Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 - White Ghost
Chapter One - Time For New Beginnings
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The just formatted and perfected Earth Federation was faced with their biggest challenge yet. A rebellion of the group of colonies known as Side 3, declaring themselves the "Principality of Zeon". Utilizing new military power, victory was in the hands of the Zeon, due to their armored humanoid giants known as mobile suits, known for wiping out platoons in mere seconds with their immense fighting power. From a colony drop caused by the Zeon, the Federation knew this war, was not going to be an easy matter. This war was called the "One Year War".
February 21st, UC 0079
North American Ruins
Zeon Experimental Facility
01:20 A.M.
The echoing sound of owls filled the air, as the deadly moon, rifted in the sky with it's ominous glow. Dark clouds, surround the moon as if it was a weaving. There was a massive facility completely barricaded off to the social world by large fences. A large sign was on one of these fences, which clearly read "Zeon Test Facility. Only for authorized personnel. NO TRESPASSING". This order, was carefully carried out, due to the presence of high powered spotlights and lookout towers. A few moments later, the silence was abruptly broken with the earpiercing sound of an explosion on the facility's surface. Hastily, the sirens rang across the area, as being a Zeon test unit, from the place where the explosion was triggered (leaving a hole), three armored giants walked out of the facility. A Zeon Zaku.. But something was different. These Zakus were somewhat.. more advanced than the previous and more well known models of the Zaku. As the squad exited the facility, the cause of the explosion was unknown. To the side, there were Federation carriers, attempting to pull some sort of oversized crate out of another passage of the Facility. Their escort, was a stolen Zaku II. Immediately, the other Zaku squad turned to the fleeing Federation thieves.
"Stop now, or we will open fire! Cease movements and drop the experiment!" A voice echoed through the area, but this was in fact, from the lead Zeon Zaku's intercom amplifier system, which simulated the pilots voice, over the speaker for all channels of the enemy forces to hear. All three Zakus aimed their armaments, either machine-guns or sniper rifles, towards the lone stolen Zaku. The Federation forces, were paused for a moment. They were currently going for a gambit, and the wheeler transport, began to drive away with the package on hand at top speed. The stolen Zaku attempted to run as well, but was immediately gunned down by the Zeon squadron. As several machine-gun shells clattered onto the ground, the stolen Zaku erupted in flames as it was ruthlessly thrown around due to recoil of the impacting shells onto it's armoring. "No! We cannot fail now! The fate of the war depends on this experiment!" The pilot pleaded with his last breath before the Zaku exploded in flames.
"Commander! Some fast moving object is on course for the base!" One of the grunts said on the communication channel. Above, there was an oversized jet, obviously for use for two people. It was sleek, and black in color. It was like a noiseless flash when it zoomed overhead of the Zaku squad, the force from the speed backdraft, almost forced all three mobile suits off guard. All the Zaku squad could do in counterattack, was to counter with their own weapons. As the jet circled around, the side pocket opened on both wings. As the shots from the Zaku squad were getting more close, a flash erupted from those pockets. Several spherical objects were dropped out of the jet, and on the Zaku squadron. A scattered grenade launcher shot. As the spheres collided onto the ground dead on with the Zakus, each hit added as a one hit kill to the mobile suits. From above, all that could be seen, was the repetitive sounds of explosions. All three Zakus collided onto the ground, battered and heavily damage as their armoring started to catch fire due to overheating and damage ratio.
"Bravo One. Thanks for the assistance. We will be taking the Unit to our base in the S3 point. The Zeons won't think of going there." The driver said as the jet code-named "Bravo One" lowered itself to attach it's grasp onto the crate that caused so much commotion. Now that the jet had it, the driver of the large wheeler, drove off into the distance, which was clearly nothing but woodlands. As the jet began it's escape, what was left of the Zaku leader began to aim the remains of it's machine-gun onto the jet. Several sparks emitted from the Zaku as it's damaged joints began to force itself upward. Pulling the trigger, the machine-gun began to expel it's ammo onto the jet. All shots seemed to miss, but one of the hits struck dead on with the Jet's left engine. Before another dead-on shot could occur, the jet already pulled out of the area. Thus.. the operation was a failure for the Zeon, but there was good news. Without it's engines, eventually, the jet would have to touch down, and then a Zaku unit could peruse. With this new experiment now in enemy hands, the Federation could possibly defeat the forces of the First Decent Operation before the forces of the Second Decent Operation touch down.
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Federal Force Ship, Salamis Class
Raven's Wing
04:50 A.M.
The Raven's Wing, was a well proclaimed ship within the North American region. It's commanders, were one of the most brilliant minds in the war. Right now, the massive Salamis ship, was rifting above another location of the result of Operation British. Only thing, the crater was much deeper than most others. The Raven's Wing was an advanced version of a Salamis class. It was much sleeker, and faster. Not to mention it has armoring, and anti mobile suit weaponry. Aboard the ship on the bridge, was just a vacant setting. However, it housed two men. High ranking Federal Force commanders, just observing the dull setting of the ruined land. It was night-time, and the bridge's lights, were dimmed to the lowest possible setting.
"General Ziang, we have received a burst transmission from the Bravo group. They got the Zeon experiment in one piece." One of the men said. The other man, had several medals, for a general. He was sleek, and had a frightening look on his face. This General Ziang, also wore glasses, which at this moment, he pushed the frames up from falling from his face. His expression, was almost like a baffled one.
"You mean.. Those bastards actually got it? What cost have they gone through?" Ziang replied.
"They lost one of our captured Zakus." The other man said.
"Ugh. Mobile Suits are hard to come by now, and with our current military strength, we may loose this war. We have to bide our time as far as possible until Jaburo and Revil can come up with a solution. Lieutenant Gren, what more have you to discuss about the capture?"
Gren didn't say anything in response to Ziang. He just coughed, which signaled the answer that Ziang knew it from. "No.. No sir. Everything is well. It's just that.. Do you think that we can produce mobile suits of our own that can surpass the Zaku?"
"We have to!" Ziang exclaimed, "we cannot win this war with just tanks. We have to use Zeon's power against them."
"So what use does the experimental weapon have?" Gren asked, returning to his post as the navigator of the ship, he flipped several switches, as he did a radar sweep once more. It wouldn't be fortunate if a Federation ship fell tight into Zeon territory.
"..I don't know the details myself. All I know is, is that the Zeon has given birth to a dangerous beast, and as of now, we are the ones to tame that beast." Ziang said.
"Do you think we can actually tame the experiment you are referring to as the "beast"? Or will it just fall out of our control?" Gren asked.
"I don't want to think of the possibility that it does fall out of our hands. We both know, that the Zeon cannot have this weapon. The way the Zeon has been doing in this war, they would use it to destroy entire Sides." Ziang said.
"So then, do you know what the experiment actually is?"
"Yes. Just as long as you don't tell anybody else. I'm not designated to be a stool pidgeon. It's a-" Ziang was cut off abruptly, as the radar panel that Gren was working on, bleeped wildly. It was a distress call from Bravo One. "What the.. Gren.. What's going on here?" Ziang said as he rushed to Gren's side. Gren kept silent for awhile, pressing several switches he could to get a visual reading. Nothing then.
"Detecting hot heat source.. Not a mobile suit. The experiment is rebelling against Bravo One." Gren slowly said, "It looks like that beast is going to fall out of our control after all."
"No! What can we do!?"
"Well. Bravo One is going to crash.. By directory predictions of the navigation-computer.. It's going to crash right along the border.. at.. the S3 point! That's right in Zeon territory!" Gren exclaimed, Ziang turned from the console, and looked out of the bridge's display windows, merely looking at the rising crimson sun, which resulted in giving him a large amount of grief about the situation. "..Confirming. Some sort of.. electrical energy coming from the experiment. It touched down, and crashed hard. Bravo One has crashed sir." Gren said. Ziang turned his head towards him, folding his arms across his chest.
"I don't care if the red Zaku is there, we are going after that unit. The Federation's victory rests in the experiment's hands." Ziang said.
"Shall I alert all hands?" Gren asked. Ziang replied in a "no" answer by shaking his head. "So I shall notify them by morning. I wouldn't do this General.. but you have quite the reputation. Setting engines to full thrust." Both men could feel the Raven's Wing speed up significantly, almost pushing Ziang off of his feet. "We don't know where the jet exactly touched down.. but the Zeon should be after them too."
"So now.. The beast wanders, and the tamer, searches for it. The Zeon, the poachers, are after the beast as well. Or are we the poachers after all?" General Ziang trailed off, being caught in a loophole within his own deep thoughts..
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February 22nd, UC 0079
Axel City, Near the S3 Point
11:30 A.M.
Axel City was a small, but ongoing business town that recently fell under Zeon control after the First Decent Operation. The Zeon took control of the city, to house the soldiers, to control the possible threat of guerrilla welfare, and to eliminate any possibilities of rebellion against the Zeon. The civilians of the city, were forced to comply without questions. The citizens of Axel, begged the Federation to do something about this, as Zeon soldiers seemed to consume the food amount much more rapidly than before. The Federation refused, just passing up Axel as another small city with a hopeless cause. Day and night, Zeon soldiers guarded the streets. Rumors that were floating around the city, state that the Zeon might soon use Axel as a military stronghold, and the civilians wouldn't have wanted that. There has been a nuclear dome being built in the near center of the city, so that Zeon could have a few good, and established strongholds when the Second Decent occurs.
Within one of the more taller buildings of Axel City housed the most courageous photographers to date. They captured everything of the One Year War up to date, and some, have even obtained photos back from UC 0074, when the first prototype MS-05 rolled out, and the mobile suit age begun. Most photographers sold their photos to the government for money, some others did it to obtain ratings for magazines. Inside the building, was nothing you would expect. The first expectation, was a lively building, with several workers running around like they were drones, just fulfilling their job. The building, was nearly vacant. The boss granted the workers with a day off, since there were rumors of Zeon forces intensifying in Axel City. Some commotion of a Federation cruiser nearby. No doubt, the Raven's Wing. In one of the working booths, a man, seeming to be barely of the age of 17 from his facial looks, remained motionless. It seemed he was working on a few photos even on a day-off. He was dressed in a plain outlook: a crimson jacket with a black shirt being worn under the jacket, and blue jeans. He ceased working and turned to the echoing sound of a slamming door.
"Kenji! There you are!! What the hell are you doing here? It's a day off!" Suddenly, the teen addressed as Kenji was met with a hot-tempered woman, seemingly being the same age as he was. This girl had short black hair, and wore a black dress. Amelia Keen, was Kenji's partner and roommate. Amelia and Kenji have no intimate affection for each other, with the exception of a brother-sister relationship. From her dress, Kenji sometimes joked she looked like an older schoolgirl, with her socks nearly up to her kneepads. Kenji seemed to shrug off the girl yelling directly into his ear. "Why aren't you listening to me? The Zeon will think we are up to something if remain here any longer. Something's getting them worked up." Amelia calmed herself.
Kenji ceased all movements. "Something? What do you mean "Something's getting them worked up"? Are Federation forces going to start a big battle in the middle of the city? That's just like them." Kenji said as he returned to his work. Amelia nodded her head, putting her arms behind her back. "I'll take that as a yes, but I won't go out. Not until I finish all of my work here."
"Don't overwork yourself. While you're at it, maybe you can do all of my work as well." Amelia said. Kenji swiftly turned around.
"No way. It's your work, you can do it," Kenji gave a cold response, "for as much as you can yell at me for useless stuff, it wouldn't be hard to do your own work."
Amelia froze for a moment, and she worked out a deal that Kenji simply couldn't refuse. "Well then.. If you do my work.. I'll give you a "special" gift today at home." Amelia said in a seductive manner as she winked at Kenji. Kenji just remained motionless, pondering the possibility. "Oh you're hopeless. I don't mean that. I mean I will repay you all the money I owe if you can do my work. I bet you can't pass that up either."
"I don't know.. You don't hold up the reputation of actually being reliable." Kenji trailed off.
"This time, I'm serious."
"Fine.. I'll do it." Kenji nodded. "What do you want me to do now?" Amelia handed Kenji a small document, complete with a few photos of Zeon mobile suits. One, wasn't identifiable by Kenji. It was some sort of gray, upgraded Zaku II model. "That gray one.. That's like the red mobile suit I have been hearing so much about."
"You mean the Red Comet. They just publicly announced that trademark title today. Outstanding name for somebody who can destroy 5 battleships with a Zaku. That sounds nearly on the verge of impossibility to me. Anyway, that gray suit is rumored to be not far outside of Axel City." Amelia said as she folded her arms in front of her chest.
"So you want me to get photos of the gray Zaku?" Kenji asked.
"Bingo!" Amelia responded to him, as Kenji stood up, grabbing all of his gear that was consistent off: a photo camera, some extra film, and a notepad. Kenji could also be defined as a news reporter as well. So could Amelia.
"So why do you want me to do it all of a sudden? That doesn't seem to hard, especially for you." Kenji asked.
"Well. I'm sorry I never told you about this before, but.. I was.. Oh nevermind. I'll tell you when you get back. It's very urgent however." She said as Kenji walked towards the elevator door. "Wait!"
Kenji turned around. "Hmm? What is it this time."
"Remember my number one advice. Don't let any Zeon forces see you. They can place you under arrest at any given time. Look out for mobile suits as well. You know us photographers, we use stealth and wit!" Amelia advised Kenji.
"Sure. Whatever." Those were the last words that Kenji said as the elevator doors closed shut. Amelia, was just covered with regret, and dread. "Why couldn't I tell him now? Being drafted into the military is an important thing to know.." She sighed deeply as she gathered all of the remaining stuff on Kenji's desk, taking one glancing look at the window. "Rain clouds.. Not a good atmosphere."
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Axel City Outskirts
12:45 P.M.
To Kenji, the outskirts were just a bunch of hills. Like a rust covered desert. There, laid endless fields of metal and debris. Another spot of the colony shard impact, and the dark looking clouds, didn't patch up his attitude about the situation much better. He was driving a jeep, that was naturally the company's. He looked on the document on his lap once again to confirm his doubts about the selection of location. "This is it. It says so right here. I don't see any mobile suits anywhere. Just these rain clouds." He trailed off when he heard a loud thunderbolt, almost like when a large object drops among the floor at your house. "I'm going to kill that Amelia when I see her again." He pulled the jeep to a halt, which resulted in him looking about the surrounding area. "I see nothing. Nothing at al-" Once more, he was cut off. There was some sort of "bang" at the edge of his jeep. He leaped out in a hurry, automatically assuming it was a mobile suit's footstep. Instead, it was just a small ball.
"What the hell? How did this get out here?" He scouted the area. This didn't make any sense. There could be no way a small playground ball could have fallen out of the air.. Or could have it been something else? To the same side he found the ball, he saw a small girl, who stared at Kenji. She didn't make any moves at all, which seemed to scare him. "Just a little girl." He picked up the ball, and made his way towards the girl, who seemed to be just thirteen years of age. She was dressed in a rather peculiar, white suit. Like a lab technician's. "Here you go little girl. Never scare me like that again." He gave the ball to the girl, and for a few moments, she didn't say anything. She just smiled.
"Thank you mister.." Responded a light, almost delicate voice that was the girl's.
"What's your name, and why are you all the way out here?" Kenji asked.
"My name is.. Yukino. I.. I don't know where I am. I'm lost. Can you please help me?" Yukino asked.
"Well then Yuki', I guess I can help you. I haven't seen any of those Zeon stragglers anywhere around here, so I have free time."
"Zeee..on?" She slowly pronounced it. Among her face, Kenji could detect some sort of.. resent against that word. Not something along of anger.. but something along as fear.
"What's wrong Yuki'?" Kenji asked.
"Nothing Mister Imnestu." Yukino said.
"What the.. how do you know my last name Yuki'? Have we met before?" Kenji asked, more puzzled about this girl than ever.
"I'm not sure." Yukino replied.
"So then.. Where do you need to go? Because if it's anywhere in Axel City, I can take you there. No problem at all." He said. Yukino's only reply, was a point up into the sky. As she pointed into the sky, she just smiled. "You don't mean.. You want to go into space? I don't think I can do that Yuki'. Space is nearly entirely under Zeon control. I don't think civilians can go into space anymore." Yuki replied to this with a small sigh.
"Oh.. I'll figure something out. Don't worry about it. Momentai." He said to her, kneeling down to her height level.
"Thank you Mister Imnestu. Thank you for your kindness." Yuki' said.
"Don't worry about it, and call me Kenji." He said. Yuki' smiled sweetly, and the rain clouds seemed to pass overhead.. Momentarily. The silence was broken by the loud, drum like rhythm of footsteps, colliding onto to the hardened soil. Kenji stood up, and looked behind the nearest building that was in ruins. He saw some sort of crimson glare, that vanished soon after. "Good. I thought it was a mobil-" Yuki' quickly pointed up into the sky, and Kenji looked up. There above them, was a soaring Zaku onto a collision course into the ground. It landed directly in front of the two, and knocked both of them off of their feet. As Kenji got up, he saw a massive, armored giant. It was gray in color, and adored the Zaku frame. There was something different about this model.. On top of it's head, there was a curved "horn". Different from commander types. On both of it's backs, there were twin cannons, assumingly 300 mm cannons that could easily rip rows of armored tanks to shreds. "Bad news.. I guess we were found."
The Zaku, was indeed frightening, and as close range weapons, were twin prototype heat sabers, far surpassing the infamous heat hawk that the Zaku adored so well in close range combat. Through the loud speaker of the mobile suit, a man sounded through, calling attention to the two only occupants of the dead sea. "You two civilians, I hear by order you under arrest under the Principality of Zeon. You will comply, or I will fire upon you." It's handheld armament, was no machine-gun. It was a pulse-type beam weapon, the only beam weapon that Zeon suits could obtain this early in the war, and this Zaku could handle the amount of energy from the beam rifle. Kenji and Yuki' starred to the giant to it's one, crimson eye, coming to realize that not many options were present at this moment. "You will fall under custody of Myollnir Thaddeus." He said. Kenji thought that Myollnir must have been an ace to be rewarded with a mobile suit such as delicate as that one.
"Kenji.. What will we do?" Yuki's voice was just riddled with fear as she kept on making several steps backwards. Kenji just gulped, and turned the opposite way. "We are going to get out of here while we can!" He yelled. Kenji was making a huge gambit, as he grabbed Yuki's hand, he dragged her to the long way towards the jeep. Myollnir aimed the pulse beam rifle towards the running couple, and with a push from a button on his control interface, a massive amount of compressed energy was released from the firing hole of the rifle. Nearly striking dead on with Kenji and Yuki'. Stopping in their tracks, the blast seemed to instantly pierce through the ground ahead of them. "No. This isn't working, I can't kill it." Myollnir muttered. Kenji and Yuki' hopped into the jeep, and Kenji drove towards Axel at reckless speeds. The Zaku didn't move, it just traced position.
"Well. They're going back to Axel. I guess that's good news, I can address our forces to cut them off. Then we can arrest both of them." Rapid sessions of bleeps seemed to surround sound in his cockpit. A transmission. "Yes. This is Myollnir."
"Commander, we have urgent news. Some sort of new model of a Salamis class ship is merely 30 minutes away from Axel City. We are going to be compromised. Did you recover the new model?" This came from just a normal grunt under Myollnir's command.
"No. She got away. She was in the hands of some kid named Kenji. I'm assuming he must be a Federation officer wanting to get the girl back from us." He said.
"That's unfortunate. I request if you can come back to the city now." The grunt said as the transmission ended.
"Kids these days.. Don't even know how to respect their superior authority." Myollnir muttered in a blurt of ignorance. Pulling some sort of lever forward next to the joysticks that controlled and manipulated the movement of his Zaku, vaulted the Zaku into the air with some sort of release of fire-like gas emitting from it's backpack. Being an improved model, the suit was blasted into the air at lightning speeds, and attained more altitude than a normal Zaku II. "Heh. I love this new model. It's almost on par with the new mobile suit Char received. Speaking of him, I wonder how he's doing with Garma on the Second Decent Operation. No matter. I'll surpass him yet, and recover the experimental girl. I will then reclaim my title as the Noiseless Flash." He said.
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Back to Kenji driving the jeep back to Axel, he entered into the checkpoint, and was now, within city limits. Yuki' was sitting in the seat next to him, with her hands in her lap, probably caught up into her own deep thoughts within her own personal and unknown enigma. "So Yuki', why do you think they wanted to arrest us? Were we trespassing in Zeon territory perhaps?" Kenji asked. Yuki' just slightly turned her head.
"I don't know. That may be." Yuki' said.
"Well I don't like this.. Running from the law like this. Ah oh well. How mad can they get for trespassing. I'm going to call Amelia now." He said.
"Is Amelia your wife..? Or girlfriend?" Yuki asked him. Kenji just smirked momentarily.
"No way. It's nothing like that." Kenji said.
"Oh my.. Kenji. Look at that." Yuki' pointed ahead. The street was blocked off, and that nearly caused a collision course to the barrier due to Kenji's bad driving skills, but the blockade wasn't what drew Yuki's attention. It was the amount of Zakus he saw right there. Many Zaku II's, and many Zeon soldiers, marching among the streets. He saw tanks.. and Dopp squadrons. The entire Zeon platoon that was occupied in Axel City must have been marching on that one street. The two just stared at the march. The Zakus, holstered their weapons nearly in the exact same, formal fashion that the Zeon soldiers did. "What the hell is this?" Kenji said. There were chanting soldiers, rambling on about something about "Victory to Zeon, defeat to the Federation". This might have been the main force to combat the Raven's Wing, that was not far from Axel. "I count nearly 20 mobile suits!" Kenji said. "I'm scared.." Was the response Yuki' made. This almost didn't make any sense at all, but was apparent to the both of them, was that something was about to start between the Zeon and Federation forces. Something big, that may just put Axel City in the middle of it.
[To be continued]
