Chapter 7: False Peace
Orb Union - January 29th, Cosmic Era 73
It had been almost two years since the Colonial Fleet jumped into the Battle at Jachin Due, and the settling in was mostly complete. The earth Sphere had long since gotten used to the two most powerful warships in the known universe orbiting Luna, the Vipers flying through the atmosphere and jumping in and out of Raptors over the capitals of the nations of Earth.
Now was the first of what was hoped would be many air shows featuring the Colonial Fleet's finest.
Among the gathered crowd, Kira, Lacus, Athrun, Cagalli, and many of their friends who could make it, waited as an announcer approached the podium.
"Hello, everyone. Welcome to the show. As you know, two years ago, the world, if not the universe, changed. The Colonial fleet appeared, ending a bloody, senseless war. 40 years ago, a man entered another senseless war, intending to make his mark and help his people end the fighting. His name was William Adama."
After a brief applause, the Announcer continued.
"From common pilot to experienced ship command and now Fleet Admiral, Adama has led his people from a holocaust caused by the same enemy he and the rest of the colonies fought decades before,"
The sound of a turbine engine roaring was heard as a Mk II Viper flew overhead, the sharp-eyed catching sight of the nameplate: Adm. William Adama 'Husker'. "Wow! There he is! Admiral Adama!"
The group looked at the fighter as it flew through the sky, pulling off some maneuvers.
"I didn't know the Admiral was that good of a pilot," said Athrun.
The Viper spun around in less then .4 seconds, aliaron rolling through the sky. "It's sad. Such skill, only to be used to end lives." The whine of engines were heard as what appeared to be Cylon Raiders, from the first war, whooped in. "Admiral! Watch out!"
However the Viper stopped in mid-air and the two raiders sped by him, and the twin guns on the fighter opened up, spewing...nothing but paintballs, as a volley hit one of the Raiders on the side.
"You're kidding. They're mounting paintball guns?" "Well, maybe this is how Colonial airshows work: actual combat, without...death." More Raiders entered the fight, firing on Adama's fighter. "There's no way the Admiral's going to survive this!" Paintballs impacted another Raider as more Mk II vipers entered the fight.
The crowd could see on two of the Vipers, a and respectively, were 'Captain Kara "Starbuck" Thrace' and 'Commander Lee "Apollo" Adama'. The reinforcements then engaged the Raiders, and the crowd could see that despite this being an airshow, the pilots were treating this performance as a real combat situation.
Kira frowned. They were treating this like a training session: in-atmo combat. Lacus clearly wasn't approving, either. "This is wrong. They're training for war when we're at peace."
In Starbuck's Mk II, she locked onto Athena's Raider before pelting it with paintballs. "Damn it!" "Hey, you shot down Hot Dog and Kat! Only fair-" She gripped her hand before yanking back on the stick.
Another Raider joined the fray, but this one was different, as it was the same one that was captured during the Battle of the Guardian Baseship. The Colonial Fleet personnel gave it the nickname "Cylon Viper" while the official name is Cobra Mk.I.
After a thorough examination of the Cylon Prototype fighter, it was decided to have the fighter massed produced, giving it the designation 'Cobra'. In the fighter's cockpit, Boomer smirked.
"You should keep a better look at your surroundings, Starbuck," she said snidely, while the dual guns opened up, aiming at Kara's wing.
Starbuck climbed upwards before she saw something. A Heavy Raider, and orange clouds. "What the hell? FRAK!" She panicked, arming the Viper's two 30mm autocannons, opening fire on the Raider. These were the ACTUAL guns mounted to the Viper, not paintball gun pods, and they hit their intended target. Problem was, that target was a Mk II viper, which lost its' engine and starboard wing in the process.
"Starbuck, what the hell!?" shouted Lee, as Kara watched in horror as the Viper spin out of control.
She watched the plane fall out of the sky before her own rammed another Viper, sheering off the port wing of her craft and killing the pilot of the other, which rammed another Raider, destroying both. Starbuck, openly crying and cursing, pulled the ejector handles of her seat, letting Lee destroy the now out of control fighter.
Nearby, a Raptor and a Colonial Mobile Suit were watching the events from a distance. "Frak ME. Captain, did you see that?"
"Yeah I did! Admiral, do you read me!?"
"I'm fine! Dammit! Apollo, status on Starbuck!?"
"She...she ejected. What the hell came over her?" the Raptor fired its' afterburners, heading for the scene. "Psycho to all aircraft: the airshow is cancelled. RTB to Galactica. SAR Raptors, get your asses moving! Captain Redington, you too!"
"Copy that Admiral," came Will's voice, and the GAT-X03 Gladius, in it's new paint scheme of light grey, with olive green trim, with a Medieval Wolf Rampant on the right shoulder, sped to the scene in order to help.
"What the hell Kara?," Bill said, showing a mix of anger, and concern for his adoptive daughter.
Battlestar Galactica
"Five pilots and nine planes. Starbuck fraked up GOOD this time." Ron sighed before handing tigh a file. "Someone decided to be a dick. There were traces of XC58 Gamma and Agent Huron in her blood."
"And exactly how bad is that?" asked Will, as he passed his hand through his hair.
"They're time-delay psychotropics, used for creating auditory and visual hallucinations. Highly illegal to use, hard to get your hands on. And there are bottles of both in Galactica's sickbay under heavy lockdown."
Tigh winced. He might not've liked starbuck, but THIS was something even he would not do. "Someone doped her?"
"And badly."
"Any suspects?" Will asked, and Ron sighed.
"Blue Cosmos, probably." Ron said, "We DID have a bunch of tourists on board a few days ago. I recommend pulling all active pilots and personnel for the next 12 hours: both chemicals have a 72 hour activation period."
"Very well. Colonel, I think it's time we continued modernizing the fleet. The President has requested that we begin development of a new Mobile Suit, to replace the Daggers and GINNs we acquired at Jachin Due."
Will blinked at that, "Any candidates?" he asked, and Ron just grinned at him.
"Morgenrote was kind enough to give me the blueprints and specs to the MVF-11C Murasame." Ron said, "I've begun retrofitting the prototype they gave us: new battery, enhanced sensors." He handed a file to Adama, labelled 'CDF-X01 DART'. "Superior in every way to every MS in service with any Earth Sphere military. Even the Gladus units we're producing for the reserve aren't as good."
Bill opened the folder and looked at the design of the new Mobile Suit.
"Gotta hand it to Morgenroete, they come up with crazy idea," he said and looked at Ron, "And you just make 'em even more crazier,"
"Thank you, sir. I plan to put this thing through its' paces once it's complete in three days. After that, it will be the three weeks from hell. And if the Captain will oblige, one of those will be the dogfight from hell."
"I wouldn't mind," he said, "And I wouldn't mind loaning one of my pilots, one of the kids we picked up at Lodonia,"
"then I have work to do. Excuse me." "Colonel." Ron paused as he got up. "Those Titanomachy missiles of yours. I want them mass produced." "Consider it done."
Arzachel crater
Like a battleship of old, the Charlemagne woke with a rumble. Mighty as she was, she was but the first of her class. "You've outdone yourself, Augustus! The Charlemagne will herald the dawn of a new era for humanity."
Augustus gave a sigh, "She's still in the trial stages, Lord Djibril," he said, "I just hope the Captain you picked for her will do well not to get her TOO damaged,"
"Admiral Morgerstern will handle the Charlemagne. My problem, as always, remains Galactica. You promised me a ship that could outfight her, yet in simulations, Galactica and Pegasus can outturn her. Ships FIVE TIMES the mass out turning the king of the Earth Sphere." "you wanted power, not agility. by the time we figured out the agility problem, the design was frozen!"
Djibril sighed at that, "Let's just hope she can bring down one of those Battlestars," he said, "My agents have by now spiked those drugs into the pilots' food, and that airshow 'incident' is certainly causing trouble for them."
The leader of Blue Cosmos gazed at the two unfinished sisters of the mightly Charlemagne. "How long until they're ready?" "5 months. The Centurions cut down the construction time by half: no family to go home to, no one to unwittingly reveal the existence of the ship. The perfect workforce."
Djibril grinned at that thought. "Good..." he said, "Once they are complete… we sink Galactica, then Pegasus, those other battlestars… and the rest of them will be easy picking."
Factory ship Brokkr - Jupiter orbit
"Alright, people! Listen up! This will be THE most ambitious project the CCE will undertake!" Hundreds of engineers and technicians stood before Ron, and behind him was a diagram of the CDF-X01 dart. "The Dart will be the first mass-production MS to use phase shift armor, a transforming frame, an FTL drive and those fancy striker packs. And we're going to build a LOT of them. Questions?"
"When do we get started, sir?" One of the engineers asked.
"Right the hell now. The prototype needs to be in the air by week's end! I expect a working prototype beam rifle by that time, as well as an FTL drive that can jump us halfway to Kobol mounted in it! Get to work!" The engineers got to work, and Ron stared at the Murasume that would be converted into the CDF-X01. "We have a lot to do."
GENESIS Alpha - Lagrange Point 4
"Alright ladies, get the corks out of your ears!" Jaden shouted, as he stood before a small hoard of Junk Guild members. "As you know, the Colonials are making a brand new Mobile Suit series for their personal use - the Dart. While we have our Raysta's, and our own vastly upgraded and militarized A1's and such… me and Ron have struck up a small wager."
Jaden grinned "CCE is gonna begin work on their CDF-X01 Dart, but we will be competing with them, to develop our own super badass mobile weapon!" He said, "And when their ready, me and Ron will each pilot our respective prototypes, and have ourselves a good old fashioned mobile suit fight to see who's is best! That's right, it's our very own JUNKYARD WARS!"
Cheering was heard from all the guilders, ready to kick the crap out of the CCE's new MS.
Orb Union
The sight of a black hulled Archangel was...intimidating, to say the least. The gold colonial starbird on the sides, though, was a comfort. It had been two years, and the Dominion had settled nicely into her new fleet, with Cagalli noting the new number painted on the side. BSG-75.
"I must admit, the Dominion fits rather well within the Colonial navy," Cagalli commented, as Adama nodded as their Raptor landed in the hangar bay.
"Colonel Tigh wasn't impressed with her." He remembered the first thing Tigh said when they saw the Dominion after Jachin due. 'That thing looks like a lounge chair. And missiles? What the frak is that thing, a mini Cylon baseship?' "Colonel Pinkerton was...equally insulted." That was an understatement. All Ron wanted to do was scrap the ship and use it to refit Galactica. Adama, thankfully, vetoed that idea.
"They obviously never saw the Archangel's track record." Cagalli said, as they left the Raptor. "She survived ZAFT Commando bombings, being harrassed by the captured G-Weapons, fought against the Desert Tiger, survived the path through the Indian Ocean to Orb, JOSH-A, the Battle of Orb, and of course Jachin Due. If that doesn't prove the Angels can't take a beating and dish one right back out, I don't know what will."
"They might be able to deal damage to a Terran warship, but the Archangel wouldn't have a chance against Galactica. A salvo of 8-ton projectiles going at .001 times the speed of light kind of ruins anyone's day. It's worse against Pegasus. Her ECM suites would make the missiles go around the ship." The Raptor set down on the deck, inside the assault carrier. "Enjoy your trip to Delta Canopis, Madam Representative."
"you're not going, Admiral?"
"I have to keep my pilots from going off the rails. Someone fraked with Starbuck during that airshow last week." Cagalli shook her head, remembering those planes falling from the sky in flames as she stepped off the raptor. "Enjoy your visit, Cagalli."
Delta Canopis Shipyards
The orbiting yards were buzzing with activity: dozens of ships were coming and going, all highly automated due to manpower issues. No fewer then four Brimir-Class carriers were in orbit, all surrounding a near copy of the Dominion.
As the Dominion itself passed by, Cagalli looked at the ship in surprise. "What is that?" She asked.
"Another one of the CCE's projects, they're calling it the Archangel Kai-class." Natarle informed.
"A little unoriginal." "Well, they turned it into a miniature battlestar. the crazy bastards added twelve more railguns to the damn thing." Cagalli winced. two railguns were bad enough, but the Colonials? They LOVED kinetic energy weapons. the sheer number mounted to Galactica turned her into the yardstick every Terran warship was now measured against.
And were usually found wanting. Very, very, VERY wanting. And that was when Cagalli noticed that the ship carried not a Colonial starbird, but the emblem of the United Emirates of Orb. "Wait..." she said, "Why does it have the Orb emblem, and not the Colonial emblem?"
"Because the admiral was planning on gifting them to Orb." Natarle said, causing Cagalli to bink.
"Wait, what?" She asked, as the former XO of the Archangel chuckled a bit.
"That's right," she said, "The Admiral said it'll serve Orb well until we can deliver you the Amaterasu's when their finished."
Cagalli gaped until she saw the shipyard. Nine more Archangel-class ships were under construction, varying from nearly complete to halfway complete. "How?"
"The shipyards are highly automated." She said, "Some kind of AI, smart enough to run the place, but loyal to the Colonials, kept the place from falling apart until Colonel Pinkerton and Commander Takeo showed up."
However, before Cagalli could ask anything else, there were several flashes of light as two Mercury-class Battlestars and a Valkyrie-class Battlestar popped into existence from their FTL jumps, proceeding towards the shipyard.
Cagalli attempted to process this. Even if there were more than one Mercury, neither ship was Pegasus; both ships were named Mercury and Damocles. And the Valkyrie was named Sif, not Yashuman or Valkyrie. That made the princess come to one, simple conclusion.
'They have more than four ships. They have a LOT more than four ships!' Natarle facepalmed. "Well, cat's out of the bag now."
"You KNEW?!"
"It was four months after they jumped into Jupiter orbit! They didn't exactly trust any of us until they could be sure we wouldn't inform our birth nations and cause a panic! Think about the world's reaction to Galactica and Pegasus; what would they do if over 80 more ships of the same classes showed up?!"
"...EIGHTY?!" Cagalli shouted, causing Natarle to groan.
Meanwhile - GENESIS Alpha
"Hey where do you want us to put that shipment of Valves you requested?"
"Are they Vanutan or Kanuten Valves?"
"There's a difference?"
Jaden shook his head as he looked at the mobile suit in the center of the hangar bay which was slowly taking shape. Like the Dart that the CCE was designing, the mobile suit that was being built by the Junk Guild - currently called the YMF-JG72X Ramumesa - was intended to be a transformation-capable machine like the Murasame, just as the Dart would be. Overall, it wasn't too different from the Murasame, however there were some major key differences. Like the Dart, it possessed Trans Phase Shift armor, and it would have its own small FTL Drive similar to those equipped onto Raptors, granting it more long-range flight time to totally different star systems. However, unlike the Dart, it would not be capable of mounting Striker Packs.
The design of the Ramumesa was basically to create a general-purpose, easy to master and produce mobile suit. While it may not have the same firepower the Dart would get from its Striker Packs, it makes up for its sheer maneuverability and speed, including a mixture of kinetic and beam weaponry. In addition to the obvious 75mm Head Vulcans, and beam sabers, the Ramumesa had a pair of 30mm Vulcans mounted along the 'nose' of the aircraft for its MA mode for Dogfighting Raiders and Vipers. And possessed hardpoints under each of its wings for attaching various weapons, from Multi-purpose missiles, Anti-Air missiles, Anti-Ship missiles, unguided/guided bombs, rocket pods, and even the newer, more advanced Micro-Missile pods which can swarm enemies with hails of missiles. And of course, it could also use the CCE-built Titanomachy missiles. However its main weapon was the GAU-67G 58mm 6-Barrel High-Energy Beam Gatling Gun Pod, giving the MS all the punch it needs to take down most mobile suits in the earth sphere, equipped also with an Anti-Armor Bayonet with heat blade tech which can melt through lunar titanium.
With all of this though, one of the most interesting features Jaden had introduced to the Ramumesa is the unique transforming ability. While it possesses the standard Mobile Suit and Mobile Armor modes, it also possessed a third mode - which several Junk Guild members have nicknamed 'Guardian' mode. A half-and-half mode where the arms and legs of the MS are exposed, yet it still maintained its Fighter-like shape. This mode allows it to hover in place when in atmosphere, and quickly pick up people and items if need-be, and do so much faster than it would in MS mode.
Overall though, the Ramumesa was beginning to truly take shape as a capable mobile suit, and Jaden was looking forward seeing how it will fair against the Colonial Dart prototype.
Which, apparently, would be using a new type of beam rifle. The XDEW-1A looked like a conventional bullpup assault rifle, but other then the name and the size of the beam (50mm, which were smaller then the ones used by everyone else) Jaden knew nothing about it. The Colonials had opted for the Roman method of military thinking, which was 'improve on an existing design', rather then 'build something themselves'. But the Colonials were VERY good at that. They had created a version of PSA that was super-cheap to make, made the quantum computers used in every MS much easier to build and were probably on the way to making the DRAGOON System usable for non-Newtypes.
Underestimating the Colonials would be a stupid mistake.
Battlestar Galactica - Delta Canopis
Adama and Roslin sat in front of Cagalli, who looked VERY pissed off. "You could have told me. You SHOULD have told us about those ships!"
"This is why we didn't tell anyone yet," Roslin said as she sighed, "If the EA or ZAFT found out we had an Armada of ships, they'd think it was the precursor to an invasion."
"That's no excuse! If you simply showed them what happened to the Colonies, they-"
"Are you THAT naive, Madam Representative?" Cagalli stared at Adama, who was leveling his gaze on her. "ZAFT would claim that we would attack them, the Alliance would do the same, and there would be full-scale war throughout the entire solar system. No one and nothing would survive the holocaust that would ensue. Do you understand?"
"You can't keep a force like that hidden forever, Admiral!" Cagalli said, "The longer you keep them hidden, the worse it'll be when the EA and ZAFT eventually do find out!"
"Which is why we're trying to speed up the cleanup operations on the Colonies. It will STILL take over a year to clean up the radiation from Tauron and Caprica. I would think that a fleet staying out of the Earth Sphere would show that we're unwilling to get involved in anything, and that isn't going to change unless some idiot decides to openly shoot at a Colonial ship. As soon as we can, we'll leave Sol to your own devices. Colonel Pinkerton's informed us you've been building improved versions of the Raptor; if the Cylons come, all you have to do is send a ship to Cyrannus." The leader of Orb suddenly felt like she was being treated like a misbehaving student being scolded by her teacher. Fitting, as Roslin WAS a teacher prior to entering politics. "Besides, you're getting ten more ships to defend your nation. I think that's a good enough price to pay for keeping your mouth shut until we go back."
Cagalli closed her eyes for a minute, as if trying to calm herself down before she sighed. "I won't tell anyone." She said, "But I say again: you can't keep this fleet hidden forever at Jupiter. Someone will find out eventually."
Adama's face could not be read, but his tone could. "Maybe. But if and when they find out, it will be on our terms. Until then, Galactica, Pegasus and the two Valkyries will be the only Colonial battlestars in orbit of Earth." "They will find out, admiral. And no amount of assurances will make it any better."
Ptolaemaus Crater - March 12th, Cosmic Era 73
Pegasus was currently hosting a large number of Colonial and Junk guild personnel, all of whom were making open bets. "For the record, commander, I did not agree to this bet."
Lee shook his head as he listened to ron defend himself. "Commander Takeo says otherwise."
"Well, Commander Takeo's probably annoyed at the CCE stealing all the Junk guild's thunder. Doesn't matter. Please tell me he's not listening in."
"I don't think so," Lee said glancing around, "I wasn't expecting him or his Junk Guilders to be in here..."
At that moment though, there was a brief moment of blaring music before Jaden and two more Junk Guilders jumped into the room, wearing red uniforms. "No one expects the Junk Guild!" Jaden shouted, "Our chief weapon is surprise, surprise and fear - no, two chief weapons, Surprise, Fear and ruthless efficiency - I mean three chief weapons! Surprise, Fear, Ruthless efficiency and an almost fanatical devotion to engineering - wait, make that four chief weapons, amongst other weapons!"
Lee's eyebrows were arched in a fashion akin to a certain sci-fi legend while Shaw was facepalming, resisting the urge to plant her head into the plotting table. "No wonder the CCE and them get along."
Pegasus's commander sighed before looking at Jaden. "the Colonel and the prototype Dart are in the port flight pod. And he says that he never agreed to this little contest of yours. Course, the Admiral's turning it into a flyoff."
"I heard, but Ron should know now we love a good engineering contest." Jaden said grinning. "'Sides, it'll be fun either way. I'll be in the flight pod." And with that, Jaden left, leaving behind his two JG members still wearing the red uniforms.
"Sir, I have an idea on how to make things more...interesting."
Ron flipped the switches in the cockpit as he clipped his helmet onto his head. "CDF-X01, startup checklist complete. DRADIS array, all green, OS operational, weapons ready." "Cleared for takeoff, Colonel." The Mobile Suit's thrusters fired as he left Pegasus' port flight pod, keeping an eye on both the DRADIS and his surroundings. "Pegasus, Psycho: is Jaden still in CIC?"
"Present." Jaden said, before the Ramumesa flew overhead of the Dart. "Ready to get this show on the road, Ron?"
"I did not make this bet, Jaden: you just automatically assumed. Now my reputation's on the line." He moved the craft abreast of the Ramumesa. "You'd better hope that thing passes the tests the CCE has for ALL of our equipment."
"C'mon, it'll be fun." Jaden said chuckling, "It'll be like the fly off between the Black Widow II and Raptor in the 21st Century."
"If I remember clearly, one was turned into a production fighter while the other was turned into a museum piece." "This is Pegasus Actual: you are cleared for mock combat exercise. Good hunting."
"Copy, Actual." Both fighters broke off, banking in opposite directions before the battle truly began as both suit transformed into MS mode and pulled out their respective weapons.
'Setting beam weapons to training mode...' Jaden thought as he prepared the Beam gatling gunpod, taking cover behind a slab of debris which had been set up by the CCE and Junk Guild for the battle. 'Now, if I were Ron… the first thing I would do is-'
A green beam of energy shot out from space, hitting Jaden's cover blasting it to bits. "DO THAT!" He shouted, before he transformed into MA mode and darted away. He could see shots being fired at him from a fair distance away, and Jaden used the Ramumesa's speed and agility to its advantage by dodging and weaving through the debris field to avoid being hit by Ron's fire.
The Dart transformed into MA mode, chasing after the Ramumesa, firing its' back-mounted beam cannon at the Junk guild mobile suit. Jaden was tempted to facepalm as he realized that Ron was treating the Dart as an oversized Viper, not a Mobile Suit. He transformed into Guardian mode before the dart jumped away, preventing him from hitting it.
FTL technology was a pain to counter, and having FTL-capable Mobile Suits would cause ANYONE a headache. Jaden's headache was going to get worse, though, as black puffs surrounded him and the Dart.
"OI! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Jaden shouted as he dodged the flack fired by Pegasus. "RON! WAS THIS YOUR IDEA?!"
"Pegasus, Psycho: a flak test was NOT scheduled! What the hell is going on?!"
"Blame Major Shaw, boys: she wanted to make the fight more...interesting. Besides, you were going to do it eventually. You ALWAYS put your fighter prototypes through the flak test."
"But that… Fuck it, we'll do it live!" Jaden shouted.
"Wha-"
"FUCK IT! WE'LL DO IT LIVE!" Jaden shouted as he switched his machine back to MS mode, spinning it around as he fired his gatling gun at the Dart, while also avoiding the AA Flack. While the TPS armor could easily defend against it, it was still a bit annoying when it'd rattle the cockpit a bit.
Ron was also pissed off, but seemed to be handling it better then Jaden. The 'flak test' must've been a way to make sure that Colonial craft could handle a flak barrier to some degree. The Dart swam through the field, shrapnel pinging off the armor plating. "Jaden, I'm seeing a small leak from your port engine. Seems to be a coolant leak."
"Oh thanks, one sec..." Jaden said, as the port engine shut off for a few seconds while still dodging the Flack, albet a bit slower. "Switching to backup… sealing off damaged coolant bank… there we go!" The engine ignited back to life as he was back to 100%. "Write that down for the notes… now, where were we? Ah yes." He spun around as he pulled out a beam saber and blocked Ron's attempt to sneak behind him. "Beam Sabers working fine, glad we fixed that issue from past models with Armure Lumiere."
The Dart fired its' thrusters to backpedal back into the heavier part of the flak field, and Jaden was slightly uneasy about going in there. All being said, the Ramumesa was much more complex then the Dart thanks to the Guardian mode, and parts WERE exposed in that configuration. If one piece of shrapnel damaged part of the transforming frame, the MS would turn into a metallic pretzel.
'Note to self - apply extra armor to areas exposed in Guardian mode.' He thought, as he transformed his machine to full MA mode. 'Seriously, what the hell was I thinking?' He speed up after Ron's Dart, chasing him through the field of Flack, dodging and weaving to catch up with the Dart.
Both exited the field, The Dart transforming mid-flight to fire its' thrusters in order to stop the MS from going too far from Pegasus before Ron fired something from the rifle that wasn't a beam. It was shaped like a bullet. It was only when it exploded that Jaden realized it was a 100mm grenade, sending shrapnel toward the Ramumesa. One of the cameras was knocked out, but it wasn't enough to take the MS out of the fight. "Ok, gentlemen, report back to Pegasus. I think that's enough for today."
"Yeah, sounds good." Jaden said, as he transformed into full MS mode. "Need to patch that Coolant leak… make a few mods, reactions seemed a bit sluggish."
Both men stood before Admiral Adama later that day as he looked over the logs of the battle. "While Major Shaw's 'idea' was reckless, you were going to have to do that eventually. And Commander...what the hell made you consider adding a hybrid mode to a Mobile Suit?"
"The Guardian Mode I designed was to allow the Ramumesa to land in a combat zone and still maintain maximum defensive abilities." Jaden informed, "Also, it grants it formidable low level aerial fighting capabilities without fully going MS mode. You could easily fly between buildings and make turns in dime if you needed to thanks to it. while also having the maximum firepower of the Ramumesa at the same time. After all, would any sane pilot chase after a MS which can change to a hybrid mode in mid-flight, and while still flying forward, turn around, and start shooting back?"
"While that is something no one wants to face, I believe the Murasame is VTOL-capable."
"It was in the original design, Admiral; Morgenrote deleted it from the production models because they weren't planning on using it the way we do. I reintroduced it on the Dart. Not to the same effect as the Ramumesa, but it can fight in a street-level battle. Didn't want to add to the complexity of the MS unnecessarily."
Adama poured himself a glass of brandy before searching for his glasses. "Smart. You were thinking of the knuckledraggers, wanting to make their job easier."
"I was also thinking of the pilots." He said, "They don't want to pilot a Mobile Suit, they just want a simple fighter like the Viper, with the added close-in ability of an MS, if necessary."
The Old man gave up looking for his spectacles, remembering that one of the Lodonia kids still had them. "The Dart is simpler, but we need more then one model." He said, "The Dart will be our primary unit, with the Ramumesa being its' partner unit. Three-to-two ratio, favoring the Dart. Commander, work with Colonel Pinkerton; try to make your machine easier to maintain. I don't want Chief Tyrol up here telling me how much of a pain in the ass it is to make sure those things don't lock up mid-flight."
"We wouldn't have built it if we didn't plan that ahead, but alright." Jaden said nodding, "Need to fix a few kinks in it anyways, give it more armor in Guardian mode, and such."
"Dismissed." Ron saluted to the old man before they went to the hatch, which opened violently, slamming Ron into the bulkhead as a brown-haired girl with pigtails ran in, wearing Adama's glasses. "Ow..."
"Oh! Uhhh, sorry!" The girl said, chuckling a bit nervously. "Didn't see ya there..."
"Solid steel hatch; course you didn't see me." He unmarried himself from the bulkhead, cracking his back as he straightened it out. "Who are you?"
"Oh, you guys saved me from that place!" The girl said smiling, "I'm Mari!"
"And why do you have the Old Man's glasses?" Ron asked, "He kinda needs them."
She blinked, tilting her head to one side. "Uh...because I need them, too?"
"Riiiight."
"Mari." The girl jumped at the sound of Adama's voice before spinning around. "Papa Bill!" Both men stared as she jumped on Adama in a bearhug.
"This day could not get any weirder."
Sherman Cottle had PLENTY of experience in odd medical matters. He delivered a Cylon baby two years ago, which, when not taking Sharon Agathon's semi-human state into account, was pretty fraking odd.
But the strange bluenette that called herself Rei? She could have the emotional attitude of a brick one second and be mad as hell the next, so getting an accurate medical reading on her was nigh-impossible.
She also knifed someone that tried to force himself on her, which earned her high-praise from Colonel Tigh.
Then there were the OTHER ones: a redhead that could've been from Virgon (the accent reminded him of it) while the other a boy that had a very Aquarian accent to his voice.
They were… odd. The girl, whom claimed her name was Asuka, could rant forever about anything she saw, and the boy - who's name was 'Shinji' - had almost zero self-esteem… unless the word 'Useless' was flung around, which would send the boy on a near unstoppable berserker rage, which only Asuka could quell by… well… Heloing it with him.
If it weren't for the fact that Galactica was LITERALLY the most secure place to hold them, he'd've shipped them off to the Rising Star for medical treatment, as it, ironically, had better medical facilities.
That, and the ONLY person any of them really respected was admiral Adama. he showed up, they calmed the frak down and OBEYED. It was like they knew he was a figure of authority without asking.
Speak of him and he will cometh, as Admiral Adama walked into the medical bay along with Jaden, Ron and one of the other girls - Mari. "Doctor." Adama said.
"Admiral." Cottle replied nodding, before the children noticed his arrival.
All three jumped to their feet, standing at attention. The two other officers shared a glance before the CCE Colonel facepalmed. "I was wrong: this day DID get weirder." Ron said. "How the hell did you DO that, Bill? Seriously, I show up near that bluehead and she tries to knife me! YOU show up, it's 'By your freaking Command'!"
"Maybe they recognize him as a figure of authority… " Jaden said shrugging, "Who knows what the EA did to their heads at that place."
"He does have that aura of command that simply makes you OBEY, and that if you don't, there will be blood."
Cottle resisted chuckling at the engineering comedy duo. "Admiral, since you're the only one they listen to, I don't have much of a choice." Adama raised an eyebrow before Cottle gave him a clipboard. "Sign here."
"What's this?" Adama asks as he signed it.
"Release forms indicating that you are now the legal guardian for these kids." Cottle said grinning.
Adama glared at Cottle, who simply lit up a smoke in response. "Doc, you're a troll. But that's why we love you."
8 months later - October 2nd, Cosmic Era 73, 06:45 hours local time
"THIS is the enemy." Video footage of a Viper flying past was displayed on a wall behind Lunamaria Hawke, ZAFT red coat and former Colonial Foreign Legion pilot. Of course, she wore her Colonial navy blues under the undone red jacket, feeling no shame having served.
"The Mk VII Viper is the mainstay unit of the Colonial Fleet. three turbo-thrust engines with optional thrust vectoring power this 10 foot long war machine, and it is armed with three 30mm cannons, with 9 hardpoints for missiles, unguided rockets and nukes. Now, who can tell me..." She faced the class of ZAFT pilots who had come to the lecture. "How many Vipers did the Colonials lose at Jachin Due?"
When she was met with silence, Luna closed her eyes, groaning. "Read your frakking history..." she muttered, "Technically, the Colonials lost no Vipers - though one could argue they lost one, but that one was only lost when it crashed into the X13A Providence at the end of the battle, and even then the machine was retrieved and repaired."
Murmuring was heard throughout the crowd. "The Colonial Viper pilot...is an expert as dismemberment." More footage played from Jachin due, of a trio of Vipers slowly taking apart a CGuE, shooting at the exposed areas of the joints, which caused the arms and legs to fall away. "He knows where to aim to cause maximum damage to your machine. And as none of our Mobile Suits besides the prototype X-series ones carry CIWS, you'd better hope you see the viper first...or your machine will be pecked apart. Questions?"
A girl wearing glasses raised her hand. "Riika."
"How come they were so effective at Jachin Due? That WAS their first time fighting Mobile Suits, after all."
Luna began chuckling before outright laughing. "Oh, THAT is funny. While that is sorta true, it's also COMPLETELY wrong." A shaky image appeared as a Model 0005 Centurion marched through the moving footage before Luna paused it. "To us, the Mobile Suit is a unique war machine. To the Colonials...not so much." She pointed at the joints of the 0005. "A model 0005 Centurion and a GuAIZ share an 84% design commonality. That applies to EVERY Mobile Suit. In a sense, the Colonials have been fighting Mobile Suits for 60 years."
There was a collective gulp among the students, causing Luna to smirk a bit. "Yeah, they have more experience dealing with large robots than we ever could hope for." She said.
"B-but clearly, there is a difference between fighting a Cylon on the ground with small arms and knives that's only a little bit larger than a human, than fighting a mobile suit with nothing but fighters?" Another said.
"While there is a size difference, the Centurion and almost every Mobile Suit still share 80% design commonality. And those guns are laser-accurate. I'd know: I've flown a Mk VII in my service with the Legion. Colonial pilots are trained to use little more then unguided weapons to take down highly agile craft and they are insanely skilled at AVOIDING fire. But remember, it's not the Viper you should watch out for."
"It's not?"
"Nope!" She clicked the remote once more, and Galactica appeared. "It's their carriers. Speaking of which, what's the time?"
"Uh, 06:50. Why?"
"Good! Then you all get to have your first look at the Viper, as Galactica will be arriving any minute! President Roslin and Representative Athha are coming here on a goodwill visit, after all."
Luna just leaned back '3...2...1...' she thought, before the room erupted in a panicked frenzy at the idea of the Colonials once again paying ZAFT a visit, leaving a smirking Habu 'I love my job.'
Outside, Shinn Asuka, wearing Colonial issue fatigues under the red coat, quirked an eyebrow at the panic inside the briefing room. "horror stories?"
"Yup. So, how's your day been, since I've been scaring the newbs?" She said.
"I ran into someone on my way here." Shinn said shruging, "A girl."
Luna smirked dangerously, putting her hands together. "Oh? Was she pretty?"
"Very-WHAT THE HELL?!"
"Come on, Shinn, you've been hanging around me and my sister for two years!" She said rolling her eyes, "We were friend-zoned day one, so I'm taking an active interest in your love life."
"Fine, she was pretty! And odd. I...well..."
"What?"
"I accidently groped her! Happy?!"
While most would not believe him, Luna did. And decided to tease him about it. "Oh? What was her size?" She asked, her smirk never leaving.
"WHY ARE YOU INTERESTED?!" Shinn shouted back, as Luna giggled.
"Because I have nothing better to do then grill you about your new girlfriend?" "SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Not yet, the universe decided. Shinn groaned, facepalming. "Shouldn't we be getting to the Minerva? Captain Gladys will tan our hides if we don't show up." "Not that she doesn't already. Having two Legionnaries for pilots doesn't help."
Outside the colony, a flash of light signalled the arrival of ZAFT's Nightmare, the Titanium Monster.
Otherwise known as the Battlestar Galactica. The ship's arrival sent the token defenders into a panic, with ships being put on alert, and MS ready to deploy at a moment's notice. Sure they knew to expect the Battlestar, but in the eyes of the Captains and Pilots - especially those who fought them during the last war - were not taking any chances.
"Now THAT'S respect." Adama sent a warning look at Tigh. ZAFT feared and respected Galactica, but fear turned to hate quickly. And hate turned to rage. "Inform the colony to expect Raptor 498. President Roslin, Representative Athha, Colonel Pinkerton and Commander Takeo will be on board."
"Yes sir - Colony informed, Raptor 498 is deploying now." Gaeta said, as a few moments later a single Raptor launched from Galactica, escorted by a trio of Vipers.
The Lieutenant looked at the DRADIS, spotting what looked like a contact. "Sir, I'm picking something up on DRADIS: large contact, no IFF."
"Tell the CAP to get eyeballs on that area, Mr. Gaeta. And perform a diagnostic on the DRADIS array if nothing turns up."
"Aye, sir."
Raptor 498 - en route to Armory One
"Do you have to be so heavily armed, Colonel?"
Ron shrugged, patting his G36K/AG36. "President of the Colonies, going to a military complex in a nation that isn't so friendly?" Ron asked, "Common sense, Madam Representative. ZAFT can bitch all they like as long as the President is safe."
Roslin tapped Ron's shoulder. "Please don't talk as if I'm not here, Colonel."
"Yeah, figured that was a bad idea." The Raptor entered the airlock, landing in a parking space made for shuttles and other small craft. "Ok, people, let's get moving. Any orders if Durandal does something?"
"If he does try something, weapons free." Roslin said, "Though I'd like to avoid any unnecessary confrontations for the time being."
The hatch opened, allowing them to exit the small attack transport. Durandal, predictably, was waiting for them. "President Roslin. Welcome to Armory One." Roslin shook the chairman's hand, although she still had the feeling of 'KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!' as she did so. Jaden and Ron could not blame her. "Shall we?"
Inside the military complex were three teenagers. Two were male, and one was a girl. That was rather scatterbrained, as she was dancing all over the place.
"Stella, get ready." One of the men said, as they readied their respective weapons. Stella herself drawing out a knife before the blue haired boy kicked the door open, as the three charged inside, firing their weapons catching the guards inside off guard.
"Who the fuc-" The ZAFT security personnel were not prepared for a three-man team of teenagers to charge in and start killing them one by one, but that was pretty much what happened, as they fell one by one to the onslaught.
"Idiots. Never stood a chance."
"Get moving, Sting! We can't stay here! Unless you forgot, there's a big fuckin' Battlestar hangin' outside the colony!"
"I'm going, I'm going!" Sting said as he entered the first machine, as Stella and Auel entered the other two machines, however none of them noticing one surviving ZAFT guard climbing up, and smashing his fist against the alarm.
"It is my hope that this strength we're forging here will only be used to defend the PLANTs. And, by extension, the Earth Sphere from the Cylon threat."
Cagalli began to agree with Roslin: Durandal REALLY needed to get shot. "As long as you don't get complacent." Roslin said, "The last thing we need is another war breaking out."
Alarms then began going off throughout the base. "Complacent." Ron said, rolling his eyes. "RIGHT. Madam President, please go somewhere safe."
"And where are you going?"
"To find out what the hell's going on! Jaden, you coming with?"
"Sure, I-" Jaden began to say, before one of the hangars exploded, sending debris flying everywere before stepping outside of the hangar, were three distinct mobile suits that the Orb citizens and Colonials immediately recognized.
"Fraking WONDERFUL." Ron growled, "Prototypes! Pythia, There are days I HATE YOU!" The Colonel handed Jaden a pump-action grenade launcher. "Here."
"And what exactly am I supposed to do with that against a GUNDAM?!" Jaden shouted.
"It's loaded with phosphorus-thermite rounds." Ron said. "They'll burn through the phase shift if it uses any. And what the frak is a 'gundam'?"
"Wait, no one ever told you?" Jaden asked, "During the last war, the EA made five Prototype G-weapons along with the first Archangel. Their Operating Systems all started up with an acronym which would spell out G.U.N.D.A.M - easier than saying 'General Unilateral Neuro-link Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver', anyways. And most Gundam's… well, look like that - V-head crest, very Samurai-looking body and all. The Providence and Freedom were Gundam's as well."
"history later, shoot now!" Ron fired his launcher at the unit with what appeared to have two large pods on the side, only the round impacted the shield. The shield, however, was enough to show off the effect of the grenade as the impacted area began to melt. "4500 degrees. Not even phase shift armor can handle the mantle of a planet." The unit, however, turned its' head at them. "Oh, frak me. RUN!"
Jaden and Ron ran from the Gundam as it fired its head vulcans towards them. "It melts, but it barley does jack shit against it, other than PISS IT OFF!" Jaden shouted, as they passed another set of hangars, causing Jaden to pause as he saw several of ZAFT's newer ZAKU's inside.
"...now this is more like it." Jaden said as he ran inside, heading towards the closest ZGMF-1001 ZAKU Phantom.
"Oh, GREAT." Ron followed Jaden inside, who was followed in turn by Cagalli and a disguised Athrun Zala. Though in the opinion of both men, sunglasses did jack shit to hide who you really were. "I would KILL for the X01A, but we're not on Galactica, are we?"
"Quit complaining, and GET IN A MOBILE SUIT!" Jaden shouted as he rose up to the cockpit of the ZAKU Phantom, and began running it through its startup sequence.
Explosions became the norm for the interior of the colony as the three units began shooting at anything that moved. "OK, IFF IDs these bastards as ZGMFs X24S Chaos, X31S Abyss, X88S Gaia? What the hell? Can't those idiots number their machines properly?! That just causes logistical chaos!"
Jaden facepalmed, while ZAFT's numbering system was odd, it did have some practical sense to it. "Ok, kid, I'm fit with something called a 'Gunner pack'." Ron said. "Probably their version of the Launcher. What about you?"
"Slash Pack, I've got dual gatling guns and a big ass axe." Jaden informed, as the Slash ZAKU Phantom's monoeye lit up. "Come on, let's go!"
Battlestar Galactica - CIC
Gaeta had just run a systems diagnostic of the DRADIS array and even restarted the system twice. The contact was still there. "Sir, we still have that contact on DRADIS. I'm starting to think it's not a ghost."
Tigh growled as he shook his head. "What, fraking thing's a Mirage Colloid-equipped ship?"
"Seems that way, Colonel." Adama grabbed the handset, keying the PA. "All hands, this is the Admiral. Action Stations. All hands to condition one!" Alarms began going off throughout the ship. "Mr. Gaeta, have batteries alpha through delta target your 'ghost'. Dualla, contact the ZAFT defense forces: tell them we're picking up a contact, possibly using Mirage Colloid."
"Yes sir, I-" Gaeta said, before he blinked, "Wait, sir I'm getting a report from Raptor 498! They're saying the colony is under attack from the inside!"
"Galactica Actual, this is Warsong!" One of their CAP Vipers announced, "I've got explosions coming from the Armory One ship ports! I'm seeing Black Dagger L's attacking, and-WHOA! Where did THAT come from?! A bunch of green Gotfried beams just shot out of nowhere!"
"I think we're justified in opening fire. Load flak rounds! I want that ship disabled! Launch our viper and Mobile suit teams!"
Shinn Asuka was in a foul mood. A VERY foul mood. First, three people hijacked the Gaia, Abyss and Chaos, then started shooting at everything. Then Psycho and Commander Takeo, plus some third guy, hijacked a bunch of ZAKUs to stop them. And now there was a hole in the colony.
He was tempted to slam his head against the ZGMF-X42S Impulse's controls until he was unconscious. 'Seriously, why the hell is everyone so fucking eager to KILL ONE ANOTHER?!'
"Oi! X42S Impulse! This is Colonel Ronald Pinkerton, Colonial callsign Psycho! Respond! your three sister machines are running off!" Shinn heard the oh-so familiar voice of the Colonial Colonel.
"This is Shinn Asuka of ZAFT, Callsign Orphan." Shinn said, "I'm reading you Colonel, good to hear from you again!"
"It's a small universe. I've gotten in contact with Galactica: there's a warship out there, equipped with Mirage Colloid. Whether or not these assholes are Alliance or not is irrelevant: I think helping getting those things back where they belong is more important. Can you get in contact with your ZAFT CO? We need to coordinate our efforts."
Shinn tried to not laugh at the poor pun. "I'm on it." He said, "The Minerva should be getting ready to launch, anyways: Captain Gladys doesn't exactly tolerate things going down the drain."
He then activated the Comm to the Minerva. "This is pilot Asuka to Minerva, you copy?" He asked, "I'm in contact with a few Colonial pilots - they claim they've discovered a ship outside the colony that's hidden in Mirage Colloid."
The face of his captain appeared on one of the auxiliary monitors. "Damn it. I hate working with Adama, but if it's the only way we're going to get those stolen machines back, I'll do it just this once. Get me in contact with Galactica!"
The KEW-1H 600cm twin heavy railgun can fire an 8-ton projectile at one-ten thousandth the speed of light if the capacitors were at full charge. Most of the time, they were not. They could be loaded with armor-piecing high-explosive rounds, flak, or heavy slugs.
In this case, Ian Lee was getting the living hell pounded out of the Girty Lue by no fewer then 20 of those damned guns, all of which were firing flak rounds. "Disengage the cloak! Get us the fuck out of their weapons range!"
"Aye Captain!" said the helmsman, and as soon as the Mirage Colloid was off the ship began to veer away from the Galactica and those guns.
"The infiltration team is making their way out of the PLANT, Captain." More alarms started going off. "Galactica is launching Vipers! And Mobile Suits! IDed as CDF-01 Darts, CDF-02 Ramumesas, one GAT-X03 Gladius! And...X131 Calamity, X370 Raider, X252 Forbidden!"
Ian eyes widened in surprise at that, "The machines that were missing two years ago!?" he said.
"Their signatures match, sir," said the sensor operator, "No doubt about it,"
"Maximum burn! Get us into the debris field, and recall our Mobile Suits. We don't have a chance in hell against the Galactica." Sir, Mirage Colloid's useless against their DRADIS." "Their DRADIS will be too cluttered for accurate readings. Full speed ahead!"
The Gaia, Abyss and Chaos were incredibly busy against the Impulse and the two ZAKUs. Ron was engaging the Chaos, Jaden the Gaia and Shinn the Abyss. Thankfully, they were getting reinforced.
"Shit! Fuck! Shit!" Jaden shouted as he used his machine's shoulder shield to bounce the Gaia's attack's off as it continued to try and slice him in half. "Will you just buzz off and die already?!"
A red beam nearly hit the Gaia, which banked to try and follow it when it fled. "Hey, guys! Heard you guys were having a party without us!"
Jaden breathed a sigh of relief as a Will's GAT-03X along with the three 2nd Generation G-Weapons, and all of Galactica's Viper Wings moved in reinforcement.
"FRAK!" Ron's ZAKU was badly damaged as the Chaos fired its' shoulder cannons and beam rifle to tear off the MS's left arm and both legs. "Krypter, krypter, krypter! This is Psycho: Galactica, I need to land and I need to land NOW!"
"I'll cover ya Ron!" Jaden said as his Phantom moved alongside his, as he fired his dual gating guns at the ZAFT G-weapons pursuing.
The three machines retreated from the fight, heading back to the unknown contact. "Hey! Get back here!" "This is Galactica Actual. All planes, return to Galactica. Enemy carrier is in retreat. We're pursuing."
A smaller warship launched out from Armory One, the IFF in Jaden's machine IDing it as the Minerva.
"ZAFT's new warship, huh?" he heard Will say on the radio, "Looks like a certain winged whale,"
"This is the Minerva. Don't start, Captain. Galactica, we're going to be relying on you for tracking Bogey One. I hope to God that your DRADIS is as good as you claim it is."
"It is, Captain. All Colonial units, land on Galactica. Raptor 489, return to Ptolemaeus before making contact with Battlestar Group 75." The sole Raptor jumped away before the Minerva linked up with Galactica, recovering any Mobile Suit that strayed away.
OMNI Enforcer Phantom Pain stealth recon carrier Girty Lue
Ian was not relaxed. Galactica was on their tail. While they were outside weapons range of the unholy monster, being faster then the giant battlestar, a simple FTL jump would ruin any and all attempts at escape.
"Problems, Captain?" Hachi Sanagiayama floated onto the bridge, looking at the monitors. "Oh. We're being chasd by Galactica. How exciting!"
"How can you call this exciting!?" Ian said in frustration and aggravation, "We're being chased by ONE of the largest vessels in the Earth Sphere!"
"THAT, in and of itself makes it exciting. The firepower. The size! And of course, those wonderful FTL drives. We either escape or we die. It gets the heart pumping! Can you tell the deck people to prep my Exus? I'd like to test my mettle against those Viper pilots from Galactica." The man was stupid. the Exus might've been better then the Moebius, but those Vipers were more agile by far.
"The brass wouldn't like if you damaged the Exus, it's still a prototype," Ian argued.
"Oh, they can complain all they want. All I want is to take down those...fearsome little Vipers." Phantom Pain took in the best of the best the Alliance had to offer. They also took in the odd cases.
Battlestar Galactica
"We have confirmation on the ship's identity. Jaden's sources call the ship the Girty Lue. She's apparently a Blue Cosmos-allied warship. Meaning the main branch of OMNI Enforcer had nothing to do with this."
"Figures that those Extremist would be behind this theft," Tigh growled out, having just enough of the Environmental-turned-terrorist group.
"They've got the edge in maneuverability and speed. Non-factors if we could just jump ahead of them."
"Psycho, don't be stupid. One wrong number and we'd be inside a piece of rock!" Ron sent Tigh a look of 'no shit, dumbass'. "I said 'if'."
"Our best bet would be to have the Minerva move in after them, with MS teams hunting through the debris..." Jaden said, "But without DRADIS those MS and the Minerva would be easy picking for ambushes."
"There's the nuclear option." Ron said shrugging.
"We don't have enough to clear the belt." Tigh said, "And everyone would cry foul."
Adama hmmed. "Colonel."
"Sir?"
"Those missiles of yours. Are they ready?"
"We have a few hundred of them. Why?"
"Fit our Vipers with as many as they can carry. And send out our Raptors: they might be able to cut through the local muck."
"If your talking about the Titanomachy, the missile's won't mean anything if they sneak up behind you." Jaden warned, "With all of that debris, its gonna be hard distinguishing what's debris and what's an enemy. We'll have to rely on the Mark-I eyeball more than anything."
"Our pilots are trained for that. We've faced a similar problem before."
"Admiral Adama refers to what's called the 'Scar Incident'." Ron said, "A single Raider picked off our pilots one by one until Captain Thrace and Captain Katrine finally managed to kill the damn thing. We increased asteroidal training after that. This will not be a problem. Catching up to that ship, on the other hand, will."
"We better get to work in slowing it down then," said Will.
LHM-BB01 Minerva
Luna stared at Galactica as they flew alongside. "This ship has so much better technology. It's faster, more agile and actually built to service Mobile Suits. But given a choice between the Minerva and Galactica..." She lowered her head. "I'd choose Galactica."
"Still haven't gotten over her?" Vino Dupre said as he floated up next to Luna, watching as Galactica prowled forward.
"Look at that ship." She said, "60 years of history. Makes everything we've done look...pathetic. Look at us, fighting one another over something so stupid as genetic engineering when they colonized an entire solar system, and even spread beyond. It's...well. You get the idea."
"What, that they're better then us?" Vino asked, but Luna shook her head.
"No. That they don't care about differences." She said, "They only hate the Cylons out of fear. And they're getting over it. Slowly, but it's happening. And look at us. 'For the preservation of our blue and pure world'. 'Coordinators are the next step in humanity's evolution'. They grew past that crap. We haven't. What do you think?"
"Fair point," Vino said shrugging as he sighed, "Though they've been doing this all for a lot longer than we have, we're newcomers compared to them."
"Maybe, but they had genetic engineering centuries before we did, and they didn't give a damn. It was a fad: it came, it went. As far as they're concerned, we're being stupid." "All personnel, report to your posts. Set alert status to level one." Luna smiled. "And we're back on the clock."
On the Girty Lue, Lee attempted to find a way to engage Galactica without getting their asses handed to them. Missiles were out of the question, as were beams for one combined reason: that damned flak barrier.
The only option they had was to navigate the debris belt until they reached the densest areas, then engage Mirage Colloid. Galactica's DRADIS would be so screwed over by the clutter that they could make it back to Daedalus without trouble.
"Incoming ordinance!" The Girty Lue shook from a flak round exploding just off the ship's port side. "to hell with this. Launch our Mobile Suits!"
Battlestar Galactica
"All Mobile Suit teams and Red Squadron, prepare for launch. Garnet Squadron, prepare for launch."
Jaden climbed into the cockpit of his YMW-JG72X Ramumesa, which the CCE named the 'CDF-X02' for testing purposes. Sure, it lacked the enhanced batteries the dart did, but it was good enough. "All players, Psycho: our job is to capture the Girty Lue and recapture those prototype Mobile Suits. Dart teams, try not to do anything stupid just to mock the Ramumesa flyers. Jaden, you're on my wing."
"You got it Pyscho," Jaden said, as the Ramumesa launched out of starboard flight pod of Galactica alongside Ron's dart, speeding out into space along with the others.
While Galactica's new loadout seemed to be working, it wasn't acceptable by any standard. The older battlestars just weren't designed for Mobile Suit operations.
Hence why the Admiral was going to finally allow Galactica to retire with full honors when Jaden and Ron FINALLY froze Polaris' design and began construction.
"Commander, this is Athena: we've got that ship on DRADIS, bearing 014 carom 359. And we've got company! They're launching Mobile Suits!"
"We've got e'm," Jaden said, as his machine accelerated towards the debris using it for cover. "We're at an even playing field here everyone, use the debris to your advantage for cover! Our sensors may have trouble picking them up, but so will theirs with all this junk around us!"
"All Vipers, weapons free!"
The Dagger Ls fired on the Colonial and ZAFT MS and attack craft, attempting to hit and destroy them before they entered accurate weapons range for their titanomachy missiles. As usual, they continued to underestimate the small size and agility of the Vipers, as they dodged using the debris as shields, the plasma doing nothing but hit rocks. "Hot Dog, weapons lock! Fox Two!" A SIM-6 Archer left the Mk II's wing, impacting on a Dagger's shield nigh-harmlessly. It did, however, blind it long enough for Jaden to get close.
The Ramumesa fired its 55mm Beam gatling gun into the back of the Dagger L, tearing the machine to pieces before he transformed his machine to Mobile Suit mode, flanking left to avoid a swarm of missiles fired his way, firing his gatling gun to shoot the missiles down as they came. "Yeehaw!" He shouted before flipping over to Guardian mode as he fired a swarm of his own missiles at the incoming Dagger L's, forcing them to either take cover or get shot down. "Now we're talking!"
The MP Ramumesas weren't as successful as Jaden's prototype, as one was nearly destroyed by a Dagger L mid-transformation, needing Starbuck's Mk VII to save the pilot from an embarrassing death. "Status on the Girty Lue!"
"It's getting deeper into the debris belt! FRAK! I've lost my lock on it!" Beams shot past both Jaden and Ron, giving the former flashbacks to Jachin Due and the Providence. "Oh, NOW what?!" A sleek Mobile Armor shot through the formation, taking down Kat's Mk III and forcing her to eject. "What the hell is that thing?!"
"Oh son of a… its an Exus!" Jaden shouted as he and Ron were forced to dodge beam shots from multiple directions. "Its a modern equivilent to the Moebius Zero!"
"Meaning?!" Ron asked.
"Its a Space Fighter that has DRAGOON Gunbarrels like the Providence!" Jaden shouted as he used the debris for covered.
"HAHAHA! Come out to PLAY, little Vipers!" The larger fighter fired on the smaller Colonial strike craft, yelling over the wireless about them 'not being any fun' by running away. "Great, we have a fraking nutcase. Minerva, can you send out your MS teams and help kill this fraker?!"
"Negative, right now all of our mobile suits are engaging with the prototypes." Meyrin reported, "You'll have to deal with the new contact on your own."
"Frak! Jaden, cover me: I'm going to reconfigure my Titanomachies to take out those gunbarrels. Without them, it's just an oversized target with beam cannons."
"Oh, SURE, Colonel. And while you're busy, I'm stuck dealing with the fraking Providence's cousin!" Starbuck's annoyance could be understood easily: the Vipers were having a hard enough time with the enemy Mobile Suits and the debris; a DRAGOON/gunbarrel unit made matters worse.
"I've got you covered!" Jaden shouted, switching back to MS mode as he began firing his 55mm Gatling at the Exus's Dragoon pods. "Stay… Still you quick bastards!"
Starbuck's Mk VII fired at another gunbarrel, destroying one of the beam cannons before the other one clipped her port wing. "Frak! Krypter, krypter, krypter! Galactica, request permission to land! I've got a bent bird!"
"Get back to the barn, Starbuck! Psycho, Fox Four-Two!" Four Titanomachy missiles left the underside of the X01 Dart, heading for the gunbarrels, which did their best to hit the agile remote weapons but failed as they exploded to prevent them from being captured by the enemy. While their RCS thrusters were precise and powerful enough to make the Titanomachy almost impossible to dodge for a Mobile Suit, for a DRAGOON, not so much.
"Frak!" Ron shouted, before several beams from the gunbarrels shot back at them.
"Son of a - fuck this! Ron, cover me!" Jaden shouted as he moved out of his cover, and towards the fighter.
"Jaden! What the hell are you-" Ron began to shout, as the Exus's Dragoon's fired at the Ramumesa... however it was as if Jaden had eyes on the back of his head as he dodged the Dragoon's behind him, before spinning around and firing at them, forcing the Dragoon's to dodge. He continued to chase after the Exus, all the while dodging and shooting back at the incoming Dragoons as if he knew where they'd be before they were actually there. "...the frack?"
"The pilot of the Exus is a Newtype..." Jordan informed, "So am I… I'll keep this guy busy on me, you try and get behind him and take him out!"
"Copy that. Athena, status on the prototypes?" "I lost my DRADIS lock, sir. They're too deep in the debris. Same with the Girty Lue." "Frak." Ron eyed the Exus, transforming into MS mode before activating the XDEW-1A's DMR mode, allowing him to fire more accurate shots at the expense of firing rate. 'But I don't NEED more bullets to disable you, you asshole.' He pressed the central firing button, firing a single 50mm beam round into the Exus' rear thrusters, sending the plane into an uncontrolled spin.
"Gah! I underestimated you!" The pilot cursed as he flew away, "But don't expect our next encounter to be so easy!"
"There won't BE a next encounter, asshole! Get back here and DIE!" "All Colonial units, return to Galactica. Repeat, all Colonial units, return to Galactica. We have another problem." "What's next, the sky falling?"
Battlestar Galactica - 30 minutes later, Adama's Quarters
Talia Gladys nervously glanced through the gravity-equipped halls of Galactica, escorted by Luna and Shinn as well as three Colonial Marines carrying Cx4s. Luna smiled as she stepped forward, opening the hatch to the Admiral's quarters, where the Colonial officers and Jaden were currently having a meeting, with Tigh looking rather smug. "We fraking told you people 2 years ago." He said, "But NO, no one listens to the experienced people."
"To be fair, Saul, they weren't expecting this to happen." Ron said.
"Don't give those jackasses on the Council from poppycock excuse, Pinkerton." Tigh said, "They fraked up."
"Junius Seven is considered a memorial sight after the war," Jaden said sighing as he rubbed his forehead, "No one wanted to blow it up, and its orbit was stable enough that this shouldn't of happened. But we thankfully have countermeasures in case something like this happened."
"What's going on here?" Talia asked, still out of the loop of the situation.
"We got a message from the PLANT's and the EA." Adama explained, "Junius Seven's orbit has altered drastically. Now it's on a collision course with the Earth, and I don't need to tell you the kind of devastation someting as large as J7 would cause if it does hit the Earth."
"Don't worry, I have a plan." Jordan said, "All we need to do is slingshot around the moon first, then land on it before we start drilling, drop the nuclear bomb off, and leave Bruce Willis behind." This got odd glances from the others, as he sighed. "For the love of… AM I THE ONLY ONE WHO'S SCENE ARMAGEDDON IN THIS WORLD?!"
"Or the Twelve, apparently. I haven't had the time."
"Doesn't matter, Commander." Adama said, "I'm sending a Raptor to Yashuman with instructions to pick up the equipment. If all else fails, I'll set all of Galactica's nukes to their maximum yield and use them to break up the colony before the dominion uses her positron cannons to mop up."
Talia shook her head. "No. That's a war grave! You can't just destroy it!"
Ron gave her a look. "I cleaned up 3500 bodies off the Battlestar Archeron before we salvaged it." He said, "That was a war grave, too. It was also a navigational hazard. That colony is an environmental hazard, and should've been dealt with by ZAFT after the end of the war. I hope your council is ready to deal with the consequences."
Talia still didn't like it, but sighed "They won't like it… but if anyone is going to do this, it will be ZAFT… not the Colonials. "
"You fraking idiots were incompetent enough to let it stay there for two years. If anyone's going to deal with this and deal with it fast, it'll be us." Adama sent a 'shut up' glare at Tigh.
"If ZAFT's attempt fails, we'll be the backup plan." He said, "Colonel Pinkerton."
"Sir."
"Set the nukes to their highest yield, and send that Raptor to the Dominion." He said, "We'll need those antimatter cannons of theirs to destroy the remains of the colony. If anything goes wrong, we'll all be to blame. Us for not destroying that thing when we got here, ZAFT for not dealing with the colony after the war, and the Alliance for nuking it in the first place. Captain Gladys, Commander Takeo, I'd like to speak with you in private. the rest of you are dismissed."
Both the captain and Jaden rose an eyebrow, before they followed Adama to his quarters to speak with him.
"Galactica will act as the Minerva's support for this operation of yours. Earth's the 13th Colony: I'm not just going to sit on the sidelines and let something threaten it."
Talia looked into Adama's eyes, unrelentingly. "and I don't want the help of a Colonial ship." She growled, "Galactica destroyed my first command."
"Put your pride aside, Captain. I don't like ZAFT or their anti-Natural policy. But I'm willing to work alongside you and your crew to end this threat. We all need to once Cavil finds Earth. He's not going to pull punches. He won't care who is who. Can I count on you for that?"
Talia still didn't look totally convinced, but she knew that right now she wasn't in a position to argue. They had a much bigger issue than her old Grudge. "Fine." She said.
Adama nodded before looking at Jaden "I want you to head over to Minerva, help coordinate our efforts." He said, "Most of ZAFT still doesn't like us afterall, so I think they'll be more trusting of someone from the Junk Guild."
"Admiral, it's common knowledge that you've turned the Junk Guild into your new Corps of Engineers. We've seen-"
"What you've seen, Captain, is a misunderstanding." Adama said, "The Guild is not part of the Colonial military. The new CCE is made up of volunteer designers and engineers from the civilian fleets and anyone from Earth that didn't want to be drawn into a war. Thank you for your time, Captain. It's my understanding that your ship is small enough to fit inside one of our flight pods with those wings retracted."
"Uh...yes. my ship barely breaks 160 meters. Why?"
"Time's of the essence. Pack your ship inside one of the flight pods, and we'll jump to Junius 7. Secure the area for your breakup teams."
"Secure?" Talia asked, "But-"
"Something like Junius Seven doesn't just randomly start drifting towards earth like that," Jaden said, "Newton's laws of motion: An object in motion will stay at motion unless an outside force acts upon it. It couldn't of been a meteor without us noticing, nor is there any random chunks of debris large enough to nudge its orbit… I gamble someone caused this, and when we get over there… we're gonna find out who."
"And once we do...there will be blood." Talia nervously chuckled at the dangerous tone in adama's voice. "You don't like colony drops that much."
"When all Earth has multiple drops in a span of 10 years, you'll get how we feel, Captain. Earth has been spared that horror. I intend to keep it that way."
"Yes, sir." Talia froze before she realized what she saw and quickly left Adama's quarters. "She'd make a fine battlestar commander if she didn't hate me so much."
"Give her time," Jaden said shrugging, "We just need to prove to her the Colonials aren't as bad as she believes."
"I hope so."
ZAFT battleship Minerva
Luna and Shinn stood in front of a large number of crewmen on the hangar deck. "Now, FTL jumps are VERY screwy on the human sense of balance." Luna explained as the Minerva prepared to dock inside Galactica. "Your equilibrium will be all out of whack."
"So?"
Shinn handed Rey a sick bag. "I think this explains everything." He said, "If not, some of you will feel as though you need to vomit. Happened to a few of our pilots during my first jump on the Thera Sita. Don't be embarrassed."
"It can't be THAT bad..." Vino said, as Jaden chuckled, shaking his head.
"Believe me kid, it can be that bad if your not prepared." He said, "Just be prepared to feel sick, but also prepare for an emergency sortie if we immediately run into hostiles."
"It'll get worse as time goes on." Heads turned to face an unexpected Colonial guest. "If you people can't take a couple of jumps, then you have VERY little future in deep space. The sickness fades in time." "Colonel, what are you doing here?" "I'm here to supervise offloading a few presents. The Minerva's going to be packing a few Class-Ds."
"Class-Ds?" "Nuclear missiles. I'm here to help replace the warheads on a few of the missiles, replace them with the nuclear devices."
"Nukes?"
"There is every chance that ZAFT's plan will not work. The nukes are Plan B. And as any idiot knows, Plan A never works."
"If we're lucky, Plan A does work, and we won't have to resort to that." Jaden said, "But our number one priority is to ensure the safety of Earth! If that colony hits, we're talking about an extinction event on par with what wiped out the Dinosaurs 75 Million years ago."
"An event that happened twelve times back in Cyrannus, and took us decades to fix. And even if none of you give two fraks about earth, remember, Junius 7 is, was and always shall be the responsibility of the PLANTs. So keep THAT in mind, and try to keep your lunches down."
"Get to your stations people!" Jaden said, "We're jumping in six minutes! So if your a pilot get in a machine, everyone else… get ready to loose your lunch for a second!"
Everyone began walking off, heading to their posts before Jaden turned to Ron. "What the hell was that about?"
"The PLANTs ARE responsible for Junius 7. If Tauron dropped that thing on Caprica, then they would have to answer for it. Same goes here: PLANTs are responsible for Junius 7; as such, if that colony hit Earth, they will have to answer for it."
"So, even if it's a ZAFT splinter faction like the one that attacked Galactica, you'd still blame the main ZAFT government for something they had no control over?" Jaden asked.
"I'm blaming them for not taking care of this colony before this incident, not for the drop. I just hope the Alliance sees it my way and goes 'you were stupid, don't let this happen again'. Then again, most of Earth lacks their heads being screwed on right." On THAT jaden couldn't argue.
Talia looked at the maw that was Galactica's starboard flight pod entrance. It was just large enough to let them in. "Ok, let's get this thing inside. Steady hands, Malik." the wings retracted as the Minerva entered the pod, the central tower barely clearing the top of the pod. "Never ask me to do this in combat, Captain."
"Never." The ship came to a stop before the feeling of weight grabbed hold of them and the pods began to retract.
"Galactica to Minerva: We are about to commence FTL Jump." Gaeta informed them on the Comm. "T-Minus 1 Minute."
"Copy, Galactica. See you on the other side, Mr. Gaeta." Talia let out a breath as the pod retracted all the way. "Meyrin?" "Yes, ma'am?" "how...does it feel when you jump?" "Like being born, Captain. You'll understand." She keyed the intercom. "Clock is running. 15 seconds to jump." Talia had never experienced a jump, and now...she was VERY nervous. "Five, four, three, two, one. Jump!" The world stretched, contracted, compressed and extended all at once. Then it was over.
... and Talia felt as if her insides were trying to kill her, as her face turned green along with everyone else on the bridge… except for Meyrin, who scoffed going right back to her duties. "Lightweights..." she muttered.
"How the hell can-"
"I felt uncomfortable my first jump, but that faded. You should try being target practice in a Raptor while it's prepping for a jump. THAT'S horrible." The pod began to extend, and as soon as it was clear, the battleship flew out of the battlestar. "Alright. Let's...get this over with. Launch Mobile Suits. Coordinate...with Galactic-" She paused before vomiting into a sick bag. "With...Galactica's...Vipers...Oh, I don't feel so good."
"Due to the status of Captain Pukes-a-Lot, orders are: coordinate with Galactica's Viper teams. And try not to cause an interstellar war, people: last thing we need are the Colonials tossing nukes at the PLANTs."
Luna chuckled as her ZAKU was moved onto the catapult. "Copy that, Meyrin. Commander Takeo, I'll follow you."
"Got it, Habu." Jaden said, "Let's roll out!" The Ramumesa and Gunner ZAKU Warrior launched from out of the Minerva, as the Impulse headed out as well.
"DRADIS online," Jaden said, as he looked at the screen, before sighing. "I was right - we've got multiple Mobile Suits within the debris - ZGMF-1017M2 GiNN High Maneuver Type II's."
"You've got to be kidding me. GINN HM-2s don't stand a chance in Hades against a Colonial battlestar or a ZAFT battleship, let alone both at the same time."
"Ease off, Starbuck." The Colonial force began making a BarCAP of the area, daring the GINNs to move in. "This is Admiral William Adama of the Colonial Naval Defense Force, commanding the battlestar Galactica of Battlestar Group Seventy-Five. You are ordered to leave this area immediately. Failure to do so will result in hostile action."
"This is Commander Sato - you will not deny us our mission!" Came the almost immediate response, "My Daughter's tombstone will be what destroys those damned patchworkers once and for all!"
"Fraking retards. All forces, Psycho. Kill the bastards. time to send a message." The Vipers broke off from their BarCAP, arming their Titanomachia. "Starbuck, Fox Four-Two!" Two missiles left the Mk VII's underwing hardpoints, heading straight for the GINNs. "You think a couple of missiles will stop us?!" "Shoot them down, dumbass, then you can talk!"
The GINN HM-2s attempted to do just that, firing their 120mm machine guns at the Titanomachia, but, due to the advanced RCS controls, were impossible to hit. Terminal guidance locked in, and the missiles moved in at speeds far too fast to track before impacting and destroying the old Mobile Suits.
"Damn! Its another one of those Colonial wonder weapons!" One of the Radicals shouted, as they took cover within the Debris field. "They just keep pulling shit like this out of their asses!"
The GINNs decided to take the long route to make sure Junius 7 hit Earth, staying out of Galactica's firing range. "Where the hell do they get this crap?! It took years to make the GINN!" "Doesn't matter! Make sure they can't get an accurate lock on you and they can't hurt you!" A dark chuckle was heard over the comm. "Oh, that's what YOU think."
The Vipers were following them, firing their 30mm cannons at the mobile suits, scoring hits on the lightly protected joints. "Damn it! Get closer to Junius 7!"
"Wish granted!" shouted a voice as the Gladius, and the other Mobile suits under Will's command went after the HM-2's and proceeded to deal death to any who cross their path.
"YOU'RE TERMINATED!" Shouted Clotho as he fired his MJOLNIR at a GiNN, which slammed into it's cockpit.
"No! You bastards will not stop us! Our grief, our rage MUST be delivered!" A Dart impaled another GINN, but the commander's unit started putting out a signal. "Galactica to all units: we're picking up a heat bloom from Junius 7. Fraking bastards must've planted more flare motors! Orbital decay is increasing."
"Oh son of a… " Jaden muttered, before he hit a few commands of his own, sending a message. "I didn't want to do this… but desperate times. Ron! Galactica, you need to GTFO of the following firing path!"
"What are you talking about?" Adama said, "Takeo, we need to-"
"Admiral - just trust me!" Jaden shouted, "This won't stop all of it, but it'll do the best we can!"
"All players, Psycho: break, break, break! RTB for Galactica or jump to rendezvous coordinates!"
Adama - relenting - decided to trust Jaden's judgement as he recalled their teams, as the Minerva pulled back as well as the colony drew closer to earth.
"H-hey! There retreating!" One of the Radicals shouted, "We did it!"
"Hardly." Jaden growled, as a small red laser from his MS's forehead painted the Junius 7 Colony, making sure everyone could hear him. "You think you're the only ones who lost something at Junius Seven, during that whole damned war? You think that alone gives you all the justification in the world to pass judgement to every last human being on Earth?"
"One man tried that before… and he nearly brought the total extinction to our entire species." He continued, "Shame we were so similar in some ways, both of us spending so much time screaming in outrage, vengeance, despair… both of us experienced terrible wrongs which set us on our paths. But there were more differences than similarities… but there was one higher than the rest. We both looked into the Abyss, but when it looked back at us… Rau blinked."
Gaeta looked at the DRADIS screen in front of him. "Sir, massive gamma ray surge incoming!" Adama's eyes widened until he realized what it was. "Spool up FTL drives! Get us out of here! Refit or not, Galactica can't survive a gamma ray laser blast!"
The crew did just that, as the Galactica jumped away, just as an looming structure appeared. And thousands of kilometers away, the Gamma Ray blast from GENESIS Alpha arrived. The beam passed through Junius 7, finishing in an ironic way, as a ZAFT weapon was used to destroy a PLANT's remains. None of the rebels survived the beam, but the debris would begin to rain on Earth. They were all going to catch hell for this.
Battlestar Pegasus
"Debris course plotted, Commander." Shaw pointed at the new monitor built into the plotting table. "Debris will land in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas." Lee winced. "All areas affiliated with the Earth Alliance. Oh, boy."
Shaw sighed at the outcome, "This incident is gonna lead to a new war," she said, "A war we don't NEED at all."
"Sir, message from Ptolemaeus Crater. The President wants us to escort her to Aprilius One for a meeting with Chairman Durandal."
"Why Pegasus? Colonial One can do it." hoshi shrugged. "Well, sir, the order was for BSG-62."
"Which we are the flagship of. Major Shaw, plot a jump back to Ptolemaeus, and inform Danu Actual to jump to the PLANTs with the rest of the battlegroup." Why an ex-ZAFT Nazca-Class destroyer was second in command to Pegasus was...mindboggling.
Battlestar Galactica - geosync orbit over Orb
The Minerva was getting ready to undock and leave the ship, but Talia was going to pay a visit to Admiral Adama first before her ship left.
They fought well together, despite her dislike of Galactica, which, to be honest, was misguided. For nine months, the battlestar was guardian and provider for 75 civilian ships. The clincher, though...was the hallway. When she first saw it, she wondered why so many photos were hanging from the bulkheads.
"Everyone who was left behind..." A voice behind her said, as she turned and saw Adama approach her, looking at the wall of photos. "There's not a soul on this ship who didn't lose someone when the Cylons attacked our homes… fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters… "
Talia nodded, looking at the wall. "Reminds me of the memorial for Junius Seven..." she said, "Losing over two hundred thousand people… plenty of people across the PLANT's lost loved ones… "
"50 billion people were nuked to hell. Plenty of rage directed at the bastards that did it. My wife died during those attacks. And it might've been my fault."
"What?" She faced the Admiral, who stared at a picture of a woman of Greek descent that wore a Colonial uniform with gold piping.
"I was part of a mission on Valkyrie." He said, "I sent a pilot over the line. Three years later, armageddon. I interrogated a Cylon about it a few weeks ago. She didn't give me any straight answers."
"That...doesn't matter." Talia said, "You didn't fire those nukes. You didn't murder 50 billion people. They were probably plotting that since the end of the war!"
"Maybe." He said, "But that doesn't mean I didn't give them the excuse." He plucked the photo off the wall. "This is Helena Cain. She used to command Pegasus. The Cylon I spoke with killed her. With full rights, too."
Talia looked at Adama confused, "You… agreed with the Cylon?" She asked.
"She was one of their sleepers, like Boomer, only she was always aware of what she really was… when she revealed her true allegiance though, Cain had her locked up, tortured, interrogated… and used like a play thing for her crew."
"What."
"Tortured. Raped. By the time Pegasus met up with Galactica, she was catatonic. And when she learned we were going to destroy a Resurrection ship, she gleefully provided intel in exchange..."
"For what?"
"Death." He said, "Permanent death. Dr. Baltar let her loose, and she made her way to Cain's quarters. Put a bullet into her head."
"Where… where is this Cylon...now?" Talia asked, fearing the worst.
"Gina Inviere, the Cylon, somehow ended up with the Demand Peace movement, a group of radical extremists that… well, demand peace with the Cylons, surrendering to them rather than running." Adama said, with a slight roll of his eyes. "But after we found her, we gave her over to the Junk Guild, they're putting her through rehab to take care of her… suicidal tendencies, and her fear of intimate contact."
"Good Christ. And the rest of the people that did this to her?" When Colonel Pinkerton found out... let's just say they suffered. I do not allow torture and rape on any of my ships. Ever." "And that 'suffering'?" "They were scum of the earth. I didn't like it. but it was mostly psychological in nature."
"Good to know. Thank you, Admiral." Both saluted the other before they went on their separate ways.
"God, he's making me question being in ZAFT."
Raptor 498
"'Just another trip to Delta Canopis', he says." Ron grumbled as he sat in the Raptor's cockpit. "'The Colonial government will get top dollar for yard services', whatever the hell that means." Two more flipped switches readied the Raptor for flight. Thudding was heard as Jaden entered the Raptor. "You're late. I was about to leave without you."
"Yeah well when you fire a Gamma Ray weapon at a falling Colony, you get a shit-ton of calls from everyone around the earth sphere." Jaden said with a sigh, "Damned EA… did you know we found a virus in GENESIS? One of the Cylons pointed it out when we were doing maintenance, damned thing was programmed to redirect Alpha to fire at earth - and I'll give you two guesses where we traced the Virus too."
"An Alliance ship. Could be worse. I just got a call from CSS: ZAFT and OMNI Enforcer ignored the treaty and have been building a LOT of new ships. Guess we spooked them." The Raptor left the pad before Ron activated the long-range drive before spooling up. "Is it me, or is everything just getting WORSE because the Colonial Fleet's here?"
"Worse in some areas… better in others." Jaden said, "Your arrival and the existence of the Cylons opened up the entire galaxy to us, showing us Earth isn't the only planet with humanoid life, showed us we could reach out towards the stars… and for better or worse, it sparked technological innovations across the Earth sphere in ZAFT, the EA, Orb… everywhere, where we've been stagnating for nearly a decade because of the Coordinator controversy. If we can take care of the radicals on both sides… I think all of us together can forge a better future than any of us thought possible before. We're all stuck in this galaxy together afterall, we were all born here and made of star stuff, might as well make the most of it."
Ron rose an eyebrow "Star stuff?" He asked.
"Carl Sagan said that, a famous astronomer and science communicator from the 20th Century." Jaden said, "He and people like Stephen Hawking, Bill Nye and Neil deGrasse Tyson were my idols growing up… back then I use to dream making my own space ship, going out into the galaxy, exploring all I could… then shit went down, and my parents… then the war started and well… I learned I had to prioritize things."
"You and me both." He pressed the jump key before the Raptor flashed and reappeared at Delta canopis. "Yard control, this is Raptor 498, here on routine run. Commander Takeo wanted to settle something-"
"Colonel, this is Yard Control: we have a contact inbound on your bearing. IFF is non-responsive."
Ron facepalmed. "The excitement NEVER ends. Sorry, kiddo."
"Its alright," Jaden said as he glanced out the window, "Its no proooo sswwwweet black on a Popo, what is THAT?!" His attention was drawn to a single massive vessel, bearing a striking resemblance to Colonial Battlestars. With a Valkyrie's engines, the main hull resembling a Mercury and Galactica-type, and twin sets of flight pods which vaguely resembled those of the Mercury with elements from the Valkyrie.
"Hel."
"I know, what the hell-"
"No, BS-21 Hel. She's named for a Lord of Kobol: one of the rulers of the dead. She's the fourth ship I ever designed." The Raptor approached the battlestar, Jaden forced to take in the massive size of the ship. "Holy crap."
"10.45 kilometers long, designed to be the first wave of ships to beat the Cylons back." Ron said, "Instead, she was a one off, assigned to patrol duty. I never saw her again until today."
Jaden let out a low whistle. "Damn thing could slaughter any ship I know..." He admitted, "Hell of a time for her to show up… though if she's been here this whole time, why are we just now finding her this close to Canopis?"
Ron pointed at the clouds surrounding the star system. "Probably in the nebula for the past forty, fifty years." He said, "DRADIS is a crapshoot with all that synchrotron radiation. Probably why she's not firing at us."
Jaden blinked "Wait… its automated?" he asked in surprise, "I'm surprised you Colonials would make anything automated during the Cylon War, what with them being able to hack them."
"Yeah, if they were networked to the fraking comm system proper: just uses a relay for outside communications. That AI knows me." He keyed the mic. "Hel, this is Col-Captain Ronald Pinkerton, authorization Royale Yellow-8-7-3-Gamma Zeta Four. Respond."
A moment passed before they heard a voice. A woman's. "This is Hel. Captain, it's good to see you. I thought I'd never see you again."
"Likewise." Ron said. "Clear us for landing, please."
"Landing bay one is clear. Call the ball." "Roger, I have the ball." Ron shut the comm off. "See? Loyal. Just need to give them some respect."
"That's something I wish more people would understand nowadays." Jaden said as their Raptor approached the Battlestar. "Still, nice to have yet another one of the CCE's wonder ships in the fleet… so does the A.I have a name, or do we just call her Hel?"
"I gave her the choice to pick her own name." Ron said shrugging,"When she left dock, she hadn't decided."
The Raptor set down on the deck, lowering into the ship. "Almost fully automated with anti-hacking protocols." he said, "She works better with a crew, though: man and machine, side by side."
The ship came to a stop inside the hangar deck, and Ron opened the side hatch. "Gods! Air's REALLY frakin' stale." He said wincing, "Skimping on the CO2 scrubbers, are we, lass?"
"Sorry, Captain: scrubbers were the first thing to go down. AIs don't need oxygen."
"No, but we do." Ron said, "And it's Colonel: I was promoted. About freaking time, too."
"Wait… YOU got promoted?" The A.I said in a suprised tone, "Didn't the admiralty permanently ban you from that after the Flimsy Whimsy? Did Hell freeze over while I was gone?"
"Sort of. The Cylons nuked the Colonies two years ago. Killed off the Admiralty, so Admiral Adama decided to lift the ban. And how the hell did you-" "Wireless comms from the Cylon relay inside the Veil. The tram should be arriving any minute. And who is your friend?"
"Jaden Takeo, Junk Guild." Jaden answered, "I'm from Earth… long story."
"Then I expect you to tell it."
"I'll go to engineering, set up the jump drive for long range." Ron said. "Jaden, you head to CIC. I think our friend deserves the company."
"Thank you. And I have a name now. Homura. It's Aquarian."
"'Flame'. Fitting."
Outside the PLANTs
BSG-62 was NOT having a fun day. First, an Alliance fleet shows up demanding some absurd things: the dissolution of ZAFT, inspections and such, and they were demanding Pegasus and the fleet surrender.
Lee Adama might've been a screw up, but surrender he would NOT. Especially to a bunch of death-worshiping assholes like Blue Cosmos.
As such, Pegasus and her BSG were firing everything they had at an Alliance fleet that, according to their detectors, had nukes in their holds. "Alright, people, keep the pressure on. Remember, we've got millions of people counting on us to keep them from getting nuked."
"Copy that, Actual."
"This is Danu Actual: our FTL drive is offline. Goddamn ex-civilian FTL." The former ZAFT Nazca-Class destroyer (and second-in-command of BSG-62 in lieu of a ship like the Dominion) had been having FTL troubles since the drive had been removed from the heavily damaged Astral Queen.
Lee shook his head. "Try to fix it, fall back if you can't. Pegasus Actual out."
President Roslin wasn't comfortable watching the battle from within Aprilius One's council chamber. She was far too used to seeing it up close and personal from Colonial One while they were on the run.
And wasn't THAT disturbing.
Durandal, on the other hand, wasn't happy. BSG-62, and by extension, the Colonial Fleet, were ruining the show, as it were. ZAFT was supposed to save the PLANTs from the evil Naturals.
But Pegasus being here presented an opportunity. Every Colonial military ship carried at least one nuke.
And they had a Neutron Stampeder that detonated nuclear devices. It was very simple to just activate it, wipe out BSG-62 and the OMNI Enforcer nukes and say 'sorry, we misaimed that; here's a piece of candy' to Roslin.
And so he did, via subtle hand signals to one of the military aides.
Jan Quinn, former ZAFT black shirt and now Colonial Fleet Major and still commander of the Danu, wasn't happy about being back at the PLANTs. He was not happy with the decisions his 'homeland' was making, and his crew agreed, which was why, after Jachin Due, they all defected to the Colonial Fleet. Them and around a dozen other ZAFT ships.
Twelve worlds, all getting along enough to create a unified interplanetary government, with little to no stupidity? Who WOULDN'T like that over the Cosmic Era Earth Sphere?
"Sir, I'm picking something up over the secure ZAFT comm band. Message reads 'Neutron Stampeder activation is go; target coordinates...'" The young woman recoiled. "Sir, we're in the line of fire!"
"Contact Pegasus Actual!" She sent the message over to Pegasus, then looked at Quinn. "Sir, engineering reports that it will take two hours to repair the FTL drive."
"Screw this. Get everyone to the Raptors and evac to Pegasus. I'll stay behind and give the PLANTs what cover I can."
Lee's eyes widened at the call. Something as nasty as GENESIS was being aimed at them. "Spool the jump drives! Jump us back to Ptolemaeus Crater!" FTL drive one was spooled in a matter of moments as the DRADIS beeped.
"High energy surge directed, bearing 148 carom 000!"
"Recover our birds! Get us out of here!" Pegasus' Viper squadrons made their way for their barn while the Raptors jumped away, followed by the capital ships before the Beast herself vanished, leaving only the Danu to defend the PLANTs by choice.
An energy wave akin to GENESIS, only of lesser power, hit the Danu and the nukes fired from a second Alliance force, causing the nukes on the Colonial Nazca and the missiles to explode, causing little more then bright lights.
The only light Roslin was seeing was red.
"What… The… FRACK WAS THAT?!" The Colonial president shouted in a scream of rage powerful enough that many councilors flinched and felt like cowering under the table against.
All but Durandal. "I'm sorry, Madam President, but we didn't have time to warn them about the Neutron Stampeder. It was an accident."
"BULLSHIT!" Roslin shouted, this time causing Durandal to flinch a bit. "YOU HAD ALL OF THE TIME IN THE WORLD TO TELL US!"
"If we warned your ships about the Neutron Stampeder-"
"Shove. It. I came here to help hammer out an agreement to fix the damage you idiots helped cause...and you tried to destroy a battlestar group that was helping you defend your country?! That is an act of WAR!" Roslin turned around to leave the chamber.
"And where are you going?"
"Ptolemaeus Crater. You and the Earth Alliance just made a MASSIVE mistake."
The President left the council chamber, and Eliza shook her head. "All I fear we've done is awaken a sleeping beast and filled her with a terrible resolve to end us all."
Ron the True Fan: And the Second Bloody Valentine War has begun. This is going to SUCK.
117Jorn: Well, you know what they say… Everybody wants to rule the world.
Ron the True Fan: Well, you know what they say. Sometimes the world just isn't enough.
Ja Ne!
