Finally, it's done! I've had this story floating around for a while, but only just managed to get it written up and uploaded. Anyway, read and enjoy!
Chapter 1: The Fifth Meister.
2307 AD, three days after the appearance of Team Trinity, somewhere in mainland America...
The location was not one that would have struck anyone as being particularly amazing. In fact, there was no civilisation anywhere within one hundred miles of the area. However, the area in fact concealed a very important secret. In the middle of a large clearing inside the large forest, one could make out a faint haze, as if something were distorting the light passing through. In actual fact, the haze was caused by an optical camouflage system, which concealed one of Celestial Being's Assault Containers. Within the small ship, the lone human occupant was roused from his sleep by a beeping from the terminal next to him. Waking immediately, he quickly sat down to open the link.
/You there?/
/Yes. What is it?/
/I assume you've heard about Team Trinity by now, right?/
/Yes./
/I've learned that they are planning an attack on the Union's MSWAD military base./
/And you want me to stop them, correct?/
/Exactly./
/Understood./
/Excellent. We'll talk again soon./
As the link closed, the person leaned back in his chair, contemplating the new turn of events. Finally, after months of waiting he would at last begin operations. His mind now focused on the task at hand, the person left the room, heading for the hangar bay of the small ship, where his mobile rested, awaiting its pilot.
MSWAD Base, three hours later...
Michael Trinity reacted through sheer instinct, quickly drawing Zwei's GN Buster Sword as Howard's Overflag barrelled towards him, plasma blade ignited. The two machines collided with tremendous force, as Howard pushed forward with all his might.
"This is the power of the Flag!" he shouted, increasing the pressure on his sword. Michael snarled with frustration, launching his GN Fangs. The fangs screamed through the air before turning around and impaling the Overflag throughout its body. The suit slumped over, falling a short distance before exploding. The fangs quickly returned to Zwei, docking with the suit's two GN Fang Pods.
"These are my Fangs!" Michael exclaimed, before Johann interrupted him.
"Have you had enough? We're withdrawing." He ordered sternly.
"Aw, Johann." Michael whined, complaining about having to end the fight so soon.
"We have another mission to deal with. Gundam Meisters are busy people after all." Johann said, as he and Nena Trinity left the area.
"Yeah, yeah." Michael muttered, moving to follow his siblings. Just as he turned to leave, a large particle beam blasted in front of him, forcing him to back up quickly.
"What the hell?" Michael exclaimed, looking for where the beam came from. To his surprise, he spotted another Gundam, emitting green GN particles, but this suit looked pretty old compared to the other Gundams. The Gundam was similar in size to the Exia, but was less sleek. Thick armour covered its legs, forearms, shoulders and chest, clearly having been added on to the original frame. Mounted on the right forearm was a double barrelled beam gun, while a larger cannon was mounted behind the suit's left shoulder. A single beam saber was affixed above the suit's GN Drive. The Gundam quickly closed in on the Throne, cutting off its escape.
"You won't get away that easily!" The pilot shouted.
"Just who the hell are you?" Michael demanded.
"What difference does it make? You won't need to know who I am when you're dead!" the pilot roared, firing the suit's forearm-mounted gun. Michael raised his sword, using the massive blade as a shield to block the hail of particle beams. However in doing so, he blocked his view ahead. When the beams ceased, Michael lowered his sword, only to find that the Gundam had disappeared.
"What? Where the hell are you?" Michael swore, searching for the Gundam.
"Right here!" the pilot shouted. Michael looked up to see the Gundam diving down on him from above, a beam saber ignited in its left hand. Before Michael could react, the Gundam's saber sliced off the Zwei's right arm. The Gundam replaced its beam saber, before grabbing the Zwei's falling GN Buster Sword. Suddenly a red particle beam blasted between the two mobile suits, as Johann and Nena came to their brother's aid.
"Michael, leave him! We have to leave now!" Johann ordered. Michael grudgingly relented, following the other two Thrones. The other Gundam held back, as the pilot watched the Thrones retreat.
"It's tempting, but following them would be a bad idea." He thought.
From the cockpit of his Overflag, Graham Acker watched the scene with disbelief. Why had the new Gundam attacked the others? Weren't they supposed to be on the same side?
"Captain, let's go get him! He's wide open!" Daryl shouted.
"Alright then, follow me!" Graham yelled, charging towards the Gundam from behind. Suddenly the suit turned to face the approaching Overflag, firing it's arm-mounted gun. Graham barely managed to avoid the shots, stunned by the Gundam's accuracy.
"Simply incredible, but you won't best me!" he thought, transforming his Overflag into mobile suit form, drawing his plasma blade shortly after. The Overflag and Gundam met head-on, their blades clashing between them. Suddenly the Gundam fired the two small guns mounted on either side of its head, forcing Graham to break away to avoid being hit. Then the Gundam dashed forward, slashing at the Overflag with its massive blade. Despite Graham's experience, the sword managed to slice off his suit's right arm, taking the plasma blade with it. Graham reacted through sheer instinct, choking back the panic as he quickly backed off, the rest of the Overflags taking his place. The Gundam's pilot took advatage of the temporary lull, firing the suit's cannon. The Overflags were forced to scatter to avoid the large particle beam. By the time the beam subsided, the Gundam had dissappeared from sight, leaving the Union pilots completely bewildered.
As he flew away, the Gundam's pilot was busy thinking about his next move. Now that he'd revealed his mobile suit, he knew it was time to come out of hiding and join the rest of Celestial Being's Gundams. The only problem lay in finding the Ptolemaios and then actually getting there in time. Now that they had knowledge of his suit, the Union forces would no doubt be mounting an operation to search for him very soon. Worse, they would most likely figure out that he had to be somewhere nearby to have responded to Team Trinity's assault. After a few minutes, he thought he had a plan worked out, but decided to get a second opinion first.
"This is 0 Gundam. Linda, are you there?" he asked. Shortly after, a woman's face appeared on the monitor in front of him.
"Yes, I'm here. So, how did it go?" she asked, flashing a sweet smile.
"It went perfectly. The 0 Gundam has proved a capable mobile suit so far, thought until I get involved in a proper battle I can't give an accurate assessment. In any case, I wanted to ask you about something." he replied.
"Yes, what is it?" Linda asked.
"Now that the Union knows about me, it's almost certain they'll be looking for me before long. I was thinking of linking up with the Ptolemaios and the other Gundams, only I have no idea where they are." he explained.
"Yes, that does sound like a good plan. Alright, head back to the Assault Container while I try and contact the Ptolemaios. Once I've done that I'll call you again to let you know where you need to head to join up with them." Linda said. The pilot nodded in agreement, then closed the link. Then he set a course back to the Assault Container, engaging the 0 Gundam's optical camouflage to further decrease the likelihood of being spotted.
As the 0 Gundam continued its return journey, Linda was following up on her promise and had contacted the Ptolemaios shortly after her conversation with the 0 Gundam's meister. Needless to say, the crew of the Ptolemaios and the other meisters were shocked to learn of another Gundam and meister, as they had thought there were only four Gundams.
"So why has this meister not shown himself yet? He might have been able to help use in the desert." Tieria demanded, slightly angered by the fact that information had been withheld from them.
"I understand your frustrations, but we were still working on the suit. Given that the 0 Gundam is over fifteen years old, we had to make sure it would still function in battle." Linda replied. Tieria visibly calmed down a bit, still a bit annoyed.
"You're sure we can trust him? I didn't see a fifth meister mentioned in Veda's data banks.," Tieria asked.
"That's because Veda didn't choose him. Rather, he came to us. From what we know about him, he's an HRL Super Soldier, but somehow he managed to escape." Linda explained.
"Sounds like an interesting guy." Lockon remarked.
"Another Super Soldier? He's just like me then." Allelujah thought, his hatred for the Human Reform League resurfacing.
"Alright, tell him that we'll be waiting for him in orbit, behind the orbital ring. He can meet us there." Sumeragi said. Linda nodded, closing the link.
A few hours later, the Ptolemaios was tucked behind the orbital ring, the massive structure serving to conceal the ship from view. Outside the ship, Dynames and Exia waited, ready to move as soon as they confirmed the other Gundam. Setsuna and Lockon had been told by Sumeragi to meet the Gundam a short distance from the ship, check to make sure everything was okay, then escort it back to the ship. Suddenly, Lockon spotted the Assault Container in the distance, approaching along the length of the orbital ring.
"Miss Sumeragi, I've confirmed the Assault Container. It's moving along the length of the orbital ring." Lockon said.
'Good. Setsuna, head towards it and escort it back to the Ptolemaios. Lockon, you stay here and watch Setsuna's back." Sumeragi replied.
"Roger that. Exia, heading out." Setsuna said. As the Exia closed on the Assault Container, Setsuna couldn't find anything out of place or suspicious, so he moved the Exia to fly alongside the small ship as they headed back towards the Ptolemaios.
As there was no room for the Assault Container to dock with the Ptolemaios, the small ship was forced to fly alongside the larger ship on autopilot, while the pilot exited the craft and entered the Ptolemaios. As the airlock re-pressurised, the crew were curious as to what this new meister would be like. Tieria in particular was curious as this was a meister who hadn't been chosen by Veda. Once the airlock had pressurised the door opened, allowing the meister to step out. His pilot suit was all white, the helmet's visor hiding his face from view, while his height was slightly greater than Allelujah's. The pilot then removed his helmet, revealing his face. His hair was snow white, and fell just below his shoulders. His eyes were a bright golden colour, but appeared devoid of emotion.
"Well, it's good to finally meet you. I'm Sumeragi Lee Noriega, tactical forecaster." Sumeragi greeted.
"It's good to meet you as well. My name is Sterling Aarden, meister of the 0 Gundam." The pilot replied.
"Apparently, you're another Human Reform League Super Soldier, correct?" Tieria asked. Sterling nodded.
"Yes, however I'm somewhat different from the others." He replied.
"How so?" Tieria asked, now slightly intrigued by Sterling's answer.
"From what I was told while I was still in the institute, I was designed to be the 'ultimate' Super Soldier. What that means, I don't know." Sterling explained. Tieria nodded, satisfied with his answer for the time being.
"In any case, it's good to finally get some extra help around here." Lockon remarked.
"That reminds me. I recently encountered the Gundam Thrones while they were attacking a Union military base. During the battle, I managed to obtain the orange Throne's sword. I was hoping that Ian could figure out a way to attach it to the 0 Gundam, so that I can use it more effectively." Sterling asked.
"Sure thing, I'll get right on it.' Ian replied.
"Thank you." Sterling said.
A few weeks later, it seemed as though the tide was turning against both Celestial Being and Team Trinity. The three national blocs had formed an alliance known as the United Nations or UN, after each receiving ten mobile suits powered by pseudo GN Drives. Unfortunately, the 0 Gundam had been undergoing some minor repairs when Celestial Being first encountered these new mobile suits, which they later learned were called GN-Xs. The GN-Xs displayed astonishing agility, and their weapons could even penetrate Virtue's GN Field. Even more shocking, midway through the battle all of the Gundams had suddenly shut down for no apparent reason. Thankfully though, Ian got the backup system working, reactivating all of the Gundams, except for Virtue. The meisters barely managed to drive off the UN forces, causing Sumeragi to worry about what would happen now that they were faced with such a powerful enemy. As a result of the battle, Lockon was badly injured and blinded in his right eye from saving Tieria during the fight. Despite his injuries, Lockon insisted that he would keep fighting. Setsuna then decided to take the Assault Container and the GN Arms down to earth, determined to save the Thrones before they were wiped out. While Setsuna and Lasse were busy with their mission, the rest of the Ptolemaios' crew tried to find ways to be useful. Christina busied herself by trying to find any data she could on the GN-X mobile suits, to hopefully make the meisters better prepared for their next encounter. Lichty meanwhile decided to help Ian repair Dynames, Virtue and Kyrios, all of which had sustained damage during their last battle. However, Sterling was spending nearly all of his time apart from eating and sleeping in the 0 Gundam's cockpit, running through simulation battles against the GN-Xs. The simulations were based on the data that Christina had managed to gather, so they were good at demonstrating the suit's capabilities in battle. Amazingly, even when outnumbered ten to one, Sterling was able to fend off his adversaries' attacks while at the same time scoring devastating hits on his enemies, causing the others to wonder what exactly he had gone through while at the Super Human Institute. After a few days of being around the new meister, the rest of the crew found Sterling was a very mysterious person. Much like Allelujah, he was a very reserved character, not willing to divulge any information he deemed unnecessary, but at the same time he appeared as a very cold person, his eyes displaying no hint of emotion. His behaviour seemed almost like that of a machine.
"Hm, it looks like ten is about as many as I can handle by myself." Sterling thought. Once again he was fighting a simulation battle against the GN-Xs. Christina had managed to gather a little more data on the suits, so Sterling was finding it a little easier. However, now that he was facing a total of thirteen GN-Xs, he had found his limit. Even though he was a Super Soldier, Sterling knew he was still only human; even he had his limits. Just then, he was interrupted by Christina's voice over the intercom.
"Attention all crew members. We've just received an emergency coded message from Veda. I'm showing it to you all now." She said. Her face disappeared from the 0 Gundam's monitor, being replaced by the image of an elderly man wearing a monocle.
"Aeolia Schenburg...?" Sterling thought, wondering what the message could possibly be.
"To those who use GN Drives: I don't know whether you will carry my will, however I entrust you my final hope to you, full utilization of your GN Drives. I hope that you will use them and fight your hardest for the sake of ending war and bringing about a new peace. Not for the sake of Celestial Being, but for the sake of your own wills, as those who have Gundams." Aeolia Schenburg said, after which the message ended. Sterling then noticed a message had come up on the console in front of him; Trans-Am Function now available.
"Trans-Am...this must be the full utilization of the GN Drives that Aeolia Schenburg was referring to. This is what will allow us to truly end war." Sterling thought. During his days at the institute, he had never been treated as a child, or even as a human being. The scientists there saw him only as an experiment and a weapon. As a result, Sterling had grown to hate the scientists with every fibre of his being. All, except for one; Cecilia Alkaev. Cecilia had been the only one to treat Sterling as a person, she had even been the one give his name, which was derived from 'sterling silver', a reference to his unique hair colour. However, Cecilia was deemed to be hampering Sterling's development as a proper Super Soldier and was asked to resign. When she refused, the HRL military leaders decided to have her discretely executed, to keep the institute a secret. When Sterling learned about this, it was the final straw for him. He realised that he couldn't rely on anyone but himself. So from that moment he blocked out all of his emotions, deeming them unnecessary. After escaping the institute, he wandered the Earth before stumbling across a member of Celestial Being, who turned out to be Linda Vashti. After learning what the group intended to do, Sterling didn't hesitate in asking to join them. To him, war was the thing that had destroyed everything he held dear. It was the reason he had been turned into a monster designed only to fight, and why Cecilia, the only one to accept him as a human, had been killed. Sterling decided that, rather than fighting in war, he would put his abilities to better use, by fighting to end war altogether.
"Cecilia...I promise you. I will see the end of war forever. Until then, I'll never stop fighting!" Sterling thought.
And that concludes the 1st chapter of Mobile Sit Gundam 00: Super Soldiers & Innovators. Anzac-A1 out!
AN: Also, if anyone can work out what the title means (Hint: it has something to do with the romance in the story) they will get a special mention!