Gundam SEED Eternity - Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny, or Gundam 00, so please point that damned lawsuit cannon at someone else!
The Minerva had once again come under attack by Earth Alliance forces, and now, the Destiny Gundam was trying to fight off a new Earth Alliance mobile suit, which to Shinn's surprise and horror, had been equipped with a GN Tau Drive.
Shinn had already hacked into the enemy machine's computer and discovered that the machine was known as a GNX-105 GN Strike Gundam, but Shinn was shocked to discover that the GNX-105 GN Strike Gundam was compatible with not only the Earth Alliance's Striker Packs, but with ZAFT's Silhouette Modules and Wizard Packs as well.
Suddenly a single beam rifle shot coursed between the two Gundams. Shinn's eyes widened in surprise, and the GN Strike slammed on the brakes. A moment later, there was a blur of crimson smashing into the side of the GN Strike, knocking it aside. Shinn gasped in disbelief.
The Epyon Gundam floated between the two machines, a twin buster rifle pointed at each of them.
"Orb will not allow you to enter their territory," Murrue ordered. "Both of your ships will alter their course immediately or they will be destroyed."
"What?!" Shinn exclaimed as Rey's white ZAKU Phantom, Luna's red ZAKU Warrior and Mayu's Force Impulse Gundam, which currently bore a pink color scheme, similar to that of the Strike Rouge, hovered nearby.
"What the hell are you doing?!" The pilot of the GN Strike shrieked, glowering at the Epyon. "Get out of my way!"
"Die," Murrue replied to the pilot of the GN Strike, her voice devoid of emotion as she pulled the trigger of the rifle in her machine's left hand. An instant later, the GN Strike was engulfed in a bright yellow beam blast and vanished in a massive explosion. As the explosion slowly faded, red GN particles spread out from where the GN Strike had been a moment before. The Earth Alliance carrier quickly fled after witnessing the Epyon Gundam's superior firepower.
Shinn let a sigh of relief escape his lips as the Epyon then lowered both rifles and turned to face the Destiny Gundam. After a few seconds, Murrue's face appeared on his communications screen.
"Sorry if I worried you, Shinn." Murrue apologized. "I wouldn't really destroy the Minerva."
Shinn smiled and nodded. "I know, Captain Ramius, although I must admit, I am surprised to see you alive."
"Well, Kira and I will explain that after the Minerva docks in Orb." Murrue replied smiling. "I'm sure that Kira will want to talk to you."
"I'd imagine that Kira might also want to talk to Meyrin, Luna and my sister; Mayu." Shinn said, returning Murrue's smile with one of his own. "They are members of Celestial Being too."
Rey's white ZAKU Phantom had already received the order to return to the Minerva, while Luna's red ZAKU Warrior, Mayu's Force Impulse Gundam and Shinn's own Destiny Gundam had all been given permission to land at Morgenroete's mobile suit facilities for immediate repair and resupply.
A few days later the Akatsuki, Destiny, Freedom, Epyon, Destiny Impulse, and Infinite Justice steadily walked out of the Morgenroete mobile suit hangers.
The Akatsuki was now wielding a massive curved sword in its right hand and a twin buster rifle in its left; the Destiny was now wielding a pair of anti-ship swords, one in each hand. The Epyon, as it had been a few days ago, was now wielding a pair of twin buster rifles. The Destiny Impulse, like the Epyon was now wielding a pair of twin buster rifles. The Freedom was now wielding a massive beam sword, similar to the ones used by the METEOR units, in its right hand and a twin buster rifle in its left. The Infinite Justice was now wielding a pair of massive beam swords, identical to the one in the Freedom's right hand.
The Takemikazuchi Fleet was showing no signs of slowing down, but they weren't changing course either. From the cockpit of the Akatsuki Gundam, Cagalli consulted her map and blinked in surprise, as their projected course pointed them towards Orb. They were headed towards her nation at breakneck speed. She glanced up at the fleet itself, which was just on the horizon, watching as tiny glittering dots, mobile suits, took off from the decks of the approaching vessels. At the center of it all was the flagship, the Takemikazuchi, where Yuna Roma Seiran was waiting.
From the cockpit of the Destiny Gundam, Shinn narrowed his eyes at the whole spectacle.
There was a flash of reflected light; Shinn squinted, shielding his eyes with his hand, as the Akatsuki suddenly boosted into the sky. The Destiny, Freedom, Epyon, Destiny Impulse and Infinite Justice all followed a few seconds later. As the six machines streaked towards the enemy fleet, they split into two groups of three, the Freedom, Akatsuki and Epyon in one group and the Destiny, Infinite Justice, and Destiny Impulse in the other. The Freedom's group was on the left, while the Destiny's group was on the right.
In the left-hand group; the Freedom moved to the front with the Akatsuki taking up position on its left flank and the Epyon taking up position on its right flank. While, in the right-hand group; the Destiny moved to the front with the Infinite Justice taking up position on its left flank and the Destiny Impulse taking up position on its right flank.
"Murasame units," Shinn heard Cagalli call out as their two groups formed up, "keep back and prevent the enemy mobile suits from reaching the shore."
The Murasame units quickly moved to guard the shoreline. As the Akatsuki moved ahead, Shinn glanced at it once more. Sure, the Akatsuki was colored bright gold due to its Mirror Coated armor, but Shinn still couldn't help but think that, due to its coloring, the machine was just asking to be shot down.
The enemy warships, which had been those of the Orb fleet before Yuna Roma Seiran had commandeered them during the first weeks after the Bloody Valentine War, began to open fire with ranging shots, as their mobile suits formed up. The artillery shells flashed by the Celestial Being and Orb mobile suits harmlessly.
"Split up and attack your assigned targets," The voice of Andrew Waltfeld called out. "Athrun, Mayu, you two accompany Shinn and take out the Takemikazuchi. You've got a date with Yuna and we'd hate for you to miss it."
The enemy Murasames up ahead opened fire; Shinn narrowed his eyes at them and deflected their shots with his beam shield. There was only one way through this, and with that thought, he armed the beam rifle and clenched his fist over the trigger.
Just as Shinn was about to fire, a gold beam blast pierced his rifle, he quickly dropped the weapon and took cover behind his shield as the rifle exploded. Shinn, Mayu and Athrun all glanced at where the beam blast had come from and their eyes widened.
"Shinn," Mayu said in shock. "That machine, it's the GN Strike."
Shinn's eyes widened as he stared at the machine.
"No way." Shinn muttered in disbelief as the GNX-105 GN Strike Gundam floated high above the Destiny, Infinite Justice and Destiny Impulse Gundams. Unlike the GN Strike Gundam which he had seen and fought with a few days earlier, this one had a pair of GN Tau Drives, one on each shoulder, the twin drives spewing red GN particles. As the GN Strike moved to attack Shinn, it was suddenly cut down by a green energy beam and Shinn smiled slightly as the Destiny Impulse lowered its beam rifle.
The Takemikazuchi shook as another missile slammed into its flight deck. Yuna growled angrily as the ship's anti-aircraft guns finally blazed to life to take down the next volley of missiles.
"What the hell is going on with the first line?" he demanded. "They should not be able to attack us this early!"
"Orb's units are tearing us apart, sir!" one of the bridge crew answered. "Their forces are too overwhelming!"
"Dammit," Yuna growled. "We will not allow Orb to beat us! Fight to the last man if you have to, but throw those bastards out of our waters!"
"Admiral," The Captain spoke up warily, as the Takemikazuchi shook again. "We need to rethink our strategy. We cannot win this battle by numbers alone."
A storm of missiles smashed into a Kuraokami-class cruiser near the Takemikazuchi, splintering the beleaguered ship under a chain of explosions and pounding it under the ocean's surface. Yuna scowled.
"Mobile suits approaching!" one of the bridge crew cried. Up ahead, a wing of Orb Murasames came streaking down towards the Takemikazuchi.
"Shoot them down!" Yuna shouted.
"It's too late!" Todaka cut him off.
A wave of beam fire ripped through the Orb ranks, tearing the Murasames apart. Yuna watched in disbelief as a squadron of Windams shrieked by overhead. He glanced over the water, eyes wide, and found himself staring at the vanguard of an Earth Alliance fleet.
"Admiral Seiran," a deep, gravelly voice began. Yuna looked back at the screen, stunned, to find a stout old man in an Earth Alliance uniform, his face almost obscured by a bushy gray beard, standing before him on the main screen. "Grand Admiral James MacIntyre. We are here to help you beat ZAFT back." He paused. "And," something on his end made a terrifying crashing sound, "we have brought a gift."
"Look at that thing!" one of the Takemikazuchi's bridge crew shouted. Yuna looked back at the Alliance fleet, and his eyes widened in disbelief as the Destroy Gundam rose out of the depths of a massive battleship.
"Orb will fall, here and now," MacIntyre intoned. "All units, open fire!"
It was huge. It was unstoppable. It was the perfect weapon of mass destruction.
The Earth Alliance's terrifying new GFAS-X1 Destroy Gundam rampaged towards Orb. Already it had annihilated an entire city, and there was no telling when, or if, it would stop.
"The Alliance is here?" Cagalli exclaimed in disbelief. She glanced over her shoulder, sure enough, an array of Windams and Dagger Ls were streaming onto the battlefield, and the Alliance's warships were slicing into the side of the unsuspecting Orb fleet. And with a thunderous crash, the Destroy Gundam set down on a small unmarked island, flashed its eyes ominously, and unleashed a beam cannon barrage that sent an entire squadron of Orb Murasames and Astrays spiraling into the water in flames.
Suddenly, a brave, or stupid, Astray leapt gallantly into the air, beam sword drawn and raised above its head for a killing stab, as it sailed back down towards the Destroy's head.
The Astray leapt upwards, sword upraised. Once again, gravity reclaimed it and it swiveled its sword around for a killing stab, but the Destroy casually tilted its head back and blew the Astray away with a mouth beam cannon blast.
The Astray's beam sword landed in the ocean with a splash.
"A Destroy Gundam?!" Cagalli yelled in horror as the massive form of the Destroy Gundam continued to lumber towards the Orb shoreline. "Damnit, launch the Aigaion!"
"Murrue, Cagalli," Kira shouted with an almost sadistic grin on his face. "Let's show these fools who they are really dealing with!"
As the Akatsuki and Epyon moved towards the Freedom, the huge flying wing aircraft known as the Aigaion erupted from beneath the waves, leaving glowing afterimages and countless trails of brightly glowing GN particles in its wake. As soon as the Aigaion's jet engines had cleared the water, they roared to life, helping to propel the huge flying aircraft carrier into the sky. As it ascended, the Aigaion's Mirror Coated Phase Shift armor lit up, covering the upper-side of the fuselage and wings of the huge aircraft with a two-tone of pink and red, while the under-side of the wings and fuselage lit up with a shining gold.
The Aigaion was a truly massive aircraft, with a height of 102.39 meters, a wingspan of 963.77 meters and a length of 433.3 meters. The Aigaion, due in part to its sheer size, had very heavy defenses, which included; Mirror Coated Phase Shift armor, "Geschmeidig Panzer" energy deflection armor, a Holoshroud Camouflage System, a GN field barrier and a Mirage Colloid Stealth System.
The aircraft was also very heavily armed, its weapons included ICBM Missile launchers, Flak cannons, Anti-Aircraft guns, Sidewinder Air-to-Air missile launchers, beam machine cannons, a pair of beam blades, "Blitz" micro-missile launchers, rail cannons, a pair of scattering beam rifles and an EMP Cannon. Additionally the Aigaion could be loaded with approximately 250,000 pounds of conventional or nuclear ordnance, in various configurations, allowing it to operate as a heavy strategic bomber, a battleship escort, or an escort bomber.
Everyone in the attacking Earth Alliance fleet stared in disbelief and horror at the Aigaion as it majestically rose into the sky. As the wings of the huge aircraft cleared the water, a pair of beam blades ignited along the leading edges of the wings, while countless anti-aircraft guns, flak cannons, air-to-air missile launchers and beam machine cannons opened fire, instantly filling the sky with a hellish barrage of beam blasts, machine gun rounds, missiles and flak.
Two short seconds later the Akatsuki, Epyon and Freedom opened up with their twin buster rifles, three bright yellow beam blasts instantly swept over the Destroy Gundam, but the machine had activated its positron reflector, blocking the shots. Kira snarled as he unleashed his DRAGOON units, pummeling the Destroy's positron reflector with beam shots from the remote weapons, while also unleashing rapid-fire, full-power blasts from both of his twin buster rifles.
Suddenly, a wing of Windams came streaking towards him, beam rifles blazing. Kira effortlessly dodged their shots, transformed the Freedom into its flight mode and streaked towards them. The Windams took evasive action and Kira scowled as he rocketed up into their ranks. With a scream, he transformed his machine back to its mobile suit mode and unleashed a full weapons burst, sending half the squadron plummeting into the ocean. The rest of the squadron backed away, but Kira quickly cut them down with another full burst.
"They can't really be stupid enough to fight against us, we ended the last war single-handedly," Cagalli snorted.
A beam rifle shot speared an incoming Windam from above, blowing it apart. Cagalli looked up as a shadow passed over her, shocked to see the Eternal, gracefully flying above her, as an orange and silver colored Gaia Gundam, the personal unit of Andrew Waltfeld, dropped in with another rifle shot to ward off an approaching Dagger L.
"Don't count on that," Andy said as the Gaia leveled off next to the Akatsuki. "Human stupidity is a powerful force."
"That's very true." Talia Gladys replied from the bridge of the Minerva as the vessel moved towards the Earth Alliance fleet, the ZAFT ship spewing cannon shells, beam blasts and CIWS fire. Cagalli raised an eyebrow as what appeared to be a dull grey ZAKU launched from the Minerva's port-side catapult, as soon as the mobile suit was clear of the catapult, it's armor phase shifted to a bright yellow.
In the cockpit of her red ZAKU Warrior, Luna's eyes widened as five Astrays opened fire at her. She desprately tried to dodge the shots, but one of the beam blasts hit her machine, just below the cockpit. "OH SHIT!" Luna shreiked, slamming her hand on the eject button.
A second later, Luna's red ZAKU Warrior exploded into a fireball, but no one noticed the small fighter jet as it quickly streaked out of the fireball. Luna sighed in releif from the cockpit of her X-02 Wyvern super fighter, which had been installed in her ZAKU for use as an ecsape pod.
On the bridge of the Minerva, Meyrin was sobbing uncontrollably. It was not military protocol to leave a hysterical crewmember in his or her post, but Talia could care less. One of her pilots had died, along with the countless other ZAFT and Orb soldiers. Up above, the hulking form of the Destroy Gundam wiped out another Petrie-class battleship with its huge back-mounted quadruple cannons, sending dozens more ZAFT and Orb soldiers to their graves.
"Have we…lost?" Arthur asked quietly.
The Savior Gundam crashed into the hangar still in its mobile armor mode, half of its left wing was gone, and its engines were spewing thick, black smoke.. Up above was a tower of smoke, and nearby, an island where Rey's ZAKU Phantom was supporting a dismembered Destiny Impulse. Talia glanced at Meyrin, still sobbing hysterically. She cast a dour glance at Burt; he nodded in response and stood to gingerly take Meyrin by the shoulders.
"LUNA!" Meyrin shrieked, leaping out of her chair and rushing up to the screen. "COME BACK!"
"Meyrin..." Arthur began, rising from his seat.
"Take her back to her room, and send for someone to fill her post in the meantime," Talia cut in. Arthur looked at her in surprise. "That's an order."
"Y-Yes ma'am," Arthur answered nervously, turning to take Meyrin by the shoulders and guide her off the bridge.
Talia watched numbly as Rey's ZAKU took off and landed on the Minerva's starboard mobile suit deck, stomping down into the hangar. She glanced at the battlefield. The remaining allied units were no longer bothering to retreat in an orderly fashion, but were simply fleeing in terror in the face of the unstoppable Destroy and the unexpected firepower of the Alliance fleet.
"We've received a priority message from fleet commander Kira Yamato," Burt reported. Talia glanced grimly at him. "We are to retreat to the Orb mainland."
"As I thought," she said. "Malik, set course for the Orb mainland. Engines to maximum."
"Yes ma'am," Malik answered quietly, setting to work at the helm.
Talia sat back, staring at the plume of smoke that had once been Luna's red ZAKU Warrior.
Everything, it seemed, was going to hell.
Thus, Chapter 3 ends.
No, Lunamaria isn't dead, although she is very greatful that Shinn had given her one of Celestial Being's spare ZAKU Warriors, in place of her standard ZAFT-built ZAKU Warrior.
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