Author's note: Oh boy, this one was tough. Had to go back and redo a few parts. By the way, I appreciate the criticism you guys have given, it helps a bunch! Thanks a lot.
Enjoy!
Episode 3: Gauntlet
Heero set the duffle bag he kept in the Wing Zero in case of emergencies on the bed and looked around the room. The quarters were nice enough, with a single bed, a washroom, and a small table near the window, with a great view of the stars. He pulled out his laptop and set it on the table, noting with interest that the wall slot was compatible with his charging cable. It seems that there isn't as much of a technology difference as I first thought there'd be. He turned the black computer on and began browsing through the files he had copied onto it from Wing Zero.
"I still have some catching up to do," he muttered as he began reading. They'd just finished transferring Lacus over to ZAFT a few hours ago, and the ship was speeding away from that area as fast as it could go. He needed to get as up to date on current events as possible if he was going to survive in this new world. Murrue had allowed him access to the Archangel's database, which he used to update the information he already had in his possession.
He was just settling in when his door buzzer went off. Wonder who it is? He exited out of the files and turned the computer off, and then headed to the door. When he opened it, he saw the blond haired mobile armor ace, Mu La Flaga, standing there. "What's going on?" Heero said.
"Well, the newbies on the bridge just finished their shift and are down in the mess hall. I have some time off too, so I figured I'd see if you wanted to join us, get to know your new crewmates."
Heero thought about it for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure, why not?"
As they headed towards the mess hall, Mu asked, "Aren't you ever going to change out of that thing?" He was referring to Heero's black flight suit.
"Once I'm sure we're away from ZAFT," he answered, "Right now we could be attacked at any time."
Mu sighed. "You got a point there. The Nazca-class ship may have headed back to the PLANTs to return the Chairman's daughter, but those five frigates are still tailing us, though they're hanging back for right now."
They finished their journey to the mess in relative silence, both contemplating the seriousness of the situation. When they arrived, they found a rather solemn group centered on Flay, who was simply staring at a plate of food in front of her, not even touching it. Sai was next to her, but all his awkward attempts at conversation were going nowhere. Miriallia Haw, a kind brown haired girl, and her boyfriend Tolle Koenig, also with brown hair, though more tousled and unkempt than hers, were also at the table, trying to lighten the mood somewhat, but failing miserably. There was also Kuzzey Buskirk, a black haired kid that seemed to want to be just about anywhere other than where he was at the moment. Finally, there was Kira, who looked like he was going to be sick. He couldn't seem to muster the ability to either leave the room or look at the others.
They all looked up as the newcomers entered. "Mu," said Kira, "and Heero." The kid seemed desperate to get his mind off the depressed gathering.
"Hey there," said Mu, "mind if we join? We're both starving." Before Kira could answer, both of them had already grabbed plates and loaded up at the nearby serving counter. They sat down at the table.
For the first time since the original group had arrived in the hall, Flay looked up from her plate. Her blue eyes were lined with red, almost as deep as her hair. Then she spoke up, surprising everyone at the table. "Who… are you?" Heero detected a hint of suspicion in her voice. Better tread carefully. She just lost her father, after all. He remembered Murrue telling him about the Vice Foreign Minister dying with the Montgomery, and how his daughter was one of the passengers aboard the Archangel. Holding out his hand, he said, "My name is Heero Yuy. I'm… sorry about your father." She stared for a moment, and Heero was about to withdraw his hand when she took it. It was a very weak handshake, but Heero really couldn't blame her for it. "Flay Allster." She paused for a moment, and then asked, "Was that you, in the new mobile suit? I was on the bridge, so I saw some of the fighting, before…" Her voice caught, and a few tears rolled down her cheeks.
Slowly, he nodded. "Yes." She suddenly lunged across the table, trying to grab him by the throat. He barely managed to catch her hands. Using her legs alone, she pushed herself the rest of the way across, scattering plates and drinks as she tried to get him, screaming at the top of her lungs. "Why? Why didn't you protect daddy? Why…." As quickly as it had arrived, the manic energy that had possessed her suddenly evaporated, and she would have fallen to her knees had Heero not grabbed her. Surprising himself, he slowly took her into his arms as she started crying again. She looked up at him, and whimpered, "Why…" Then Sai and Miriallia came up, and Heero gently handed her over to them.
"Come on Flay," said Sai, "I'll take you to your room, you should lay down for a while." Nodding to Miriallia, he took her himself and slowly guided her out of the mess.
Miriallia went over to Heero. "I'm sorry about that. She's…"
Heero shook his head. "It's alright. Don't worry about it."
She nodded, and held out her hand. "I'm Miriallia Haw. Thanks for saving us earlier."
He took it. "No problem."
She motioned over at her boyfriend, "And that's Tolle. The black haired guy is Kuzzey, and the blonde guy with Flay was Sai."
Heero looked towards the door they had left through for a moment. "They an item?" he asked.
Miriallia hesitated. "Well," she began, "they're supposed to be engaged, but it was a political thing. Both of their families are pretty powerful within the Earth Alliance. Both of them were sent to live in Heliopolis in order to avoid the war. Now with her father dead….well, the whole thing might be off now, although I don't think Sai realizes it."
"Does Flay?" he asked.
Miriallia nodded. "I think so, which is strange when you consider how distraught she is right now, but I think she's already thrown the whole thing out the window, whether she realizes it or not."
"How do you know?" said Heero.
"It's just a feeling I get from her. I don't think they were ever really close, no matter how hard Sai tried, and I think this gives her a way out of the arrangement, one that she'll take," replied Miriallia.
Mu cut in. "Hey, you guys gonna help clean this mess up or what?" They looked over at the table, and both went to grab some napkins to try and clean up the spilt drinks and food. After they had done that, and Heero had refilled his plate and cup, they all sat down again.
It was quiet for a few minutes before Tolle spoke up. "So Heero, are you a Coordinator too?"
"Tolle!" said Miriallia, "Try a little tact." She looked at Heero, "Sorry about that. He's a nice guy, but can be a bit dense at times."
"Hey!" said Tolle.
Heero shook his head. "Don't worry about it. And to answer your question, no, I'm not a Coordinator."
Miriallia and Tolle were shocked, although Kira and Mu were not. Kira because of what Heero had told him, and Mu because Heero had actually volunteered a blood sample in the ship's med bay before he had gone to his quarters, which proved that he was, indeed, a Natural. The doctor had sent the report to the bridge, where Mu was at with the other senior officers at the time.
"Wait a minute," said Miriallia, "then how can you pilot a mobile suit?"
Heero hesitated, unsure how to answer. Luckily, Mu stepped in. "Does it really matter? He did save your necks after all."
Miriallia looked somewhat abashed. "You're right, Mr. La Flaga. Sorry Heero."
"It's alright," he said. "The truth is, I underwent extremely intensive training. My reaction times were sped up considerably as a result." This was somewhat of an oversimplification of his preparation for Operation Meteor, as well as most of his upbringing and training in the art of war, but he didn't feel like giving them those details. Besides, from the looks of things, Kira hasn't told them about where I'm from. The less people who are privy to that information for right now, the better.
"Wait," said Tolle, "So you're saying that with enough training, any Natural can pilot a mobile suit?" Heero was unsure how to respond.
Then Mu spoke up. "Sorry kid," he said, "but I'm afraid it's more complicated than that."
"Aw, what do you mean?" Tolle whined.
"Look, kid, don't worry about it. The point is, neither you nor I will be piloting something like the Strike or Heero's machine any time soon."
The talk died down for a while, and then Heero spoke up. "So, what do you two do around here?"
Miriallia looked up. "Well, I'm assigned to the Combat Information Center. I help coordinate the ship's mobile suit and mobile armor units. Tolle helps with navigation."
Suddenly the intercom buzzed. "Heero Yuy, could you please come to the bridge?"
He stood up. "Well, gotta go." Before anyone else could say anything, he was out the door."
….
Murrue was looking at the primary tactical display when Heero sidled up next to her, seemingly out of nowhere. He can be scarily quiet when he wants to, she thought. "What's going on?" he said.
She motioned to the map. "I wanted to show you our current situation. As of right now, we're several hours away from our rendezvous with the 8th fleet." A group of blue dots appeared on the map, symbolizing the Earth Forces ships of that armada. "However," she continued, "the area ahead is rife with ZAFT patrols." A swarm of red dots appeared between them and the friendly blue dots. "I expect we'll be engaged sometime over the course of the next several hours." She paused, then turned to him. "I wanted you to see this so you would know what we're up against." Then she smiled. "Now, go get some rest. Since you're not formally under my command, that's as close to an order as you'll get out of me. It will probably be the last bit of sleep you get for a while."
….
The attack came later than Heero had expected. He had actually gotten a full six hours of sleep and had just finished cleaning up when alarms started going off. "Attention," came Ensign Badgiruel's voice over the intercom, "we have ZAFT ships inbound. All hands to battle stations! All pilots scramble immediately!" Heero was already racing towards the hangar before the announcement had even finished.
When he arrived, the area was a swarm of activity as the techs rushed to fit the Strike with an Aile pack, which was its most well rounded augmentation unit. Meanwhile, the Moebius Zero had already been moved to the linear catapult, with Mu La Flaga ready to launch the orange custom mobile armor at any time. Heero rushed to the Wing Zero and used the low gravity to quickly propel himself up to its cockpit.
He radioed the bridge. "Lieutenant Ramius," he said, "As soon as the Moebius launches, I'll follow. Wing Zero doesn't need the catapult to launch, so you can focus on loading the Strike."
"Understood," she said. "Launch when Lieutenant La Flaga is clear."
Heero saw the linear catapult launch the Moebius Zero, then ignited his engines and quickly left the Archangel. As he cleared the ship, his radar lit up with contacts. There were three Laurasia-class frigates directly ahead and they had all launched their mobile suits. Fifteen of them were standard GINNs, while the last three were the stolen Alliance prototypes: Buster, Blitz, and Duel.
Heero brought up schematics on the last three machines as they approached. Buster, a tan and green unit, was built as an artillery suit, and had a 350 mm. Gun Launcher in one hand, and a large beam rifle in the other. The two could combine to form a heavy multi-purpose cannon, capable of firing either a long-range beam attack or a mid-range scatter shot blast. The blue and white Duel, the first and most basic of the five prototypes Orb had helped build for the Alliance, was at the head of the pack, with its beam rifle and shield at the ready. Finally, the black Blitz unit followed them, a machine designed primarily for stealth, with a shield that had a built in beam rifle and missile launcher mounted on its right arm, while the left had a harpoon-like weapon on it that could be launched at enemy units, then retrieved via its cable for repeat use. The unit also had a Mirage Colloid system, which allowed it to turn invisible, at the cost of its Phase Shift Armor. Due to this draw back and the sheer volume of fire that the Archangel was already throwing out, the unit was flying visibly in order to utilize its advanced armor.
Those three suits would have been tough enough to deal with, but the additional fifteen GINNs and the three frigates promised to make things even more complicated. Better try to thin out the GINNs first, thought Heero. He noticed the Moebius Zero out in front of him. "Lieutenant Flaga," he said, "on my mark, break right 45 degrees down angle."
"Got it," the ace replied.
Wing Zero raised its Twin Buster Rifle. "Mark!" he yelled. As the mobile armor suddenly dived out of the way, Heero fired the weapon at roughly a third of its power. A large yellow beam ripped through the enemy formation. The prototypes managed to scatter, but five GINNs were caught in the blast and went up like fireworks. The rest of the enemy mobile suits broke off into pairs. That trick won't work twice. Dialing down the rifle's power setting to something more appropriate for combat with smaller units, he also drew one of Wing Zero's beam sabers.
Meanwhile, Kira had just launched the Strike and was moving in to engage the prototypes. Moebius Zero moved to support him. As the Strike fired its beam rifle at the Duel, Mu deployed his mobile armor's remote gun pods. The four barrel-like weapons split off from the fighter and sent a rain of shells at the enemy. The rounds impacted both the Duel, who had focused its shield on blocking the Strike's attack, and the Buster, which had attempted to attack the Strike before it could respond. The Blitz moved to get a clear shot at the Moebius, but Mu had already maneuvered his craft behind the Duel, so the black suit didn't have a clear shot.
As the five machines slugged it out, Heero began attacking the remaining GINNs. Igniting his beam saber, he charged the nearest enemy pair. Moving too swiftly for the suits to track, he sliced both in half before their pilots could react. As the other pairs swarmed around him, he let rip with his shoulder gatlings. Another suit went up in flames, while its partner lost both its right arm and its main rifle, forcing it to withdraw.
The six remaining suits backed off some before leveling their guns at him. Before they could bombard him though, he had already hit his boosters and was above them. Leveling his Twin Buster Rifle, he fired off a series of low-power shots. Three more suits were destroyed.
The final three GINNs all drew their swords and charged Heero, clearly attempting to negate the advantage of his rifle. As they closed, Wing Zero met them with its emerald beam saber. Their own metal blades were cleaved in two within seconds, and the units themselves impaled shortly thereafter.
However, as Heero turned away from the exploding units towards the three frigates, his radar started beeping. "What's this?" he said. Coming in behind the Archangel were another six ships, five frigates and one destroyer.
The Archangel hailed him. "Heero," said Miriallia as she came on screen. "We have incoming vessels at our rear!"
He nodded. "I see them." In fact, they were already launching GINNs.
Thirty-six of them, this time.
This could be trouble, he thought. "I'll do what I can to hold them off," he said as he charged towards them.
"Heero listen," said Miriallia, "We just need you to buy us some time until we can blast through the ships in front of us. Once Kira and Lieutenant La Flaga have beaten back the other three suits, they'll come support you, but you're on your own until then."
"Roger that," he said.
With that he brought up his rifle, increased the charge, and cut loose.
….
Murrue looked on in awe as a massive yellow beam cut through the enemy formation approaching from behind the ship. Seven GINNs exploded, but Murrue soon discovered to her shock that they were not the intended target. One of the five green Laurasia-class frigates coming up behind the mobile suits was hit head on by the beam. The ship's armor seemed to melt away before the blast, and the entire vessel went up in a spectacular explosion.
I knew his mobile suit was strong, but this….
She had never imagined that it possessed this kind of raw power.
She didn't have time to take it all in though. Miriallia was calling up to her from the CIC. "The Strike's running low on power!"
"What? Already?" she said. Looking at the fight taking place in front of the Archangel, she saw the three stolen prototypes swarming around the Strike, trying to overwhelm it. Lieutenant La Flaga was using his mobile armor to launch hit-and-run attacks on them, but their Phase Shift Armor could shrug off his rounds, although the impacts would deplete their own energy reserves eventually. Kira in the meanwhile was firing wildly with his beam rifle, sending lances of green energy everywhere, but the enemy pilots managed to dodge his attacks.
Damn it, she thought, his style is still too inefficient, too wasteful of energy. Looking at a monitor, she saw that, at this rate, the Strike would exhaust its main battery in about two minutes.
Thinking quickly, she barked out orders. "Have Kira disengage and come back towards the Archangel. Prepare a Sword Striker Pack for launch! Use the Gottfried cannons to cover him!" Miriallia relayed her commands. Kira fired off another volley of beams that managed to force his foes to back off a bit, and used the opportunity to retreat towards the ship. The three suits tried to pursue, but they soon found themselves caught between a barrage from the Moebius Zero's gun pods and the large energy beams from the Archangel.
However, the Duel somehow managed to break out, and made a beeline for the Strike. Whirling around in the blink of an eye, Kira whipped out his beam saber and slashed the machine across the chest. Sparks flew out and the machine stopped cold, then backed off in an awkward manner, like the pilot was having trouble with his controls. Little did Kira know that one of the control panels inside the Duel had exploded, giving its pilot, the white-haired Yzak Joule, a face full of shrapnel which had penetrated his helmet visor.
As soon as Kira was clear, the Sword Pack was launched. The Strike shed its winged Aile pack, which fell back towards the ship. In addition to an energy unit that recharged the mobile suit's batteries, the pack had a large anti-ship sword, possessing both a sharp metal edge and an energy blade that covered it. On the left shoulder was the handle where the Strike could grab and launch a beam boomerang, while on the same arm was a small shield with a built-in rocket anchor with a grappling arm that could be used to grab both opponents and other objects.
Murrue breathed a sigh of relief as the suit and augmentation pack linked up. "Okay," she said, "have him re-engage the prototypes."
"No need, ma'am," replied Miriallia from below. "They're already withdrawing."
Must be low on power, thought Murrue. "Fine then, have both him and La Flaga back up Wing Zero. Meanwhile, charge the Lohengrin cannons. Prepare to fire on the frigate group in front of us."
The two massive bow cannons began accumulating energy, taking on an orange-red glow. Checking one of the other monitors, Murrue saw that both the Strike and the Moebius Zero had joined Heero in engaging the GINNs behind the Archangel. Kira had just sliced into two of the enemy machines, and another three had fallen a barrage from La Flaga's gun-pods. Wing Zero had already cut down another five mobile suits with its beam saber before the others had joined him, and was raising its rifle again. Another torrent of yellow energy ripped forth, taking out four GINNs, but the real target was another one of the lumpy green frigates behind them, which like its sister ship was annihilated by the blast.
Another voice came up from the crew pit. "Lohengrins completely charged."
Murrue nodded. "Target the ship in the center of the formation. If we take it out the other two may scatter." An image came up on the main monitor, showing the three warships in front of them, with the central vessel bracketed in a red targeting array.
"Fire!" she yelled. Two large blasts of crimson energy erupted from the bow and ripped right through the enemy formation. The middle frigate took the brunt of the attack, and instantly exploded. The two flanking vessels caught the edges of the blast, and both fell away to the side, trailing smoke and flames. However, they weren't out of the fight, and despite their wounds began to move into a pincer attack on the Archangel.
Before they could attack though, emerald beams and a swarm of missiles slammed into them from behind. "What was that?" cried Murrue.
"Incoming contacts," said the radar man. "It's… the 8th fleet!"
They must have decided to come out and meet us rather than wait in orbit, she realized. As they looked on an armada of warships, including dozens of the type of escort ships as encountered earlier by Heero, Drake-class ships, several Nelson-class battleships, and the flagship, the triangular, three-hundred meter long Agamemnon-class carrier the Menelaus.
The fleet continued its bombardment. One of the frigates succumbed to the withering fire, while the other vessel managed to deploy a chaff screen and escaped. The remaining mobile suits and warships of the pursuing ZAFT attack force withdrew, though not without suffering one final attack from the Wing Zero. Heero let loose one last blast from the Twin Buster Rifle, which took out five more GINNs and yet another frigate. Meanwhile, Kira and Mu La Flaga were able to break off their own engagements and were headed back towards the Archangel. The last ten GINNs limped away from the field, along with the two surviving frigates and the larger blue destroyer.
The bridge crew let out a sigh of relief as they were soon enveloped by the Earth Alliance armada. "Put us alongside the Menelaus and match their velocity," said Murrue. Then the image of the battle-hardened Admiral Lewis Halberton appeared on the main screen.
Murrue stood up and saluted. "Admiral, it's good to see you again. Thank you for the rescue."
The man nodded. "It would be a shame if something were to happen to you all now after coming so far. Form up with the flagship and adjust your heading, we'll take you the rest of the way to Earth."
She nodded and relayed the orders. The admiral spoke up again. "Oh, and Lieutenant Ramius? Excellent work getting here in one piece. I'll be coming over soon to conduct an inspection, as well as to meet with you and your crew."
"Understood Admiral," she said, "We're recovering our mobile suits and mobile armor now. They'll be aboard shortly."
Halberton frowned. "Did you say 'suits' as in more than one? I was under the impression that only the Strike was aboard."
Murrue began to sweat a little, unsure how to explain how Heero had joined them with his own unit. "We… picked up an unexpected ally during our journey. He brought his own machine with him. It's… really something else."
He nodded. "I see. Well, I'd certainly like to meet him. Have him join you and your command staff when I begin your debriefing." "Yes sir," she said.
The admiral was about to cut the connection when he suddenly seemed to remember something. "Oh, and by the way, Lieutenant Ramius? It's good to see you again."
Murrue smiled. "You as well, sir."
….
Heero looked around as the Earth Forces ships surrounded them. An impressive fleet, but without any mobile suits of their own, they're outmatched by ZAFT in combat. He began to take Wing Zero in towards the Archangel. "Better use this opportunity to rest up," he murmured, "ZAFT will be back once they amass a larger force. We're not safe yet."
Preview for next time!
Under the protection of the 8th fleet, the crew of the Archangel breaths a sigh of relief, and looks forward to some much needed rest. But respite will be hard to come by for Murrue and Heero, who are called before the admiral and his staff for a review of their actions, one that may be more difficult than any actual battle fought so far. Meanwhile, ZAFT is amassing an armada, led by none other than the devious and enigmatic Rau Le Creuset. Will the Archangel survive long enough to make re-entry? Next time, on "Journey to a New Battlefield," Episode Four: Battle for Descent.
Author's note: Okay, good news and bad news. Good news first, I've typed up a significant portion of episode four already! Bad news: it's freaking LONG, and I don't think I've even reached the halfway point yet! So it will be a longer wait period between updates this time, sorry guys! I am working on it though, I promise you that!
Anyway, as always, please review, I really enjoy the feedback!