey. Although I can do the skelly scheme for all of them if everyone does indeed have it. (It'll take ages, mind. Stupid painting-only OCD.)

>>7829085

Okay, so 90mm Rifle, 6 reloads on on left hip. A 240mm Bazooka on the backpack along with 4 reloads and the Heat Saber mounted on the backpack housing.

Sounds fine?

>>7829191
Sounds good to me.

>>7829184
David's is the only one with the skeleton paintjob. We never really covered custom jobs for the other members of the unit, though they've certainly earned it by now.

>>7829191

I like it.

>>7829191
Yes. Now proceed with the test.

>>7829216
Well, we do know one custom job.

Hobbes' Recon Zaku is getting repainted in tiger stripes.

>>7829283

Which would be fun as hell to do, /if/ they actually made a MG Recon Zaku kit. Damn Bandai...

>>7829308
Oh god, I just noticed that the Recon Zaku has a camera/rangefinder setup in its crotch.

We HAVE to use this to make fun of Hobbes at least once.

>>7829343
It has what where? Damnit Japan, what the hell?

>>7825665

Is it just me, but everytime I see that ship, I think of thunderbird 2?

>>7829402
I'm serious. Head over to MAHQ and look it up. It's the MS-05E.

>>7829452
...damnit Japan.

Okay, let's get started.

>High speed run at one of the Musais. Heat saber to the bridge, panzerfaust to the other one's bridge. Switch to machine guns to deal with fighters.

>Make good use of AMBAC to twist ourselves out of enemy line of fire.

At the green light you dart forwards behind the cover afforded of several piece of large debris, around you several small explosions fly past as the two cruisers attempt to bracket you with rockets. You bring out your Bazooka, and flip up and fire a shot before darting out of the way of the fire of a wing of a Gattle fighters.
Dashing backwards on leg thrusters you bring out your Machnine Gun a fire at the persuing fighters. Three of them take paintballs and a registered as destroyed. You make another punishing hard angle turn to avoid a pair of simulated particle beam blasts from the cruisers, and fire another Bazooka shot at the Musai.
You thrust past the remaining Gattle of the wing sending a quick burst at it, finishing off.

The first Musai registers as sunk, you must have gotten a good shot on the bridge or engine block. The second is further back, staying clear of the debris and heavily covered by Fighters. You don't think you'd be able to push though that screen without being tagged.
That said, this IS a very fast and maneouvable suit.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>7829452
>>7829500

What? It's a pretty good height for scanning for infantry and light vehicles.

Bazooka into a cluster of fighters. Then MG them as they swarm away to get clear of the blast. Get us some breathing room.

>>7829529
Head further into the asteroids. It can't follow us, so it'll have to send it's fighters. Hide and seek, just like with the Balls in the trench that one time. If we can take out the fighters, then we can go for a run at the last Musai.

>>7829529

Dance around the screen - use our mobility to give their pilots fits. Move into the rear arc of the Musai where it doesn't really have much firepower. Thin out the fighters and punch through to take out the Musai's engines once theyre mostly gone.

>>7829561
I know that. That doesn't prevent its pilots from having everybody who sees a Recon Zaku make at least one joke about it.

>>7829529
Fire off brace of bazooka rounds to scatter fighters, charging in at maximum speed right behind the bazooka rounds. Switch to heat saber and MG as we pass through the fighter line, nail any that we can without deviating from our real target: the Musai.

We're going to heat saber the Musai's bridge open, then pop a bazooka round into the hole.

>>7829586
Better to use the Musai itself for cover; if the Musai really wants us dead it can start using its particle cannon on the debris we're trying to hide behind, or can pin us with it while the fighters englobe us.

Get close enough to the Musai, though, and its main guns can't be aimed at us. Just as important, the fighters are going to have to be a lot more careful with their shots to avoid damaging the Musai.

>>7829649
Bah, away with you and your logic.

Fine, we'll do it your way.

>>7829581
>>7829586

You fire a missile at the Gattles to get their attention before retreating into the debris field. You use the momentary lapse in fighting to reload your bazooka and holster it. You reload your 90mm as well and bring out your Heat Saber. The improved servo strength in this design has given you good accuracy at firing one handed.

Then the Gattles begin to enter the debris field. Your opening shots are well placed and five of the fighters are taken out on the opening shots. Then the rest of the squadrons follows them, and then your darting behind pieces of rock and broken machinery, the shells of hulked battleships and old sattelites, paintballs flying everywhere.
You manage to take out 8 more whilst furiously dodging, and you manage at some point to lose them in the broken remains of a sundered Salamis cruiser.
You pop up out of the Debris field to see the Musai, Only covered by 15 fighters, they don't appear to have spotted you yet.

YOUR ORDERS?

>>7829751
Now we can try to speed and jink to the Musai, try to get behind it, and unload the bazooka.

>>7829751
Charge the Musai at top speed. Use a bazooka round to force the fighters to scatter. Punch through that hole in the fighter cover and heat saber the Musai's bridge. Then launch another bazooka round into the hole.

>>7829751

Blitzkreig run. Dual-wield the bazooka and MG, fire the MG on the way in to scatter the fighters, and then unload into the bridge of the Musai with the Bazooka's entire magazine.

If the test continues after that, try mopping up the fighters with the heat saber, for practice.

>>7829815
>>7829825
These.

>>7829792
>>7829815

You hit the full thrusters and dash towards the Musai, the Musai quickly spots you, but not in time to get any shots off with it's particle cannons. You dodge the fire of the Gattles and fire a couple of Bazooka shots into the enemy bridge in quick sucession.
The Musai registers as sunk.

There are 15 PO'd Gattles surrounding you and another 7 probably making their way out of the debris field.

YOUR ORDERS?

Here's a cinematic move.

THROW THE SABER INTO THE MUSAI. CHARGE FORWARD, BAZOOKA AND MG TO THE FIGHTERS. WHEN WE GET TO THE MUSAI, GRAB THE SABER WE THREW INTO IT, CARVE OUR WAY IN!

Use the musai as cover. Use our speed and agility to do hit and run flanking attacks.

Use the good ol "kick-off the downed ship and rapidly accelerate stright up while shooting the fuck out of anything below you" move.

Then dart towards the nearest cover.

>>7829888
Switch to MG and heat saber. Start making our way through the Gattles while using the Musai for cover.

Once the ones coming from the debris field are committed, make another high speed dash back into the debris field. Pick off the Gattles leaving the debris field when they come to a stop in order to reverse thrust and turn back towards the debris field.

Then hunt down the survivors one by one.

>>7829888

Machine Gun. Heat Saber. Weapons Akimbo.

Let's push this suit right up to the limits of what it can do. Moving as fast as possbile, manuvering as erratically as possible, and unloading blade and bullets at everything we can see.

(If we're really, /really/ stuffed, retreat to the debris field, engage the limiter release, and then wade back in with our powered-up suit for as long as it will last.)

>>7829935
I agree with this. We're test pilots. Push the envelope.

>>7829974
Also, we're probably a Newtype. And there's no better way to flip that switch to the "on" position than life-or-death situations.

>>7829900
>>7829913
>>7829925

Using the Musai as cover you toss your 240mm and pull out your MG as you take on the fighters. Even using the ship as cover, it's still a tight fight. A couple of unlucky hits take out your left arm and reduce the power on your left leg.
You give the enemy a good mauling in the process though, you spot the remaining seven fighters coming your way and you leap off the Musai and barrel past them firing off a panzerfaust to clearl you way. The Gattles scatter again, apart from one who takes a stray paintball and you dash past.
Unfortunately your head takes a hit and your primary sensors shut down, your secondaries activate and you make it to the cover of the debris field.

Over the intercom - a siren sounds.

"Were calling the test over with that Lieutenant. Good work! Very impressive! What did you think of the suit modifications?"

>>7830068
A shield of some sort would be nice, if it can be done without crippling its speed and maneuverability. Otherwise, no real complaints.

Yes, maybe some sort of a maneuverable body shield. Stored on the back, could be moved to the sides or front if need be.

>>7830068

Mobility felt good, as did the increased servo strength. Having some dual-wielding routines programmed in as standard could be good to take advantage of it, ditto for larger weapons.

Anything we can do about increased armour? I'm sure the thrusters can handle it.

Also, if the reactor is powerful enough, how about testing it rigged up with the beam bazooka? It could be interestng.

>>7830068

"Power of this suit is incredible! I'm pretty sure I could rip the face off a Zaku with this thing. And the thrust and agility of it is amazing. It doesn't seem to have as much boost as the Dom came with, but it's still highly impressive. What did you say these were the parts for?"

"Uh, the Next Gen MS project, MS-14 and MS-17."

"I didn't think we had that many designs yet?"

"Well, a lot of them are only on paper sir, and the MS-11 was going along alright until the project got scrapped - unscrapped and then relabelled. Well anyway, 1 MS, 2 Ship kills and 22 fighters. Damned impressive all the same. You should come in and we can clean and test the suit for any stress fractures."

You RTB to find the rest of the Unit waiting for you.

WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK TO FIRST?

>>7830171
Jolyne, then Hovis, then the unit in general.

>>7830171

If Jo and Hovis are done with their test runs, see how they felt about their new equipment. Beam Bazooka especially.

What did we have everyone else doing while the test was on, incidentally?

>A shield of some sort would be nice, if it can be done without crippling its speed and maneuverability. Otherwise, no real complaints.

You also bring this up. The Techs agree with you and say they've got some ideas on that front themselves.

"You see, a lot of the thrust comes from the legs, so a large shield on the backpack area that can be deployed on the front when needed is more viable here. We could actually get quite a big shield without too much performance loss..."

>Also, if the reactor is powerful enough, how about testing it rigged up with the beam bazooka? It could be interestng.

Again, they say they want to finish testing out the Beam Bazooka first.

>>7830234

You ask Jolyne how the Beam Bazooka went.

"It was a bust unfortunately. Each shot took 5 seconds to charge, I lost thruster power whenever I pulled the trigger and after four shots it overheated and had to be shut down. Those four shots had plenty of power though, and it's impressive to see how small they can get beam guns these days, but, I think it's going to be a while before we get something like what the Marine MS have in terms of beam weapons."

Hovis had a much better time.

"It suprised me just how fast it was. I mean REALLY fast, hard to control at times, beam cannons and missiles alone would have been fine, but the claws do help it's mobility and it's going to shred it's way through enemy cruisers. 10 of these guys and we could take Luna 2."

"How many do we have?"

"Uh, three. One of which was converted into Captain Boone's Grablo. They're not cheap unfortunately."

Jolyne really loved that ZGok, and was damn effective in it.

True she's grand at AA in her Zaku cannon but with Calvin's recon and the rino, I don't think we have to worry much about air.

She seemed damn good at spinning like a fucking top and shooting accuratly, we've been limiting her too much by sticking her in her artilery AA role...damnit she might be a newtype too.

We should practice giving her different suits and see how she likes them and whenever we get a unit upgrade toss something her way

>Oh, And it would free up a very capable test pilot too.

And Love will probably not bloom now. I hate you guys, I like ma sappy romances and taking hot baths atop the Himalaya.

You talk to the rest of the team. Calvin has been asked to test out an improved version of the Recon Zaku tommorow (pictured) Ruubens appears to have found some old friends in the tech team from when she was in engineering corps (apparently Texas Colony sent their engineers to the training corp her in Pezun) and Zolomon...

>>7830421

FLIIIIIPPPPPPPPERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Zolomon it appears to have gotten you all involved in a high stakes game of basketball.
...with the Black Tristars
...in Mobile Suits.

You are unable to resist the urge to slap him round the back of the head.

Well, at least it doesn't look like you'll be bored this week.

>>7830437
FLIPPER
FLIPPER
THE TASTIEST DOLPHIN
HE GOES WELL WITH SALT AND
SOME FRESH TARTAR SAUCE

>>7830456

ZOLOMOOOOOOOOOOOON!

Exactly what are the stakes, here?

>>7830456
>Zol gets us into basketball match against BLACK TRISTARS

Pic related.

>>7825665

thunderbird 2

OMAKE

MAIL FORWARDED TO ADMIRAL D. ZABI
FROM: MATSUNAGA. S.
RE: I THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT THIS

I just received this over station network mail, most of it's over my head, but it looks pretty interesting. I get the feeling that most of it is for operations within the earth sphere though. Still I think some this could be adapted.
I wonder if Lord Garma has seen this yet? Do you think we should forward it on to him?

Well, anyway, I hope you find this as interesting as I did.

Shin.

ATTATCHED: Msia.ODS

>>7830519
This would be our combined arms essay?

Well, what do you know, it looks like it'll be getting some more attention. Nice.

>>7830519

Excellent.

Well, we've met two of the Zabis at this point.

Still have to meet Kycillia and Gihren, though. The first to get involved in Newtype stuff, the second to punch in the crotch.

OMAKE 2

MEANWHILE BACK AT CALIFORNIA.

"Do. Do we REALLY have to paint even the Marine MS as well in this colour scheme Mr Ookawara, sir?"

"Which unit do the marine MS belong to?"

"Nachtmaren Unit sir."

"And what have we been doing for the past two days?"

"...painting all of the mobile suits in a unified colour scheme...."

"Aside from?"

"The Artillery MA, because 'that is a testament to those who lost their lives in the battle of Midway'... and the colour scheme wouldn't really work all that well on an MA."

"Exactly. So stop complaining and get back to work. I did the first one all by myself, in a cramped Gallop MSV whilst getting shelled by enemy air forces, so I don't see what your problem is."

"I still don't think a skeleton motif works on a Zock..."

"Shut up you big girl and get on with it."

>>7830519
Oh snap Dozle's gonna end up taking a look at our essay! With enough stuff like this we might be able to actually win this war.

>>7830609
The trickiest thing in the next few weeks is going to be surviving our probable invitation to accompany Char on his trip to Side 7.

Or our replacing Char on his trip to Side 7.

Either way, it's gonna be Amuro time.

>>7830577
>Still have to meet Kycillia and Gihren, though. The first to get involved in Newtype stuff, the second to punch in the crotch.

I have no idea how we're going to take meeting Gihren. The character has no particular reason to dislike him but most of us in the audience are going to be baying for his blood.

>>7830644
Well, if we've ever actually read any of the speeches he's given, we still probably think he's a quasi-Nazi douchebag.

Granted, he was more open about it in canon after Garma died, but I think his nuttiness wasn't hidden very well even before then.

>>7830659
I dunno, if nothing else, Gihren was incredibly charismatic. If I remember our backstory correctly, we may not have the nationalistic pride he preys on, but our squadmates very well might.

>Zolomon it appears to have gotten you all involved in a high stakes game of basketball.
>...with the Black Tristars
>...in Mobile Suits.

GUNBUSTER SQUAD! ROLL OUT!

>>7830700
Make a comment about "Topless" and Jolyne WILL kill you.

>>7830736
Jolyne and Ruubens topless...

Being killed by Jolyne...

TOTALLY WORTH IT!

>>7830736

We should totally do that. Counter the Tristars antics by going into the match topless.

Things to do for tommorow:

Watch some basketball games on youtube or whatever the regain a feel for the game. It's been a while since I saw one the whole way through.

Introduce a man from the Flanagan institute.

With the Tristar as our opponent you'd better watch some Attack No. 1 too.

FFFFF I always miss these... x.X

Also remember to vote. :3

>>7830765

Also, has Zolomon informed us of these "High Stakes", or are we guessing until the Tri-stars dramatically lay them out before the game?

Holy crap, this is running tonight? I forgot...

>>7830943

I know how you feel

aaaand I make it back late again. I'm sure glad we still do this on Sundays.

I've been looking over the Agg and considering the plans to dig our way into Jaburo. Just looking at the Agg and taking into account it's size we should be able to tunnel through even fairly solid rock rather quickly. The problem with this is going to be removing the debris quickly enough.

Standard TBM's are big, slow and bulky. One of these would be useless to us in the Jaburo Assault. What we can do is convert one of these to rapidly and effectively clear the debris the Agg will leave behind. Since we'll no longer need the cutting head we can modifly that with larger buckets to take in more material at a time. Scooped up material well then go through a series or rock crushers before being blasted with high pressure water jets to send the liquid slurry back up to the surface.

If my estimates are at all correct we could sustain a rate of advance of 650m every 24 hours barring technical malfunctions.

>>7831121

I say we get this thing converted to a troop carrier for combat engineers we need to setup a beach head. Probably see if we can convert it for that purposE?

>>7831216
Sure, I suppose you could add another couple of vehicle 'cars' to it that could hold troops. But remember, the longer this thing is the harder it's going to be for our Movile Suits to get past it once we break through into Jaburo.

How about a hollow drill ship. Once it busts through into Jaburo, explosives are sent down the hollow tunnel and detonated at the tip, opening a large hole for us to exit out of.

>>7831121
Wouldn't the Feddies hear the noise? I mean, since Monovsky Particles ruined Radar the Feddies have invested pretty heavily into sound and vibration sensors.

>>7831396
Yeah, I was wondering about that too. Then again I didnt come up with the plan to tunnel into Jaburo, I'm just offering one way to support the logistics of tunneling.

How about laser beam drills

>>7831488

Energy requirements would be... substantial.

We stick with the debris clearing mechanisms, then follow it up with the mobile suits, then the combat engineers.

Digger MS takes the lead followed by debris clearer, then our MS support the digger MS, we make a beach head, and then move out and combat engineers support and reinforce followed by other forces.

So, uh. What happen?

>>7833200
Someone set us up the bomb. Err. . . Basketball game.

Hello there, Zeon Questers. I just got started going through ZQ's archives just to catch myself up, since I haven't been following ZQ, and I came across this little snippet.

Have I made y'all shit bricks, or has somebody already pointed out this strange coincidence?

>>7834527
This was in the first ZQ thread, by the way.