"Commander Azashi!" Kurashi shouted.
"Ah…Kurashi. You're here," said a man in a navy blue suit. He had green hair that fell in front of his forehead like hay.
"Sir!" Kurashi saluted. "Sir! Please! Don't punish Shiro! We tried, but it was the Freedom that came and began to fight us!"
"Freedom?" Azashi said. "The one that killed the former chairman?"
"Yes, sir! You know how strong it is, sir. We had no chance!" Kurashi put on a pleading look. "Please, commander, let Shiro go!"
Azashi stared at through the glass window beside him. Inside was a room. Shiro was writhing around in pain on the floor.
"You are lucky that you too are not a living CPU," said Azashi and sneered. "Very well, Shiro is spared for now.
Kurashi bowed. "Thank you, commander!"
"However…" continued Azashi. "I want the Freedom and the pilot of it captured. Can you do it?"
Kurashi gulped. The Freedom was strong and its pilot was really skilled. Even the two of them cannot beat it.
"Sir, I…"
Azashi patted on Kurashi's shoulder. "Don't be so worried, my friend. You'll have help."
"Help?" asked Kurashi, then his eyes widened in surprise. "You don't mean…"
"Yes," Azashi said and looked straight into Kurashi's eyes. "We're sending the Andromeda out with the best mobile suit pilot we have."
Kio took off his uniform and put on some casual clothes. Knowing his father, he would not let him out again until he was sure Kio was 100 ready.
"All hands on level one battle stations!" a voice rang out urgently throughout the whole ship.
"Level one battle stations?" he said to himself. "This is dangerous!" He floated as quickly as he could out of his dormitory and towards the command station. When he got there, he rushed inside.
"Captain!" he shouted. Athuran turned around, surprised.
"Kio? What are you doing here?"
"Let me out! If it really is a level one battle situation, you need as many troops as possible!" Kio exclaimed.
His father's face expression was grim. "Negative. I cannot let you go out there. You have not proven yourself ready yet."
"I have to go out there, Captain. I just made a mistake on the last mission, I'll be fine on this one!"
"Captain Zala!" shouted one of the crewmembers. "It's the two mobile suits from before. The Cutter and the Swift. They are accompanied by another mobile suit this time!"
"Scan!" yelled Athuran. "I want to know the weapon status of the new Gundam and also the weapon status of the other ones!"
"The Cutter's equipped with a two beam swords, an infrared laser beam blaster, some torpedos, shielding equipment model 13, along with some multi-blasters on the back," interrupted Kio. The words spewed from him naturally like he knew the Gundam for years. "The Swift is the same except for the shield, the blaster and the torpedos. It has an ultraviolet blaster, mild nuclear bombs, and shielding equipment model 11."
"Kio…" Athuran said surprised. "How do you know these things?"
Kio was grim. "Good photographic memory, sir. Now would you let me go? I've proven useful."
"Captain, the scan is complete," said one of the crewmembers.
"Does it match Kio's description?"
"Perfectly, sir," replied the crewmember. He looked amazed.
Athuran sighed. "Very well. Is the Eclipse repaired?"
"Yes, sir. Ready to go."
"Alright, Kio. Keep a channel opened so we can stay in contact."
Kio saluted quickly and floated out of the room.
"Kio, runway ready. Are you?"
This was a few minutes later, when Kio was ready and in the mobile suit.
Kio grimaced. "Yes, Captain. How many times do I have to tell you?"
"Just once more. Now go."
Kio looked ahead seriously. This was it; the time to prove his father that he was worthy of utilizing the Gundam.
"Kio Zala. Eclipse, launching!"
The red lights ahead flashed green and he shot out of the runway.
Outside, stars glittered everywhere. It was a pretty sight but Kio had no time to relax.
"Now," he whispered to himself. "To find those two annoying mobile suits…"
He checked his radar. War zone was near. He can detect a lot of heat sources and just up ahead; he can see beams of light fired at each other.
"Okay…" he breathed. "I'm not nervous. This may be my last chance of breathing freely, but I am not nervous." He fiddled around with the controller.
"Kio?" a voice said, gently. He looked up at the screen.
"Mother?" he asked surprised. "Wha…What are you doing there?"
Cagalli smiled. "I'm copilot now. Listen, Kio. If you don't want to do this, you can come back."
"No!" protested Kio. "I'm going. I'll be fine, mother!"
His mother smiled. Her son had the same attitude as she did when she was young.
"Okay, Kio. Go now and come back alive."
Kio nodded and flew towards the scene of battle. He arrived just in time to hear something come over the speakers.
" Archangel and friends, this is mobile suit Andromeda. From the Blue Cosmos."
"Blue Cosmos?" Athuran said shocked. There was muttering all around him. He looked up at the screen. Usually there was a visual image of the person speaking, however this person did not want to be seen and only used speakers.
Blue Cosmos was an organization of the Earth Alliance Forces. They had wanted to hunt down and destroy the Archangel long before. At the end, their chairman, Azarel, was killed. The Archangel left the incident intact.
"What is it that you want?" Cagalli shouted into the mike.
"Not much, Commander Yula Atha, if I'm not mistaken. Forgive me for saying this, but Orb sucked. What kind of Commander are you?" The voice was unclear over the speakers, there was no way to tell whom the speaker was. Or even if it was a girl or a boy.
Cagalli's hands clenched into fists and began to shake. Orb and the Blue Cosmos were at battle. Orb self-destructed, taking Cagalli's father with it. Athuran can see his wife's rage. He decided to take on from there.
"What is that you want?" he shouted, angrily.
"I want to play a little game," the voice said. However, even over the cheap speakers, the person's voice was obviously menacing.
"What game?"
"Simple enough," replied the pilot. "We really do have a prisoner with us. So, you beat all thee of us, then we give you the life pod. We beat you and we get the Freedom, and its pilot."
"What?" Athuran yelled, shocked.
"Did you not hear me clearly, Captain Zala?"
"No! I heard perfectly fine. These conditions however…" Athuran said, then thought. "Listen," he ordered. "What about we give you another mobile suit."
"No, we want the Freedom. Unless you're offering you and your Justice mobile suit."
Athuran looked ahead angrily. "What if we only gave you the Freedom?"
There was a silence.
"Very well. You win, you get the prisoner. We win, we get the Freedom."
"Deal," Athuran said through gritted teeth. "If I must…"
The link terminated and there was no more sound from the Andromeda pilot.
Athuran got up and looked at Cagalli. She looked hurt and upset. He put a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's talk a bit outside," he took Cagalli's hand and they floated out of the room.
"Cagalli. I'm going out there."
Cagalli turned around to look at her husband. "I'll go too!"
"No, you won't be able to focus out there. Stay in here."
"No! But, but…"
Athuran looked at her straight in the eyes. "It's best for you, please understand."
Cagalli looked away, realizing that Athuran was right.
"Idiot…" she grumbled Athuran smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
"I'll come back soon, don't worry." He floated down the hall.
"I never said I was worried!" Cagalli called after him, but she smiled and blushed right after that.
The first thing Athuran did when he reached his mobile suit was contact Kira.
"Kira! Did you hear about…"
"Athuran, I heard everything," came the reply. There was a bit of violent noise.
"Kira?"
"I'm okay. Just got hit by a beam, but I blocked it." Kira smiled. "Come out here, quickly. You've got to see your son!"
"How's Kio doing?" Athuran said as he manipulated some of the buttons and controllers.
"Fine. Amazingly fine on his first battle."
Athuran sighed and smiled. "That's a relief." Another voice sounded through the chamber he was in.
"Justice ready to go. Athuran, you ready?"
"Yeah," he said and right after it, he said, "Athuran Zala, Justice, launching!"
The mobile suit shot out of the runway. In space, Athuran manipulated even more controls and shot towards the battle.
"Captain Zala? Are you here yet?" asked a voice.
"Kio? That you?"
"Yep," came the reply. "Hey, this isn't bad. I'm doing pretty good."
"That's great," said Athuran. "But don't start liking war. War's a bad thing, no matter what."
"Father, I'm no child. You don't have to lecture me on the evilness of war."
Athuran laughed. His son was growing up so fast. "I guess I don't. But still, remember what I said." Athuran flew towards the Cutter. "Okay, I'll take this one. Kira and Kio, can you take the others?"
"No problem," said Kira. "If it's okay with your son."
"Same here, I'm fine."
"Okay," smiled Athuran. "Let's kick ass!"
The three mobile suits flew towards the enemy. This will be an intense battle.
"Ooh…" said chairman Azashi of Blue Cosmos as he spied at the battle with binoculars through a glass window. He smiled.
"This is so exciting!" he said, to a teenage girl beside him. The girl had long dark brown hair. She had her hands tied behind her back. Her head was down, she looked angry and upset.
"What is the meaning of this, Azashi?" she shouted.
"Now, now, Haku, dear," he said slyly and tilted the girl's head upwards by the chin. He stared into her eyes. Hers were full of hatred.
"I'm sure you know full well," Azashi continued. "This is merely a game. To test everybody's strength." He continued smiling and let go of Haku. He stared out the glass window. "Be glad, darling. You can go free too if they win,"
Haku turned angrily to face her captor. "You say this like they have no chance of winning!"
Azashi laughed. "Correct!"
Haku turned to look out the window. The battle scene was clearly ahead. Amidst that battle, she can see the Eclipse, battling fiercely.
"Kio…" she whispered, her anger turning into worry.
"Well, this will be so fun!" the pilot of the Andromeda said. It flew towards the Eclipse.
"Kio!" said his father's urgent voice. "This is the newest model that the Earth Alliance Force made. I read about it, it's called the Andromeda! Don't underestimate it!"
"Of course," whispered Kio and fiercely aimed at the Gundam. He fired a couple of times. The Andromeda dodged all of them skillfully.
"You can play," the pilot sneered into the speaker, so Kio can hear. "But can you fight?"
Kio gritted his teeth. "Bastard, don't underestimate me!" He fired torpedoes and shot a couple more times. Each one missed, though one came close to the target.
"Hmm…so, this is the Eclipse the chairmen keeps talking about. They say it's trouble for them," continued the enemy pilot. "So, maybe I'll just kill you."
Kio smirked. "Try it." He took out his two beam swords. He roared and swiped at the Andromeda. The hits were deflected, but not with a shield.
"Invisible deflector?" he whispered. "Asshole…"
The Andromeda flew towards him. "You're a rookie, aren't you? I saw you on your last mission. Didn't do too good."
"Shut up!" snarled Kio and took a few more swipes at the offending Gundam.
"Touchy…" sneered the pilot. "But, you're a beginner, no more."
"Lucky me, I'm a Coordinator. I'm smarter than you stupid Naturals!"
There was a silence on the other end.
"Yes!" Kio thought. "I hurt his damn ego."
That was when a laugh sounded through the speakers. Kio was confused and angry.
"What the hell is so funny?" he yelled.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just…" there was another gale of laughter. "It's just, you see…" the voice continued after the laughter passed. "I'm not a Natural. I'm just like you."
Kio was shocked. "What?" he asked. "That's not possible. Blue Cosmos won't hire a Coordinator!" He was so surprised that when the Andromeda hit him, he was still stunned.
"I'm special," said the pilot, menacingly. "I'm the only one who can pilot this thing,"
Kio finally got over the shock. "Fine!" he said. "We're even then, both Coordinators."
"Well, I won't say that. We're far from even. You're a beginner, a rookie, and an unskilled loser. Me? I'm way more trained than you. Tell me, kid," Kio heard a smirk. "Have you ever killed someone? Has blood ever stained your weapon? Have you ever felt triumph is killing?" the pilot sneered. "No? Well, you aren't ever going to defeat me then. Even if you did have the skill, which you don't, by the way."
Kio's fist shook. He has not killed anyone before. But he was pretty sure he could. Especially if his first victim is an arrogant bastard who has too big of an ego.