Gundam Seed: The Federation
By Blackshadow999
A/n: Okay, as I have been hinting at the end of the last few Phases I've written, I planned to go through this story and do work on it. I need to revise that and say that I will be rewriting parts of this story. I like the overall storyline and will be keeping the vast majority of it. Still like everyone, I'm human (a natural) and so am prone to making mistakes just like we all do and will probably continue to do so. I will state my official disclaimer in this Phase and then just refer to it going forward.
I myself, do not own Gundam Seed, Gundam Seed Destiny or anything in the Gundam Universe, nor any of the related characters or the subject. Nor do I own the ideas that I borrow from other universes. All I can take credit for is my original characters and concepts that come from my musings, such as some of the vehicles, suits or other machines that are not in any series. The ideas from the Gundam Universe and other Universes belong to their respective authors, anime or whatever they belong to.
That's my disclaimer, this will be the one time that I will state it, so refer to it later if you like. Now, this is one of my attempts to write in multiple points of view, including third person which I don't believe I'm very good at. So please, bear with me in this and cut me a bit of slack. The beginning section is still a historical accounting and setting the world as it will be in this story, since it isn't the same as what Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny have. If you don't like that kind of thing, skip to the last two paragraphs of the first section. However, should you do so, there will be references made later that will make less sense later. Please read and Enjoy!
Phase 1: Drawn into Chaos
The human species, scientific name Homo Sapiens, unique creatures among the many that inhabit the world called Earth. Possessing one of the rarest gifts, which so differentiates them from other creatures around themselves, the ability to choose or free will. From that, having such incredible potential that it can be considered near, if not deity-like, along with the rare capacity to surpass their limitations. Yet, humanity with all its limitless potential, the species is also riddled with serious contradictions. Such faults shortcomings and limitations would bring about the destruction of other creatures, but has not done so to humanity thus far. But, the wheels of fate keep turning ever forward in what can seem a repetitive cycle.
Humanity is currently in what they call the Cosmic Era, which began when the Anno Domini or A.D. calendar came to an end. Hopes of a fresh beginning with the new era, were strained as the change of eras came with the greatest upheaval humanity had ever experienced before. Many events contributed to the shift and upheaval; one was that petroleum and the other resources that could make fossil fuels ran dry, along with the critical levels of environmental pollution. But, one of the biggest factors was the worldwide economic crisis that turned into the collapse of the global economy, bringing hard times on all.
To attempted to recover from the collapse, the global community members formed a few major powers to stand together. However, as such occurred, long standing ethnic and religious strife returned to the forefront and led to conflict that evolved into a third global war that became known as the "Reconstruction War" which started in the first year of the Cosmic Era. As the war progressed, a virus that simply was called 'Type S influenza' rapidly spread around the globe unlike an illness or plague had before. It the wake of its spread, death followed in staggering numbers. Within nine years, the world war came to an end, the cure to Type S Influenza was discovered and new territorial powers were formed to give the people of the world peace. The major powers or states were; the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia, and the Euros Coalition. By the thirteenth year of the Era, the Equatorial Union, the Kingdom of Scandinavia and the Orb Union had also been established.
In order to prevent another war from happening, the United Nations, the governing body of Earth overall, announced and began to execute a plan to go out into space and build colonies began, to explore further than the human race had before. Such an idea had been interrupted by the Reconstruction War and now was to be resumed. So, in a few years, a ship was sent out into the Solar System to go beyond the asteroid belt visit Jupiter, an announcement that rocked the world was heard from that ship crew. A member of the mission to Jupiter, by the name of George Glenn, made the confession of him being what became known as a 'Coordinator'.
A Coordinator is what were defined as a type of human beings that'd had their genes changed or altered in some way shape or form. Some of the common traits that Coordinators had, were that they tend to be faster and stronger than those who didn't have their genes changed or engineered could do, plus, the near immunity to diseases. The reasons as to why Coordinators came into existence, is a hotly debated subject even in the present time.
That particular argument came to a head during the controversy of Coordinators, brought out many things. One point that was brought up by this argument, was the formation of groups which were against Coordinators and what they represented, and they made outcries heard to the world of the "moral" wrongness that they say Coordinators were. Among those groups, one by the name of Blue Cosmos was one that shouted out against Coordinators and later were believed to commit terrorist attacks against the places in the world that did the genetic alterations. So, during year 16 of the Cosmic Era, what was known as the 'Coordinator controversy issue', a conference of representatives of the world was held in Italy. At that meeting of world leaders, the 'Torino Protocol' was adopted, which stated that the manipulation of human genes was to be stopped and would be prohibited going forward, period. However, as history had proven for human beings, when something is forbidden, then there were some that wanted to do it more than if it was not. In this case, there were some more wealthy individuals that ignored the protocol and made some of their children into Coordinators.
For the next few years, the conflict of Coordinators' existence became quiet, but not dropped, but tolerance for them grew with more than half of the human population. Still there were some that committed attacks on the few Coordinators that were publicly known and the places that could produce them, which would be classified as terrorist attacks later on. To help bring those who were committing terrorist attacks that kept happening to justice, a group was formed by the United Nations, which would to be separate from the military of the nations of the world to act as peacekeepers and hold those bring chaos and fear accountable for their action.
Even as these events occurred, the development and construction of space colonies continued unaffected by the conflicts on Earth. Years passed by and just as things were settling down, news came from the exploration group that had gone to Jupiter, that they found a mysterious fossil that was unlike anything seen before. The ship was ordered to come back to Earth at once and so, the ship that had gone to Jupiter called the "Tsiolkovsky", started its journey back towards Earth.
In the twenty-ninth year, the Tsiolkovsky returned from Jupiter and what they had found was confiscated from it and taken to one of the completed colonies named "Zodiac", located at what was called "Lagrange 5", which was 60 degrees from the moon was for research. In the following year, a period of time began that would later be called the first "Coordinator Boom", in which the creation of Coordinators was being done much more than before. Also during this time of the Cosmic Era, the construction of a device known as a "Mass Driver" which made the process of getting up into space a great deal easier than before, were under way.
As mass drivers became more available and usable, the pace of construction of space colonies increased. Then, in the year forty of the Era, an Alliance between the Euros Coalition and the Republic of East Asia and the group that the United Nations formed, joined together and formed the Human Federation, the first super power of the era. As that was happening, the Atlantic Federation had started building a base on the moon, which they called Ptolemaeus. A year later, the first space fighter, developed by the Human Federation was unveiled for the defense and protection of those in space. The Atlantic Federation soon finished their lunar base and then revealed what they called "mobile armors" which were based on the Federation space fighter.
Meanwhile, at the Zodiac colony, the research continued, but George Glenn had also developed a concept for a new type of space colony and he announced his idea. The concept caught interest of most of the major powers of Earth and so funding was provided to begin construction of them at Lagrange 5. The newer type of space colonies started being constructed and were called Productive Location Ally on Nexus Technology or PLANT for short. Their construction began in year 43 of the Cosmic Era and the first ten of this type of colonies were finished a little more than a year later.
Coordinators hoping to escape the discrimination from non-Coordinators or Naturals as they were also being called, moved to the new PLANT colonies. However, the acts of terrorism soon began also happening to the PLANTs, though a number of the attempts were thwarted by the Human Federation's military forces. The creation of the Zodiac Alliance occurred to give the PLANTs political autonomy and protection from those who wished to do harm and was done in the hope that the attacks would happen less. The PLANTs began to depend on the Federation Military for protection for a time, especially as the Human Federation was getting larger and gaining more influence, since the Kingdom of Scandinavia and shortly after so did the Equatorial Union joined the Federation. But, still wishing for independence, after the development of mobile suits, the Zodiac Alliance changed its name to Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty or ZAFT and started taking responsibility for their own protection.
As terrorist attacks against Coordinators increased, the leaders of the United Nations, met together at Copernicus City on the moon to discuss what could be done to stop these acts. Unfortunately, a terrorist attack came during the meeting, killing the leadership, coming to be known as the Tragedy of Copernicus, which Coordinators were blamed for. Shortly after the event, the Earth Alliance was formed, which brought together the Atlantic Federation, the South African Union and the Eurasian Federation. Conflicts then began popping up all over and that evolved into the Earth Alliance was formed and the war between ZAFT, which started with one event. The event was called the Bloody Valentine after it occurred, was the nuclear strike made against the PLANT type colony. The colony was destroyed and the whole colony's population lost their lives in the event.
In response as well as for their protection, ZAFT dropped ground-penetrating "Neutron Jammers" across Earth. The purpose was to stop the production of nuclear weapons, but all forms of nuclear energy was affected by the jammers. The war between the PLANTs and the Alliance has continued for near five years, with little sign of a conclusion in sight. The Human Federation did what they could to stay out of the conflict and held a stance of neutrality. So, the war that played out between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, quickly went beyond the scope of any of the previous wars human history had witnessed. For, it involved not only almost all of Earth, but space as well.
At first, it was expected and predicted that the Earth Forces, the military of the Earth Alliance, with their superior numbers would be the victors of the conflict. However, such expectations were proven wrong by ZAFT and their use of mobile suits. With the Earth Alliance and ZAFT at each other's throat, the neutral nations on earth and in space, whether small or large, were put in the trying position with the two sides that were at odds attempting to convince those nations to join their sides. But, the Human Federation would not allow any of its member nations to be bullied and the Alliance quickly stopped trying to force the Federation to assist them by physical means. With their military force made up of Coordinators and Naturals, the Federation attempted to prevent the violence between both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, yet with the hatred between the Naturals and Coordinators, it seemed an impossible feat.
Currently, it is the start of year 71 of the Cosmic Era, tensions were only getting worse between the Earth Alliance and the ZAFT organization. Around Lagrange 3, which is directly opposite of the moon in its own orbit, the three- island type colony Heliopolis which was built during the earlier part of the Cosmic Era. The colony's design had a base of a large space rock, with a cylindrical tube which made up the living space of the colony's inhabitance. From that base, running perpendicular, were three 'arms' stretched out with solar panels and the oxygen regeneration system that utilized plants and a small atmosphere that flowed to the main living area of the colony. Heliopolis was built for resource mining, but also did technical development and later, minor military research. The ownership of the colony fell to the Orb Union on Earth, as they built the colony itself. For the citizens who lived in the colony, as their nation was neutral, they didn't worry about the war affecting them, yet heard news of what was going on. A further sense of security began to be felt when rumors of Orb deciding to join the Human Federation spread. And even with the proximity of the Eurasian military satellite Artemis that belonged to the Earth Alliance, for Heliopolis peace was present.
In this colony, a young man, standing at 5'9" and was lean to the point that he was close to lanky in overall body figure. With green eyes and spiky tan locks of hair that went in random directions, the back of his hair went to just above his shoulders and on the sides, went down to the bottom of his cheeks. He was wearing a sand color T-shirt with a white vest over the shirt. He had casual black pants and didn't look out of place with the citizens of the colony. The young man's name, was Tyler McGregor, Tye for short among close acquaintances and he's 18 years of age. Officially, Tyler was in the colony Heliopolis, on an educational exchange and was attending the technical college. Although unofficially, he was at Heliopolis along with the three other members of the Federation Military, as part of an investigation team, looking into a rumor that the Earth Forces had been developing weapons somewhere within a neutral colony.
-Line Break-
January 25th, 71 Cosmic Era
-Tyler's pov-
Orb Union's Resource Colony "Heliopolis", Lagrange Point 3
The morning began like most did for near a year now, but for some reason, the tension level had grown much higher over the last week. Reviewing the year that I had been here with the other members of the team, things shouldn't be so tense. Six months ago, the other three team members and I had confirmed that the members of the Earth Forces from the Atlantic Federation that were here, were using Morgenroete Inc. and its engineers to develop prototype mobile suits along with a new type of battleship to use against ZAFT in their war. Not only was that a violation of a standing treaty that the Earth Alliance is forced to follow, but they risk also dragging this colony into the fighting. However, I doubt they've thought about that possibility, too busy with their precious project to consider that, typical of them.
If it were just that, I would be less ticked and frustrated than I am, but there was more to this than just that point. There was also evidence that there was an OS for Naturals in development, yet not much as to who was doing the designing of that system or how far along that idea was. That was what the current job was, to find out more information about the OS that was supposed to go into the Alliance's mobile suits. I'd my suspicion as to who was doing the development, but I can't come up with clear proof yet and without proof, I got little to nothing. I'll say this much for the current situation, I'll need a serious vacation after this whole thing is done before going on to my next given assignment.
The sound of the communication device I had, that looked like a normal civilian com unit, went off. I took it out and input a code, before putting it to my ear, "Hey Lisa, anything unusual out there?" I asked in greeting.
Lisa Malto, a female Coordinator in her early to mid-twenties and a pilot of the Human Federation like myself. She had a height of 5'4" with mid-length straight black hair and green eyes. She was number 2 on the team and could take charge if I could not and always would have my back should things go wrong as for some reason, I was made the leader of the team.
When were had all arrived at Heliopolis, Lisa and I had agreed that there would be a ritual, where one member of the team would go out for a watch in a Federation Fighter once a day on the outside of Heliopolis. It's a boring a vigil as it is long, for I've take my turn on the weekends, so I know how tedious it is. The one in charge on the inside, usually myself or Lisa, would check in with the watcher outside for anything of note. The message came a week and a half ago that a Federation patrol would be coming out and would be around Heliopolis to confiscate the mobile suits and the ship in the next few days. When that message had come, all of us on the Investigation team breathed a sigh of slight relief and started to look towards what would happen now that the mission end was in sight.
Our tune had changed the day before yesterday when two ZAFT vessels had shown up and had begun camping out a small margin out of the range of the colony. And with them here, it meant that ZAFT could and likely did know that the Earth Alliance were doing weapon development here. That only spelled problems in my view, because there were a few in ZAFT's military that would hesitate at attacking just because Heliopolis is a neutral colony. "Other than the colony maintenance crews making their rounds for this week, not really. There's an Earth Alliance ship, Marseille III-class if I'm seeing right, approaching the dock right now. So, they'll dock soon, but other than that, it's been quiet, nothing from ZAFT," replied Lisa.
Today had been Lisa's turn to go out for the first part of the day, since we had decided that someone needed to be out more than just once a day with ZAFT around now. So, for the purpose of keeping a lookout for suspicious activity from either the Earth Alliance or ZAFT forces, there were two excursions a day. Depending on who was in charge of the ZAFT forces that was around here, they might come into the colony itself and either destroy the machines or capture them. There's a couple of ZAFT commanders that I've read about that had reputations that said they might do such things. Such an action would violate a number of the treaties that ZAFT has with the Federation and there were serious consequences that followed those kinds of actions. The real issue, neither side had shown much inclination to care of what would happen to the citizens of Heliopolis if they clash. The team were hoping, like I was that the Federation patrol would get here before things go bad.
I took in a deep breath before I gave my answer, "Let's hope it stays that way, still keep your eyes open. The feeling of tense foreboding and impending problems is getting worse faster than I like at all. If ZAFT is going to make their move, then it'll likely be soon with the increasing pace that the Alliance personnel are working at. I know we hope that the Federation patrol gets here before a fight breaks out, but at this point, can't say if they will," I said before terminating the connection and slipping the com unit back into my pocket.
Since I didn't want to dwell on the possibilities of what could happen, I decided the best way to get my worries for the moment, was to go check on a friend of mine. Said friend was here on an educational exchange like I am officially. And normally, at this time of the morning, he would be in the central quad in the residential district. So, with that in mind, I changed my direction to get me to the central quad where I believed my friend is. The friend I was heading for was named Kira Yamato, both he and I have been friends for years, we met at the lunar pep academy that we went to and so knew each other well. He is two years younger than I am, but he is a really smart. Kira is a great guy, I'll say that for him without reservation of any sort. The problem that I see, that Kira hasn't by what I can tell, is that he is naïve and enormously so! Some might call it "innocence", I call it "a special kind of stupid" it's the same concept in essence.
Back to looking for my friend Kira, within fifteen minutes, I arrived at the intended destination and as I'd guessed, Kira was there. Although, I saw that he wasn't alone, but was accompanied by a young lady that was the same age as him. The girl had a little longer than hip length hair that was pink with a yellow clip that was on the right side of her head, the clip was the shape of two waves one on top of the other. She had blue eyes and quite a pretty face. The girl was wearing a black turtleneck and tan capris. Her name was Lacus Don… okay, in reality, her real name is Lacus Clyne, the youngest daughter of the current chairman of the PLANTS supreme council, but she uses the last name Don when she comes to visits Kira. I don't blame her as the name Clyne has a LOT of influence, both good and bad depending who you're talking about. She'd friends with Kira and I would consider her a friend as well, but it's not the same as she is with Kira. Still, by what I've heard, she's supposedly engaged to Athrun Zala, another longtime friend, just one that I don't see often anymore.
I came closer to the two and began overhearing them talking, "Couldn't you have asked the professor to take some time off?" asked Lacus, pouting slightly while Kira typed away on his laptop. "I visit as often as I can, but it isn't easy getting here, and I don't have long."
"I know," said Kira, smiling apologetically, "and I did ask him, but he wouldn't budge. He said this stuff was top priority."
Lacus sighed in response to Kira's response and I admit that she's within her rights to. Professor Kato was a professor that both Kira and I have at the collage, he teaches advanced computing. And for Professor Kato is spreading himself thin with the work he does, is typical of him, does it on a regular basis. I'm more surprised that Kato hasn't collapsed from overworking himself. The issue that Kira and I share with the man, is that we end out picking up the slack by 'receiving' tasks and work from the professor. It doesn't matter that we're students and have schoolwork have to do and are expected to still complete on time, we still have Kato's work dumped on us.
For me at least, the 'extra workload' quickly got to the point, that I'd put my foot down and refuse to do the work Professor Kato tried to give me anyways. I'd told him that I had schoolwork and other things to do first and the extra work was making that extremely difficult to do and still stay healthy and keep the grades up. Not only am I a student at the technical college, but I also have a job that I work, being an assistant to a journalist, use it as a cover for my real reason for being here at Heliopolis. So, I have a full plate and rarely have a great deal of extra time to work with for unnecessary things.
Yet, Professor Kato didn't listen to me or my reasoning or requests and told me that the work he had for me took priority anyways and to somehow manage. Well, I took his 'advice' about managing and just left before he could shove stuff onto my shoulders. That was my solution to the badgering of my teacher was and I'd been avoiding Kato ever since and it's been nearly a month now. In fact, only see him during the class he teaches and that's fine with me and works out better for me. I simply leave that class as soon as it's done so that he can't catch me. Nonetheless, the consequences of that, would seem that Kato went to my friend Kira and dump the work he would give me on to Kira. Unfortunately, Kira has a hard time refusing others and he rarely if ever complains about being overworked like I do when I have to. Honestly, as far as I knew, Professor Kato was working on a project for Morgenroete, what the project involves, I can't say with much confidence, plus I don't take the time to ask him. However, my personal guess was that it had to do with the mobile suits that the Earth Alliance are developing. It was Kato that's the one I believe is the most likely candidate for being responsible for the Natural-use OS development, but I can't prove my suspicions with what I know yet.
Closing the rest of the distance that separated me and the two younger teens, who still hadn't noticed my presence. I waited for them to recognize that I was there, "Fine," she said. "But could you hurry it up a little please?" requested Lacus.
"I'll try Lacus." Kira answered.
I had waited long enough in my view after that line and was unable to stay quiet any longer, "So, Kato dumped more work on you again did he Kira?" I mused with a tone of pity.
Both Kira and Lacus twisted around and looked at me as I stood next to them now, smiling. "Tye, where did you appear from?" Asked Kira.
I gained a sheepish expression, "Oh well, I was walking around this morning, avoiding a certain professor that's been trying to bug me about stuff, you know the usual." I turned to face Lacus, "Hey Lacus, nice to see you again, didn't know you were going to visit. If you'd called ahead, then I would have greeted you earlier along with Kira."
The pink haired girl smiled, nodded at my greeting and waved at me. Kira looked tired, "That professor wouldn't happen to be named Kato, would they?"
The response from me was an apologetic nod, "Yeah, it's him," I came over and looked at the display of the laptop. "Looks like he dumped the work he has tried to get me to do the last time he got me to listen to him onto you Kira. Sorry about that, Kato can be a stubborn guy, I'll tell you, but you already know that." I rolled my eyes before I continued, "I mean, can you believe when I said to him, that I needed to catch up on schoolwork along with other stuff from my job, he brushed all that off? My job makes keeping up in school challenging enough, the work he gives me has caused my grades to suffer more. Plus, I'm falling behind a bit, due to the research I've been doing for the Journalist I help for my job as of late. He just told me and I quote, 'that I could get the work he had for me done and then catch up on the schoolwork afterward'. But lest we forget, past record says that every time I get the collection of work done that Kato gave me, he just turns around and shoves more onto me, he keeps forgetting that he does that regularly." I sighed, then looked at Kira, "But again, you would know all about how Kato does that, wouldn't you?" I posed.
Kira answered by rolling his eyes at me and then turned his attention back to the work, holding the documents in one hand and typing at a quick pace with the other. There were news reports and feeds playing in the background of the laptop, while my friend was typing away. While Kira focused on the work, Lacus and I focused on what was being said from the news feeds, as they reported on the war, though the reporting could and probably was a tad out of date. However, it was the best info I could get right now as I'm undercover on an investigation mission at the moment.
The fighting between the Alliance and ZAFT was getting worse by what the news was saying, not surprising, but still unwelcome. The Federation Military has tried several times to prevent as much of the conflict as possible and some of the skirmishes were less bloody than they could have been as a result. Yet still, people were dying because of this fighting that weren't even involved in the war. And the reason that this war started? There were Naturals who were afraid, jealous or both of Coordinators, they wanted to control and have dominion over them. To get what they wanted, they attacked, the Coordinators defend themselves and retaliate and it's descended down to this war. Atrocities like the attack on the Junius Seven colony then occur and things just got to the point that peaceful talks were blown to hell… who knows when or if that will change between the two sides.
After taking in the news, not more than a moment later, a mechanical green bird glided into the gazebo and landed on the monitor of Kira's laptop. The bird chirped slightly, tilting its head as it did so. A ball-shaped pink robot that was on the table that we were sitting at started rolling a little wildly. "Haro! Haro!" said the robot.
Lacus has had one of these ball-shaped robots for the last few years, not necessarily the pink one… for she had more than one. The thing and its duplicates rarely said anything besides "Haro" hence their name, Lacus's name and simple lines that made little sense most of the time. The robotic bird Torii, was much the same only it said 'birdie' instead and nothing else. Torii turned to Haro and chirped, tilting its head a bit more. I believe Athrun, another friend of Kira and mine, is the one that made the robots as well as the green bird. He'd always had a gift with robotics, quite amazing in fact. Suddenly, Haro's eyes began to flash. "Haro! Lacus! Run!"
I heard Kira groan when he heard that, which got me wondering what was going on. What could 'Haro' saying run be inferring to? "Kira! Tye!" came the voice of Tolle Koenig, one of Kira's friends and who had become a friend to me within the last year as well. Tolle, was a Natural type human that had dark brown hair that had a bit of a wavy quality to it. Along with his green eyes, he gave the impression of being easy going and a funny guy. Tolle stood at a height of 5'4" and was wearing an off-white button up shirt and a pair of jeans.
Ah ha, that's what that pink ball was referring to… Kira looked up and smiled slightly, but it was clear that internally, he was weeping… and I can't say that I blame him. I was also none too happy for Tolle to be looking for Kira and myself, for it meant that he was probably. Actually, scratch that, almost guaranteed that Professor Kato sent him because he had MORE work to dump on both of us, great. The college professor wasn't beneath sending out our friends to fetch us and bring us to him so that he can distribute out more weight to the workload. Our friends had little idea that they were used by Kato to get Kira and I to go to him.
Professor Kato had started 'giving' us work to help him with when he found out we had a talent for complex electronic and mechanical systems. That had begun shortly after I had gotten here and started school and hadn't stopped. As I've previously stated, I'm personally avoiding him off and on for the last month and I've been fairly successful at doing so. Still, I can hope for the best and that this could be just friends visiting us for a social call.
"So, this is where you've been hanging out with your girlfriend Kira. Tye, you really should get a girl for yourself, Kira is showing you up," said Tolle.
Kira and Lacus both blushed slightly, whereas I just rolled my eyes, "That's my business Tolle and not yours, so kindly stay out of it. So, moving on, what brings you around here?" I asked.
I would have said more, but Tolle just barreled on and answered my question, "Professor Kato's been trying to get a hold of you… Both of you actually."
"What, again?" moaned Kira.
I couldn't keep the sigh in as Kira ended his moan, "Yeah, I'm well aware that he's been trying to get ahold of me, and my answer to him hasn't changed, I got work to catch up on, so heck no!" I exhaled in frustration, but continued, "Hasn't he piled enough work that 'he says' he can't do himself on to us?" I asked rhetorically, "The man needs to learn to be patient and not keep pushing more onto others like Kira and me, then still demand top grade work in short periods, if he wants decent results in anything."
"He asked us that if we saw you two, to bring you both to him right away," said Miriallia Haw, Tolle's girlfriend. "Are you assisting him on something else?"
Miriallia, another Natural-type human who is a 15-year-old female. She had light brown hair and ocean blue eyes, stood at 5'2". Today, Miriallia was wearing an orange dress with the middle of the dress being white and the shoulders open. She's nice most of the time, but with me she can harp a bit too often in my opinion.
"Too much stuff!" complained Kira. "I still haven't even finished going through the stuff he dumped on me yesterday."
Kira slouched back, sighing at the question and its subject matter. I leaned over to Kira and spoke, "It's like I told you Kira, you got to learn how to say no to people, it makes life much more manageable I've found. Honestly, you're too nice and kind hearted for your own good sometimes my friend. A good quality to have, but others will take advantage of it if you're not careful."
I stop speaking as I caught a glare from Miriallia, for I've learned that it's smart not to keep going when I get glares from the girl. "It's pretty rude of you Kira, doing all this work when Lacus is visiting," said Miriallia, then she turned to me and gave me another glare, "Tye you should take some of that work off of Kira."
I looked at the young woman incredulously, for her claim of what I should do is unfair! I'm really busy with things right now, what with what the Alliance personnel is doing here that they shouldn't be and ZAFT camping outside. But I can't actually tell any of those here that right now, for then I would have to explain what my mission is here among other things I haven't said to them. If I was able to do all I am AND take some of the work off of Kira AND keep Kato satisfied, I would do so in a heartbeat. All that in mind, I can't justify or defend myself effectively, so like I said, this is unfair! "Seriously, you're going there again Miriallia? Then, by your claim, I should be drowning with work Kato says he can't do, ignoring all school work and most else as I do so then? Is that what you're telling me Miriallia? Sorry that I've a life outside of school, but that's how it is thank you very much," I said somewhat sarcastically.
"I'm just saying you could help Kira in this," she replied firmly.
That's the reply I get? I swear, Miriallia won't let me win in this kind of thing, it's not the first time she's accused me of shirking work that's dumped on Kira. It isn't fair I tell you! "Hey you two, calm down," interjected Tolle.
I snorted out loud, "It's not like I wouldn't love to help Kira out by taking some of the pressure off of him Miriallia. But, what you don't seem to understand is even were I to do as you say, your expectation of Kira having a lightened work load, is very wrong. Me taking some of the work has never stopped the Prof from dumping more stuff on Kira or myself before, I doubt it would start to now."
"That's the truth," agreed Tolle, who had seen the idea as it happened.
Kira paused in his typing and looked at the ground as he spoke, "I asked for a break, but Kato refused and just gave me more stuff to do," he retorted.
I shook my head as I listened and looked at my friend's explanation, "That doesn't surprise me Kira, with all the 'priority work' he keeps getting and then handing off to us, with equally stressful and honestly unreasonable deadlines attached. That's why I stopped asking for a break, and instead, I take a break and don't give Kato the chance to drop work on my shoulders. Granted, professor Kato hasn't appreciated me avoiding him, but since he won't listen to me when I tell him no, he leaves me with little other option."
"Well, Kira is the best student at the college and Tye is certainly not a bad student." justified Tolle, smiling slightly, "At any rate, let's get going… maybe you can tell him to give you a break if we're there with you."
"We can only hope for that," Kira and I said at the same time.
"You come along with us too Lacus," said Miriallia, grabbing the pink-haired girl's hand as we headed off towards the college.
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
Heliopolis Docking Area
The personnel operating the colony's control section, busied themselves with the docking protocol for the incoming Earth Alliance vessel. The ship was a Marseille III-class vessel, an older transport ship, but with the way the war was going, it was conceivable that older ships might be brought back into service. The vessel had clearance to dock and had provided the proper documentation, that's what matter for the time being, especially with two ZAFT vessels having come around the area recently.
"Adjusted Axis, right 6.51 points, prepare to enter dock 1," stated the Chief Controller over the com-channel to the Alliance vessel.
The Alliance ship did as it was instructed, making the correction as it kept moving forward. "Okay, entering vector is satisfactory," returned one of the operators.
"Breaking jets off, transferring control to electromagnetic bucket," replied the ship captain.
One of the console operators signaled that he had the ship coming into the dock and as some looked out the window, they saw the vessel sliding into the dock. "Deceleration rate at 2.56. Commencing final docking procedures, stand by," commanded the chief controller.
On board the ship, its captain let out a sigh of relief as the docking procedure was completed, "There you have it, this old ship has just completed her final mission and done so admirably." The man turned to the two younger people, being a man and a woman that were on the bridge with him, "The escort of you and your team has been much appreciated Lieutenant La Flaga, Major McAlester, even if perhaps it was a boring job for pilots like yourselves, with so little to do." Said the captain with a smile. "My crew and I, are in your debt."
The young blonde man at the age of 28, Lieutenant Mu La Flaga, waved a hand, "Sir, just glad that all on board, along with my teammates and I were able to get you all here safely and without incident. It's a rare thing these days," said Lieutenant La Flaga.
The woman close by, Major Krystal McAlester nodded in agreement, "Indeed, what with those two ZAFT vessels around here now weren't here the last time by what the reports said. Speaking of which, what is the status on those two ships?" she asked.
"They're out there, but there is no real cause for alarm right now. As we're docked now, they are fully aware that taking action against us while we're here, would cause massive issues with ZAFT and the Orb Union Major. In future, it might be even more of an issue for them, if the rumors about the Orb Union is considering becoming a member nation of the Human Federation are true," answered the captain.
"Well, since the Orb Union is neutral, this colony of theirs is as well, still don't understand that stance while the war is going on. And even if Orb were to join the Human Federation, don't see that making much of a difference," said La Flaga.
"Well Lieutenant, I can tell you from experience, the forces of the Federation's military aren't ones you want to underestimate or have as enemies. Even ZAFT is careful around the Federation for every encounter with them on record hasn't ended well for those who do go against them. But still, it is because of this colony's neutrality that our plans have progressed as far as they have. Good thing that Earth recognized nations like the Orb Union as independent nations if only for that." Remarked the captain.
"Excuse us captain," said one of five young men who had come onto the bridge while the conversation had been going on, all saluting before they exited the bridge.
Mu La Flaga stared after the five that had just left, "You think they will be able to handle themselves on the battlefield?" he asked.
"They're so young to be getting into this war," commented Major McAlester sadly.
"Granted, they are young, but they have proven that their selection to be G-pilots was the right choice, they'll be just fine." Said the captain, then smiled. "Plus, Lieutenant, Major, don't take it the wrong way, but you two would stick out like sore thumbs with your experience and reputations."
-Line Break-
ZAFT Nazca-class vessel, close to Heliopolis
Upon the Bridge of the ZAFT Nazca-class ship Vesalius, a white uniformed ZAFT commander, wearing a white mask that covered his eyes, named Rau Le Creuset was looking at the image of the colony a short distance from them, "Try not to look so frustrated Ades, it's not healthy for you." Creuset said as he turned and floated back towards the tactical table display.
"Forgive my frustration sir, but I can't imagine that it's too late to wait and hear back from the council about this. I'm not saying that your point of argument isn't valid, for I have to admit, it makes sense, especially with the evidence. However, what you suggest… it's more than just risky to do for many reasons," Captain Ades returned.
Le Creuset shook his head, "It will be too late if we delay. Your frustration is understandable, yet I've a sixth sense about things like this, and the evidence that's been acquired so far agrees." Creuset sent a picture towards Ades, "You tell me what this picture tells you. For me, it says that time is of the essence and the time to act is now. If we don't, then we will only come to regret our inaction later, likely paid with our lives." Creuset paused, "The Earth Alliance's new mobile weapons must not slip through our grasp because of hesitation, they needed to be secured before they're moved."
Meanwhile, down in the pilot locker room, a young man was thinking upon what he was about to do. The young man had neck length blue hair and green eyes and was named Athrun Zala. Athrun was sighing as he pulled on the gloves of his pilot suit, for he was having some serious reservations, questions and doubts about the upcoming mission the commander had told them about. There were so many things that could go wrong with this mission and the more that Athrun thought about this the more risks he identified. Some of those things would include the very real possibility that the information was false. The mobile suits in the images could be machines the Orb Union was developing and unrelated to the Earth Alliance. Then, the possibility of the Human Federation's military discovering ZAFT's presence here without permission as this was close to Federation territory and that had serious consequences.
This mission was akin to juggling high grade explosives, several of them of the dangerous high-yield variety, hoping to snatch the one gem among them and run for it, praying to get far enough away before the rest went off. It was no help that the very idea of the Orb Union helping the Earth Alliance seemed as off as it was ludicrous to him to begin with. Why would they do it? Even if doing so could accelerate Orb's own mobile suit development, it made more sense to remain strictly neutral and just quietly develop the weapons while everyone else ignored them. Then, Orb was on very good terms with the Federation, so if ZAFT was caught attacking Heliopolis, the Federation could use that as a reason to attack both ZAFT vessels here without further issue.
Athrun was brought out of his thought as he felt a hand on his shoulder and when he looked up, Athrun saw his recently made friend, Rusty Mackenzie. "Hey Athrun, you doing okay?" Rusty asked quietly.
Athrun frowned, "It doesn't feel right, what we're about to do."
"What's wrong with you two?" asked Yzak Joule. Athrun and Rusty turned slightly to glance at their teammate.
Yzak had medium length silver hair that went down to the top of his neck along with blue eyes and stood at 5'9". He already had his red pilot suit on as he looked to them, "Yzak," began Athrun.
Rusty gave a small smile, "We're good Yzak, just pre-mission nerves. They come to a lot of pilots before they go out on assignment," he said to Yzak.
"If you say so, you both look nervous. There's nothing to worry about in this," replied Yzak. "That's not like either of you."
"Yeah, sneaking into Heliopolis is going to be all too easy," said Dearka Elsman as he finished closing the collar of his pilot suit. Dearka had short blonde hair and brown eyes and stood at 5'9". "The possibility that we would launch an attack hasn't occurred to them in their wildest dreams." He gave Athrun and Rusty a slightly mocking smile. "You're not chicken, are you Athrun, Rusty?"
"That's enough, Dearka!" said Nicol Amalfi, coming up behind Dearka. Nicol had green hair and brown eyes, had a height of 5'5" and was the cautious one of the pilots assigned to this mission aside from Athrun and Rusty. "This is a dangerous and important mission! We can't let our guard down simply because Orb is a neutral nation! The Human Federation is neutral and yet, can match ZAFT if there are put to it."
"Nicol is quite right," cut in a new voice suddenly, drawing the attention of the five pilots to a tall, masked blond wearing a white ZAFT commander's uniform.
"Commander Le Creuset," muttered Yzak, surprised to see their enigmatic commander here.
"This mission is of great significance," said Le Creuset. "The Earth Forces have developed new prototype mobile weapons at a colony of the neutral Orb Union, and under no circumstances should this be treated lightly. The success or failure of this mission could have a tremendous impact on the rest of the war. Time is of the essence; we need the mission to be done before Human Federation patrols come looking around." Le Creuset paused, studying his subordinates, and gave a slight nod as he concluded that any joking attitude had vanished. "The fate of ZAFT rests on your shoulders, we're counting on you."
The five ZAFT Reds snapped to attention, saluting their commander without any hesitation,
"Yes sir! For the glory of ZAFT!"
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
Heliopolis, housing district elecar station
"So, what's Professor Kato researching for Morgenroete?" asked Tolle as we all headed to an elecar station to travel to the technical college.
"Even with him doing research for Morgenroete, that doesn't mean he says what he's working on. Kato tends to be too busy giving Kira and I stuff to do for either of us to ask." I replied tiredly.
"Hmm… well, by what he's been handing us in the last few months, I think he's developing some new operating system," said Kira off-handedly.
I noticed that Lacus perked up slightly at hearing that, maybe she was wondering if it was a Natural-use mobile suit OS. The Earth Alliance definitely wants an OS for Naturals that could be used in mobile suits, it's no secret. Professor Kato is the prime suspects I had, of who could be designing the OS for the Earth Alliance's prototype machines. The Human Federation has already developed an operating system that Naturals can use, it's not a cake walk or anything, but it's usable by Natural pilots. Said OS hasn't been shared with the Earth Alliance, even if they suspect of its existence and that the Federation have mobile suits. The Federation has neither confirmed or denied such facts, an ongoing frustration for the Earth Alliance.
"Yeah, suppose it could be something like that. Kato tells us not to ask too much about it whenever the opportunity comes up and I'm not that interested in knowing more myself," I added.
"Operating System? Okay, guess that could be," questioned Tolle, glancing between Kira and myself. "So wait, you mean neither of you know what you're helping with?"
We shook out heads, "That's so typical of you both," muttered Miriallia in exasperation.
I rolled my eyes, "Is it so hard to believe that we don't want to be put in a position to get into trouble Miriallia? There's such a thing as knowing too much for your own good," I posed.
"Hey, be nice Miriallia. Kira and Tye are just assistant students," said Lacus, coming to our defense. But then, Kira is her childhood friend and I'm a friend. "It's not like they're being told everything."
"Exactly," said Kira, nodding slightly. "Besides, making inquiries would probably just get both of us saddled with more work."
My shoulders slumped, "Yeah, bet that's what Kato would do, probably saying that it's so we take responsibility. And there's already more than enough going around, too much really," yet, I leaned in towards Kira and continued in a whisper, "Although shouldn't you also say, so you can spend time with Lacus as she can't stick around for long Kira."
Kira blushed a bit at my whispered comment, to which I smirked in response. "So that's your excuse," said Miriallia, regaining our attention, "It doesn't change the fact that this is typical behavior for you both. Most people would want to know more, so don't you?"
'Miriallia really doesn't understand how military development works or is seen by those involved. In this instance, if this is related to Morgenroete's weapons development or rather, the Earth Forces military advancement, then neither Kira, nor I should be more involved than we are!' I thought, but didn't say out loud.
Our female friend was pinning Kira and I with her gaze, clearly waiting for a reply to her question, when we were saved by an interruption. "I'm telling you it's not what you think!" came a voice ahead of them, drawing our attention to a trio of girls walking their way, a blue-eyed redhead in a pink dress leading the way. I have seen that girl sometimes, yet I've trouble remembering her name… and I feel like I should know it.
"Then what is it?" asked a brunette with pigtails.
"It's none of your business!" replied the redhead.
"Flay…" muttered Kira, slightly surprised.
Oh yeah, that's the redhead's name, as I recall, she's supposedly the fiancé of one of Kira's other friends whose name is Sai Argyle or something like that. In the field of my peripheral vision, I noticed Lacus frowning slightly, and then fell back a little behind Kira, but Tolle and Miriallia didn't notice.
"Oh, Miriallia!" said the brunette suddenly, then she must be someone that Miriallia knew. Her words alerted the redhead, Flay… still don't remember her last name, and the third member of the group, a black-haired girl. Flay's eyes immediately settled on Lacus, and the redhead seemed to recoil ever so slightly away, but only Kira, Lacus and myself noticed. Can't say what caused that reaction… maybe she has an issue with Coordinators, Lacus is one and that's obvious by her hair color alone.
"Did you hear?" asked the brown-haired girl, rushing over to Miriallia. "Flay got a love letter from Sai Argyle!"
Sai is a good guy, down to earth and often helped Kira and I to not be burdened with work from Kato… so then, why would a love letter be out of place? I mean, Sai is supposed to be engaged to this Flay isn't he? "Huh? From Sai?!" gasped Miriallia in surprise.
The words jarred Flay out of her apparent stupor as she stepped forward, a partial glare on her face. "Come on, this has nothing to do with Miriallia!" she said as firmly as she could manage.
"Why don't you just say yes?" asked one of the other girls. "He's not all that bad or anything, right?"
"It's not that…" countered Flay.
Girls can be really strange with certain things, never have figured out why. Caught sight of Lacus leaning closer to Kira I listened hard, "Isn't Sai her fiancé?" whispered Lacus to Kira.
My friend nodded slightly, "Yeah, it was a parental arrangement, a lot like you and Athrun," he whispered back.
"Oh, so that's how it was supposed to work, kind of wondered," I remarked so that they heard me.
Kira stared at me with a look that asked what I was talking about. I sighed, "I meant our friend Sai. You mentioned he was engaged, but not the circumstances as to why he was at such a young age. So, it being a parental arrangement explains it." I said quietly so that our conversation wouldn't be overheard by the others.
Lacus nodded slightly as a car drove past the group on the otherwise deserted road. "I wonder why he'd write a love letter…" Lacus mused.
"Excuse me," asked a feminine voice behind us.
All of us turned to see a woman in a red jacket, alone with a man behind her, no one answered her, so decided that I would, "Yeah?" I asked.
"If you're not getting in the car, mind if we do?" she posed.
We shook our heads and moved aside. Meanwhile, I was wondering who she was and what she was doing, paranoid perhaps, but these days, you never know. Swear I've seen the woman before somewhere, I just can't place where right now though. Anyways, we took our turn to get a car to take it to the College.
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
Outside of Heliopolis
In a ZAFT shuttle, the team that would infiltrate the colony waited to arrive at where they would enter the colony. "We have now arrived at the Block Six Maintenance Hatch," said the com-officer, alerting the red and green pilots that they'd reached their first mission point. Athrun looked to Nicol, who was nearest the hatch of the shuttle, and nodded.
Nicol nodded back before the hatch was unsealed, opened giving the Le Creuset Team pilots an unobstructed view… of the outside of the colony wall. Athrun raised a hand and waved the team out the hatch while five other soldiers in green pilot suits emerged from the other transport pod, floating in front of the opening that they planned to use to enter the colony.
The main mission plan called for those in red to capture the enemy weapons, since there was presumed to be five weapons, there was five chosen for this. The risk was them getting killed by those who would likely be defending and that was a real possibility. Therefore, green regular pilots were there to safeguard their comrades and, if needed, pick up the slack if something was off with their Intel. It was an unsaid given, anyone who didn't capture an Alliance machine, would probably not make it out alive. Should they somehow be left alive, it would probably only be through capture and who knows what would come after that. Still every single member of the team had volunteered for this mission.
Athrun glanced at his watch, waiting for the scheduled time to start the mission. These hatches were used almost daily, at a set time, the hatch would automatically open. Following the hatch opening, five seconds afterward the sensor lasers in the tunnel would shut down for thirty seconds normally. This routine was a relic from the time when Heliopolis was being built. With the low number of workers, the need of more automation had forced for the necessity of maintaining the colony. If they encountered any maintenance workers, they'd have to kill them, so Athrun hoped they were running a little late today so that they wouldn't need to kill someone who was unfortunate enough to just come by.
Athrun's watch lit up, just as he'd set it to do, and the maintenance hatch opened giving the view of long dirty maintenance tunnels of the resource colony. Since this tunnel was close to the outside of the colony, there wasn't an atmosphere here unless someone needed to work on this area. The ZAFT soldiers briefly caught sight of the sensor lasers as they deactivated, once they had, all ten soldiers headed inside.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
Heliopolis, Technical College
Our group got to the college and we headed to the office of Kato. The door of Professor Kato's lab opened, admitting our group, minus Flay and her two friends, who had gone wherever their destination was. "Ah… I see you finally gave in, the both of you in fact." said Sai Argyle, Kira's bespectacled best friend other than myself and Athrun. Sai was about the only one in our circle who was a match for Kira intellectually. I mean, Kira is intellectually smarter than me by a margin, I just have more practical experience than he does, comes with being two years older. Sai is also better than me academically, but he does more work than Kira. Sai had short yet straight blonde hair and blue eyes, covered by his orange tinted glasses, standing at a height 5'9".
"Yes, something like that," I replied somewhat begrudgingly.
"Hey, I thought it was just supposed to be Kira and Tye if you found him," said Kuzzey Buskirk, another member of their circle. Kuzzey had short black hair and brown eyes, stands at 5'3" and was the last of the four that made up Kira and my friends here.
"You got a problem with us being here Kuzzey?" demanded Tolle irritably.
I saw that Lacus and Miriallia were looking over to the left side of the room and glancing in that direction, I noticed someone standing off to the side wearing a brown jacket and hat. Said person was appearing to be attempting to draw the least amount of attention to themselves. Why that was the case, I can't say, but I did catch a bit of golden blonde hair, but not much more of the face of the person.
"The professor added this to the workload, sorry," said Sai, handing Kira a computer disk.
"Thanks," muttered Kira unhappily. Sai pushed his glasses up slightly, then he turned to me, "Then Professor Kato said if you dropped by or were dragged here, to give this to you Tye. Said that you should be able to get all of it done as you've be having a break from it," he said handing me not one, but two disks.
I took the disks, "Thanks Sai, another long day and likely night of work for me, yet another night that I get little if any sleep, whoopty freaking doo," I grumbled flatly.
Sai and Kira knew that I did other things, but I haven't told them I actual work for the Human Federation military. All of those here believed that I'm an assistant for a 'journalist' here, who was actually one of my teammates. "I tried convincing him to wait or let me handle it, since Lacus was here visiting and Tye has been busy with other things, but the professor wouldn't budge. It seems this stuff is even higher priority than we realized," Sai said.
"Thanks for that," said Kira, much more genuinely this time. Sai wasn't only Kira's best friend here other than me, but he was also the most gifted Natural Kira said he had ever met. The blonde-haired guy was certainly gifted, I could see that and I've seen some gifted Naturals. Would bet in a year or so that Sai would be scouted to work for the Human Federation. Sai, as far as I know, is the only other person other than myself that are outside of Kira's family to know Lacus's real identity, though there was no hiding her being a Coordinator.
I gave Sai a smile, "Don't doubt Kato would say this stuff is 'high priority' like he's been doing lately. At least you try to help, tis appreciated… even if it didn't get the desired result. I can't blame you for how this ended out, especially as this is his way to say thanks for avoiding him for the last month."
Suddenly from my pants pocket, my com unit began vibrating and beeping quietly. When I took it out and looking at the ID being displayed, I knew I had to take it now. "Uh sorry all, I need to take this call, please excuse me for a moment," I said, setting down the disks on the nearest surface, then stepped out of the room.
Once I was out of the room, I glanced around to make sure I was alone, and then put the com device to my ear, "Okay Lisa, what is it that's urgent you need to call me less than an hour after I checked in?" I asked.
"Tyler, you need to move, ZAFT is moving in! I think they might already have gotten in a raiding force. Alan found a large maintenance hatch open that shouldn't be and the laser detection system is off." Lisa said to me in a bit of a rush.
Dang it! I knew that ZAFT might make a move before the Federation patrol gets here, but I was hoping they wouldn't. I ran a hand through my hair, "Okay, first calm down and see if you can't prevent ZAFT mobile suits that will come, to not enter the colony if you could please. The less of them there are to deal with, the less complicated this situation will be in the end. I'll head to the factory district and see what I can do there." I said before I disconnected the com line.
I recomposed myself before sliding back into the room and facing the group that I call friends as they were all looking at me for an explanation, "Um… Sorry everyone, just got a call from the secretary of the journalist I work for, says there's an urgent task has come up that I'm need for. Duty calling and everything, comes with being an assistant to a news organization, on call all hours of the day and night." I said in an apologetic tone, before turning towards the door.
Tolle spoke up before I could duck out, "What about the stuff that Professor Kato has for you to do?"
I paused for a moment, for if things go anything like I suspect they will, then the work that Professor Kato is trying to shove on me won't be of any consequence at all. I waved a hand in a dismissive gesture and answered, "I'll get to it after I deal with the what I've just been handed Tolle. This is what it is to hold a job, you have to do things when you're asked, even when it's not convenient, Kato doesn't get that there is more to life than his work."
Now, I wasn't exactly lying, for I was doing my job, it just wasn't working for a news organization like they think I do. After doing what explaining I could, I hauled my rear out of the college and headed to my apartment to collect my bag of goodies that I had prepared for such a situation that was developing right now. Then I would run over to the factory district and see how bad things really were. In the best-case scenario, I would be able to stop things from becoming a horrible incident, by at least minimizing the damage and casualties, maybe more.
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
Heliopolis, Morgenroete Interior Dock #1
The ZAFT forces didn't waste time, but move quickly and laid explosives throughout the dock and other parts of the colony, taking advantage of the zero-G environment to move about in almost complete silence. Those people here wouldn't know what hit them and better they don't. The force was now heading to an access hatch that would let them enter the main colony so that they could move towards their real targets. "Heh… can you imagine the looks of shock on their pacifist faces when this goes into motion?" said Yzak lowly.
Athrun frowned, glancing at his teammate before looking forward. 'I wasn't hoping for war, but I'm here fighting one anyways.' Athrun thought to himself. 'This just feels wrong; Kira… Tye… where are you two now? What would you think of this war of ours?' The thought of the two he considered his best friends and what they would think of this, and it left a bitter taste in Athrun's mouth. Especially, when the last time he had seen the two, they had parted ways with smiles and words of good luck to one another.
All the ZAFT soldiers kept moving along until the came out into the main interior of the colony, on a hill that overlooked the place that their targets were supposed to be stored. They heard alarms starting to go off as they went, yet they kept their cool and kept going.
Meanwhile, on the Marseille III within Heliopolis's main docking area, the crew of the ship were scrambling to their battle stations, which included the four mobile armor pilots as well. Lieutenant La Flaga approached the captain, "Enemies?" was his short question.
The captain kept calm, "Two vessels, one Nazca-class and the other a Laurasia-class. We already have conformations of mobile suits launching and on course for the colony," he replied seriously.
La Flaga huffed, "Great," he muttered, before he activated his com-link in the neck of his pilot suit, "Krystal, have Luke and Gail board their Moebius units and standby for launch. Do not, I repeat do not let them go out just yet."
"Got it Mu, they're already heading for them. We'll be waiting for you down here," replied Major McAlester.
At the same time, down below ground, under Morgenroete's location, the secretly developed new Alliance ship, the Archangel-class was also a buzz with activity once the alarms had started sounding about the ZAFT ships approach. The captain of the vessel was telling the crew that was with him in the control booth not to panic. He knew if they did, all of them would be playing into ZAFT's hands and would likely die doing so. Instead, saying that the colony's controller could deal with the situation and that the priority was to focus on making the Archangel ready to launch. The need of such things to be done included transferring the prototype mobile suits to the ship and doing all of this as fast as possible.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
Heliopolis, housing district
I sprinted to my place and didn't waste the time bothering getting out the key for the door, just literally kicked the door open and rushed in. I grabbed the backpack filled with equipment, such as weapons and other tools that I might need, all hidden among clothing so as not arose suspicion, slung the pack over my back and ran out of the apartment, not caring that the door was left open. The current situation was developing badly so far and if it keeps going that way, then it won't matter that the door is open anyway. On my way out, I fished out the ear piece that was the Federation com-link from the backpack and put it into my right ear.
Flew down the stairs, got close to using the railing to drop down to the ground below. When I was on the ground I set off sprinting down the street in the direction of the Factory District. I didn't miss all of the weird looks I got along the way, yet I ignored them as I was focused on the task at hand. To me, it was pretty much a guarantee now that there was a group of ZAFT soldiers in the colony and right now they were waiting for the Earth Forces to make a move. When that happened, they would move in and take the mobile suits, that's the most likely scenario.
What I don't know, is what method they intend to use to smoke out the Alliance Officers and that worries me! There are several different ways it can be done… some unfortunately, would put the citizens of the colony in some very real danger and for the other members of the team and myself, we're trying to prevent that as much as we were able. Most outside of Federation Military and politics, unlikely know the Orb Union is a member nation of the Human Federation as of a year ago. Don't know why Orb leaders haven't announce the idea, but it doesn't matter, they are a part of the Federation and so their citizens are to be protected just as any other would be.
I was two thirds of the way to the Factory District, when there was a violent shaking that rocked the whole colony. Kept myself from collapsing to the ground, though it did take effort to prevent it. I came to a stop looking around, many people had fallen to the ground from the rumbling. I touched my pointer finger on my right hand to my com-link, "Was the colony just hit by an object on the outside?"
"No, I didn't see anything… Knight, Lascy, either of you see something?" came Lisa's voice.
"Not a thing from my position chaps." Replied Alan Knight, his north Euros Collation accent audible.
"Felt the tremor around ere lass, think they were caused by some sort of explosive, can't say where the charges were placed. However mate, managed to convince a good numbers of the controllers to get out before the bang went off. They say that two ZAFT ships are on course to come and bring trouble ere to the colony and they aren't responding to any communications," said Luke Lascy, his Oceanic Union drawl present.
"Okay, good for you Luke, get those people to a safe location, probably a shelter being the best choice and then get to the third fighter and get outside, asap. Lisa keep a close eye on however many GINNs are inviting themselves in. Alan, try to figure out where things stand with ZAFT's activities right now, tap into whatever colony system necessary to do so. Remember, they are likely trying to get to the Earth Alliance's prototype mobile suits, so that would be a good place to start. Everyone, time is of the essence, move!" I ordered.
Resumed running towards the Factory District once again, taking in the confusion that was sprouting up everywhere as I went. Had only been going along for a few minutes when Alan's voice came over the com-link, "Old boy, the situation is bad, expected, but more than I believe any originally thought. That rumbling you felt, it was likely from explosives that ZAFT set throughout the different parts of the colony. Sorry old chap, but with what I am seeing right now, that's what it appears to be."
Put my pointer finger back to the com-link, "And the evidence that brings you to that conclusion?"
"I tapped into the surveillance system and… well, I'll say that the main dock's control booth along with Morgenroete's dock's control booth are in ruins and the dock below just as bad if not more of a bloody mess… don't ask for details, you don't want to know." Alan said.
So, ZAFT attacked the dock, probably so they can come in and take control, but why use explosives? That's going a little far, yeah it pretty much can kill those working on the Alliance ship but… We have got to be missing something in this, explosives are an extreme method to get the Alliance to move. I shook my head to clear it, there was work to do! "Listen up everyone, keep your eyes peeled. Lisa, Alan, I'm more sure that ZAFT is not going to be nice in this, keep those GINNs busy. The less of them that get in the better, would be wonderful if none get in, but I know that none of us are miracle workers. Still, I need to know what force that is going to be made up of, McGregor out."
Resumed sprinting in the direction I had been, the sooner I get to the Factory District the better. I need to see what the Earth Alliance is doing… hope they haven't been stupid and moved or in the process of moving those weapons they've been constructing at Morgenroete out into the open. That would spell out more issues with this event and there is already more than enough to deal with in my opinion. The people of Heliopolis are in danger already as it is, don't need to be put into more. It took me around eight minutes to reach the Factory District, and it was the definition of chaos and disorder. There were people running around, lying on the ground either dead or too injured to do much. As much as it pained me, I ignored the people and made my way to Morgenroete. It's my hope and prayer that the Earth Forces are still there, Morgenroete's factory complex is a better defendable position and is more logical to work with.
Unfortunately, upon arriving, the sight the met my eyes didn't lessen my fears at all, for the Earth Alliance personnel were being stupid like I suspected they would be. They were moving out their prototype mobile suits in the transport trailers… likely to their ship to get them out of here. They're moving in a train out into the open road, heading to the back of the internal dock, which Alan had said was now a mess… makes me wonder if their warship is still usable as it is right now.
But back to the mobile suits being moved, the odds of them making it to the dock with those machines with no problems coming up… I'll put it like this, it's as likely as dedicated members of Blue Cosmos saying they're giving up their beliefs and will leave Coordinators alone, and that'll will never happen in the near future… if ever! Honestly, they might as well post huge signs on each trailer saying 'ZAFT soldiers welcome, come and we'll give you the activation codes for our mobile suits!' for it will result the same in the end. And speaking of that idea, things got worse as I spotted ZAFT soldiers in green and red space suits descending on the Earth Forces escort, more red than green.
It's time I change my position, for my own safety and to act for the best of the citizens of Heliopolis! Took out the pistol I had in my pack and began skirting around the Morgenroete Factory Complex, getting closer to the main factory building and perhaps finding something to work with in this situation. The sound of gunfire and explosive blasts were heard from the direction of the mobile suit trailers. Managed to not be noticed and get to the largest structure and was about to open a door on the side so that I could slip inside. Yet, that's when the sound of metal being twisted out of its place came to my ears and drew my attention. I turned around and watched as two of the Alliance mobile suits rose.
The one on the left, I would estimate to be slightly under 19 meters as it stood at its full height. Out of the five Earth Alliance machines that they had been getting Morgenroete to develop for them, this one was definitely designed for artillery. With the two long cannon barrels connected to the rear of the suit, makes it kind of obvious. Then, if the information we, the investigation team had gathered was correct, this unit had missile launchers built into the shoulders. Believe this particular unit is designated as the "GAT-X103 Buster" if I recall the reports correctly.
The one to the right of the "Buster", was yet another one of the five 'G-Weapons' as the Alliance officers call them. It looked like one of the two that wasn't built with a specific position or task on the battlefield in mind. But seeing the shoulder coverings on the outside of the arms, it was the very likely the "GAT-X102 Duel". Supposedly, by the reports Alan had acquired; there were different equipment load outs for this and the other General-Purpose unit.
Well, that makes things just peachy! With the fight between the Earth Forces and ZAFT breaking out in front of me, the need to haul my rear and find something to work with and fast was perfectly clear! Entered the main factory and then took the time to scan around the large factory workspace and saw most of the construction floor was a mess and was scattered with large equipment. I'd been here in this place before, not for spying… per say, was volunteering in somethings at the time. Wasting no more time, I began to explore the place to see if there was anything left to use to help in this situation. By the time I reached halfway across the construction floor, I took in that two out of the five Alliance machines were still in their trailers and hadn't been moved out just yet like the other three had. They were a possibility for me to use, but they were a very risky venture to take and use!
Ignoring the two mobile suits in favor of something that would come with less risks to obtain and use. That reasoning, forced me to keep going farther in and it wasn't until I got towards the back of the development floor that I laid my eyes on not one, but two prizes of my search that fit what I was looking for almost perfectly. Two mobile suits were laying in construction docks with scaffolding over them that held a good portion of my attention, for they seemed to be being ignored by ZAFT forces.
Although, taking the time to think about it, I don't remember hearing or seeing these two machines before, which is kind of odd. Even if I've been down here on Morgenroete's development floor a few times… not that anyone really knew that I'd been taking in what was here, but then I'm an intelligence agent among other things I do for a reason, am skilled at it. So, I'm good at not being noticed by others when I'm doing observations. The mobile suit that was the farthest distance from me, appeared to be very similar to one of the Orb Union mobile suit models, the "Astray". Not all that familiar with the suit model really, so I can't say what the differences this one has compared to the regular Astray are.
The suit that was closer to my current position, looked to be to rather similar to the "GAT-X207 Blitz". The machine itself at least appeared to have the same overall design shape, however, there were some differences. First, it didn't share the same equipment as the Blitz, where the Blitz had a shield mounted to its right arm, this suit had it attached to the left. Plus, the shield wasn't the same as the Blitz's either, looked to be like an old fashion tower shield shape, with a 'W' shaped space open at the bottom of the shield. Then the shield was curved inward a bit towards the front of the shield from where I was standing, don't know why. On the right side of the machine, there was a medium length rifle against the right hip covering, decent firepower I would guess. I can't say from where I'm standing with the current lighting here. Then, the suit's back appeared to be shaped differently than the Blitz's specs had shown.
The sound of voices above me, snapped my attention upward and on instinct, I whipped the pistol I had with me up, spinning around to point the gun in the direction of the voices, ready to dive for cover if needed. Yet, to my surprise, on the upper level was Kira, Lacus and the blonde person in the brown coat who had been around Kato's lab earlier. I could also see, that the person in the brown coat was a girl, something I couldn't tell before. But, what are they doing here?!
An explosion from behind me signaled that Morgenroete was open and company was coming in I wouldn't doubt, the unwelcome kind that is. Ran forward towards the stairway that led up to the second floor and raced up them quickly, attempting to get to Kira and those with him before they were noticed by others. Once in earshot, I heard the blonde speaking, "I knew it," she said. "The Earth Alliance's prototype mobile weapons." Caught a glimpse of tears form at the corners of her eyes, "Father, I knew you betrayed us all!" she cried.
Caught movement from below, and upon glancing down I saw that the cry of the blonde had drawn the attention of a green suited ZAFT soldier on the ground level. Looking back, I took in that Kira had noticed the attention that we had gotten and grabbed the blonde, dragging her away as Lacus followed. While he did that I twisted around to point my gun down at the soldier and fired on him, to which he ducked behind equipment on the ground level. I heard Kira yelling, "Crying won't help you! Come on now, run!"
"Kira go! I'll hold them off!" I shouted at my friend.
The ZAFT soldier had reached the same stairwell I used to get up to this level and was coming up, while I ducked into a doorway for defense. I didn't look to see if Kira had gotten both girls away, I was focused on the ZAFT soldier. He had a bigger gun than I do from what I caught sight of and probably has more ammunition, how do I get into these kinds of messes?!
-Line Break-
-Neutral pov-
"Very impressive," muttered Yzak as he got the first prototype to stand up. "Dearka, how about yours?"
"It's great, other than this joke of an OS the Naturals put in it," said Dearka from the cockpit of the second machine. "Update activated. Nerve links reconstructed. Calibrations set. It'll move… not the best, but it'll do for now." As he said that, he moved it into a standing position as well.
"And you Nicol?" asked Yzak.
"Not yet, still working on fixing the OS," said Nicol as he typed away, adjusting the OS settings on the third mobile suit. "It's a mess and that's putting it mildly, but I'm almost there." No sooner had he said that then he finished and his machine stood as well.
"Have we heard from Athrun and Rusty?" asked Dearka. "They're taking their time…"
"Heh, I don't think they'll have any trouble," said Yzak, smiling. "Let's stick with the plan. We'll leave with these three. Let's get them to Commander Le Creuset before they get damaged." With that said, Yzak activated the thrusters on his captured machine and lifted off, Dearka doing the same seconds later.
Nicol frowned, wondering if maybe they should go support Athrun and Rusty. It had been a bit since there was anything heard from them, but he decided that they probably didn't need it. Nicol lifted off as well, following the other two as they headed for the harbor exit.
-Line Break-
-Tyler's pov-
I knew that the way to win this, would be accuracy. My opponent has a gun that's more powerful, has more bullets per clip and can fire faster than my pistol. I need to make my shots count! A barrage of bullets came my way and I pressed myself further into the alcove I was in to shield my body from the barrage of bullets. Waited for a chance to come for me to shot back, when the sound of clicking was heard, I swung out and aimed my pistol and pulled the trigger. The crack was drowned out in the maelstrom all around, but the sight of the green helmet visor shattering and the man dropping to the walkway, said that I'd hit my mark.
Stored my pistol on my belt and walking forward, flipped the man over and grimacing at the bullet size hole in his forehead. However, I leaned forward and closed his eyes and bow my head as a sign of apology and respect. I dislike killing another when it could be avoided, but wasn't given much other option in this. Snatched up the assault sub-machine gun and the extra clip the soldier had… it would help me more than the soldier now.
Hearing footsteps, I turned around with the machine gun at the ready in one hand and whipped out my pistol in the other. Yet, at seeing Kira and Lacus coming towards me, I lowered the weapons. "I see you dropped off that blonde, I assume in a shelter?" I asked.
Kira nodded in reply, before we made our way down to the development floor and faced the two mobile suits that are still in their docks, "Two other mobile suits…" Kira whispered.
Was in the motions of nodding when suddenly, there was an explosion heard both in front of and to the right of us. The ground shook from the shockwave from the explosion, I grabbed onto consoles that were nearby to keep myself from falling to the floor. While I did that, Kira got ahold of the closest support pillar that supporting the second level walkways that he was next to with his right hand and held Lacus with his left arm. Once the shaking had stopped, I signaled the two to follow me, and we moved to be right next to the two construction docks of the strange mobile suits. Kira looked to me with a look that asked, 'do we really have to do this', though he didn't say vocally. Nevertheless, I decided to give my answer out loud, "If you have a better idea of how to get out of here alive and in one piece, then I would love to hear it. These two mobile suits are the best solution that I can think of right now so, let's do this."
Lacus seemed to be in agreement with me, "Kira…" she whispered, gripping his shirt.
Kira looked back at the gray mobile suit on the right, the one that looks similar to the Orb Astray type suit. He sighed, "We have no choice," he said softly, as much to himself as to her. "Come on Lacus… we'll need to get out of here. And as Tye said, these machines should be able to make that possible."
My friend then turned to me, yet I had already closed the distance between me and the other grey suit on the left and had a hand on a ladder to the catwalks. "I take it that you'll take that mobile suit then Tye?" he asked me, pointing to the machine on the left.
I turned my head and simply nodded, before I began scaling the ladder on the side of the construction dock scaffolding that's used during the building process and for adjustments. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kira helping Lacus up the scaffolding, made their way to the cockpit hatch. I stopped above the open cockpit and watched Kira helped Lacus lower herself into the cockpit before dropping in himself. After observing the two enter the machine, I proceeded without hesitation, to hop over the railing and dropped through the open hatch and into the cockpit. Took the time to adjust myself into the pilot seat as well to buckle the restraints belts and tighten them… don't doubt this would be a bumpy ride!
Scanned the controls, noticing they were somewhat similar to ZAFT mobile suits and Federation machines. Heck the switch to close the hatch was in the same position as it would be in a Federation fighter surprisingly. Flicking the said switch and the entry hatch closed, a light above me came on to at least give some visibility for me to work by. Once the entry hatched closed, two screens moved from the left and right to cover the space that I had used to enter the cockpit. The two screens came together and became one display screen and was the forward optical display for me in this. Pushed a couple of buttons and the OS began to boot up, running through a system check program.
MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
/Version NV8 - N099/
General
Unilateral
Neuro - Link
Dispersive Autonomic
Maneuver
G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System
O.M.N.I. Enforcer
Looking over the screens in the cockpit and I saw that this mobile suit was called, "OIS-X209 Shadow". … It had a similar system to the one that ZAFT uses at first glance, I thought this was supposed to be new and different. Oh well, the Earth Alliance have always said a lot of things that turn out to be either false or just exaggerated.
Inputting a command to see what made up this operating system this machine has, out of curiosity as much as relevant information now that I'm going to be driving this mobile suit. In all the reports that had been acquired, none of us on the team had seen anything concrete on the OS of the Alliance machine other than it was going to be one that Naturals could use. The overall system functions and tasks list came up on the front display and I could only stare at the screen. Two thoughts came to mind as I looked at this system, first was that it was more than just familiar, this was indeed made from the work Professor Kato had been having Kira and I did for him. The second, just from seeing the functions that the system had and the tasks that were assigned… it's ridiculous and can't be called a working OS!
"What the hell is this?! Does the Earth Alliance seriously think that they can run a complex machine like a mobile suit with a disorganized mess like this?! Now the reason Kato kept coming to Kira and I make sense, yet this is still a piece of crap!" I cried out loud.
I looked around the cockpit and spotted a keyboard and brought it out for me to use. The next minute, I used to see what I was dealing with and was further appalled at the operating system put in this machine. The more that I see of it, the more I understand how screwed the pilot would be that would even try using this! They would be weapon fodder with this piece of junk some call an OS! I mean, for example, the targeting calibration was off, I would question if the weapons this suit has… whatever they are, could hit anything smaller than a small mobile suit carrying ship. The flow of energy from the battery system to the rest of the machine was incredibly wasteful. How this machine was supposed to move efficiently with this OS, I haven't a clue and I'm a Coordinator, a Natural would have a harder time getting this thing to move right. That's just to name a few things wrong with this operating system!
If Professor Kato had told us what his work we assisted him on was going to be used for, it would have been more helpful, but then I would've refused him outright. I sighed and got down to the business of fixing, or rather finishing and rewriting this OS, instead of complaining about how crappy it is. My fingers began flying as they typed on the keyboard, "Okay, to fix this let's start with the targeting calibrations, take them and reset the zero moment point and CPG. Connect the control module to the molecular ion pump to help streamline controls input to system command execution. To help that along and to optimize the system, reconstruct the neural linkage network. Then update the meta-active field for stabilization, feed forward controls to convey functions. Adjust Coriolis deviation, and connect to motion routines. Set energy output to a flow rate starting at 45 to 50% to adjust from there." I muttered to myself as my fingers kept typing on the keyboard and made the changes to the suit's OS. "That should do it, applying system updates, restarting main system!" I muttered to myself.
The operating system fully rebooted and came up, running better and smoother with the updates and changes I made. With that happening, I moved my hands the control sticks, along with my feet on the actuator plates. The screens to my left, right and ahead came up, giving me a panoramic view of the outside the machine. The suits hydraulics hummed into life and there came a screeching of metal being twisted and forced out of position. It was the dock scaffolding being pushed out of the way as the mobile suit began to rise and the orientation of the cockpit began to change as the machine got to its feet.
Once I had the suit was up, I moved the mobile suit around, testing out the changes and how the suit responded to my commands. Used the optics and other sensors to take in the current environment of the inside of the factory and what I saw was rubble, debris and the effects from the chaos of the ZAFT attack. The last two Earth Alliance suits were gone, likely stolen by ZAFT pilots however currently, the front of the factory was now blocked by debris. Glanced behind my current position, and watched as the mobile suit that Kira and Lacus were in, rising out of the dock it was in. Began to try to figure out a way for the three of us to get out of the factory and move forward from there. Began going through the arsenal that I noticed something that I hadn't seen during my previous glance through. The shield with the mobile suit I was piloting, had a railgun build into it and a decently powered one at that.
"Tye, how are we going to get out of this structure with it being in the condition that it is right now?" Kira asked over the radio.
I focused on the task at hand, that being getting out of the factory, "Well Kira, as the phrase goes, 'when you don't see a door, make your own'," I replied, raising the Shadow's shield to have it level with the outer wall of the building. "So, one door coming up!" I stated, before firing the railgun in the shield and the blast ripped through a sizable section of the wall, making a very nice new doorway for us to use.
Phase End
A/n
This Phase is less long than it was before, even if it's still fairly long, but that's how it goes. However, I'm much happier with this version as for Phase 1, it goes into better detail and that makes the work on the references that no one else sees but me, worth the time and effort that I put into this. Should there be terms you don't understand, you can go to Gundam wiki as that's where I do a good deal of my research for this story along places connected to it.
Now, as I tend to do, I ask some of you to please take the time write a review and tell me what you think, whether you think this is crap or think it's awesome, I just want to know. This is Blackshadow999 signing off!
These are my official custom mobile suit specs that I'll be sticking to throughout the story. I'll try to stay with the same consistent specs, so you can refer to these. If I add 'packs' or 'sets' I will list them by the machine they go with and then the pack name followed by what equipment comes with it.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Prototype Stealth and Infiltration Mobile Suit
Model Mumber: OIS-X209
Official Name: Shadow Gundam
Head Height: head height 18.63 meters
Base Weight: 73.1 metric tons
Power-plant: Ultracompact energy battery
Armor: Phase Shift armor
Crew: Pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
GENERAL DATA
Manufacturer: Morgenroete Inc.
First deployment: January 25, 71 C.E.
Design From: supposed GAT-X207 Blitz
Operator: Federation Military
Known Pilots: Tyler McGregor
Equipment and Features:
Mirage Colloid stealth system
The Blitz is the first mobile weapon to use the Mirage Colloid stealth system. In this system, a powerful magnetic field is utilized to hold in place microscopic prisms capable of blocking infra-red emission as well as bend visible light and radio waves around an object (e.g.a mobile suit). With the improvements done by the Donnen mechanics, altered heat disbursal from the thrusters and fixing the high consumption rate of energy. Like the Blitz, the Shadow is more vulnerable while the colloid is activated.
Long Range Targeting (L.R.T.) scope
The optical camera has a huge zoom ability which acts like a scope on a long range rifle and is hidden in the right side of the head. In the cockpit, a small screen comes out from behind the pilot seat and sits right in front of the pilot's helmet on the right side.
Phase Shift armor
As with all of the G Project mobile suits, the GAT-X207 Blitz is equipped with Phase Shift armor. When activated, the Blitz's color is changed from a light gray to a bright black scheme with red highlights. Phase Shift armor, when activated, renders the Blitz immune to physical attacks such as bullets, the GINN sword, or against missiles. However, Phase Shift armor continually drains the battery of energy, shortening the mobile suit's combat endurance, and uses up additional energy when it is hit.
Echo Trace Emitter
This system is designed to make the machine equipped disappear from sensors and not show up. As such long-range targeting sensors have a nigh impossible time locking in a unit with the system
Armaments:
"Igelstellung" 75mm multi-barrel Anti Air CIWS
Mounted in the Shadow's Head on either side two "Igelstellung" CIWS guns. These light projectile weapons are used to intercept missiles and to destroy lightly armored vehicles, although it is classified as Anti-Air.
Beam Saber
Stored in a compartment that sits over the right hip joint. It is a close-range combat weapon and can slice through any armor that does not have an anti-beam coating.
Optional Armaments:
Default Armaments
Barrier Shield
An optional piece of equipment designed to increase the Shadow's defensive and offensive capabilities, it is mounted on the left forearm. The shield does not have phase shift armor, so it is not as durable as the Strike's armor, however it also does not drain energy each time it is hit. The shield's major advantage is that it's heavy anti-beam coated and can block or deflect beam weapon attacks, against which phase shift armor is ineffective.
Beam Saber
It is a close-range combat weapon and can slice through any armor that does not have an anti-beam coating. The beam saber is built into the front section of the shield structure and when activated, extends 5' starting at the split at the bottom of the shield.
"Saruan" 80mm railgun
Mounted and built into the barrier shield, this weapon uses electromagnetic forces to launch projectiles at targets.
65mm High-energy Beam Rifle
Shadow's primary ranged combat weapon, it can be stored on the side skirt armor. The beam rifle can easily destroy a ZGMF-1017 GINN with one shot, but is mostly ineffective against suits with anti-beam coating. It has an additional handle that can shift to the side, and is often used for extra stability when the Shadow is firing its rifle rapidly.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Classification: Prototype General-Purpose Mobile Suit
Model Number: MBF-SA01
Official Name: Asuka Gundam "Astray Frame"
Head Height: 17.91 meters
Weight: 83.64 tons
Power-plant: 2 x Ultracompact Energy Batteries
Armor Material: Phase Shift armor
Crew: Pilot only, in standard cockpit in torso
GENERAL DATA
Manufacturer: Morgenroete Inc.
Developed Into: MBF-M1 M1 Astray
First Deployment: January 25, 71 C.E.
Operators: Human Federation, Orb Union
Known Pilots: Kira Yamato
Equipment and Design Features:
Phase Shift Armor
As with all of the G Project mobile suits, the GAT-X105 Strike is equipped with phase shift armor. When activated the Strike's color is changed from a light grey to a white scheme with a bit of blue and red mixed in. Phase Shift armor, when activated, renders the Strike immune to physical attacks such as bullets, the GINN sword, or against missiles. However Phase Shift armor continually drains the battery of energy, shortening the mobile suit's combat endurance, and uses up additional energy when it is hit.
Astray Flight System
To increase mobility, the Asuka is fitted with a fixed "flight pack" derived from the GAT-X105 Strike's Aile Striker pack. The flight pack did not provide true flight but it did increase the suit's overall mobility, and allows it to fly for a short period. There is a second battery in the flight system that also extends the phase shift armor to the flight system
Hardpoint (added later)
Fixed Armament:
"Igelstellung" 75mm Multi-Barrel CIWS
The Igelstellung 75mm multi-barrel Close In Weapon System is a pair of head mounted Vulcan guns. These guns are small-caliber shell firing weapons that are designed to shoot down missiles and lightly armored vehicles, but are ineffective against the heavier armor of a mobile suit.
Type 70 Beam Saber
The type 70 beam saber is the standard close quarter weapon for the Asuka, and its equipped with two of them, which are stored on the flight backpack.
Handheld Armament:
Type 71 Beam Rifle
A prototype beam rifle, the type 71 beam rifle is a ranged beam weapon and fires an energy beam that is effective against most targets, such as mobile suits or mobile armor. However, it is less effective against craft that have anti-beam coating.
Shield
As an Astray frame, a physical shield is equipped for defense, it is mounted on the left forearm and/or handheld. This is the same type of shield as used by Strike and Duel suit, so is coded with a layer of anti-beam coating
