Undisclosed Location, Pacific Ocean...
Nearly a day passed. Neo and the Extendeds under his care were still on the Benilde waiting for their new 'recruit'. While all three were being put under maintenance, Neo was on the room that held Scarlet.
"You must have made a mistake. It's impossible for this girl to become the Ultimate Natural." Neo said, still in complete doubt about her abilities.
"No, it's not a mistake." the scientist quickly responded, "If you're saying this out of the fact that she's just a nurse working for the Red Cross, then you're wrong."
"What?" Neo flinched after getting an answer he never expected. "What's that supposed to mean? Are you saying that she's holding back her own abilities?"
"No. It's more likely that she never even used them thus far. Coordinators, specifically the 2nd Generation Coordinators, don't know what they're good at unless they try it. They don't know that they're good at running if they haven't ran before. It's just like a car as well. You won't know how well it could perform unless you drive it." the scientist paused, flipping open a screen, "Her reflexes should be greater than a normal person's. However, she hasn't been put into a situation where such quick reflexes are needed, and thus, she's unaware of that. Besides, even Coordinators must undergo training before their abilities could be of any use."
"Are you saying that she's capable of inhuman feats and she doesn't even know it? That's impossible."
"Tell me then, Colonel..." the scientist turned and faced Neo, "...What is your accuracy in shooting?"
"An average of 90." Neo quickly responded, not getting what the question was all about.
"Is that so? Then how did you find out about that?" the scientist grinned. He knew Neo wasn't stupid, though he knew that his beliefs are hard to be swayed. Neo's face had surprised painted all over it.
"...by shooting." Neo said, finally accepting that his belief was wrong for this situation, "I understand. So, what do you plan on doing with her?"
"As Lord Djibril ordered, we are to recondition her mentally. Unlike your three pawns, this one doesn't need any physical conditioning." the scientist turned around and started to type on his computer, "We'll put her into a combat situation and see how she reacts. Only then can we verify if these genes are telling the truth or if they are just something she's carrying around."
"What? Combat already? Shouldn't you give her a shot at the simulator first?"
"Well, it is reasonable since she's never piloted a Mobile Suit before. But I'll just condition her mind into that of a Mobile Suit pilot. I'll teach her in her sleep." the scientist smirked, booting up the program that allowed them to alter a person's memory.
- - - - - - -
New Guinea, Equatorial Union...
Having waited for more almost a day, Shannon's path was finally cleared since the convoy had left while he was still sleeping. Even so, he took extra precaution before he booted up the Legacy's GUNDAM OS. He put it in standby mode to asses the situation he was in, and to see if he had enough firepower to fight off at least a small regiment of Mobile Suits or fighters.
"Two plasma beam cannons, 4 DRAGOON pods, two hybrid beam cannons, two railguns, two beam sabers and... What's this?"
He stared at the data on his screen, and what he saw was far from believable. On the Legacy's back was mounted a duplicate of the Astray's Tactical Arms. He saw it in action in the previous war, and he definitely know how it can be used as both a sword and a gun turret. However, he did not understand how Legacy would have such a weapon, or how ZAFT got data on the Tactical Arms in the first place. Nonetheless, he considered his weapons to be adequate, and he slowly made his way down the mountain. Putting all his sensors into passive mode, and turning off anything that transmitted something that could give him away to the enemy, he was practically hidden. Halfway down, he turned on his Phase Shift Armor to prepare for any unexpected attack. Having reached the bottom of the mountain, he still had no encounter with any hostile forces. Fearing the worst due to the unusual silence, he put the Legacy into the water and activated his thrusters. While it was true that his thrusters had enough power to fly him all the way to Carpentaria, the loss of his left wing meant that he'll have a harder time controlling his flight and more strain would be put on the right wing.
As he shot through the water, tens of meters under sea level, he realized that the strain on his right wing was far greater here than above water. However, since it did not have to generate any lift, folding it should not be a problem. He folded the wings and accelerated towards the nearest patch of Australian land. However, before he got out of Equatorial Union's territorial waters, alarms started ringing all around him. He turned on his systems and put them into active mode. The Legacy's eyes lit up and faced the torpedoes that were heading towards him. He first fired the CIWS mounted on the Legacy's head, only to realize that the range was almost brought down to zero. With the torpedoes closing in on him really fast, he stepped on the throttle and jumped out of the water, causing all torpedoes to miss him completely. Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, his alarms were at it again, and this time, it was because of hordes of anti-air missiles coming from ships. To make matters worse, at least 2 squadrons of Windams were making their way towards him.
"This must be the fleet that was rumored to attack Carpentaria..." he thought,bringing out both his beam sabers. He fired his CIWS at a bunch of missiles heading his way, taking out one or two, and their fragments destroying the missiles close to them. Upon clearing a path, he charged through and hacked his way through a couple of Windams, with the anti-air missiles closely tailing him. He passed through two of the Windams, and it was them that got the hit from the missiles. He then continued to charge into the squad of Windams, deploying his Balaena plasma beam cannons and fired ahead. The Windams effectively dodged his shots since he was still quite far away. However, as they moved aside, multiple shots from his railguns nailed a number of Windams, not expecting another attack to come so soon. He continued his charge through the incoming Windams and dodged their heavy assault, even if a number of shots still got to him. A couple of shots got rid of his wings, and his Balaenas, while another beam fire slightly grazed the Legacy's main body, causing slight damage that exposed some of the unit's internal mechanisms. In response, he slashed through more Windams, cutting through them only once, but effectively cutting them in half. Explosions set off wherever he passed as one Windam exploded after another and debris was literally raining on the seas. With less than a kilometer from the enemy fleet, he became even more determined to charge through. If he could just take out an essential part of this fleet, then the attack on Carpentaria would be delayed, if not canceled. Keeping that as his goal, he put away his beam sabers and brought out both of his hybrid beam cannons, like those of the Verde Buster's, but detached from the main body and attached only by a wire that connected to the powerplant. He fired two consecutive shots at the second squadron of Windams, hoping to pull off the same trick as he did earlier. However, as he expected, the enemy would not fall for the same trick twice. After firing his railguns, he accelerated and, when at point-blank, aimed the cannons directly on their cockpits. Seeing that he was armed with ranged weapons, some of the Windams closed in on him with beam sabers. Without enough time to switch to melee weaponry, he took his cannons and smashed the Windams at random, using those cannons as some sort of giant hammer. At least 5 Windams surrounded him, slashing him randomly from multiple directions. He countered by hitting the Windam in front of him with his cannon, then pointing them at opposite directions on his sides and shot, taking out another 2 units. Another Windam came from above and tried to slash him downwards, but he managed to move back with his railguns deployed, firing as soon as it got in front of him. The 4th Windam threw an armor penetrating Stilleto at him, so he backflipped to avoid the incoming projectiles, though while he was flipping, a beam saber attack from the same unit got rid of the Legacy's right leg.
"Now would be a good time to see what you've got." Neo said, with his line open to all his nearby allied units and vessels, "Send her out. I'll be fighting too, to see how good this guy is."
Panels opened on the left side of the carrier, with one regular Windam and a custom colored Windam walking out and preparing for battle. The custom colored Windam was piloted by Neo Roanoke himself, this being his first battle in his newly delivered unit.
"Let's go, Leah." Neo said, taking off ahead of the other Windam, referring to Leah, who was also known as Scarlet Aeternam. With her memory rewritten, she was given a new name to match her new personality. Leah Fortescue was her new name, her new identity.
"Coming." Leah answered, pushing the throttle and taking off right behind Neo's Windam.
Meanwhile, Shannon was disposing off the remaining Windams when they did something he never expected. 3 of them latched on to him like leeches, not letting go no matter how extreme the maneuvers he did were. Without any other option, he activated the Legacy's own Tactical Arms, which he named Excelsior, and fired its gatling gun, piercing through the Windam that was attached to his back. The Windam fell off and exploded just a few meters behind him, damaging a large part of the wings. He then turned the Legacy's head to another of his leeches, firing the CIWS and exhausting it of its payload to get rid of the Windam attached to his left arm. The Windam exploded while still attached to him, but thanks to Phase Shift Armor, the left arm sustained minimal damage. The Windam's arm eventually fell off the Legacy's left arm, and this gave him better mobility. He returned the hybrid cannon to its waist-mount and pulled out one of his beam sabers. He drove it through the remaining Windam's head and down to its cockpit. The Windam's grip loosened, and it fell off like a rock, exploding after hitting the water. With still a few Windams to worry about, Shannon deployed his railguns again, then brought out his hybrid cannons. Though without his Balaenas, he still had plenty of firepower to take out the remaining Windams in one go, at least, that's what he thought. A spherical panel appeared in front of him, with tiny dots appearing everywhere, representing the targets' position with respect to the Legacy. The computer automatically targetted each Windam and locked on to them. Just as he was about to fire, a couple of shots took out both of his hybrid cannons, which in turn exploded and added further damage into the arms.
"What the-!" Shannon turned the Legacy and looked at the incoming Windams, the beam fire most probably coming from the purple unit. He then noticed that the purple unit stopped halfway, leaving only the other Windam to head for the Legacy. "A single unit? I guess they have an ace in there."
Without a thought, the two Mobile Suits charged at each other. Drawing out his remaining beam saber, Shannon parried a beam saber attack from the Windam, locking in each other in a struggle between swords. Leah, however, brought out the other beam saber and was about to slash off the Legacy's arm had Shannon not pulled away and veered to his left, narrowly dodging the attack. However, Leah resorted to ramming him with her shield and Mobile Suit, temporarily stunning him and making him lose grip of his beam saber. As he fell to the sea, shots were fired at him from both Windams, as well as unloading all their missile payload on him. Using the sword's broad body as a shield, he withstood most of the attack for the price of his gatling gun, which was unprotected by the sword's solid blades. He took to the skies once again, and though without a wing, flight was not very troublesome since he had lost quite a lot of weight, like his wings and legs. He quickly approached Leah's Windam, smashing it with the Excelsior's broad side, as if he was hitting a fly with a fly swatter. He turned his attention on Neo's Windam next, charging at him with his sword ready to cut a Mobile Suit in half.
"What the-?" Neo was caught by surprise as Shannon's gigantic sword cleaved off his Windam's left arm. "Where is he getting all his energy? He's fighting with a heavily damaged Mobile Suit..."
Shannon moved in for the kill, with the sword quickly closing in on Neo's cockpit. As he was about to nail the finishing blow, his attack was deflected when Leah kicked the blade upward, and cut the purple Windam's head instead of its torso. He twisted the sword a bit and went for a downward strike instead, but this time, it was kicked to the left. Leah lunged in for a piercing strike, aimed just below the cockpit, when Neo suddenly called out to her, stopping the attack a meter away from contact.
"Leah, a Fleet from Carpentaria is headed this way. It would be better off to leave him for now." Neo said, "Let's get back for now."
"Understood." Leah whispered, returning her beam saber to its mount. She turned the unit around and slowly flew back to the carrier, all the while staring at the Legacy, which greatly resembled the Freedom.
Shannon wondered what caused the pilot to hesitate, then abort the attack. A small window appeared on the right side of his screen, showing a small Fleet from Carpentaria coming from the horizon. A few seconds later, a communications screen appeared.
"SHANNON STEYR OF FAITH, THIS IS THE ALPHA FLEET FROM CARPENTARIA. CHAIRMAN DULLINDAL HAS SENT US TO YOUR AID, SAYING THAT YOU MAY HAVE ENCOUNTERED HOSTILE FORCES ON YOUR WAY."
"On my way?" Shannon cupped his chin, "Is he talking about the Earth Forces, or that black Mobile Suit?"
"Roger that." Shannon responded, gently putting the Legacy in the water.
- - - - - - -
A/N: Here's Chapter 11... Within a Chapter or two, the Legacy (ship) will meet up with either one of its counterparts. That's it for now. R&R! I'll post a summarized list of modified characters and OCs that I've made after Chapter 15, along with additional tech specs for the other units that have appeared by then.