Chapter Two- Assignment
Alex and Raven walked silently down the corridor, walking like automated machines. It was an awkward silence, one rarely shared by the two. It was full of nostalgia, remembering each other from their earliest memories.
Alex had been abandoned as a child, and Raven's family took him in. But that joyful peace ended when Junius seven was destroyed. Raven and Alex were both first generation coordinators, that meant his parents were naturals, visiting the plants. Raven and Alex were like brothers, inseparable. Both were devastated by the death of Raven's parents, and the sadness that followed had lead Raven to almost kill himself. When the First Bloody Valentine war broke out, both of them were ready to jump at the chance to join the ZAFT Military when they were old enough, wanting revenge for Raven's parents. Family friends talked the two boys out of their rage, and got them to go back to school get an education. At the age of fifteen, both Alex and Raven graduated from the top ranked university in Orb with top scores. But they weren't naturally gifted in anything, though they did have enhancements due to them being coordinators. They achieved that goal through hard work and tenacious effort. They had great pride in their accomplishments, but were still aggravated with the current state of affairs with the world. A couple months before they graduated Armory One was robbed, and the second bloody valentine war started. After they graduated, they decided to enlist in Orb's military to try and get their country out of the alliance. After only a month of training, the war ended. But both of them had been excited to go on, and so with the same hard work and effort that they showed with the university, they showed with their military training.
"Hey Raven?" Came Alex's voice, penetrating the cold silence. "Yeah?" Raven responded, glancing at his friend. "How come we came this far, only to be separated?" His friend's usual perky voice and upbeat attitude was gone, replaced with the more skeptical side of him. Raven sighed, "I don't know. All I do know is that we should continue to try our best. That's all we can do for now, later we can think about what will be right, and what will be wrong. Right now we can only focus on moving forward into tomorrow, for that's where we will find those answers." Alex nodded, and the two stopped as the came to a large door. "Well, this is the door to the hanger. I'm assigned to the Armageddon, what are you assigned to?" Raven incited the question, hoping to bring Alex out of his funk. "Oh, ah, I'm on the Dominion," was his response. Raven raised an eyebrow, "I've never heard of these two ships, have you?" Alex shook his head, and shrugged. Raven reached forward and pressed a button on the side panel, opening the door. "Well, I'll be glad to get off this base," Raven said, chuckling. Alex let out a short laugh, and stepped through the door into the small room with Raven.
Alex pressed a button on this side of the door and it closed. "Please brace for entering zero gravity environment." A mechanical voice rebounded off the walls, and into their ears. Alex and Raven grabbed onto one of the bars that lined the ceiling and loosely hung onto them. "Entering zero gravity environment," the same voice said, as Raven and Alex's feat left the ground, and they experienced weightlessness.
The door opposite of the one they had entered through opened, and light flooded in. A large harbor full of Izumo-Class ships appeared before them. Raven pulled himself through the door, and grabbed the railing on the other side of the door, while Alex mimicked him. A man in an purple pilots suit approached them, pulling himself along the railing quickly. "You two must be the top aces, am I right?" Came a distinct voice through the helmet. Raven and Alex saluted him, and said in unison, "Yes sir." A chuckle came through the helmet, "Alright then, you two follow me, I'll show you your ships."
And as quickly the man had come, he took off. Raven and Alex wasted no time before following him, glad they wouldn't have to look for their ships manually. The pilot dropped back, and started talking to the two. "This is the Artemis II Base, controlled by Orb. Its signature features include its lightwave barrier, forty ship harbor, fifteen ship repair bay, and deep space communications abilities. Here is where the majority of Orb's ships are at the moment. Morgenroete has a R and D facility here, as well as civilian facilities for those who come here as refuges." Raven and Alex already knew all of this, as they followed the pilot into a corridor near the entrance to the harbor. After another fifteen minutes of following the pilot, and wondering where the heck they were going they finally stopped in front of a large thick door, with a keypad to the right of it. While Raven and Alex stared at the door, wondering what the hell they were doing here, the pilot went over the keypad and typed in a code of some sort. A few seconds later the door started to move up, revealing a large mobile suit hanger.
"Welcome to Morgenroete's hanger," the pilot said, taking off his helmet. "I'm Mu La Flaga, and that," he gestured at a shining gold suit, "Is my mobile suit." Raven and Alex's jaws hung open as they met a legendary Ace who was already an insanely good mobile armor pilot, but also flew with the Archangel. "Those two suits over there are yours," Mu said, jerking a thumb over his shoulder at two grey suits. Raven and Alex's jaws seemed to drop further at the sight of the mobile suits. "A-a-are you sure there hasn't been a mistake? I mean, how could I pilot that kind of suit? It's not meant for me!" Raven stumbled over his own words turning and facing Mu, his surprise evident by the overwhelmed expression on his face. "Well, your friend seems to think it is," Mu said, glancing somewhere over Raven's right shoulder. Raven looked over his shoulder, seeing Alex gliding through the air towards the further suit.
"Alex!" Raven yelled, to which hAlex looked at Raven and said, "Raven, we are the two top aces. It kinda makes sense that if they had them, they would give them to us." Raven stared dumbfounded at his lifelong friend. He looked to Mu for help, but Mu simply gestured back at Alex. Raven looked back at the suits, before saluting Mu once, and kicking off, gliding towards the closer suit. He stared at it, looking at its edges, its vents, its huge legs, arms, torso, and head. He then shifted his eyes to its wings. The feeling of excitement he got at Christmas time when he opened a present surged through him, fueling his adrenaline as he reached it head, and pushed down. He grabbed the seat, and pulled himself into it. He glanced at his friend, before both of them facepalmed themselves.
"What about our Pilot suits?" Raven called down to Mu. "You'll get them later, for now just get in the Freedom and follow me!" Mu yelled back, boarding his own suit. Raven and Alex grinned, and descended into their suits. "Alright you two, follow my lead," Mu's voice rang through some sort of com inside the mobile suit, his face appearing on a screen to his upper right, and Alex's on his upper left. Raven felt the Freedom move sideways, as the three of them we're being led to a linear catapult. Mu's voice sounded again as he said, "Mu La Flaga, Akatsuki launching!" And shortly afterwards, he heard Alex say, "Alexander Burton, Justice. I'm on my way." His suit moved again, and space came into view as he got onto the catapult. "Raven Foret, Freedom. Taking off," Raven said, grinning.