Gulnahan: An ocean city found and surrounded by mountains and a desert terrain. Once under control of the Earth Forces, the town was unable to live a good life with their already low supply of food and water. They looked to Zaft in order to save themselves and followed Dullandal's order, until his true ambitions were shown to the world. Ever since, they have been working to become completely independent from either Zaft or Earth Forces. Secretly, they also hold a spy and information network that is known only to Athrun and Cagalli.
Coniel Almeta: At 14 years of age, Coniel was the representative of the resistance when Gulnahan was under control of the Earth Forces. Coniel drove in and gave the information necessary for the liberation to be a success. She met Shinn Asuka and Athrun Zala, and was commended for her heroics. She was also the one who fought to decide for complete independence from all groups. Now at 19 years of age, she is still working with the resistance.
Captain Jack Porter: A 30 year old war veteran of the Space and Earth Navy. He has been an Orb soldier for a good while, and has been known to be a kind hearted soul, yet fierce when it comes to battle. He nearly lost both his wife and daughter due to the second attack on Orb from Zaft. His resolve to protect his country never was stronger ever since that time.
"Commander Athrun, we're receiving a hail from an unknown source!"
This was what Athrun had been waiting for ever since they entered the waters of Gulnahan.
Since they'd left their home country, the crew members were getting a bit snappish at not having found anyone after all that time. They were wondering if they would ever find the source of the evil, or even a small part of it.
Not to say that they did not want peace, but they had been in a normal state of alertness ever since they'd left Orb. After being alert for so long and not having found anything, they were feeling a bit worn out.
Athrun was happy to finally be able to look forward to a trustworthy source of evidence in their search. "Put it on screen!" The crew member nodded and immediately typed the necessary buttons.
Then, the face of a young girl with brown hair and light brown skin stood looking into the ship. She smiled at the sight of Athrun, whom smiled in return. "Miss Coniel, it is very nice to see you again," the girl on the other side of the conversation nodded in response.
"I heard you're looking for something?" Coniel said with a smirk on her face, holding a data disk in her hand that the crew could clearly see.
Athrun nodded, hoping that this would be a simple transaction.
Money for information.
"So what's your price?" Athrun stated, preparing himself for her outrageous prices, although he really couldn't blame her in the end.
"Freedom" Coniel said simply to which Athrun could only sigh in dismay before nodding. "Fine…shall we send someone over to pick you up?"
Coniel nodded over the Com-channel, "Please send a mobile suit to these coordinates, your fastest pilot and mobile suit will be best."
Athrun nodded and ordered the disconnection of the channel.
"Commander? What are we going to do?" Athrun looked over at his subordinate, and sighed once more. "We'll just have to leave part of our forces to take care of this situation, while the rest of us head over to the real enemy…as long as Coniel is willing to agree to that kind of deal."
Athrun could only sigh once more, feeling a bit of stress coming along from the future negotiation. He wasn't made for this, Cagalli was.
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"Captain Baxter, you're Savior MKII is prepped and ready for launch!" Wes heard over the radio before nodding.
He tested a few of the controls before the launch, but still he hadn't been able to test it to its fullest in a combat situation, or even a test flight.
Wes was feeling a bit anxious as he saw the doors in front of him spread and open the way for the launch tunnel runway. "Wes Baxter, Savior II, Launch!"
The clamps hit the ground as the Savior readied itself for the jump as it was pushed to towards the opening of the runway at a rapid speed.
As it jumped into the air, Wes felt the new thrusters charge up, and cringed wondering if the thrusters were a bit stronger than what he'd expect. He got his answer as the thrusters burst the Savior forward, throwing Wes straight into the back of his pilot's-seat.
"Captain Baxter? Are you ok?" Wes sighed and growled through the com-link, "Send a message to Orb…don't let Kari upgrade anymore of the mobile suits…"
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Miles away, inside of an Orb hangar, a cute scientist immediately sneezed.
"Are you ok Kari?" Yoshi said, and Kari nodded before sneezing again.
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The desert passed by quickly below him as Wes piloted his Savior just above the ground, doing his best to avoid detection as he neared the pickup point of…well he wasn't sure who he was picking up.
All he knew was that it was an important person, someone who would be able to tell them the location of the enemy base.
The Savior finally flew out from behind a desert mountain, and from a small plateau looks a girl towards the approaching mobile suit.
Wearing a long tan colored trench coat, and goggles over her forehead, she stood beside a covered go-kart.
Her brown hair fluttered wildly in the wind as the Savior approached more and more. It soon floated down to the ground in front of the plateau, with the cockpit a few feet away from Coniel's location.
She looked over as the cockpit opened, expecting to find a familiar Zaft suit. Her eyes widened when the Earth Force colors of blue and white entered her sight instead. "Wait a minute…" She whispered to herself as she readied herself for an attack.
Wes didn't notice anything as he stepped out from the cockpit and looked down at the girl strangely. "What is this? She's just a little girl?" He said as he was let down by the rope hanging from the top of the cockpit. Sadly for him, he'd forgotten that his mike was one, so she'd heard him over the radio.
She growled as she picked up her mike and screamed into it, "What?" Wes cringed and threw off his helmet, holding his ears in pain. "Ow! The hell was that for?"
Coniel didn't answer as she put away her radio and walked over to him and looked him over. "You're supposed to be picking me up?" Wes could only nod as he stuck a pink in his ears trying to get rid of the ringing. "Yeah…Commander Wes Baxter, at your service…"
Coniel looked over the mobile suit in front of her. The phase shift armor was turned down and it showed the gray coloring, but she noticed how familiar it looked. "What are you doing with the Savior?" She asked suddenly to Wes' surprise.
"It's my mobile suit…Earth forces gave it to me…" She raised an eyebrow at his reply, "This is a Zaft mobile suit, piloted by Athrun Zala last I checked."
Wes shrugged with a smile, "You've done your homework then, but that was then, this mobile suit is piloted by me now." Wes then picked up his helmet and secured it, "Now come on, SC Zala is looking to talk with you right now"
Coniel groaned as she walked over to Wes and hung on to the rope as it pulled them both up. "What's your name by the way?" Wes asked as soon as they'd reached the cockpit and entered.
Coniel looked at Wes with untrusting eyes before stating simply, "Coniel…" Wes looked at her in return but shook his head as he started up his mobile suit.
With a small roar, the Savior pulled out and headed back towards the ocean where a part of the fleet waited.
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After the return of the Savior, Wes and Coniel headed straight for the war room where the Captains of several ships stood, along with the faces of many more that were still in their ships but watching from the view screen.
Wes and Coniel both entered, at first surprised to see that there were so many. Athrun saw them and immediately greeted them. "Thanks for taking care of her Wes," to which Wes shrugged and made to leave before he was called back.
"Oh wait, you'd better listen to the mission before you leave…" Athrun said quietly as most of the Captains moved to their seats and Wes stood at attention in the corner. Coniel took a look around and quickly whispered to Athrun "Where is Shinn?"
Athrun's smile was gone and he sighed, "He's been missing for a long time…and we don't know what side he's on right now…" Athrun then left the confused girl as he walked to the screen in the room, preparing to speak to all of the Captains.
"Captains of Orb, Earth Forces and Zaft…we have ourselves two very important missions before us." At that moment, the screen behind him turned on, showing the small shores of Gulnahan.
On it was a small town and surrounding it were several mobile suits which held the Blue Cosmos emblem on their shoulders. "I don't think I need to tell you who these guys are…we need to take them out in return for the plans and location of the Blue Cosmos base."
Coniel nodded and held the data disk in her hands, not wanting to reveal it until her town was freed. Athrun, however, couldn't wait that long. "I'm well aware of the fact that Miss Coniel would rather wait until we have finished off the enemy, but we need to move on the base at once while we still can."
Coniel looked up in surprise, as Athrun walked over to her and held out his hand. "On my word, I promise that your town will be freed, but we've got to take out the base at the same time or else something like this might happen again…"
The girl looked small and frail at that moment and could do little more than nod and hope for the best as she placed the data disk into the palm of his hand. Wes looked over at her strangely, feeling that something was not quite right.
He faltered slightly when he noticed an evil grin on her face, just when Athrun entered the data disk into the computer. Wes looked up to see a general mapping of Panama.
Wes was beginning to think that he was wrong, but then noticed that this was as far as it got. "Now then, you can get the other half of the disk when the mission is done, understand?" Wes looked back as Coniel said this, seeing a happy smile on her face.
He sighed in return and whispered to himself, "This girl…is really something else…"
"Commander Baxter!" Wes stood at attention at the call, "Sir!"
"You are to take your personal Earth Forces squadron and join up with the Zaft Battleships Saunders and Hiro as well as the Orb Carrier ship Stratis. You're mission will be to liberate the town and then make sure that the rest of the information is sent to use before catching up to us as we take part in the battle."
Wes understood and nodded quickly, before he was dismissed and quickly walked out, taking Coniel with him as he passed by her. The two were outside of the room and walked on to the hangar.
"Well, I'll take you back to the pick up point and leave you there, before I prep my team for the fight."
Wes said as he let go of her arm and allowed her to walk beside her as they neared the hangar. Coniel, however, shook her head. "Someone's got to make sure that you do your job right and without hurting any of my people."
Wes sighed in response, he could tell that he wasn't going to be able to get rid of this chick very easily. Besides that, she was also a pretty big handful. He didn't know if he could deal with her and fight at the same time, but he shook his head and nodded.
"This is just gonna be one of those days…"
"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"
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They were ready.
Wes had debriefed and chosen his squad members easily.
'Last Hope' along with Trent and Ikros were ready to be launched into battle along with several other mobile suits from both the Zaft and Orb Forces ships.
"Wes…you ready?"
"Anytime Trent…"
"This is Captain Jack Porter of the Orb Carrier Stratis. You boys in the United Team, get ready to launch. And remember your mission! Take out any and all anti-ship and anti-mobile suit cannons! Once their clear, we'll immediately send the rest of the force to force the enemy to retreat."
Wes, Ikros and Trent nodded in return and prepared themselves for the launch.
"Ikros, Zaku III, Launching!"
"Trent, Murasame, Movin out!"
"Wes, Savior, Let's go!"
"Baka! Aaaaaaah!"
"Don't go yelling about how you want to keep an eye on us next time!"
Wes yelled as the Savior launched, and Coniel was sent back into him by the force.
The three mobile suits were finally out once more, back in action and ready for their first sortie since their launch into space.
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Cliffie? Or maybe just to get you a bit more interested? Don't know, but I ended it seemingly early…oh well, it was a good time to end this chapter. Shrugs Can't go making 10 page chapters all the time, they get my blood boiling but it's hard to do it all the time.
If I disappointed you…well…not much I can say, hahaha!
There'll be action next time, and hopefully I'll let it out sooner than this time.