Damn! This took so long!
I'm sorry, I really am. I've just…I've had a hard writers block through this chapter. However, I think I'm over it, just a bit, but I'm definitely going to finish this story no matter what. I will do so!
Now…enjoy!
The battle inside of Gulnahan seemed to get farther and farther away from ending.
The people were safe, but the rest of the land was feeling the scorch of battle as the many mobile suits continued to do battle.
The skies above the sandy mountains were filled with the destructive power used by the mobiles suits.
And among the many pilots, two flew through the skies, skimming the earth below them.
"Riley! We need to bypass that mobile armor and take care of that gun, before any other ship gets taken down with it."
"Affirmative, and then?"
"We infiltrate with Last Hope, and take care of the mountain base for good!" Tristan said as he flew his Gundam Astray forward. He pulled out the Katana, slashing through the waist of a mobile suit in one swing.
"Tristan, the mobile weapon is still operational…" Riley said as her view centered in on the walking behemoth of a machine. She listened as Tristan chuckled nervously and then closed her eyes before shaking her head slowly.
"Right…yeah…we should take care of that first then!" No sooner had he said this did Riley move her Astray into a flanking position, behind the Mobile Weapon.
"We'll attack it in a pincer move then." She said calmly.
"Hey I'm the commander of this outfit!"
"Then come up with my ideas faster!" Riley shouted back and started firing on the back of the machine as she landed on higher ground of the mountain and took cover behind a large stone.
She moved the Astray over to the edge and then aimed her automatic over the side, pulling the trigger from behind her cover.
The Mobile weapon turned slightly and fired its machine guns straight towards the stone. Tristan landed on top of another stone and fired his Vulcan cannons, hoping to draw the attention of the giant.
It worked, as the machine guns quickly strafed up the other stone, and Tristan brought his shield up. Bullets bounced off of it, denting the shield and scratching it.
Tristan landed behind another rock as the bullets followed. It was then that Riley pulled out from behind her cover and fired her assault rifle. The bullets skid past the ground, and hit the legs of the machine. The Mobile Weapon faltered slightly, noticing the sparks coming from the leg.
Another explosion pushed the Mobile Weapon to the ground from behind, coming from a pair of hand guns. "I'm almost out of ammo, I can't keep this up Meryl"
"Shut up Vash, just keep firing!" The two Windam pilots argued, and watched as the Mobile weapon pushed itself off of the ground and aimed at the other two threats. Suddenly, a blade came out through the front of the chest area, and just as quickly was pulled out.
More sparks were emitted from the Weapon, before it fell to the ground and powered down silently.
"We did it!" Vash yelled out, before a laser beam suddenly crashed down beside him, causing him to quickly take cover.
"Damn it! We got their attention! We've got to get inside that base!" Tristan yelled as he turned his Astray and pushed the thrusters towards the entrance at the top. Riley followed with Vash and Meryl.
"You'll need our help!" Vash yelled, firing shots just above Tristan's shoulder.
The four mobile suits floated just in front of a closing door way, and Tristan pushed forward, putting his blade between the doors forcing it open. "Come on! Get in there!" He yelled, buckling slightly from the force of the doors.
Riley entered first, followed by Meryl and then Vash, before Tristan boosted, forcefully pushing him past the doors as they smashed behind him.
"They made it inside!" Trent yelled as he fired down on Beka, boosting up in the air. Coniel cringed her eyes as she hung onto her chair, watching as Beka fired back before flying past him and up above them.
Trent quickly aimed his gun up, but squinted when the sun appeared in his eyes. He growled but couldn't do anything, until Coniel screamed suddenly. Trent opened his eyes and saw his guns suddenly get slashed.
He dropped it, but it exploded and sent him to the ground, with the two screaming. At the last second, Trent pulled a lever, transforming the Murasame into its fighter form. It flew away from the ground just barely.
Trent turned the fighter and aimed it right at Beka. "I'll kill you!" He yelled suddenly, but stopped as he saw Beka's face, filled with fear suddenly appear vaguely before his eyes. He slowed down suddenly and was caught by Beka's mobile suit.
He looked up surprised to see the Windam so close, and with a tightening grip over his cockpit. "D-damn…I screwed up…" Trent said as he noticed cracks beginning to appear on his cockpit. He leaned down, his forehead hitting the screen.
"I'm sorry…Coniel…" He whispered, waiting for the end to come. Coniel only sat there in fear, unconsciously gripping onto Trent and pulled herself closer to him. She pushed her head against his arm, feeling like she wanted to cry.
"No chance!" A voice shouted, and a beam suddenly sliced through the Windams arm, releasing Trent and sending him into a freefall before he regained control and flew away. Beka looked around for the interferer, finding three Windams, one with a sniper beam rifle, still firing at her.
She hissed and then turned away, looking over at the damaged Murasame sadly before boosting away quickly. Trent pulled up, pushing the lever to boost towards her. The sound of a dying engine was all he and Coniel could hear as the Murasame began to fall. Trent quickly transformed, landing the machine onto the ground, tripping over the stones in the path.
The Murasame hit the ground hard, and Trent watched as many of the lights on the console went out one by one. The mobile suit shut down completely, and Trent and Coniel were left in the dark.
Another mobile suit landed beside him, with barely any electricity working, Trent could barely hear or recognize the voice. "Young man, are you all right?"
"I'm fine...and so is Coniel...but the mobile suit is shut down..."
"I see...well, you're near the village, get out and head there, make sure to take care of Miss Coniel."
"Who are you?" Trent asked quickly as the cockpit opened slowly. Trent crawling out with his handgun out. He looked up to see a mobile suit, covered in a tan cloak, colored silver and blue with two curved swords, one on each hand.
"The Sand Rock, that's all you need to know." The mobile suit then turned and slid across the sand, boosting right and left, dodging the bullets, slashing through two mobile suits in mere seconds. It then boosted up and landed in fron of the mountain base door, slashing through and boosting inside.
Trent only stood in awe as the battle continued above him. He was brought back to reality when Coniel pushed him from behind. "We need to go..."
Trent nodded quickly and led the way to Gulnahan.
Over in Panama, the battle had shifted to a confused state. Orb and Zaft forces kept their sorties together, while fights arose between the Earth Forces and the Zaft Reinforcements. As of yet, Athrun was still trying to find out who it was that sent the reinforcements.
"Commander! They-"
"Not now Petty Officer!" Athrun yelled.
"But the enemy is sending out reinforcements!"
Athrun's attention changed as he noticed several doors opening up and sending out enemy mobile suits. "Open Fire on those doors, send out all of the mobile suits!" Athrun yelled as he left another in charged and went to his mobile suit.
The Infinite Justice was prepped and ready to launch as Athrun climbed in. "Athrun Zala, Justice, Launch!"
In a flash of light, the I. Justice took off, along with Yzak's Custom Gouf. Kira then took off from another ship, followed by Mwu La Fllaga in the Akatsuki.
The Freedom and the Justice flew up high and stopped beside each other. "Ready Kira?" Athrun yelled, as the Justice aimed all his beams, alongside the Freedom.
"Ready!"
The two fired their multiple beams, watching as they cut through the reinforcements quickly and without any trouble.
On the ground, Dearka cheered as he rammed an axe straight through the cockpit of one of the reinforcements. "Don't give up men! We've still got work to do!"
Dearka watched as one of his men went down, losing the arm, but continued to fight anyhow. He didn't care how difficult this may have seemed. He didn't care that he and the five soldiers that had charged in hadn't lost a single soldier and had taken a large amount of land from the enemy. He simply fought, knowing that this battle needed to end. His mind was focused on the war, and in the back of his mind, he still felt her presence. Remembering another reason to keep fighting.
"Captain Dearka! The enemy...they're-!" Dearka quickly looked up, seeing an Orange mobile suit suddenly fly out and fire down on Dearka.
"It's the Tozac!" A soldier yelled as missiles were suddenly fired and laned on the ground, exploding on impact.
"Pull back!" Dearka yelled as he fired on the mobile suit. Dearka boosted forward, "Captain!"
"I said pull back!"
Dearka's mobile suit fired again, pulling out his axe and attacked the orange windam, the Tozac.
He heard a voice laughed, the man Yzak had told him was known as Qura.
"The great Dearka Elsman! You're certainly not the pilot that Yzak is, but I'll be sure to finish him off after killing you!" He fired his chest beam straight at Dearka, who dodged and boosted forward, firing his laser.
The beams missed barely scathing the armor of the Tozac as Qura merely fired his Chest beam in return. An explosion sounded behind Dearka, as the ground exploded. But he didn't turn and merely charged right into the Tozac, his shoulder shield with spikes running through the head, exploding.
Dearka growled as he suddenly realized that the left arm of his mobile suit was now missing. He roared as he boosted again, but suddenly was hit, the cockpit now sporting a tear that Dearka could see the mobile suit through.
Dearka fell, and yelled as he kept firing his gun.
Miriallia's eyes widened suddenly, placing her hand on her head lightly. "Dearka..." She whispered before ordering, "Beam Cannon 3! Aim your fire at this location!" She yelled through the com, using a camera to pinpoint her target. She felt it, there was someone who needed help.
"Cannon 3 here! Are you sure? Dear-I mean the Captain is right there!"
"I'm sure..." Miriallia said and waited for a moment, "Cannon 3 ready!"
"Fire!"
The beam cannon on the side of th Voltaire fired, sending a beam straight at a half closed gateway.
Dearka looked up in surprised as bright green beams began to rain down on the base door. But also, it began to cut into the Tozac.
"No!" Qura yelled suddenly and turned his mobile suit over, seeing the right arm suddenly become blown away, before charging up and firing his chest beam. The beam cut above the ocean, finally impacting on the side of the Voltaire.
"We've been hit! Starboard side is on fire, decks two and three are beginning to flood!-"
"Forget the damage report! Just fix the problem!" Miriallia yelled out and looked over to her side, "Neire, I need you to launch and take care of the Starboard side!"
Neire didn't wait a second as she ran out of the bridge and over to her mobile suit.
Dearka was angered as he felt his mobile suit come back to life. He then boosted upwards again, his axe drawn with his right arm. Dearka slashed the Chest beam.
Sparks began to shoot out and electricity began to crawl out f the slash. "Damn it! The powers going out of control!" Qura yelled as he lost control of his mobile suit. Dearka worked fast as he piloted forward, kicking off of the Tozac sending it into the closing door of the base.
"You bastard Coordinators!" Qura yelled as the Tozac fell into the base, and the door closed. The Tozac landed, the electricity changing colors as it clashed into the metal surrounding it.
Outside, Dearka noticed his other four soldiers landing on the Voltaire, when the base behind him exploded suddenly. He looked back as the base was covered in a bright ball of light. A shockwave followed the explosion, sending the black Warrior Zaku toppling through the air with Dearka yelling.
"Captain!" The other soldiers yelled as they saw Dearka land into the ocean, the quick filling balloons surrounding his mobile suit quickly, keeping him afloat. Dearka looked around, feeling like a sitting duck, as the battle continued but to a lesser degree. To a certain extent, they'd finally been able to set the path towards victory, all thanks to Dearka and the men and women of the Voltaire.
The battle still continued, beams of light passing through the skies and mobile suits from all sides falling in pieces to the ground.
Dearka's mobile suit floated closer to the Voltaire, the hand stretched out towards Neire's Gouf. She grabbed him and pulled him out of the water. "I've got him!" Neire yelled.
"Ok, Voltaire! We're pulling back..." Miriallia ordered quickly, and the Voltaire began to move backwards, moving away from the fighting.
"What?" Wes yelled out, seeing Trent and Coniel running into the town.
Wes then looked around, seeing the Black Zaku and the Blue Strike laeving the battlefield.
"Damn..." Wes whispered as he turned the Savior towards the Mountain. "Somebody, give me a progress report!"
"Captain! There's a team of mobile suits inside of the base, their fighting towards the core."
Wes nodded and focused a camera on the doorway, it was closed with a second blastdoor. "Great...no one else is getting in there..."
"Sir! Two new mobile suits coming in!" A voice yelled out, and Wes turned seeing the two mobile suits he didn't want to see.
The Impulse and the Destiny.
Shinn Asuka looked down at the small town. "This place...I remember this place..." He said to himself.
Luna sighd and nodded, "Don't lose focus..."
"Why are we even here Luna?"
"We're here...in order to finish off the Blue Cosmos here..."
"And what about the Feds...and Orb?"
"...What do you want to do Shinn?"
Shinn didn't answer as he looked up, seeing the black mobil suit. The Savior. "I want...to fight that pilot one more time..."
With that, the Destiny suddenly charged towards Savior and Wes growled as he fired.
Down below, Trent and Coniel entered an empty house. "Wait...this is just a normal house..." Trent said as he kneeled down under a window.
Coniel nodded her head, breathing deeply and sweating a large amount. "The doors should be locked until the battle is over...this is the next best place."
Trent nodded, flinching as he heard shots fired along with a mobile suit flying overhead. "Guess there's fighting on the ground too..."
Coniel nodded, sighing and kneeling down, pulling on her shirt repeatedly to try and cool down. Trent noticed out of the corner of his eye as he took out a canteen of water, drinking a mouthful, before offering it to her.
She saw it and blushed before picking up the silver container and began to drink. She meant to drink only a mouthful, but the cool taste of water was too much and she ended up drinking half of the entire container, a stream of water running down the corner of her mouth.
She finished with a loud sigh of relief and capped the container, before giving it back. Trent picked it up, using the back of his glove to wipe the water on her chin before leaning against the wall.
She blushed again, looking over his suit. "Aren't you hot in that?" She asked, and Trent nodded after looking over his pilot's suit. He unbuttoned and unzipped the top part of his suit, showing his grey shirt below the surface of the thick pilot's suit.
He cringed as a mobile suit suddenly passed overhead, wind following behind it and blowing the sand around just outside the building. A sudden shot rang out and smashed against the walls.
"Down!" Trent yelled quickly, looking over the doorway quickly, before pulling back. He looked over to see Coniel crouched down in a corner, he then looked back, hearing another shot ring out and hit against the concrete of the house.
Trent quickly turned and fired his handgun. He spotted two rifled soldiers pulling back behind the corner of another house. Trent grit his teeth as he turned over the doorway and fired his handgun again. He looked surprised when one of the soldiers ran out and got hit by his wayward bullets.
Trent pulled back as an automatic fired on him suddenly. Trent fired two shots, suddenly hearing click. He cursed as he unloaded the clip and locked another one into it before cocking the gun. Without a second though, he turned again. He regretted it instantly, when he felt a searing pain cut through his left shoulder.
He fell, his hand tossing away the gun. He cringed as he quickly gripped his bleeding arm. He listened as someone ran towards the house. He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable shot that would send him into the great unknown.
He heard the shot, and several following that, but no pain. He didn't even feel the shot hitting against him. He quickly opened his eyes, and looked up to see Coniel crouching over him with tears in her eyes, and his gun in her hand, smoking after being fired.
He looked down, seeing a Blue Cosmos soldier sitting on the ground against the wall, with his eyes open and lifeless.
"You did that…?" Trent whispered in surprise, but received no response as he continued, "wow…"
He then realized that he could hear sobbing, coming from above him. 'She's crying?' He thought to himself, 'She's been crying a lot during this battle…I guess she's never really seen a war up close…'
Trent pushed himself into a sitting position, using his good arm. He then felt another pair of arms pushing him slightly, helping him sit up. He heard another rip and hissed as he felt something tighten around the wound on his shoulder.
He did not complain, he knew he had no right to.
Inside of the base, the battle fiercely continued. Gigantic shots and bullets rang out, smashing against the wall. The floor was covered in empty shells. The Red Astray Mk. II and the normal Astray both fired their weapons into a hallway with a few other mobile suits.
"This is the last hall in order to reach the core of the base…"
"Tristen, don't we need to finish that journey on foot? How can we make sure that our exit is secure, if we leave our mobile suits?"
"I'm still thinking about it!" Tristen yelled suddenly. "We had to leave Vash and Meryl to cover the entrance. If we hadn't, we would have had to fight twice as many mobile suits on our way out!"
"That doesn't matter…we still need to deal with the problem…" Another round of fire suddenly broke through the hallways. The two Astray pilots quickly halted their argument.
"We don't have time for this! Riley, I'm going through" Without another word, Tristen boosted the Red Mk. II into the hallway with its blade drawn, and ducked under another round of fire before slashing a Strike Dagger in two.
He fired his vulcans towards another Strike, as the other enemy exploded. Tristen followed through the Vulcan attack with another slash. His slash cut through the head, and ripped through the shoulder, before he was suddenly pushed back by a few bullets.
Tristen yelled as he crashed against the wall. He opened his eyes, noticing a dead end of mountain wall behind the Blue Cosmos mobile suits. With an entrance on the ground, big enough only for people.
Tristen swore when his camera disappeared when the head was suddenly destroyed. The Red Mk. II shook with another shot ringing against the armor, when Riley boosted out, firing her weapon straight at the enemy mobile suits.
The injured mobile suit fell from the force of the impact, along with another whose cockpit exploded suddenly. Behind them stood two more mobile suits. Riley scoffed and pulled the trigger.
Her gun clicked, and she gasped. "Out of ammunition…" She said silently, discharging the empty clip and reaching over for another one. A sudden burst of automatic fire grabbed her attention, and she ducked, bringing up her shield in front of Tristen's Astray.
"What the hell are you doing!?" Tristen yelled as he tried to get his mobile suit to stand up, a burst of shells banging against his suit and forcing him down again.
Riley screamed, for the first time in her mission, as she kept her shield up. The force of the shells, pushing and pounding the shield closer to her mobile suit as she stayed, trying to protect herself and Tristen.
A sudden explosion sounded through the wall, grabbing the two pilots' attention. The mountain wall exploded in cloud and dust, two curved blades glinting as they slashed through the two other mobile suits.
From the cloud and dust, came Sandrock, the two other mobile suits lying behind it unmoving and silent. "Retreat"
The voice came through the com-system, but Riley did not react. The figure said so again, "Retreat, the core is booby trapped, explosives line the entrance."
Riley shook her head and quickly turned her Astray over to the Red Mk. II. "T-Tristen" She said, with difficulty of which she didn't understand, "We need-"
"I heard, I heard…" Tristen said suddenly and quickly flipped a few switches. He turned on the auxiliary cameras, seeing the other two mobile suits.
Tristen pushed the Astray Red Mk. II onto its feet slowly. "I'm ready…" Tristen said slowly, looking over the damage of the Mk. II, seeing as the temperature began to rise in many of the parts for the mobile suits.
"We're leaving!" Tristen said and boosted out, followed quickly by Riley. The Sandrock pilot quickly shouted after them, "I'll handle the core, just get out as fast as you can!"
The Sandrock then turned, facing the wall blocking the way to the core and raising its two curved blades, ready to strike.
"Damnit!" Wes yelled out as the Destiny slammed itself into his Savior. He pushed back, his saber already drawn and coming down on the Destiny's massive beam blade.
The two had battled for some time, but the rest of the battle around them had decelerated incredibly, with the Earth Fed-Orb-Zaft alliance finally able to push back the Blue Cosmos group.
The Savior suddenly pulled back and flew down to the ground, skimming the surface before landing behind a large boulder. Pulling out his beam rifle and firing it below the arm.
The beam split the air as it impacted against the Destiny's energy shield. Another large beam suddenly cut through and smashed against the boulder, sending the Savior flying.
Lunamaria breathed deeply as she took her Blast Impulse and used the twin beam cannons to burn the boulder to dust before aiming again towards the Saviour. She fired, but her shot was hit by another beam cannon, bending her shot and sending it harmlessly against the mountain.
Luna looked to the source and found the Ikros' Zaku with a beam cannon aimed right at her. She scoffed and dodged an oncoming beam while firing in return.
Shinn looked forward as he boosted his Destiny at the top speed, suddenly crashing it into the Saviour. "You die here!"
"Not on my watch!"
The Savior pulled out the beam saber and cut through the arm holding the long beam sword of the destiny. The sword fell and smashed into the left arm of the Saviour, cutting through it. It didn't matter very much as the Saviour slashed at the head of the Destiny before Shinn could react.
The skill level could be seen at that moment, the Saviour had won.
At that moment, four mobile suits flew out of the entrance to the mountain base. A rumble shook through the ground that tossed Coniel onto Trent in another strange position.
The rumbles continued and after another mobile suit jumped out and sped away into the desert, the mountain began to explode. Pillars of fire shot out from different holes as the insides began to burn heavily.
Wes turned to look only for a moment, before realizing that the Destiny had sped away. Looking for a retreat. Wes sighed as he looked up seeing the damaged mobile suit fly away with the Impulse close at its heels, firing on anything that came close be it friend or foe.
Later on, Wes and Ikros found Coniel signaling for a rescue. They found and sent Trent and Coniel to Captain Porters ship and had them sent to a medical room. The bullet was removed from Trent's shoulder, but nothing else could be done for the smaller injuries. This battle had been very costly, what with the destruction of the Zaft ship, and the many men and women who died without the chance to fight back.
Wes and Ikros were quickly debriefed by the Captain himself, and they soon received a message from Athrun.
The battle was finally over, and the message rallied through the com, stating that the Panama battle had ended in victory for the alliance. The cost had been heavy, and the news of the sudden interference of Zaft weighed heavily on the Earth Federation soldiers. Wes, however, continued to hope. He hoped that peace was just on the horizon, and that this interference would cause an unrest that would soon go away.
He shook his own head when he himself admitted, his wish would not come true so easily.
Whew! Finally finished this chapter. I had a hard time, and the fact that I finally finished the battle makes me feel better. Although I was late and of course there is never an excuse.
I am sorry and I hope that my readers don't hate me…too much?
Anyhow, please read and review. I really would like a few more reviews please!
Hawk Strife