AN: Hey everybody! This is my first fan-fic, so don't bash on me too hard XD. I actually wrote this story like three years ago, but never finished it. So I decided to go back and revise my story...Umm...that's pretty much it. Oh! And it's rated Teen for mild violence and language.
One last thing! The prologue is written in italics, so if you see normal font within this story that means it would've been in italics if the whole story was in normal font.
So please R&R! Thanks - Crelrn
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed, Sunrise, Bandai, or any of its affiliates. I have ownership only over my own original characters, factions, mobile suits and amendments to the story line.
THE NEW AGE
Prologue: The Moon and the Sun
13:41, February 18, 96 CE, ZAFT Armory, Februas 3, Brigade armory and briefing room.
"Alert." blasted the intercom. "Level One battle stations. Hostile forces located just outside of boundaries. All ZAFT forces, report to battle stations. All hands, prepare to defend borders. I repeat, Level One battle stations. Hostile forces located just outside of boundaries. All ZAFT forces, report to battle stations. All hands, prepare to defend borders. I repeat…"
"Dammit!" complained an annoyed raven haired boy. "We didn't even have time to eat yet."
"Stop being so dramatic, Shojin." replied a blonde and equally pissed off boy getting out of his red uniform, quickly slipping into a black pilot suit. "It's our own fault for joining the Brigade."
"Joined? The last time I checked, we were drafted!" exclaimed Shojin, stepping out of his white uniform and into his own jet-black suit. "And stop giving me lip. I am in charge of this squad."
"That might be right, but that doesn't give you an excuse to treat your subordinates with such blatant disrespect." barked a middle-aged officer that had just entered the room
"Gaahh! Rear Admiral Williams! Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't see you!" hastily replied Shojin. Everyone else in the room quickly stood at attention.
Rear Admiral Williams returned the gesture. "At ease." Everyone's postures relaxed. "Alright, everyone get dressed, double time. Debriefing will take place in four minutes."
Four minutes later, they were all in the briefing room adjacent to the armory that they had previously been in. "Alright." began Williams. "At 13:14, now 27 minutes ago, a recon team spotted several NARN vessels camped right outside our sensor range. Now we're not sure exactly what they're doing there, but if they didn't inform us beforehand we can safely assume that they're not here on friendly terms." The squad's expressions hardened at this comment.
"Now, you men, as Brigade members, are an attack force, so this probably isn't an ideal situation for you. Your mobile suits aren't suitable for this kind of job. Speaking of which, is anyone's mobile suit out of commission?"
"My Cancer suit is in maintenance, sir." Stated the blonde from earlier.
"What's your name, son?" asked the Rear Admiral.
"Ensign Reign, sir."
"Anyone else here, beside Ensign Reign?" The Rear Admiral looked around. "Nobody? Good. How many are in this squad, Commander Himura?"
"Including Private Reign and myself, ninteen, sir." replied Shojin.
"Good. Divide them into fire-squads of four. But leave out Lieutenant Kiba."
"Permission to ask why, Admiral?" asked Kiba.
"That's classified information, Commander. I'll tell you in good time. Now split up the remainder of your squad."
"Yes sir." Then he turned and faced the Brigade. "After I divide you up, head to your suits and remain on standby. Private Reign, you'll be sitting out of this one."
Saluting, he responded, "Yes, sir." Walking out of the room, Shojin could hear him muttering "Great, right after I get suited up, too."
After the rest were grouped, they hurried to their mobile suits.
After the door closed behind them, the Rear Admiral said, "Follow me. I'll fill you in as we go." And he walked out through the other door, with Kiba and Shojin following.
Chancing to break the silence of their walk, Kiba asked, "Sir, where exactly are we going?"
"I'm sorry, but I can't tell you till we get there, It's classified and we can't talk about it in these corridors." replied Williams.
"I'm sorry, Sir."
"Don't worry. We'll get there soon enough."
After five minutes, they ended up at a large, grey, metal door. Rear Admiral Williams entered a complicated series of numbers on a nearby keypad, and the door opened. "Get in." He ordered. They walked uneasily inside, and the door shut with speed. They were on a balcony in a room that was pretty wide, and very, very dark; they couldn't even tell where the back wall was.
The Rear Admiral hit a switch on the railing and a bright, fluorescent light flashed on. It pierced the darkness, but not entirely, though a series of more lights flashed on until the room was entirely lit.
What the darkness had originally shrouded now stunned them with awe. A gleaming gold mobile suit shined in the light with renounced glory, while next to it stood what seemed to be the complete opposite: a blackish pale-blue mobile suit that seemed to swallow up the light around it.
"Gentlemen," began the Rear Admiral, "Behold the fruits of our years of labor, and the reason for the formation of the Brigade squadron: The XKN-901 Helios and the XKN-902 Luna."
" The Helios… and…Luna?" asked a puzzled Kiba.
"These are the first in a new age of mobile suits." Said Rear Admiral Williams proudly. "These are only prototypes, though we'll eventually mass produce variations of them."
"But what do these have to do with us?" inquired Shojin.
"Isn't it obvious?" Questioned Williams. "You will pilot them."
"But why us, Sir?" asked Kiba.
"You and your brother have some of the highest rates of service in all of the Corps. That's why you were promoted to the Brigade. In addition, your personal piloting styles are almost perfect for these mobile suits."
"So these are prototype mobile suits?" asked Kiba.
"Err…Not entirely…" said the Rear Admiral. "They're finished, but we've gotten as much data as we can with computers and tools. We just need some actual combat data for them."
"And that's where we come in?" asked a grinning Kiba.
Williams returned the grin. "Correct. These mobile suits are made to attack, not defend. So instead of waiting for them to make a move, you two will take the strike to them, give yourselves an advantage."
"So that's our mission." Said Shojin. "Good. I was getting nervous that we would be stuck here on the defensive."
"And we will be piloting these suits?" asked Kiba once again.
"Of course." said the Rear Admiral. "That's what I just finished explaining."
"Well, who gets which mobile suit?" asked Shojin.
Williams sighed. "Again with the questions. Kiba, you get the Helios, and Shojin, you get the Luna. Like I said before, they are both the best fit for your piloting styles."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Thanked the brothers simultaneously while saluting.
"Now Kiba," began the Rear Admiral, handing him a pile of papers. "The Helios is a long-range mobile suit. It has heavy firepower and artillery, almost more than our Larissa class destroyers. In addition, it has Geizer Pansen refractor, as well as the heavily improved Phase Shift Armor."
"It has a solar battery, which you can use for an almost unlimited amount of time as long as there is sunlight. There is also a backup one incase there isn't any sunlight. You can read the rest in its manual and its database."
"And Shojin," once again began Williams, also handing him a stack of papers. "The Luna is quite the opposite. Like the Helios, it has a VPSA system on it, but we installed an MCS inside on it. The VPSA system will be disabled while this is active."
"MCS?" questioned Shojin.
"Perhaps you've heard of 'Mirage Colloid'?" Williams inquired with an eyebrow raised.
"Mirage Colloid? But that's outlawed now!" exclaimed Shojin.
"It's treaty is nothing more than a verbal agreement!" argued the Rear Admiral. "All sides have used it, and the Earth Alliance even equipped some of their battleships with it!"
"I'm sorry, Sir." Apologized Shojin.
"Now continuing where you so rudely interrupted me, the MCS allows it to slip by both optical and radar awareness. This makes it perfect for espionage, reconnaissance and ambush. In addition, it is equipped with a DRAGOON system that is also equipped with an MCS. There are two DRAGOON systems that are compatible with the Luna, but today you will use the "SHROUD" System, which fires regenerating concussive beams. The reason I gave you the Luna and not your brother is because you are the only one who is capable of using a DRAGOON system." Finished Williams.
"Why is that?" inquired Shojin.
"You were rated higher on the Spatial Awareness test of the sta-."
Before he was finished, he was interrupted yet again; this time by the wall monitor which flashed on as a black uniformed officer appeared on screen. Behind him was the familiar scene of a Gondwana class carrier getting ready for battle. "Rear Admiral Williams, Captain Hill of the Heron would like to inform you that our initial recon team was destroyed by the NARN battleships almost immediately when they entered their range."
The Admiral's eyebrow raised. "Really? Is that all, son?"
"Yes, sir."
Although he tried to remain featureless, Kiba noticed a hint of a grin appearing on the middle-aged Admiral's creased face. "Tell Captain Hill to remain back on standby with the Heron and to tell all of the other ships to follow suit. We're sending a squadron to take care of it momentarily."
"Yes, sir. Very well, sir." as the monitor flashed back off.
Williams turned back to face the two brothers. "I believe you two heard me just now. Hurry up! Get into your mobile suits on the double!"
The brothers simultaneously saluted to their superior. "Yes, sir!"
"Mobile suits destroyed." said a white coated deck hand of a Longinus class N.A.R.N. destroyer. "Enemy ships have responded by moving closer to the P.L.A.."
"All right." Said the black suited Captain of said vessel. "Prepare to launch the Finns. Make sure the package is secure before launching. Tell the other two ships to follow suit."
"Yes Sir!" said the now focused ensign, now busy rapidly typing commands into his console.
"Lieutenant Green!" said the Captain.
"Sir?" asked the deck lieutenant.
"Have someone man the Halberd cannon. Have the " Ordered the captain.
"Yes, Sir!" replied the officer.
The Captain sighed. Now let's see if all of this was for nothing.
"Kiba, are you ready?" asked his anxious brother over the radio in his new mobile suit.
"You know I am!" exclaimed the enthusiastic brother.
"Alright." Crackled a new voice over the comm. frequency. "You know what to do: hit'em hard and hit'em fast. Remember, this isn't a drill."
"Yeah, we know that already." Said Shojin.
"Alright Shojin, wait from the light." Responded the voice over the comm.
Two red lights flashed off, then a green light that said LAUNCH on it. "Shojin Himura, Luna, launching!" He slammed down on the thruster, and the Luna catapulted into the darkness of space.
In the adjacent launch pad, another set of two red lights and a green light signaled Kiba's turn to launch. "Kiba Himura, Helios, let's go!" As he blasted out of the pad, his grey mobile suit turned golden, signaling his activation of its Phase Shift armor system. He turned to see the large figure of the Heron next to Februas 3. Jeez, it's a lot bigger than I thought, thought Kiba.
"Kiba, this is what we're going to do." Said Shojin over the comm. "You use suppression fire to get their attention, while I activate my Mirage Colloid and flank them. Pretty simple, but I believe it will get the job done. Sound okay to you?"
"Roger, Bro." said a grinning Kiba.
"On the field you'll call me Commander. Got that?" sarcastically joked Shojin. His black mobile suit's arms disappeared, and the rest of its body followed suit, fading into the emptiness of space.
In Kiba's vision, he saw the small objects that were the NARN's space vessels grow larger. Stopping, the Helios grabbed its "SOLAR" Beam Rifle from its hip and its linear rail cannon from its back. Kiba aimed both at the vessels, and a screen flipped down from the inside of his cockpit. A message ran across the bottom of the screen stating, "WEAPONS ARMED AND LOCKED ON." A grin ran across his mouth as the tips of his weapons glowed, then discharged two golden beams of energy.
"Captain, incoming projectiles from port!" yelled a navigations officer on a Parabola class NARN carrier.
"Evade! Hard to port!" shouted the captain.
Thrusters ignited and the ship shot portwise. One beam of golden light flashed by, but another impacted on the starboard side, shaking the ship.
"Damage report." Ordered the captain.
"Minimal damage, but the starboard thrusters wont be working."
"Damn! Disperse anti-beam depth charges! Discharge all mobile suits while firing Icebrand missiles at target."
"Yes, sir!" responded the crew of the carrier.
"Where did those shots come from?"
"Sir, they came from an unidentified mobile suit coming from the PLANTs." answered a crewman manning the radar console.
So ZAFT's testing their prototype weapons, too? Thought the Captain to himself.
"Dang. I missed." chuckled Kiba to himself. He activated his comm. frequency to his brother. "Shojin, are you in position? They're coming after me."
"Almost. Don't contact me. They might pick up our frequencies." Responded his brother.
Kiba sighed; he didn't particularly like it when his brother got into his Zen no-thought state of mind. He then typed in a few adjustments to his weapons calibrations, and activated his main thrusters, heading towards the enemies.
Will he ever shut up? Shojin asked himself. He had a good angle at the NARN's RMS-1X1A "Finn" mobile suits, the mainstay of their forces. Finns are lightly armored and have minimal weaponry (one or two beam rifles, a beam-saber and a shield), though they are very fast and highly mobile.
"Let's see how this works." Said Shojin, as he launched his SHROUD system into space. A console popped up showing the location of all eight of the units in the system. He keyed in all of the coordinates and routes of the Finns lightning fast. Right about… now! He thought in his head. He pulled the triggers and fired. He was rewarded with eight green explosions, then four orange ones.
Over the channels he heard several, "What the-?" and, "Where the hell did that come from!?" In order to silence the 16 remaining stammering suits, he used his LUNAR automatic beam rifle in conjunction with his DRAGOON system to quickly and efficiently destroy most of them, but there were still seven remaining.
From Kiba's mobile suit, 10 missiles struck forth, leaving trails of vapor behind in the vacuum of space. Some hit mobile suits, destroying four of them, some were destroyed in mid flight, and the rest hit the two Parabola carriers, destroying the already damaged one and injuring the other.
After finishing off the rest of the suits with the Luna's ultra-negative beam sabers, Shojin retracted back his SHROUD units and quickly got out of the way, for in his peripheral vision, he saw energy charging in front of his brother's unit, meaning he was about to use his SUN Beam to take out the destroyer. A brilliant gold flash later, an immense golden beam jetted out to the destroyer. A few seconds later, there was a huge hole where the weapons bay was supposed to be, and the Longinus Destroyer erupted into flames.
"Damn!" exclaimed Shojin to his brother. "Ever heard of moderation?"
"Well it worked, didn't it?" asked a smirking Kiba.
"Well, yeah. But wasn't that overdoing it, just a smudge?"
"Hell yeah!" said the younger brother.
"Well I'm just glad that it's over." Said Shojin. "Let's head back"
"Yeah, my radar just declared that it's all clear." Said Kiba.
"Alright." Responded the older brother. "Let's go."
"I'll race ya." grinned Kiba.
Shojin returned the grin. "Fine, but you'll lose."
Kiba laughed. "Yeah right. You're o-." he started to say, but was cut off short as in front of them a huge, blue explosion engulfed the Heron and its support ships.
"What the hell?!" exclaimed Shojin as the light disappeared, leaving behind nothing. "Wh-what the hell was that?"
Breathing heavily, Kiba answered, "I...I...D-Don't...Know..."
Shojin's face grew very dark and murdurous. "We must have neglected to eliminate all of them and let some slip by us." he let out sadly.
"Dammit!!!" shouted Kiba, who slammed his fists on the control panel of the Helios.
"Kiba, we've got to go back and reinforce our defenses. We've got to make sure we eliminate every one this time. For ZAFT!" ordered Shojin.
"For ZAFT!" yelled Kiba. The thrusters on the backs of their mobile suits ignited as they launched themselves towards the molten slag that was the flagship of the 1st ZAFT Fleet.
...End Phase.
AN: Okey dokey, that's the prologue of the story. First chapter'll be out in a little bit. The characters "Shojin" and "Kiba" aren't the main characters of this story, instead they'll be getting stuck on the sidelines in the role of (drumroll)...SUPPORTING CHARACTERS!!! Oh noes!
The story will shift to the perspective of a young pilot from the NARN, roughly a month after the events in the preceding prologue.
But PLEEEASE R&R this story! The story will only get better if you help!