Mobile Suit Gundam: Against Time
Disclaimer: I don't own MSG, and the characters-along with most of the suits and ships-are also not mine. I came up with Seraph and a few pilots. Form and the G05 are from MSG: Encounters in Space though.
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The One Year War came to an end following the battle of A Baoa Qu, and also the peace signing at Granada. While the 13th autonomous corp.-also known as White Base-left Jaburo the 16th corp. did the same at the same time. The 16th autonomous corp. known as Thoroughbred housed two experimental Gundams, RX-78-4 and RX-78-5, often referred to as G04 and G05. The mission given to this team was to patrol the area between Solomon and Granada-the moon. Soon after the loss of one of their best pilots and the G04 the Thoroughbred was ordered to escort Prime Minister Darcia of the Republic of Zeon to Granada for the peace signing.
The remaining pilot of G05, Form Romfellow, is the only true defense the 16th corp. had. With his upgraded G05 he was able to bring the Prime Minister to Granada all the while taking out many Zeon's who saw Darcia's actions as traitorous. Even the newest suits and Mobile Armor fell to Form's superior piloting skills. Following this mission peace came and soon after the war ended.
The G05 was sent to Granada to be put away for good since it was no longer useful in a time of peace. Soon the 16th corp. itself will be disbanded. For the moment they continue to patrol the area near the moon with a small force of GMs'. A new pilot was assigned to the unit named Yuu Kajima, one who has no connection to the pilot of the Blue Destiny Gundam.
It was quiet for many weeks with only a few Zeon remnants attacking, and the Thoroughbred spent most of it's time idly searching wreckages of ships for anything of worth. Unbeknownst to them there was actually something coming their way.
Chapter One
Deep within the moon the Federation continues it's development of such Mobile Suits as the Gundam. One such creation has just recently been completed. On the eve of peace this unit was partially completed and if peace had not come it would have been used. Its power is equal to that of at least three Magellan class warships.
The Gundam RX-80, also known as Seraph, was the accumulation of three years work, the results from the previous Gundam makes, and other resources. The design of the Seraph is strictly confidential and not even some of the scientists and engineers working on it know exactly how it functions.
The unit is equipped with vernien boosters mounted on its back and both shoulders. There are three beam sabers and one beam javelin: Two kept in its leg armor, the third saber in the unit's right arm armor, and the javelin in the unit's shield. A hyper beam rifle has been outfitted for the weapon at least in the early stages, but later a new mega cannon was created that has the power of three beam rifles.
The most dangerous weapon however is that of the Mobile Suit's system. The MS has the ability to emulate Newtype abilities. The suit allows the pilot, Newtype or not, to fight like a superior Newtype. However, every man who has attempted to test this system always ends up going insane and overstrain themselves in the end while trying to pilot the suit. If not that outcome they die of starvation as they will begin to feel that they no longer require food and water in their deranged state. No human simply can pilot this behemoth unless they were in control of their latent Newtype abilities, or had a good endurance.
"Were you reassigned Kirsten?" Form asked to the red-haired woman beside him. The two were eating in the mess hall of the Thoroughbred at their scheduled lunchtime.
Kirsten turned her attention away from her food to look at the sable haired pilot that just questioned her. "Not yet. I'm not sure I want to be though."
"Yeah. I don't want to become some stupid test pilot again. I liked fighting in battles with the Zeon." Form said with a grin as he ate up his rations quickly. "Man, is this stuff getting worse as the days go on?"
"I doubt it, but who knows when you're dealing with this sort of food."
"If I get transferred I want you to come with me. We've been in the same unit since the beginning of our military careers and I want it to remain that way." Form said with a serious look.
"It doesn't work that way." She replied as she closed her eyes. "You only came with me to the 16th because I told them how well you were as a test pilot. That is how you got this gig."
"Well, I need you to look out for me in the future. You said that I was reckless once and that isn't always a good thing if I must admit it."
She opened her eyes slowly as she returned to eating her food. "We'll see. I was thinking that maybe I'll try leaving the service and return to my home. I mean it's not like we're needed all that much anymore."
"What? I don't know." Form said as he looked away. "I mean I love piloting MS. I don't think I can just leave that."
"I see." She said as she took a modest sip of her coffee. "Maybe I'll stay if I can be reassigned with you. You are a very interesting person, and that isn't a compliment."
Form grinned. "Yeah, yeah. I saved your life before so don't insult me."
"You saved my life?" She wondered. "When was this?"
"Who do you think got rid of all the Zeeks while you sat on your butt in your nice seat on the bridge?"
"Guess I never thought of it all that way." She replied with a smile.
"Whatever. Dang, I gotta go meet up with that Kajima guy." Form said standing up.
"Don't bore down hard on him okay. He's new." Kirsten said with concern.
"Well, if he can actually do things right maybe I wouldn't have to."
"Look, he's not you or Luce so bring down the standards."
Form looked down to the table with a downcast expression. "HE is no Luce you got it." He offensively said.
Kirsten placed her hand on his shoulder. "Sorry. I shouldn't have brought up Luce."
Luce was the late pilot of G04 that died soon after firing a prototype weapon and in the process destroyed his suit. His death made a big impact on Form who afterwards became aware of how serious the fighting really was.
"I should go." He calmly said brushing her hand off. He walked a few steps and turned back to her with a smile. "I'll see you later tonight okay?"
"Sure." She replied with a smile.
"All right then." Form said with a wave and walked swiftly from the mess hall.
"Lt. Romfellow!" Yuu called from his GM.
"Call me Form." Form replied roughly as he floated over to meet the other at the MS. "So have you fixed this suit up? A pilot must make sure his suit is properly taken care of." Form said in an attempt to sound like he knew everything there is to piloting.
"I went through it all twice. I even calibrated the machine, and then recalibrate it two times over." Yuu replied quickly.
Form looked at him and sighed. "You really didn't have to do that." He regained his serious composure. "Anyway a pilot should not have to double-check his suit so many times. You should pick up on most problems the first time through."
"What if I had missed something the first time though? The second look over could save my life in the end." Yuu commented.
The brow on Form's head furrowed as he looked away with clenched teeth. He turned back and looked at Yuu calmly. "I suppose you are right. What I meant was that most SEVERE of problems should show up the first time over. A second check is really for the minor errors that usually only interfere with performance." Form explained to the Ensign of Orient descent.
"I guess I understand."
"Wrong! There is no guessing when it comes to MS." Form informed the younger pilot by two years.
"I understand sir." Yuu replied seriously.
Form grimaced. "No 'sirs' okay? I'm not 'top brass' y' know. I mean I am only two or three ranks above you."
"Two ranks."
"Right. Two ranks." Form said quietly in annoyance.
"So what are we doing now?" Yuu anxiously asked.
"Nothing."
"Nothing?" Yuu questioned in disappointment.
"There's no orders for us to do anything. I guess we should make sure the GM and the Ball's are okay. Maybe the Core Fighters' while we're at it." Form said rubbing his chin in thought.
"That's no fun."
"Who said this sort of thing would be? I mean what do you want us to do?" Form said with a scoff.
"I don't know. Fight something. At least maybe we could take the suits out for practice."
"Fight something? What would we fight? The war's over if you forgot." Form said quickly. "As for taking the suits out" Form said as his words trailed off. He stopped and formed a sly grin on his face. "Let's take the GM Command and GM out to make sure you know the basics of piloting as well as to test how well you have taken care of you suit."
"All right!"
"Sir, are Mobile Suits cleared to launch?" Kirsten said to the ships captain.
"Huh? What are you saying?"
"Two MS just launched sir." Kirsten stated as she looked over her monitor. "RGM-79C and a plain one. Lt. Romfellow and Ensign Kajima just took off." She said while she mentally noted to herself that she was going to have to beat Form up later for this.
"Well, call him back. This is no time for them to be running off like that."
"Right sir." She said as she looked to her monitor taking her receiver up. "Form get back to the ship now. Same to you Ensign Kajima." She demanded in frustration.
"What should we do?" Yuu questioned.
"Don't worry about her. I'll handle this." Form said with confidence. "Kirsten we are just running a 'field exercise' and since there is nothing big going down 'ya shouldn't tell us not to."
"That's not a good excuse!" Kirsten shouted gaining stares from the others on the bridge. "Sir he's trying to say this is all training, but I'm sure he's just out on a joyride."
"Let him go. Just don't let him go too far."
"Sir?"
"Pilots need to relieve stress somehow. As long as they don't interfere with anyone they'll be fine."
"If you say so sir." Kirsten replied in doubt. "Form, the captain says you can be out there as long as you two don't go too far off. Stay within sight of the Thoroughbred" She stated. "And don't dare damage the suits!" She added. She sighed and took in a breath. "You'll be hearing about this later." She mumbled.
"What do we do with a useless suit?" Questioned an unidentified figure in a poorly lit hanger bay. "This Gundam is garbage if no one can pilot it."
"It is not garbage. All who have tried to pilot it are garbage." An angered scientist said from aside. "Allow me one more chance."
The second man hesitated. "Fine. One more pilot; One more chance." He said as he left the room behind.
"One more pilot? I must choose the best of the new cadets then."
A young man with brown hair stood outside the Gundam Seraph. The Gundam was painted white, gray, and black since the suit still had yet to be finished entirely on the exterior. It was only missing the final paint job and the shield that lied nearby the suit along a wall. The thrusters on the back had a 116, 230kg output which would make its speed higher than any other suit of present. The speed was what sent most to an early grave when they underestimated the power of the backpack.
The young Federation pilot was a new cadet that had proven in is early test-runs to be a superior pilot. Nearly flawless scores all across the board even for the written test. A suspected Newtype known as Nik.
Nik, in his normal suit, took his place behind the cockpit of the Seraph in anticipation. It was not every day that one could have the privilege of piloting a suit like a Gundam. As he began to initiate the suits systems the hanger was cleared and the shield mounted to his suit causing it to move slightly. The Seraph was moved to the launch tunnel as Nik went over the last minute inspections as he was instructed.
"RX-80, Nik, launching!" He announced as he was flung from the base into space. He landed his suit on the moon a short distance away as he awaited his orders.
*Test the thruster output, but remember to do so gradually.* A voice instructed Nik.
"Right." Nik moved the controls as he began to takeoff and left the moon's surface behind. As he gains speed he can feel his body begin to imprint itself into the seat. "Whoa."
*Initiate ANS*
"Uh, right." Nik stated as he flipped some switches turning the artificial Newtype system on. "What is this?" Nik grunted as he looked on as his screens flashed bright white.
"There you are!" Kirsten shouted as she stormed after Form who acted like he didn't hear her as they walked down the corridor that led to their bunks. "Stop right now Form!" She barked as she tossed a clipboard at him hitting him in the back of the head.
"Ow. Okay, okay!" He stopped and turned to her as she caught up grabbing her clipboard.
"Did that hurt?" She said with worry.
"Huh? Yeah it did."
"Good!" She said whacking his over the head with the same clipboard. "Don't go joyriding with Earth Federation property again!"
"It wasn't 'joyriding'." Form attempted to explain as he rubbed his head. "We were merely making sure our suits were in proper condition. We haven't used them in a long while."
"No excuses." She replied quickly. She took in a deep breath as she clamed down. "What if we had been attacked?"
"By what?"
"I don't know, but what if we had?"
"I would get back here and take out as many enemies as I can." Form replied with a smile.
"I'm being serious!" She shouted in annoyance.
"I am too." He said placing his hands on her adjacent shoulders. "You should stop worrying so much."
"If I do who will?"
"No one. There shouldn't be someone who must constantly worry." Form informed her with a chuckle.
She frowned. "I suppose you're right. Still, I just have this bad feeling."
"A bad feeling?" Form wondered.
"Yeah. Something's about to happen Form. It has been too quiet."
"Don't think about it. Everything's fine."
"It's not that easy Form." She replied with reluctance.
"Look," He drew her in for a hug to help alleviate her worries. "Everything will be just fine. You'll see."
As everything quieted down the silence was broken by Yuu's sudden arrival on the scene. "Lt. Romfellow!"
Form broke free of his embrace quickly to turn to Yuu. "What's up?"
"We just got new orders."
"What?" Form asked in disbelief.
"Yeah. There's been a problem on the moon or something. The captain wants us to get to our suits so we can be briefed about it all."
"Right." Yuu and Form move quickly for the hanger leaving Kirsten behind.
"I knew this would happen."
*Come in RX-80. Ensign report.*
Nik sat in the cockpit as the Seraph moved with speed into space. "Heh-heh. You Federation scum. You are all wrong and should be punished. So is the will of Seraph and I. Your injustice shall be extinguished." Nik said with an insane cackle.
"A rouge MS?" Form questioned as he sat in his GM seat as he prepared for launch.
*Correct. An experimental machine was taken by it's pilot and his motives are unclear, but I guess the Federation sees him as some threat.* Kirsten informed Form.
*Finally some action.* Yuu said with relief.
"I don't like this." Form commented.
*What's wrong?* Yuu wondered.
"If it was just an ordinary suit the Federation would have stopped it by now, or they would not care. If they want us to take it out immediately obviously it has some powerful weapon, or the MS itself is a powerful unit." Form noted.
*I see. A powerful enemy then?*
"Right."
*It should be no problem for the two of us.* Yuu said arrogantly.
"Form Romfellow, launching." Form said as he was catapulted into space with Yuu following behind. "What kind of suit is it?"