I don't own Gundam or any of the spin-offs, If I did I'd be rolling in the cash
Btw, the ZuOOT and Duel Dagger are actual mobile suits in the C.E timeline,
mechapunk87: I aim to have each chapter at the 2k-3k word mark, but I'll endeavour to try and make them longer.
--
Chapter 7
"Oh come on, this is just like when I first saw you." Waltfeld remarked, staring at Exia's head as the two machines clashed against each other.
"You're not going to end this fated battle without returning my sentimentalities. Or perhaps you thought I hadn't noticed that light that's streaming out of you? Wrong!" the Murasame's boosters flared up, forcing Exia back, Setsuna pushed back against the Murasame in response, eventually knocking the beam sabre out of the Murasame's hand, forcing Waltfeld to retreat.
"Ah, I hadn't expected that!" he exclaimed, his face going from shocked to a smirk as Exia charged forward, it's right arm raised high. "But you're not going to catch me with that big clumsy blade!" the Mura same veered to the right as Exia swung it's arm down, the blade sailing past the other suit harmlessly.
I missed? Setsuna thought, turning around to see that the Murasame was onto him again, descending from his upper left.
"I admire your strength…you remind me of someone I met during the first war." Waltfeld told him, before grabbing hold of Exia's left shoulder. "So I'm going to take you back in one piece!"
"Get your hands…off of me!" yelled Setsuna, pushing the Murasame away, Waltfeld grabbed his suit's beam rifle and started firing, Eixa dodged the incoming shots, weaving left and right as it advanced forward, folding it's sword rifle up and ditching it's shield before drawing one of it's beam sabres with it's left hand, and charged forward again, cutting the beam rifle in half with an upward slash, seeing that he had pushed his luck, Waltfeld disengaged from the fight, transforming his suit back into a jet before speeding off back towards the transport.
"My, my, you're such an unpredictable character." Athrun said sarcastically to Waltfled following his return to the transport.
"I lost both my rifle and sabre, I'll have to send in an explanatory report." Waltfeld lamented.
"You won't have to worry about that. Considering the data we've obtained on the Gundam during the fight, even losing the Murasame would've been a good trade. Erica Simmons may even be able to find some clues from the paint that you scraped off during contact." Athrun said.
"Besides all that, Celestial Beings pilot sure was young." Waltfeld remarked.
"You talked to him?" Athrun asked.
"Of course not. I could read his feelings from the way he moved his mobile suit. It was a lot like the way that youngster Kira piloted when I first met him." Waltfeld told him, Athrun looked at him before his expression softened slightly, a dial tone from the intercom got their attention.
"We've lost the Gundam." The pilot informed them.
"That's a shame." Waltfeld replied.
Elsewhere, the Gundam Exia continued its leisurely path back to its rendezvous point, Setsuna thinking about his encounter.
A solo sortie…who the hell was in that Murasame?
--
"So? Did you find it?" asked a woman with shoulder length brown hair, staring at the computer screen over a red haired man's shoulder.
"Yep, right here, miss Murrue." he replied, bringing up the window with the relevant information, along with a picture of the old man that appeared in Celestial Being's declaration.
"Aha! I knew it. Aeolia Schenberg!" Murrue exclaimed, the red haired man scratched his head in confusion.
"But hasn't he been dead for 200 years?" he asked, Murrue just glanced at him.
"The man in that photo and the one in Celestial Being's video are exactly the same. Who else could it be DaCosta?" Murrue asked back, after a few moments of silence DaCosta just leant back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, sighing in defeat.
"Aeolia Schenberg." Murrue said, reading the man's profile out loud. "An exceptional master of inventions who appeared in the second half of the 21st century. Advocate of the founding theory of solar power…disappeared and presumed deceased sometime before the 'Reconstruction war'." Murrue straightened herself, taking a sip from a coffee cup she had with her. Not showing himself to the public, only his name has been carried through the generations. If this individual founded Celestial Being, they'd have it all. The capability as well as funds… she thought, her eyes still glued to the computer screen. But why have they waited 200 years to make their move?
Elsewhere, at the Seiran estate. Research was also being conducted on Celestial Being's founding member.
"Aeolia Schenberg's bloodline came to an end at his generation." A man in a suit informed Unato.
"What about the whereabouts of his assets?" he asked in return.
"The records at that time leave no indication…" The man stated.
"He probably prepared for all this." Unato mused. "Security in the 21st century was almost nonexistent, especially during the 'Reconstruction war'." The man nodded in agreement before leaving, Yuna entering the a few moments later.
"Aren't they cautious…Celestial Being?" Yuna said with a grin on his face before sitting down in one of the chairs in front of his fathers desk.
"Father, do you believe they will continue with their armed interventions?" Unato turned around and sat down in his own chair.
"I would if I were them." He replied. "Prepare the data for the report to parliament…And make up some excuse too."
--
The ground terminal of the Atlantic federation orbital elevator was bustling with activity, not to say that it wasn't a common occurrence, every day, thousands of people and supplies were ferried to and from the terminal to the station at the top of the elevator, and from there they went to either Copernicus city or the Daedalus and Arzachel lunar bases.
"Attention patrons. Passengers departing on Pillar of Heaven Travel Bureau Train E273, please board at gate A12." Announced a female staff member over the terminal's PA system as Setsuna strolled through the entrance, making his way over to where three individuals were gathered around a small table near the terminals café, one of them, a young man with long brown hair and green eyes looked up as if sensing his approach.
"Yo. You're late. You rascal." He said playfully.
"We thought you died." The man next to him added, not bothering to turn and face the new arrival.
"Did something happen?" the third asked, looking at Setsuna with one silver eye.
"I was logging a report on Veda." Setsuna said in a hushed tone.
"I will look over it later." The second man responded.
"Well, at least all of us made it out safely." Lockon said cheerfully, in an effort to dispel the tension hanging around, before turning to look at the second man
"Tieria. We'll leave space to you. We'll head out for the next mission." Tieria pulled out his passport.
"I'll obey orders. Although I'm anxious…" he replied, his red eyes aimed at Setsuna with a vague look of contempt, at that moment a waiter came up to them.
"Thank you for waiting. Enjoy your drinks." The waiter said before leaving.
"Milk…" was all Setsuna said as he stared at the glass in front of him, before looking at Lockon.
"It's on me." Lockon told him in response.
"But is it really possible…to return a suit to space with the orbital elevator?" Allelujah asked, as he watched Tieria make his way to the elevator train.
"It's nothing to worry about." Lockon assured him. "As planned, we'll hide it with the materials they're using to maintain the lunar colonies. Especially here."
"A true blind spot." Allelujah noted. "If we have a weak point, is that, without the Gundams, the operational time of the Ptolemaios would be extremely limited. Our mere four solar furnac-" Setsuna grabbed Allelujahs' shoulder.
"Don't discuss confidential information." He reprimanded.
"Sorry." Allelujah replied, the PA chime signaling a train departure got Lockon's attention.
"Tieria's train is departing." He informed them.
"Pillar of Heaven Travel Bureau train E277 is departing as scheduled at 14:18, 5:32 GMT." Came the announcement a second later.
A linear rail into space. Thought Setsuna.
Inside on the train's passenger cars, Tieria sat on his own, his chin propped up on his right arm, keeping some of his purple hair away from his face.
I can finally return, I hate being on the ground. He thought.
"Should we go back now?" Lockon asked the others as they left via the terminal entrance, stretching his arms above his head as he yawned.
"I'd like a day off at least." Allelujah replied.
"You have to hammer the iron while it's still red-hot. If we do it just once or twice, the world won't acknowledge us." He admonished, as the three walked off, a Grey haired Atlantic federation officer left the terminal through an entrance to the left of theirs, stopping in front an assemble of saluting Federation officers.
"We've been expecting you Lieutenant Colonel Sven Cal Bayan. How was space?" said the lead officer in the group, Sven saluted in response.
"I prefer it down here, especially the gravity." He replied.
"That's good to hear," said the lead officer. "The commander is waiting. Please…" The officer approached only to have Sven hold his hand up, signaling him to stop.
"Before that, I'd like to drop by Ceylon." He informed them.
"But if you do that.." the officer began, again he was silenced by Sven
"I'm a man who won't believe anything until he sees it with his own eyes. The commander will understand." He responded smoothly.
"Yes sir!" the officer replied, saluting him again. "We will accompany you!"
Back at ORB, the transport carrying Athrun, Cagalli, and Andrew had landed, almost immediately afterwards Athrun and Andrew had headed to Leondir Kisaka to report on the events that transpired at Carpentaria and Andrews fight with the Gundam.
"You were supposed to inspect ZAFT's new model. But it has turned into quite a mess." Kisaka summarized.
"I never imagined that such a suit existed." Waltfeld said in response. "I think it's worth researching."
"It seems the higher-ups agree." Kisaka told them. Opening his desk drawer to pull out two folders. "The two of you who witnessed the Gundams have been reassigned." Athrun and Waltfeld looked over the folders.
"The Anti-Gundam Investigation Unit…?" Athrun inquired. Reading through the documents contents.
"It's a newly established unit." Kisaka informed them. "Headquarters will probably give it an official name later."
"Erica Simmons…the chief engineer will be in charge?" Athrun asked.
"That's how much importance the higher-ups place on this. I expect fast results." Kisaka explained.
"Yes sir!" the two responded, saluting as they did so. "Lieutenant Commander Andrew Waltfeld and Lieutenant Athrun Zala have acknowledged their reassignment to the Anti-Gundam Investigation Unit." Waltfeld continued.
They left Kisakas office, heading to Erica Simmon's lab to review the data collected by the Murasame's sortie against the Gundam.
"I'm surprised." Athrun remarked. "Did you know this would happen?"
"I'm not that omnipotent." Waltfeld replied. "Although I did feel a sense of fate." As they reached an intersection they ran into Cagalli.
"Athrun, just the person I was looking for." She said "Could you please come with me for a few seconds?"
"He's all yours." Waltfeld replied before continuing without Athrun.
"Cagalli, I know your probably not happy about me being reassigned but-" Athrun began but Cagalli cut him off.
"That's not what I wanted to talk about Athrun, besides, I'm the one who recommended you for the task." Athrun let a slight sigh of relief.
"Listen, Athrun, I need you to go to the Marshal Islands." Athrun visibly deflated, knowing where this conversation was going.
"you can't be serious." He started
"I wouldn't be asking you this if I wasn't" she told him.
"Hasn't he suffered enough?" he said, more of a statement than a question. "That's the whole reason he's on that Island in the first place."
"you think I don't know that, I don't want to do this Athrun." Cagalli snapped back.
"He's your brother for Christ sake!" Athrun nearly yelled.
"I know! That's what makes this all the more difficult for me to ask!"
"Then why are you asking this of me?" Athrun exclaimed, he was nearly at his whit's end.
"I fear for him Athrun! things have been getting tense recently, and you know as well as I do it's only a matter of time before Blue Cosmos finds him, the fact that he has PTSD makes him even more vulnerable, if he is here in ORB at least he'll be safe." Cagalli was on the verge of tears.
"…Ok." Athrun relented. "You're only bringing him here so that he is safe, no piloting."
"No piloting." Cagalli assured him.
"We're gonna have to bring Lacus and Reverend Malchio as well." Athrun pointed out.
"I know, I just want him to be safe." Cagalli stepped back a bit and composed herself.
"So when do I leave?" Asked Athrun.
"After your meeting with Erica Simmons." Cagalli told him before walking away. Athrun shook his head before walking off in the direction Waltfeld headed in.
Elsewhere, in a restaurant on the top floor of one of ORB's most prestigious hotels, Wang Liu Mei sat at one of the tables alone, her long hair flowing over her shoulders, as she sipped from a glass a man with long straight brown hair and reddish eyes approached.
"A Soft drink?" he asked, whilst sitting down in the chair opposite Liu Mei. "I recommend the original cocktail here."
"I'm still a minor." She reminded him.
"Oh. My apologies." He replied as a waiter approached him. "The usual." The Waiter bowed and walked away.
"The third mission will commence shortly." Liu Mei told the man "If you would like to observe it, I recommend preparing 3 monitors."
"Oh, I look forward to that." he responded. "I'll be sure to observe it closely."
On the other side of the room, Liu Mei's aide and bodyguard, Hong Long was sitting at the bar, observing as she conversed with the man that had approached her, whilst she appeared to trust this person, Hong Long still wasn't taking anything for granted.
"Eavesdropping?" someone to his left inquired, he turned his head to see a woman smiling at him, a woman who, gender aside, looked nearly as identical as the man that was talking to Liu Mei.
--
The Minerva was quite an impressive site, Yzak had to admit, as he, Shiho, and Dearka watched the giant vessel descend in to land, banking gracefully in the sky like a swan, the ship touched down on the water, throwing up waves in the process, it slowly made it's way to the dock before coming to a halt, in which the gangplanks were quickly placed at the entrances, one by one the crew of the giant ship filed out, and stood to attention in a line in front of the three, with the captain of the ship coming out last.
"Commander Joule." The captain, said, saluting in the process, the other officers followed suit.
"Captain Gladys." Yzak said in response, with he and his entourage saluting in return.
"I, Captain Talia Gladys of ZAFT, Acknowledge Commander Yzak Joule as the commanding officer." The captain replied smoothly, Yzak nodded.
"Very well." He said before turning to the rest of the crew. "You have 4 hours of recreational time before you are to report back here at 18:45 hrs, I will address you in proper at that time, until then, make the best use of the free time you've been given." The crew saluted and at the captains word, were dismissed, as Yzak, his entourage and Talia began discussing their mission, Rey Za Burrel showed up.
"You're late." Yzak stated, disdain evident in his voice. "Tardiness won't be tolerated in the future." Rey saluted and bowed his head.
"My apologies, I had some business to attend to, it won't happen again."
"In any case. Should we discuss matter regarding our mission in my quarters?" Offered the captain. Yzak nodded, and the 5 officers made their way inside the giant warship.
