Mobile Suit Gundam SEED/Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED: Rebellion
By: Ominae
Rating: T
NOTE:
Concept of the Gundam SEED series are under the copyright of Mitsuo Fukuda, Bandai and Sunrise. Cameo appearances of characters from Mobile Suit Gundam: Lost War Chronicles are under the copyright of Bandai Games, Masato Natsumoto and Tomohiro Chiba. Cameo appearance of Sophia DiFalco and other elements of Birds of a Feather are a courtesy from Solid Shark. All other characters and technology (weapons, vehicles) are under my jurisdiction, with some exceptions.
Summary:
Now heading into a showdown with Atlantic Federation ace pilot Neo Roanoke and ex-Eurasian Foreign Legion soldier Ken Bederstadt, Rick is now pitted in a fight with two against one? Can Rick win this final fight and see to the "true liberation" of the Equatorial Union at last? Stay tune to this chapter to find out.
Chapter 21: Final Draw
Garden Area, Perdena Putra, Putrajaya, Malaysia, Equatorial Union
"All right! Let's do it!"
Taking the initiative, Rick charged towards Neo and started a beam saber clash after the latter drew out his two beam sabers also.
"Take this!" yelled the masked captain in a battle cry, moving his Windam to execute a double swipe, which was blocked by Rick when he used his dual beam sabers to form an X shape.
"Arah!" Rick tried to stab Neo with his two beam saber, which were quickly blocked.
All right! This to take this outside!
Outskirts of Perdena Putra, Putrajaya, Malaysia, Equatorial Union
"Quite safe." Rick looked around to see more fighting between EURM and loyalist forces, but no sign of Neo was seen. "Now where is the bugger?" What the?
"Did you forget about me?" shouted Ken, who leaped a short distance from the walls of the Perdana Putra to attack Rick from above with his beam saber.
"Ken!" Moving his Secundus to duck below the beam blade, Rick countered by attempting to thrust one of his beam saber at Ken's cockpit, but was blocked with his own.
"Just surrender while the opportunity's still good, rebel!" Ken said under his gritted teeth.
"In case you don't know..." grinned Rick. "President's already captured and is being transported to an unknown location." Parrying Ken's beam saber swipe, Rick charged at Ken's Primus and was on the offensive. "I believe I should be the one who should ask of your surrender."
"Why you? Die!" Feeling offended at the capture of the nation's leader, Ken retaliated by doing beam swipe after beam swipe, which was countered perfectly by Rick when he blocked Ken's swipes up, down, left, right and above his head.
"Out of the way, Bederstadt!" yelled Neo, landing his Windam next to Ken's after making a leap from behind with the help of the Windam's Aile pack. "I'll be the one to execute this EURM scumbag once and for all!"
"No, you stay out of this!" snarled Ken. "We may be allies, but the Equatorial Union army is calling the shots here!"
"Can't you two get along for this one?" sighed Rick, initiating the offensive by thrusting the beam saber on the Secundus' left hand while the the beam saber on the right hand blocked Ken's beam saber thrust against him. "After all, I'm still your enemy!"
"You're right." grinned Neo, firing his 12.5 mm CIWS machine guns on Rick. Like the last time, Rick predicted the movements of Neo's Windam and dodged it.
I had a feeling he'd do that? Someone's trying to sneak up on me...
Sensing that Ken had decided to mount a sneak attack, Rick elbowed Ken's Primus and blocked an attempt to fire his Floro 40 mm CIWS machine guns at him by leaping with the help of the Secundus' vernier thrusters that enabled him to land behind him before stowing his dual beam sabers.
"Got you!" Getting Ken's Primus into an headlock, Rick tried to apply much pressure in disabling his adversary when he drew out his Armor Piercer knife and stabbed at the Primus' right shoulder, forcing Ken to release his grip on the beam saber on its right hand. However, Neo used this as an advantage by lunging his beam saber at the head of Rick's Secundus, melting a part of his head.
"Dagnabit!" yelled Rick, releasing his hold on Ken before drawing out his beam sabers again to engage Neo in a one-on-one beam saber swordfight that paralleled the lightsaber battles in the Star Wars movies.
I need to find an opening against Roanoke. Otherwise, I'm doomed... Rick was on the offensive when he swinged both of his beam sabers, desperately aiming to slice Neo's Windam into half or at least disable his arms before moving in for the final kill.
"Hah! Think I'd never see that?" grinned Neo, haughtily blocking the beam saber from Rick's left hand with his right beam saber that blocked it away from him.
"Take this!" Rick, in the blink of an eye, brought down the beam saber on his right hand to cut the Windam's left arm completely.
"WHAT?" Neo was stunned, but appears to know how he did this. He must have blocked his senses from being detected, but is that possible to do it?
"Hah!" chuckled Rick. "Got your frickin' arm, Roanoke!"
"How dare you?" Rick's action had made Neo really mad at him. Neo rapidly fired his 12.5 CIWS at him, making the renegade Guards conscript still dodge his wild attack.
"How many times do I have to tell you that your aiming sucks!" said Rick, taunting Neo once more. Drawing out his Armor Piercer again, Rick tossed it to the joint connecting Neo's left leg to the Windam's waist, disabling some leg movement.
"I can't move!" grunted Neo, watching the sensors on his displays that some parts of the Windam's leg movement has been partially immobilized when he was forced to kneel down.
"Now I gotcha..." Rick was about to grab another Armor Piercer knife when Ken was able to get the chance to attack Rick by simply tackling him on the ground.
"Got you, rebel!" Ken smirked at him, pinning him down with the Primus' arms holding Rick down. "This time I'll be taking you in!"
"Bederstadt, stay back! I can still take him!" Neo tried to get his Windam up after disposing of the Armor Piercer knife what was lodged on its left leg joint.
"You stay back!" retorted Ken. "You OMNI people have been taking on the Equatorial Union military's mission to exterminate rebels like him! I'm the one who should be in charge of..."
While watching Ken and Neo argue, Rick took out his Armor Piercer knife and stabbed Ken's Primus on the upper chest area before taking it out to toss it at the right leg joint of the Windam, disabling its leg movements. Rick earned a retaliation from Ken himself when he plunged the searing blade of his beam saber down near the left side of his Secundus cockpit before slicing off its left leg and right arm.
"Ergh!" grunted Rick, earning the sounds of several warning blares from his controls, indicating that his Secundus was moderately damaged due to the beam saber with some sparks coming out of the controls, though the mobile suit was luckily still functional while getting hit by the sparks himself.
"Since you tried to stab me while I'm distracted, I thought I'd do the same thing to you in return." Ken was now at the advantage, taunting him. "If I have to die, then you're coming along for the ride!"
Baka! (Idiot!) Rick suddenly grinned under his helmet, while typing up some commands on his keyboard. You don't know what I have in store for you...
Rick then felt a familiar liquid trickling down from his forehead.
Meanwhile, Neo's Windam was being whisked away by an familiar mobile suit.
"Who is this?" said Neo, patching into the radio of the Slaughter Dagger that pulled him away.
"It's me, Lieutenant Sven." replied the Slaughter Dagger pilot. "Sir, we've been given the word from Pacific Command to pull back. National Police HQ and the Home Affairs Department were captured by the EURM when we got the code."
"What about it?" asked Neo, a bit curious of the order.
"The code says I believe in a white christmas."
Neo sighed; he knew what the code means.
"Sven. Speak with Lieutenant Commander Lee about this. Tell him that all active units must stand down at once..."
Living Room, Andrew Waltfeld's Residence, Somewhere in the Orb Union
"Kira, look!" Lacus said, not believing what she was seeing on the television.
"Oh no..." whispered Kira.
"This is Yuki Omura reporting live from the siege near the Perdana Putra in Putrajaya, Malaysia. We're getting some word that Rick Chung has been engaging Captain Neo Roanoke of the Atlantic Federation Army and 2nd Lieutenant Ken Bederstadt, a former soldier of the Eurasian Foreign Legion and officer in the Equatorial Union Army." Yuki had halted her broadcast when she was being spoken to via earpiece before resuming her broadcast. "We've just got some updates, folks! Rick Chung is believed to be wounded in a scuffle with Lieutenant Bederstadt. We're getting a live transmission from the... "
"Attention everyone." Rick's helmeted face on the television screen. "Most of you have known who I am. To those who don't, my name is Richard Yamato Chung." Rick grunted on his seat so as to avoid being totally overpowered before continuing to speak. "Just before my term as a national serviceman is to end, I have decided to serve the cause of the EURM alongside my national serviceman platoon of the Equatorial Union Guards because our country has gone done the drain when our president has thrown his support to OMNI." Rick gritted his teeth again, using some of the disabled Primus' strength to prevent Ken's beam saber from stabbing into the cockpit. "We all knew what happened when OMNI forces had decided to invade the United Emirates of Orb just simply because its leaders are not for OMNI or for the ZAFT. All of us in the EURM have decided to revolt against our president in order to return our country's true nature in the international community as a neutral country."
"Rick..." Murrue was at horror to see the young man fighting for his life on screen. What are you doing there?
"Some of you may think what we're doing is foolish. Others may say that what we're doing is hopeless against our own position." Focusing some of his attention on his controls, his helmeted face was still facing the on-board camera. "But to me and the others who have willingly participated in the EURM's operations, we are only doing this for the good of our country and our people. You may say that I'm some sort of rebel, but that is not true. I'm a nationalist who only seeks to gain the Equatorial Union's sovereignty in order for my countrymen to decide our future, not by other nations especially those under the umbrella of OMNI."
Rick then retracted the opaque visor of his pilot helmet, revealing his face to viewers around the world and to the PLANTs. He had blood oozing out of his head wounds, as well as from his mouth. Nevertheless, the young Guardsman was still smiling while his left eye was shut due to the pain that he was experiencing from his head wounds. Suddenly, a loud beep was heard from inside the cockpit when Rick said to the screen.
(Play Daybreak aka Ending-Staff Roll)
"At exactly 14:05 hours today, Richard Yamato Chung of the National Serviceman's 3rd Guards Battallion has given up his life to serve the causes of the EURM."
A few minutes later, an audible sound was heard very loudly after making the statement before the transmission end doubled with the sound of an explosion and a weapon that was stabbing an object were heard on the air for 4-5 minutes.
"Did he just do that?" Kira mumbled.
"Oh Rick..." Murrue was on the verge of tears. "No..."
Outskirts of Perdena Putra, Putrajaya, Malaysia, Equatorial Union
"Damn! I'm too late!"
Landing his Secundus close to the wreck, Hamid ejected from his cockpit and lead some EURM soldiers to secure the wrecks of Rick's Secundus and Ken's Primus.
"Secure the area now!" Hamid and the other Secundus pilot that raided the Department of Defense were with some EURM 1st Commando Brigade and Special Naval Brigade special forces soldiers. The group began to form a circular perimeter around the wrecks of the two machines.
"Come on!" gritted Hamid, climbing up the hill of wrecked parts from the Primus and Secundus before some Guardsmen were able to secure the semi-blasted cockpit of the Secundus. "Okay, let's do this!" Finding the emergency cockpit handle, Hamid used his left gloved hand to start turning the handle clockwise in order to open the cockpit manually since automated means were not available for use.
Rick, be alive and kicking inside there!
"Guys! Need help over here!" With Hamid and Clark opening the lower cockpit hatch, Davan and Alec concentrated on opening the cockpit's upper hatch with all their strength. Once they were able to budge the hatches open, Avir peered inside to discover Rick was knocked out by the blast.
"Hamid! He's inside!" Avir yelled, getting inside the cockpit with Hamid, Clark, Alec and Davan.
"Careful now." grunted Alec, lifting the body of Rick out of the seat after removing his seat buckles.
"Right." Hamid gently lifted Rick's legs, staring at the damage done to the walls around the cockpit. Is it just me or is the cockpit reinforced? Nah, it's not important anyway...
"Let's lay him down." Hamid instructed, placing the comatose body of Rick on the ground after placing a blanket under him. "This comes off." Hamid removed the damaged pilot helmet from Rick's head and tossed it aside, revealing Rick's wounds as light wounds were seen from his cheeks, one on his chin and a scar-like wound near his right eye aside from his head wounds and from the blood trickling down his mouth.
"Come on, Rick." grunted Hamid, proceeding to do CPR by applying pressure on his chest. "Get up."
Minutes later, Talia had been running to the site where the Secundus wreck was alongside Gai, Elijah, Riika, Barry and Shiho.
"Did you check if he has pulse?" asked Elijah, kneeling with Barry. When no one from the Guards answered, Barry sighed and placed his left index and middle finger to his neck.
"I can feel a pulse!" yelled Barry. "I'll do that..." said the ex-Orb Army officer. "You better give him some air."
"Okay." Taking his pilot helmet off, Hamid was about to place his lips over Rick's to blow air into his lungs when a hand whisked out and punched him in the cheeks, sending him down on the ground.
"Will you please," said the familiar sounding voice. "cut that OUT?"
(End Daybreak aka Ending-Staff Roll)
Hamid rubbed his almost swollen cheek; Barry and the other mercenary volunteers were amazed to see that Rick was alive.
"You were alive?" Gai was astounded that Rick survived the self-destruction of his Secundus.
"Yeah." grinned Rick, rubbing his hair before rubbing the blood off his face with a cloth that was handed to him by a regular EURM Guardsman after he sat upright. "Like I told you Hamid," Rick sermoned to his NSF XO. "I forbid anyone of you or anyone else in our unit from conducting that part of CPR."
"You know that in the training..." insisted Hamid, standing up after being slugged in the face. "How else can I put air in your lungs?"
"But still, I insist." answered Rick. "By the way, was everyone from our unit still alive?" Hamid nodded in reply.
"Guess this means all the fighting's been worth it." Barry grinned, slapping Rick on the right shoulder.
"Whoa! Careful there." Rick gritted the pain when Barry slapped it. "I felt it when I got rid of my Secundus."
"Oh, sorry." said Barry, who was embarassed by his actions.
"Rick, you're alive." Talia approached the wounded Guardsman, a bit relieved. "Can you stand?"
"Yeah." Rick began to stand up, who was assisted by Shiho and Elijah.
"Aren't you Shiho Hahenfuss?" Shiho saw that Rick had asked her. Her heart pounded a bit since their faces were close; she had to act professionally.
"Yes, I am." Shiho gave a salute, grinning a bit. "Shiho Hahenfuss, ZAFT Red. I thought I'd greet you personally."
"Well nice to meet you." Rick saluted her. "Staff Sergeant Richard Chung, Equatorial Union Guards. And that's fine with me."
"Looks like the day's over huh mate?" grinned Elijah, stretching his arms.
"Rick!" Jane went over to hug the young man. "I'm so glad you're alive!"
"Jane!" Rick said, his mouth muffled since his head was pressed on her chest. "Pain! Feeling pain..."
"Oops..." Jane could only scratch her head in embarrassment too after releasing Rick from her arms. "He, he."
"Hey Rick!" Clark called for Rick's attention. "We're about to open the hatch!"
(Play Ilaria Graziano - Christmas in the Silent Forest)
Realizing that Clark and some of the NSF Guardsmen were standing near the hatch of the wrecked Primus, Rick ran towards the wreck while Hamid gave him his Armscor A2-45 FSB. Aiming the pistol at the wrecked Primus hatch, Rick gave the signal for the Guardsmen to open the wreck. When the NSF Guards platoon leader was able to peer inside, it was a sight that could make some people nervous.
Rick saw that Ken had his left gloved hand covering the area around the right side of the abdomen, a result of having the Armor Piercer knife create the huge wound when it gashed the cockpit. Holstering the A2-45 pistol, Rick carefully crept towards Ken's wounded form while Avir's SAR-24 carbine was trained on the wounded loyalist officer in case Ken would do something drastic.
When Rick removed the cracked helmet, he noted that Ken was breathing really bad since his abdominal wound was really bad with lots of blood lost. The blonde man also had some blood trickling out of his closed mouth and was sweating. But despite all that, he was still smiling at him.
"I guess I've lost to you. A Guardsman of the military." grinned the wounded Ken, trying to prevent more blood loss from his wound after applying force on it with his gloved hand..
"It appears so." Rick holstered his pistol, staring at the wounded lieutenant. "It's over, Bederstadt. President Chua's in our custody. You have nowhere to go now."
Bedestaft frowned a bit, but still kept his grinning face up. "I see." He then closed his eyes before opening them again. "It seems that you were the better man."
Rick nodded. "I know that."
"So what happens now?" asked the wounded loyalist officer.
"I don't know." Rick shrugged his shoulders, seated down in the wrecked cockpit near Ken. "But I've heard that opposition leader Gabriel Luna will return shortly from the Oceanic Union. He'll probably work something out with the vice president."
"How do you know that?" wheezed Ken, gritting his teeth due to his hot wound.
"I can hear the radios from my people outside." Rick pointed outside with his thumb. "Besides, one of my people made it audible for all of us to hear."
"Well now," Ken stared at the afternoon sun; some of its rays shining down inside the ruined Primus cockpit. "I'll have to say my congratulations to you then."
"Don't be." Rick said with a sympathetic tone. "While we were enemies in this war of ours, we had our reasons to do so. I did it to remove our seemingly dictatorial president who used the police to silence anti-OMNI opposition while you did your part due to your loyalty to the country." Ken looked at Rick, unsure of what he was saying. "Don't give me that look. I'm loyal to the country, but not to the one who sacrifices the sake of our country just to look good before others. That's not the kind of man who should lead the Equatorial Union."
Ken nodded, grinning at his former opponent. "I see. You seem to have wisdom in your words. I wish you well."
"Same here, Bederstadt." Rick watched as Ken went to breath his last, staring at the sky behind him with no movement from the lieutenant when he became motionless. Rick went up near Ken's seat. to close his eyes for good. "Same here." With that, he gave his adversary a final miltary salute to send him to rest for good.
The other rebel soldiers also saluted as well, seeing that Rick had decided to give the salute to allow his enemy to rest though they would have to remove it soon from the wreck.
"Rick! Got some news!" Hamid called for Rick when Rick climbed out of the said wreck.
"What is it?" Rick was curious about the latest news since his XO was excited.
"Vice President Harper has called for a halt of violence between EURM against OMNI and government forces!" Rick was a bit overjoyed by the news. "Mr. Luna also has landed in Kuala Lumpur International. We were able to seize during our invasion of Malaysia."
Rick smiled at his friend. "That's really great news."
Avir had tweaked a civilian radio set that he was given from a sympathetic civilian. "Guys! More updates on the radio! I'll tweak the volume up!"
"In more related headlines today, EURM forces have completed the capture of the entire Indochina region after rumors had spread to government troops that the capital had been overwhelemed, forcing the surrender of government and OMNI units stationed there. Atlantic Federation ambassador Michael Logan, who had recently met with Vice President Harper over a withdrawal of OMNI forces from the Equatorial Union after recent reports have surfaced that the entire Borneo Island was now under the control of the EURM's mercenary allies. As of now, OMNI forces in the region are being assembled for gradual withdrawal and are being ordered not to engage EURM units while EURM-led forces are prepared to reorganize the Equatorial Union military. We'll bring you more of this exclusive news as we get more updates."
"Yahoo!" Clark pumped his fist in the air; having to hear the successful news. Rick grinned to see all of his EURM comrades cheer for Major Bauer, the higher ups and themselves for the good news.
"Rick!" Rick was tackled by Noel in a hug; the brunette-haired woman was crying after she had her arms around him.
"Did you hear?" sobbed Noel. "We've won. We don't need to fight anymore."
"Noel." Rick tapped her shoulder. "Don't hug me like that. I, er, feel pain in my chest right now..."
"Sorry..." Noel blushed, having to do something so dumb that could hurt someone.
"But thanks to your tactical knowledge in mobile suit and armor warfare, we did it."
"Don't mention it." Noel replied, then she was about to apologize for hurting Rick when he insisted on forgetting it.
"Never mind." Rick scratched his chin. "I already know."
"That's good." Rachel came along behind Noel, adjusting her glasses. "So what will you do now?"
Rick faced the blonde-haired woman, who smiled at him. "I'm not sure. We'll, we NSFs will have to continue our part to finish our national service term."
"And then...?"
Rachel couldn't help but have her cheeks turn red when Rick smiled, seeing his NSF comrades exchange warm greetings and victory signs over Rick's defeat over Ken, last surviving leader of the ex-Eurasian Foreign Legion Bedestadt squad.
"Then what?"
Seating himself down on a piece of huge rubble, Rick stared at the open sky as he smiled and said three words.
"I'm going home."
Rachel sat down next to Rick and asked him; "You have some family in Orb, right?" Seeing Rick nod, Rachel asked another question. "When are you leaving?"
"Maybe after additional training is over. Besides, we're not done yet." Rick turned to face General Kowen's secretary. "It's been a while since I got caught up in the OMNI's Orb invasion when I was taking my vacation."
"I see." Rachel replied. "But Rick," She leaned to his left cheek and kissed him there before ruffling his hair. "don't take things hard. Learn to face them. That's what people have to do at a certain point in their lives."
"I know, Rachel." Rick replied, nodding his head. "I know."
(End Ilaria Graziano - Christmas in the Silent Forest)
Chapter 21 END
PS - Civil war's over here. In the next one or two chapters, there'll going to be some reunion here with Rick and family especially Kira, plus having to see a particular female that I've told you peeps from before, meaning I have to put some romance in here. Look, I like doing action and adventure stories and chapters, not romance (unless it's part of my story). But since I have to do it to end the story, (sigh...) I'll have to do it.
See you next chapter.