MSG: Deja Gundam EP 2 : The Evidence of Their Destruction

by Shizu-Kun

Two years after the Second Neo-Zeon War, An ace pilot from the war and his crew return to Axis. Only to find that Neo-Zeon still is active. The two small groups begin to fight as they uncover more and more clues to what happened to Char Aznable and Amuro Ray in the moments that Axis was being pushed away from Earth. (Space Rainbow) Re-upload hopefully easier to read.

Episode 2: The Evidence of Their Destruction

Story by M. A. Yoshida

A shocked expression flashes over his face. "He hasn't told me anything about it," Maxis exclaims with his eyes glossed over. Eri giggles. Suddenly the alarm breaks the moment. "What is it now?" Maxis complains while holding his ears. "All mobile suit pilots report to hangar one for launch," Captain Lin's voice rings throughout the ship. Renton runs out of the hangar observation deck towards the bridge.

"What's happening, Captain," Lee says while scrambling through the bulkhead door. The Captain turns to face Lee. "That," She says pointing out the window to a silver dot moving at high speed. Lee clenches his fist. "That suit," he mutters, just then Renton bursts into the room. "Captain we can't launch mobile suits," he pauses to catch his breath. "Launching deck one is still under construction from Nitro's crash landing." Lee spins around, "How much of Nitro is repaired?" Renton shakes his left hand "Not much, the backpack unit and left arm are about all that is finished. Why?" Lee turns to face the Captain. "I want to request a launch," Lee asks. "Lee, you can't the diagnostics are not yet complete," Renton protests. Captain Lin nods her head. "I'm going to authorize this launch, Renton get your crew to finish diagnostics as soon as possible." Renton displeased by her judgment sighs then salutes and returns to the hangar. "Thank you, Captain," Lee's voice sincere. Lee starts to walk towards the door. "On one condition, that you return alive," Captain Lin says calmly. Lee smiles and puts a thumb up. "I will," He says then walks through the bulkhead door. Maxis floats into his Gera Doga while Eri opens the hatch on her RE-Z, a small mobile suit with the ability to turn into a Waverider. As she sits in the pilot's seat memories of her training kick in. Instinctively she taps controls, powering up the suit. The full three hundred and sixty degree screen engulfs Eri in colors of gray, blue, and red. A spark from a welder catches her attention. The suit's head turns, its mono light blue colored camera zeroes in on the sparks. Suddenly something else moves in the corner of her eye. The suit turns to see Lee in his full pilot suit floating towards the partially repaired Nitro Gundam. Lee lands on the right chest plate, a few engineers look up from their work. He signals thumbs up. They all disperse from the suit by kicking off. Lee reaches to the side of his helmet, at the same time the hatch on Nitro's chest pops open. A hand reaching through the hatch flails for help. After his visor is down, Lee assists the person in the cockpit. It is the young engineer that hat spoken with him earlier on the bridge. The two stop in place for a moment. Lee slides into the seat, tapping various controls. Nitro's eye cameras glow as the reactor powers up the suit. "Maxis, are you there?" Lee asks as he checks the available channels. After a few moments Maxis answers. "Yeah, I'm here." Lee checks the arm controls and runs a quick diagnostic. A hologram of the suit appears with both leg units highlighted in red. "Yeah, yeah I know," Lee mutters out loud. "Lee, are your system checks complete?" Renton's voice asks through Lee's helmet speakers. "It just finished," Lee responds. Renton lets off the comm. button, waiving at an engineer to activate the lift. Hydraulic pistons push the suit up and then spin it to a ninety degree angle. Parts of the platform fold away leaving holes for thrusters. "Alright, Lee you are clear for launch," Renton presses the comm. button. The hangar door to bay one opens. The light from the distant star reflects through Lee's, Maxis', and Eri's mobile suit cameras. Lee checks his throttle gauge then presses two buttons on his arm control sticks, igniting the backpack thrusters. Nitro Gundam flies out of the hanger at high speed. As Lee looks down he see crew members on the launching deck working on the huge crater from Nitro's landing.

Next the RE-Z launches with ease, Eri walks out on to the launching deck then switches to Waverider form. In seconds Lee has pinpointed the location of the mysterious Gundam. Eri catches a glimpse of the silver streak, before the suit appears in front of the RE-Z. She screams out in fear as it reaches out to grab the Waverider. Eri regains her composure, transforming the RE-Z and kicking the unknown suit in the head. From behind Lee flanks the suit. As he approaches the suit, the unknown Gundam spins around. Nitro Gundam's head connects with the unknown Gundam's foot. Eri seizes the opportunity and grabs the right arm of the Gundam. Lee recovers from the impact and attacks from the bottom with a set of armor piercing knives. Just as he gets to the foot thruster, the unknown Gundam breaks free of the RE-Z's grasp. Lee freezes when the green eye cameras look down onto him. The Gundam kicks the RE-Z in the torso while also dodging the Nitro. "Eri, cover me," Lee yells as he pulls the triggers on his handles, launching rockets and firing a burst ninety millimeter shells. The unknown Gundam raises a shield to block the ninety millimeter shells and the rockets. One rocket strays off and hits the left leg vernier. Sparks spew from the damaged leg unit. Inside the suit a hologram appears, the pilot drops his head. Lee celebrates a small victory. "Lee Hymoto, I wouldn't celebrate just yet," A cold voice plays across the Nitro's speakers. Lee jerks up to the panel. "How do you know my name?" he yells. A smoke trail fills Lee's main camera view. "Oh, did I hit it?" Eri laughs over the channel. The mysterious suit stops a few feet from Nitro and drifts. Lee swallows hard. "Ha-ha," the voice gawks. Lee adjusts his angle while arming another set of rockets. Nitro's left camera catches a red flash, Lee feels relieved to see Maxis' red Gera Doga. "How's this!" Lee yells. His thumb presses the button. A hatch on the right shoulder pops open releasing ten short range rockets. Maxis raises his Heat Hawk. The Gundam reaches to its back skirt. With the left hand the mobile suit blocks the heat hawk with its shield and with the other thrusts a beam saber towards Nitro. Lee activates his backpack thrusters evading the saber while launching another barrage of missiles. Maxis lands a punch to the Gundam's left arm releasing the shield. The RE-Z primes a long range beam rifle. "Target acquired," a metallic voice plays in her helmet while cross-hairs appear around the unknown suit. While Lee and Maxis retreat and regroup, they ready their main weapons. Maxis primes Zaku II Machine Gun and three super napalm grenades. Lee grabs a nearby floating Jegan's shield and gun. The Gundam's head searches space frantically as if it senses something. A single red beam spirals through space aimed towards the Gundam. The suit fires its shoulder and right verniers but the beam cuts through the left leg. Lee sees his opportunity and rushes. Nitro rears back its left hand then thrusts the Jegan's shield forward jabbing it into the Gundam's right arm, severing it. The Gundam places its left hand on Nitro's head. The main camera and metal starts to creek and crack as the hand crushes down. "Oh, No you don't," Lee yells. He jams the Jegan's gun into the suit's head. Metal and bits of electronic components burst from the open wound. An alarm goes off in the cockpit of the unknown suit. "Lee, I would think twice about what you are about to do," The pilot says coldly. The light of a distant star reflects off Lee's main camera. Lee raises his hand to his helmet. "Yeah, so what," Lee grits his teeth, his right hand pulls the trigger on his control stick. The mobile suit's head explodes by the discharge of the weapon, sparks escape from the open neck. The inertia of the blast separates the two suits. Exposed wires float freely in space as the suit floats motionless.

Nitro looks up towards Maxis and Eri. "Is it disabled?" Eri asks over the comm. Maxis looks towards Eri's picture on his display, "It looks that way. What's your say Lee?" After re-calibrating and scanning the suit, Lee answers Maxis. "It seems to be shut down. No drive core activity." Eir claps her hands and cheers. "Renton, open a channel to Captain Lin," Lee asks as he flips overhead switches. A few moments later she answers. "Lee, good to see you're still alive." Lin's sweet voice brings Lee some comfort. Lee leans back in the seat with his eyes closed. "We're returning to the Bylan," He says with his eyes still closed. Maxis' Gera Doga waves Eri back towards the Bylan. Eri transforms the RE-Z and in seconds is but a dot in the blackness of space. "We'll talk when you get back," Lin sweetly comments. "We also found some evidence you might want to know about," she adds. Lee gazes at the motionless suit one last time before saying "Affirmative, returning to the Bylan." Nitro's backpack thrusters ignite propelling him towards the ship. Eri is the first to reach the ship. She changes the Re-Z back into a mobile suit to land on the deck. Laser markers outline the deck, while a crew member in a space suit directs Eri into the hanger. Next is Maxis' Gera Doga which lands to the right of the hangar door. Maxis is greeted by Nitro Gundam as he stands on the hatch. The same crew member waves Nitro into the hanger. Once Nitro clears the hangar doors, Maxis floats down to talk to the crew member. After a short chat they both enter the hangar. The unknown suit's power core starts up. Sparks start spewing from the exposed cables. The pilot leans up, removing his helmet. His fingers trace the panel in front of him, while various numbers, images, and holograms appear. "I have the data I need," the pilot laughs. He closes the data, plucks his floating helmet from the air and puts it on.

The damaged Gundam's back verniers fire up exhausting a cool blue energy burst. The unit speeds towards the second chunk of Axis. Sparks spark from exposed wires as they gently wave back and forth. Laser marking lights appear, extending from an old docking pilot aligns his Gundam with the laser markings by gradually firing alternate working verniers."What did you do to my Gundam, Shizu Honto?" A voice yells through the internal speakers. The pilot drops his head before answering the voice. "It was that ace NewType, Lee Hymoto." The right foot of the mobile suit clicks into a foot hook while robotic arms clasps around the mangled remains of the suit. A bridge extends to the cockpit, while Shizu takes off his helmet and powers down the suit. A small group of three people gather around the Gundam's hatch waiting. Shizu presses a few buttons releasing the hatch then steps out onto the platform. He is met by Emiko Sato, a short female mobile suit pilot, then Hei Lin, a new recruit with an unknown past, and Isato Momoto, the commander of the Ribbons forces. Shizu tucks his black and red helmet under his arm as he stands there in front of the group. Hei turns his back towards Shizu. "What did they do to Deja?" Emiko asks while pointing at the neck of the suit. Hei huffs and walks towards his mobile suit. Shizu pays no attention to Hei, casually smiling, "They did some damage, sorry Commander. I don't know how he even touched me." Emiko realizes Hei is standing in front of his suit. "Hei, what are you doing? Get back over here!" She yells. He waves his right hand then walks towards the hangar exit. Isato shoots a glare a Hei. "Don't worry about him," Shizu breaks the silence. Isato brings his attention back to Shizu, "Anyway we have located something that we will be investigating in the next few days." Isato's blue and white Neo-Zeon uniform pulls on him from a gust of air. Shizu steps in between them walking towards the Axis engine mainframe, now currently the main base of operations for Ribbons. Isato and Emiko follow close behind.

Engineers in Neo-Zeon space suits quickly start to repair Shizu's Gundam as the group leaves the room. Isato catches up to Shizu while leaving Emiko behind, who was talking to an engineer about her custom mobile suit. "A scan of Axis not only reviled the presence of the Ba-Wa but a massive amount of disabled mobile suits. " Shizu looks to his left towards Isato. "What does a bunch of disabled mobile suits have to do with this?" They break the threshold to the control room. Large monitors, computers, and other mechanical equipment are scattered throughout the room. "I'll show you," Isato lifts up his hand signaling to a soldier behind a computer. Back on the Bylan Lee, Eri, Maxis, Renton, the young engineer, and Captain Lin gather on the bridge to see what scanners have found. Simultaneously both screens zoom in on two specific suits. "That's-that's Amuro Ray's Nu Gundam!" Lee yells out while everyone else gasps. Shizu clenches his fists and grits his teeth "Its Char Aznable's Sazabi." Emiko stumbles into the room, looking up with a surprised look on her face. "We found him?" she asks. Isato shakes his head no. "It's just his mobile suit no sign of him or of-"he clenches his fists "Amuro Ray." Just then Hei walks in with a scowl on his face, as usual. "We just received word that the gundam you fought-"he points to Shizu "has arrived back at the Bylan as of a few minutes ago." Isato brings his hand to his side; Queuing the soldier to switch the camera to a view of the Bylan. Hei snaps to attention, "Who is the captain of that ship, Sir?" Isato walks to the soldier's side at the monitor. After leaning over the chair for a moment a file appears on the screen. "So Ai Lin is the Captain?" Hei rubs his chin while asking. Emiko walks closer to the screen to read the file, "It appears she is a very distinguished pilot, or was back in the Second Neo-Zeon War." Emiko reads aloud. "What did she pilot?" Shizu asks. Isato raises his hand from his side to his hip "A Jegan, one of many responsible for blowing Axis in half." Emiko snaps her neck back towards Isato. "I hit a Jegan with a funnel. Was that her?" Shizu cuts in. "No you hit the Jegan of some guy named Maxis Nogato." Hei narrows his eyes. "Got something against Maxis Nogato?" Shizu asks. Hei nods yes, his gold eyes fixed on the screen. Isato looks up towards the screen. "I wonder if these pilots have located the remains of Char's Sazabi, or their precious mobile suit of Amuro Ray." Shizu joins Isato. "If they have, they will be sending Lee to recover both," Shizu comments. Isato adds to Shizu's comment "Then we better assume that they know and send a recovery team." Hei snaps from his trance volunteering for a spot on the squad. "I'll grant that, but use the Hizack we can't reveal your custom mobile suit yet." Hei nods, "I'll get suited up," then leaves the room.