Disclaimer: None of us own Gundam SEED. Goddamn Sunrise… Furthermore, any franchises that make cameos here belong to their respective owners.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
"Radio"
Chapter Two: Lost Home
Outside of Heliopolis, Cockpit of the Dragon
"Sit still, you blond asshole!" Ryu shouted to Rau as the blonde moved out of the way of his sniper shot before dodging a series of shots from Mu's DRAGOON Unit, the unknown white suit charged in, carving off a section of Rau's CGUE Shoulder armor before the white coat commander could boost away.
The unknown white suit then approached the Dragon, its free hand making contact with the Dragon's shoulder. "You're pretty good with those Funnels of yours," came a male voice from the unknown suit, using a contact link due to neither knowing the other's comm frequency.
Ryu rose his eyebrow slightly. "Funnels?" he questioned for a moment. "Ah, the DRAGOON units, you're not bad for only having a beam saber."
"Thanks," the unknown pilot replied. "Name's Amuro, but we can worry about official introductions later - I'm not letting anyone attack neutral colonies again!"
Ryu grinned slightly at that declaration. "I'm Ryu, my wingman is Mu," he informed. "Speaking of, Hawk, can you keep Creuset occupied? I wanna hit the ships directly!"
"I'm on it!" Mu replied, releasing his DRAGOON Units again, bombarding the CGUE with fire from all directions.
"Relocating!" Ryu announced as the Impulse Thruster Pack ignited, sending him flying into the debris. "If you want to, help out Mu, Amuro!"
Amuro's machine seemed to nod, before he turned around and launched at the CGUE, Beam Saber brandished once again.
Getting far enough from the battle between the three machines Ryu positioned the Dragon behind a rather large depleted asteroid and set up his tripod sniper shield and rifle before once again deploying his DRAGOON Targeters to increase the sniping range so that he could hit the two ships. Taking careful breaths as he brought down the sniping control unit and began to line up the shot Ryu steadied himself, a few seconds later he pulled the trigger, launching a blast of green energy that speared the Nazca-class through the portside engines before doing the same for the Laurasia-class and began to target their weapons.
Inside Heliopolis
Back inside the Colony, the Black Frame, Exodus, and Tempest Gundams had arrived near where the infiltrators were still fighting to get to the Prototypes.
"Damn, gotta give them points for persistence, eh, Kagami-chan?" Kira asked over the radio as she flew overhead, recently discovering the switch to change the Astray Black Frame into it's mobile armor form.
"Tell me about it. They've got half the colony's garrison fighting back against them and they still haven't aborted yet," Kagami agreed, glancing at the weapon controls for the Exodus Gundam's rear weapons hangers after having pilfered a pair of machine gun off the GINNs they had taken down earlier. "This should be easy, right? They can't really stand a chance against mobile suits while on foot."
"Not really, considering they're only armed with lightweight assault weapons and grenades," Kira commented. "And we're… well… flying machines of death."
"Umm, I hate to say this, but what are the chances of them killing themselves like in some of those movies?" the silverette grimaced. "After all, ZAFT isn't going to want to be found responsible for attacking a neutral colony."
"I have no clue, to be honest, hell, they probably thought they could get away with placing the blame on OMNI for building those damned things here!" Kira shouted. "Take-nii, that part is what really irks me for you not telling! I was making them their goddamned OS!"
"…Sorry about that, Imouto," Takeshi remarked. "When I was hired to escort the prototypes, I had to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement - couldn't talk to anyone not already in the know about it."
"Still, they had me, a civilian, and sometimes part-time ORB Ensign, working on their Operating System for their machines!" Kira shouted. "SO FUCK NONDISCLOSURE!"
"Seconded, and I say we bump up the severity of Kato-baka's punishment," Kagami agreed, clenching her fist at the thought of the so-called professor.
"Let's sic your boyfriend on him," Kira said, her eyebrow twitching. "Let's just round up these idiots first, though…"
"I'll attract their attention," Takeshi said, before triggering a burst of CIWS fire from his head-mounted vulcans, peppering the ground around the Infiltrators and causing them to look up at the approaching machines.
"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" one of the Infiltrators shouted out, the audio reception of their units picking up the voice. "Are they finished with the Calibrations yet?"
"I think they're getting close, at least," another Infiltrator replied. "They'd better hurry, though!"
"Dammit, Black Frame, Exodus!" Hammer lead called in. "ZAFT Infiltrators managed to get ahold of the G-Weapons and get into the hangar with the last two!"
"Dammit," Takeshi muttered. "Well, at least we can keep them from stealing the last two…"
"Take-nii, you deal with it!" Kira shouted. "Kagami-chan and I will deal with these ones!"
"Right… good luck, Imouto!" Takeshi called out as he moved the Tempest over towards the last hangar.
"Uh oh…" Kira murmured as she spotted the three G-Weapons beginning to rise out of their trailers. "Not good!"
"What do we do now?" Kagami stared at the stolen units as they shifted from their original grey colour scheme to their individual ones, signalling the activation of their Phase Shift armour. "We aren't going to be able to get them back easily now…"
"Gut them for all I care!" Kira shouted. "I'm just too pissed off with OMNI and ZAFT to give a flying fuck!"
"Language, language, Kira-chan," Kagami chided as her Exodus landed on top of one of the G-Weapons, knocking it to the ground. "We might still be able to knock their pilots out before they can fix that OS - they're probably still running Kato's half-assed one."
"Like I care!" Kira shouted as she fired the wing mounted 50mm CIWS peppering the black unit with explosive rounds. "I'm pissed like I'm on my MENSTRUAL CYCLE!"
The silverette rolled her eyes as she back stepped out of the way of a hail of shotgun shells from the beige one, forcing her to allow the blue and white one to get up. She fired several rounds from the machine gun on her weapon hanger at the latter, forcing it back down, although the shells did no noticeable damage. "Argh, forgot physical weapons don't work against Phase Shift armour."
"I noticed!" Kira shouted as she transformed into the mobile suit mode and fired several rounds from the beam submachine gun into the beige machine. "Damn, Morgenroete does good work!"
"No sense carrying this around if it's useless against them," Kagami ejected the machine guns and drew a beam saber, dual-wielding it with her beam rifle with her shield arm. "Time to take out these idiots for ruining that tender moment I had with Ryu-kun just now…"
"Damn, this submachine guns fires fast… but dammit it's not enough damage!" Kira shouted angrily as her shots did surface damage to the black unit's shield before reloading her weapon and drawing a beam saber. "Get over here you black bastard!"
"Of course it doesn't do much, it's a submachine gun, Kira-chan," the silverette pointed out, cheerfully sidestepping a beam saber from the blue and white one, putting it in between herself and the beige gunner so the latter couldn't fire without hitting his own ally. A slash from her beam saber, boosted by the thrusters on her shield, managed to force the former to its knees as it blocked with its shield.
Kira flew at the black mobile suit, delivering a thruster empowered thrust, forcing it to fall back against the beige one, sending them falling. "TIMBER MOTHERFUCKER!" Kira whooped as she landed her unit. "Who's got this? We got this!"
"Imouto, Hanami-san, we've got good news, bad news, and complicated news," Takeshi piped in. "Good news - the last of the five Prototypes, the Strike, is still out of ZAFT hands. Bad news - ZAFT managed to get the Aegis, so they have four out of five."
"And the complicated news?" Kira asked, worrying her lip slightly.
"From what I can see in the cockpit monitors, we've got Cagalli Yula Attha as a passenger in the Strike," Takeshi replied. "Not sure what she's doing up here on Heliopolis, but still…"
"Cagalli Yula Attha!? As in the ORB Princess?" Kagami gasped in surprise. "It'll be really bad if she gets offed by ZAFT, won't it?"
"Yeah, it will," Takeshi replied. "She's not wanting to get into a shelter, though. Whatever you do, don't let anything with Beam Weapons take a shot at the Strike!"
"Well that's just great then!" Kira announced sarcastically. "Whoa, what's the beige one doing?"
The Beige one she was asking about seemed to combine his two separate weapons into a single long cannon and take aim at the aerial Kira.
"Watch out, Imouto!" Takeshi called out. "The Buster's an artillery model - its weapons can combine into a Hyper-Impulse Long-Range Sniper Rifle or Anti-Armor Shotgun!"
"FUCK!" Kira shouted at the Buster fired off a single shell that she dodged, and sailed right towards the central shaft. "Oh dear god…"
"Oh, jeez," Takeshi remarked, seeing the shot moving. "That doesn't seem like a good sign…"
"I completely agree," Kagami groaned. "That idiot… did he just discover the switch for that and decide to use it in a panic?"
"This is Ensign Kira Yamato of ORB!" Kira shouted out over an open channel as the shell hit the colony's central shaft, causing critical damage. "GET TO A SHELTER! CENTRAL SHAFT HAS BEEN HIT! REPEAT: CENTRAL SHAFT HAS BEEN HIT!"
"Ara ara, now you've done it…" Kagami sighed as killing intent started to permeate the air.
"Kagami-chan, let slip the demonic mask," Kira said in all to calm voice. "I want to slaughter these idiots!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," the silverette replied nonchalantly even as a gigantic mechanical version of her patented Noh mask formed in the air behind her mobile suit, complete with even glowing red versions of the Exodus' eye sensors.
Kira grinned viciously as the three units froze. "Sure you don't, Kagami-chan, sure you don't," she informed as she charged the black one with her beam saber, cutting the legs off before damaging the thrusters, crippling the machine's ability to move.
Something snapped the two machines out of their fear as they seemed to reluctantly leave as the Colony began to buck as the Central Shaft's own rotation tore itself apart.
"Oh, dammit!" Takeshi called out, even as cracks began to form on the colony walls. "This is NOT good!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" Kira shouted as she grabbed a hold of their captive and pulled them towards the center where the G-Forces were lessened. "Brace for explosive decompression!"
The cracks broke open, and air began rushing out as the colony broke apart around them. Takeshi's machine was built for high speed, so the thrusters were capable of resisting the turbulence, and allowed him to get to Kira's side.
"Come on, Kagami-chan!" Kira shouted out to her friend. "Get to the center!"
Kagami used her shield as an extra booster to reach the center of the colony, putting her rifle on one of her weapon hangers and grabbing hold onto part of the central shaft. "Bunch of idiots!" she slammed her fist on her armrest.
"KAGAMI-CHAN!" Ryu shouted out over the radio as he saw the entire colony shudder from the outside. "What's going on? Are you alright?"
"I'm alright, the idiot in the Buster went and tested his gun on the central shaft," Kagami complained, massaging her head. "The colony's going to shake itself apart soon… and we won't be able to stop it. Damn it!"
"FUCK!" Ryu shouted. "Mu! Amuro! Get away from the Colony, it's falling apart! Kagami-chan, Kira, hold on I'm coming!"
"Dammit," muttered an unknown male voice that was likely the 'Amuro' that Ryu had mentioned. "I can't believe this is happening…"
"Stick close to the center!" Ryu ordered. "I'll be initiating the purge! It should reduce the damage to the shelters!"
"Hanami's not going to be happy when she comes back out…" Kagami muttered as she tightened her grip on her controls. "How are we going to explain it to her?"
"I don't know, Kagami-chan…" Kira said with a sad sigh. "I really don't know…"
"Purging is initiated, all range distress beacons deployed!" Ryu announced. "Shelters launched!"
"Well, that will probably get the civilians to safety…" Takeshi remarked. "Main problem is we're going to need transport… I hope the Archangel survived…"
"I could care less about the Earth Alliance ship right now," Kira informed. "Takeshi… our home is gone."
"I know…" Takeshi replied. "…but we can grieve for it later - right now, we need to worry about being able to get out of here, and short of hijacking one of the ZAFT ships, the Archangel is our best bet."
"Takeshi Yamato," Ryu said, interrupting the conversation. "ORB will be taking control of the Archangel, I hope you don't plan on interfering with that."
Takeshi sighed. "Given the total fiasco that has emerged, with several prototypes stolen by ZAFT and Cagalli Yula Attha as a passenger in the Strike, not to mention the destruction of the colony, I could likely declare default on the contract with the EA without too much flak," he remarked.
"Good, I would hate to be forced to kill my girlfriend's best friend's brother," Ryu informed. "Lady Attha, do you read me?"
"Dammit!" came what was likely Cagalli's voice. "I'm having trouble just moving around, let alone keeping this thing stable! The OS is atrocious - I'm surprised the woman who shoved me in here was able to control it at all before she got knocked out when the colony started coming apart!"
"Open your wireless options and put in router IP:998635 in allowed access," Kira informed brusquely. "Updating OS… it's a patch job, but you should be able to move now, Lady Attha."
A brief pause, then, "Thanks… moving a bit better now. Still unable to do much more than keep myself stable, though - I think the thrusters on this thing aren't all that strong."
"Looking at the data of the Strike now, fuck the EA MIB, the Strike is a Multi-mode Unit, it has a flight pack, looks like the packs were loaded onto the Archangel," Kira informed. "I'm also hacking into the Archangel's systems, Take, did you provide them with a copy of the Electronic Security Program I gave you?"
"Y… yeah…" Takeshi replied, still a bit nervous as to her reaction. "They wanted the best security systems, and that thing is the best system I've seen so far."
"Not sure if I should be angry or thankful, they never even noticed the back door in it, hell… did they even look at it?" Kira questioned. "I was able to get in without any trouble whatsoever and the ship is now controlled with my console… wow is that sad for them…"
"Shoulda known you'd put in a back door for if you needed to get in in a hurry," Takeshi remarked with a sigh. "Well, probably won't be able to do much until everything finally settles down…"
"Kagami-chan," Ryu called out. "Are you alright?"
"Been better," a sad Kagami replied. "Our home, Ryu-kun… it's gone…"
"I know, Kagami-chan," Ryu informed. "Good news though, I'm getting reports that 99% of the civilians made it out…"
"Good to hear…" Takeshi remarked. "I'm glad that so many of them managed to get to the shelters…"
"That's still 1% unaccounted for… I wish we could've done more," the silverette sighed again, but then turned the Exodus' glare right towards the black mobile suit Kira had disabled and captured. "At least we get to grill someone for answers…" she added as her Noh mask formed again, turning its full might on her target.
"Kagami-chan, wait," Ryu said softly. "Wait until we're aboard the Archangel, I will interrogate him, sorry, but there are very specific rules to the treatment of POW's."
"Killjoy," Kagami complained, but dropped the subject anyway while dissipating the mask. "So Kira-chan, where is the ship in question anyway?"
"Well, let's see, no cameras are accessible, no surprise, getting a GPS ping, heading is that way declination… 33 degrees," Kira reported as she pointed. "Lady Attha is between us and the Archangel."
The winds were starting to die down, at least to the point where Ryu's machine could enter without spending most of its thrust countering the outrushing wind. He was joined by what looked very much like a Gundam, and yet also different from any of the G-Weapons.
"Ryu…" Takeshi began, "What's that machine with you?"
"Unknown, came to our assistance in the battle," Ryu informed. "Given the situation, I decided not question too deeply."
"Alright," Takeshi replied. "I think we might need to hear his story once we're parked, though."
"Agreed," Ryu commented as the last of the colony purged itself. "Right, everyone, rendezvous at the Archangel, Kira, have it launch a beacon for Mu and Amuro to find."
"Alright," Kira replied, soon enough a pinging began appearing in their radar screens, indicating the beacon.
"Looks to be intact," Ryu announced as he arrived at the location of the Archangel. "Some people on the bridge, I think they're trying to regain control, but other than that, no action."
"Given Kira's programs, I'd say good luck at regaining control from her," Takeshi remarked. "Well, Ryu, you mind informing them of the situation?"
"Kira, patch me through to their comms," Ryu ordered, when given the signal he began speaking. "Attention Archangel, this is Commander Ryu Hisanaga of the ORB forces, we have taken control of your ship, it is now ORB property, at this time you have one of two choices, surrender, or die by vacuum."
"We can do that easily, too," Kira replied. "If you're wondering, I personally designed the security systems you installed on that ship - it'd be easy to just open all your hatches at once, then close them and repressurize once you'd been removed."
"We… understand," the person on the other end of the line informed. "Our security forces are standing by…"
"Have them lock their weapons in the armory," Ryu ordered. "Kira, ensure they do that."
"Got it," Kira replied.
"Alright everyone, prepare to board, I also have the surviving military personnel meeting us here," Ryu informed. "We're taking this ship over."
"Gotcha," Takeshi replied.
"Roger that," Amuro added.
"Let's get going then," Kagami nodded.
As soon as the ten shuttles holding assorted security personnel before Kira opened the hangers, allowing them inside. "Alright everyone, keep alert, Kira, Kagami-chan," Ryu said getting their attention. "I'll need the two of you to ensure they're not trying everything over the cameras."
"Kira-chan, let me in," the silverette brought up her keyboard and started typing away. "Yup, I see them. I'll take the security forces, Kira-chan, can you keep an eye on the bridge crew?"
"Not a problem," Kira informed. "I'm having fun watching them trying to hack my programs."
Kagami rolled her eyes in response as she brought up a view of the bridge on one of her screens. "That's actually pretty funny," she remarked, watching two of them furiously typing away at a pair of terminals while practically being spammed by error messages. One of them suddenly backed away from her terminal in surprise when a chibi image of Kira popped up on the screen sticking out her tongue at them.
"Oh this is so much fun," Kira said as she giggled. "Wonder if any of them will open the scream clip…" a second later a loud scream screeched out over the bridge speakers shocking those on it. "And they did it."
Takeshi was laughing. "You are constantly outdoing yourself, Imouto," he remarked. "What else do you have up your sleeve for them?"
Kira grinned. "Hey, watch that frigid bitch from the terminal earlier today, she's about to trip one of my more… vindictive ones," she informed as suddenly a vid appeared on the woman's screen of two fat men going at it.
"Kira-chan… only you would think of trolling military officers with that stuff…" Kagami laughed as the woman broke her stoic character, covered her eyes and ran the hell away from the terminal screaming, startling the rest of the crew on the bridge. "Aaaaand blackmail material obtained!" she hit the 'stop' button on her video recording program.
"I just hope we can find her a decent boyfriend… or girlfriend, if she swings that way," Takeshi remarked. "That woman seriously needs to get laid!"
Kira simply laughed hysterically in her cockpit. "That… that was… awesome…" she said between her bouts of laughter.
"Well, I'm sure we could 'accidentally' lock her in a room with some other guy after we take over the ship," Kagami chuckled, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
"HA!" Kira barked out. "That'll be too easy to do, but who should we lock her in with?"
"Any ideas, Takeshi-san?" the silverette asked the elder Yamato.
"About the only guy I can think of is Arnold Neumann," Takeshi remarked. "I think he might have feelings for her, but won't outright say anything. We could try it, though, see what happens."
Kira cracked madly. "Oh, lookie here, Ryu and Mu are arriving on the bridge," she announced. "This will be interesting."
"Patch me in, will you, Imouto?" Takeshi asked. "I want to watch!"
Kira giggled as she patched the Tempest into the video link, just in time as Ryu strode in with Mu and five fully armed ORB soldiers. "Well, Ensign Badgiruel," Ryu announced as he walked in. "Been a while, Grimaldi Front was the last posting, wasn't it?"
"H-Hisanaga!" Natarle replied in shock.
"Ara? They know each other?" Kagami raised an eyebrow.
"Well, I see your choice for rank over a certain pilot has served you well, look at where it got you," Ryu announced sarcastically. "So, listen up, I am now in charge of this vessel, it now belongs to ORB, any questions?"
"Rank over a certain pilot…?" Kagami's eyes narrowed. "Ryu-kun did tell me about him having an ex-girlfriend before…"
"That must be her, huh, maybe we need something a bit different for her, eh, Kagami-chan?" Kira questioned with an evil glint in her eye.
"Definitely," Kagami mirrored her best friend's evil glint. "Ryu-kun, can we come onboard now?"
"Yeah, we got everyone secured," Ryu confirmed. "I'll meet you guys on the bridge."
"Not sure if I can manage that though…" Kagami frowned, feeling that familiar tugging in the back of her mind. "Hanami's about to come back out, and someone'll have to explain to her what happened to our home… and what she's doing on an OMNI… excuse me, former OMNI vessel."
"I understand, I'll get there as soon as I can," Ryu informed. "Mu, you're in charge for now, ZAFT won't be moving anytime soon so let's see what we can salvage for supplies."
"You got it Ryu," Mu confirmed as he started issuing orders.
"I'll be right there, Kagami-chan," Ryu assured as he began moving.
"Right, Ryu-kun," the silverette jetted off towards a hangar that Kira had opened up, touching down slowly and settling into a docking bay. Once Kira had the hangar repressurized, she opened up her cockpit hatch and climbed out, but the usual bout of drowsiness that came about when her original personality resurfaced hit her as she was pushing herself out, causing her to miss the railing as she floated out.
"Kagami-chan?" Kira questioned as she came up next to her friend. "Are you alright?"
"Muh?" the silverette stirred, but quickly realized something was wrong when she found out her feet weren't on the ground. "Ki-Kira-chan? What…?" she looked around in confusion through her normal blue eyes.
"Hanami-chan, just hang on a second, Ryu's on his way," Kira informed assuringly. "A lot's happened and it's best if Ryu explains it."
"Umm… okay…" Hanami nervously looked around her for something to push off of to get back to Kira, but didn't find anything… and suddenly she remembered there was a reason why people didn't wear dresses or skirts in zero-G. "Hya!" she squeaked as she made to wrap her dress around her legs before anyone could see under it.
Kira giggled a bit at her friend's plight as she looked around to try and see how they could get moving in the right direction. "Hold on, you two!" Ryu shouted out as he drifted towards them, using his maneuvering pack to slow his approach. "Are you alright, Hanami-chan?" He questioned, making sure to look in the eyes before choosing the name to speak.
"I-I-I'm alright, Ryu-kun…" Hanami blushed as Ryu wrapped a hand around her shoulders. "But… wh-where are we? Wha-what happened?"
"We're aboard a formerly OMNI Ship, the Archangel," Ryu informed slowly. "ZAFT had attacked and during the skirmish one of the units they had stolen had struck the central column, and… the colony… it was destroyed…"
Hanami's eyes widened in shock as her brain processed the information. "ZAFT… attacked us? Wh-why? The colony was… was… de-destroyed…" Her eyes darted around frantically, looking for a window only to find none as she started hyperventilating. "Ryu-Ryu-kun… What about the people? Ou-our friends? Ple-please tell me…"
"Mostly everyone got to the shelters in time, the only people who didn't were either too old to get there in time, or just were idiots," Ryu informed. "And we're getting reports now on who's in the Shelters, your friends are fine. Calm down, Hanami-chan."
Hanami placed a hand on her chest as she tried to get her breathing back under control, drawing warmth from Ryu's hands. "Okay… okay… But… how di-did I get here?" she looked around in awe at all the machinery and the other mobile suits parked in the hangar. "How lo-long was I out?"
"A couple hours," Ryu informed. "Kira ended up sortieing when two GiNNs slipped passed the defensive line and ended up taking you with her."
Hanami nodded in understanding, turning to her best friend. "So-sorry for the trouble, Kira-chan… I'm always bu-burdening you needlessly…"
Kira hugged Hanami tightly in response. "You're never a burden to me, Hanami-chan," she informed. "You're my best friend."
"I-I suppose… Thank you, Kira-chan," the silverette reciprocated the hug gratefully.
"Let's see if we can find you some quarters to rest in," Ryu said as they got to the hangar exit. "You two must be exhausted."
Hanami was having to hold onto Ryu's arm for support, the shock still not entirely out of her system yet. "Yeah… that'd be nice…" she murmured, wondering why her body felt so… fatigued.
Ryu gave her a kiss on the temple. "Don't worry Hanami-chan," he whispered to her. "I'll take care of you and get you back to the mainland safely."
Hanami had already drifted off to sleep by then, only her arms wrapped around Ryu's keeping her from drifting off in another direction.
Ryu snorted slightly as he readjusted her so that he was carrying her bridal style. "Kira, I may need your help on the bridge, it all depends on how cooperative the OMNI crew is," he informed. "Not many of us are familiar with how to operate a warship like this…"
"Sure thing, Ryu-san," Kira replied, even as Takeshi and Amuro's machines entered the hangar, the catapult areas serving as an airlock of sorts. "I should be able to run it from my computer if we have to."
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Thank you," he informed. "Unfortunately, for the time being, you and Hanami-chan are going to have to remain as part of the ORB military, at least until we get to the homeland."
"Fine by me, Ryu-san," Kira replied. "Right now, we just need to worry about getting out of here, and hope the civilians are safe…"
With the ZAFT Pilots
"Well…" Dearka Elsman, a blond haired teen of arabic descent, started in a subdued voice. "That went to hell really quick…"
"And whose fault was that, Dearka?!" Yzak Joule, a silver-haired teen with almost constant anger issues, snapped. "You were the one to fire that gun of yours off without regard to what you might hit if your target dodged!"
"I panicked, alright!" Dearka shouted. "Those two pilots were on us like dogs on bacon! We needed to make some space!"
"Alright, that's enough, you two," Athrun Zala, a blue-haired teen and nominal leader of the group, interjected. "What's done is done. We can't really affect it at all, all we can do is get back to the ships and hope the fallout isn't too bad."
"I'll be lucky with just some jail time…" Dearka said with a sigh. "I mean, I destroyed a Colony, a neutral Colony… why in the hell were we attacking it in the first place?"
"Anything building weapons for the EA can hardly be considered neutral," Yzak remarked. However, before he or any of the others could say any more, something pinged on his radar. "Huh?"
"What's up, Yzak?" Athrun questioned immediately. "Did something happen?"
"Got something here…" he remarked, reorienting his machine and moving towards the blip on his radar. "…a Lifepod?" he asked as the object came into view.
"Is it damaged?" Athrun asked. "What's its condition?"
"Hold on…" Yzak remarked, coming up to it and placing a hand on it to link to its systems. "I think its thrusters are shot, and it looks like it might have a minor oxygen leak - nothing catastrophic, but it does seem to be losing air."
"Dammit, and we don't know when ORB will get here," Dearka groaned. "And one minor leak can become a major problem quickly…"
Yzak growled. He didn't want to do this, but the collapse of the colony was technically their fault… damn guilty consciences! "I'll bring the Lifepod back to the Gamow," he informed.
"Understood," Athrun confirmed. "There's the Gamow and Vesalius, holy shit… what the hell happened to them?"
"Looks like someone hit them with a lot of firepower…" Dearka remarked. "Wow, that's a lot of damage…"
"Approaching Machines, Identify!" an operator from the Gamow demanded as they came into the damaged vessel's RADAR range.
"This is Athrun Zala," Athrun replied. "We're bringing in what machines we were able to capture - the last one managed to elude us, and Nicol grabbed one, but got captured with his unit. We're also bringing in a damaged Heliopolis Lifepod, its thrusters are down and it seems to be leaking air."
"It'll be tight, but I think we can fit them aboard," the operator informed. "As you can see, we took damage, as soon as you're aboard, we'll be limping back to the PLANTs."
"Understood," Athrun replied, as they headed to the Gamow. "Hopefully when we get back, we can arrange for the people in the pod to get back to the ORB Homeland."
"If we can make it back," the operator announced with a sigh. "We got quite a bit of damage, let's hope duct tape and spit works."
"That does sound bad…" Yzak replied. "Well, hopefully we can at least call for a pick up if the repairs fail and we get stranded."
"Agreed," Dearka said with a sigh. "Also… Nicol was captured…"
The operator sighed. "Hopefully we can get him back somehow…" they replied. "For right now, all we can do is focus on getting home."
Aboard the Archangel, Bridge
Ryu and Kira entered onto the bridge after tucking Hanami into the bed. "Have the OMNI soldiers been behaving, Mu?" he asked as Kira took a seat in the CIC and began typing away.
"Pretty much," Mu replied. "They haven't done anything to try and regain the ship, at least." He then looked things over. "We also got everything stowed away, including the Strike, that machine Takeshi's using, the machine Kira recaptured, and the unknown machine that helped us - Lady Cagalli and that 'Amuro Ray' person piloting the unknown are on their way up."
Ryu nodded. "Maybe we can get some answers from this Amuro Ray fellow," he said with a sigh. "That Gundam-type, it's not a style I've seen before…"
"Agreed, not to mention he used some odd terms," Mu remarked. "I overheard the contact-link conversation he had with you… what did he call your DRAGOONs? 'Funnels'?"
Ryu nodded. "Well, I suppose it'll be what it'll be," he said with a sigh. "Hey Kira, how well can you manage the Archangel's systems?"
"Pretty well," Kira replied. "I'm in their systems, and I think I could run the whole ship from here - main problem is we're rather low on provisions, so we won't be able to go that far without resupplying."
"I sent out some of our people to see if they could salvage anything up from Heliopolis' ruins," Mu informed. "So far we got quite a bit of water and a few supply ships that were in the bay during the attack."
"That's good," Kira replied. "Hopefully we'll have enough supplies to make it back to the Homeland, or at least Ame-no-Mihashira."
Ryu nodded. "I have a few words for the Sahaku family, the OMNI Gundams being built here has their fingerprints all over this," he said with a frown. "But… we need supplies more than anything."
At that point, the door opened, and Cagalli entered the Bridge, accompanied by Murrue Ramius (who had regained consciousness as they landed) and followed by Amuro, still clad in the flight suit he had used during the battle at Axis.
"Lady Cagalli," Ryu greeted. "I'm glad to see you're safe," he turned to the OMNI officer. "Lieutenant Ramius, we of ORB have taken control of this vessel and the Strike, when we reach ORB territory we shall leave it for the Politicians to decide what happens to you and your crew."
Murrue nodded. "Honestly, I was likely one of the few crew members to realize what might happen should things go wrong, which they did," she said. "And given how the EA seems to be becoming more and more a tool of Blue Cosmos, I've been starting to contemplate the idea of defecting to ORB."
Ryu blinked in surprise, before he nodded. "Alright, then, welcome to ORB, Lieutenant," he said appreciatively. "I'm going to need you to try and convince the other members of your crew to assist us with operating this ship."
"I'll do my best," Murrue replied. "We'll need to work together to get out of here in one piece."
Ryu nodded, before finally turning to Amuro. "So, mind telling me exactly who you are, Amuro?" he asked.
Amuro nodded. "Of course, though I'll mention that at least part of the story might not be all that believable," he said. "I will first mention that I do not know what year it is, or what calendar you use - where I came from, the year was Universal Century 0093."
Every set of eyes on the bridge blinked in unison at his declaration. "I think you should explain more," Ryu informed.
Amuro nodded, then proceeded to briefly explain the history of the Universal Century, through the One Year War, the Delaz Conflict, the Gryps Conflict, and the First and Second Neo Zeon Wars.
"As I was trying to push Axis away from Earth," Amuro said as he wrapped up his explanation, "everything seemed to fade around me, into a realm that I didn't know what it was… where I met the spirit of a woman I had known during that first war. She said that my time in that world was done, but that I was still needed elsewhere, that another world needed to see the Light within the Human Heart."
Ryu hummed as he considered Amuro's story. "Normally, I would shove you into an asylum, but…" he informed. "I believe you."
"Yeah, me, too," Mu replied. "Definitely explains the feeling I get from you… and there are more of these… 'Newtypes' in your world?"
Amuro nodded in confirmation. "For the most part, we were just beginning to emerge, and many found themselves becoming ace pilots for their militaries," he informed. "And Funnels are remote weapons that they can use."
"Something tells me that Newtypes are the same as those people with spatial awareness in this world," Mu remarked. "And your Funnels sound a bit like our DRAGOONs…"
Ryu nodded in agreement. "So, I have a rather important to ask you," he informed. "Are you willing to assist us in getting to ORB territory? We're willing to try and help rearm your Gundam in return."
"That would be fine with me," Amuro replied. "Also, the spirit, Lalah, she said something else just before I entered this world, just before the battle began. She said that I needed to find a 'Valkyrie', and that this Valkyrie would need my help revealing the Light in the Human Heart to the world… however, that was all she said - she didn't say who this 'Valkyrie' was."
Ryu shrugged. "I've never heard a callsign like that, myself," he informed. "I'll let you know if I do, though."
"Thank you," he said. "I appreciate it. Now… I admit that I am a bit clueless about this world. Do you think you could explain this world's history to me, and possibly the nature of the current war?"
Ryu nodded in agreement. "Better make yourself comfortable, it'll take a while to explain," he informed. "It started a while back with this guy named George Glenn…"
Meanwhile - Vesalius Bridge
"Well, I was assuming there would be some damage from the battle," Rau le Creuset remarked as he stood before Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak. "Still, I wasn't expecting the entire colony to collapse… what happened?"
"It was my fault, Commander," Dearka informed. "ORB had fielded some new units of their own and I panicked during the battle…"
"I see…" Rau replied. "Well, I can excuse a bit of panic - we faced some of ORB's new machines, as well, and their power was truly greater than anything I've seen. I will inform the Council and anyone else who inquires that it was an accident - unexpected collateral from confrontation with a new enemy. Rest assured that I will do my best to ensure your punishment is light."
Dearka nodded, giving Rau a slightly suspicious look. "Sir, what will we be doing with the civilians?" Yzak questioned.
"Once we return to the PLANTs, we will see about returning them to their homes," Rau replied. "In the meantime, we will treat them as guests."
Yzak nodded his understanding. "So… how damaged are the engines?" Athrun asked himself. "Anything we can help with?"
"No, your assistance isn't needed," Rau replied. "It is pretty bad, but we can still move. We can't fight, though, so we would need your Mobile Suits if we run into any trouble."
Athun nodded. "I'll work on completing the OS, but…" he trailed off.
"Right," Rau replied. "In the meantime, we'll all likely need to take turns caring for our guests."
"I guess I'll help with them," Yzak informed. "I… didn't score very well when it came to repairs and maintenance."
"Very well, I'll leave that to you," Rau said. "Dismissed."
END CHAPTER!
