CE 71 September 26th, 3 000 kilometres out from Jachin Due, PLANTs, Lagrange 5

Ray Feric, Lieutenant of the OMNI Space Corps, put his Strike Dagger into a spin, and tapped the trigger control rapidly; his mobile suit squeezed off shots from its beam rifle as fast as the systems allowed it to. The ammo meter on his HUD beeped a warning tone to warn him that its particle tank was running low; it was an amazing occurrence for a beam weapon to run dry before the mobile suit's own powerpack, and were it any other occasion Ray would have been amazed, but an empty gun was the least of his current concerns; the GuAIZ currently heading towards him had just shot down his wingmate, and if he wanted to survive the encounter, he would need to force the ZAFT MS back until reinforcements arrived.

Almost lazily, the GuAIZ zigzagged its flight path, dodging Ray's barely-aimed shots. It reciprocated with its own beam rifle, and Ray just managed to bring up the Strike Dagger's shield in time; there was no time to dodge, not at the decreasing range in which they were fighting in, and the Strike Dagger was simply not reactive enough, nor manoeuvrable enough, to effect the radical directional changes at that range. The beam hit the shield with all the force of an Anti-Ship Sword in full swing, burning through the last of the shield's anti-beam coating, and melting through to its innermost layer; thankfully, that shot had expended all of its energy on penetration, and the Strike Dagger's left arm was still functional, if slightly overheated. Discarding the wrecked shield, Ray muttered something unrepeatable, and his Strike Dagger tossed his rifle to its left arm, before drawing its beam saber with its right; a brilliant flash of energy illuminated the mobile suit's side, the light-pink beam blade flashing to life almost instantly.

The GuAIZ suddenly paused mid-manoeuvre, and fired its beam-tipped rocket anchors. Having seen GuAIZ units in action multiple times since his reassignment into space, Ray discarded the thought of trying to slip past the attack; he put his Strike Dagger into a full boost, sending the MS rocketing "up", at least, "up" when seen from his former position.

The GuAIZ easily went from a linear to a vertical full boost as well; it caught up, and backhanded the Strike Dagger with its beam claws. Ray barely caught its blow with his Strike Dagger's beam saber, and was forced backwards as the ZAFT unit followed up with a never-ceasing rain of stabbing strikes.

Ray winced as he parried blow after blow with his beam sabre, filling the cockpit displays with various mixes of sparks and lights as he manoeuvred his Strike Dagger as precisely as he could manage, trying to backtrack in an erratic a manner as possible to avoid being caught by the rain of blows. As much as he was an OMNI pilot, he had to admit that the GuAIZ was a wondrous piece of work; many of his compatriots' own observations, and the pictures of the GuAIZ's head unit, suggested that it was related to the Earth Alliance's GAT-105X Strike in some way. Having watched instructional videos of the Strike in action, and having dealt with GuAIZ units many times since the days through Boaz leading up until now, it felt as though he was fighting something copied from the Strike.

The cessation of the sparks and energy arcs from two beam melee weapons clashing brought Ray's mind back to clarity. He gave a sigh of relief as his former instructor and now comrade, Captain Kelburn Tarkon, arrived on the scene along with another pilot, blasting away at the GuAIZ; Ray backed his unit away and joined in the barrage as well, not caring that he was exhausting the last of his rifle's energy store. The ZAFT unit backed away and returned fire, but the shots were wide, as it was forced to split its attention between the three Strike Daggers, which were putting their all into evasive manoeuvres.

Kelburn opened a direct line to Ray's unit. "Any injuries?" the voice of the older man came through.

"I'm fine, thanks to you catching my distress call." Ray replied, watching the GuAIZ speed off. He turned to face Kelburn, grimly noting the fact that he had but one member of his squadron left from a full complement of twelve machines. "What happened to your squad?"

"GuAIZ squadron. They were hiding in the wreck of an Agamemnon-class. We would have all lost all of our heads if it wasn't for Mad Dog Morgan passing by. What about yours?"

"Same old story as yours," Ray said, his mind thinking back to his deployment in the scattered skirmishes that had led to Boaz, and now, Jachin Due. He'd seen "Mad Dog under the Moonlight" Morgan Chevalier fight on numerous occasions, and each time, the older man and his 105 Dagger + Gunbarrel Striker was the one who'd cleared a path for Ray and his fellow pilots, allowing them to push on. He had seen the older pilot blast through GuAIZ and CGUE units like a beam shot through paper.

"Where did Captain Chevalier go?" Ray removed his helmet, and afforded himself the luxury of wiping the sweat off his brow, before jamming the uncomfortable thing back on. While the pilot suit allowed extreme flexibility compared to older space suits, with no loss of vacuum performance, Ray wished that they had put a proper defogger in the helmet systems, like several civilian models had.

"No idea. I last saw him leading an attack on Jachin Due itself. I saw Ed the Ripper there as well; that makes two superstars." Kelburn's Strike Dagger turned towards the resupply fleet. "C'mon, we've got other things to worry about. My rifle is almost empty, and if I've to deal with a GuAIZ in close quarters, the heart attack will kill me first."

CE 71 September 26th, 3 500 kilometres out from Jachin Due, PLANTs, Lagrange 5, on board OMNI supply vessel Safe Behind

Ray unclipped his pilot suit's neck guard, took off his helmet, and relaxed his body. Back with the resupply fleet, and inside the hangar of the Marseille III-class Safe Behind, technicians began to work on his Strike Dagger, checking for more pressing cases of joint damage, recharging the mobile suit, and refuelling its rifle's energy tank, thrust propellant, and solid ammunition stores all at the same time. To his left, Kelburn's Dagger was docked, and likewise, was being worked on by no less than two dozen technicians and mechanics. Ray had been temporarily placed under Kelburn's command; it was better to form an undersized flight than go back out there alone.

Ray closed his eyes for a moment, remembering his lost teammates, and was about to begin checking through the Strike Dagger's automatic report of its computer systems when he heard knocking on the cockpit doors; opening it, he saw a familiar smile. Master Sergeant Lin Tennan-Khole, an OMNI Space Corps chief technician, and Lieutenant Ray Feric, an OMNI Armor Tactics Corps pilot, had shared a close relationship forged throughout the latter half of the Bloody Valentine War, one strengthened by their current posting to the same fighting force.

"Thirsty?" The former OMNI research-and-development assistant scientist spun a sealed bottle through the air. Lin had worked on beam weaponry for OMNI prior to her assignment to the front, and mobile suit systems were no stranger to her as well. Both of them had shared a fascination of the weapons system that had been made infamous through ZAFT's military campaign, and now, they were on the same front, on board the same ship.

"Thanks," Ray said, catching the blue container. He pulled the straw out of its compartment and began to drink in small amounts. "How many came in without going back out so far?" Ray asked, referring to pilots too wounded or with units too disabled to return to battle.

Lin shook her head. "Those that make it back in are those that manage to get here on their own power. The battles out there… it's like hell."

Ray closed his eyes for an instant, remembering the fights he went through since the battle for Jachin Due started. From his first action at Panama, where he narrowly escaped with his life, to Boaz and now Jachin Due, he'd seen allied and enemy units shoot disabled MSes in the cockpit just to make sure. He thought about Lin's words, and shivered slightly.

"I heard that the task force had deployed nuclear weapons," Lin said. "I still can't believe..."

Ray nodded once to affirm the thought. "I saw them. They were intercepted; I saw the detonations." He looked around. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but... if those missiles had hit, we wouldn't have to die out here by the dozens."

Lin's face was troubled. "Ray, it's not like you to say something like this."

Ray's brow furrowed in mild frustration. "I know. At least the civilians in the PLANTs are safe. But the way this battle is going, the only way to bring ZAFT to heel is to enter the PLANTs and face them in direct combat." He sealed his drink bottle; OMNI's adaptation training for non-space pilots had been a hasty affair, and he didn't relish the feeling of having to go in his suit later on. In his heart, he was still a ground-pounder. "The death count is still going to soar to its maximum possible number. The only question is how long it'll take to achieve it."

The corners of Lin's mouth turned up in a small smile. "You think too much about everything all the time. Just stay safe and come back to me, alright?" she said, planting a light kiss on Ray's forehead. "Hm. Salty."

The Safe Behind suddenly rumbled, and Ray's smirking reply was lost in his resurgent anxieties. Lin likewise looked around with a worried face; a supply ship at the very back of the line had very few reasons to dump power into its engines for an emergency activation. That usually meant that it needed to escape… and quickly.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked, resealing his pilot suit. From the corner of his vision, he saw Kelburn's Strike Dagger grab its rearmed beam rifle from the recharging rack, technicians working furiously to remove the mobile suit's remaining restrains.

Lin put a hand to her helmet, activating its comm function. As she listened, her looks got more worried. "A long-range weapons blast. It seems like ZAFT just revealed their trump card." She pushed away from Ray's Strike Dagger, sealed her helmet, and started to direct orders, even as Ray sealed his cockpit, and hurriedly brought all its systems online. "Enact vacuum protocols. We're sending these two out as fast as possible, in case there's an ambush from ZAFT units in the vicinity."

And then the space around the Safe Behind became unbearably bright.

Ray, being the closest to the hangar door, reacted on instinct, blasting out as soon as the entire area around him lighted up in unnatural whiteness, before the Strike Dagger's external cameras filled with static from the visual overload. It took a few seconds for Ray to remember that the ship was behind him… that Lin was on that ship.

Ray cursed and tugged at the controls, and the Strike Dagger sluggishly responded; it was as though it had lost most of its thrusters. Ray wondered if he has scraped something on his way out.

As his screen functions returned, albeit filled with heavy static, Ray could see that the space behind him was filled with a multitude of colours, but the Safe Behind was nowhere to be seen. In fact, as Ray looked around, the space around him was filled with an unusual number of explosions; the light he had seen earlier was fading… and not a single intact OMNI warship could be found.

He then realized the full magnitude of what had just happened. Taken with fear, Ray slowly opened the cockpit hatch and clambered out, taking care not to overextend himself into the void beyond. The light had dissipated, but he could see the direction it came from, even as the residual energy from the beam petered out.

Jachin Due had gained a new satellite… One that Ray could have sworn had not been present just minutes ago. The vaguely dish-shaped object was flickering with arcs of energy, and on its front was a conical construct; it was charred and twisted, as though it had been channelling the focus of the terrifying blast from a few seconds ago.

Ray choked back a cry as he saw Kelburn's Strike Dagger float past, a battered head attached to a barely-existing torso, the stumps of its arms still attached to its shoulders. The blast had melted everything below the mobile suit's chest block, including the cockpit in its entirety, and the Strike Dagger, still spinning from the force of the blast, turned to face Ray. Ray saw his figure reflected in the mobile suit's faceplate, and a small part of him gave thanks that his helmet visor had automatically polarised when he had emerged from his mobile suit. He didn't want to see what kind of face he had now.

Ray looked down, and saw that his Strike Dagger wasn't in any better condition. Its legs were completely gone, even from just a glancing hit, and the backwash from the blast had damaged most of his thrusters to some extent.

Then something smaller bumped into him; it was wearing a white technician's space suit. He caught the body, and took a slow look around, finally noticing the finer details of the carnage. Those that had been standing near the hangar door of the Safe Behind were thrown clear of the ship as it lost half of its mass to the blast, and the other half to chain explosions… but with all the debris flying around, not a single one of them had made it alive.

The lucky ones were speared with shrapnel, killing them painfully but relatively quickly; other died from compromised spacesuits that they couldn't patch in time or were too injured to do so. Ray slowly turned the body in his hands around. Lin's visage greeted him.

Her lips were blue, and water vapour had frosted on her face and the sides of her helmet visor. Her eyes were half open, and her face expressionless. To Ray, she looked as though she had gone to sleep, but in an extremely cold room… except for the deep, ugly crack running down her visor, and the foot-long metal piece cutting into her side. Her spacesuit was decorated with numerous smaller fragments, some of them threatening to cut into Ray's own pilot suit as he pulled her corpse in, and embraced it with what little strength he had. There was no sadness, no anger; only a numb sensation thrummed on the forefront of his consciousness, eclipsing all other emotions.

As the battle of Jachin Due raged on, Ray brought the body into his cockpit, sealed the leaks, and set the Strike Dagger's distress signal on full broadcast. And he let himself drift off into blissful darkness, his subconscious haunted by one-eyed demons, and an all-consuming flash of light, echoed with Lin's voice framed in a scream he never got the chance to hear.

CE 73, November 3rd, OMNI Enforcer AFRICOM, Egypt, Sinai Base

07 29, one month after the Break The World Incident

The first thing Ray realized, when he woke, was that his pillowcase and bedsheets were utterly soaked. Anymore, and he would have soaked through to the floor.

He slowly moved his right hand to cover his eyes from the morning sun streaming in from the window, his left wiping sweat from his face. Dark drops patterned the bedsheets as his hand came away, covered with heavy droplets of moisture. The fan hanging from the white ceiling above him was present only in sound; for all the ventilation it provided, it might as well have not been there.

This particular OMNI base was located in South Sinai, Egypt, where the local populace had suffered relatively little from the Junius 7 drops. During his two-week stint into Africa's coastal regions on relief efforts, he had seen first-hand the destruction of the local infrastructure. His deployment there had been part of the adopted measures after OMNI had experienced an attack on a disaster site by insurgents, but thankfully Ray's mission had been uneventful. Even now, the daily news reports were still about the on-going recovery efforts, and there were entire towns and cities that had yet to have access to basic necessities, like electricity and fresh water, restored.

Nevertheless, life at the small-scale Sinai OMNI Army Base was anything but dull. The regions around and beyond Egypt were often locked in small insurgencies; no doubt the perpetrators had been taking inspiration from the former anti-ZAFT group Desert Dawn, though further up north, he had heard that newer groups fought OMNI forces for occupying their territory for a military base.

Although Desert Dawn had disbanded a while ago; Ray often caught the name on tapes published by the newer terrorist groups that they were "fighting against the racially-slanted Earth Alliance for the right to live independently, as Desert Dawn did the same to the unholy invaders from space", or something to that effect.

While Egypt was part of the African Community, it was located far from any of ZAFT's actual African presence itself. Nevertheless, Desert Dawn's reach had been far, and the area had been a hotbed of insurgency even back when in CE 72, OMNI, in an effort to secure the minerals in the regions surrounding Egypt, used the location to begin establishing a network of bases, sometime after the destruction of JOSH-A and the successful rout of ZAFT forces in Northern Africa. Unfortunately for the half-constructed first base, it came too late in the war, and soon the funds were redirected to a Blue Cosmos-led nuclear armament program. The single base struggled on, and was slowly built it up to its current, modest state today. The prospect of minerals had turned out modest, and Ray was sure that had the base been under Central command, it would have been shut down months ago. As it was, it was one of the better-stocked facilities of OMNI AFRICOM, and served as a key point in the safety of the southern areas of the Middle East and Suez regional areas.

It was also the truth that the present OMNI leadership did not care much for any base that wasn't dedicated to the anti-Coordinator movement that had heated up in the past half a year or so, and had actively re-directed anti-insurgent forces towards the frontlines in the Middle East after the Battle of Aprilius One, and the subsequent ZAFT occupation of the eastern regions of the Middle East.

Fortunately for the personnel on Sinai base, the authorities in Egypt needed OMNI mobile suits to keep the law and order, and so continued supporting them in any way they needed; not that the local forces were not capable of routing the insurgents, but they rightly figured that it would cost less for OMNI to sting the unruly mountain bandits occasionally, rather than having to deal with possible black-market GINNs and DINNs with nothing more than old Linear Tanks and squadrons comprised of the obsolete F-7D Spearhead VTOL jet. Unlike OMNI, the meagre Egyptian national security forces didn't have the numbers, nor the warfighting experience, to turn disadvantages into a workable victory plan.

Ray, shaking his head to clear off the last of his thoughts and sleepiness, got into exercise wear and exited his spartan room, noting that most people were already up. The only reason why no one wanted his head a half hour ago was because today was his off day.

Not that you have anywhere else to go to, a small voice at the back of his mind reminded him, as he walked onto the area surrounding the hangar bays.

Ray shook his head to clear the lingering images of Lin, and set off on a brisk run.

CE 73, November 3rd, OMNI Enforcer AFRICOM, Egypt, Sinai Base

08 43

On his seventh round around the hangar complexes, Ray could no longer resist not peeking through one of the hangar doors, which was ajar. Deciding to stop for the day, Ray walked in, and was greeted with a front-row sight down the interior of the barrel of a Windam's M9409L beam rifle. Sounds of tools striking metallic surfaces ceased as a woman dressed in a sleeveless army shirt and short exercise shorts strode up towards him. "Morning, sir," she said, with both her face and her light-brown, shoulder-length, tousled hair stained with blobs of machine lubricant gel. "'Was about time you got around."

Second Lieutenant Sheryl Camelot had been assigned under the command of Ray Feric, following the month of June in CE 73, and the formal activation of Sinai Base's second Tactical Combined Squadron, the 108th TCS Manhunters. Ever since then, they had formed a close comradeship, both during missions, and when on-base; they had started rocky at first, but Ray found out that the otherwise-prudent Britishwoman had an endearing streak to those she was close enough with.

"At ease, Sheryl. I don't want to feel like I'm still on the base during an off day." Ray replied. Shelving his thoughts about her inappropriate attire for garage work for later, he walked around the rifle, and gave a low whistle. "A Windam's weapon? I wasn't aware we had any arms delivery in the past month."

"The Lieutenant Colonel approached me last week," Sheryl replied, her eyes almost sparkling, and the twitching of her face a telltale sign of a suppressed grin. "He said that he had a favour owed him, and asked for this in return, and that he couldn't think of anyone more suited for this. This came in on truck just five days ago, but I was too busy recalibrating the automatic compensation on my unit to make the necessary adjustments to this little baby here. It's a good replacement for that old 94mm beam rifle I used to have... without the parts, I can't keep it firing steadily any longer."

"A good choice," Ray said as he ran a hand over the rifle's matte black finish. "It's a misnomer calling these beam rifles; if I recall the initial press-released specs correctly, these guns could tango with a GINN Recon's sniper rifle if properly tuned. The rate-of-fire is also pretty high for a weapon of that power rating; these aren't sniper weapons… more like designated marksman rifles."

"Probably the only good thing to come out of the Windam," Sheryl sighed. "Those things have good specs, but the controls setup is so bad that using a GINN would be easier. And with the way OMNI is training new pilots, it's not really helping much."

"What about the Dagger L's beam carbine?" Ray asked. "This thing would be pretty maintenance-heavy in a desert environment…"

Sheryl shook her head. "I've tried every way of tweaking those rifles, but the desert heat, on a bad day, restricts their range by more than 60%. As bad as the Windam's overall performance may be, the beam rifle itself is pretty hardy, and its firepower makes the Dagger L's beam carbine look like a disco light. Combined with this third-party R-14K suppressor and range-booster… I'd wager that this weapon can take the eye out of a ZAKU at 2.5 kilometres minimum, even in full-blown desert heat."

Ray then noticed the black, four-meter long rectangular device, sitting on a pushcart a metre away from the rifle's barrel. It was almost entirely smooth on the surface with two bumps located symmetrically to each other, near what Ray assumed to be the connector to the barrel, and its outer diameter was almost twice that of the M9409L's barrel. "Shengyang Heavy Industries" was stamped on its side in white print, along with the accompanying Chinese letters and the model number of "R-14K".

"I'm surprised that Shengyang was allowed to manufacture this," Ray said. "Those at the top of the arms business and supplying directly to OMNI are usually quite stringent on what gets past regulations. Especially since this is a non-Western product."

"They weren't," Sheryl replied. The pilot had been tinkering with the rifle's internal components; something had been done, because when Sheryl stepped back and activated the output testing console, Ray noticed that the power readings were miles ahead of the Dagger L's beam carbine output, and almost 150% over the rifle's own manual-stated limits. Satisfied, she wiped her hands and strode over to the suppressor; activating the cart, she slowly moved it into position. Ray pitched in, and they finally got both components of the rifle aligned.

"These things aren't listed in Shengyang's production catalogue. The Republic of East Asia and the OMNI forces stationed within their territories have them… but that's about the only place where using one isn't a breach of some military law or another." Sheryl adjusted the cart, and the platform on which the suppressor rested began to rise and level out with the barrel. Sheryl began to prepare to attach both components together. "It wasn't even into its second week of production when Actaeon announced that they were restricting its distribution until they could certify its compatibility with the Windam. That was two months ago…" Sheryl trailed off.

Ray didn't say a thing, but he nodded silently in agreement. Things had initially been going good right after the end of the Bloody Valentine War, but by CE 73, the Atlantic Federation, and even some of the nations on Earth, had regressed into their pre-CE 71 state; increasingly blind hatred of Coordinators and sympathizers alike, fermented by people who redefined the insult of "Earth Elite".

Not that he couldn't see their point. With member nations demanding to leave the Earth Alliance one after another since the past year, and now with the Junius Seven drop responsible for millions dead and millions more homeless, to say nothing of footage of ZAFT-styled units shown to be responsible for the drop, Ray reasoned that the Earth Alliance had a right to feel more than just anger.

Sheryl's voice shook him out of his personal thoughts, as the automatic equipment attached the suppressor to the rifle's barrel. "So, what's the occurrence for today's morning run? It's not like you to wear such an expression on throughout the morning."

Ray put a hand to his face, a brief expression of worry flitting across his features. "Do I look that bad?"

Sheryl laughed. "You look shellshocked."

Ray thought back to the dream this morning. "I suppose," he said. He took a look at his watch. "Well, I shouldn't bother you with your fine-tuning. I look forward to seeing this in action."

Ray exited the hangar and made his way back to the barracks, exchanging greetings with Lieutenants Navana Landro and Aaqil bin Saud, fellow pilots on a more permanent station at Sinai Base. Unlike Ray, who had just transferred in half a year ago, those two had been on the same area for almost two years, fighting the insurgencies in Dagger units, and in much more recent times, hitting terrorist outposts in their new GAT-X339/Q Wild Daggers. The new units had come in not more than five days ago, along with Sheryl's rifle. The fact that the base commander could wrangle out such units for such a far-flung base was a testament to his connections; and with their abysmal manpower conditions in the fighting department, Ray was thankful for every advantage they had.

"Taking the hunting hounds out for a spin?" Ray asked Aaqil. He had fought against the Afghan multiple times in mock combat, and the man was as skilled in land warfare as they come. If there was terrorist movement spotted, Aaqil would always be the first to be dispatched, and while Ray was unsure of how the Wild Dagger came to be, he had to admit that it was a splendid piece of engineering for what was undoubtly less than half the cost of a variable-form unit. Brief bursts of good moments such as the Wild Dagger was what kept Ray going in his trust of OMNI.

"As always," Aaqil replied. The pilot suit buffed up Aaqil somewhat, but even then one could tell he had a lanky build. "You look dead. Something happened last night?"

"If relieving the nightmares of Jachin Due counts, then yes, something happened." Ray replied. The dreams had came every night after Ray's tour of duty was finished in CE 72, until they slowly disappeared… but as of recent days, Ray had been seeing the same dream on an almost weekly basis.

"You should use this off-day to go see a psychiatrist, sir," Navana said. The Sudanese, under Aaqil's command, and the only other member of the anti-insurgent squad, was well-built, unlike his wingman, and was taller than both Ray and Aaqil by a head. Ray often wondered if a Coordinator could actually stand up to someone like Navana, as least in physical competition, despite they being touted as superior to normal humans in every way.

"No thanks," Ray replied. "This way, I'll might be able to wrangle out one more rest day." The three laughed, and Ray excused himself.

The thundering of the Wild Daggers could be felt through the ground as Ray entered the barracks building, and made his way to his room to gather his bathing items. There were several of the buildings, but a full quarter of the total accommodation was empty, as the base was chronically understaffed. On the plus side, Ray had often contemplated trying out sleeping in a different bunk each night. The only thing that kept him back was the effort to actually make the dusty, unused bunks habitable again.

At least this place has the proper accommodations like everywhere else, Ray thought, as he entered the showers. He had read books about the days back then when the Earth Alliance was called the United Nations, and in where he was posted, the importance of water had been near unparalleled back then.

Apart from him, a few other men in the stationed tank battalion were also present, and nodded respectfully at him; he returned to gesture. As he entered his cubicle and undressed, Ray's thoughts drifted back to the dream. It irked him somewhat that the dreams were always the same; he had lost comrades in almost every battle he had fought in, but only the last battle was the one he had ever dreamt about.

Vicky and Thom at the Panama Spaceport, both of whom were childhood friends, killed by the hate-driven ZAFT forces, when the Gungnir System had fried the electrical systems of every Strike Dagger in the battle.

Kai, a fellow pilot who had escaped together with him from the slaughter at Panama, only to die at Orb alone, after he had volunteered to join the forces headed there.

Makita and Jason, greenhorns who had fought under his command at Boaz, and then Joey, Kai and Mana, at Jachin Due… and even people who were friends and not his squadmates, like Tracy, whom he met at Ptolemaeus and was part of the home guard when GENESIS hit, and Kelburn, his instructor, who returned to active duty when the Strike Dagger was mass-produced…

… and Lin.

Ray shook his head at that thought, sending water droplets flying everywhere in the small bath cubicle. He continued washing up, and just as he was done, the sound of a massive jet transport landing could be heard coming from the direction of the base runway.

Seconds later the intercom sounded out, with the announcer asking for "Ray Feric, Lieutenant" to report to the officer's lounge. Ray put on his uniform, somewhat surprised that someone would call him at this time, and left as quickly as possible.

CE 73, November 3rd, North-East of El-Tor, OMNI Enforcer AFRICOM, Egypt, Sinai Base

Morning 11 30

Lieutenant-Colonel Rahabinod Ravinan was a man in his late 50s, and had been in Sinai Base for almost 3 years straight. He was a former tank battalion commander, and had engaged ZAFT forces and the elites of ZAFT's famed Desert Tiger, Andrew Watfeld's forces, multiple times up until the Second Battle of Victoria. He was also all too willing to be vocal about his disdain for the Alliance's increasingly anti-Coordinator, and their "you're either with us or them" policies.

For his sense of justice, he was shuffled around for the remainder of the Bloody Valentine War, and was thrown all the way out here right after the Second Battle of Jachin Due. He did not mind the sidelining; in fact, he quite welcomed the pace; not too much action, not too little. He had stubbornly refused retirement promotions thrice since then, even when OMNI had begun to fortify Suez and its surroundings. If anything, OMNI paid for meals and lodging, at least, and his personal conviction was that if he retired, he would be akin to a loser.

The two people seated in front of him at this moment, however, had definitely not been sent here by OMNI CENTCOM at Iceland to chase him out. On his left was Kaguya Sakamoto, famous for being the only person crazy enough to dual-wield beam sabres with her Strike Dagger during the Third Battle of the Victoria Supercomplex, charging the lines with the weapons of her fallen comrades. He'd heard that Kaguya had put her Strike Dagger through so much strain during close-combat that she was given a new Strike Dagger after the battle, while they scrapped the first unit.

The other, Rahabinod recognized as a former tank company commander, Lieutenant Guy Leon. While he had never met the man directly, Rahabinod had checked the records; both of them had been combatant and commander in different units on the African Front, even through the Second Battle of Victoria, and they had both escaped the enemy's clutches by a narrow margin against ZAFT's famed Desert Tiger during the retreat to the OMNI rescue fleet offshore Kenya. After the Strike Dagger had entered mass-production, Guy had avoided participating in the EA's space battles altogether, instead engaging in the Third Battle of the Victoria Supercomplex, and later at Operation 8.8, the offensive to take and hold ZAFT's Carpentaria Base, and risking life and limb for his comrades during the offensive.

Ray entered Rahabinod's office, dressed in the typical uniform of officers. The two rose to salute, and Ray motioned for them to sit down.

"Sir," Ray saluted Rahabinod. "I was told that you require my presence urgently."

"Well, not urgently." Rahabinod replied. "But I was hoping to introduce you to these two newcomers to the base. They'll be under your command in the Manhunter squadron, effective today."

Rahabinod gestured to Guy. "This is Lieutenant Guy Leon," Guy stood up and shook Ray's hand. "He was formerly from OMNI EURACOM's 39th Regiment, 147th Armor Tactics Battalion stationed at Moscow."

"Pleased to be working alongside you, sir," Guy said. "It would be good to hear of some tactics that a Jachin Due veteran would utilize."

"Likewise from an Eight-point-eighter," Ray said, using the slang for those who survived the hellish Operation 8.8. He'd heard the name before, the man who led his team without losses during the initial action, and who went on to fight in the desperate melee in Carpentaria Base itself, even against the feared "Butcher of Carpentaria". That he got most of his men out alive, despite the near-impossible odd of the battle at that time, was a testament to his combat sense.

"And this is 2nd Lieutenant Sakamoto Kaguya," Rahabinod said, as Kaguya stood up in turn.

"Pleased to meet you, sir." Kaguya said as she exchanged handshakes with Ray. "I've read your profile before coming here, if you'll excuse me. It would be perfect to improve my own skills under your command."

"I have to thank you for thinking so highly of me." Ray said. He, like Rahabinod, knew the female pilot from her deeds; her daring close-quarters rush during the Third Battle of the Victoria Supercomplex, in which the Earth Alliance managed to secure the Habilis Mass Driver, and then her fall from her Captain rank when she refused to use her squadron to attack a group of injured ZAFT soldiers during the Siege of Kaohsiung, even going as far as to challenge the OMNI forces attacking the handicapped ZAFT soldiers.

"And with that comes new orders," Rahabinod said. "Clean this area, and join up with OMNI forces at Gulnahan."

While Ray maintained a stoic face, inwardly he blanched. OMNI had established a base and a chokepoint at the Gulnahan Canyon, near the north-west area of the Iranian region; one protected by a Lohengrin Positron Laser Cannon. He had also heard about the extreme cruelty the OMNI forces there exacted on the locals, who had protested at them just waltzing in and grabbing men and material alike to construct their massive base; a stark contrast to the situation at the otherwise unremarkable Sinai Base.

Notwithstanding the fact that he was in no position to take action against those stationed there, he was sure that some people in OMNI just wanted more cannon fodder to toss in front of ZAFT, to test their capabilities prior to some great assault operation.

Nevertheless, orders were orders. Ray saluted, and Rahabinod passed him the documents. "Take your time," the Lieutenant Colonel said, getting up. "This is your off day, after all."

Ray nodded. Turning to the two others, he waited for Rahabinod to leave the room, and motioned for them to follow him out as well. "Well, there really isn't anything at Sinai Base. Thankfully; ZAFT seems to have overlooked the possibility of us intervening in combat as well."

"A dead-end base for rejects from the regional military", Kaguya said. "No offense meant, sir." She quickly added.

"None taken," Ray replied, still reading through the notes. He saw supply orders, the requisition forms of of two more Dagger L units… and places on where to hit to wipe out insurgent nests along the way.

Ray shook his head. "These rear-line OMNI bastards have no idea what they're doing."

"Wrong locations?" Guy guessed.

"That's the least of things," Ray replied. "Given the line of advance, they're hoping we'll be clearing out the hornets' nests along the way, and maybe run into forward ZAFT forces incoming from Mahamul. We're being strung up as a mobile early-warning team. When they lose regular radio contact with us while we're en route, they'll know where ZAFT has been."

Both Guy and Kaguya made disapproving looks, joining Ray in his his four years here, Rahabinod had worked carefully with local authorities to find out each and every hidey-hole in the vicinity of Egypt, and beyond to Iraq and Pakistan. For four years he had kept terror attacks to a minimum. Sinai Base, while being nothing more than an old OMNI outpost, was at least respected by the people whom it watched over.

From the orders, Ray could see that OMNI High Command didn't give much thought to the little things. He frowned, and focused his attention on the logo on the side of the paper; the emblem of OMNI Central Command was printed there, rather than the usual shape of OMNI African Command.

"I wonder why Central is sending us regional orders when it's supposed to be…"

Ray was so lost in thought that he didn't notice Sheryl rounding a corner, knocking the smaller woman back by a fair margin.

"Sorry," Ray quickly said. "Before I forget, these are our team's newest additions." Ray stepped back. "Lieutenant Guy Leon, and 2nd Lieutenant Sakamoto Kaguya. She's 2nd Lieutenant Sheryl Camelot."

Sheryl took their hands. "Welcome to the Manhunters. I assure you that despite our name, the team is generally nice, and places civilian protection above being racists and bigots."

Guy and Kaguya chuckled. "You must have heard about the Lohengrin Gate," Guy said.

Sheryl gave a wan smile. "I did," she said. "One of my relatives used to work there as an NGO doctor." She tried to smile, but ended up doing it halfway, and settled for a shrug instead. "Last I heard, he got chased out of the area by OMNI troops for trying to treat malnourished workers."

Ray took a deep breath. "Well, you're in luck," he said. "We've got orders to head there ASAP, so things start today."

Ray then turned to Guy and Kaguya. "My break's over. We'll need to start preparing today if we want to be ready to move out as soon as possible. I hope you're ready for combat."

"Ever ready." Guy replied. I still don't know how skilled he really is… Guy thought. But at least, he knows what to do.

"Yes sir," Kaguya replied.

"Sir," Sheryl began. Ray held up a hand. There was still more information to disseminate before they could get to their tasks.

"Included in this report is the projected movement path of the Minerva, the state-of-the-art warship that ZAFT just recently commissioned. In a week's time it will reach ZAFT's Mahamul Base , and will likely proceed to engage in combat at the Lohengrin Gate. This report contains several orders, first of which is to deal with any insurgents located directly in-between Sinai Base and the Gate, and regardless if the first is completed or not, to assemble at the Gate in time for its defence, or, if we're lucky, we'll intercept them out on the field, after which is anyone's guess as to what would happen." Ray waved the report in the air carelessly. "Otherwise, we'll meet up with the Gate forces in a week's time, sacking any enemy camps we might encounter on the way. Does anyone have any suggestions or objections?"

This time even Sheryl seemed satisfied.

Ray turned to look over his new team. He was far from a full squadron of twelve, but four was a good start. "Good. Manhunters, let's roll."

Afterword:

Well, it's been a while since I last updated this. I figured now was a good time as any to start on finishing this writing project, and so a new story has begun, beginning from some time shortly after the devastating drop of Junius 7. Unlike the episodic format of Tales of the Cosmic Era, Greyscale World is more focused on a core group of characters, and with it, I'll try to explore as many of the possibilities of the OMNI POV of the conflict as seen in SEED Destiny. Previous readers might find it fun; many of the people from Tales of the Cosmic Era also feature greatly in here.