Mobile Warrior Starfall I: Genesis
In the late 21st century, mankind's abuse of the resources of Earth, combined with ethnic conflicts, overpopulation and depleting resources lead to the near death of their home planet as life on earth slowly began to die. The extinction of man was near at hand.
However, mankind was spared from this fate. Realizing that their world was dying, the people of Earth - for the first time in history, united as one to save both themselves and the Earth. The people began the Colonization Plan, where they left the cradle they had called home for far too long, and expanded out into space, leaving Earth behind to heal from the long years of abuse it had suffered. This was the beginning of the Colonization Era.
Centuries have passed since that day. The many colonization fleets have spread out, to ensure the survival and expansion of mankind. Many of them finding new worlds to call their own, continuing the legacy of mankind. And over time, humanity had finally made first contact with the many alien species of the galaxy.
However, mankind is no longer united, as new factions arose across the galaxy tensions are beginning to achieve new heights between the largest and strongest powers. It seems as though a new war would soon arrive - only on a far more grander scale…
Chapter 1: Powder Keg
August 12th C.E 280
Sagittarius Arm, Milky Way Galaxy
Jaden Takeo slammed his fist into the alarm clock which blared into his ear, groaning as he stayed under the covers of his bed as the irritating sound of the clock came to an end. "Why did I buy you in the first place..." he muttered from his bed, refusing to get up. "It's Saturday..."
It took a few more minutes... or rather half an hour, for Jaden to finally get up from bed. He pulled away the covers, revealing his spikey black hair was in a mess, and his crimson red eyes were still droopy and tired looking.
'Why do mornings always suck so bad?' He though to himself, as he sighed, standing up from his bed. 'Maybe this is what Zombies feel like when they come back to life?'
He went through his morning routine, making his bed up, shower, and all of that. By the time he left his room, Jaden's hair - while still a bit spikey, was more neat and tidy, now wearing a pair of blue jeans and a red T-shirt. He walked into the small living room, grabbing a remote on the desk as he pressed the power button. Moments later the Holo-T.V activated, blinking to life as the screen extended to life.
"...has yet been confirmed." The News Anchor said, as the H-T.V automatically changed to the news network. "However, reports have it that the ISA shuttle, that being shuttle 767, has gone missing along the Zaigon-Alliance neutral zone earlier this week. It was carrying several Alliance diplomats who were en-route to Chimera II to help in negotiating recent tensions in the area. With the increasing shouts of autonomy within the outer most colonies of ISA territory, the disappearance of the shuttle may delay the peace talks at Chimera II. While there are speculation that the Zaigon Empire may have been involved in the shuttle's disappearance, there is little to no evidence to support the claim, as Zaigon has denied any involvement in the case."
Jaden only paid mild attention to the news, knowing all about the incident before. His attention was instead focused on grabbing something to eat, as he opened up a refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of what appeared to be chocolate milk. 'Need to get the Replicator fixed.' He thought to himself as he opened the bottle, and drank it down.
Suddenly the phone rang, as he glanced at the Caller ID which appeared on the screen, reading: Darknal. Jaden put down the milk as he picked up the phone. "Y'ello?" He said.
"Well, what do you know! He lives!" same a reply, causing Jaden to roll his eyes. "About time you woke up, you need a new clock or something?"
"Mine works fine," Jaden said, as he cracked his neck a bit. "So, what's up?"
"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but professor Andrei is calling us in." Darknal said, causing Jaden to groan "The project is in its final stages he says, so he wants all hands on deck so it can be finished by Monday."
"Damnit…" Jaden muttered, shaking his head "Doesn't he know how much work we had to do this week alone? If we want to finish whatever the hell this 'Project' of his is, we need more time!… and sleep, for that matter."
"I know man, but we don't have much choice." Darknal said, sighing as well. "He is the key to our internship at Liberty Electronics..."
Jaden sighed again. "I know... fine, I'll be over there," he said. "Have you tried to contact Kira or Ryu? What about any of the others?"
"Haven't gotten a hold on Ryu or Kira yet," Adam said, "They're probably in the Park though, Kira's still working on some of the junk Andrei dumped on them yesterday, so they're probably working there. I'm getting them together as we speak. Me and Amy are gonna go and find those two."
Jaden nodded. "Alright," he said. "I'll be over there in a bit… see ya." He hung up the phone before sighing one last time. "Well, so much for the Movie Marathon…" shaking his head, Jaden walked back to his room, as he went to gather his stuff, knowing that it was going to be a long day today.
15 minutes later, Jaden walked out of the door of his apartment complex, as he looked up at the sky. However he knew it was not a 'real' sky. While he could see the forms of blue skies and white clouds above, behind it he could see the faded images of stars and nebulas in the distance, the sky itself being nothing more than very advanced holograms.
Jaden smiled a bit at the sight he always saw when he walked outside. Its one thing to live on a planet, but actually living in space is far more amazing even after the initial thrill wore off. Yet at the same time, life on colonization fleets was always like this. The colony fleet lead by the S.S Stargazer has been moving through the vast voids of space ever since it first launched from the ancient homeworld of humanity, earth, almost 1,000 years ago. While many of the other colonization fleets found worlds to call their own over the years, some even making first contact with species such as the Alfari, Hulika, Lykans, and such, the Stargazer's fleet has remained in space.
The citizens of the Island-3 Colony ships which followed the Stargazer have come to believe that living as a nomadic fleet was for the best, rather than living on one single world and risk repeating what was done to Earth. While that was obviously not the case for others who colonized worlds, the people of Stargazer have continued to live in their vessels, which continue to display perfect replications of Earth-like environments and weather patterns. All of this put together, added to the safety provided to the Stargazer fleet, made this place a paradise in space, free from the troubles of other colonized nations. It was for this reason that Jaden has called this place home for his entire life, and as he made his way to his destination, he knew that it would be like this for a lot longer.
Meanwhile - Stargazer Island-3 Park
Elsewhere in the same Island-3 vessel of the Stargazer fleet, the central park of the massive colonization vessel takes up a large piece of the interior of the vessel. It was filled with people, men, women and children all going about their days in the park. Playing with family, walking, and other activities.
Sitting in a gazebo next to the artificial lake was a young man and a woman, the eighteen year old woman was working on a laptop on a table in front of her, when standing she was about 5'7" her bright amethyst colored eyes following the lines of coding she was writing, brushing a stray strand of wavy, waist length chocolate brown hair behind one of her ears. She was wearing a skintight black v-neck undershirt that hugged her large C-cup breasts under a light blue jacket with a pair of comfortable blue jeans and sneakers.
Looking down Kira Yamato smiled as she saw her boyfriend's, Ryu Hisanaga's, peacefully sleeping face as his head rested on her lap. He was about twenty with crew cut brown hair a few shades lighter than her own, behind his closed eyelids were a pair of dark green eyes that she found so captivating.
He was wearing a loose black uniform shirt with a red symbol of a knight riding a dragon with a pair of black cargo pants tucked into a pair of combat boots. Having just returned from a mission Kira paid no mind to the fact that he was sleeping, instead she was just happy that he had returned from his mission alive and well.
'Almost done with this...' Kira thought as she typed away on the laptop, 'Finally, once this is done I can spend the rest of the weekend with Ryu-kun-'
"Hey Kira!" A voice called out, causing her to curse as she looked back and saw a young girl approach them, along with a young man. The girl looked about sixteen years old with long shoulder length red hair and blue eyes, wearing a simple red dress shirt and skirt. With her was a young man who had short black hair and purple colored eyes, wearing black jeans, and a black and purple colored hoodie.
"Been wondering where you two were!" The girl said, before she and the man saw Ryu's position, as she blushed a bit "Oh, uhh… now a bad time?"
Kira sighed as Ryu shifted against her lap. "He just got back, Amy, Darknal," she informed the pair. "Let him sleep please, plus I'm almost finished, so I get the weekend with him."
Amy winced a bit, as she and Darknal exchanged glances "Uhh… yeah… about that..." Darknal said, "Andrei is… calling us in. He wants the project done by monday, so he's grabbing all hands on deck… including you."
Kira's eye twitched as she glared at the pair. "Tell him that I am occupied with my life," she growled. "Just because I'm his primary programmer doesn't mean I'm his goddamn slave…"
"Look, if we had a choice, we'd say fuck it as well," Darknal said. "But remember: We do this for him, and our odds at getting those positions at that new Liberty Electronics plant is practically guaranteed. Besides, he said the modifications will be easy - especially for someone like you. Just a few of your special tweaks and we should be done by the afternoon, and the rest of the weekend is ours."
Kira was about to speak when a groan and a yawn from her lap brought her attention down to Ryu. "Let's go and deal with your incompetent professor, Kira," Ryu suggested as his green eyes opened up. "I'll go with you."
However before they stood up, the Holo-Laptop got their attention as a news broadcast got their attention.
"In other news, the Chancellor of the Kosten Confederacy, Andreas Baum, announced the passings of a Colony Agriculture Bill, which will allow colonies to produce their own food." the News anchor woman. "This comes as good news for the citizens of the 450 Space Colonies of the Confederacy, who had to rely on supplies shipped from the 45 member worlds."
"That was stupid of them, not allowing Colonists to grow their own food," Ryu commented as he yawned and stretched his stiff joints. "But… it kept them dependant and desperate to maintain the status quo just for a few bites to eat."
"Well at least they're fixing that law now," Amy said, "They're just trying to become better than they were during the days before the Kosten Rebellions that established the new Confederacy. The one in place now to the one compared to them is a paradise, minimal to no corruption and stuff like that."
Kira nodded at that. "Stargazer should begin to start passing through Confederacy space within the week. I'm actually hoping to see Kostenlose." she said. "I heard the Armed Forces are preparing a new ship class named after a Celtic War Deity."
"Everyone is gearing up to face the terrible monster named man," Ryu announced with a heavy sigh. "Even in these days where we travel the stars as easily as one walks a road… we still face the monster of our own species."
The others nodded at that, before Kira turned off her Holo-top and the group began to pick up the many research material scattered about.
"It's a good thing our group is a neutral fleet of Nomads." Darknal commented.
"Neutrality… huh?" Ryu said with another sigh. "Don't be so sure that it will always protect you, after all, some people fear the ones that won't take a side the most…"
Kira nodded at that. "Which is why Stargazer is always on the move. Only stopping for supplies at the ports of friendly governments." she said.
Ryu smiled at Kira and placed a kiss on her forehead making her blush every so slightly. "Come on, we better get to this professor of yours," he informed. "No need to ruin the day of your friends."
Kira agreed as they picked up the last of their notes, and began to leave the park.
"You know, I always wanted see those Kosten Mecha..." Darknal said.
"They're good units," Ryu informed, "Given me and my Team no ends of trouble when pirates manage to get ahold of some of them"
"Jaden like e'm too, though he also likes the machines used by Zipang and Zaigon." Amy said, "He always loved that Cyclops design the Zaigon M.S has."
Ryu shrugged in response. "Call me a Patriot, but I prefer the Versatility of the Empire's Shrike line," he informed scratching the back of his neck. "Any unit can perform in any environment… no equipment needs to be added, helpful as a merc."
"I dunno, I heard Zaigon's new Zaku's they've been talking about could give the Shrike's a run for their money," Amy said, "In fact everyone's been making machines to compete with the Iron Wall's. Kosten, Zaigon, Zipang, ISA… they all got good competitors."
"Well, the Iron Wall's main export is experimental Technology," Ryu informed. "So it's natural that they set the curve in weapons and mobile suits."
"Yeah… but enough about Mobile Suits." Darknal said, "We gotta get going before Andrei sets out another search party for us. We're gonna be late already."
Kira groaned. "Why do I have a feeling that this is going to get worse before it get's better?" she asked sarcastically. "Let's get going…"
Meanwhile - Stargazer docking Bay
Outside the massive colony ship, another large ship was beginning its own docking sequence with the massive vessel. The ship, while large itself, was just 1,700 Meters long compared to the colony ship with was over ten times its size. The vessel was elongated and slim, with the exception of two large rotating areas near the center of the ship, and was bristling with armaments.
"Stargazer Control to IAS Omega: your approach is green." Said the controller of the dock. "Proceed to docking station D2, you're cleared for docking."
"Confirmed, Stargazer control." The rotational section stopped spinning, as with the colony's gravity, it was unneeded. One of the junior officers on the bridge faced the ship's commanding officer. "Admiral, we're moving into position." The commander of the ship was Admiral Ronald Pinkerton, the so-called 'heir' to the ISA.
Publicly, the Senate held the reins of power, but in reality, the military was in charge. Still, they did everything they could to make it not look that way, even to their own people. The blonde-haired 24 year old admiral glanced at the junior officer as he looked up from his book. "Thank you, Ensign." He said, "Keep the ship ready and get those engines working: I want to meet with the Zaigon emperor personally, and sublight engine troubles aren't going to stop me."
"Understood sir," The ensign said, "With the help of the docks, we should have them fixed within 48 hours."
"Then end rotation and sync with the colony." Ron said, "I'll go meet with the colony directors and explain our situation to them." The Omega's rotational block stopped as the ship entered port, watched by what was technically enemy eyes.
As the Omega began to dock with the port of the mobile colony, another smaller ship made its way into dock. To the common eye, it appeared to be nothing more than a cargo ship simply stopping by. And from the scorch marks along its hull, it was apparent she had just left a battle recently.
However, if one looked closely enough, they would have caught a single machine that was holding onto the side of the vessel, a dark green and black machine with a monoeye sensor. The machine let go of the vessel, all without showing up on any sensors as it found a nice quiet place in the port to set up shop.
"Joseph has left..." the helmsman of the vessel said with a sigh, "I still think this is a bad idea… hell, there's a damn Omega here!"
"Don't worry about it," The captain said, a man in his mid forties with short light brown hair and blue eyes, wearing a trench coat over a dark green uniform. "This is a neutral colony, the ISA can't do much even if they discovered our origins. And even that is impossible since we aren't even using Zaigon IFF's."
"It didn't stop whoever those other guys from shooting at us," The helmsman said with a sigh "Just who the hell were they? ISA Spec ops? Iron Wall?"
"No… those machines weren't from either of them, as far as I could tell..." The captain said, "Then again, wouldn't surprise me if they were made in secret…nevertheless, we came here with a mission, and I intend to see it through. Once we dock, get resupplied and get the damage repaired." He then stood up "Me and the others will head out to the city."
"Yes sir!" The bridge crew said, as the Captain turned around and left the bridge.
Meanwhile - With Jaden
Jaden showed his I.D to the guards of the Liberty Electronics facility, who quickly scanned it. After it was confirmed he was an intern, the guard nodded as the gate was opened as he walked inside.
'Okay, should be easy today...' He thought to himself, 'Me and Kira just need to finish those O.S mechanics, and we should be good to go… still though, I can't help but wonder what Andrei has us working on… he's only given us the bare minimum in the O.S's configuration… we'd probably of had this done weeks ago if he didn't act so secretive about it.'
As he walked past one of the hangars, he could see several mechanics and engineers moving out several trailers with tarps covering them, preventing him from seeing what they were. However before he could tear his gaze away, one of the tarps blew open, revealing what was under it, causing Jaden to stop in his tracks.
'What the…?' he thought, as he looked. It was a Mobile Suit… that much he realized right away. However it didn't look like any machine he's seen before, with a V-shaped head crest…
Before he could get a better look however, the workers had covered it up, and quickly got it moving again. 'Was that...?'
He watched as the Trailer was moved away from the hangar, and out of sight. Jaden shook his head 'No way,' he thought, 'Anyways, I gotta get to the lab ASAP. I want to keep my weekend afterall.'
"Hey Jaden," Kira called out to him as she, Ryu, Darknel and Amy stood outside the Lab. "Let's get this over with, me and Ryu are actually missing the movie we were planning to see."
"Hey Kira!" Jaden said as he jogged forward as they entered the building. "Right, let's just get this over with, we've got a full weekend ahead of us!"
"Agreed," Kira agreed. "Andrei knew that I wanted to spend with weekend with Ryu this weekend, and that he's being redeployed on Monday."
"We'll all get our weekend," Darknal said, "Though I'm hoping to head for the docks - did you hear that the ISA Dreadnought Omega'sdocking here? I've always wanted to see one of those things in person!"
"Give those guys credit, ISA knows how to make their ships." Jaden said nodding, "I might head over to take a look too - don't have much else to do."
"The Omega?" Ryu asked, yawning slightly. "Came across it once during a mission, damned near gutted our ship too before we managed to convince them we weren't trying to go against them."
"They're cool, but I wonder what the ISA will make next..." Amy said, "They've got some pretty good ships… the only one's who rivals theirs is Zaigon's. I've heard some rumors that they've been making a new ship to replace the Omega-class… though I doubt it."
Kira shrugged in response. "Normally, I would care, but… I'd rather get this work done and over with," she informed. "Let's see what Andrei needs already."
The group entered the lab, where computers were set up all around, along with what appeared to be a 3-Dimensional holographic representative of a Mobile Suit or Exoskeleton. "Where the hell is he?" Darknal asked, glancing around, "He said he'd meet us here..."
"He's probably in his office," Jaden said with a sigh, "Come on, we better get him over here… we need him to unlock the O.S workstation..."
"I could just hack it open-"
"And get us in trouble again?" Jaden asked with a small glare at Kira. "Remember when he caught you last time?"
Kira gave him a look that showed him how much she cared. "I wasn't even trying Jaden, and he didn't find out until he came in finding us working," she informed him. "I just want this done and over with, but… fine, let's just get him and get this done with…"
Meanwhile - in Andrei's office
"We were told that it would be ready when we arrived, professor. Where is it?"
Professor Andrei gulped a bit, as he was faced by three men. Though they were dressed as civilians, anyone with a brain could tell that they were from a military force from their styles… and the weapons they had holstered on their sides.
"I-Its almost ready!" Andrei tried to reason, "The team I have set up is finishing calibrations for the unit's O.S… i-its unlike anything they've worked on before, and I've had to keep them in the dark as to what it really is, Captain Kellern."
Captain Solotov Kellern's eyes narrowed at that "And what is it exactly?" He asked somewhat impatiently. "The Foundation simply told us that the device would be of great value to Zaigon, and give us an edge over the I.S.A. Now what is it?"
"A Mobile Suit," Andrei said, "Or more specifically, several Mobile Suits actually, but the one you need is the lead unit of the series. It will be provided to you once it is complete, I promise!"
"That's it?" Kellern scoffed, "A Mobile Suit is what the Foundation called us all the way over here for? Zimmer has been making Mobile Suits for Zaigon since its founding, what difference will one new machine make that Zaigon can't make themselves?"
However, unknown to the occupants in the room, Jaden and Kira, having arrived to tell Andrei they were ready, were now just outside the door, as they eavesdropped on the conversation.
"Mobile Suits..." Jaden whispered just loud enough so only Kira could hear. "That's what we were working on all along?"
Kira frowned in response as she looked over the Jaden. "That's not the question we should be asking," she informed. "The real question is if these are meant for the Federation, why is the Professor giving them to Zaigon?"
"These machines-" The professor began to say, before a beeping was heard on his desk's holo-transceiver. "Oh good… I believe he should be able to explain better." He pressed the answer button, and moments later, appearing in a holographic image appeared an elderly man who looked to be pushing his late sixties if not older, with greying black hair, and dull blue eyes wearing a rather executive attire.
Kellern's eyes widened in surprise, before he smirked slightly "Alexandrio Liberia, head of the Liberia Foundation… I'm honored." He said, the name causing both Kira and Jaden's eyes to widen in surprise.
"Wait, isn't he..." Jaden began, and Kira nodded.
"The heir of Liberty Electronics..." She muttered.
"We are entrusting you with one of the largest secrets of the Liberia Foundation," Alexandrio said, "I would be a fool if i did not participate in this… what the professor says is true. The machines we are granting you access to are no simple machines… some of the best scientists across the galaxy have come together to make these Mobile Suits into a reality. They are, in a matter of speaking, the key to what we promised you."
"A key?" Kellern asked, with a raised eyebrow. "To what?"
Alexandrio did not respond at first, as he gazed out of the window which showed the interior of the colony. "A beauty, isn't it?" he said. "Stargazer is just one of many places where colonies such as these exist… a place where humans, and those like us can truly live among the stars… to adapt and evolve, and to take on the wonders and secrets of the cosmos head-on… of course some of these secrets… deserve to stay just that."
"Then why are we here?" Kellern asked, "If these 'secrets' were so important, why are you planning on giving us access to one?"
"I am merely giving you the key," Alexandrio replied, "It is up to you to find the door in which it opens… but you will likely not be the only ones, and you are most certainly not the first to seek this treasure. We have safeguarded this key for centuries, and it has been what has kept the Foundation flourishing in the corporate and industrial business for all these years. But all of this progress, and all of this wealth was built on the corpses of countless others who wanted to know the truth..."
"And what truth might that be?" Kellern asked, and Alexandrio closed his eyes.
"The truth behind the Exodus of Earth."
Meanwhile - Stargazer dock
Elsewhere in the space docks of the Mobile colony, the single ZRMS-006A Zaku Soldier hid between a pair of pillars, emitting almost no energy readings making it invisible to any sensors in the area. Inside the pilot, a young man, was looking through the incoming and outgoing ships of the colony, while listening to some music.
'Why do I always end up on these kind of missions?' The pilot thought to himself, 'I didn't even sortie last mission… Sayane did most of the fighting...'
"Ralph, report." A female voice said, and he groaned.
"Speak of the devil, and she shall appear..." he muttered before he hit the comm switch. "Nothing, ma'am. Just a few civilian liners and cargo ships. The only thing worth mentioning is the Omega, and she's just here for maintenance if the report's right."
"Just keep your eyes open," Sayane said, "After the last attack I-" however suddenly her voice was being filled with static, causing him to wince as he turned off the comm.
"Damn Radio..." he muttered, "They've been acting funky ever since..." however, he glanced at his sensors, and blinked as he saw large… blurs on them. "What the hell..."
He activated his long-range camera, as he got a visual on the area. It looked as if there were nothing there…
But moments afterwards, appearing seemingly out of thin air appeared an entire flock of sixteen Mobile Suits! Each one colored a dark blue and black color, with no markings whatsoever, and of a design that was neither Zaigon nor ISA.
"Oh fuck me." Ralph muttered as his eyes widened, "These guys again!" He hit the comm again "Lieutenant! Lieutenant! Its them again! I've got a whole squadron this time heading towards the colony ship!" However all he got was static once more.
"Goddamn it!" Ralph shouted, as he realized the Radio was still out. "Well, so much for stealth!" With that he activated the dormant systems of the Zaku Soldier, and brought to bear his ZMG-1230 Beam Rifle as he sped forward towards his ship.
Meanwhile - on the Omega bridge
The sensor operators on the IAS Omega were, to be frank, bored out of their skulls. The only thing they had to do was watch out for a Zaigon warship, then tell the communications officer to inform them of the Omega's diplomatic mission. As such, Ensign Helen Forsythe, who was on watch, was bored out of her skull and tempted to leave her post in search of grander things to do.
"Can't leave your post, kid: Admiral Pinkerton'll have your ass if you do." Helen glared at the ship's XO, (technically the commanding officer, but Pinkerton WAS an Admiral) Captain Asuka Fujinara.
"There's nothing to DO!" Helen groaned, "...Ma'am."
"Combat's exciting and all, but this ship's mission is to end that fucking-" The console sent out a warning, and Helen looked back at the sensor readouts.
"Shit: we've got a Zaigon MS, bearing-Fuck, it's near the colony walls!" Helen shouted, as Fujinara acted quickly.
"Prepare our Aurora and Thunderbolt squadrons for launch and tell the Jegans to stand by!" She ordered, "Comm, hail that MS and inform them-"
"Captain, we're having communications trouble!" The Comm officer announced, "Someone or thing is jamming us!"
The blonde XO scowled. "Use visual detection and laser communication: I want that MS to explain what the hell is going on!" She ordered before she marched over to a monitor, and the image of a Zaigon Zaku Soldier appeared on screen, followed by a massive squad of unknown Mobile Suits.
"What the hell?" She muttered, "Sensors, talk to me!"
"We've got at least 16 MSs inbound, and more are appearing on the scope!" Helen announced, "16… 24… they just keep showing up!"
"Get the Admiral to the bridge now!" Asuka shouted, "All hands, stand to battle stations!"
Meanwhile - Zaigon ship Chronicle
"Damn, so they followed us here." A woman said, sitting in the cockpit of a machine, wearing a full Normal suit minus her helmet which floated next to her head, revealing her to be in her early twenties with shoulder length auburn colored hair, and violet colored eyes. "Whoever these guys are, they're persistent."
"Orders Ma'am?" Said the XO of the vessel.
She sighed "Well, we can't let Ralph deal with them alone..." she said, "Looks like we've got another fight on our hands boys… get the turrets loaded and ready, I'm heading out."
"Copy that ma'am," The XO said, as yellow lights flashed in the small hangar, as the two other Zaku's in the hangar activated, as they moved to launch.
In her own machine, Sayane sighed as her machine was the first to be loaded up. "Sayane Lok, Vayshia, Launching!" She announced, as her Mobile Suit was shot out of the vessel, and out into space, revealing a crimson red and yellow trimmed machine which spread its four binder arms, and accelerated forward to engage the unknowns.
Within the Colony, Professor Andrei Classroom
"That's troubling," Ryu muttered as Kira and Jaden finished explaining what they just heard. "Zaigon just may use whatever this secret is to create the war they always wanted with the ISA… anything else you can tell me?"
Jaden and Kira both shook their heads "No… we bolted when we thought they noticed us," He said, "But before we left… they mentioned something about the truth behind the Exodus of Earth… what the hell could they be talking about?"
Ryu frowned deeply as he tapped a finger on Kira's desk. "That's… concerning…" he informed. "I need to-" he began before alarms began to blare throughout the Colony.
"Attention! Attention all citizens of Stargazer! This is an emergency evacuation order." A voice blared on the intercom. "All citizens are to report to the nearest shelters. I repeat..." Mere moments after the announcement, there was a large rumbling as the entire colony shook.
"Was that a meteor?" Kira questioned in surprise.
"No, it does fit with meteor impacts, no, that was an attack on the colony," Ryu informed as he reached into his uniform shirt and pulled out a Beretta Dual Action Magnum Pistol, a standard side arm from the Empire of the Iron wall that utilized projectile energy bullets. "Let's get you to the Emergency Shelters!"
"Right!" Jaden said, as he grabbed his bookbag, "Let's get out of here!"
Meanwhile - Outside the colony
Sayane launched her full complement of XIX-A2 Funnels out into space, as the wireless devices circled around her machine before she fired a blast. Her accuracy was dead on, as the beams tore into six of the unknown machines, some slicing off their limbs while others destroyed them outright. "Funnels!" She shouted, as she quickly redirected them to target the next batch of unknowns.
The battle had quickly gotten underway, as the Chronicle was now fighting alongside the Omega, as they fought off against the seemingly endless horde of unknown Mobile Suits. It almost seemed like for every machine they destroyed, two more would take their place.
The heavily armed ISA dreadnought's massive arsenal, from her 57cm pulse cannons to her plasma/x-ray lasers and even her pulse mines, were all being used to great effect, making it easier for the Zaigon MS teams and the Omega's fighter squadrons to destroy as many enemy machines as possible.
A larger surprise for the Zaigon forces were the Omega's ISM-48A Jegans, which, until the moment they showed up shooting, were completely unknown to both the Zaigon forces and their new, unidentified enemies.
'If we survive this, we'll have to report this to Command...' Sayane thought, as she drew one of her beam sabers, and used it to slice in half another enemy M.S. 'They could rival the new Gelgoog's and the other new machines Zimmer has been developing...'
The ISA Mobile Suits were more agile than the ISM-43 Soldat, and clearly more heavily armed, as their shields had two four-round missile launchers. "Zaigon MS teams, this is Admiral Ronald Pinkerton of the IAS Omega." A voice called out on the Comm. "I am speaking to you over secured laser link. I don't doubt your fighting strength, but we ARE going to get overwhelmed."
"Really? I haven't noticed!" Sayane shouted, as she kicked one Mobile Suit away, and blasted it away with all of her Funnels. "This is Lieutenant Sayane Lol, from the IZS Chronicle, we'd love to withdraw, but we are not abandoning this colony to whoever the hell these people are!"
"SHIT!" Ralph shouted, which was soon followed by a large explosion to the side of the colony. "They've broken through! Those damn things are entering the colony!"
"Damn!" Sayane shouted as she turned around, "Ralph! Find the Captain, and get him back! I'll go after these guys!" She spun her machine around, and quickly headed into the colony to chase down the enemy machines.
With Captain Kellern
"So… looks like we've got company," Kellern said, as he stood up from his chair, drawing his sidearm. "I hope this Key is where you say it is."
Alexandrio frowned as his eyes narrowed. "Yes… you will find it in the hangars with the others." He said, "But all you really need is unit 01. I suggest you find the key quickly Captain… or return to your ship while you still have the time."
Kellern's eyes narrowed, but he turned around and left along with the two guards with him. Professor Andrei sighed in relief before he turned to Alexandrio "Do you think its them?" He asked.
Alexandrio sighed, "It wouldn't surprise me," he said, "They want the secret kept just as tightly as we once did… if the truth did get out, it could change the foundation of civilization in the galaxy. And that's the last thing they want."
"What do we do?" Andrei asked, and Alexandrio closed his eyes again.
"For now, focus on getting the civilians to safety." He said, "But above all else, we must make sure that they do not get their hands on the machines."
With Jaden, Ryu, Kira and the others
"What do you mean, unknown!?" Ryu shouted into his comm headset connected with the Dragoon Mercenary Corp ship. "We know who everyone is so who the hell are these assholes!?"
"Ryu!" Kira shouted out as she pointed up towards where a group of unknown mobile suits flying by above.
"MOTHER FUCKER!" Ryu cursed. "DEPLOY KARTIKEYA TO MY LOCATOR BEACON!"
"Five minutes, boss," the comm operator, Serreia Coleen, informed. "Hold out until then!"
"Oh shit!" Darknal shouted as he and the others all ducked as one of the machines flew dangerously low to the ground, heading deeper into the colony, firing on anything towards the ground. Appearing behind the Mobile Suits emerged what looked like large triangular-shaped vessels, which appeared to be unloading multiple men in full-body armor, jumping out and slowly descending to the ground via Jetpacks, landing all across the city.
"GO! GO! GO!" Ryu shouted as he pushed them along. "Get to the shelters!" He fired off three shots that exploded in a burst of energy when they impacted against the unknown soldiers armor. The one he hit immediately hit the ground, unmoving. However this quickly caught the attention of the other soldiers who landed, who immediately turned their weapons towards them, and opened fire.
Fortunately, the others had ducked for cover behind a small wall, as the rounds bounced off from their cover. "Their between us and the damn Shelters!" Darknal shouted.
"What's going on? What the hell is going on?" Amy shouted, as she ducked into a ball, trying - but failing - to keep calm under all of the gunfire while Jaden tried to calm her down.
"The colony is under attack by an unknown entity," Ryu informed quickly, a trio of shoots taking down another soldier. "Listen, I am going to draw their fire, you four are to wait until they're all focusing on me, then run for the shelter."
"Are you crazy?!" Jaden shouted, "There's gotta be like a thousand of those guys out there!"
"Well, I'll admit, its bad, but hey, I got my mobile suit coming in, let's see them try to break past plated E-Carbon armor," Ryu boasted with a chuckle. "I'll be fine, I got my side arm so I'm better off than when I was against that horde of super Yetis."
"Ryu..." Kira said, her eyes full of worry.
Ryu gave her a reassuring smile before pulling her into a kiss. "Just like always, Kira, I promise to come back to you," he informed, he pressed a hand against her collarbone where a pendant of the Dragoon Mercenary Corps symbol of a Dragon riding Knight that he had given her when they started dating. "No matter what, I will find you."
Kira swallowed, but nodded. "I'll never forgive you if you never come back, you know that, right?" she informed.
Ryu smiled as he gave her one last kiss. "Get ready to move, you guys," he ordered. "Be quick, quiet, and stay low." With that he darted away from the others, firing at the soldiers as he moved from cover to cover.
"Enemy combatant, you are ordered to cease and desist movement. Failure to do so will result in death."
"HA!" Ryu barked out. "You obviously haven't done your research in class, I'm Ryu fucking Hisanaga, Captain of the Dragoon Mercenaries, and Dragoons never surrender!" he announced as he fired a shot, headshotting one of the soldiers, charging in he ducked out of the way of the return fire. "Geez, could you react any slower?"
The machines (for they could only be machines) began firing at a faster rate, and moving faster as well. Clearly, Ryu had made them think about that and now they were rushing forward. "Accessing database for target identity. Confirmed. Target is formidable. Leverage needed to force surrender."
Ryu's eyes narrowed at the declaration. "Yeah, bad choice of words," he announced as he began moving again, picking up one of the cyborg's rifles as he moved and quickly inspected it before lifting it up to his shoulder and fired off a burst into one of the machines, tearing it apart. "Well now, ain't you powerful?"
The machines realized they were not up against a fool. They would have to upgrade their weapons security after this. "All units, converge and disable target."
"Unable to comply: Interstellar Alliance and Zaigon Imperial forces are striking at ground force." Another one spoke "Success of attack has dropped to 31% and is decreasing slowly but steadily."
Ryu laughed. "Four minutes, forty seconds," he called out. "Any bets on what that means you fucking clankers?"
The machines did not understand him. In fact, they didn't care. "Destroy enemy target: recall heavy tactical weapons."
"Oh, Heavy Weapons eh?" Ryu asked with a laugh. "Well… sorry to say, but time's up."
"Warning: large object inbound at mach-" They never got to finish as they were crushed, quite literally, by Ryu's Mobile Suit landing on them.
Ryu laughed hysterically as he rested his new rifle on his shoulder. "Goddamn that was an epic entrance my friend," he told his mobile suit, the DUU-X11 'Kartikeya'. Walking over to get in he paused as he spotted one of the machines not completely flattened by the mobile suit, and still moving. "Yo, you up for telling me who you are?"
The machine seemed to glare into his very soul. "I am Legion, for we are many." An electrical discharge powerful enough to liquefy solid steel at -40 turned the cyborg's head into a molten puddle of alloys and presumably organic material.
Ryu's eyebrow rose at the declaration before shrugging and boarded his mobile suit and deactivated the autopilot, taking control, bringing up the local map, he quickly checked for Kira's location using the locator beacon built into her pendant. "Well, time to get to work," he sighed. "Let's see if their mobile suits are any better than their foot soldiers."
IAS Omega - bridge
"And as usual, the Zaigon retards NEVER let me finish my sentence before cutting me off." Ron muttered. He might not've hated them, but when the guy that was practically running the Interstellar Alliance was speaking, you let him finish. "Captain, open a jump point into hyperspace and tell the Seventh Fleet to get their asses over here!"
Asuka had the same attitude as her CO: blunt and to the point. So when she yelled, she was crude and anything but nice. "What the fuck are you people waiting for?!" She barked, "Jump point, NOW!"
"Yes, ma'am!" A light flashed a few kilometers from the Omega's prow, and a kind of brown tunnel appeared, destroying hundreds of Mobile Suits. "Laser comm transmission sent! Seventh fleet inbound!"
"ETA?!" Four similar tunnels, only blue, appeared seconds later.
"Right the hell now!"
The ISA's hyperspace technology was something no other power had. They entered a layer of subspace, travelling at beyond FTL speed using sublight engines.
That strategic and tactical edge came in handy as a fleet of 16 ISA warships reentered normal space, led by the Omega's successor as the most powerful ship in the fleet: the Chimaera-Class IAS Typhon.
Onboard the Chronicle, the XO of the ship looked with wide eyes as the ISA fleet showed up, but his attention was immediately drawn to the Typhon. "What the hell is that?" He muttered.
The Typhon was the third ship of the Chimaera-Class and had more firepower than the Omega-Class did by a factor of five at least. The rest of the fleet were more well-known: three Ulysses-Class frigates, two Fenrir-Class heavy frigates, a pair of Titan-Class light cruisers, six of the common but hard-hitting Nebula-Class pocket battleships, and not one, but THREE Columbia-Class heavy battleships, all of which were launching Soldats, Auroras and Thunderbolts.
That did not relieve the Zaigon team: the Chimaera was a total unknown to them. That meant either the ISA was good at hiding their secrets until they were damn good and ready or that their own intelligence service was incompetent. And neither possibility was very welcoming to them.
Meanwhile - Inside the colony
Jaden, Kira, Amy and Darknal ran though the L.E compound, as they made their way towards the nearest shelter. "Come on, we're almost there!" Jaden said, as they rounded another corner. "Shelters are just up ahead!"
"Right!" Kira called out as she kept pace with her friends, sending an odd look back over her shoulder whenever an explosion sounded. "Who the hell are these guys?"
"I don't know!" Jaden shouted, "I've never seen those Mobile Suits before!"
"Never seen them?" Amy shouted back, "You're the damn Mecah Otaku! You've studied each Mobile Suits religiously! How can you NOT know who these belong to?"
"I DON'T! Okay?" Jordan replied, "These aren't machines used by ANYONE! Not ISA, Zaigon, Empire or anyone!"
Just as he said that, several of the unknown machines flew overhead, however a stream of beams arced into them, causing the machines to explode as a large Zaigon-style M.S with large arm binders soared over them, firing Funnel beams at any other machines nearby.
"But THAT was definitely a Zaigon MS!" Jaden answered.
"There's the shelter!" Kira shouted, pointing ahead. "C'mon, we're almost there!"
The four of them ran towards the shelters, however just as they began to approach, another one of the machines flew overhead, as it raised its Beam Rifle up…
Jaden's eyes widened. "GET DOWN!" He shouted as he tackled the others to the ground, just as the Mobile Suit fired, the purple beam arcing towards the shelter, causing a massive explosion around it.
"What the hell?" Kira asked as she looked up with wide eyes, staring at the destroyed shelter. "Oh no… the shelter…"
The Mobile Suit's aim was dead on, as the shot had completely destroyed the shelter… along with everyone else who was evacuating. Anyone who was near the shelters were practically disintegrated, while those further back… burned corpses and blood now littered the ground before them.
"Oh no…" Amy whispered, shaking her head. "Oh no oh no oh no…"
"We… we need to get into cover," Kira said shakily as her whole body shook. "There… there's a hangar over there."
"Amy, come on…" Jaden said, as he helped his sister back to her feet, while Darknal stood back up as well. The four of them quickly entered the hangar, as Darknal hit a switch which closed the door behind them.
"Hopefully, we'll be safe here…" Darknal muttered with a sigh. "Damnit… what the hell are these guys doing?"
"I… I don't know… but… it looks like they're removing witnesses…" Kira said. "Maybe to make it looks like ISA's or Zaigon's fault…"
"Just what in the hell is going on here?" Jaden asked before he growled. "God damnit!" He slammed his fist against a wall, however what he did not know was that he had actually hit the lights. There was a short sound of a horn, before the overhead lights of the hangar activated…
…revealing the contents of the hangar to them all, as the four of them looked up in shock, and saw six Mobile Suits, sitting in their births before them.
"Huh… what… what are…" Kira started before gasping. "Jaden, these are… the ones Professor Andrei was talking about!"
Jaden said nothing, but he looked up at the six machines with wide eyes. While each one was different, they each shared similar characteristics, specifically their horn-like V-crests, and very human-like appearance. 'Those look like...'
"Jaden… don't those look like..." Amy began, and Jaden nodded.
"Yeah… like our Models..." he said, causing Kira and Darknal to blink.
"Your what?" Darknal asked.
"Me and Amy… we worked on our own MS models… really just custom models using parts of other MS," Jaden said. "Those machines… they look like some of the ones we made… the horn design, their faces… they look like the ones we called Gundams."
"Gundam?" Kira asked. "What does that mean?"
"It's really just a random word we came up with," Jaden said with a shrug, before looking up at them. "But… only our parents knew we made them…" He then smiled a bit. "They made these machines… they based them off our Models… ho-ly shit this is awesome…"
"Hold on a sec…" Kira whispered as she accessed the computer set into the birth. "This OS is the one we were making…"
"So that's why Andrei called us all in…" Darknal muttered, looking at the machines. "We were working on the O.S. for these machines all along… he could've told us they were Mobile Suits O.S.'s or we'd of had this finished weeks ago!"
Kira frowned as she hacked deeper into the computer, studying the programs loaded into it. "Andrei gave them my software security program," she muttered, typing in a code, activating a backdoor program. "Let's see, the… RGX series? Next generation mobile suits… wait… that can't be right, what the hell kind of power source is this…?"
"What is it?" Jaden asked, looking at what was on the terminal.
"I… have no idea..." Kira said, shaking her head. "Its not a Zagion Fusion Reactor, Empire Ultracompact Battery… its not cold fusion; it's not anything I've ever seen, but the power readings… they're freakin off the scale."
Amy glanced up at the machines for a few moments. "What do we do?" She asked.
Jaden also looked up at the machines, his attention focusing on one of the machines closer to the right side of the hangar. "…we've all taken our Mecha piloting classes, right?" he asked, with a small smirk crossing his face. "I say… we give Ryu and the others some help."
Kira bit her lip as she considered it, continuing her hacking of the berth computer. "Right, I'll take the unit in this berth RGX-002… Valkyrie, I'm unlocking the other ones now," she informed. "Take your pick, I suppose…"
Jaden glanced at Amy, who nodded as the two approached other machines, while Darknal sighed, and took the machine standing next to Kira's.
"You take that one Amy!" Jordan shouted, pointing at a red and blue colored machine, while Jaden approached a red white and yellow machine. He grabbed the ascent cable, as he rose up towards the cockpit. Once he reached it, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
'Alright… controls aren't that different from the Simulators of other machines…' He thought, as he ran it through the starting sequence.
MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
/Version ARC – N000/
General
Unilateral
Neuro – Link
Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System
Liberty Electronics
RGX-001 STARFALL Gundam
Jaden looked at the O.S startup, as his eyes widened at the acronym. He began to chuckle a bit, before it quickly transformed into full-blown laughter "Mom! Dad! You two are awesome!" He said as he grinned "Starfall, eh? Well… let's see what Mom and Dad gave you..."
Kira frowned as she scanned the operating system for the 'Valkyrie' Gundam as its powerplant started up. "This… what is with these powerplants?" she whispered before shaking the thought out of her head.. "Now… what was that frequency Ryu told me to use in emergencies… 10.22.45… hello? Ryu can you read me?"
"Kira?" Ryu's surprised voice filtered through the radio. "What the… where are you? Why aren't you in the shelter?"
"The shelter was destroyed before we could get there, me and the others found the new units that Professor Andrei was talking about," she informed. "We're using them now to try and help."
She could hear Ryu curse under his breath before speaking again. "I'm on my way," he informed. "Just hold out until then! Give the others this frequency, it's secured."
"Right!" Kira confirmed as she forwarded the frequency to the others. "Guys can you hear me?"
"We got ya! And my GOD these Gundam's are awesome!" Jaden said on the Comm. "I've got the RGX-001 Starfall Gundam! You guys?"
"Mine's RGX-003 Aileron Gundam," Amy said. "From the specs… it looks like its a transformable M.S."
"Mine's a Sniper-type… RGX-004 Archer Gundam," Darknal said. "It's… actually pretty good. Ryu'd probably like this one."
"Mine's the RGX-002 Valkyrie Gundam, an Assault type unit," Kira informed. "These units… they remind me of the units Ryu showed me that the Elites of the Dragoon Mercenary Corps uses."
"If they're anything like those machines, then we should have no trouble taking down these grunts!" Jaden said. Moments after he said those words, a beam saber seemed to pierce its way through the hangar, and began to cut a hole through it. "Well, it's showtime!"
The first of the machines broke through, as it stepped through the torn down hangar door…
…only to be kicked back out, tumbling to the ground, its allies looking in shock. Then walking out of the hanger was the Starfall Gundam, which reached for its hips and drew out two beam sabers, their green blades igniting. In the cockpit, Jaden was grinning.
"Let's see how well you fight when we actually fight BACK!" he shouted as he quickly accelerated towards the first machine to his left, which was sliced in half by the beam saber.
Another unit was pierced by a green beam of energy that punched through the wall destroying it before the wall exploded, the Valkyrie Gundam stepping out of the smoke as a pair of frag grenades were thrown consuming another two units. "Ryu says he's on his way right now," Kira informed. "We just need to hold out until then!"
"This should be fun!" Jaden said, glancing at his scanners as more machines showed up. "Sensors aren't picking up any lifesigns in them… so they're unmanned…" He grinned. "That means we can be as hardcore as we like, and it'll still be PG-13."
Kira sighed as she put away the beam rifle and drew out a pair of beam daggers and closed in on the enemy unit and stabbed a dagger into the main camera before stabbing it into the general area of the main circuit cluster, disabling the unit. "You and your internet references," she said with another sigh. "Who's next?"
Darknal cranked his neck a bit, as he flew the Archer gundam into the skies. 'Alright, Archer… you're a sniper, right?' He thought, as he pressed a command as the large sniping scope emerged from the cockpit, positioning it in front of him. "Let's give ya a shot," he said smirking as he targeted his first machine. The Archer Gundam brought out its own beam Sniper RIfle as he aimed at the closest enemy machine. His finger twitched and a single purple beam shot out, and nailed the enemy machine in the torso, as it detonated in a large explosion.
'Oh yeah, we're gonna be great friends.' Darknal said, as his smirk deepened.
Amy, meanwhile, had also taken to the skies of Stargazer, as she transformed her machine into a fighter mode, which sped forward, as three of the enemy machines tried to give chase.
'Alright, what do I have… weapons…' Amy thought, as she scanned through the Aileron's weapons. 'Beam cannons, Vulcans… let's see what they can do.' She performed a wide turn as she moved to face her pursuers, and she then fired the two medium beam cannons mounted near the bottom of her machine, yellow beam shot forward as they blasted the first machine to oblivion, and the other two scattered.
'That works,' Amy thought with a smirk. 'I think I like you, Aileron….'
What looked to be a spiralling circle of energy came out of nowhere, cutting through the two units before circling back to a unit with a pair of what looked to be wings that caught the object, revealing it to be a beam boomerang that straightened out into a beam saber before slashing a mobile suit trying to sneak up on it. "You all alright?" Ryu asked, revealing himself to be the pilot.
"Just PG!" Amy said with a smile, "These Gundam's are awesome! And Jaden says these machines appear to be unmanned."
"Be careful all the same," Ryu cautioned. "They seem to learn and adapt quickly and are capable of more complex strategies when in groups…"
"Then we just need to take 'em out more quickly!" Jaden said as he sped towards another group of the machines, swinging his beam sabers left and right, cutting them apart. Another group began to approach them, however a stream of beams from above immediately cut them down as the Zaigon M.S from before arrived.
"This is Lieutenant Sayane Lok, Zaigon military," a female voice said. "Well well, Ryu Hisanaga… it's been a while, hasn't it?"
"Sayane, last time I saw you, you shoved me out of a transport plane over an ice planet full of super yetis, thanks for that by the way," Ryu said, his voice turning sarcastic towards the end. "Real fun that day was, real fun, no knife, no gun, just my fists and feet."
"Ah, but that's because I knew you'd survive." Sayane said, obviously smirking in her cockpit. "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger after all."
"Yeah, how about I throw you onto a planet full of super yetis!" Ryu shouted back. "I mean c'mon, all I was doing was borrowing some information!"
"Yeah, sure, if you were 'borrowing' information, why did you have your A.I. buddy delete everything on our ship's server?" she shot back. As she said that another enemy suit tried to get the jump on her, but her funnels gunned it down without her even moving. "You can complain to me when you get stuck on a volcanic world hunting lava walkers until rescue comes around a week later!"
"Oh, so you've been to P3X-666?" Ryu asked. "Did you see the Lava Tree when you were there? It was so pretty…"
Sayane sighed on the comms. "You never change, Ryu..." she said with a small chuckle. "So, you have any idea who these guys are?"
"All I got so far is them calling themselves Legion and a captured rifle," Ryu informed. "They have a nasty habit of self destruction when you ask them questions, although… oddly enough, not after a mobile suit lands on them when doing mach-something."
"Legion?" Sayane said, "I haven't heard of any group called Legion… but they certainly have no love of Zaigon, or the ISA for that matter." Her machine then looked at the four Gundam's which continued to fight the unknown mobile suits "Who are they?"
"Civilians," Ryu informed. "They're also the ones who made the Operating System for those units so, yeah."
"Civilians?" Sayane asked in surprise, watching as they fought the unknowns rather easily. "Well… they certainly seem to know what they're doing… even if they are just machines we're fighting."
Ryu smirked. "I may or may not have been giving them piloting lessons on the sly," he informed. "After all, my girlfriend is one of them."
"Girlfriend?" Sayane said, "Well, I would love to meet them… after we deal with these guys. Sure as heck hope the rest of your team is nearby, because these guys just keep coming!"
"Yeah, tell me something I don't know… so… usual wager?" he asked, grinning widely as he and Sayane went back to back.
Sayane grinned as well. "First to triple digits?" she asked, as her Funnels circled around them. "You're on."
"Oh, and it's from this point only, no pulling it from earlier," Ryu informed. "Loser pays for the beer?"
"Deal," Sayane said, as she fired her Funnels, immediately destroying seven of the machines, and damaging three more "May the best pilot win!"
"Let's get started!" Ryu called out as he pulled out his two beam rifles that had a triple barreled Beam Chaingun underbarrel that started whirring to life spewing out beams that shredded the mobile suits. "WOOHOO!"
"Its on!" Sayane shouted, as her funnels focused around her side, as she fired salvo's of beam across the area, each shot scoring a hit against the enemies as they tried to circle and surround them.
Outside the colony
The ISA Seventh Fleet's Soldats were old, sturdy and so damned reliable that the ISA only decided to replace them with superior Jegans a year before, and they were proving why ISA High Command chose to do so as their pilots were tearing into the enemy MS force while the capital ships and fighters assisted with their main weapons. The only exclusion to this was the Typhon.
If the Chimaera-Class dreadnought fired her main batteries, the plasma particle beam shots would not stop with the enemy Mobile Suits like the X-ray/plasma lasers on the Omega and the rest of the fleet. They would go through the MS force and blow the colony to pieces. Subatomic pieces.
Captain Zimmer - who had managed to return to the Chronicle, watched the Chimaera-class vessel in battle. "It looks like the ISA came up with some nasty new ships…" he said, "I didn't think they could surpass what they've done to the Omega-class…"
"Well they Did," The Helmsman said, "But I think those ships are the least of our worries now, sir."
The Captain nodded. "You are correct," he said, "Focus fire on the largest groups of those enemy Mobile Suits! And be careful not to hit the colony or the ISA's people! I don't want this turning into a free-for-all!"
"Admiral Pinkerton to Zaigon vessel: redirect your Mobile Suits away from bearing 115 mark 005." Ron's voice said on the comm, "I'd rather not kill them accidently."
Zimmer rose an eyebrow, but nodded. "Copy that Admiral Pinkerton," he said, "Cobra Group, move to grid mark nine zero zero." The Zaku's in question quickly acknowledged as they moved out of the area that the ISA Admiral had designated.
"Typhon, fire for effect." The two ports in the forward end lit up and two beams of plasma energy came out, vaporizing anything they came in contact with. The two cannons continued to fire until everything in a 90-degree cone of the bow was dead.
"HO-LY-SHIT!" Every single Zaigon personnel, and anyone else who saw the massive blast with their own eyes shouted in unison at the firepower the Typhon had just demonstrated.
There was a damn good reason the ISA was the leader in military technology. They had decades of experience when it came to the fine art of blowing shit up. Typhon was clearly the latest in a long line of pain-dealing warships.
"It looks like that shot took out a lot of their numbers..." one of the operators of the Chronicle said. "I think we might be able to-"
However, before the operator could finish his report, appearing before them, almost like it was emerging from a mirage, appeared a MASSIVE vessel. One which dwarfed even the Stargazer colony in its sheer size, colored almost completely black with red lights across it.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Was the voice of everyone who saw the massive vessel.
On the Omega, Ron scowled at the massive dreadnought-class warship. "Arm nuclear weapons," he ordered. "All fighters are cleared for prohibited weapons free! Get Typhon's main guns on that thing! NOW!"
The ISA fleet didn't waste a moment, as every ship and fighter activated their most dangerous weapons, as Nuclear Missiles were launched, and the Typhon opened fire with its main armament once again, arcing towards the massive enemy Dreadnought…
...only to impact against the red shields which flared across the ship, doing no visible damage.
"Son of a Protestant whore!" Ron shouted. "It's shielded!"
"Admiral, we'll need more firepower than this to take out the shields on that thing!"
Ron glared at his officers. "The Avalon's still under construction!" he shouted. "We need to make due!"
However just as he said that, the massive 100 kilometer long Dreadnought returned fire in a massive wave of red beam fire. The volume of weapons fire tore apart several of the smaller ISA vessels, while the larger ones received major damage as their atmospheres were vented. The Zaigon vessel took a deal of damage itself, but due to its position behind the ISA fleet it did not take the full bulk of the damage, sparing it from complete annihilation. The shots that missed the ISA ships sped towards Stargazer, as they impacted against its hull resulting in several large explosions.
The Seventh Fleet had lost most of her lighter ships, and two of the Columbias had been destroyed while the Nebulas had all been lost. The Omega was not unscathed, as there were hull breaches along most of the ship's outer skin. The Typhon had a smaller number of breaches compared to the Omega-Class dreadnought, showing she was tougher than any of her predecessors.
"Just who in the hell are these people?" Zimmer shouted.
Meanwhile - Inside the colony
"WHAT THE HELL!" Jaden shouted, as the entire colony began to shake.
"Shit! Something hit the colony! Get to the center!" Ryu ordered. "It's the safest place at this point!"
"Oh shit! Oh shit!" Amy shouted as she and the others quickly followed Ryu's orders, moving to the center of the colony. "What the hell just hit us?"
"I have no - HOLY SHIT!" Jaden shouted as he looked up at the skies, as the holographic skies deactivated, revealing a MASSIVE vessel just outside. "WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM?"
"Oh my god…" Kira breathed out in shock, her eyes wide in shock.
"Fuck the center, bug out, the Colony is done!" Ryu shouted as a pair of High-Impulse Beam Cannons deployed from the wings over the shoulders of the Kartikeya. "Making a hole!" he shouted out before firing the cannons, blasting a hole into the wall of the colony large enough for them to get through. "GO! GO! GO!"
"Come on! Come on!" Sayane shouted as she left first, quickly followed by Jaden and Amy, along with Darknal, Ryu and Kira as they flew out into space. "Chronicle! Chronicle! It's Sayane, please tell me you're still out there!"
"Here… but we're in bad shape…" Came the reply of the Captain, "We've taken a hell of a hit, engines are out, and weapons are offline… a lot of our Mobile Suits have been destroyed. The ISA isn't any better either that… that damn monster just ignored an entire salvo of Nukes and anything else we've got to throw at it!"
"This is Hisanaga to the Gungnir, you better not be crashed and burned you guys!" Ryu shouted over the radio. "We need a pick up, now!"
"Gungnir reads you, Captain," the Combat Captain of the ship, Erik 'Odin' Corval informed. "We're heading to your location now."
"Ryu," Jaden said, "I don't know about you… but I have no idea how we're getting out of this situation with that thing there. The moment they spot us we're dead."
A new Mobile Suit (unknown to all of them, but clearly of ISA make) hacked down a cyborg MS and shot down two more before turning its head to face the Gundams. "Hey! Can you hear me?!" A female voice shouted, "If you can, follow me: I know a way outside!"
"ISA Pilot, identify yourself!" Ryu demanded suspiciously as he eyed the unit, some people in the ISA really didn't like him…
"Lieutenant Hikari Hyuga, attached to IAS Typhon!" She said, "Admiral Pinkerton wants to get every available MS out of this colony RFN, because it's going to collapse if that thing fires again!" She chuckled before continuing. "And we know who you are, Captain. The Admiral doesn't care. In fact, he wants to see you after this is over. Now MOVE!"
"We're going! Gungnir, you're cleared to fire the Sigurd Mega Rail Cannons at the colony wall!" Ryu shouted. "Make us a shortcut!"
"Roger that!"
A few moments later, there was another large explosion as what looked like a yellow bolt of energy shot a large hole in their path. Not needing to be told anything else, the group quickly made their way through the new opening, as the Fenrir warship Gungnir moved as well.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is the IAS Panama broadcasting on all channels! We're venting atmosphere and we've got fire on all decks! Engines are out of control-OH GOD!" The form of a Columbia-Class heavy battleship closed in on the colony, punching through the 'sky', venting most of the air into space before it hit the residential area, pancaking and causing a massive explosion, finally breaking the colony's back. There was no saving it now.
"Oh no…" Amy whispered, as the group moved out of the colony, watching as it appeared to shake itself to pieces as it could no longer support itself. "Stargazer..."
"Come on!" Ryu shouted. "Get onto the Gungnir! We need to bug out!"
"R-Right!" Jaden said, as they quickly approached the Gungnir as its hangar bay doors opened, allowing them entry.
"How the hell are we supposed to bug out with that thing out there?" Darknal asked, as they began to land one by one. "We can't jump into Hyperspace with all this debris! And if we clear it, they'll just gun us down!"
"Wait… could we play dead?" Jaden asked. "I mean… shut off everything, and make it look like we've been destroyed or disabled already?"
Hikari's Mobile Suit landed beside Jaden's, as her mothership was still engaged in combat. "Officer level thinking," she said. "They don't seem to be checking if the ships are all the way dead or not if they stop moving."
"What do you say Ryu?" Amy asked, "Should we do it?"
"Do it! Gungnir, all systems shut down! Go Dark!" Ryu ordered as the Kartikeya started to drift. "Relay it to surviving ships!"
That didn't seem to be a problem for two of the surviving ISA warships. The Omega's rotational section stopped moving and all her weapons went down. It was likely she was actually disabled.
The bigger Typhon just stopped moving period. with all the blackened hull plating and minor hull breaches, she looked dead period. Still, she would need a bit of repair work to get her back on the line again. The same was done with the Chronicle, as it went completely dark as it began to drift.
The unknown enemies continued their attack - however now they ignored the vessels which no longer fought back, as they focused their entire firepower towards Stargazer, as they fired beams of energy at it again and again, salvo after salvo for minutes. In the cockpits and bridges of the many vessels, they could only watch as Stargazer was destroyed, piece by piece. No one daring to speak a word, fearing that somehow the enemy could hear them.
After what seemed like hours, the enemy force finally left, leaving the 'disabled' ships to their fates. Five minutes after that, a voice came through on the wireless. "This is Captain Fujinara of the IAS Omega to all surviving vessels." The captain said, "Everyone alright?"
"Ryu Hisanaga of Fenrir here, we're all green," Ryu informed. "Goddammit, that was a fucking asskicking, wasn't it?"
"Captain Solotov Kellern, IZS Chronicle," The Zaigon Captain spoke, "Engines are gone, got hull breaches on several decks… but we're alive at least."
"This is Captain Alexei Stukov of the IAS Typhon." Another response came, "We've taken damage to all outer areas of the hull and weapons are offline. But we can fix that with a bit of time. Is Admiral Pinkerton still alive over there, Omega?"
"I'm still breathing, if that's what you're asking, Stukov." Said Admiral spoke, "This is Admiral Ronald Pinkerton. I request the presence of all captains and senior officers onboard the Omega. We need to talk. All of us."
"This is Chronicle, we read you and understand." Zimmer said, "We'll be over there within the hour."
"Hisanaga here, I'll be there," Ryu informed. "Also, I have civilians who were involved in a project meant for both the ISA and Zaigon."
"Bring them along if you like, Captain." Ron said, "We need to find an answer to this, and quickly. We cannot have a war break out now of all times: not when we're the closest to peace in over 90 years."
"Yeah, good luck keeping that from happening," Ryu grumbled as he rubbed his forehead. "You need to send a message off to your HQ, both of you, let them know what happened."
"We're trying to contact H.Q, but we haven't had much luck." Zimmer said, "There's a lot of interference… not sure if its from whoever those people were or all this debris, or something else."
Ryu bit back a curse, before letting out a sigh. "C'mon you guys, let's get to the Omega," he told to the civilians. "Something tells me this will be a lengthy one…"
Bridge - IAS Omega
"Get that rotational system back online!" Ron ordered, "This is no way to operate an Omega-Class dreadnought!" The Omega was the first ship to truly utilize gravity in a working environment. Everything in the rotational section was built as if it were on an O'Neill-class colony. As such, it was extremely difficult to work on an Omega without gravity in the rotational section.
The Chimaeras (including the Typhon) did not have this issue: they were the first ships in the known galaxy to be fit with artificial gravity. This was mostly because that was how they moved: they used gravitic propulsion units in conjunction with conventional particle thrust engines. At that moment, Asuka was wishing that she was working on the Chimaera. At least it had gravity.
"Engineers are working on it..." The Communications officer replied, "They should have it done by..." suddenly the Omega's rotational section finally began rotating again, and moments later gravity was restored as anything that wasn't bolted down to the ground fell back down.
Asuka landed on her face. Not a pretty picture. "Fuck!" She cursed out, "We need to scrap these fucking ships! The rest of the fleet's been refit with AG generators: why the hell do we still need the Omegas?!"
Her CO, who was calmly sitting in the command chair the whole time reading a book, glanced at her. "Because the rest of the known galaxy doesn't know what we have." Ron said, "If we suddenly scrap the Omega-Class, Zaigon will wonder why, then start really probing our technological base. We do not need them discovering where we're getting this shit just yet: not while there's the chance war will break out."
Asuka scowled, but said nothing as Ron stood up. "The command deck, or rather what's left, is yours, Captain." The Admiral said, "I'll head down to the hangar and greet our guests."
Omega hangar deck
A Zaigon Shuttlecraft approached the Omega, as it passed through into the hangar bay of the massive ship. Soon following it was Sayane's Mobile Suit, along with Ryu and his friends new machines as well.
"Last time I was here, I was being shot at," Ryu muttered to himself. "Let's hope it doesn't happen again…"
"Believe me, Captain, the chances of that are QUITE low." Hikari snapped to a salute at the sound of the voice before they were greeted with the sight of a man wearing an ISA admiralty uniform.
"Well, Admiral Pinkerton, been a while," Ryu said with a nod. "No hard feelings over the last time we met?"
"Considering the situation we're in and the losses you took the last time, I should be the one asking that question. Follow me to the briefing room. And mind the gravity: the transition to the rotational section is...jarring for the inexperienced."
Ryu snorted. "Put me onto my ass the first time," he admitted, making the civilians chuckle. "How bad were your losses?"
"The entire Seventh Fleet, sans the Typhon and most of their fighters and Mobile Suits." Ron said with a sigh, "I'm...hesitant to post our more advanced Mobile Suits on a non-ISA ship, but neither ship has enough hangar space for them all. I might have to ask you a favor and have most of our Soldats berth on your ship for the time being."
Ryu nodded. "Right now we only have my unit along with the Ascalon, Ymir, Hunter and Paladin, then with the new machines from the Stargazer, we have room for 21 additional units," he informed. "All of our pilots were on leave back in EIW Territory with their units."
"Fuck. We've got over 200 Mobile Suits out there, and I'm not comfortable having them sitting in hyperspace for 72 hours." He groaned, "We'll worry about that later, though: we have more pressing issues." The Admiral led them to a simple looking chamber. It had a key purpose, as they were about to discover. "hope you didn't have lunch yet."
Ryu snickered at bit as he braced himself. "Should be amusing to watch," he whispered to the Admiral.
Jaden blinked "What are you guys talking-" he began to say, before suddenly he felt that familiar gravity feeling as he, Amy, Darknal and Kira suddenly slammed against the deck "SHIT!"
Ron let go to the railing he was hanging onto before opening a hatch that led out to the left. "Always happens to the newbs." He said with a small smirk "Come along, children. We've got a briefing to get to."
"Son of a..." Jaden muttered as he got back up, and helped Amy back to her feet while Ryu helped Kira. "A bit of warning would have been nice..."
"Sorry, kid, but it's tradition: NO ONE gets warned the first time." Ron said, "Think of it like an ISA hazing, only less embarrassing and involving less shaving cream." He walked out of the chamber at last, leading them toward the conference room.
Ryu snorted. "That's nothing, you should see how we haze newbies on the Gungnir," he informed. "When I was hazed, I woke up in the Catapult Launch Chamber in my normal suit and the catapult powering up."
Jaden groaned as he shook his head "And this is why I try staying away from people as crazy as Ryu..." he muttered.
"Good thing Grand Admiral McGuiness isn't here: she'd drive you insane within...15 seconds. At most. Ah, we're here." The door was just like the other dozen they walked past, but the second it opened, they were greeted with a rather large conference room with an equally large table with seating for 30. "When you've got a ship with over a thousand people on board, you've got a lot of departments and a lot of department heads. Take a seat: everyone's equal here."
Ryu chuckled as he took a seat. "Reminds me of my days in the Defender Corps," he said. "Although with us, you're surrounded by many tech heads who relax via pranks."
Jaden groaned again, as he took a seat "I repeat: why I stay away from anyone crazier than Ryu." He repeated.
Ron sat by one of the seats close to a monitor screen, gesturing everyone to take a seat. "We've got bigger problems then pranking, ladies and gentlemen." He said, "For one, the big fucking dreadnought that took a hit from the Typhon's main guns and shrugged it off?"
"We didn't have that sort of problem with the smaller ships, according to Erik at least," Ryu said. "Was it some kind of energy shielding?"
"It certainly looked that way," Zimmer said, "We hit that monster with everything we had, and didn't even put a dent in its defenses. Whatever's shielding that thing, its using technology beyond anything Zaigon or the ISA has made thus far."
He didn't voice the 'at least the things we've seen both sides show off' part. They all knew that if the ISA had a new ship under development and part of a main battle group that it had entered mainstream service. That meant they could have more surprises in store.
"I know for a fact that that was neither ISA nor Zaigon." Ron said, "The EIW doesn't have shit like that, and the Federation's a group of cowards. They wouldn't attack a neutral colony if their lives depended on it. The Sixth Fleet ran into a smaller force of ships like the one we just barely survived, so they're getting around, it seems."
"I've been hearing rumours of an unknown group attacking small independent colonies," Ryu informed. "PSX-987 was one, completely wiped out, nothing but destroyed buildings and no corpses though… oddly enough…"
"We've had no reports of anyone attacking an ISA colony world. Then again, considering what happened the LAST time someone tried to invade an ISA world, the entire invasion force was destroyed." Ron smirked despite himself. That was still known to the Zaigon Empire as Black Sunday.
Ryu shook his head. "Independent Colonies," he he clarified. "They were targeted because they don't have a warning system to warn the primary government and are outside of the major power's defensive lines."
"We've had similar reports on colonies bordering Zaigon territory," Zimmer said, "But most of them turn out to be Slaver attacks, and taken care of by local defense fleets. There have been some more… strange attacks in recent months though. Entire colonies going dark, and when a fleet is sent to investigate… everyone has vanished. No signs of struggle or a fight, defenses turned off, anything of tactical value left behind like food and supplies… but the entire population missing."
"Are they… capturing the Colonists?" Ryu questioned. "But… why simple colonists like them? They wouldn't know enough to glean valuable information from…"
"Not information." They looked at Ron, whose face was grim. "Resources. From our reports, those forces were cybernetically enhanced. You were killing your own colonists."
"Impossible..." Zimmer muttered. "Why go through all this trouble to make Cyborgs, when its easier to make Androids and AI's?"
"The human brain is the most powerful computer in existence. Bar none. Even the fastest computer is nothing compared to the brains inside of our skulls. Hook a paraplegic into the computer network of any ship properly and you'll be able to use it far past its' capabilities."
"So… are they capturing humans to create more cyborgs?" Ryu questioned. "Or something else?"
Jaden, deciding to add his opinion, spoke up. "We don't have much information about… whoever these guys are," he said. "They could be capturing people to make more Cyborgs, or they may have some other type of motivation. But why did they not try to capture anyone here at Stargazer? They seemed more focused at making sure there were no witnesses… and considering what Professor Andrei and Alexandrio said..."
Zimmer raised an eyebrow at that "So that was you who eavesdropped on us?" He asked, and Jaden gulped, but nodded.
"Something you would like to share, Captain?" Ron asked, his expression showing one which said 'don't fuck with me'.
Zimmer sighed "We… and when I say 'we' i mean my crew, engaged these forces before… on our way here to Stargazer," he said. "A week ago, we received a message from Liberty Electronics, claiming they were willing to give us something… something of great power which could give us an edge over the ISA if war were to break out. At first we didn't believe them… but oddly enough we received orders to investigate, so we were sent to make sure the claim was genuine… we spoke with the current head of Liberty Electronics, Alexandrio Liberia… he said he would give us a key that would grant us the advantage over the ISA… claiming it had something to do with the true story behind the Earth Exodus… but before he could explain further, these guys came back."
"The story of the Earth Exodus has been told so many times that no one bothers to tell it anymore," Ron said. "It's also irrelevant to this discussion. All I need to know is whether or not we can get back to our respective ports and inform our superiors about this incident. If there was any need to end the cold war between the ISA and the Zaigon Empire, this is it. Captain Zimmer, I will have to ask you to return to the Empire and inform your Emperor of this. The same to you, Captain Hisanaga."
Ryu sighed as he rubbed his forehead. "I can do that," he informed. "Also, I would like to ask for the new units to come with me, the engineers of the EIW can analyse them far more efficiently than either the ISA or Zaigon.."
"If one of those units was meant for the ISA and Zaigon respectively, I'll have to ask you to hand over the respective machines. The rest, I give no fucks about."
Ryu sighed and nodded as he rubbed his eyes. "Kira, how many units were there?" he asked.
"Six I think," She answered and Jaden nodded, "There were two more in the hangar, so assuming these 'Legion' guys didn't find them, they could still be out there..."
"We could try to find them," Jaden said, "And while we're at it, we could find any survivors in Stargazer… most of the shelters are capable of acting as escapecraft, so there could be a few they missed, just let me access the computers to see if my program in them is still running."
Ryu looked over to Ron with a raised eyebrow. "Do you mind if she uses one of your computers?" he asked.
"She WILL be monitored: this is a ship of the line and does have classified information in her databases." Ron said, "But yes, she can use them if need be."
"Right, best behavior, understood," she informed as she moved over to the computer and began typing away. "Also when you have time, update your security softwares, these are outdated by a year," she informed. "And… I'm getting two signals, it's the two other units, inputting commands, and they are now powering up and moving to this ship."
"Very well. As soon as repairs to your ships and ours are complete, we'll head back to our respective capital worlds. Grand Admiral McGuinness and the Emperor will need to know about this as soon as possible. And considering that we have more engineers on hand then the rest of you, I'm more then willing to send them over to your ships under supervision."
"Gungnir is fine save for some surface damage," Ryu informed. "Same with our mobile suits."
"We'll start looking for any survivors as well," Zimmer said, nodding "Anyone not taking part in repairs will search the debris field. Until our engines are fixed, we'll keep trying to contact the homeland."
Ron nodded. "Very well. Let's get to work. Let's hope this isn't the last time our two governments work together for something instead of being at one another's throats."
"One question, Admiral."
Ron looked at Zimmer. "Yes, Captain?"
"What were you doing here in the first place?" The Zaigon Captain asked.
Ron chuckled briefly. "Repairing our engines before sending a course for the Zaigon homeworld." He said, "I have, or rather HAD, a meeting with your Emperor to discuss an end to the cold war situation. Now you're going to have to deliver the message for me. Dismissed, everyone."
Ryu sighed and stood up. "C'mon you four, unfortunately I've got some paperwork for you guys to fill out, just to help avoid nasty legalities and the such like," he informed the quartet.
"Got it," Jaden said as he and the others all stood up. "After all this… I think legalities are something we'd all like to avoid."
"Just a heads up, though, for the time being until we can sort this all out, you'll be apart of the Dragoon Mercenary Corps." Ryu informed with a small sigh. "So… welcome aboard I guess…"
48 Hours after the destruction of Stargazer
Nearly two days have passed since Starfall was destroyed. The small group of ships still had not managed to message the homelands of their respective nations, and focused on repairing their vessels to the point where they could leave the debris field, and report back to their superiors. In that time, anyone who was not conducting repairs, were scavenging through the ruins looking for anything they could use, as well searching for any survivors.
Thankfully, they were successful in the latter, as they had recovered several escape shelter craft, bringing them back to the ships.
"This is Hisanaga to the Omega, sector 3-3 is clear," he informed. "No survivors…"
"Omega Actual, we confirm. Two days and we're seeing nothing but a Wilhelm Gustloff. Continue checking. If you can't find anyone in two hours, RTB."
"Roger that Omega-Actual," Ryu confirmed. "This is Dragoon-Actual to all Dragoon units, report in."
"Dragoon-2 here," Yuna Falcon, pilot of the DUU-X12 Ascalon, reported. "I'm seeing nothing."
"Dragoon-3, just dead bodies sir," Yvon Terran informed, the pilot of the DUU-X13 Ymir. "This is just so sad…"
"Dragoon-4, I found a damaged shelter. No survivors," Renis Tennyson, pilot of the DUU-X14 Hunter, said. "Looking bleak out here…"
"Dragoon-5." Urvan Incon, pilot of the DUU-X15 Paladin, called out. "I found one of the Stargazer's Emergency supply caches, bringing it in."
"Copy, Dragoon-5. We'll clear a space-" A rapid succession of beeping was heard on the bridge of the dreadnought over the radio. "We've got a ship incoming! All hands, all ships, stand to battle stations!"
Independent Modified Transport Elsa
On the bridge of the Elsa, a civilian transport that had been heavily modified, the Captain watched the tunnel of Hyperspace flow past his ship.
He looked to be 28 years old, had chocolate brown hair in a buzz cut, a chocolate brown moustache, and violet eyes, and wore a dark blue long-sleeved polo shirt and black pants, along with black fingerless gloves and shoes.
"Almost at Stargazer…" he muttered, before looking to the woman to his left, who had dark brown hair down to her chest and green eyes. "Any ideas as to what went down there, Shion?"
The woman sighed, as she shook her head. "I wish I knew, Takeshi…" she said. "Reports say everything was fine one moment… then a report about unknown machines came through and then… nothing. All contact lost."
The man, Takeshi Yamato, sighed. "I just hope that my sister's alright, whatever happened…" he mused aloud.
"Should be dropping out of Hyperspace in a few moments," The helmsman of the Elsa said, "Keep your fingers crossed, everyone..."
Takeshi nodded, just hoping that his sister was alright…
"Alright, here we go..." The helmsman said, "Dropping in three, two one..."
The Elsa dropped out of Hyperspace, as color was restored around them returning to normal space…
…and immediately collision alarms went off, as appearing right before them was a massive debris field.
"What the-!" Takeshi remarked as the Elsa began dodging and weaving through the debris.
"Holy shit!" The Helmsman shouted, as his fingers danced across the controls to keep from colliding with anything. "Where did this all come from?" Almost as if answering his call, suddenly floating in front of them was a massive slab of metal, white had STARGAZER inscribed on it in english. "Oh… shit…"
"The… the colony's gone…" Takeshi remarked as he and the woman next to him, his wife Shion, looked over the debris in horror. "I… I hope my sister made it out…"
"Attention, unidentified vessel!" A voice immediately shouted on the loudspeakers, "This is the Interstellar Alliance vessel Omega! State your identity immediately or we will consider you hostile!"
Takeshi signalled the communications officer to open a channel. "This is Captain Takeshi Yamato of the independent transport Elsa. We had been on a supply run to the Stargazer Colony when we received a message about unknowns, that suddenly cut out. What happened here?"
The massive form of the first Omega-class ISA dreadnought entered their view, and the sheer amount of damage, patched or not, was enough to make them ask one question. What the hell could have done THAT to an ISA Omega? They were one of the most powerful warships in the galaxy: very little could match them in firepower and defensive systems. Whatever did this to the Omega must've had a hell of a punch.
'Wow,' Takeshi thought to himself. 'This… this is nuts!'
"This is Omega Actual. Elsa, we're engaged in rescue operations, and you're getting in the way. Either leave or help: your call."
"We'll help," Takeshi replied, as he directed the helmsman to move in. "My sister lived here, and I want to make sure she's alright."
"Omega Actual, this is Dragoon Actual, did I hear that ship ID right, the Elsa?" a new voice broke in.
"Omega Actual confirms: vessel IDed itself as Elsa. What of it?"
"We'll take care of the ship from here," Dragoon Actual informed. "I'm familiar with the captain, how've you been, Takeshi?"
Takeshi recognized the voice. "Ryu!" he called out. "I've been doing well for myself, how about you?"
"As well as you can guess," Ryu informed with a heavy sigh. "Your sister's alright, she's on the Gungnir assisting with repairs to damaged units."
Takeshi sighed in relief. "Good to hear," he said. "Anyway, what happened here?"
"We were attacked… by who, we have no idea..." Ryu said with a sigh, "All we know is that they call themselves 'Legion'. But they showed up with Cyborgs, mobile suits, and a dreadnought that put anything the ISA, Zaigon or anything else made to shame."
Takeshi's eyes widened. "Ouch," he replied. "No ideas as to motives, or anything like that?"
"Nothing," Ryu said. "They just attacked… the only link that could be involved is the fact Liberty Electronics was developing new Mobile Weapons at Stargazer… "
Takeshi sighed. "Well, that sucks," he replied. "Do we know how many made it out?"
"Barely a handful..." Ryu said with another sigh. "We've managed to rescue a couple hundred people… but these bastards were thorough… they destroyed the whole colony, and hunted down any escape craft they found… we were lucky to have found the few we have."
"What?" Takeshi asked, his eyes wide in shock. "They attacked escape craft?!"
"They did," Ryu confirmed. "Worse thing is, this isn't the first Colony they hit… apparently they've been raiding colony after colony, only targeting out of the way ones."
"Huh…" Takeshi remarked. "That doesn't sound good… well, I'll do what I can to help with the rescue efforts, but Elsa's a cargo hauler modified with self-defense weaponry - I don't have any Mobile Suits, so I'll need to coordinate with someone."
"Don't worry, we got you covered," Ryu said. "I'll send some of our new… honorary members of the Dragoon Mercenary Corps to help out."
"Thanks, Ryu," Takeshi replied. "That helps a lot."
"Don't mention it," Ryu said. "Sending them your way now. Dragoon Actual out."
Takeshi sighed. Looked like things were going to hell in a handbasket for some reason…
Later - Debris Field
Jaden sighed a bit, as he moved the Starfall Gundam through the ruins of what was once his home. 'I wonder how mom and dad are doing…' he thought to himself, knowing that his parents had left Stargazer a week ago for some business trip in Kosten Confederacy territory. He hasn't heard from them since, and he had no idea if they knew about what had happened to Stargazer yet.
"Dragoon-6, Dragoon Actual here, report in," Ryu's voice broke in. "Find anything?"
"Dragoon-6 here… I've still got nothing here..." he said. "Just destroyed buildings and cars..."
"Roger that, return to the Gungnir, I got a new mission for you and the others," Ryu informed. "We got a new ship assisting in the recovery operations, and they need people to coordinate with,"
Jaden nodded. "Copy that, RTBing." he said, as he turned the Starfall around. "Be there in a few - huh?" He saw a small shimmer of light, before he saw an escape pod. "Wait, wait I've got an escape craft here! Inspecting…"
He moved towards the escape craft. On a first glance, it looked undamaged aside from its engines being damaged. He activated the Starfall's life scanners, and immediately detected life. "Yeah, yeah I've got a fully loaded pod here!" he announced. "Roughly 20-30 people in it, its engine's damaged, bringing it in."
"Roger that Dragoon-6, Gungnir Medical crews will be standing by," Ryu confirmed. "Good job."
Jaden smiled a bit as he gently grabbed the Shuttle on its sides, and used point-connect communication. "Attention people in the Life pod, don't worry I'm here to help," he said on the comm. "I am bringing you back to our ship now, you're safe."
With that said, Jaden then carried the escapecraft back towards the Gungnir to get the escapecraft back to safety. It only took a few minutes until he returned to the small 'fleet' of ships in the debris field.
"On your right, Dragoon-6," Ryu announced as the Kartikeya took position next to him. "Glad we finally got some good news."
"Yeah..." Jaden said. "It's good we managed to find a few escape crafts out of all of this..."
Ryu nodded. "Some good news in a sea of bad," he agreed, letting out a sigh. "Let's get them out and some food in their stomachs, shall we?"
"Right," Jaden said as they approached the open hangar bay door of the Gungnir gently landing inside as it closed behind them, refilling the hangar bay with atmosphere for the civilians. One that was done, Jaden put the Starfall into a kneeling position as he climbed out, approaching the release hatch of the craft.
"Alright… release hatch, release hatch…" he muttered, before he found the proper switch. "Ah, here ya are." He pulled the switch, and the hatch hissed as it slid right on open.
As the hatch opened up Ryu left the cockpit of his unit and floated down to the shelter as the civilians floated out. "Careful now," he said to a pair of children as they came floating out. "Please come on out in an orderly fashion please, we have a medical team here for anyone injured, please, if anyone is injured let them come out first."
Jaden sighed a bit, as he began to turn around…
"Jaden? Jaden!" A female voice shouted, as he turned around just in time to be glomped by a woman about his age standing close to 5'6", who had long hip-length aqua blue hair tied up into a pair of long ponytails, and aqua blue eyes matching her hair almost perfectly. She was wearing a grey sleeveless dress shirt, a short black skirt, and black shin-high boots. "You're alright!"
Jaden blinked as he looked at the girl in question. "M-Miku?" he asked in shock. "How-"
"I got in the shelter when the attack happened..." Miku said, looking at Jaden. "Jaden…. what happened to Stargazer?"
Jaden winced a bit, as he tried to figure out how to break the news to her. "Uhh… M-Miku I…" he said. "It's… Stargazer… it's gone…"
"Oh no..." Miku whispered, her eyes wide. "Don't tell me… it's all...g-gone?"
"Sorry to say, but it is," Ryu informed as he approached. "Miss, I must ask you to report to the medical team, we need to ensure you're not injured or ill…"
"A… Alright..." Miku said, nodding. She was still in a bit of shock from the news. "I… I'll do that now..." She glanced back at Jaden. "Jaden… that was you in that Mobile Suit right? ...thanks." With that she moved back to the other survivors to check in with the medical teams.
"Well, someone will be getting lucky…" Ryu informed, clapping Jaden on the shoulder. "I approve…"
Jaden blinked in confusion, glancing at Ryu… before it hit him and his eyes widened, and he blushed. "N-No! No! It's not like that!" he said, waving his hands. "S-She's just a friend, that's it!"
Ryu chuckled. "Now now, no need to be so modest," he informed. "Many men wish to have the affections of the Stargazer's star singer…"
"W-We're just friends Ryu!" Jaden shouted. "That's it!"
"Uh-huh, sure… whatever you say, kid," Ryu said teasingly. "But… you might want to move fast, DMC Marines are known to be charming when they want to be…"
"S-Shut up!" Jaden shouted as he just headed back towards the Starfall, and prepared to get it moving once the survivors had left the hangar bay.
"Oh… he's got it bad," Ryu muttered. "Well, better get back out there and help out the Elsa…"
Later - Omega meeting room
"The one thing I believe we can all say is that we've got a LOT of dead to bury from this, people." Ron said, after everyone had once again gathered in the Omega's meeting room to discuss what to do next. "Not only was the Seventh Fleet almost completely destroyed, Stargazer colony had almost 6 million people on it. This is not going to go down easily with any of our governments."
Zimmer sighed "That's the truth." He said, "The most we can hope for is that we can show them that the Zaigon and ISA can work together… but once we find out exactly who attacked us and the colony, we can worry less about each other, and more about whoever these guys are."
"Well, as long as we all stick to the same-" Ron began, before a beep interrupted the Admiral's sentence. "Fucking Christ." He pushed a button. "What?!"
"Sorry to interrupt, Admiral, but you're going to want to see this."
Ron did not like the sound of that. "Pipe it down here and put it on the main screen," he ordered.
"Yes sir." Moments later the main screen turned on, and appearing on the screen was a news anchor.
"...has yet to release a statement." She said, "For those of you just joining, there is breaking news: It has been confirmed that the mobile colony Stargazer has been destroyed. Survivors from the colony have been retrieved, and they have all claimed that they were attacked by Interstellar Alliance forces lead by the ISA flagship Omega and the ISA Seventh Fleet."
"What. The. Fuck. We didn't attack that colony!" Ron shouted. "Hell, we only recovered a few survivors hours ago! There's no way in fucking hell that-Son of a Protestant Whore, we're being set up!"
"The survivors were able to gain access to numerous images, and they have been confirmed to be ISA ships." The screen changed to the image of the ISA seventh fleet arriving, only this time with the Omega leading the force. They then showed the ISA fleet opening fire on the colony, in a short few Salvo's causing massive damage, destroying any civilian vessel that tried to escape. "Reports also claim that a Zaigon task force arrived to the scene, and attempted to defend the colony, but they were defeated and the Zaigon lost three ships and hundreds of men and women who died to save as many civilians they could before being forced to retreat."
The images then showed the Vaishya, using its Funnels to cut apart numerous ISA machines. And images of Zaigon Zaku's and other machines fighting off the ISA mobile suits were shown over and over again. There was then an image of the Typhon using its main armament to destroy a Siegfried-class Light Cruiser.
"If anyone bothers to investigate, they won't find any Zaigon wreckage!" Ron shouted, "Just ISA!"
"We've lost roughly twenty five Mobile Suits in the fight..." Zimmer said, "They'll find some… "
"They won't find any Zaigon warship wreckage." Ron said, "That will throw this entire 'story' into doubt."
"Either way, I doubt they would be making this kind of claim without any evidence..." Sayane said, shaking her head "This is not good..."
"The ISA has yet to release a statement about the incident, however much of the galactic community has been thrown into outrage." The News anchor said, "We have also received word that numerous Zaigon worlds have stepped up in their defenses, mobilizing several fleets to sectors closest to ISA territory."
"Fuck." Ron muttered, "This is the LAST thing we need!"
"War," Ryu declared with a heavy sense of finality. "Admiral, I'm afraid that you and your men are going to be used as Scapegoats…"
"We're not being used like Lord." Ron growled, "We've got sensor readings and gun camera footage. As soon as repairs are complete, I'm taking the Omega and Typhon back to the capital."
"They can just say you edited your own footage," Zimmer said, gesturing at the images on the screen "They could do it obviously. "
"There is no way anyone in the government would just up and believe this-"
"Oh, shut up, Admiral!" Zimmer shouted, "We know how the ISA's actually governed! Took a while, but we figured it out."
"Its the military that holds all the power," Sayane said, "Sure you made it look like the senators and presidents have power… but its all just a show. They almost have no power, and its always the Admirals and Generals making all the big calls."
Ron scowled and narrowed his eyes, but did not deny it. "Even so, Grand Admiral McGuinness knows better than to believe this bullshit. She knows DAMN well I would never order an attack on a colony, neutral or enemy, even if they were building weapons there. I was BORN on a colony: I know how bad attacking one is."
"And McGuinness is pushing 99," Zimmer said, "And if our own reports are correct, she's not going to be alive much longer. Are you honestly going to tell me that your whole military will listen to an old woman who's practically bedridden?"
"I can't just go rogue: I'm not some fucking merc who runs off when the shit hits the fan!"
"You're no use to us dead, Admiral," Ryu said sharply. "These new enemies of ours… they are the only ones who could have manipulated things like this, and as things stand… we stand no chance against them, unless, we counter their work behind the scenes… and unless you have absolute proof, there is nothing we can do…"
Ron was silent for a moment, before he sighed turning to the Zaigon Captain. "Captain Zimmer, I'm giving you command of this hodgepodge fleet." He said, causing everyone in the room to blink in surprise. "Stukov can take command of the Omega. I'm transferring my flag to the Typhon and heading back to ISA territory."
"Admiral, didn't you just-"
"I'm not going in for a show trial, Captain." He said, "I'm going to bring a few friends to help."
"Admiral," Ryu said, getting his attention before tossing a small data disk. "If you need a safe haven, take that to the nearest EIW Colony and give that to the commander of the local garrison, they'll shelter you and anyone you bring with you."
"Considering I'm taking the most powerful ship in the known galaxy with me, I don't have that much to fear. There's only one ship that can take on the Typhon, and she's not even finished yet." Ron left the room, heading for the hangar.
Ryu sighed again. "Zimmer, may I make a suggestion for where we go to?" he questioned.
The Zaigon Captain looked at Ryu, before he sighed and nodded "Go ahead," he said, "Zaigon territory is out of the question either way… not with the Omega with us..."
"What about the Kosten Confederacy?" Sayane said, making the others turn to her.
"What about them?" said Kira.
"The Confederacy has been allies to Zaigon for a long time," Sayane said, "They're very reasonable, and they might listen to what we have to say. If a war does break out, Kosten won't join in unless they are attacked as well."
"EIW," Ryu declared. "I can get us in, and a meeting with the Chief Representative."
"What about the Galactic Federation or Zipang?" Darknal suggested, shrugging. "They never wanted any part of the cold war to begin with."
"We need people that can actually help us, Darknal," Jaden said, shaking his head. "As large as the Federation is, their standards soldiers and fleets don't stand a chance against the ISA or Zaigon's. And Zipang… they've got technology, but they aren't large enough to really defend themselves against a truly committed force. Besides I doubt either of them would be willing to help us to begin with."
"And your honest opinion on the Kosten Confederacy?" asked Kira.
Jaden shrugged "They could help us." He said, "They've always stood against corruption and bureaucrats. As long as we could give them a reason to trust us and what we've seen, we should be good. But its gonna be difficult to convince them Ron didn't order the attack on Stargazer."
Ryu sighed again. "Which is why I suggested the Empire of the Iron Wall," he declared, catching everyone's attention. "Our military does not move without the expressed permission of the Chief Representative, and we always seek the truth, no matter what."
Zimmer sighed "Well, it looks like we'll be heading towards the EIW then," he said, "Though once we can, I will try to contact a few friends of mine in Kosten and Zaigon… might be able to help us if they don't join the bandwagon."
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Alright then, I'll be heading back to the Gungnir," he informed. "I'll be sending a runner shuttle out to the nearest EIW Colony to warn Trandoion of our approach."
"I'll stick with you guys," Takeshi remarked. "Elsa might not have any MS of her own, or any heavy weapons, but has plenty of cargo capacity - at the very least, I can carry spare provisions."
"Actually, we can solve that MS problem easily." Takeshi looked at the only remaining ISA officer, who happened to be Captain Fujinara. "Most of our Soldats are from the Seventh Fleet, and the only remaining ship in the Seventh is the Typhon. You can take some of them off the Omega."
"Alright," Takeshi replied. "That works."
"Alright then," Zimmer said as he stood up. "I'll head back to my ship, repairs are almost complete… we'll head towards the nearest EiW colony."
Ryu nodded. "Make sure that if you have any twitchy fingers on your crew, they're not on the guns," he informed. "EIW Space Fleet won't be kind to those who shoot first."
"They won't," Zimmer said, smirking a bit. "They know better than to piss off the EiW in nothing but an old retrofit Halcyon-class heavy cruiser."
Ryu nodded before heading out. "Radio me if you have questions," he told the captain. "And good luck with your ships."
117Jorn: And CHAPTER is DONE!
DragonKnightRyu: And what a chapter it was…
Takeshi Yamato: Indeed.
Ron the True Fan: Well, I think these guys are going to be confused as all hell for a while.
117Jorn: Don't worry, the Timeline I'm going to post on a Forum should clear things up a bit.
DKR: Hooray for clarity! But… who really cares? I mean… EXPLOSIONS!
Ron the True Fan: I love explosions, too, but seriously, I hate confusion.
Titanic X: So, be ready for the next chapter!
117Jorn: So until then…
Everyone: JA NE! :D