CE 68
"It'll be alright, Kira," A blue haired boy says to his friends across from him. "There's no chance that a war between the PLANTS and the Earth will break out."
With that said, an animatronic bird flies from his hands to Kira's.
"There's no need to evacuate," he says. He then turns attention to his other friend. "You'll come back here too, right?"
CE 71 Jan 25, Heliopolis
A brown haired boy gazes wistfully at an animatronic bird flying off, laptop and homework in hand.
"Kira?" Tolle asks bemusedly, snapping Kira out of his stupor. Beside him is a brown haired girl in a yellow orange dress and a blonde haired girl clad in a jacket in spite of the warm weather.
"So this is where you were. Professor Kato's been looking for you," Tolle informs him.
"Again?" Kira questioned.
This time, the brunette speaks up.
"He asked us to bring you to him ASAP. What are you helping him with this time around?"
"Way too much!" Kira replies exasperatedly. "I'm still not done with the stuff he gave me yesterday."
'Leave it to them to push things on you,' he mused.
Just then, the laptop blared to life and reveals a news reporter standing in the ruins of a city where fighting was taking place in the background.
"According to information recently received, ZAFT forces have advanced within 6 km of Kaohsiun..-"
Just then, Kira closed his laptop.
'So this is what war brings, huh?' Kira thought.
"Some breaking news?" Tolle asked
"Yeah. Kaohsiung, apparently," Kira answered.
"If these are scenes from last week, they may have already taken over Kaohsiung by now."
Concern written all over her face, the brunette decides to voice her worries.
"That's not too far away from Orb. Will the homeland be alright.. will we be alright?" Miriallia asks.
At this time, the blonde finally decides to speak up.
"Of course we're safe! ZAFT can come within 2 feet of here for all I care. This place or the homeland won't become a battlefield. ORB's a neutral nation after all!" Cagalli answered in her typical flamboyant manner.
"Really? Then I guess we'll be alright, Cagalli," Miriallia says, calming herself.
remembering why they're here, Tolle speaks next.
"Well, that's enough of that. Let's go."
"Right."
With that said, Kira packs his things and heads off with his friends.
Outside of Heliopolis
A Marseille III class transport ship begins to dock inside the colonies hangar bay as a computerized voice begins to speak.
Axis adjusted, right, 6.51 points. Entry vector is good. Braking jets off. Changing control to electromagnetic dock. Deceleration rate is 2.56. Commence docking and standby.
With the ship finally docked, the Captain takes off his hat and turns his attention to the man next to him.
"The ship's safely completed it's final mission. I appreciate the escort, Lieutenant La Flaga," The Captain answered.
"Don't mention it sir, just glad we made it without incident," Mu replies.
That said, the Captain now directs his attention to the crew.
"Any ZAFT activity within the vicinity?"
"We traced two ZAFT vessels, but since we're now docked, we don't have to worry. They can't do jack now," the men at the front of the bridge reply.
With an incredulous look on his face, La Flaga speaks up.
"Because it's a neutral nation, right? What a joke."
Chuckling a bit, Captain replies, "Yes, but thanks to that, we've been able to proceed with our plans up to now. ORB is a nation of Earth, after all."
Right then, the group of men sitting at the bridge get up.
"Excuse us, captain."
He turns to them and they salute. He salutes back, and they leave. Lieutenant La Flaga looks on at the whole thing with a serious expression on his face.
"Are you sure they're capable of handling things on the ground?"
"They may be young, but they're all top-guns selected to be G-pilots. They'll do just fine. You, on the other hand, would stick out like a sore thumb," The Captain replied in a humorous manner.
Lieutenant La Flaga just smiles bashfully and looks on at the exiting men.
Nazca-class ship Vesalius
"Don't looks so disappointed, Ades," A masked man says to his second-in-command. Turning to him, Ades replies.
"Well, I guess it won't be too late if we wait for a reply from the council."
The masked man floats over to a table nearby Ades.
"It will be too late. My sixth sense tells me so."
He picks up a photo and passes it to him. "If we don't act now, we'll pay for it with our lives. The Earth Forces' new model mobile weapons. We must seize them before they're moved from there."
Heliopolis
Kira and his friends walk into a group of girls. One red-head in particular is obviously embarrassed by what her friends are saying. "I'm telling you, it's not like that!" The redhead girl replied vehemently to her friends.
Cagalli tensed. 'It's her again,' Cagalli thought to herself as she turned her attention towards Kira, monitoring the boy's reaction. He was in a daze. She let out an exasperated sigh that went unnoticed by the entire group. Noticing the new presence, the embarrassed girl faced the new group coming closer with a bright smile.
"Miriallia!"
Almost immediately after the girl replies with a short greeting of her own, one of the other girls grabbed her by the shoulders.
"I bet you know, Miriallia!" she said with a mischievous glimmer in her eye.
"Know what?"
The girl once again turns her attention to her friends.
"Cut it out!"
"She got a letter from Sai!"
At this, Kira blinks twice, before once again looking at the embarrassed girl.
"She says nothing's going on, and won't say a word! Right?"
the girl next to her nods in response.
"Would you just let it rest?" the redhead said, already starting to get annoyed.
Cagalli silently watches the entire ordeal unfold, slightly amused at the redhead's predicament.
At this point, another group appears, all wearing jackets and shades. In the center of this group is a woman, who clears her throat, getting the attention of everyone.
"If you're not planning on getting in, mind if I do?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry. Please," Tolle replies, and with that, everyone makes way for the small group.
Once they're gone, the red-head decides to finish her conversation.
"What's the big deal anyhow? Let's go!"
With that said, she and her friends (who slightly struggle keeping up with her) make their way to the newly available car.
"Let's head to the Ralsvy first before we go shopping," her friend suggests. "They may still have those parfait rolls they've been making for a limited time."
That's the last word anyone heard before the car zoomed off. The remaining group look on as they leave. Tolle speaks up first, as usual.
"That Sai wrote Flay a love letter, huh? That's a surprise. It looks like you have a rival on your hands, Kira."'
At this, Kira turns red.
"It's not like that!"He cries as he goes after his now departing friends.
Out on the highway, the mysterious trio look around nonchalantly. The woman in the backseat of the car looks out.
"This place is so peaceful," She said.
One of the men looked back at her confused.
"Eh?"
The woman spoke again while removing her sunglasses.
"To think there are people their age out in the frontlines.."
Silence fills the vehicle as it zooms off.
Outside the colony
A group of men wearing the red and green uniforms of ZAFT reach a gate to the colony. They manage to hack the colony security and enter without being detected.
As the vehicle zooms by, Tolle continues to persist in his askings.
"What's the problem? If you can't ask, I will."
"Tolle, you're being a pest," Kira replies as he swipes his card into the front gates of Morgenrote.
Soon they are let into the lab, where they see more of their friends. Tolle decides to make sure
their presence is known.
"Hey!"
"You finally made it," Sai replies, peeking out from the other side of the room.
Kira makes a slightly troubled face in the presence of his friend and then looks to his right, finally noticing Cagalli's strange attire.
"What?"she asks roughly
He quickly looks away and replies, "It's nothing."
That exchange said and done, she walks over to a corner and stands back against the wall.
Now noticing the absence of a certain someone, Tolle speaks up once again.
"Hey, where's the professor?"
Inside Heliopolis Infrastructure
The ZAFT soldiers that infiltrated the colony just earlier, began setting up bombs near every strategic and manufacturing areas without alerting the workers or security.
Sai holds up a disk and passes it to Kira.
"He handed me this," Sai tells him.
"What is it?" Kuzzy asks.
"I assume it's work for Morgenroete," Cagalli suggests.
"It's nothing special, Just a simple program analysis," Kira answered.
Remembering about their earlier encounter, Tolle sneaks up and gets Kira in a chokehold.
"More importantly, ask about the letter!"
"A letter?" Sai asks bemusedly.
"It's nothing!" Kira vehemently responds
"It's not nothing!" Tolle says as he tightens his grip on Kira. The poor brown haired boy flails his arms and legs in futile attempt to get out of his friends' grip, and blissfully unaware of the ticking of a timebomb and the approaching ZAFT soldiers.
Outside of Heliopolis
Two ZAFT vessels begin to make their move on approaching the colony. The masked ZAFT Commander sends word to his crew on the Vesalius and the Laurasia-class ship Gamow to prepare their mobile suits for combat.
Classroom
Cagalli gasped as she felt her pupils protean. Something wasn't right. Cagalli looked around the room. Kira and his friends were still messing around, and Miriallia was trying to get them to stop. Everything seemed normal, but she could tell something was amiss, and her instincts were telling her to head to the door. Locked. She took another look around the room as her eyes returned to normal. Alright, maybe she was being a little paranoid. She thinks that to herself, but even as she thinks that, she can't get rid of the sinking feeling that something big is coming.
Colony Hangar Bay
Alarms blared to life as the ZAFT ships approached them. The communicator speaks, trying to get a hold of the ZAFT vessels.
"Heliopolis here! Approaching ZAFT vessels, please respond! I repeat, ZAFT vessels please respond!"
The chief controller floats over to the communicator.
"Chief controller!"
"Calm down and cut off the alarm!"
Picking up the headsets, he attempts to contact the ZAFT ships.
"Notice to the approaching ZAFT vessels! Your actions are in direct violation to the treaty your nation has with us! Stop your ships at once! I repeat, stop your ships at once!"
Another man at the bridge reveals no good news.
"Powerful electrical interference coming from the ZAFT vessels! This is quite obviously a hostile act!"
The crew look on in horror as they quickly realize what's happening.
Nazca-class ship Vesallius
With one signal of the hand, the ship opens its launching catapult, revealing their mobile suits. Three GINNs step onto the launch catapult and launch.
Colony Hangar Bay
The seriousness of the situation can be felt all throughout the ship.
"Enemies?" Mu asks, already in his pilot suit.
"Two vessels! A Nazca and a Laurasia class! We just confirmed mobile suits taking off before our airwaves were jammed," The captain replies.
"Alright then! Have Luke and Gail standby aboard their Moebius units for now! I'm heading off!"
Observation Room
In the observation room, tension is high. The captain gathers his wits and tries to raise morale.
"Calm down! If we overreact now, we'd be playing ourselves into their hands! Let Heliopolis handle the situation!"
Propellant filled to eighty percent. Squad 16, begin loading materials.
Grabbing a headset, the Captain communicates to the Marseille III.
"I know! If things go from bad to worse, we'll launch! Get lieutenant Ramius for me and commence transfer of G-weapons!"
"Sir!"A female and male soldier said, saluting as they made their way out.
Nazca-class
As the GINNs made their way to the Marseille III, the captain gave his orders.
Classroom
It all happened so fast. Kira and his friends were just working on the analysis, when suddenly, everything just quaked. Miriallia shrieks in terror, while everyone else grabs onto whatever's closest to them as tight as they can, grunting or screaming likewise.
"An asteroid?" Sai asks in shock.
Cagalli grimaced as she thought, 'I hate being right'
Colony Hangar Bay
Mu quickly got inside his Moebius Zero. Before he could leave, he gives out his orders.
"Launch the ship. The harbor's being attacked. I'm taking off too!"
The Moebius units fired at the advancing GINN team, that maneuver easily out of the of gunfire. One of the mechanical titans counter with the heavy assault machine gun, showering the much smaller units with bullets. Two manage to evade, but one isn't so lucky. The shot incinerates the Moebius and its pilot. It's at this time the ship and it's reinforcements arrived. While the mechanical titans fight off the new reinforcements, two head down the entrance to the colony that the men had overridden earlier. Things are at an all time high for the people within the colony. Bystanders look on in confusion at the mobile suits zooming in. Meanwhile, inside the colony are the ZAFT men, all crouching atop of a hill and gathering around a silver haired red-uniformed man, using a powerful set of binoculars. After what feels like a few minutes, he spots what they're after.
"Exactly like Commander Creuset told us", he says, smirking.
"That if we poke them, they'll come out of their hole?" Another red-uniform next to him replies. "The Naturals are stupid and pathetic, after all," The silver haired soldier responded as his smirk widens.
Inside Heliopolis
In the cockpit, the GINN pilots receive a set of coordinates.
"Looks like they found the treasure chest! Sector S, 37th factory district!"
The second GINN pilot voices his enthusiasm over the situation.
"Roger! Way to go, Yzak. That was quick!" and with that, the two mobile suits zoom off.
Outside Heliopolis
The ominous silence of space is killed by the gunfire of a Moebius' vulcans, while another fired its missiles. The GINN quickly evades and twists itself away from the vulcan gunfire, then shoots down the missiles. Another GINN quickly shoots both units down. At this time, Mu's Moebius Zero deploys its two Gunbarrel pods, while firing one shot from its linear rifle. The rifle shot is easily evaded, but when the mecha tries to counter with gunfire from its own rifle, Mu quickly dodges and closes in on the GINN. At this point, he fires Gunbarrels, which had already advanced near the mobile suit. Both pods make a direct hit, and the mobile suit staggers back. Taking one more shot from the linear rifle, its rifle arm is blown clean off. The mobile suit quickly recovers from the blows just in time to avoid the gunfire from the other Moebius. With its sword now unsheathed, another GINN quickly closes in on the Moebius, constantly moving out of it's line of fire. The mobile armor's pilot lets out a scream of utter terror moments before he's cut in two by the humongous blade.
Inside the Factory District
"Lieutenant Ramius! We've lost contact with the ship! The situation's unknown!" A maintenance worker says, slightly panicked. At this very moment, the ZAFT mobile suits enter the vicinity, much to everyone's horror. They just barely made it out their line of fire. Quickly regaining her wits, Murrue gives out her orders.
"Prepare the X-105 and X-303 for combat! Whatever the case, we'll get them out of the factory district!"
With that, the two quickly make their way to the mobile suits. Meanwhile, the mechanical menaces begin to destroy all supply vehicles in sight.
The Stairwell Hallways
Well, this was uncalled for.
That was the thought shared by everyone in the trembling room. Miriallia looks on horrified as the room continues threatening to collapse. Noticing this, Tolle puts a comforting arm around her, calming the girl slightly. Sai makes his way to the emergency door and opens it to find several people making their way up the stairs. Seeing that the kids are rather confused by this set of events, one civilian decides to tell them the situation.
"We're under attack by ZAFT! Mobile suits have entered the colony!"
Cagalli's eyes widen disbelievingly, and quickly she makes her way back to the locked door. Kira is quick to run after her.
"Cagalli, what are you doing?!" He cries to her.
"I want to confirm things! I can't believe that ORB's being attacked!" She replies. But there was something more to this stunt of hers, and they both knew it. Just then, the building quaked again, this time leaving behind a huge amount of dust.
"Kira!" Tolle cries
"I'll be right back!" He replies, continuing his chase.
Outside the Factory District
The GINNs are doing a magnificent job at wrecking shit up. Small teams attempt to counter with an array of missiles, which the mobile suits easily side away from. Now, it was their turn again, and with a short burst of machine gun fire, the team is blown to dust. At this point, the ZAFT team decides to make their move. Activating their jetpacks and rifles in hand, they head off towards the G-Weapons. The silver head leading the charge gives out the orders.
"Destroy the parts we can't carry along with the factories! According to the report, there should be five. This probably means the other two are still inside."
A blue haired red takes this moment to voice his idea.
"Rusty and my squad will go. Yzak, you guys take these three."
"Alright. I'll leave it to you. Those who board them, remember to disarm the self-destruct first!"
And with that, they arrive at their destination. As soon as as they land, they start firing, taking out three EA soldiers. One of the reds advances with a grenade, and blows a cargo carrier to shreds.
The Hallways of the Factory
Kira grabs Cagalli's shoulders, finally having caught up to her.
"What are you doing?!" he cries. "It's no use going that way!"
"Go on without me! I'll be fine, I just want to check something out!"
Right then, the building starts to show signs of aftermath shockwaves and a strong gust comes their way.
Continuing the conversation, Cagalli says, "Just go! There's something I NEED to check out!"
"That's easy to say, but how exactly do you suggest I get back?"
She turns and faces him and is about to say something, but before she can, Kira continues after looking around a bit.
"How about this way? Come on!"
That said, he quickly grabs her by the hand and runs towards a relatively in tact hallway.
"Let go of me, you idiot!" She cries indignantly.
He tilts his head in her direction and is about to reply, but stops when he notices she's on the verge of tears.
"I never thought that….that we'd get involved!" She says, her voice cracking.
"Don't worry! It'll be alright! There are still some shelters in the factory district!"
Inside the Factory District
The deafening sounds of gunfire can be heard all throughout the vicinity. Things are more or less even until a ZAFT red hurls a grenade, blowing opposing forces away. Lieutenant Ramius swears as she reloads her rifle.
Outside the building
Sai and his friends look on paralyzed and in disbelief at the ensuing chaos. Another small group of tanks attempt to counter the terrifyingly powerful mobile suits, but to little to no avail as they're annihilated just as quickly as they were formed. This was not looking well. Not in the slightest.
…
Factory hallways
The duo finally make their way to an entrance where they see the battle scene, leaning on the rails. Most shockingly..
"T-Those are-" Kira was unable to continue speaking as to what he's seeing.
"Mobile suits," Cagalli finishes in despair and shock as she falls to the ground, her hands still gripping tightly around the rails. Noticing the new voices, Murrue quickly turns her attention to the two, raising her rifle.
"This is crazy! " Kira exclaims, once again grabbing the dazed Cagalli and running off again, narrowly avoiding a bullet. Getting a good look at the two, she lowers her rifle.
"Children?" She asks bemusedly.
"Crying isn't gonna help! Come on, run!" Kira says as he forcibly takes Cagalli's hand, trying to get themselves to safety.
Meanwhile, one of the mobile suits prior seen slowly rises, grabbing hold of its shield and rifle.
"Wow! This thing's pretty impressive," Yzak says. "Dearka, how's yours?"
"Everything's alright here. Update activated, nerve link reconstructed. Calibration complete. It'll move," He replies. With the two mobile suits up and at it, Yzak turns his direction to the third unit.
"Nicol?" He questions.
"Not yet," the Green haired boy replies as he nimbly types on the keyboard.
"Almost there…"
A few moments after, the third mobile suit finally stands.
"Where's Athrun and Rusty?" Dearka inquires. "They're certainly taking their sweet time."
"They'll be fine," Yzak replies. "In any case, now that we've got these three, we'll be heading back now. Make sure they don't get damaged."
And with that, the three G-weapons activate their thrusters and make their leave, flying upwards along with a GINN that comes as an escort.
Inside the Factory District
The two finally make it to a shelter. While Kira is relieved, Cagalli is still in a daze.
"See?" Kira says, catching his breath. "I told you some people evacuated here."
He presses the communication button. Someone from the inside responds.
"Is there someone still out there?"
"Yes. My friend and I need to get in."
"Two of you?"
"Yes!"
"There are thirty-seven shelters in the left block. Can you make it there?"
Kira takes a glance at the distance before speaking once again.
"Please at least take my friend, she's a girl!"
Before anyone can answer, the ground vibrates violently under their feet, and they lose their balance. When they get up, they're both shocked to see that the door is now broken and destroyed. Kira desperately presses the communication button continually, calling out again and again before giving up.
'Damn it all!', Kira internally swears. After a few short moments of recollecting himself, Kira turns and speaks to Cagalli.
"Alright, we'll have to hurry and try to get to the other side."
With Cagalli finally having snapped out of it, the duo quickly dash for the left block. Kira turns to see the two dormant G-weapons and the woman from before on top of one.
"Hanna! Brian! Get them started!" She orders as she reloads her rifle. Meanwhile on the other side of the railings, a green ZAFT soldier that's already finished reloading aims his rifle at the Lieutenant.
"Watch out! Behind you!" Kira cries.
Quickly turning around, she fires two shots at the green soldier, who falls almost instantly.
That being taken care of, she turns her attention to the duo.
"The kids from earlier? But why?" She asks to no one in particular. Not two seconds after saying that, another worker falls. She grimaces, quickly leaps over to the side and fires, killing another green soldier.
"Come here!" She shouts out to the kids.
"Thanks, but we're heading to the shelters in the left block! Don't mind us!" He replies.
"There's nothing left behind that door!"
The two's eyes widen at the seemingly hopeless situation. Barely seconds later, an explosion rips from the previous entrance, and the duo scurry away from the flames. Carrying Cagalli piggy-back, he quickly jumps over the railings and lands on the shoulder on one of the mobile suits, losing his balance and quickly falling after landing, but relatively unscathed. Ramius observes this in shock
'could he be..?'
The other side of the Factory
As the intense gunfire continues, both sides continue to lose combatants. One blonde green soldier rushes out of cover. This serves to bring along his own undoing.
'' Rusty!'' the blue-haired Zaft soldier shouts as he watches his comrade's head being penetrated by the incoming bullets. He rushes out of his cover, sets his machine gun to automatic fire, and kills the remaining worker that brought Rusty's demise.
Just as Ramius noticed his death, she's shot in the shoulder. Losing balance, she falls on to the chest of the dormant mobile suit. Unadulterated rage contorting his features, he aims his rifle at her, ready to finish her off. After a few attempts to reload, it's now become obvious that the damn thing's jammed. Without second thoughts, he grabs his knife and rushes towards her, ready to end things close and personal. Split-seconds pass as Kira watches horrified at the scene. Still carrying Cagalli on his back, he rushes in to help the now injured Lieutenant. The Zaft soldier runs at maximum speed, and just then, through all the smoke and fire, when he's just a few feet away from her, He suddenly stops when he notices the two there with her.
''Athrun?!'' Kira shouts shocked. Now having gotten off of the brunette, she turns her attention to the red.
"What are you doing here? You did this?" She cries.
''Kira..? Cagalli..?" Athrun reluctantly lowers his knife just before Ramius manages to pull herself together and takes aim. Grunting in frustration at the worsening situation, he bounces away from the three. Taking advantage of this, Ramius quickly pushes the two into the mobile suit. A few seconds after, the mobile suit slowly wakes. As this happens, the building yields a huge explosion. Through the dust and flames, a Gundam rises.
It is year 70 of the Cosmic Era. Due to the "Bloody Valentine" tragedy, tensions between the Earth and PLANT escalated into armed conflict. No one doubted that the much larger Earth forces would be victorious, but these predictions soon proved to be false. With ZAFT's superior humanoid mecha known as mobile suits, they were able to surpass expectations. Almost eleven months have passed since the war began, with no end in sight.