MSG: In Vain Doth Valour Bleed

Chapter 9 (part 2)

[b]Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Central Europe
November 9, 0087

"Now!" spoke von Seydlitz into the handset, at the same time he slammed a green flare on the side of the heavy-lift truck and fired it off into the atmosphere, to detonate in the sky with a bang. The incandescent spark flashed its life into the atmosphere, a harbinger from another time given life once more.

Near the Karltor archway, where the harbor docks were, the cellular container doors of RMS Ruhrort, Duisberg, and Westfalia opened like a clamshell, and on a trail of fire rocketed the MS-18E Kaempfer belonging to Vladimir Margul into the air from the interior of Duisberg, landing inside the city with a thump that rattled windows and shook the earth, before making a long-distance jump to the side of the Koenigstuhl. The green-gray-and brown mobile suit, bristling with weaponry, ratcheted a round into its shotgun and pointed it at the huge telecommunications tower that was situated on the mountainside, behind the castle, from a range of about five meters. Anyone near a window in the tower could look down the muzzle of the massive weapon, and know that one pull on the trigger would ventilate the entire tower. The red eye that glared forth from the squat head underneath the wicked spiked antenna brooked no arguments.

A hair's breadth behind Margul's Kaempfer, an MS-14C Gelgoog Cannon launched at the command of Private Gary van Allen, touching down with significant asphalt damage in the vicinity of the Gaisberg lookout tower, its thrusters powering it there in a single jump. The beam cannon mounted on its shoulder scintillated once, and a spear of light impaled the main headquarters of the Polizei on the corner of Rohrbacherstrasse, immolating the building in an explosion that consumed the structure and setting fire to several others. It was impossible to know how many people perished in the first shot of Operation Nemesis. It also removed all of Heidelberg's paltry ability to combat mobile suits, the equipment burning in a slagged wreckage along with their pilots.

If the green flare that still dazzled in the sky were not indication enough to the citizens about downtown that something was amiss, the resulting explosion of the Polizei HQ and the incineration of most of the surrounding block was enough to shock even the most clueless passerby.

Two more Kaempfers, the remainder of the 2nd 'Grimravers' Shock Platoon, sped across the few blocks between the docks and their assigned destinations. Verniers bellowing to slow their impressive speed, they skidded to a halt beside a large green building, one covering each direction up and down the Hauptstrasse, kicking aside parked automobiles and street signs in their haste. As the heavy-lift truck containing von Seydlitz and de la Somme parked itself in front of the doors, Lacerta and Reiter popped the hatches on their suits and jumped to the earth, Taiga-70-R submachine guns at the ready as they marched towards the only entrance to the structure.

In a simultaneous launch from the ships, the two Dom Tropens and their cousin Dom all walked from their berths and cut on their massive ground-effect thrusters, enabling the huge suits to glide on cushion of air. Skimming across the Hauptstrasse, mindful of the landmarks as well as their comrade Zeon on the ground, they hopped onto the Mannheim-Heidelberg Autobahn and went to the maximum land speed that McKenna's Dom was capable of, which was 240 kph. Hurtling the overpasses as they floated at their tremendous speed, they were on their way out of the city limits moving due north, heat sabers and raketen bazookas dangling from their backs, MMP-80s in their hands.

Its footsteps rattling windows as it walked, the MS-06Fz Zaku II Kai piloted by Anton Dalyev opened fire into the air with its own MMP-80 90mm autocannon, its sound like the fury of a thousand jackhammers, setting dogs all over the city to barking and halting most civilian traffic. Despite the War never touching Heidelberg, there was little chance of confusing the sound of a mobile suit cannon for anything else. The civilians who were not already moving ran for cover, clearing the street away from the Zeon suits as fast as they could go. Along the way, the Zaku Kai's spent shell casings rained down onto the street below, a molten hail to accompany the screams of the fleeing population. People even abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot rather than attempt to swerve around the oncoming 18-meter mobile suit, whose red mono-eye saw everything around it.

Slithering out of the hold and into the Neckar River, two MSM-07E Z'Gok Es and the MSM-03C Hygogg that were the suits of the 186th 'Deep Dwellers' Amphibious Platoon began their mission. When the last of the ground suits, the MS-14Fs Gelgoog Marine Commander that was Captain Roberts' suit, had flung itself from the innards of its ship, the three ships began to move away from the docks, but under the power of the mobile suits beneath them and not their own engines. Running up to 14 knots, the ships continued on their way towards the Rhein, only the claw tips of their belly-hanging passengers visible above the waterline. After the Polizei station's cataclysmic destruction, no one was even paying attention to the river anymore.

The other suits began taking up their own positions, for maximum coverage through the Rhein-Neckar valley. From the onset of the launches to the positioning of Haskell's MS-06K Zaku Cannon beside the RZPD Deutsches Ressourcenzentrum fuer Genomforschung GmbH, the blitz had taken fifteen seconds.

Von Seydlitz was out of the heavy-lift vehicle, along with de la Somme, even before the first civilians had time to scream, ratty green overcoat forgotten as he dropped it to the ground, his Zeon uniform now proudly displayed before the world. Lacerta and Reiter were already waiting, the machine guns in their hands identical to the one in de la Somme's.

"Lead on," said von Seydlitz, drawing his own C357 from its holster. The two shock troopers kicked in the doors of the building, then entered. De la Somme was right behind them.


"Purge the files!!" screamed the director of the German Center for Genetic Research at his stunned secretary just as the main doors burst open, admitting three men in gray-and-gold Zeon field uniforms. The one Federation guard on the premises was in the process of pulling his pistol when a burst from one of the machine guns stitched a line of red blood and ruined flesh across his torso, dropping him. Another machine gun burst went into the ceiling, raining drywall and plaster to the floor of the main lobby.

"Nobody f***ing move!!" roared the blond one, pointing his gun directly at the director. "Back away from the computer, bitch, or you die here!" The woman obligingly did not try anything suicidal, and the keypad remained untouched.

The shortest of the three Zeon paused for a moment, his machine gun still silent, before taking a right and moving down the hallway. The man who'd shot the guard stormed over and yanked the secretary away from the main computer with one arm, throwing her to the floor where his blond associate was putting everyone else in a group. The director followed, cursing inwardly and wondering how in the hell anyone had known about this place.

Antares de la Somme opened the door to a classroom where his intuition was leading him. Inside, he saw a middle-aged woman in the corner, trying to block anyone who entered away from eight young children.

"Howdy, Ma'am. I'm afraid you and your eight kids are gonna have to come with me, please." He gestured with the machine gun's barrel towards the hallway as he took several steps into the room, smiling the entire time.

The teacher, terrified but determined to protect the children, shook her head. "Who-who are you?"

Instead of the man with the gun, one of her students, the oldest one, Erik, answered. "He is Antares. He has come to set us free."


With minimal effort, every living being in the building was secured in the main lobby. The stench of fear was everywhere, as the unarmed doctors, nurses, and administrators were herded like cattle at gunpoint. There were about a dozen of them, all told, plus the eight children and their teacher that de la Somme had led in by the hand.

The eight children had been eerily quiet as they were led along into the lobby with the adults. In spite of that, the youngest of them cried out when they saw the body of the dead guard, blood pooling on the carpet beneath him. They were just beginning to realize that something was very wrong when the main doors blew open, admitting a blast of frigid winter air into the lobby.

Reinhardt von Seydlitz, pistol in hand and all the warmth of the winter outside in his eyes, strode in like a thunderstorm, the wind whipping his gray trenchcoat around his perfectly polished boots. "Which one of you is the facilitator of this place?" he asked, voice brooking no argument.

The director, slowly overcoming his shock, raised his hand. "I'm the senior administrator here. Who are you and what do you want?"

"My name is Oberst von Seydlitz, Herr Administrator. What I want is for you to do exactly as you are told for the duration of our stay here."

"What right do you have to do this?" The man was getting bold, despite Lacerta's machine gun pointing at him.

"The right of a conqueror over the conquered. Do not take the moral high ground with me, sir. We, after all, are not the ones conducting illegal genetic experimentation in national landmarks." Von Seydlitz took two steps forward and whipped his pistol across the director's face. Blood and teeth sprayed over a number of the lab's other employees, who cried out in surprise and fear. The children did the same, but were somewhat reassured by de la Somme's wink at them.

"You're making a mistake!" yelled one of the other employees. "This is a school! We're not conducting experiments here, genetic or otherwise!"

"Really. All schoolchildren rate Federation guards these days?" Von Seydlitz walked over and looked down at the man who'd spoken, harsh face and harsh eyes in accord. "I suggest next time you plan on tinkering with human genetic code, you do not acquire a Lassky sequencer and several dozen Kilian RNA processors on the open market where they can be traced."

Von Seydlitz crouched, bringing his eyes level with the man's. "Where I come from, genetic experimentation is a societal mainstay. You cannot hide the tools of the trade, not when the very techniques you use were pioneered by us." With that, he rose to his full height again and marched over to the crumpled form of the director.

As the director held onto his ruined mouth and sobbed, von Seydlitz stared at him. "This structure used to be a Mensa facility for learning. In 1693, it was called the Marstall, and it served as an armory for the Palatinate Elector-Princes. You hypocrites have turned it into a weapon production plant for the Federation, but now you have been liberated by the Archduchy of Zeon. Those eight children are the fruits of what you have sown, but I will not allow the proof of Zeon Daikun's theory to wither on a vine of immorality and sophistry.

"You have a satellite telecommunications dish on your roof." The Zeon colonel hauled the weeping older man to his feet. "Take me to your communications room. Lacerta, Reiter, watch these cattle. De la Somme, bring the children and come with me. The rest of you, behave yourselves and you may live long enough to enjoy being under the yoke of space. Move it."

Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Central Europe
November 9, 0087

That son of a bitch! cursed Garrett Sajer at his computer screen as the well-executed offense he had unleashed at Major Tizard's line spent itself on the Titan's superior's defense. Now his whole front was collapsing. He shook his head abruptly. No, this was just luck. Sajer's attention was diverted by the interview on the vidvision in the corner, his mood fluctuating between fascination and rage at the smug Zeon General.

"'. . .after that thing was secured, I would then find a way to spread the message to the oppressor government and all its population at the same time. In England, the simplest way to accomplish that end would be to capture a facility that enabled telecommunications via satellite system. I believe the nearest facility for our fictional resistance force would be Coventry, which is a node for most of the islands and has a connection to the rest of the Federal system via the nexus point near London. Convenient that the Federation continues to make use of relay systems formerly belonging to the NATO organization to maintain their own communications grid. . .'"

That's because it's cheaper that way, imbecile Spacenoid. He moved a rook to cover his last remaining bishop, wondering how he was going to get out of this one. Despite the fact that he had never won a game against Tizard, it never got easier to accept a defeat. Reaching over beside him, he poured more coffee into his black mug, pondering his next move.

Down the hall, at emergency response, a phone began to ring.

Lammersdorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Central Europe
November 9, 0087

With a shudder, the cargo doors on each of the three Medea transports flew open, and the MS-14S Command Gelgoog bearing Karl Weissdrake vomited from its storage space, beginning its fall towards the heavily wooded ground below. In a V-formation just behind him, the two identical MS-14Jg Gelgoog Jaegers belonging to Royce and Bryce Foxe fell in perfect synchronicity, just like their pilots.

Weissdrake glanced at his altimeter, waiting for the number in meters to reach 100. Flicking his eyes over to the main camera, he saw amidst the trees and hills below the massive camouflaged dishes and buildings that belonged to the Federal telecommunications nexus in Lammersdorf.

Their purpose for being here.

At 100 meters altitude, the titanic parachutes on each of the three Gelgoogs burst from their containers, billowing out to slow the fall of the three 80-ton mobile suits. As their chutes reached full spread, the high-powered beam machineguns on the twins' Gelgoog Jaegers opened fire, spraying energized carnage into the treeline and buildings below, taking pinpoint care not to get anywhere near the main control building or the dishes. The motor pool erupted in a cloud of smoke and flame, even as the barracks and housing sectors collapsed in on themselves, gutted by fires, as the pulsing beams of brilliant death traced their lethal paths through the tiny Federal base, scorching everything they touched. Vehicles vaporized instantaneously from the intensity of the Zeon energy weapons. No fire was returned from the ground.

Got them!! They're completely helpless! exulted Weissdrake. A perfect HALO drop after all for the 555th 'Triple-Nickel'. At 40 meters altitude, he depressed the button that blew the parachutes off his suit, and kicked on the powerful thrusters of his Command Gelgoog, setting down right beside the building with hardly a bump. The two Gelgoog Jaegers also landed, at the same time, each of them with a beam machinegun angled into the sky, backs to one another.

Weissdrake hopped out of his kneeling mobile suit, pistol in hand. He walked into the main control building as though he owned the place, and after only having to shoot three people, he got what he wanted.

Mannheim, Hessen, Central Europe
November 9, 0087

". . .once the message had been broadcast informing the world of the lies their government had propagated, it could be said that the resistance would have an excellent hand with which to negotiate whatever it was they desired. It could only be done this way, as those seeking restitution would not be able to conduct a war in the normal sense. Thus, it becomes necessary to wage unconventional warfare, which in our study could not be immediately acted upon by the powers that be. Others would disagree, but that is how I would do it, of course."

Fields blinked. "That was fascinating, General, though I doubt our viewers would accept it as being possible in this day and age. The Federation is far from as weak as you portrayed it in your scenario."

"Really now?" smirked von Mellenthin. "Despite the setbacks in space, in Africa, in Southeast Asia? The loss of Jaburo? The necessity in negotiating the treaty with Axis? How strong is the Federation that cannot keep some holdover U-Con submarines from wreaking havoc across what should be secured sea-lanes and harbors? I don't think my idea is so farfetched, especially today."

Fields cleared her throat and went on. "I understand that during the War, you commanded an autonomous division, one that was distinctly different from the rest of the Zeon armed forces. Why were you able to impress such conditions on the Zavis and the rest of the military?"

Von Mellenthin awkwardly took a sip of water from a glass on the table beside him, cuffed hands very apparent to the audience. "Kishiria Zavi, of course. That and some heavy betting that I just happened to win."

"But you were no more than twenty-three. Twenty-three year olds don't command divisions."

"I never said it was easy. But between some skilled negotiations, some diplomatic measures, and some very good scores at the Academy, I was able to convince my superiors that I was capable of commanding that many troops, using my own methods. Oh, and I was helped by a violin."

"A. . .violin?" Fields was confused. "Please explain."

"Certainly. The hardest part of the entire thing was convincing Kishiria to promote me to Oberst, excuse me, Colonel, and relinquish command of the 10th Mobile Armored Brigade to me. I was a Hauptmann at the time, which is a Captain to you all. To do this, I wagered that I could make her cry tears of joy and sorrow at the same time. She found my proposition amusing, so I unleashed then-Oberleutnant von Seydlitz on her with his violin. Ahhh, that it worked so well still warms my heart to this day."

Fields checked her notes. "Reinhardt von Seydlitz?"

"That's correct. He was an excellent violinist. He was also my brother, and a very good soldier. He commanded one of my battalions during the War." He paused for a moment, smile fading slightly as his mind took him back. "And at Metz."

"Your brother?" Von Mellenthin's sparse file listed no siblings.

"Yes, my foster brother. One of the conventions of the Bunch colony of New Koenigsberg is fostering. We hold to many different things than the rest of Side 3. By virtue of birth and lineage, he was fostered with my family after his parents died. Thus, he was my brother."

"Your family life must have been very different than the rest of us."

"Perhaps. I like to think my family is as normal as anyone in my position's should be."

"You have very little family left anymore, General. Have you ever regretted that you never married before the War, or being in prison afterwards?" Fields could sense that concentrating on his family was the key to opening up doors in the heart of von Mellenthin. It was obvious that he desperately missed them, even if he was trying to cloak it under indifference.

His next reaction, however, was most unexpected. Von Mellenthin stared at her, smile slowly fading away. "What do you mean by 'anymore', Ms. Fields?"

"I mean," answered the FNN reporter, "with the death of your father three years ago, the placement of your mother in a ward for psychological therapy, and the death of your foster brother at Metz at the end of the War, you haven't a lot of relatives---" she stopped when she looked up again at his face, and she went pale.

The expression on von Mellenthin's face was a myriad of emotions, but confusion was the most prevalent. Even as he stared at her, unblinking, confusion turned to anger, and he slowly turned his head to look at Grissom, who had gone white as the blood drained from his face. Again, slowly, he turned back to Fields, and while the muscles in his jaws writhed and his face was hot with a fury barely being kept in check, the entire demeanor of the interview had suddenly gone ice cold.

Then he spoke: "I ask your apologies. I was not informed of the passing of my father, and am in something of shock. Please continue. There are ratings to consider, after all, and viewers are not here to see me grieve, though I think there are some out there who would indeed relish such a thing."

Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Central Europe
November 9, 0087

"The patch is almost done, Colonel. Lammersdorf is coming on line now," spoke Weissdrake to von Seydlitz via the cell phone in von Seydlitz's hand.

"Showtime in two, confirmed. See you at the Taunus, Kommandant." Von Seydlitz hung up the phone, then turned to the director, whose lip was swelling badly. "I trust everything is in readiness?"

The man nodded, in obvious pain.

"Good. You all may just live though this, provided you remain calm. We will be departing from this place shortly after my transmission is complete, and your lives will go on from there as the Weave wills it. Go back to your people and make certain they understand that."

He glanced at de la Somme and the children, who were in the control room, visible through a window and an open doorway from the actual comm room where von Seydlitz stood. For all their gifts, they looked like any normal human, and the oldest of them, the blond one, had taken quite a liking to the Zeon ace. Von Seydlitz guessed that he was the one whom Antares had communicated with during his espionage visit here some weeks ago. A pity, really, to have been tailor made for a war they could not have envisioned. Still, at least this way they did not have to die.

A red light began to flash on the side of the viewscreen before him, and the camera atop the monitor began to blink intermittently. Antares nodded at him and motioned for him to hurry up.

As the older of the two stood in a white square drawn out on the floor of the comm room, de la Somme reached for a button and pressed it.

Earth Sphere, Sol System, Milky Way Galaxy
November 9, 0087

As the human race continued to listen and/or watch the continuing interview with von Mellenthin, they were suddenly shocked into attention as a shrill beeeep overcame the sound of the interview, and the picture dissolved into static.


In Mannheim, Ms. Fields lost her composure and called out "What the hell?" as everything suddenly went dead on the camera. Her crew began to busily trace the problem, trying to come back online.

"There go the ratings," remarked von Mellenthin casually from his seat.

"What's going on?" asked Fields, snapping at her people and throwing a glance at Grissom, who seemed equally confused.

Her sound man threw his hands in the air. "It's the goddamn emergency broadcast system! Someone's triggered it and it's overriding the entire system! Even the radios are being flooded with a new signal! We can't even bypass it just within this building!"


In Lyons, Major Tizard glanced over at his radio set, stood from the computer, and slammed a hand down upon it. When the trill did not cease, he shrugged and went back to his game to wait, but his head began to ache, forcing his concentration away from it.


In Bonn, Colonel Lucas Edgrove's eyes flew open from his nap, and he almost fell from his desk chair. He had been listening intently to von Mellenthin and had dozed off. He cursed and was in the process of straightening himself when his office door burst open, and he lost his balance, falling to the ground in a heap.

Several rooms away, a heavy brass paperweight flew across the room into the vidvision screen, destroying the device and ending the sound that made Garrett Sajer's teeth hurt and ears ring. "Son of a BITCH!!" he screamed, nostrils flaring in hate. He was going to have to pay for that vidvision from his own earnings, and the ringing in his ears was not stopping.


On the Autobahn, the vehicle transporting Camael Balke and Peter Dorff suddenly increased speed to nearly 200 kph.


And as soon as the strident squeal of the EBS started, it stopped, to be replaced with a high pitched tenor voice that came in loud and clear despite there still being nothing but static on the vidvision screens.

"Greetings, Earthenoids. We have now taken over your radiooo~o." The voice trailed off into a laugh, and then a picture formed from the interference.


The man who faced the viewers was young, perhaps thirty, with cold gray eyes and a face that seemed singularly incapable of a smile, much less a laugh. The man's raven-black hair, cut military short, gave him something of a sinister look, and the harsh lips on the angular face were held in a perpetual frown that was close to a scowl of contempt. It was evident that he was dressed in a uniform very similar to von Mellenthin's, and that it was definitely Zeon in design.

"Citizens of the Earth Sphere," began the new face, in a totally different voice than the one who had first spoken, "I am Oberst Reinhardt von Seydlitz, commander of the 10th Panzerkaempfer Division, Zeon Mobile Assault Corps, speaking to you from now-occupied Heidelberg in Central Europe. Rest assured that this is no hoax, and that I am serious in all my intentions. On behalf of the Archduchy of Zeon, I invite you all back to the War of Independence, and hereby render judgment upon the Earth Federation for its crimes against space and its own citizens.

"Make no mistake. I do not bluff. My people and I have waited eight years for the means by which to restore the balance of power and free space from the clutches of Terra. The results of reacting foolishly in the face of superior Zeon armored units now encamped here will echo throughout eternity, and the destruction will be unparalleled in the heralds of history. For those of you who still doubt our Will, remember that Europe is the most densely populated region on the planet, and then remember Metz. Heed my warnings not, and we shall scribe our epitaphs on the flesh of a billion souls with the blades of sharp revenge, and ink those words in the salt of your own hypocrisy. Remember that to us, be you Federation or AEUG, Kalaba or Titan, or even Axis, you are traitors or Earthenoids, which means you are all judged equally and together.

"For eight years, we have waited for this day, and we have not been idle. Thanks to some particularly unscrupulous Federation businesses, employees, and lax hireling soldiers, we now have the ability to set in motion a cataclysm that will dwarf even the annihiliation of Sydney during the Zeon War of Independence. Should we not be taken seriously, we will deliver into your very homes a biological weapon of nigh-unstoppable power called Nemesis. If this seems a falsehood, then dwell upon how simple is was for us to bring mobile suits onto the surface of Terra from space, all nicely packaged in a Lunarian ore freighter. Consider what else we have brought back from the darkness without end, the place where war is birthed.

"By the Word of the Ordnung of New Koenigsberg, and by the Mandate set down by the Carolignan, Saxon, and Frankish-Salien Kings of the Holy Roman Empire, I do hereby declare that I am the appointed scion of the House of Hohenzollern, and by blood and iron I am the ruling Elector-Prince of Brandenberg-Preussen. By such power invested in me, I do also declare that the Federation has committed unlawful acts upon the citizens of Terra and space, and is now judged by the representative of a higher power.

"On the charges of illegal imprisonment and unlawful war crimes trials of Zeon military prisoners of war, both past and present, I find you guilty. My demand is the immediate release of Generalmajor Dietrich von Mellenthin and all other Zeon prisoners, upon their own recognizance. Failure to comply within one hour will result in the deaths of several million Federation citizens.

"On the charges of willful acts of war, oppression, theft, and extortion against the free peoples of space, I find you guilty. I demand the immediate removal of all Federation presence from space, including all Sides, colonies, and long-range outposts throughout the Sol system. I also demand the immediate mothballing and destruction of the entirety of the Federation military space forces. You are banished from the stars, and you shall never feel their light upon your face again except when Sol sets below the horizon. I also demand the immediate dissolution of the so-called Republic of Zeon and the reinstatement of the Archduchy as the executive and legislative body of Side 3, its bloodline to be chosen by the citizens of Side 3 in one lawful election.

"On the charges of mass murder, genocide, and willful and repeated violation of the Antarctic Treaty of 0079, the basis being the illegal gassing of 30 Bunch colony, Side 1, the attempted colony drop on Granada, the assault on Von Braun, the illegal development of nuclear arms on both the strategic and tactical level, and the assassinations of key former Zeon civil leaders in the colonies of Side 3, I find you guilty. In light of the severity of these crimes, I demand the immediate extermination of the terrorist organization known as the Titans and all who have ever worn their uniform. In the tradition of the Code of Conduct for soldiers set down by Emperor Frederick the Great, obedience of illegal and unconscionable orders is punishable by death. All Titans are guilty, and all shall perish. Considering the Federation's inability to enforce it, the Antarctic Treaty is hereby repudiated. That means anything goes, and we will use every means at our disposal to punish the oppressors of space, including the use of Nemesis.

"On the charges of illegal genetic tampering and experimentation in a nation that is a signatory of the Charter of the Federation under the grounds that such research would be limited to stem-cell findings only, I find you guilty. The evidence is here with me, scrolling across your screens in the form of data removed from the mainframe of the RZPD Deutsches Resourcenzentrum fuer Genomforschung GmbH and all subsequent data on the eight natural NewTypes that they have created for the purpose of warfare and research. My demand is the immediate removal of all Federation armed forces, representatives, citizens, and employees from the Terran surface area between longitudes 5 degrees east and 30 degrees east, and latitudes 55 degrees north and 47 degrees north. By ruling decree, the Federation is hereby expelled from Gross Deutschland, and Germania forthwith secedes from the Charter of the Earth Federation. You have one hour to comply, or the armed forces of the Zeon state of Germania, being the 10th Panzerkaempfer Division, will sear the life from every Federation soul in Deutschland, without quarter or hesitation.

"These are non-negotiable terms. Obey them or be excruciated. You have one hour, or in the name of all who have fought, suffered, and perished to be free, I will sever the life of the Federation and all who call it friend, home, and nation from the fabric of the universe itself. God will have no mercy on your souls, and nor shall I. Sieg Zeon."