GUNDAM SEED: Road Not Taken
Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to the Gundam franchise.
Chapter 1: JOSH-A
The three former members of the Archangel were in the boarding deck at Alaska. All of them had the same feeling of resentment because they had been reassigned after such a hard tour on their ship. 'Why would they make the combat commander and the only pilot leave the ship? Is this their way to punish the captain for her actions on the ship? It was not her fault, if anything it was the fault of the lack of security used at Heliopolis, the fault of the brass,' the raven haired Lieutenant thought in disgust. The inquiry of the ship's battle records was twisted and the fault was placed on the captain and the late Kira Yamato. Natarle had cleared all of her notes she had made before sending in her report. She had done so in support of her captain, something that was her job as second in command.
"Where is you ship," the blond commander asked Natarle. "I am with the both of you, Sir." Natarle knew something was up with the commander when he said that his ship was the one heading to Fort Jackson instead of California. "I forgot something," the commander said, putting his bags on the floor and heading off in the Archangel's direction, just before the trio's turn to enter the submarine. Natarle called out to the figure as she reached to grab his wrist, "Commander…" She caught the man's wrist just before he was able to be out of her reach, "Something doesn't feel right about this situation, Sir. Perhaps we should," was all she could get out before an alarm went off in the base. Natarle turned to the submarine, which had already begun to submerge. "Shit, follow me," the blond said as he started running to a corridor.
The former officers of the Archangel ran until Mu put his arm up to stop the woman behind him. 'What is HE doing here, of all times,' Mu thought as he got the feeling the Rau was in the vicinity. Mu held up the gun that he had taken for a dead soldier, Natarle followed suit. She had heard footsteps, which was strange since HQ was empty. 'The bastards, leaving the forces defending empty buildings. They are going to get wiped out,' the younger officer thought. "You worth to the Alliance seem to be running thin, Mu," the voice said, followed by gunfire. She and Mu fired in the direction of the voice of the ZAFT commander. They heard the footsteps going farther and farther away and after a careful examination of the room they entered. On the main screen was a countdown for something that Natarle was unfamiliar with. "What the-"
"Those bastards, they are using this," Mu said slamming his fist on the desk. Noticing the lieutenant's confused look, Mu said, "They call it a Cyclops System. It causes the internal temperature of everything to increase rapidly." Natarle's eyes widened in shock, 'How could they do something like this. Are the deaths of Alliance soldiers worth killing ZAFT forces? BASTARDS!'
"We need to get to the ship, if we don't hurry than everyone here will die. It will be like at Grimaldi," Mu said as the duo rushed off to the hanger not far from the base. The duo reached the hangar and climbed on board an F-7D Spearhead and headed out to the Archangel.
ARCHANGEL
Murrue cursed the Alliance's lack of security at headquarters, 'Panama may be important, but did they think what was going to happen if HQ falls.' Explosions rocked the ship as the Duel sent a volley of missiles at the ship. Murrue's thoughts went to the former combat commander and the blond pilot that left the ship at HQ. Things could have been different if HQ hadn't transferred the two officers off the ship. Another explosion rocked the ship again as the starboard hangar door was destroyed by more missiles. 'Shit, at this rate we are going to be killed before reinforcements get here. Damn the brass for this mess they left HQ in.' Murrue looked up at the screen to survey the battle, Eurasian ships were being taken out quickly and the very few GINNs were shot down.
"Captain, the Pavilchenko and the Lobkovskaya have both been destroyed, the main gate is vulnerable," Arnold said, his voice betrayed his expression. 'He's scared, hell half of the crew is scared,' Murrue thought thinking about the members of her ship, most of them younger than her. They all have their whole lives ahead of them but their future is looking very bleak. "Move the ship to take up their positions. We can't let the main gate fall. What about reinforcements?"
"Nothing. They won't be able to get here in time. This battle is pointless, we-" Petty Officer Pal was interrupted by Miriallia. "Captain, a Spearhead is heading towards the hangar." Murrue couldn't believe what she had heard, it wasn't unreasonable, but the jet hadn't even asked for confirmation from the ship. "Flight crew clear the deck. Some nut in an aircraft is trying to land," Murrue said as she called up the flight deck.
Mu and Natarle landed on the Archangel, the damaged hangar allowed the duo to land on the ship. "Let's go," the blond commander said as he opened the cockpit and jumped on the flight deck. They ran passed a confused Murdoch and headed to the bridge. "Captain," the exhausted Lieutenant said as they reached the bridge. "Lieutenant, Commander! What are you doing here," the brunette captain said, shocked to see the two officers that left the ship earlier today. "HQ is empty, the brass has abandoned it along with the Eurasian forces and the Archangel. They put a Cyclops System under the base, that thing is going to turn everything within a ten mile radius into a blast furnace. We need to get out of here, NOW!" The commander said before the brunette could even ask questions. Natarle rushed towards the CIC, while Murrue processed the information just given to her.
"Are you sure," the captain couldn't believe what she had been told. "We saw the countdown, nothing can stop it," the combat commander said from her post, she had been angered by what their leaders had planned. 'They think our soldiers are expendable at the chance to inflict a blow against ZAFT,' the violet haired officer thought. "Everyone," the captain addressed the bridge, "make note that this is my decision alone-". Natarle decided that Murrue need some support, "It is my decision as well." Murrue continued, "This ship is leaving the combat zone. Send a message for the other ships to follow."
Mu left the bridge and ran to the hanger, where he launched in the Skygrasper. While he fought against the Duel and DINNs, a GINN approached the bridge of the Archangel. As it took aim on the "legged ship" a beam pierce the arm of the suit. An unknown mobile suit hovered in front of the ship. "This is Kira Yamato," the suit said over the channel with the Archangel, "Archangel, do you read me?" The bridge was filled with a collective gasp as the young pilot's voice reverberated throughout the bridge.
Murrue filled the young man in on the situation at hand. Kira couldn't believe that the Alliance was this desperate. 'At this rate, the Alliance and ZAFT will wipe each other out,' the coordinator thought as he opened a comm channel with the ZAFT forces. "Attention ZAFT forces, JOSH-A is set to self-destruct. Please stop fighting and exit the area. I repeat the base is set to self-destruct, please leave the area!" His attempts to stop bloodshed were met by an attack from the Duel. 'Damn it, why does it have to be here. Please just leave. I don't want to fight you.' Effortlessly, Kira cut off the suit's legs, causing the suit to barrel towards the ocean, until a DINN caught it, escorting it to a retreating Vosgulov class sub.
Most of the Alliance ships had already started to leave the battle zone, followed by some ZAFT ships, when the Cyclops System went off. The base disappeared in a flash of light and all planes and mobile suits in the area simply exploded because of the heat. "How could they do something like this? Damn it," Murrue said as she stood up, shocked by the massacre that had just occurred. No one believed that the Alliance had managed to create something of this caliber. The ship lurked towards a small piece of land where both Kira and Mu landed. 'Ending this war wasn't going to be easy, but I never expected it to be this hard,' the young pilot thought as he remembered the ZAFT suits fighting even after he told them about that monstrous device.
END CHAPTER
AN: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I have the rest of the story plotted; now it Is a matter of typing it. I am going to base this story mostly around the officers of the Archangel. I am not very good at mobile suit battles so just bear with me as I try. Please review.
The Pavilchenko and the Lobkovskayaare named after two female Russian snipers during WWII.