Gundam 00 – 21: Patrick is in command, Patrick will lead

Holy shit Patrick is out for blood.

March 1, 2308 with the success of the Oberstleutnant Segei’s counterattack against Army Group Trinity, The Allies proceeded with the second phase of Operation Dynamo, a raid against the CB fleet of Grofaz Sumeragi. The out come of this battle was to have serious consequences for the once ever victorious Gundam Meisters who for the first time had to fight against an enemy that was superbly trained and armed with weapons comparable to their own.

Playstation Portable black is coming.

Prelude

With the conclusion of Operation Doube Cross the Allies returned the body of the traitor Kinue to her supporters in the 1st Saji. While most of the Allied rank and file celebrated the demise of that fifth columnist the 1st Saji mourned her loss and wailed at the skies not knowing what to do now. However, many Allied solders were quick to point out that in wartime the truth requires a bodyguard of lies and that skulking reporter spies for FOX News the JNN were most incompetent and unwelcome. While the media celebrated Mr. Crossroad as a man of truth, every Allied soldier down to the lowliest private knew that he had sabotaged the war efforts of the Allies and had built his fame upon the bodies of dead soldiers who died because he just had to get the scoop as he scribbled down their positions on live television.

Yeah Daryl that’s what a heterosexual looks like.

With Kinue out of the way the Allies sent Oberstleutnant Sergei and with Leutnant Soma to hunt down Army Group Trinity. Having tracked their quarry to the forests of Northwest Africa, as Sahara had been reclaimed by the 2230s, Sergei was confident in being able to bring the enemy to battle and crush them. Nevertheless while Army Group Trinity was beaten, under the inspired leadership of Hauptmann Johann his troops were still in fighting condition and were far from defeated. While Oberstleutant Sergei was hounding the Trinity siblings, Oberst Katie was given command of a joint AEU and Union composite force of 19 GN-Xs to find the only known CB Carrier, the Plunnen, and prevent it from launching any more attacks while the Allies used what precious time they had to mass produce the GN Tau drives and rebuild their forces.

Commanders

Oberst Katie Ohtori

Patrick vision is glorious.

The love child of Haruhi Fujioka and Kyoya Ohtori, Oberst Katie had graduated the Preußische Kriegsakademie with honors and a BS in Moblie Suit Engineering. Despite being the heiress to a substantial fortune she changed her last name prior to starting her officer training to avoid any sort of partonange her august line would undoubtedly inccur. As one of the few female military officers in the world her talents nonetheless caught the eye of Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Chief of the German General Staff. While she never had any combat experience to her credit her staff work was nonetheless excellent and was instrumental in organizing, selecting, and training the AEU’s GN-X squadron. Despite having started in the artillery arm she soon found her niche in commanding mobile suits. While the Union and HRL often relied on promoting officers based on patronage or prowess in battle, the AEU maintained a corps of intelligent and calculating staff officers to maximize the effectiveness of their forces. Given her organizational talents and innovative methods of discipline she made the rank of Oberst before the age of 27.

Oberst Katie inherited her mother’s manners and her father’s scowl.

Her ability to get along well with Union and HRL commanders and soldiers made her the natural choice when the Allies were looking for a field commander for the next part of their plan. Often able to diffuse the infighting of her subordinates Oberst Katie was able to keep both her Union and AEU forces in line during the operation. Kampfgruppen Katie was to be the first successful combined units fight during the war, much of their success was attributed to the marriage of her operational brilliance and the skills of Allied Aces such as Daryl and Patrick. Often quoted to having said that she “would make a man out of you” to Patrick Corlasour she would later prove that she was a woman of her word. By war’s end the infamously hot tempered AEU ace Patrick was reduced to a harmless puppy, much to the relief of her troops Patrick was no longer a detriment to morale and considered by many as having been domesticated by his very public affection for her.

Prone to punching derelict soldiers, she soon earned a reputation as a stern disciplinarian. While she was respected rather than loved, the troops she commanded accepted her leadership as their best chance to survive the CB onslaught. Nicknamed Frau aus der Holle the sight of the petite and smartly dressed Oberst Katie knocking men back 5 feet with a single blow proved to be a rather alarming vision for those who bore witness to her prowess in fisticuffs.

Größter Feldherr aller Zeiten Sumeragi Li Noriega

Sumeragi you magnificent bitch, Katie read your book…and she thinks it sucks.

The bastard child of the infamous drug lord and dictator Manuel Noriega of Panama, Sumeragi was an infamous amongst the rank and file of Union forces as the drunken butcher, and goat fucker. She was later dishonorably discharged form the Union after having orchestrated one of the greatest military blunders in Union history and she dove deeper and deeper into alcohol and depression in the time that she left. Eventually betraying the Union she once served she was handed the rank of Grofaz and the captaincy of the Plunnen where she quickly ran down the entire crew with vacations and underage drinking parties. As a devotee of Jomini, Sumeragi would through out her career try and create perfect plans that would guarantee victory. Her adoption of the old French Doctrines of Methodical Battle and soon robbed her troops of what little glimmer of tactical thought they possessed. Unfortunately for Sumeragi, Clausewitz was right about fog and friction and despite her epic fail as a Union strategic advisor she never accepted the fact that unforeseen things happen in war.

Sumeragi’s daughter by Billy ain’t much smarter either.

Regarded by many as incompetent, unimaginative, and inept, her tactical acumen was often found lacking when she faced the likes of Oberstleutnant Sergei, Haputmann Johann, and later Oberst Katie. Where in the past the superior abilities of her weapons allowed her to steam roll through her opponents and scrape by with plot armor, she fared much worse when faced with comparable forces and found her self fighting in attritional battles that she was ill-equipped to fight. Prone to allowing her personal problems interfere with the day to day operations of her force it came as little surprise that The Allies were able to achieve tactical surprise on at least two occasions. While her plans were detailed and included elaborate time tables they were ill suited for modern war where her inability to react to the changing situations often meant that the Allies were able to disrupt her command cycle often leaving her forces to the tyranny of their own stupidity.

Opposing Plans

The Allies

Patrick tended towards flights of fancy. He did get one in the end, though…

Oberst Katie understood that she could not issue direct orders to her troops once the battle was met, mostly because she understood her own limitations as a tactical commander as well as the fact that fog and friction would make the situation untenable given her distance from the fighting. More over long range communication was still impossible given the nature of the GN Drives. Thus she selected Daryl Dutch of the Union and Patrick of the AEU to take tactical command of the GN-X Squadrons. While MSgt. Dutch could be relied upon to command with reasoned and cautioned leadership, Patrick was another matter entirely. Fortunately every participating pilot was capable of acting independently if needed and operated largely in pairs with Patrick being the odd man out. Despite having been shot down numerous times Oberst Katie realized that Patrick had one thing that made him an ace, Irish Luck. Given the major losses of both men and materiel in the first phase of the war, Patrick was one of the few who were able to face the Miesters and live. The Union 8th “Over Flag” squadron had already seen three of their aces lost in combat, under the superior leadership of Capt. Aker, yet here was a man who consistently survived every encounter.

Bypassing strong points and attacking targets of opportunity? Katie has taught you well.

Her orders to her commanders were simple, that this was to be a raid with simple objectives. First Oberst Katie wanted to wear down as much as possible the four Gundams of the Plunnen, and to preserve her force. Mindful of the possibility of even more Gundams possibly showing up at any time the GN-Xs were to remain a precious resource until full production could begin. Given that Army Group Trinity was still at large she could ill-afford to needlessly waste her pilots and their machines. Oberst Katie appreciated the fact that for the time being she could afford a few more losses than CB. The Allied pilot pool was far larger than any CB could muster and that whatever she lost here could eventually be replaced while every CB Gundam was unique and were almost irreplaceable. Katie also had to deal with political considerations as well. If she lost too many Union or AEU GN-Xs it would give the HRL more clout in the alliance, and if the alliance was to survive the hard battles to come she knew that parity between the Big Three would have to be maintained.
While going after the Plunnen itself was highly desirable, Oberst Katie reasoned that it would take all of her 19 pilots to tie down the four seasoned pilots of CB, as not all of her pilots were named and even the ones who were did not always survive.

Celestial Being

Ever try being a better pilot?

Grofaz Sumeragi did not believe that an Allied offensive would be directed at her forces given that Army Group Trinity was still on Earth, as such her crew was relaxed and she decided to give the bridge bunnies alcohol while on duty. This would nearly compromise her early warning system had she not decided to check on them when she did. Grofaz Sumeragi was also too drunk to care about the back up system she had prepared and did not bother to test it while the situation was calm. This oversight would have dire consequences on the out come of the battle. Despite her creation of over simplistic and unwieldy formations after scrambling all she had she remained unable to effectively command her forces as meister training was still sorely lacking.

The Battle

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

At 11:37 the Plunnen detected Oberst Katie’s forces while the bridge bunnies were drunk sleeping at their posts. Sumeragi would have to set another date to t-bag them. It was not until 12:21 that Sumeragi was able to scramble her forces to intercept. It was not until 14:54 that combat broke out. The Allied pilots were able to peel off the Kurdi Kid and the Fat Kid from the main group. Using their superior numbers the Allied pilots engaged the enemy in groups with at least one wing man in reserve to keep enemies off the six of their comrades. At 16:20 the Veda server underwent some unscheduled maintenance as a DDoS attack was launched by parties unknown for the lulz, a picture of tub girl was the only evidence left behind.

After shooting off his load, Tieria still found it hard…to believe that Veda had left him/her.

Unaware that the Gundams had been the victims of a server crash the Allied pilots did not press the advantage and approached cautiously. At 18;2 after having shouted Gundam loud enough Sumeragi’s forces were able to function again except for the Fat Kid. At 19:13 Patrick lead an infiltration team to assault the Fat Kid hiding in the back. Burstkrank Lockon attempted to intervene, but by 119:20 Patrick’s deadly aim and quick reaction resulted in the lost of Burstkrank’s rifle. Not all was going well for the Allies and by 19:30 Union Pilot Henry No Name was the first Allied KIA in the dogfight. Nevertheless Patrick continued to press home his attack and by 20:01 Patrick became the first Allied pilot to claim a Gundam kill by running Lockon through. Only the arrival of Lassie in his newly GN Arms unit prevented the loss of Tieria to an entfettungskur otherwise known as Patrick’s mecha serjury.

Combat footage from Patrick’s GN-X shows that his vengeance was indeed cold.

By 20:38 Lassie got his first kill by shooting down some no name pilot who may or may not have been AEU. By 20:41 Oberst Katie signaled a tactical retreat. She had no reserves to throw in and already she had three units damaged and two lost. With the arrival of a new CB weapons system that allowed an inexperienced test pilot fight on equal footing in an untested platform was unsettling. Knowing that the plot armor was now activated Oberst Katie contented her self with Patrick’s single victory. While the new GN Arms was a frighteningly powerful weapon she had forced Sumeragi to reveal its existence long before testing could be completed. Now that Oberst Katie was aware of such a weapon, the Allies could now at least factor this GN Arms into their plans as well as develop countermeasures.
Aftermath

Results are all that matter. Also your name is not Daryl it’s Toby.

While Daryl was kicking himself for having lost a wingman, most Allied pilots pointed out that losses amongst Union forces this time were relatively light. While Graham had lost three pilots at Taklamakan and Howard Mason for zero kills; Daryl came off in far better shape. Despite the loss, Daryl was able to prove that a pair of GN-Xs ably piloted by two long time wingmen was more than able to match the Gundams who still fought mostly as individuals, especially the Kurdi Kid. By working together the AEU and Union pilots lasted far longer and came off far better than their HRL counterparts who lost numerous Tierens in their last solo operation to capture a Gundam. While the battle had ended in stalemate it was nonetheless a strategic victory for Kampfgruppen Kaite. After the battle Oberst Katie was quoted as having said, “Sumeragi you magnificent whore, I read your book…and it sucks!”

Look Katie he’s doing it with one arm!

On the CB side things had gotten worse with the loss of Burstkrank Lockon who was wounded unto death. The failure of the back up system emphasized the need for further testing and demonstrated that the crew of Plunnen did not understand the underlying technology of their weapons as fully as they had thought. While their new operating system was working it still remained on par with Microsoft Access in terms of friendliness and could often obliterate the mind faster than a power point. Now having lost 25% of her combat strength Sumeragi had lost the initiative to Oberst Katie as a replacement would take at least one episode to train or one miracle to save Lockon from the fate of the 82nd Louise.

Impression

Finally they decided to neuter Lassie.

Patrick is the best damn pilot in Gundam 00, he’s the equivalent of Hans-Ulrich Rudel getting shot down numerous times, but capable of some amazing things. I have to appreciate his new motivation to excel. No one could have anticipated that the bumbling Patrick who played the Black Knight in the first episode would be the first pilot to claim victory over a meister, and not just any meister it was Lockon. Patrick and his new found awesomeness, is proof that Oberst Katie is a delightfully good commander to turn this zero into a hero. I hope there is much more “When Katie met Patrick” as this series goes on. It just makes me smile every time Patrick tries to impress Katie, while Patrick may be the one dishing out the pain on those wimpy bishie pilots of CB, it is still Katie that keeps Patrick from getting a Daryl beat down. Love is indeed a curious thing. I have no idea what the fuck the meisters are fighting for but it certainly will suck compared to Patrick’s goal of getting a kissu.
Still I hate fucking Lassie, he just jumps in and pwns two suits. Never mind that he never previously piloted the thing or that the GN Arms was still a prototype…I know that CB had to be saved some how but I still feel cheated. Besides I wanted Patrick to gut Tieria too.

The fact that Setsuna ran away from sultry Mariana says that he is hardo gei.

Still I hope they leave Lockon dead or maimed after the ass kicking that Patrick gave him. If Louise gets to be crippled by just being around the red particles then Lockon better have it worse for having a freaking beam saber next to his face. Lassie’s a fucking gunner who had no gun to fire for over half the season yet in a single ep he comes back with a major up grade from just fucking no where. Even I know that if you fall out of practice skills are lost, yet Gunner Lassie’s first show of force went without a hitch. They could have at least made it look like he was having a bit of trouble, but no he only had limited ammo and could kill just by saying “I got you” like some whiny kid at a play ground.

Even if Gundam 00 is about to create Shin Asuka Mk II as long as Patrick is around I will probably be watching. More so if Katie is still around. While Patrck started out as the running gag after meeting Katie he’s become the loveable idiot of the series. He fights not because of some holier than thou cause he pilots for the sheer thrill of it, and now that he has been smitten with Katie he has the most noble cause of them all, making that one grand gesture to Katie that he loves her more than anything in the world. If Patrick beats every meister then that will be his equivalent of John Cusack’s stereo in “Say Anything.”

Poor Patrick did not get his gohobi this day.

I really think Daryl knocked himself down three notches with his man crush on Aker. It’s not like he lost more than Graham, in fact he lost less and more of his comrades survived than when Aker was in charge. Aker is not a team player, the man is a fine ace, but he is no commander or reliable wing man. If Graham put aside his stupid pride then poor Henry would not have died since a Graham and Daryl tag team would have fucked up Setsuna in short order. Graham did not do what was best for his men, instead he chose fucking pride and look what happened…I hope Graham is happy with himself while he sucks off Billy. Fuck even Patrick tries to work with his boys, but Aker ditched all his men for Flag humping. The best thing he could have done for Howard Mason was not to beat a Gundam with a fucking Flag, but deliver a Union victory so that that twit Howard Mason would not have died in vain.

I am sure that Sunrise thinks that they are being very clever by having Setsuna dream of Mariana with flowers and ruins. It’s the same pretension to being deep as the end of EVA pre-remake and having nudity in an action movie makes it mature. All I know is that the flower of Mariana’s womanhood is finally blossoming, and that this emo-fucker Setsuna wants to call her the devil. I am sure that this immoral jihadist bastard wants to deflower her too. Also now Sunrise is also promoting underage drinking for women while making Haptism wait until he was 20. Clearly the fucking writers there want to get more girls drunk so that they can be Char and rape young girls who are around 14. Hey you know that Char was a pedo, you can’t seriously think Char and Lalah were just friends…Older man and 14 year old girl is much more than atypical. Same goes for Lockon.

Veda does not approve of your child pr0n.

Also this whole Sumeragi being genius tactician has got to fucking stop. Who in the hell allows on duty personnel get drunk at their post?! Normal people would have waited until they got off duty or at least posted some other guy to stand the post, but not genius Sumeragi. I hope that her fuck up was the biggest fail in anime history, and when it gets revealed I won’t feel a shred of sympathy for the bitch. Sumeragi is just about the most spineless commander in any series, all she has going for her are her large assets. If I had her for a commander I would frag her, the first chance I got, and she deserves to die with a grenade under her ass while she pees. She is not even worthy of a good death as far as I am concerned.

What you don’t see is that at this moment Saji was going Nina Einstein on the table…

Lastly for the love of Haruhi-sama I wish they would stop with the fucking Saji has it hard bit. I now that Sunrise has a hard on for portraying Japanese as being the ultimate victims of war, but this has got to stop at least for one episode. I don’t feel sad for the bastard. It’s just so artificial and manufactured, Sunrise is simply telling us how this all tragic and gloomy, there is a body bag please cry for Saji! Saji has no more family weep for him! He can’t have a threesome with Louise and Setsuna because Louise can’t give them both a hand job at the same time, how cruel fate is! I admit I take glee in hearing the boy cry about his so called “tragedy.” He fucking deserves it for dicking around with Louise for half the season, and if his contribution to the series is to be poster child of war gone wrong then fuck him and Sunrise. If Saji is to be the new Shinn then fuck him in the eye too.