Disclaimer;
I do not own the Gundam Franchise or the Super Robot Wars Franchise. They belong to Sunrise and Banpresto respectively. I do not aim to profit of the use of their intellectual property by using their characters, worlds or mechanized killing machines, only to use those characters to fuel their raging fan base and thus generate more profit from THEM when they next release their next game/anime.
The Soukou no Strain character Lavina Rebirth and 'Takaya' Nono from DieBuster! Do not belong to me, they belong to their respective owners."
Warning! This story features overpowered 'Super Robots' and Hot-blooded Antics in a 'Real' Universe. If you wish for your image of the CE timeline to not have a machine that can cleave an entire armada in a single swing, please stop reading and flee for your life. I"ve been watching too much Gurren Lagann and Getter Robo for this story to be sane.
Please Read and Review, but no flames please. As much as burning flames of righteous passion are cool, I'm highly flammable. So no flames please. Constructive criticism welcome
Chapter 002/ Endless Waltz I
This should be upped at around the same time as the Prologue. Still more introduction, but since Shiho makes a cameo, I guess it's better than the dorky prologue.
CE 76, Aprillius Nine
"Last… I'm LAST?"
Samantha Douglas Westenfluss could scarcely believe her eyes. She had just shown up at the academy first thing in the morning when she was it. Standing slack jawed at the bulletin board in the cantina surrounded by dozens of giggling students, Samantha was so shocked humiliation and embarrassment forgot to even kick in.
Samantha was short for her age. Her messy dark orange hair was tied into a single pony tail, with her sideburns which were dinged by black dye hung freely. Her wide violet eyes spoke of both innocence and idealism. While quite beautiful by natural standards, her features were considered plain by most coordinator women. She wore a traditional ZAFT green coat uniform. A quite unremarkable person by most standards.
And her body proportions were… less than impressive. Flat as a board was one phrase that was often used to describe her.
On the scoreboard for the ZAFT pilot academy Aprillius Nine she was not only listed as the worst scoring pilot of her class, but someone had the gall to put a stick next to her name claiming that according to the record books, she was the WORST scoring pilot ever to attend the academy of all time.
"I guess that is to be expected of you Miss Westenfluss! Miss Silver Shooting Stars manages to make another spectacle again!"
"I guess that's not surprising from a person who manages to get shot down after every sortie!"
"Yeah, she falls out of the sky in a blaze of glory every single time, it's almost hysterical!"
"I hear she even got special attention from Colonel Hanenfuss and Lieutenant Westenfluss. And she still go blown out of the sky? My goodness, why do they even keep her in the academy in the fist place? Oh I know, "because she's a Westenfluss…"
Samantha finally felt the heat rise to her cheeks. Her small stature was shivering as the embarrassment and humiliation finally set in. It was true. Even with all the additional tutoring she was given, Samantha still was shot down for every simulated engagement. It was borderline ridiculous. What would her father say when he saw this?
Samantha gripped the hem of her green uniform in humiliation. Her violet eyes were beginning to tear.
"Hey break it up you people."
The delighted murmuring of the crowd suddenly came to an abrupt halt. Lieutenant Alexia Leona Westenfluss strode into the crowd wearing a very serious expression.
Her red "elite" coat in pristine condition, her cherry red hair tied into a neat bun, Alexia was fuming at the sight of her wee little sister being humiliated.
"Hey L.T., we were just having a bit of fun." The speaker of those words, one cadet Veronica Garstein incidentally the best of her class and the ringleader of many a ragging on Miss Shooting Star, instantly regretted those words.
Alexia's glare was feared for good reason. During the second bloody valentine war, she was known as the "Blood Red Shadow" for her exploits in the South American theatre. She was feared for two reasons; her kill score and her ability to scare any of her subordinates, and the occasional superior, into submission with a single glance.
Now that she had retired to become a flight instructor, her students were experiencing firsthand why she was so feared.
It took a monumental feat of will for Veronica not to beak down into a sobbing wreck from Alexia's sharp gaze. "You. Ten laps around the base. Effective now."
"YES MA"AM!" Veronica was off. The majority of the crowd wisely dispersed now that they knew how serious the Lieutenant was, leaving the furious redcoat and her humiliated cadet little sister in the empty cafeteria.
"Kids these days… I hope this isn't the best ZAFT has to offer. We'd rot from the inside out with people like them before anyone even fires a single shot at us." Alexia growled before turning to her younger sister. "Hey Sam, you alright."
Samantha bit down a sniffle and smiled weakly at her sister. "Yeah, just peachy Sis."
Alexia, always the sharp one, knew that the whole ordeal had probably greatly upset her sister. An idea hit the older Westenfluss, and Alexia acted on it.
"Hey, Sam. Wit looks like you haven't had breakfast today. Since we have some time before the live piloting exercise, do you wanna go have a bit to eat?" Alexis winked at her younger sister. "My treat."
"It's okay Alex. I caused you enough trouble for today." Samantha waved her older sibling off.
"Not even if my fiancé is going to be there?"
Samantha actually paused when she heard this. "Sean is on Aprillius Nine?" Her heart was doing flip flops in her stomach. Where some girls would obsess over pop idols or hot actors, Samantha was a huge fan of ace pilots of the two conflicts; like the famous Arthrun Zala or the legendary Kira Yamato. However, there was one pilot she revered over them all.
Sean Raymond Branstein, better known as the Black Hurricane, was one of ORB"s lesser known aces of the second bloody valentine conflict. Cutting his ties from the illustrious Branstein family for some unknown reason, the young man struck out on his own and joined the ORB Defense Force.
Assigned to some backwater station in Antarctica because of being a coordinator by the Serians, he made a formidable eighty seven kills when the base suddenly came under attack by Phantom Pain in an attempt to steal parts to a prototype mobile suit; a mobile suit which eventually turned out to be the Strike Freedom Gundam.
though it was a heated debate between many military analysts whether the feared Phantom"s Bane, 'the Black Hurricane' could have become more famous had he been assigned to the front lines, it was still a clear fact that he was lagging behind the other aces; Kira Yamato, Shin Asuka and even her deceased brother Heine each individually had at least twice as many kills as Sean.
Thus at first glance it was hard to see why she revered him so… In actual fact, the answer was simple.
Sean Raymond Branstein was the youngest 'failed coordinator' alive; a coordinator that, while incredibly intelligent and smart like most other coordinators, was physically weaker than the average natural person. Only six such humans existed in the entire earth sphere, and the other five were supposed to be very much unemployed. For someone like him to come so far was a true inspiration to her.
On top of that he looked HOT. Long flowing blonde hair, flawless complexion, a smile to die for, Samantha truly envied her sister for being able to marry such a man. True it was an arranged marriage between the Westenfluss family and the Branstein family, which Sean had finally reconciled with, but had Alexis not accepted the marriage proposal Samantha sure as hell would have!
"…Sam? You spaced out and there are stars in your eyes. Are you okay?" A hand waved in front of Samantha's eyes which startled the poor cadet.
"Breakfast? Oh yeah I"ll go." Samantha stammered.
"That's my girl." Alexis smiled warmly and pat her beloved younger sister on the back. "and by the way, there's drool coming out of your mouth."
Elsewhere on the colony, a very different conversation was occurring. Deep in the darkest parts of the space colony, a hushed meeting between shadowed figures was taking place.
"We can't use this." The first person, a woman in her early twenties stated.
The leader of her small group, she was an imposing figure. Her neat shoulder length dark blue hair with streaks of white locks in between was braided securely to avoid it getting in her way. Her mismatched orbs had a haunted look to them; a pale yellow iris in her right eye, which oddly had a dilated pupil, and a crimson red pupil in her left, which was adored by a large vertical bun scar that almost touched the base of her cheek. Interestingly enough, she wore a pair of square lens glasses with a faded pink rim, a relic of old times past.
Her white jacket and jeans which were worn over a dark grey turtleneck shirt had black decals on them, notable the intricate crossed gun and sword over shield insignia on the sleeve which had the word "Assault-1" emblazoned on it. She also wore what seemed to be black leather gloves that reached far under her sleeve.
Finally the sheathed ornate white and gold katana, which lacked a guard, she openly wore at her side was by far her most intimidating feature.
She jabbed her thumb over her shoulder at the large mobile suit that lay on the transport trailer behind her. "The suit we need is a replacement for an outdated suit we've been using for four years now. The pilot uses an MTS, so a standard twin joystick configuration isn't going to cut it."
The broker sighed. "Hey you said you wanted the best A.E. had to offer and, well, this is it."
"It's no good if we can't use it." The woman said crossly.
"Actually Major, I think we can." the voice of her teammate who was inspecting the war machine up close sated clearly. "You may not be able to use it, but let me and Ariel gave a go at it first. I've looked through the specs on this thing and it's nothing to laugh at."
The second member of her group was dressed in a similar white jacket and pants, except with turquoise and cyan colorings instead. His insignia was similar to his commanding officer's except the words emblazoned on his insignia were "Assault-2" instead of "Assault-1." A blue bandanna was tried around his forehead that kept his short messy brown hair out of his eyes. His wide Prussian blue eyes spoke of experience and wisdom that few alive ever attain.
He also happened to be the ripe old age of thirteen years old.
"This thing is a real monster. I've never seen a propulsion system of this type before. And even if we can't use it, Marty here could take it apart and we'd have some fine parts to go around."
Marty, the last member of their team, gave thumbs up to emphasize that point.
Fiery red hair under his yellow "Eden Angels" baseball cap and dressed in a stained light green jumpsuit, Marty was not much older than his comrade was, only fifteen to the other boy's thirteen.
"Fine." The major decided. "How much is this thing?"
The broker dismissed her words with a wave of his hand. "Oh don't worry about price. Captain Yashima is an old friend of ours. We owed him a couple, so consider it repayment of a favor." The major just cocked an eyebrow skeptically at the broker before turning away to issue orders.
"Chris, Martin, get the trailer moving back to the shuttle. We leave in the hour." The two boys immediately began making preparations for departure.
"Quite cautious for someone who hasn't been in the Earth Sphere for almost five years aren"t you, Major Katsura?" The broker mused before slipping away.
Major Shoko Katsura didn't even bother to acknowledge he was gone.
Nor did she notice the hidden telescopic camera record their exchange from over three kilometers away…
Samantha almost collapsed in excitement when she saw a casually dressed blonde man waving at them from the popular café Madison's. Of course, when she noticed her idol was sitting across her base commander Shiho Hahnenfuss, Samantha's spirits dampened considerably.
What if the Colonel told him what a dunce she was? He'd never take her seriously ever!
"Alexis! Samantha! Over here." Sean called over to them. Still in uniform, Alexis" wine red coat of a ZAFT top gun stood out among the crowd. Sean quickly got up and pulled a seat for his fiancé leaving Samantha was slightly envious of the treatment the ORB pilot was giving her sister. Hot and chivalrous to the boot.
"Colonel, Sean, good morning." Alexis politely saluted before seating herself down beside her soon to be husband. She was also trying her hardest not to giggle at the sight of her superior.
Shiho Hahnenfuss shook her head politely. "This is strictly an informal meeting between friends."
The former CGUE DEEP Arms pilot was also causally dressed, wearing of all things the pale blue sundress that her boyfriend, one councilor Yzak Joule, had given her for Valentines day.
"You know each other?" Alexis said with a hint of surprise. Samantha quietly took a seat across her sister, shooting shy glances at the other people at the table.
"Know each other? Me and young master Branstein here go way back." Shiho chuckled. "Alexis, you may be a bit surprised to hear this, but I was once engaged to this dolt."
Alexis" jaw dropped. "That was you?" Shiho could only burst into fists of laughter at the rare sight of the Blood Red Shadow's stunned expression.
"Yeah, I fought the engagement tooth and nail. Still, it worked out in the end didn't it?" Sean smirked nostalgically at the memory of him arguing with his parents on the matter, one of the catalysts form him finally riding out of the Branstein ancestral home on his horse "Trombe". "So is this the Silver Shooting Star I've been hearing so much about?"
Samantha's already pale complexion went star white at the sound of her less than favorable nickname. Suddenly the hem of her skirt seemed really interesting. So interesting that Samantha kept her eyes glued to the ZAFT emblem at its base.
"Um, Sean, maybe it's not a good idea that you call her that." Alexia pointed out. Sean grinned sheepishly when he realized that the cadet was more sensitive than ever her headmaster let on.
"May I take you orders, sir and madams?" A waiter asked. Thankful for the brief respite, Samantha ordered a single glass of water, too timid to order anything else. Retreating into her own world, the sixteen year old girl tried her hardest not to look.
The other three people at the table laughed and talked of old adventures past, a world she had no place to be in.
She was sitting at the same table as three of the best pilots of the Bloody Valentine wars. Part of her was elated, it was like she won the lottery; a dream come true. Another part of her felt the weight of their presence looming over her. They were Housenka, the Blood Red Shadow and the Blake Hurricane. She?
Samantha Douglas Westernfuss.
Little Miss Silver Shooting Star.
Falls like a comet out of the sky. Every. Single. Time.
Her dream never looked so far away.
Samantha was so engrossed in her musings that she had not noticed a plate of her favorite dessert, cookies and cream cheesecake with two strawberries on the top, had somehow would up on the table in front of her. "I was told you like this."
A slight "eep!" broke the young coordinator out of her reverie. It was then that Samantha realized that while she was out of it, breakfast had come and gone. Gone so long that her sister and Shiho had taken off somewhere, leaving her with her dreamboat idol.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Samantha knew her sister had planned this from the very start. "I'm surprised. Cookies and cream cheese cake. I thought someone from the Westernfuss family would have something more exotic."
"Wha… ah!" Samantha instantly went red as a cherry upon seeing his amused smile. She tried to stammer out a response to the older man, but her futile efforts merely fueled his amusement.
"You're quite timid aren't you?"
"It's such an honor to be in your presence Mr. Tornado!" Oh god. Did she say what she thought she said? Somebody shoot her now. She even got his nickname wrong!
Sean tried his hardest not to laugh. "Sammy" was even worse than Shiho and Alexia made her out to be. Serious problems in confidence. And he was supposed to give her a prep talk. Right. He wondered why Shiho seemed so insistent he talk to this girl. Something about her dream?
"Hey, calm down Sam… may I call you Sam? I just want to talk."
"Y…Yes! It would be an honor Mr. Cyclone, SIR!"
Sean chose to ignore that. "I think it's going to be quite interesting for me to have you as my sister in law." Samantha was reduced to senseless babbling at those words. What a load of nerves. "Really now, I'm just you sister's fiancé. There's no need for you to get so hyped up about everything."
"But you're the Black Hurricane! You scored over eighty kills against the EA"s elite phantom pain unit in just a regular Murasame!" At least she got his name right this time.
"Hey, at the end of the day I'm a human being just like yourself. I'm sure that one day you'll be just as good as me." It was only after the last syllable rolled off his tongue did Sean remember Samantha's reputation in the pilot academy. Samantha instantly became somber and despondent as if remembering her own perceived self worth or lack thereof.
She can't be THAT bad, can she?
"Mr. Branstein, I think you misunderstand the situation." Samantha tried to steady her voice. "I"m a very bad pilot. Colonel Hahnenfuss had to pull every string she had to stop me from being thrown out of the academy. She even tried to give me some private one on one, but even that…" Samantha's mind flew back to that scoreboard she had just seen. "I'm sorry; I'm not normally like this…"
"Shiho spoke very highly of you." Sean informed the teenager. "She likes your drive. For all the time I've known Shiho, very few people have ever managed to get that kind of respect from her." Perhaps he was hoping that those words would set her mind at ease.
Samantha smiled sadly. "It just hurts sometimes."
Sean could sympathize with her. For much of his life, his family looked at him with a mix of pity and disdain. They were one of the ruling families of the ZAT council, yet their firstborn son was so weak he passed out the first time he flew in a shuttle. Were it not for the Nakagawas", Sean probably would have given up on life a long time ago.
"So what made you join the academy? I know your sister joined because she wanted to protect PLANT along with Heine, but how about you? You don't look like the military person type. By the way, you better eat that cheese cake."
Samantha bit into a mouthful of her favorite dessert. As the sweet taste of the cake entered her mouth, Samantha could feel her day getting better already. She could feel the humiliation and depressive feelings sliding away under the taste of sweet goodness.
"To be honest, all I wanted was to get a C-Class Mobile Suit license."
That caught Sean"s interest. "A C-Class Mobile suit license? I can see why you would want to join ZAFT then, it's the fastest was to get a C-Class license. But whatever would you want it for?"
Samantha debated whether or not to tell him. After all her life's dream, no… ambition, was ridiculous for most standards. Most of those who learned about it thought she was chasing a pipe dream. Even Alexia, before realizing how serious Samantha was, often made fun of her about it.
Samantha eventually settled on yes.
"I was hoping to join the DSSD's Stargazer II project after I graduate."
"The Stargazer II? Going from a military academy straight to a civilian research corporation?" Sean said. However an odd feeling began to well in his stomach, like a nagging feeling that refused to go away. Thinking back to Shiho's words, the pieces of the puzzle fell together. Sean knew what her dream was. So this was why Shiho was so interested in the girl. "You want to be an explorer."
Samantha nodded her head silently, slight relived he wasn't looking at her like she had grown another head. "I was hoping to I'd get to fly a manned mobile suit into deep space."
It was common knowledge that due to a Phantom Pain attack, the original Stargazer project had ended in disaster, with many of the research team killed and its test pilot dead.
The recovery of the bodies of Selene McGriff and one of the Phantom Pain pilots was widely thought to have proved beyond a doubt that manned space travel across the cosmos was a foolhardy undertaking; the inability of a life support system would kill its passenger long before they even left the solar system. McGriff"s death was taken as a warning to all would be Star Trackers.
Humanity was simply not ready yet.
After the incident and due to overwhelming public backlash, the DSSD cut the funding to all manned space travel projects, instead choosing to focus on unmanned probes. The general public thought it suicide for anything more. Any who tried to argue otherwise were thought to be a tad crazy. Who aimed for the stars when Mars wasn't even colonized yet?
Manned space travel was thought to be, at present, only a far off dream.
Yet there were still some who dreamt.
Just like Samantha Westernfuss.
Just like Sakura.
"Please don't think I'm being stupid." Samantha quietly begged. "My parents tried to talk me out of it dozens of times." Indeed, choosing to follow what many consisted to be a pipe dream over a "promising" military career was quite foolish my most standards.
"I don't think you are stupid." Sean responded. "It's quite an admirable dream really. Many people used to have that dream too. It's not going to be easy though, with the Stargazer II being an unmanned mobile suit after all."
Samantha actually bylined in surprise. "You… approve?" She was genuinely surprised. Even Shiho, her instructor, had tried talking her out of it several times. It was after all, her parents had already reserved a spot in some Canadian Test pilot facility, rising though the ranks would be a simple thing for her to do.
"Of course." Sean immediately clamped down on the rising feelings of regret, guilt and sadness that constantly swirled beneath his calm exterior. That hopeful expression, the slight twinkle in her eyes… Shiho was right for him to see this girl.
"If man did not dare to dream, would we as a civilization have gotten to where we were today? We have had many great pioneers in our history as a race. The discovery of the new world, the colonization of space… all great discoveries need their explorers my friend. Admiral Chang Ho, Christopher Columbus, the Sputnik, Neil Armstrong, George Glenn… all dared to brave the unknown and venture beyond the limits of what most consider the norm."
"Frankly, I was of the opinion that the DSSD had made a huge mistake when they bowed to public opinion and scrapped their manned space fight projects. Maybe somebody died. Maybe we really aren't ready for this yet, leaving the Earth sphere. But you never know…"
"…until you truly see what's out there." Samantha finished. By this point, Samantha's eyes had begun sparkling with delight at the thought of finally finding someone who not only approved but actually endorsed her ambition was startling.
Sean blinked. How did she…? He was actually quoting from a long departed friend of his, yet somehow… "I guess you understand then."
"Its my dream. It's like you said; there's no way I can fly through that sea of stars if I don't try!" Sean almost choked on his cup of coffee when Samantha said this. Sea of Stars…
"I'm going to fly through that sea of stars someday!"
It was a term that he had some to so associate with the precious memories in his mind.
The watch on Samantha's wrist began beeping. Suddenly her eyes shot open in panic. "Oh no! My class starts in ten minutes!" She bolted upright, sending her metal chair crashing to the floor. "Oops! Uh, sorry. Mr. Branstein, thank you for you time, but I really have to hurry! Goodbye!"
Samantha took off like a bat out of hell back to the base, all the while muttering that she was late and curing she stupidity. She left a stunned Sean Branstein in her wake.
"Sir, will you be paying the bill?" the waiter asked.
"In a moment." Sean whispered. In his eyes, he was no longer watching a orange haired girl in a green coat run into the distance, but a pink haired girl in a red turtleneck and pale blue jeans he had come to so miss in his dreams…
It was sometime later when the price of accepting the new machine became apparent.
"I knew that had to be a catch." Shoko cursed under her breadth. Standing right next to the airlock to a shuttle, their shuttle, were two AE scientists in the distinctive blue and white AE spacesuits. She should have known Taylor would have pulled something like this.
Marty sighed beside her in the driver's seat of the transport that they were suing to move the suit. "I guess we got straddled with another prototype again." Now he couldn't strip it down for parts if he wanted to. Damn scientists and their crazy experimental robots.
"At least that explains why I've never seen that propulsion system before." Chris commented from the back, not as annoyed as his companions by the realization that they would have to baby-sit some billion dollar porcelain doll.
The large transport slowed to a stop outside the docking bay, Shoko hopped out of the vehicle and pushed herself off the transport over to the two waiting AE engineers.
"Ara, ara… You're ahead of schedule. We didn't expect you here for another forty minutes."
"This is their colony. I'm not staying here any longer than I absolutely have to." Shoko explained swiftly. "Now let me ask you a question; who the hell are you two?"
The light orange haired woman smiled warmly. "I'm You Presty and this is…"
"Takeshi Presty." The man finished and held a hand out to Shoko. "Head of Project True Odyssey. Tsugumi is my assistant and my wife. I'm pleased to finally meet your acquaintance Major Katsura."
Shoko shook is had, although she was none too happy about the prospect of having him come aboard. "You do know that my unit's current mission is a combat intensive one don't you?" Perhaps this was a weak attempt on her part to warn the engineer know that his project wouldn't go unscathed if he were to continue on his present course. They were still on the colony, so maybe he'd turn back. "If we get into a fight, I cannot guarantee you, your team or your machine's safety."
Takeshi smiled. "That, my dear Major, a fight… is precisely what I was looking for."
+ Samantha Douglas Westernfuss is of course, a near carbon copy of one Ibis Douglas, my second favorite OG character… the first being Episode 30/37 himself. And yes, she is Heine"s little sister. Like I said, I'm tired of super Mary Sue coordinators and want one who can"t help BUT screw up on a regular basis.
+ Sean is of course, 'Trombe!'. I've split Ratsel and Elzam into two different characters, so Sean will be more of the cool headed veteran ala Raidiese.
+ Shoko Katsura… can't reveal too much about her, but if any self respecting mecha fan should already know whom I based her character. She does the CLEAVING in the next chapter.
+ Chris Heartily… another character that I cannot reveal too much about. But just so you know, his theme song is "Kotetsu no Beowulf", and I based his character on FMP's Sagara Souske. No, he does NOT pilot the AltEisen, as much as I want him to. Besides, the replacement mech I've chosen for him is equally as badass, but never got enough screen time in its source material in my opinion.
+ Yes, that is the symbol of awesomeness that is on their jackets.
+ You and Takeshi are a Tsugumi and Filio who managed to get hitched. Their names come from another couple I like a lot, Takeshi and You (as opposed to Takeshi and Tsugumi) from Ever 17.
+ Project True Odyssey is generally Project Terrestrial Dream with a different name and a nod to the Gundam Game of the same name.
+ A.E. is… do I really need to tell you? How many companies develop mobile suits that kick serious ass with the initials A.E.?
+ First Arc info; Shiho and Sakura met at the Olympics on PLANT where they had a Kendo match. Sakura just barely won, a rare case of a natural triumphing over a coordinator. Hence how they knew each other and how Shiho knew of Sakura's dream..+ Edit, I changed the description of Shoko's blade when further research showed that a hiltless sword would be technically unweildable since it lacked a pommel and grip. The correct term has now been effected, many apologies.
+ Edit, changed the description of Shoko's scar to fit continuity
Preview;
"Waga Zankanto ni… Tatenu mono Nashi…!"