Lloyd - Hundred Days: The Campaign That Ended World War I

By Nick Davis

Smashwords Edition

Published by Nick Davis at Smashwords

Story Copyright 2010 Nick Davis

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Over the hill and far away...

The One Year War

Snap Shots From The Front

This is a book of fan fiction set in thepopular Gundam universe during the 79 Universal Century time periodwhen the Zeon war machine declared war on the Earth Federation, andkicked off the conflict known as the One Year War.

Its during this time period the genrebusting Mobile Suit Gundam Anime series is set in. Thisrevolutionary new series created by renowned animator YoshiyukiTomino, aired in Japan in 1979. What made this series groundbreaking was it took the first step away from the Super Robotanimations of the time, and added a gritty realism to the showsstories.

The show primary narrative revolved aroundthe mobile suits and their pilots fighting in a war, in whichdestruction and dehumanization was inherent on both sides. Eachfaction had their own heroes and villains, all of which had theirown unique motivations, failings and virtues. It introduced shadesof grey, where even the primary heroic protagonist would at timesbe the villain.

The stories in the One Year War Snapshotsfrom the Front are all self-contained. Each one of these Snapshotszeros in on one of the many conflicts that covered the Earth Sphereduring the One Year War. From the cold reaches of space, to thelast desperate actions under took by the Zeon forces as theystarted to lose. Each piece brings the battle from the perspectiveof those who fought in them. It aint pretty But war never isPlease read on

Valkyrie Flight

October 5th, UC0079

One day to Odessa

Near Solomon - outerreaches

Tina Harding glanced down at the auxiliarymonitor on her cockpit control array. It showed a small iconrepresenting her Zaku F-Type dead center on the screen and slowlyrotated a vector-graphic sphere around the mobile suit. Three smalltriangles with identification tags appeared near her suit to markthe position of her wingman and the other two pilots of her wing.Further along the line of flight a large glowing orb of a Zanzibarengine glow remained tantalizingly distant.

She smiled, barely feeling the added pressureof her helmets padding against the corners of her mouth. We'll behome soon enough. Back aboard the Zabi and off to another sector. Ishould have known joining an honor guard would mean spending mostof my time doing ceremonial things, but I didn't expect extendedtours of duty guarding the Defense Minister as he toured thefrontlines around the earth sphere.

Nikkita Hanssen's voice called to her throughthe speakers built into her helmets. "I've got nothing unusual,Captain."

Tina turned her head to the right and sawNikkita's Zaku pulled parallel to her own suit and keyed her radio."Roger that Valkyrie Two. I'm clear. What about you, Adam?"

"Clear as day after a weekend off," laughedAdam.

"Valkyrie Four reports no trouble. He's beenwatching our six. No one has crept up on us".

"Roger three." Tina's hands danced across thesuits keyboard, simultaneously opening a comm-laser to the Zabi,while updating her own scanners from the home ships data. "ValkyrieFlight reporting all clear."

"Roger, Valkyrie Leader. You should be homein time for supper." The male flight controller lowered his voice."The food's not going to anything like the meal I had two night agoat Solomon, Tina. You should have accepted my invitation.

Nikkita cut into the line before Tina couldanswer. "Lieutenant Callum, would you mind sticking to business? Weare in a hostile theatre of operations."

Tina heard Callum's acknowledgement ofNikkita's rebuke and the radio went dead. She thanked Nikkitasilently, but the all-too-familiar feelings of anger and regretbegan to boil up within her again. She fought to keep her mindwandering off on these unhappy tangents. You made your decision andthat is that. You decided to decline Peter's offer and sign on withthis company because that made the most sense. You couldn't stay onSide three that's for certain.

A red light flared on her control panel, andshe punched it automatically. As though reading Tina's mind,Nikkita spoke with her friend over the private frequency theyshared. "Tina, you can't keep kicking yourself, because it's notyour fault. What happens happens."

Tina nodded and glanced over to Nikkita'sZaku, "I know your right Nik, even if I had signed with his companyI wouldn't have been picked for Commander Char's Special Forces. Iwas only flying Gattles then. Peter's Zaku unit didn't have fightercover, so I would not have been there to stop the White Devil fromkilling him."

"That's more like it." A mixture of reliefand exasperation echoed through Nikkita's voice.

Tina glanced again at the sensor scan fromthe Zabi, but it remained clear. Throughout this 'public relations'tour, she had been hoping the White Devil that killed Peter wouldstage an attack so she could get a shot at revenge. That's stupid,Just the sort of thinking that could get me killed.

Tina keyed her comm, "Thanks, Nik I'm backwhen we hit the Zabi, remind me to give Callum a lesson in thedefinition of the word no."

"Roger"

In that instant Tina saw something new appearon the scanner screen. Four small red triangles appeared at theouter edge of the homeship's scan. Her combat computer brought thesecondary monitor up and started flashing known silhouettes thatmatched the incoming data, she punched the screen when no data cameup and the computer couldn't make a final decision.

Tina cut her scanner feed from the Zabi andcomputer shifted back to her own sensors. It cut down the range ofthe scan, but gave her combat capability which, all of a suddenseemed a good thing. She keyed her comm to the homeship's controlfrequency, but already there was a build up of minosky particlesand static laced the line. Conscious that there were facing a newtype of threat she began to feed her Wings tactical channel intothe feed.

"Valkyrie Flight here Zabi. We have fourUFO's on the screen." She looked up at the monitor again. "They'recoming in on a vector that might have looked like our heat shadows,but I've got them on my instruments. Please confirm."

Tina increased her vector thrust on the rightside of her suit, moving it to the left and away from Nikkita'sZaku. She watched as one of the four red triangles following herflight aped her maneuver.

Callum's voice answered Tina's call, but gonewas the cockiness of their earlier communication. "Ah, roger,Valflight. We're getting minosky jamming now."

"Roger, Zabi. Do we engage the people on ourtails? I have them about a hundred kilometers behind us."

"Negative Valflight, we are clear to Solomon.Just watch them."

Callum's words came slowly, with pausesbetween them that told Tina the controller was getting lots ofinput from sources other than hers. She glanced at the auxiliarymonitor, the four UFO could be clearly be seen as some type ofMobile Suit split formation and pick up speed. Here they come!

"Be advised, Zabi we are under attack andmoving to engage. Valkyrie Two form up on me. Three and four hangtogether and take the pair at 256 degrees and closing. Luck.

"Skill," countered Adam.

Tina kicked her thrusters in and vectoredtheir output to pull her through a tight turn that stood her Zakuon its left arm. While in space she didn't have to worry aboutfriction or gravity, but inertia still affected her and her suit.Her flight suit pressurized to prevent blood from draining from herhead as she pulled four gees coming around, but she knew even thesuit would not keep her from blacking out is she maneuvered tooquickly.