sorry for the long wait,
anyhoo, don't own gundam, etc
--
Chapter 8
April 3, Atlantic federation garrison, Ceylon island, Southern India
Despite suffering heavy damage yesterday, the garrison on Ceylon Island was still operational, at the time Sven and his entourage arrived the research division dispatched to the garrison had been analyzing the recovered container that the Gundam Kyrios used to bomb them.
"This is it, Lieutenant Colonel." The lead officer of his entourage told him as he stood at the hanger entrance.
"Oh, this?" he asked, staring at the giant black object "Have you discovered anything about it?"
"Yes." The officer replied, before calling over one of the research personnel looking over it. "This is Lieutenant Colonel Sven. An explanation, if you would."
"Yes sir!" The other man responded before gesturing to the container.
"This is an optional ordinance module for a mobile suit. It's made out of E-carbon. It's made out of the most up-to-date material. But, in terms of design, we can't find any new technology being used."
"What about the missiles that were in it?" Sven asked.
"Yes, sir." The man replied. "After investigating the residue, the missiles were found to be 300kg guided types. Incidentally, no nation or arms manufacturer is developing this type."
"I see." Sven muttered, deep in thought. "You said before that the container was made out of E-carbon, that's a PLANT technology correct?"
"Yes sir, it's an artificial allotrope of carbon steel, the PLANTs created the material out of necessity due to the lack of usable Iron Ore in space, it was also used extensively on the Orbital elevator system during it's construction." The man automatically replied.
"Is it possible to make a mobile suit out of the material?" Sven inquired.
"Technically Sir, no. Although the material is prefect for large, solid structures such as space colonies, they found it was expensive and impractical to make a mobile suit frame of out it, and the metal itself was inherently weak against bullet strikes and therefore unsuitable for armour plating." The man stated. "However, the is one difference in the E-carbon on the container compared to the usual PLANT grade E-carbon, it's 25 percent lighter than normal, and 60 percent more durable and resistant to damage, see those dents in the panels? Those were from the armour piercing shells of the Launcher striker packs' 120mm Vulcan gun, normal E-carbon would have been shredded, whoever made this used a completely new Fabrication process from the PLANTs to create E-carbon that's both usable as armour plating and much lighter."
"Interesting." Sven replied. "So they really did develop this on their own…what do the after action reports contain?"
"For the most part they contain soldiers eyewitness accounts of light coming from the Gundams." One the garrison officers responded
"Light?" Sven said, puzzled.
"Yes, they say the Gundam suit emits what appear to be particles of light. We theorize that those particles are the cause of the radar and sensor interference." The officer explained.
"An acceptable explanation." Sven mused.
"That reminds me, the higher ups in the intelligence division identified the man who appearing Celestial Beings broadcast, his name is Aeolia Schenberg." The lead officer of Sven's entourage chimed in.
"I know that name." Sven responded. "He was an advocate of the solar power system."
"Secret intelligence seems to be chasing down the Gundams from that line of thought." Replied the garrison officer.
"I doubt anything will come out of it." Sven told them, his eyes never gazing away from the container. "The same with these parts. They only threw away the parts they don't mind us seeing." A yell from a soldier running towards the hanger caught his attention.
"Sir! The Gundams have appeared!" the soldier stated.
"Where?" Sven inquired, the man saluted before continuing.
"Yes sir! They appeared in two locations." This took the other officers by surprise
"A battle along multiple fronts, eh?" Growled Sven. "where are they headed?"
"One is already in South Africa, and one is en route to South America, also, A third one is heading back here."
"Here?" Sven replied calmly.
"Yes sir, at the seventh garrison." The soldier said, Sven remained silent for bit before turning to the garrison officer.
"do you have a useable mobile suit?" he asked.
"There's one of the new Windams that we received last week for trials." The officer replied
"Prep it for launch, I'll head out in that."
"B-by yourself Lieutenant Colonel?" stammered the lead officer of his entourage.
"I've said it before, I only believe things I see with my own eyes." Sven reminded him.
--
"Judging from the suit fuselage, the Gundam's output is 6 times greater than the Murasame's." Athrun stated, looking over Murrue Ramius' shoulder at the data gathered by the Murasame's black box flight recorder. "I wonder what kind of motor it uses…"
"The power output is impressive, but the maneuverability is even more so." Waltfeld mused.
"I confirmed it with the battle data." Murrue replied. "As expected, the explanation behind its maneuverability lies with those particles the Gundam emits. They also interfere with radar and sensor operation, much like n-jammers did. Those special particles, besides their stealth features, are also used for controlling the suit."
"They're likely to be applied to weapons and defence too." Came the reply of a new arrival. All three turned around to see who had spoken.
"Erica Simmons." They said out loud.
"That's my name, don't wear it out." She replied jokingly "Anyway, come with me, I have some interesting stuff to show you regarding the Gundam." She told them before walking off, the three following close behind, after a few minutes of walking they arrived in one of the research labs.
"So what is it you've found out?" Waltfeld asked, Erica just smiled.
"Hold your horses, I'm getting to that, I'll explain whilst we watch the footage from the Murasame's main camera, it'll make things much simpler." With that she pressed a button on a console, the large screen they were looking at came to life, displaying the Gundam from the perspective of the Murasame's head.
"Note the fluidity that the Gundam's limbs move with, that would be impossible to achieve with even the most state of the art hydraulics, my guess is it has something to do with those exposed steel tension belts on it's limbs, the current hypothesis is that they function like both tendons and muscles on the human body, with the particles produced by the Gundam being fed through them to produce the desired result."
"But if that is the case, why are they exposed? Wouldn't that make them more susceptible to damage?" Murrue asked.
"Good question, which brings me to my next point, these suits are not protected by phase shift armour, what they have is something far different. Watch closely." Erica paused the footage at the moment when the Murasame grabbed the Gundam, and zoomed in on the finger tips, what they saw was strange rippling effect on the Gundam's shoulder.
"See how the panel was not dented by the impact? As far as I can tell, the entire surface of the Gundam is coated with those particles it produces, in the even of a strike, they behave like chainmail, spreading the kinetic force of the impact over the entire surface area, hence why all it came away with was some scratches on the paint work, I'm certain that even if you hit it with a beam rifle, the worst it would suffer is some light scorching."
"So that explains why those belts aren't covered, cos they are already protected by the particles so there's no need to cover them up." Athrun summarized.
"A mobile suit that is immune to beam rifle fire…that would make it more powerful then the freedom…" Waltfeld mused
"Not quite, but in any case, if you want to be able to fight one we're going to have to do some modifications to your Murasame." Erica stated.
"What makes you think I want to fight it?" Waltfeld said, chuckling slightly.
"It's written all over your face." Replied Athrun, smirking at the look of defeat on Waltfeld's face.
"Okay, you got me." Waltfeld sighed. "Anyhoo, don't you have somewhere to be? Mr Athrun Zala? A special task that Miss Cagalli asked you to perform?" he laughed softly at Athrun's shocked face, amused at how he turned the tables on him so easily.
--
Elsewhere, at an open pit mine in South Africa, a one-sided battle, if you could call it that, was taking place, the muzzle flashes of automatic weapons lighting up the night sky.
On one side, were 2 dozen 8-wheeler gatling trucks siting inside the trenches of the mine, firing upwards with their 45mm gatling guns, on the other, was the Gundam Dynames, standing at the edge of the pit, firing loosely aimed shots from a beam pistol.
"I don't really like doing this." Lockon told Haro sadly. "It looks as if I'm just bullying the weak." Another gatling truck was disabled in 2 hits. "Hurry up and disarm yourselves!" the Gundam's standard targeting crosshairs zoomed over a fresh target. "or I'll really take you out." Several shots later the truck operators seemed to get the hint, they ceased firing and drove off, scattering in all directions.
"They ran! They ran!" Chirped Haro.
"Smart move." Lockon sighed.
"Good! Good!" Haro beeped in agreement.
In South America, the Gundam Kyrios was holding a flight pattern over a field in Colombia.
"30 minutes have passed since I entered the holding pattern. Warning complete. Kyrios, commencing the operation now." Stated Allelujah, seconds later, two doors on the underside of the flight container swung open, each time Kyrios flew over a field of cocaine plants, a salvo of 2 napalm bombs were dropped, incinerating the plants, soon all the fields ere engulfed in flames.
"97 percent on target. Mission complete. If it's something like this, I'll do it anytime."
"Kyrios, new mission objective, re-route to heading 265 and await further orders." The pink haired operator informed him suddenly.
"Strike while iron is red-hot you say Lockon?" Allelujah said to himself sarcastically before altering course for the new heading.
Back at Ceylon Island, Exia was on the warpath, slicing through another Dagger during its attack on the 7th garrison.
"That's the third unit he's taken down! Are you some kind of monster Gundam?" Exclaimed one of the other Dagger pilots, the Exia straightened from it's crouched stance.
"Exia, continuing intervention. Eliminating the target." Setsuna said calmly, as the GN drive powered up the Gundam lifted off the ground and charged at the two remaining Daggers.
"Fire! Fire!" yelled the Dagger pilot franticly as the two suits opened fire with their machine guns, to their dismay any shots that did hit the weaving Gundam were blocked by its shield, it spun in a wide circle and closed in, cutting the lead Dagger in half at the waist with a backhand swing of its sword rifle.
"It's fast!" exclaimed the other pilot, he tried to shoot it at point blank range, the Exia leaned to one side as the heavy caliber bullet whizzed past its head, before spinning on the spot, again tearing the Dagger in half at the waist just below the cockpit.
"First phase complet-" a warning sound interrupted Setsuna, he looked down on the display, two missiles hit the ground behind Exia before it leapt out of the way, narrowly dodging the second pair of missiles aimed at it, a mobile suit equipped with a Jet striker flew by after Exia leapt clear, coasting low through the smoke. Reinforcements? Setsuna thought to himself. the enemy suit raised its altitude as it circled slowly, turning to face the Exia.
"So, that's a Gundam…?" Sven mused, the suit slowed down as it descended to the ground, Exia readied its sword rifle while Setsuna took in the enemy suits appearance. A Windam? Must be here for combat trials. Thought Setsuna, as it landed, the Windam jettisoned the two drop tanks fitted to the Jet strikers wings, then dropped its shield and threw away its beam rifle before drawing one of its two beam sabres with its right arm. He threw away his gun? Is he testing me? Setsuna wondered.
"The power to end war, and your determination to eradicate war, show it to me!" Sven growled, the Jet strikers engines fired up as the Windam sped forward, the Exia braced itself as the Windam got closer, before ducking and lunging forward, slicing the Windam's right arm off.
"You can keep that arm, but lets see how well you do in the dark!" as the Exia turned around, the Windam grabbed Exia's head, before lifting it off the ground, the neck join strained under the weight that was pulling on it, with his vision blocked, Setsuna tried to cut through the other arm, but lack of vision and the angle the sword rifle was at made it impossible.
"this head…is mine, I'll rip it off!" Sven yelled. Warning sounds were blaring in Exia's cockpit as the strain on the neck join was getting to be too much.
"you think I'll let you?!" Setsuna bellowed back, he ejected the shield from the left arm and grabbed his own beam sabre, as it ignited he swung upwards, tearing through the Windam's other arm above the elbow, Sven tried to maneuver the Windam back but Exia was already on him, cutting through the Windam again at an oblique arc, taking off the remained of the Windam's right arm and one of it's legs, as the wrecked suit fell to the ground, Exia grabbed the arm grasping its face and pulled it off.
"Don't touch me." Setsuna growled sternly.
Up in space, a large cylindrical container floated away from the Atlantic Federations orbital elevator, once it was some considerable distance away two doors on the container opened up, and a large black and white mobile suit floated out of it, the Gundam Virtue re-orientated itself and coasted off into the void.
"Reaching rendezvous point. "Tieria stated. in a few minutes it reached its destination, the Ptolemaios.
"We have visual confirmation of Virtue. Initiating landing preparations." Said the brunette. "Activating relative guidance system." Replied the pink haired operator. the cargo container on top of the Ptolemaios opened up and activated 2 guidance lasers. "Container open."
"Linking system functional. Virtue, docking." Tieria responded. As Virtue got closer to the container it rolled so that it's back was facing the base of the container, and slowly coasted in, once it was inside, the Virtue docked with two massive clamps that locked onto its shoulders, a large panel flipped up and pressed against it's feet, holding the giant suit securely in place.
"Docking complete. Virtue's GN drive initiating link with Ptolemaios." Stated the pink haired operator as the container closed, an arm underneath Virtue moved to cover a white circular panel on its back, after the panel opened itself, the arm docked itself to Virtues back.
" Energy transfer preparations from Virtue to Ptolemaios complete. Initiating transfer." Said the brunette. Space is the best after all…Thought Tieria.
"Good work." Sumeragi told him.
"What about the mission?" Tieria asked.
"They completed it safely." Sumeragi replied. "Hurry up and come here. We'll have a toast."
"I'll humbly decline." Tieria said in response.
"You meanie…" replied Sumeragi.
–-
Yzak was not in pleasant mood, the confines of his mobile suit's cockpit only served to exacerbate it, at least smashing up enemy suits helped calm him down somewhat, he was still railing over the conversation he had with the captain of the Minerva, he had the feeling that there was more happening that he was being let in on.
Flashback
"Well I read through your service records, and I'm very pleased to have officers of your caliber onboard." Talia Gladys told Yzak, as he stood in her quarters.
"Thank you, Captain." He relied, eyeing Za Burrel with caution. "Although I must ask why my two subordinates were asked to wait outside."
"I apologise for that, Commander, but as you can see we have limited space here, I trust you will relay your orders to them once we're done." Talia replied smoothly. "Moving on, as you know several terrorist groups, mostly remnants or splinter factions of blue cosmos, have been attacking our orbital elevator , in the last few months, however, there has strangely been a lull in these attacks, which as you know is a cause for concern, as they may be getting their hands on more destructive ordinance as well as regrouping and re-planing their attack in order to better their chances of success." After a pause Rey continued from where Talia left off.
"One of our satellites picked up this camp in northern Papua New Guinea." Za Burrel handed over a gloss photograph of the camp, Yzak took the photo and, upon closer examination, recognized roughly a dozen mobile suits, notably GAT-706S Deep Forbiddens and GAT/A-01E2 Buster Daggers.
"The chairman has ordered that we go in and destroy the mobile suits, secure the camp, and eliminate any resistance." Rey finished simply.
"What?! Now wait a second, Papua New Guinea is part of the Equatorial union, a neutral faction! If we set foot on neutral soil and start a battle, the Atlantic federation and Erusian alliance will have a field day!" Yzak yelled, his tenure in the PLANT supreme council had given him insight into how politics work, and the ramifications behind certain actions.
"You won't need to worry about that, we already have cover story in place, this ship was in the middle of patrolling the area around the orbital elevator when unknown aggressors opened fire you were left with little choice to pursue the aggressors." Talia stated. "Aside from the mobile suits the only enemy forces you have to contend with will be a small mechanized platoon, and the Minerva will be in the area to provide support, that should keep the heat off your back."
"Besides, if you and your two subordinates are as good as your service records claim, why are you worried?" Rey asked.
"But.." Yzak tried to object but Talia cut him off.
"This has already been decided by the chairman, and as members of FAITH we will carry out those orders." She explained, making it very clear that there was no choice in the matter.
"Very well." Yzak relented. "Then lets work out a detailed plan for the best course of action."
"That has already been taken care of as well, we already have a detailed tactical operations plan in place. At 1900 hrs we will conduct the briefing, so please have your officers ready." Rey responded.
"The operation will begin tonight, the camp is to be secured and all resistance eliminated by dawn." Talia added. "That is all." No sooner had she uttered those words, Yzak had saluted and excused himself from the room, nearly slamming the door on his way out.
End flashback.
Shaking his head, Yzak tried to clear his head of that conversation, surveying the area his team had just secured a few hours ago, while they had all performed admirably, he had some qualms lying with three of the four redcoats that were part of his squad, namely Rey Za Burrel, Lunamaria Hawke, and Shinn Auska.
Although Rey was polite and followed orders, Yzak knew that something was off, the similarities in his mannerisms to Rau Le Creuset were too close to be coincidental, and the fact that he was close to the chairman and seemed to know more than what he was saying made Yzak regard him with suspicion.
While Lunamaria Hawke seemed to be a capable officer, her lack of actual combat experience led Yzak to think that she would end up in a situation she couldn't handle, and he wasn't exactly happy about her 'customization' of both her uniform and mobile suit, having to explain why painting it red is the equivalent of putting a giant target on it.
But the biggest problem was Shin, his lack of respect, and brash, insubordinate attitude had caused more than a few headaches for the silver haired commander, in Yzak's mind he was a wildcard and a liability, a risk to the team members safety.
Yzak knew that some soldiers found it difficult to adjust when they receive a new commanding officer, regarding them as an outsider, and he had tried to be as civil as he possibly could, but Shinn in particular wasn't making it any easier for him, although he wouldn't say it out loud, Yzak was most thankful that Heine Westenfluss was helping to keep Shinn in line.
Speaking of which he looked over to where the Impulse was, baffled as to why such a reckless and headstrong individual was given control of such an expensive piece of equipment, not that he had any grounds of complaint considering he used to be the same way, but that was also why he was concerned for the teams well being, the fact that he knows first-hand what kind of mindset Shinn has, and the damage he was capable of causing if he let his emotions get the better of him.
"Well this was pretty uneventful, but I guess combat can be like that." Lunamaria said on the radio, slightly disappointed that the battle had been little more than a skirmish.
"Considering the difference in strength, you didn't expect any other outcome did you?" Dearka replied.
"Since the death of their main leader during the Bloody Valentine War, Blue Cosmos has splintered into dozens of smaller groups, but that doesn't mean that they're lacking in structure, or determination, so don't go thinking we're going to be getting a free ride Dearka." Shiho chastised.
"So what you mean is, even though the main group has been fragmented, it doesn't make them any less dangerous." Lunamaria summarized.
"Exactly. If anything its made Blue Cosmos even more dangerous, and more difficult to get rid off, the smaller groups are much harder to find, and every time we get rid of one, another 2 take their place. Never forget that most of them in this camp didn't put up much of a fight, others may have gone into hiding in order to regroup, so we can't be too sure that it's safe yet." Heine Added.
"Yeah…I just wish the Minerva would just hurry up and get here so we can leave." Complained Dearka.
Over where the Impulse was, Shinn was deep in thought over his first taste of actual combat, trying to sort out the emotions boiling around. I thought that actually fighting would bring me some piece of mind, but at the moment all I feel is sick, Rey said that the feeling would go away, and that I shouldn't feel remorse for them, I guess he's right, after all, Heine said the same thing, well he said the first part of it, I wonder what would Commander Joule tell me? Dammit Shinn, why are you thinking of getting HIS advice, the guy's a jerkass, who does he think he is? Probably got that promotion because his mum was part of the PLANT supreme council, then again, Heine seems to trust him, and he is pretty skilled, the guy is a veteran of the last war and that must count for something, crap I can't think in here! I need some fresh air!
Sending the Impulse into a kneeling position and opening the cockpit hatch, Shinn got out of the Impulses cockpit as quickly as he could and ran till he was roughly 18 feet away from it, he slid the visor for his helmet up and just stood there, hoping the fresh air would clear his mind, he also turned his radio off so he wouldn't be disturbed.
"What the hell is he doing?" Yzak asked himself, before trying to contact him via his radio. "Lieutenant Auska! What are you doing?! We're still in a combat zone!" he yelled, but Shinn didn't respond.
"His radio is turned off sir, we can't reach him." Heine informed him.
"Damn it, this is just what I need, someone get that dickhead back inside his mobile suit now!" Yzak bellowed, his patience for the black haired pilot running out.
"What on earth is he doing?" Deakra muttered, as he watched the spectacle unfold, Heine moved up, and switched the communication system in his ZAKU to the external speakers.
"Lieutenant Auska." His voice boomed out. "return to your mobile suit immediately." No response. "That's an order!" again no response, unknown to them, Shinn had spaced out completely what they also didn't know was that a sniper was aiming at Shinn, waiting for the rifle settle long enough for him to shoot, sensing something was going to happen, Lunamaria also leapt out of her cockpit and ran towards Shinn, yelling his name out in the hope that he would hear her.
BANG!!
She stopped dead in her tracks as Shinn slowly fell to the ground, frozen with fear as she saw that he just lay there, unmoving.
"SHINN!!" she screamed.
"SNIPER!! 12 O'CLOCK!!" Shiho yelled, Rey, Heine and Dearka opened fire in that area with their beam rifles, vaporizing the sniper in a brutal display of overkill.
"Shinn! Shinn can you hear me?!" Lunamaria frantically yelled at him, trying to get his helmet off, finally doing so after fumbling with the release catch for a couple of seconds, Shinn was wide eyed and in a state of shock, but physically alright, the bullet had glanced off the side of his helmet, leaving a large dent, but the helmet remained more or less intact.
"W-wha-what j-j-just h-h-h-happened?" he stuttered, jittery as his brain tried to process what had occurred, meanwhile inside her cockpit Shiho noticed that her radar was acting funny, looking up she saw a orange and white jet shaped object heading towards them.
"Commander, we have a bogie inbound!" she informed Yzak. "It's a Gundam!" Yzak swore when he heard this.
"This is not my fucking day…Form up!! Elmsman, take up an artillery position. Hahnenfuss, you cover him. Za Burrel, you take the left flank, Westenfluss, take the right. Hawke, stay with Auska and take cover behind Elmsman and Hahnenfuss, make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." He ordered, they all got into their assigned positions like clockwork, once Shinn was up on his feet, he pushed Lunamaria aside, picked up his helmet and made a dash for the Impulse.
The Gundam Kyrios continued it slow descent to the FAITH unit's location, as it neared the ground it ejected its flight container and swooped low, transforming into mobile suit mode in the process, as its feet touched earth it slid to a halt and straightened itself, its pilot, Allelujah Haptism, looking at the assembled mobile suits impassively.
"Kyrios has entered the combat zone, beginning intervention."
