I do not own Gundam Build Fighters/Try or any of the Gundam franchise.
This story is inspired by Eyes in SEED authored by Nemesis Astrea and is written with his permission.
CHAPTER 9:
On The Burning Sand
~ Tassil, Desert ~
"Oh yeah! This is what they call being immersed in the show all right!" Aya thought snarkily to no one in particular.
Just like how she remembered in the show, the Archangel crew distributed what supplies they could to the people of Tassil after the Desert Tiger's. What was not in the show, however, was the weeping and crying and voices in her head. Upon approaching the town she felt an immense wave of pressure, like someone positioned a blower in front of her which was impossible because she was inside the cockpit. As a result she didn't really want to come down of the X2A and face that, but stupid, emotional Cagalli had to notice the towering black mobile suit baking in the sun. So here she was, feeling extremely uneasy, handing out food and water bottles to the victims of the attack.
"Why? Why us?"
"Hang in there..."
"Gone...its all gone..."
While the sheer number of casualties were definitely not there in the series, the Andrew Waltfeld seemed to have tried to avoid casualties which was in line with his personality.
Tried.
There were definitely casualties here. Some of the civilians lay bandaged and bleeding in the streets, others slumped on walls in shock and family members comforted each other. What bothered her more though was that she was hearing a multitude of people speaking. Some she knew were speaking out loud because their mouths were moving but others...
"Mom? *Sniff* Mom?"
She handed a bottle of water to a child who looked to her for reassurance but received none as she was already moving towards the next person. Nope, mouth not open. The kid wasn't the one speaking. Next person in need.
Was she going crazy? Aya didn't feel bad or acted in a way that deviated from her planned (and practiced) behavior.
Kira observed Aya as she moved amongst the crowd. She was fairly easy to spot due to the borrowed officer's uniform while her long, reddish-orange hair was unusual in the demographic present. Her face, however, was locked in a blank expression that, unbelievably, became agitated whenever she approached one of the people.
He saw the whole thing with the child and even a store clerk had more enthusiasm than Aya as she distributed the water bottles. Didn't she feel any of the sadness present here? It was so thick you could cut it with a knife. And the way she passed by that kid that looked on the verge of tears...even Ensign Badgiruel had shown some compassion when she handed a crying kid her cap.
"Miss Melanthos, could you try smiling a bit?," he said trying to sound as serious as he could when she approached, "You know, to cheer them up as you hand them supplies."
"I am," Aya said flatly, "This is my smiley face."
Kira honestly couldn't tell the difference between her regular expression and the current one.
"Hey, you two!" Lieutenant La Flaga called, "Are you done on that side?"
"Almost." Aya answered.
"Here," She handed a water bottle to Kira, surprising him, "That's the last one."
They stood there in silence for a few minutes. As he downed the drink, he noticed that Aya had nothing to drink for herself. He was going to offer her a sip but there was something more pressing right now.
"This is what Cagalli was talking about earlier," Kira said sadly as he surveyed the scene playing out in front of him, "When weapons of war like mobile suits are created only the innocent suffer."
What the- Did she just roll her eyes?
"You could also interpret this to mean that without sufficient force to protect yourselves, those with weapons can do whatever they want to you." Aya countered, "Remember what I said earlier when aggressive neighbors come knocking?"
Before Kira could retort, Mu La Flaga came over to them with a troubled expression.
"Something the matter Lieutenant?" Aya asked.
"Yeah," the Alliance pilot responded. "They're talking about going after the ZAFT raiders."
"What?!" Kira exclaimed in horror, "They'll get themselves killed!"
"They're going to avenge their town and their lost loved ones!" came a familiar voice.
"Oh no." Aya mumbled.
Cagalli stomped over towards them, seemingly in a perpetual angry state.
"Maybe you should try to calm them down a bit," Mu suggested, "Tanks and planes are no match for mobile suits and you guys are using handheld weapons and civilian vehicles!"
Ledonir Kisaka moved up quietly behind Cagalli and assumed a rested position. Aya couldn't believe that the bodyguard simply allowed Cagalli to do whatever she wanted. The blonde really was a princess in every sense of the word. Except being effeminate.
"We have our spirit and righteousness on our side!" came an unfamiliar voice.
A brown haired young man ran up to Cagalli while hefting a rocket launcher on his shoulders.
"There you are Ahmed!" Cagalli looked like she brightened up a little at the appearance of the young man. A chill ran up her spine as suspicions formed in her mind.
"Here." He handed Cagalli the rocket launcher confirming Aya's worst fears.
"We're not here to ask the Archangel for help," Cagalli said, balancing the weapon, "We have our pride too. But I will ask you to take care of the people until we get back."
"Well, the ship has a schedule to keep," Aya smiled coldly at the blonde, "It can't wait forever with you being dead and all."
"Why you b-!"
A vehicle pulled up roughly beside the group kicking up sand.
"Cagalli! Hop in!" Ahmed called.
"You're not going anywhere!" Aya snapped at the freedom fighter, "And neither is she!"
Without hesitation Cagalli jumped in, with Kisaka following dutifully behind. Within moments after arriving the vehicle sped away to join the small group of vengeful guerrillas already ahead.
For her part Aya was left standing in the dust seemingly frozen at the display of bullheadedness.
"Should we help them?" Kira asked looking at Aya's petrified form.
"If we head out we just might make it." Mu confirmed, "We need those people as guides if we're going to circumvent ZAFT territory."
~ Desert, Andrew Waltfeld ~
Commander Waltfeld had ordered the group to maintain a steady pace back towards their base. They couldn't look like they were some sort of bandit group pillaging a town by running away as fast as they could. They had a reputation to keep. Now, he only hoped the rebels would wise up and not interfere with his operations in the near future.
"Dust cloud behind us commander," drawled a pilot, "Maybe ten, a dozen vehicles at most. No aircraft or mobile suits detected."
Guess not.
"Take care of them," He instructed from within the BuCue Reconnaissance, "Try not to kill anyone, but don't risk yourselves if push comes to shove."
A chorus of affirmations rang out as three BuCues peeled away from the raiding force.
"Looks like they didn't get the message Andy," Aisha said sultrily as her own orange BuCue P-mod pulled up alongside his mobile suit.
"I don't know anymore!" Andrew complained back, "I'm at my wits end of trying to be nice here."
"Should I step up too?"
"No, they'll just target you and end up a stain on the desert floor. Give 'em a chance to survive." Andrew leaned forward of the double-seater cockpit, "Hey! Martin! Keep an eye out for additional enemies."
"You think those Alliance mobile suits will show up sir?" DaCosta asked doubtfully.
"Just a feeling."
~ Desert, Cagalli ~
"Ahmed! Ahmed!" Cagalli screamed as the body of her friend was vaporized by the energy blade.
One moment they were taking aim at a BuCue's relatively unarmored underside, the next they were thrown off the vehicle when the driver veered sharply to the side to avoid a sweeping "paw" of the mobile suit.
Ahmed had rolled as he fell, landing on his feet in a crouch and took aim with the launcher. The BuCue had noticed him and ignited the beam sabers on the side of its head and in sweeping motion erased Cagalli's friend. The launcher's missile exploded due to the enormous heat generated by the weapon. As if to mock the final moments of her friend the smoke cleared to reveal the BuCue only suffered some mild damage from the explosion, giving its head a "scar" but was otherwise undamaged.
Cagalli fell to her knees on the ground in shock, not seeming to care that the mobile suit noticed her or took a thunderous step towards her direction. As the unit's anti-personnel machine gun on its wing angled for a shot the mobile suit suddenly looked upwards and pulled back on its treads at full speed.
A shadow descended on the field and the X2A landed between the shocked blonde, Beam Zanber drawn. It turned its head as if confirming that the person behind it was indeed Cagalli.
Then the BuCue struck.
~ X2A, Aya ~
"There they are!" Aya puffed her cheeks. She'd been flying in the general direction of the freedom fighters but couldn't locate them. It seemed so easy in the show to just arrive despite not knowing where to go. Once she noticed the rising smoke, however, the direction became obvious. Along the way she used her slow pace to adjust her reactions to the sandy environment, a behavior which was standard procedure for all Gunpla Battlers on unfamiliar terrain. Come to think of it, she rarely fought in terrestrial battles back home if given the choice, since she favored the three dimensional freedom offered by space.
"Well, this is bad." She thought, as she observed the clearly one-sided results of the pursuit from the main camera. Vehicles and bodies lay everywhere in varying states. Some were crushed while others were on fire - including the bodies. A similar but different feeling she had felt at the city rose within Aya's chest.
"Please don't let whatever that was back there get in the way here." She prayed silently. If she was distracted at the wrong moment it could be the end of her. She just had to pick the Crossbone out of all the Gunpla on her shelf. A space oriented design with paper-thin armor. Now it was on Earth, in the desert.
Strangely enough, the mobile suit functioned much like Gunplas did in a desert environment. Almost like the internals had automatically adjusted themselves to the best of its physical make.
"Aya!"
She turned the Crossbone to see the Strike and the Aegis approaching in the distance, using short jumping motions.
"I had some trouble with all this sand." The Gunpla Battler lied, "I managed to find a workaround but its a band-aid solution at best."
"Same here," Kira affirmed, "I fine tuned the Strike's response on the way here."
"Show off." Mu said without any real jealousy, "What's the situation?"
"That."
"This is terrible!" Kira gasped in shock as he saw the casualties, "We have to step in! Now!"
"Oh! Now you're motivated!" Aya said snidely, activating the Beam Zanber, "Well, better late than never. Mindless slaughter, here we come!"
The X2A leapt into the air using its large thruster and entered the fray.
~ Desert, Andrew Waltfeld ~
"Well, well," Andrew mumbled to himself, "Look who decided to join the party. The rebels are definitely helping the Alliance now."
"Is that it?" Aisha asked over the comm.
"Yeah, that's the unknown." he affirmed, Andrew indicated the BuCue, "Who's machine is that?"
"Kirkwood's sir." Martin answered from the front of the cockpit.
Andrew noted that Kirkwood wisely pulled back upon the arrival of the unknown mobile suit and assumed a defensive posture. Though it had its beam saber drawn when the black mobile turned its head as if to confirm the status of rebel it had protected, Kirkwood attacked. The pilot used a combination assault of firing the linear gun on its dorsal while pouncing with his own beam saber. To the surprise of both ZAFT commanders the enemy mobile suit seemed to blur, dodging to the side. It struck the BuCue with the pommel of its beam saber and pushed it away with violent knee attack. The BuCue tumbled in the sand but before it could stop, the enemy snapped up a beam pistol and shot it.
"He pushed Kirkwood away so the explosion wouldn't harm that rebel." Andrew realized.
"That reaction time...a coordinator?" Aisha mused out loud, excitement creeping into her voice.
"Most likely." Andrew agreed as two new contacts appeared on the radar. They were mobile suits.
"We'll have to step in Ai, can't lose anymore BuCues. Besides, this is direct payback now."
"Its been a while since we danced Andy." Aisha laughed.
"Not long enough," Andrew said, remembering the last time Aisha cut loose, "Hold on Martin, I'll be gunning it."
"Nothing too fancy now sir." His aide said while simultaneously securing his safety harness.
The Reconnaissance BuCue, as its name implied, was used primarily for scouting. However, unlike most reconnaissance units the BuCue frame was, by nature, versatile and so ZAFT engineers incorporated two new beam cannons with one at each side of the radome dish and beam sabers on the head which was now standard of the regular BuCue. It also had one more feature that would be of use in this battle.
"Lesseps, this is commander Waltfeld," He radioed, "Laser designator active, solid shells only."
"This is Lesseps," A voice crackled a few moments later, "Loading shells. Friendlies still in the area. Over."
"They'll be advised, Over."
"...Copy commander. Shells away."
"Attention all units!" Andrew keyed in while simultaneously revealing the anticipated impact points, "Fire support incoming. Avoid closing with the enemy. That goes for you too Aisha."
"Lets see how your mobile suits hold up when they're not mobile."
The BuCue opened fire as one, their aim designed to limit the movement of the enemy rather than damage them.
Two of the Alliance machines hesitated, then moved away from their positions. Moments later, the artillery rounds impacted uselessly on empty space, the Alliance machines too far for even the explosive shrapnel to hit. Even the rebels were now clear of the area thanks to their interference.
"What the- how could they have known?!" Martin exclaimed in surprise.
"We'll have to try again," Andrew mused, "Hmm?"
The black mobile suit had tilted its head and gave an emphasizing gesture with its free hand to the Aegis.
"Could he have spotted the incoming shells? Is he the enemy commander?" He asked himself.
The Aegis responded by lifting itself into the air and transforming into its mobile armor mode. It spread its "limbs" and fired its Scylla Cannon into the air. Then, turning laboriously due to being in the atmosphere, it swept the skies and the next wave of artillery shells exploded in the air. Another explosion blossomed, but this time it was BuCue. The ZAFT and Alliance pilots were distracted by the interception of the shells and the black mobile suit took the opportunity to shoot one of the opposition.
"Your tactic's not working Andy," Aisha growled over the comm, "So let's do this my way! You two with me!"
"She has a point," Andrew admitted.
~ BuCue P-mod, Aisha ~
Adrenaline pumped through Aisha's veins as her machine surged through the sand. These enemy mobile suits were everything that the report said and more. Finally! A worthy opponent!
The custom BuCue's turret swiveled and fired a barrage of bullets at the descending Aegis that was recovering from firing its cannon. The Strike, the white machine, flew in front of the re-captured mobile suit and blocked the attack with its shield.
"Missiles." She commanded, settling into her cold battle mentality.
The BuCue to the right complied and sent a wave towards the two.
Unlike Andrew's plan, the projectiles actually scored a hit. Several in fact. Aisha's genetically enhanced brain, combined with her own affinity for battles, had forged a plan in matter of moments. While on paper ZAFT machines were at a disadvantage due to sporting solid shell weaponry, Aisha theorized that the Phase Shift system as revealed in the report reacted to a certain type of physical attack indiscriminately. This meant that even if the attack was not sufficiently fatal the system would still consume the necessary energy to deflect it and thus it could be overwhelmed. The end result was that since the system drew power from the mobile suit's reactor the machine would would shut down, making it an easy kill. That was the major disadvantage of drawing power from a single source to power three systems in the mobile suit.
The two machines held their ground and fired retaliatory shots at the BuCues strafing them but their lack of mobility made their trajectories predictable. All the while, the wolf-like mobile suits continued to pound them with railgun rounds and rockets.
"Damn, this guy's good!" She heard Andrew over the comm.
She turned to see the remaining BuCue and Andy trying to hit the black machine, but it seemed improbable. The short mobile suit jinked sideways continuously presenting an unpredictable target. Just when it was about to be caught in the apex of its turn it spun, dragging a foot in the sand and kicking up dust. The show caused the two BuCues to hesitate while the mobile suit completed its turn and was angling for a better shot. Its movements almost seemed...human.
Andrew, however, was fairly skilled as a pilot as well and fired a leading shot. This time it was aimed at the spot where the unit would land since it utilized a hopping motion to move on the sand, the human like frame unsuited for desert warfare. The unit reversed itself but at a cost. Now, it tumbled into a roll and Aisha winced in anticipated emphatic pain as the roll would effectively snap the large thrusters on its back. Or so she thought.
Instead, the large boosters collapsed backwards, perpendicular to the mobile suit, as the unit landed on the desert floor avoiding the catastrophic fate. Using the momentum of the roll, the thrusters on the unit's body flared and lifted it off the ground and fired off a shot with its beam pistol as it completed the roll in mid-air.
The beam hit Andy's companion and the mobile suit went up in flames.
"Very good." She admitted, "I wonder what kind of man he is outside the cockpit?"
"Aisha, switch!" Andrew said tersely.
"Well, I'll find out," She said to herself as her BuCue raced towards the enemy, "After I pry you from the cockpit with these fangs!"
~ X2A, Aya ~
"Spread out!" Aya transmitted to Kira and Mu, "Now!"
"What?" "Why?" Both of the pilots asked bewildered.
Being a veteran soldier, however, Mu didn't wait for an explanation and recognizing Aya's urgent tone boosted in a random direction. Kira followed suit a full second later, reacting just as fast by reason of being the "ultimate" coordinator.
Seconds later the spot they were on, as well as other areas, exploded as artillery rained from the skies.
How she detected it was equally surprising. A red circle appeared below the spot the Strike and the Aegis occupied. Unlike the Newtype "lines" she was accustomed to, however, the circle was not clean cut. It writhed like hundreds of living creatures were swimming under a red pool and it simply felt wrong. In hindsight, it was no wonder the BuCues didn't attack them in close quarters but without the Newtype abilities granted by the transition she would have never suspected that the Desert Tiger had called down artillery. To make matters worse, more of the disturbing circles appeared indicating a second salvo.
She broadcasted this new information to the other two. Kira made snap calculations only a coordinator could have done and indicated their trajectory and possible landing sites. They were spot on the areas Aya's abilities had revealed. To the redhead's surprise Mu asked for the data, a few moments later the Aegis took to the air, transformed and blasted the shells out of the sky. Aya had forgotten that Mu possessed spatial awareness in the show. Now, with the bombardment plan no longer viable the two sides clashed in the traditional way.
The black BuCue (Aya couldn't remember the name type), was tough. It wasn't there in the show and its pilot was a pretty crafty fighter but he wasn't the problem. Andrew Waltfeld was.
The orange BuCue looked different from what she remembered but since this was supposed to be the real-life version of SEED some things didn't surprise her such the slightly more primitive design or the giant gatling cannon mounted on its dorsal alongside a railgun. What surprised her was how Andrew fought. The BuCue leapt, accelerated and boosted at excitable levels, making it difficult to target. Furthermore the simple, swiveling turret on its back allowed to fire with impunity at absurd angles unlike the slight but noticeable disorientation a pilot would have when operating a humanoid mobile suit. It reminded her of the mid-level World Championship where fights would begin to heat up!
Losing her beam cannon irked Aya greatly since her options were now limited. She evaded randomly, while taking any shots she felt were worth connecting but the BuCue was in its element, the Crossbone was not. Any incoming shots were dodged expertly and the return fire was often too close for comfort.
"Damn, gotta switch tactics," She thought as she manipulated the Plavsky controls.
When the orange BuCue came close enough, the Crossbone's front skirts angled up, extended and shot outwards. The unexpected feature caught the Desert Tiger off guard and maneuvered away but the Scissor Anchors had already latched on to its gatling cannon, limiting its movement at the same time. No matter how much the BuCue P-mod swerved, the Crossbone was secure and the violent motions stopped when its numerous thrusters stabilized it. Like a kite, the unit glided behind the BuCue and extended its beam brand. The focused beam extended and Aya prepared to ram it onto the BuCue's back.
"Don't underestimate me!" An angry female voice yelled in Aya's head.
The momentary distraction allowed the BuCue to jettison its giant gatling cannon, freeing it from the Crossbone's grip. It turned and leveled it remaining weapon on Aya before the air erupted. The Lesseps had delivered some sort of ECM missile. Static filled the Crossbone's panoramic cockpit, and through the blur the ZAFT survivors retreated. Andrew Waltfeld had ordered a retreat. Just like in the show.
Aya landed the Crossbone near the Strike and the Aegis and saw that they had suffered some mild damage. The Aegis was slightly more scuffed and its shield was all but melted due to beam shots from the black BuCue but considering that Lieutenant La Flaga was still new at this, it showed how much talent he had.
~ Desert, Kira Yamato ~
The three machines touched down where the Desert Dawn survivors gathered. The wounded lay in stretchers and cried out pitifully in pain while those lucky enough to be relatively unhurt slumped on whatever they could find. Cagalli was in a corner, crying over a burned scarf. The only thing that was left of Ahmed.
Kira and Mu had exited the Strike and the Aegis and helped out however they could. Just like in the outskirts of the city earlier, Aya didn't exit the Crossbone without a prompting. Kira had told her of their plans, hoping she'd take the hint and help out. When her image came on the screen he instead became disgusted when he saw Aya's face was flushed and her voice actually sounded excited from the fight. She gave noncommittal answer but never came down, making it clear what her choice was.
"You SEE?!" Cagalli yelled, as the two pilots approached, "This is how terrible war is!"
Kira's mind almost made him say that they went after mobile suits with nothing but feelings, however, what Aya said suddenly made sense though he would never admit it out loud. He knelt down in front of Cagalli and slowly took her hands into his own. The movement caused Cagalli to look at him with teary, sorrow filled eyes that almost made him cry as well.
"What you did wasn't wrong but sometimes spirit isn't enough," he whispered, "Sometimes, to protect the ones we care for, we must do terrible things and use terrible things." He worded it as neutrally as he could.
A moment passed before Cagalli broke down and cried. She pulled him into a hug and the surprised teen returned it as best as he could.
He looked up to see the rays of the morning sun illuminate the desert, giving it a pure, unsullied look. There, to the side, standing apart from the other machines was the Crossbone Gundam, staring into the distance, seemingly uncaring of the misery around it.
Author's note:
I present to you - Chapter 9! This chapter contained more action than normal since the next one will be a bit more on the talkative side. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I wanted to give Aisha a more distinct personality and this is my attempt in that regard. On another note, Aya's Newtype powers are blossoming here though only time will tell on how it will affect her.
The artillery feature of the BuCue recon was sort of an inspiration by my (still pending as of the moment) review/critique on Iron Blooded Orphans. Just like how there seems to be no aircraft in IBO, I often wondered why no artillery was used in this particular segment. When they do use artillery its normally of the missile variety and often shot down rather easily, I mean I've never heard of artillery shell being intercepted before. Regarding that, the Aegis' attack patterns here are based on the video games when on a terrestrial field. Take your pick. Its "sweeping" the skies with its beam cannon to intercept the shells is a little bit fanciful but we need some cool stuff every now and then.
The BuCue recon and the P-mod fighting together (black and orange) unintentionally evoked the tiger theme by the time I was done with this chapter which was a bit amusing.
Also, regarding the mysterious mobile suit I previously hinted at later in the story some of you (through sheer volume of fire) managed to identify two of its weapons, though one of them is only temporary due that arc's technological limitations. It will be piloted by the true big bad, which isn't Le Crueset or Patrick Zala or Azrael.
Also Aya will get her own "mid-season" upgrade. Just like the big bad's mobile suit, its not very well known and has no gunpla release, including SD or even a scratch build. I checked the internet.
Anyway, you know what part of the story is coming next. Hopefully it will be the last chapter in the desert arc.
Until next time.
