Gundam SEED Unicorn
Phase 01: False Peace
Year 70 of the Cosmic Era. Tensions were rising between Earth and the ZAFT organization. Due to the Bloody Valentine Tragedy, these tensions suddenly escalated into a full-scale war. It seemed a forgone conclusion that the Earth Forces, with its superior numbers would be victorious. However these initial assessments proved to be false. Almost eleven months have passed since the conflict began, with no end in sight.
Opening 1: INVOKE
The colony of Heliopolis was peaceful, and quiet. Children were playing on the grass, and people were buying things in the shops. Meanwhile, two teenagers were listening to the news broadcast on a computer as each of them completed work. A mechanical bird flew down and onto the shoulder of one of them.
One of them had a black jacket with a chocker along with gray jeans, and he had brown hair and purple eyes. His counterpart opposite him was slightly different; with slate gray hair that was slightly messy with orange eyes, and was wearing a buttoned-up shirt with the top button undone and black jeans. Underneath the shirt, he also wore a light yellow vest. Both were pouring over data on their computers, completely immersed.
"These images from the Kaohsiung space port show fighting is in progress," said the newswoman on both laptops said into an earpiece. "Now according to new information, ZAFT forces have taken control of land six kilometres around the port." Suddenly, they both heard their names called.
"Kira! Shiro!" They both looked up at that. Tolle Koenig and Miriallia Haw were standing in front of the shaded area; Tolle in attire much like Shiro, and Miriallia wearing a dress with no shoulders and a peach line across the midriff. Shiro averted his eyes back to his work; it was known to all except Tolle and Mir he had a crush on her, and he'd rather not damage their friendship.
"So, this is where you guys have been hanging out; Professor Kato's been trying to get to you." Kira let out an audible sigh of exasperation, while Shiro looked slightly displeased.
"Again?" Kira said tiredly, and Mir added in he wanted to see them immeadiately and asked what they were helping him with.
"Too much," Kira said, placing his laptop on the same table as Shiro's, pouring over notes. "I haven't even finished the stuff he gave me yesterday." He laid back against the chair, while Shiro looked up in amusement.
"It's not going to take too long Kira; we share the same workload, and all we have to do is calibrate the codes for the hydraulic pumps and control mechanisms." Shiro said in the technobabble he and Kira were familiar with. Meanwhile, Tolle looked over at Kira's computer at the news.
"Some development in the news?" Tolle guessed, and Kira affirmed, as they watched the ZGMF-1017 GINNs fight mobile armors and tanks.
"Yeah, Taiwan apparently." The report zoomed in, and Mir joined Tolle's side as Shiro sighed and saved his work; shutting down and joining the three of them.
"I'm within seven kilometres of Kaohsiung, where the sounds of combat continue to echo," the field reporter said, wisely wearing a flak jacket but, Shiro noted wryly, it wouldn't do much good against the several-times bigger GINN rounds. Tolle and Mir were shocked at the carnage, as was Kira.
"If this is footage from last week, they may have already taken over Kaohsiung!" Mir was concerned, thinking about Heliopolis.
"Kaohsiung isn't that far from us, is it? Will the homeland be alright?" Shiro smiled at Mir, in order to make her feel better.
"Don't worry Mir; ORB can handle it's own; remember about a year ago?" They nodded. It had been at the start of the Bloody Valentine War, and the EA had attempted to capture ORB due to the stratgetical advantage. Needless to say, it was rather onesided against the EA.
"He's got a point. Sure it's close, but our nation is neutral. ORB won't turn into a warzone." Tolle said, as Kira stared off into space and Shiro completing his work.
"Really, then I guess we're okay." Kira was remembering a blue-haired boy at Copernicus, handing him Birdie.
"The PLANTs and Earth will see eye-to-eye; there will be no war. You'll join me in the PLANTs later, right Kira?" Suddenly, Tolle got up in his face and he cried out as he fell against the railing.
"What's up with you anyway? Let's go." Tolle gestured, and the two programmers packed their work and notes into a bag each and set off with their friends.
"There you have it," the Captain of the green cargo ship said as his cap swirled around in zero-g. "This old ship has completed her last mission. You served admirably as an escort, Lieutenant La Flaga." He directed to a youthful man in his late twenties with dark blonde hair.
"Sir, I'm just glad we arrived without incident. Any ZAFT forces in the vacinity?" Mu inquired.
"We've spotted two but it's no cause for alarm. They know they can't initiate any hostile combat whatsoever." Mu smiled good-naturedly.
"Because it's neutral territory, right? What a joke that it is." The Captain laughed at that; clearly, he and Mu got on very well.
"Well, it's because of them plans have progressed this far," the Captain replied. "We're fortunate that Earth has recognized ORB as a nation." The five pilots excused themselves and left the command center, with Mu's watchful eye.
"Think they can handle themselves on the ground?" Mu asked the Captain, who looked somber and as concerned as Mu.
"I know they're young, but they're all top guns selected to be G-Pilots, they'll be just fine." The Captain shrugged. "However, someone like you would stick out like a sore thumb." Mu laughed before retreating to his quarters.
Meanwhile, behind a nearby meteorite, the two ZAFT ships deployed two craft carrying ZAFT soldiers, heading to the colony. Inside the Vesalius, Rau Le Creuset was councilling Ades, his second-in-command.
Rau was wearing the white uniform of a ZAFT Commander. With bleached-blond hair and a mask hiding his face, he was indeed a mysterious fellow.
"Don't be frustrated Ades," Rau said calmly, as he floated away from his loyal captain. Ades looked at Rau in return.
"Well, I don't imagine it'll be too late if we wait for the Council's approval." Ades stated as Rau picked up a data pad, examining its contents.
"It will be too late; I've a sixth sense about these things," he tossed the pad to Ades. On it was the face of a human-like mobile suit, unlike the mono-eyed trademarks of ZAFT.
"If we don't seize them now, we'll regret our reluctance to take action later. The Earth Forces new mobile weapons; we must capture them before they move them." The pods latched onto the colony side, ready for infiltration.
As the four friends walked to the Morgenroete facility, they saw in front of them three girls, one of them a red-head who made Kira pause and Shiro to look in amusement.
It was Flay Allster, a girl a year younger than them, and the object of Kira's affections, though oblivious. Actually, it was a similar situation with Shiro and Mir, so Kira and him had bonded over it.
The other two girls asked Mir if she had heard, but Flay just blushed and told them to stop it. "What happened?" Mir asked, and the girl broiled with gossip.
"She got a letter from Sai Argyle and claim's nothing's going on," That caught Kira's attention; Sai was one of their circle of friends, and a letter could only mean one thing; Shiro looked at Kira in sympathy. "She refuses to dish out anything at all!" The girls complained.
They heard the clearing of a throat behind them, and Tolle and Kira discovered they were blocking a black-haired woman with two escorts. They immediately got out of the way, and Flay and the girls left to go shopping, with the four friends looking on in good-natured amusement.
"How about that. Sai." Tolle stated incredulously. "He wrote to her; what a total shocking suprise!" He faced Kira now with a smile on his face. "You have some competition Kira Yamato!" Tolle clapped on Kira's shoulders, who blushed and they hurried to Morgenroete.
Meanwhile, Natarle Badgiruel was scanning Heliopolis carefully with the eyes of a professional. "Just look at this place, so peaceful," She took off her sunglasses. "To think there are people as young as them on the front lines."
Little did she know, Kira Yamato and Shiro Kaigan would influence her for many months after.
Outside of Heliopolis, various ZAFT Greens and Reds found a door and opened it, revealing a complex laser grid. One of the Reds looked at a wrist-mounted stopwatch. As soon as it hit one minute, the laser grid disabled, allowing them to descend.
"There's no harm in asking, it's no big deal, Kira!" Tolle complained. The car they were in was nearly at Morgenroete, with Tolle and Miriallia in the back while Shiro rode shotgun next to Kira.
"No's no, and that's final, Tolle." As they pulled up to the gate, Kira slashed his card through the scanner, opening the barriers.
"It's not like you're going to ask, so I guess I'll have to." Tolle said devishly. Shiro sighed in exasperation; Tolle could be quite devious when he wanted to be.
"Just drop it, Tolle. You'll just keep this argument up for another fifteen minutes with a stalemate." Shiro said tiredly, and it was the truth; whenever Tolle and Kira 'argued', it would take quite a long time.
They were confirmed, and they were let in, unaware of the time fast approaching where their lives would change forever.
Rau checked his watch; the soldiers sneaking into the colony would need at least several minutes to bypass the laser grid before it activated again. He looked at the pictures of the five units. He smirked.
Soon, those Naturals will find out how outclassed they are. Along with the rest of the Earth.
The quartet walked into the room, greeted by the site of a humanoid-looking suit, with various cables hooked up to laptops and computers. Kuzzey Buskirk was rapidly typing, while Sai Argyle emerged from a closet, green glasses tinting his eyes and wide with teasing.
"Well, Kira and Shiro. You finally made it!" He exclaimed, and Kira sighed while Shiro chuckled under his breath. However, Kira noticed a heavily-cloaked blond haired person standing against the wall, eyes watching the students. Even Shiro was curious.
"Who's that?" Tolle asked, pointing at the unexpected guest. Kuzzey seemed to gather his thoughts before speaking.
"Oh, the Professor's guest. Apparently he was told to stay here." Kira inquired as to where Kato was, before they got to work, the silent supervisor narrowing his eyes. But Shiro knew the Prof didn't take guests unless urgent.
Something's up. He thought, as he discreetly glanced at the observer. But it's nothing to be worried about, just yet.
The ZAFT soldiers reached a corridor several minutes later, arming themselves with assault rifles, before gazing downwards, and gazing at a huge ship with two leg like protrusions on the front. This was the new battleship of the EA, the Archangel.
The leader made some discreet gestures, and the group split up to place the charges.
"He gave me this for you two, said there's some extra stuff on it," Sai said, handing Kira the disk, the latter sighing in resignation. "So what's on it? I suppose it has something to do with the work for Morgenroete."
"Technically not," Shiro spoke up. "It's too improve the frame module. It's just a simple progress analysis." Then Tolle got Kira in a headlock.
"Ask him about the letter Kira!"
"Let go Tolle! I said no!" Sai looked puzzled; what was this business about a letter?
"What letter?" He asked, unaware of their visitor trying to break into Kato's office. Something even Shiro didn't notice.
"It's time!" Rau announced, and the ship bussled with activity, the CIC being brought alive once again.
"Vesalius, launch!" at this, the thrusters kicked in, sending the vessel towards the colony. Rau held out a hand; teams of GINNs launched from both ships, the Vesalius and the Gamow.
Mu floated into the CIC of the ship he was on, the captain on edge and he guessed the reason. "Hostile ZAFT forces?" The Captain nodded.
"Nazca and Laurasia-class. Confirmed mobile suits, and launched jamming shells." Mu made a derogatrive noise in the back of his throat.
"Have Luke and Gale mount their Moebius units; don't deploy them yet!" Even as Mu headed to his Zero.
Suddenly, everything seemed to shake and some of the platforms collapsed to the ground, as they took cover under the desks. Sai looked around in fear.
"A meteroid?!" Their visitor's eyes widened, and let out a clearly not-male gasp. Shiro ignored it as they struggled to stay alive.
The ZAFT infiltration group looked down upon the vehicles transporting the G-Weapons to the currently-buried mothership. The lead Red lowed the binoculars, revealing blue eyes and white hair; Yzak Joule. He smirked at the transports.
"Just like Commander Le Creuset said about the G-Weapons; 'leave out a carcass, the vultures will flock'." Dearka Elsman, a brown-skinned young man his age with brown eyes laughed at the comment.
"The Naturals are so stupid! We're gonna take 'em like candy from a baby!" Meanwhile, at the edge of a cliff, a familiar blue-haired teen looked down at the transports with ire.
The group of students were looking around in alarm as the ceiling began to crack under and crumble underneath the pressure of the GINNs attack. The lights dimmed as the civilians murmured, and Shiro eyed the corridor critically, avoiding the fact Tolle was protecting Mir.
"What's going on...?" She asked aloud, as Sai opened an emergency exit to a staircase, and he stopped a fellow civilian.
"What's going on?" He asked, and the civilian looked fearful and terrified, crying out; "It's ZAFT! Their mobile suits entered the colony!" The silent observer ran off, and Kira made to follow calling out.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Tolle attempted to bring Kira back, before Shiro grabbed him and gently brought him back in.
"Don't worry; Kira'll come back." That was before a sizable chunk of the ceiling began to collapse. Sensing the danger, Shiro grabbed Mir and jumped backwards, avoiding a horrible, crush-related death.
As the dust cleared, both of them saw the slab covering the staircase entrance. Shiro set Mir down and slammed the metallic wall, getting a response.
"Shiro, are you and Mir alright?!" Tolle asked frantically, and Shiro gave Mir a one-over examination. She had a mild cut on her arm and a bruise on her head, but nothing severe. He had similar wounds.
"We're alright. Listen Tolle, get to the evac pods! Me and Mir'll meet up with you!" Tolle seemed to pause before Sai shouted out.
"Alright! Remember, follow Kira to get to us! Go on!" Then the rushing of footsteps, and so Shiro's and Mir's only company was each other; usually, Shiro would have given anything for a chance like this, but this was serious. He turned to Mir.
"Alright Mir, let's go!" Helping her to her feet, they rushed after Kira. They heard more booms and explosions, with them stumbling at times.
"Destroy any parts we can't carry and the factories; intel indicates five of them," He turned to Athrun. "Are the other two still inside?" Athrun nodded.
"Rusty and I'll continue on," Athrun said. "Yzak, you guys take these three." Yzak nodded in agreement.
"Disarm the self-destruct mechanism first." Yzak said, and down below more soldiers guarding the G-Weapons fell under more bullets.
Then, once a few more fell, then Yzak threw a grenade into one of the transports, killing the rest of the soldiers. He bounced up to one, with Dearka in another and Nicol Amalfi, another Red in the last one.
"Well, this is impressive. Dearka, how's yours?" Yzak inquired.
"Great; update activated, nerve links reconstructed, calibration set. It'll move." Dearka said, as his own unit rose.
"And Nicol?" Yzak asked, the green haired Coordinator currently rewriting the OS.
"Not yet. Almost there." Then his own mobile suit rose in front of the others.
"Where's Rusty and Athrun? Taking their time." Yzak snorted derisively.
"I don't think they'll have any trouble; let's stick with the plan. Get them to Commander Le Creuset before they get damaged."
The three mobile suits simultaneously activated their thrusters, and took off towards the Vesalius.
Meanwhile, Kira had caught up to the visitor, and grabbed,'him', by the arm in a suprisingly hard vice grip.
"What are you doing? It's a dead end there!" Kira said scoldingly, but the visitor twisted in his grip.
"Stop tailing me!" 'He' said angrily, and Kira was taken aback. "Get back out of here and hook up with the others."
A gust of wind tore through the corridor they were in, sending the person's hat flying, and revealing something Kira hadn't noticed before.
"You're...you're a girl?" He acked incredulously and the girl bristled in irritation.
"Yeah what'd you think I was?" She demanded, and Kira was taken aback. "Come on let's hear it!" Suddenly, they heard more explosions. Cagalli took the chance to break Kira's grasp and turned away.
"Go back now," Cagalli warned Kira. "I have to check up on something on my own."
"Easy for you to say," Kira said, getting frustrated at the moment. "How will I retrace my steps?" He chose a random corridor and dragged Cagalli along, surprised when she mentioned something about 'getting involved'.
"Don't worry; we'll be okay." Kira consoled as best he could. "There's still some shelters in the factory district." They hurried for the factory district, and spotted light. They rushed towards it, and were greeted by a bloody site.
There were dead bodies everywhere, and there were two enormous mobile suits; different than ZAFT ones, Kira noticed, having two optics and a strange crest on the forehead. On one, if he narrowed his eyes, he could see 'CINQUE X-105'.
"Hey, those are-!" He was distracted by Cagalli collapsing onto her knees.
"I knew it," She lamented. "The Earth Forces prototype mobile weapons. Father you betrayed us all!" Down below, Murrue Ramius mistook them for ZAFT forces and shot at them. Kira sensed the danger and pulled Cagalli away.
"Those were children...?" She wondered before going back to driving off the ZAFT pilots.
"Crying won't help!" Kira shouted as the two of them raced towards the shelters. "Come on now, run!" As they reached a shelter out of breath, Kira turned to Cagalli.
"See? There are still some people evacuating." He heard a ping and activated the intercomm.
"Is there still someone out there?" A man's voice asked, and Kira paid attention and replied hurriedly.
"Yes, my friend and I need to get inside. Please, open the door!" He asked urgently. However, he was dismayed to learn they were filled to capacity, and he looked around at the carnage.
"At least take my friend! Just a girl!" The person opened the door. In a flash he had forced her in before her misgivings could be voiced.
He began to run, but he glanced to his left, seeing the mobile suits still there. However, he saw a green coated ready to shoot the woman who had nearly killed them.
"Look out, behind you!" He shouted, and Murrue swivelled around and shot, downing the Green but her gun was jammed now. Once her gun was back upto notch, she leapt to the side killing another Green.
"Get over here!" Murrue ordered Kira, gesturing to the mobile suit.
"Thanks, but I'm getting to a shelter in the left block, don't worry about me!" He shouted, before an explosion tore through the door he nearly went through. With no other options, he raced down the stairs.
Murrue ran across the mobile suit she was on. "This way!" Seeing he wouldn't get there in time, Kira vaulted over the railing down onto the shoulder.
Meanwhile, Rusty had been downed by Hamana, and Athrun was filled with rage as he shot back at the offender. He shot at Murrue as she attempted to fight back, grazing her shoulder before throwing his gun aside, and drawing his knife, and boosted upwards.
"Athrun...!" Kira said shockingly, and Athrun in turn paused as well.
"Kira...?"
An explosion tore apart the factory. Kira was thrown by Murrue into the cockpit before she followed, with Athrun entering the other.
The two mobile suits rose against the inferno raging around them, standing tall, heralding a new age.
Meanwhile, Shiro and Mir had been trying to follow Kira, but a number of doors had been blocked by slabs of rock. They paused against a wall, gasping for breath.
From memory, he remembered that a few pods were nearby, and he urged Mir on. A gust of smoke filled the corridor, sending them coughing.
"Take this, Naturals!" They heard the voice of a ZAFT soldier, so Shiro grabbed Mir and bodydived into another corridor, narrowly avoiding the hail of bullets. To Mir's suprise, Shiro drew a classic Desert Eagle from a holster concealed by his shirt. As soon as the ZAFT turned into the corridor, he aimed and fire three shots. Two of them clipped the arm and leg, but the third hit him in the helmet.
"What the...? Shiro, since when do you carry a gun?" She asked alarmed. Shiro had a wry smile on him.
"Remember, my dad got me to take self-defence classes and some gun training too, from him. One of his rules was 'always carry a gun; it might save your life'. Guess he was right." Gesturing to the large hangar space, Mir dashed forward reaching it before Shiro.
"Zack! You'll pay you Natural scum!" A voice shouted, and Shiro ran towards the door, desperate to make it before the ZAFT soldiers killed him. A bullet grazed his arm lightly, but he stumbled before righting himself. Mir had already started closing the blast door; only a little space was left underneath.
In a burst of adrenaline, he slid underneath, batting a grenade back at the ZAFTs. As the blast doors closed, they heard a boom and screams.
"It'll take them a while to get through the blast door, let's go." Shiro said, but it was vain, it was alsomost completely dark in here.
"I'll find a switch, it's gotta be around here somewhere." Mir said, even as her hand brushed against one, and flicked it. The sight that graced them was incredible and they gawked.
It was a towering shape, grey in colour and clutching a rifle of some sorts in the right hand, the left occupied with a six pointed shield. It also didn't have any optics, but it had one distinct horn on the forehead.
"A mobile suit..." Shiro said, awestruck.
"What's one doing here, in Heliopolis?" Mir questioned aloud, before they heard banging on the other side of the door. They backed away as Shiro raced to a console near the collosus.
"What are you doing?" Mir asked in a panic. Shiro just focused on his work.
"That's a mobile suit; so there should be a command button to open the cockpit and drop the line." He said, even as a hissing was heard and a compartment opened, a line dropping down. Wrapping his arm around Mir, he grasped it as it ascended, bringing them into the cockpit. They had just gotten inside as the ZAFT soldiers bust the door open and gaped at the horned mobile suit.
"Another prototype?! How is that possible!"
"It doesn't matter, just blow it sky high!" They began taking pot shots at the mobile suit while the heavier-armed soldiers were setting up.
In the mobile suit, Shiro sat in the seat with Mir clutching the back of the 'chair'. He powered it up, and watched as the main screen came alive and the cockpit hummed.
MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
/Version NV8 - N099/
General
Unilateral
Neuro - Link
Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System
O.M.N.I. Enforcer
GAT-X300 Unicorn
"Hold onto something Mir!" He said, as Mir clutched the seat tighter. "We're going for a ride!"
The nearby GINNs were busy destroying military vehicles, not caring about civilians. In their minds, the Naturals could just go and die.
Suddenly, an explosion tore up the ground underneath them, and they floated backwards.
"What the hell was that?!" One pilot said before he was speared on a blue energy blast. The other four GINNs looked down in bewilderment at the ground before something shot up and in the blink of an eye had destroyed another GINN.
"Anthony! Gibbs!" Matthew cried out, before they became aware of a shape behind them. The three remaining GINNs turned around, and were in awe.
A pure white mobile suit was standing tall against the artificial sun, the light shining on its armor. It had a six-pointed shield on its left arm, with a rifle in its right, still smoking from the two recent blasts. Matthew narrowed his eyes at it. Some sort of beam weaponry? Those Naturals really do impress sometimes.
The Unicorn fixed itself into a battle stance. Inside, Shiro gave the GINNs a cold stare. "No one threatens my home!" And the Unicorn rose from myths and legends, to defend its home from these marauders.
The peaceful life Kira, Shiro and their friends had taken for granted was cut short, now they've both been thrown into battle, trapped in machines they can barely comprehend. The mysterious Rau Le Creuset takes on the Hawk of Endymion Mu La Flaga, in a duel for power over the top secret weapons. Next, on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Unicorn, Their Names are Gundam. To the land of wars, defend your precious people, Strike and Unicorn!