Gundam 00: Phoenix
Loyalty
Persian Gulf, September 5, Bering-Class Aircraft Carrier Olympia
On the deck of the aircraft carrier, Graham Aker took a good look at this ship's reinforcements that had arrived from space led by Barack Zinin, their mobile suits currently touching down.
From what he had heard, this man had a very respectable reputation of following orders to the letter–and that is what troubled him. People like that were usually ordered to do the most despicable things because their commanders knew they would not dare disobey.
Despite what that young man he had fought awhile ago said of him for joining A-Laws, he didn't know why he had made his reasons to join up and eventually he would know that they were not what he expected.
"Captain, you think something's going to happen with these reinforcements arriving so suddenly?" Julius, one of his men, asked him.
Graham nodded his head as he crossed his arms. "I get the feeling they've got a lead to where Celestial Being might be which will mean we'll be heading out soon." he then turned to Julius. "The forces near and in Azadistan are also still on the lookout for the Rising Phoenix and possibly Katharon and they're still searching for their super soldier who is considered missing-in-action for the moment."
"A tragic loss if they find out their pilot is KIA," Julius then replied with Graham nodding his head.
"Indeed it will be," he said as the rest of his team then assembled near him looking over at their reinforcements.
"Sir, Major wants us in the briefing room. Seems they've already got a plan for us and them," one of his team said to him.
"Understood." Graham then signalled for his team to follow him to where they were needed and recieve what their next assignment would be.
Middle East, September 5, Azadistan
From above, all Soma could see was smoke and bits of burning debris from where the Serene had been downed.
Her team had also been sent along with the recon team in case anyone decided to engage them during their search operation and if Celestial Being got any idea of taking more lives this day to thin their ranks.
"Alpha Six, reporting negative on visuals on anything of note from above, moving down for a closer look," came from one of the Federation GN-Xs which lowered to near ground level.
"Roger that, Alpha Two," came a response. "If worst comes to worst we're searching on foot for her, understood?"
"Affirmative, sir."
Andrei then popped up on her screen. "Lieutenant, you think that super soldier is still alive?" Andrei asked her through the channel. "From what I'm seeing up here, there's nothing left by bits and pieces of what may have been a machine."
"Unlikely, from what I see, but let's wait for the final verdict," Soma responded, still searching the ground from the skies and then noticed something under a ravaged wing and switched to the main channel. "Lieutenant Peries here, I've spotted something on my two, moving in for a closer look."
"No need for that lieutenant, Alpha Two will move in for you, just mark it on the map, over," one of the Federation scouts responded with her giving a quick confirmation on that as she saw a GN-X move in.
The GN-X pilot then saw what she had seen and began to drop its altitude until its feet were touching the hard rocky ground with a slight rumble.
"Alpha-Two here. I have visuals on the marked target and I can clearly see what may have been the Serene's cockpit," the pilot responded as the GN-X then walked up to the ravaged wing picked up and then tossed it aside. "Sir, looks like the cockpit, alright. And– Sir, I can Corporal within her cockpit, she's seems to be alive but we need to get her out of there."
"Roger that, Alpha One and Alpha Three move in to lend what aid you can to Alpha Two, we've got to get the Corporal stabilized and to the Sahara,immediately," came the order.
Looking from her screen and magnifying the image, Soma could only pray that Erica could survive her wounds long enough to get back to the Sahara for immediate medical attention. From the looks of things the Corporal had been in her current state for awhile now.
Then, she noticed something. Zooming in closer Soma eyes could only look in utter surprise. What looked like just a shrapnel wound on Erica's leg was in fact the entire leg cut open by a piece of wickedly sharp shrapnel which was sticking out and she could even see the bone visible.
"If she does make it she won't be in action for awhile," Andrei then spoke up, having overcome the surprise and horror of what he saw. "Makes you wonder where that'll leave her. Unlike you, I don't think she has anyone to turn to," he then added with a hint of jealousy which pointed towards her daughter-father relation with the Colonel where his own son felt like a stranger.
Soma nodded her head abit sadly. "It will be hard for her, but you can only hope for the best of people. You can't control someone's life once they're no longer a soldier following orders, which will be a problem for her."
Middle East, September 5, Azadistan Border
Willard watched the clouds of sand being kicked by the small mechanized column moving forward while his Ace Phantom squadron and several ordinary Aces roared towards their destination which about ten minutes away for the vehicles and less than a minute for him and his boys .
He had heard they would be getting some support, but command had been vague on what they would be receiving as usual. If they were more Phantoms or even a Gundam, however, the tides would drastically turn in the operation with most of the Federation forces situated back in their old base.
If they could take the airfield they would have a chance to fight back and coordinate their actions on a greater scale with this strategic asset as they would get their desperately needed reinforcements. It would be visible to the enemy, but at least the Rising Phoenix could muster its forces there before moving out.
The airfield, though, was small so too much damage could render it unusable if they weren't careful which was why the aircraft were not allowed to fire at targets behind the walls of the airfield.
Willard then got on the comm. channel. " Echo squadron, you're to breach the wall around the airfield to allow them to enter. Death Wing, we're to take on enemy mobile suits, everyone else cover the column until they reach the airfield."
"Roger that, Death Wing One. We're already starting our run."
The two squadrons then roared towards the airfield at full speed with outline of the base already coming up within moments of accelerating.
"Looks like we've triggered the alarm a while ago," he heard Carlos say as Willard could see five GN-Xs in the air heading their way. "Think we can handle it with only three Phantoms?" Carlos then said, though he said it in a fashion that made it seem like this was merely a chore.
"We haven't survived this long for nothing, let's take it to them!" Willard replied as he began locking onto several of the GN-Xs in the air with his missiles.
Within several red squares appearing on his HUD around the GN-Xs he launched his missiles as did his wingmen which dropped the Phantom's invisible cloak right before they had launched their munitions.
The missiles raced to their targets and he could see three of the machines blown out of the air by the surprise attack and plummeting downwards as fireballs before his squadron then chased after the two surviving machines.
More missiles then soared forth from behind him towards the airfield's wall that protected it from ground assaults before the offending Aces began heading away, out of the combat zone having delivered their entire payload in one go.
The missiles created several small explosions which fused together sending chunks of concrete and metal hundreds of metres through the air and raining down all over the area kicking up more dust and causing disarray within the walls of the airfield and out.
Willard then picked off one of the GN-Xs with aid from Jeff; both pilots delivering out a fusillade of railgun fire which simply overwhelmed the pilots ability to evade. The two then went after the one Carlos was after and in a similar fashion, the machine went down in a particle-filled explosion.
The three Phantoms then soared over the small airfield to see a handful of trucks and jeeps begin leaving through the main gate. It looked like the enemy had caught scent of them earlier then they had suspected and were now evacuating the area, leaving their assets behind.
He then got on the comm. "Eagle One, we have cleared a path and it looks like the Federation garrison is pulling out, over."
"Roger that, we're still seven minutes out from the target. Keep an eye on the area as we make our way there, over," the commander responded back, professionally, before closing down communications.
Several booming explosion were then heard from below as Willard's head instantly turned to see something that could only cause him to utter a low pitched growl.
The air control tower, hangers and a good section of the airfield went up with an explosion leaving not much less of what had previously been down there, but still, a portion of the runway remained and that was all they needed. Even if they could only bring in one plane at a time they would not need this airfield for long. Once their reinforcements got here they would be long gone.
Middle East, September 5, Azadistan, Guyana-class Battleship Sahara
Sergei contemplated on what to do after having just received a rather disturbing report from another group of Federation soldiers.
Just when they had recovered the Corporal, news had come out from a garrison that the Rising Phoenix was making a move by taking a small airfield near the border, south-east of their location. Either they were trying to re-establish a base in the region or finding a place where they could ship in reinforcements and his predicaments led to the later most likely happening. A small airfield like that could hardly be a suitable fighting position for a group like the Rising Phoenix.
They had to stop that from happening before they did get resupplied and reinforced or he would be looking at more costly battles and a longer period of time fighting in this region while Katharon was still on the loose.
Sergei then got in contact with Colonel Mannequin. "Colonel Mannequin, we're going to be heading out to hit this captured airfield south-east of our position. We need to take it back while the Rising Phoenix forces are revealing themselves to us before they disappear. I'm counting on you for a tactical forecast against the enemy forces we'll be facing."
"Understood, Colonel. Just give me the reports and I'll have something for you when we commence the attack," Kati replied back as Sergei nodded to one of his people to send the information over to her.
Though they were carrying the Corporal who was in critical condition and was teetering on the edge of life and death, he had to make this attack. Finding the Rising Phoenix like this showed they were desperate and they had to take advantage of their momentary weakness before they could recover.
He then got in contact with all his machines that were currently in the field. "All units, proceed to the outskirts of the airbase Foe hammer. If we're successful we can finish off the Rising Phoenix forces in the area before they are renewed for another fight and I'm counting on each of you to help this succeed. We either win here or we'll be back to square one." Sergei then got off the channel and looked out the bride as the ship began moving out to what would be the next combat zone.
Near the Moon, September 5, Celestial Being
Ribbons watched as the Federation forces began shifting their attention to the small airfield near the Azadistan border and then the violence that was occurring in Azadistan itself.
This simply would not do if this continued any longer; Azadistan would have to join the Federation whether it wanted to or not and there would only be one way to subject the populace– through force.
He had always been indirectly helping the Federation's government succeed in its agenda, but it seemed about time that the world knew there would be a force out there to accelerate unifying this world even if they never knew who it truly might be.
And Celestial Being needed a true opponent. Even with A-Laws, they were still simply too burdened by bureaucracy since they still served the government. They need a group that could respond at an instance noticed without even needing to go ahead for operations to commence.
If Celestial Being was removed it would only prove his right to guide this world for this was no longer Aeolia's Plan, it was his and if it were to succeed , the Innovators truly needed to show they would intervene in the world's affairs to show it was their right to rule like a king proving his worthiness for the throne and crown.
This, however, must be from the shadows where only mere glimpses of them will be seen. His actions which humans would call 'unnecessary' would easily provoke outrage and resistance if the Innovators truly became revealed. Fortunately with Veda's information control that would not be much of a problem and he had the government essentially under his control as a puppet.
They foolhardily believe they are in charge of the world's actions and generously took whatever aid and assistance he had to offer, but with every piece of support they took the deeper they fell into his control. For without him, they would not be able to be where they are today and there is plenty of information which he had to himself that could threaten their current hold to power.
His eyes then began to glow with their unearthly yellow as he contacted his agents of Earth. It would be time for a reckoning to continue the transition of this world for the dialogues to come, but first, the seeds of discord must be sowed among Celestial Being's own ranks.
Middle East, September 5, Turkmenistan, Katharon Base
In sudden surprise to everyone including the other Gundam Meisters, the Seravee blasted off out of the Katharon basein into the distance for some unknown reason.
Earlier something looked like it had spooked Tieria out of his mind again, similar to what had happened on the ship, but this time it must of been alot stronger if it caused him to do something irrational as this.
"Where the hell is Tieria going?" Setsuna exclaimed as the him and Lyle rushed towards their machines leaving Mrs. Sumeragi behind.
"Setsuna, Lockon, if you must, disable his machine," Miss Sumeragi told them. "If he gets too far out he'll be drawing much attention from the Federation which could potentially risk himself to capture and the location of this base. We can't afford any mistakes while we're out here"
"Understood," Setsuna nodded back as he rappelled up towards the cockpit of 00 and then activated its systems causing all screens to come online and the controls became functional.
The 00 and Cheridum then soared out of the Katharon base in an instant with GN Particle Dispersal set to full. The towers may be helping to mask their presence, but they both could not ever be too sure this far out of their usual range from Ptolemy and additional support.
"Setsuna, you think the Innovators we heard about are causing Tieria to charge off?" Lyle asked him.
Setsuna nodded his head. "Most likely, Tieria would never do something like this. It's beyond who he is," he replied back as his eyes focused on the Seravee's location on his screen which was a considerable distance away as only a reticule around their comrade showed where he was. "Lockon, can you disable his machine from here? He's not responding to any signals or messages I'm sending to him."
Cheridum instantly then fired several particle beams from its rifle. "I'm already on it," Lockon then replied back, coolly; his shooting eye already looking down the scope before he then let out slight growl before lifting his head up. "Can't disable him with his GN Field up. We'll need to get closer."
"Roger that," Setsuna then forced the throttle down and began speeding towards the Seravee.
To his surprise, he saw Seravee stop where it was and then Setsuna looked to see another machine infront of him. It had large shoulder pauldrons and in its right arm was a massive weapon. By its design, it was no mobile suit that the Federation had created. It was unmarked and its design more refined then what they could put out.
A warning alarm then rang out in 00's cockpit as he looked up to see a massive glowing orange particle beam coming down from the heavens which forced him to move out of the way as the ground below exploded which send bits of dust and rock everywhere leaving a gaping, scorched hole in the landscape.
"This must be the Innovators we were wondering about," Setsuna murmured as another particle beam fell from the sky forcing him to evade once more.
Immediately afterwards the 00 shot up through the sky to find the attacker who was reigning death from above.
"Tieria Erde, I knew you would arrive once you were curious enough to see who the Innovators truly are," Tieria heard a voice come from the machine ahead which lay infront of him.
"And you're the Innovators who have been communicating through Quantum Brainwaves," he replied back slowly, his fingers clenched down against the trigger. If this machine tried anything it would have to be destroyed.
Indeed we are, the voice then came through his mind sending a shiver down his spine. His own mind was not safe from these people. Now Tieria, I think it's time you returned back to us. You do not deserve to be with the humans. They cannot complete Aeolia's Plan. Only us, the Innovators, can complete that task ahead and we need you to help achieve his goals.
"And how do you know so much about Aeolia's Plan," Tieria then inquired as Seravee raised its weapons.
A slight chuckle came from the machine. "You know as well as I do we were created for the Plan, but being a Gundam Meister must have put restrictions in what you could access from Veda." The screen then flickered on and then he saw an image which caused a sense of shock. He was looking at a near identical clone of himself and by the background around this person he realized the machine he was looking at was unnamed and instead being controlled from afar by the figure. "It's why we exist in the first place."
Reeling back from the shock Tieria regained his composure. "If that's the case, what do atrocities play in Aeolia's Plan? I doubt that's what he had in mind," Tieria then retorted with a glare.
Cruel as it may seem, stage two of the plan is to use the A-Laws to unite the will of mankind and it's only then stage three may commence which is to push humanity into outer space and prepare them for the dialogues that are to come. You already know what stage one of the plan was, the voice then slithered into his head and resonated. Sacrifices must be made to complete the second stage.
Suddenly his system warned him of impending danger as he turned around to see a massive particle beam descend down upon the 00 forcing it to evade before another came afterwards which sent the 00 to pursue its attacker.
"Come Tieria, rejoin the Innovators. Help us complete Aeolia's Plan, Celestial Being will only cause its destruction via its actions. I will even reactivate your access rights to Veda so you can witness the truth we speak," another voice then came as Tieria saw a different man appear onscreen. This time with light green hair with purple eyes and the same elegant figure as with the previous. "It will be the mistakes of the humans around you to cause the plan to fail and your downfall. Their emotions and ambitions drive them to no end and it will be only us who can save them from themselves and bring about humanity coming together as one," the figure then said, seriously and as if it were the only way.
At this point, Tieria did not know what to believe. That he was here to stop the Innovators who were secretly behind everything that has currently happened or that those were the true goals of Aeolia's Plan and these Innovators were all a part of it and he had been going against it.
He then gritted his teeth as he took a look at both 00 and Cheridum. He couldn't betray his comrades, but couldn't fight against Aeolia's Plan if that was the truth he was searching for.
"Tieria get away from that machine!" Lyle yelled as Cheridum began firing with its long-ranged rifle causing the machine to race back while evading the shots.
"This can be further discussed at these coordinates, as of now, we'll let you go on your way," the green-haired man said before the machine infront of him soared off and disappeared in an instant.
Soon, Tieria then found the 00 and Cheridum beside him.
"I couldn't get the target; it disappeared after the second shot," Setsuna then said before turning to Tieria. "Tieria, just what did they tell you that caused you to risk so much out here?" he then asked, curious of what had been told.
Tieria gripped his controls, tightly, staring in the direction the machine had disappeared to before he spoke. "I've found out who the Innovators truly are," he said back simply.
"And just what exactly did they tell you about themselves?" Lyle then asked as he cocked his head to the side.
"That's not the discussion for–"
"Tieria, we want to know the truth. If they're the ones running the world's affairs then we have to stop them. We need to know what they told you, now," Setsuna then interrupted him.
Tieria sighed. He did not want to tell them everything, yet; even though, they were his comrades. He needed time to contemplate on what he had just been told, it was simply too much to take in all at once.
Suddenly a transmission came in from Feldt Grace from the Ptolemaios which was marked as urgent.
"Setsuna, Tieria, Lockon, we need you three to return back to Ptolemaios immediately. We've been detected by the enemy and they're fourteen machines strong heading our way. We simply cannot hold this off on our own," she said to them, hastily. "Tell Miss Sumeragi to regroup with you, we need a tactical plan to deal with this many machines at once."
"Looks like you got saved by the bell there," Lyle then said before putting his mind on the battle to come as the three Gundams roared off towards the Ptolemaios.
Middle East, September 5, Azadistan
Allelujah constantly kept wondering with what he did was right. He may have been protecting his friends but killing another super soldier never felt right. It gave him the same unforgivable feeling when he forced himself to level the Super Human Institute.
Staring over at the bottle of wine he shared with Miss Sumeragi after his recent rescue he restrained himself not to drink to forget like Miss Sumeragi did. This would have to be another thing he would have to live with until he found what the meaning of his existence was aside from just being a super soldier who continued to fight.
And he still needed to get Marie back somehow, but the Soma persona was so dominant he doubted he would ever see the softer side of her who hated fighting. Maybe he would just have to settle with that at least and make one super soldier stop fighting, even if it was not Marie.
He then heard his stomach rumble demanding nutrition as he could feel the emptiness in side. He had been so caught up with the battle and the aftermath he almost forgot he still had to eat something and piloting a Gundam did tend to make most pilots have quite an appetite after a mission.
Standing up he headed out of his room and towards the ship's mess hall to get something to eat only to then suddenly hear the ship's alarm go off causing the hunger to go away and instead replaced by the need to take action as he rushed to his room to suit back up for combat.
"Everyone get ready for combat. Enemy mobile suits approaching, about fourteen machines heading this way fast," Mileina's voice came over the intercom.
"They've already found our location? How is that possible?" Allelujah wondered. The ship had left its previous position long ago and they were hidden by their optical camouflage that covered the top of Ptolemy. Either the enemy got a tracking beacon on their ship or leaked information got through to their enemy or they were very skilled in predicting their location.
Graham could sense the enemy out here, lurking out here and watching them and preparing to strike back once they got too close. The only problem with this sense was that it never told him where the enemy may be and the time spent waiting for them to appear was less time they would be allowed to fight back.
He honestly, to his disgust, hoped Major Lindt's predictions in finding the enemy was correct. They had come too far out to return empty handed in this much force– fourteen machines was Lindt's entire mobile suit force currently at his disposal for the current operations ongoing in the Middle East.
Their plan was based on evidence of where the enemy's ship may be from the last transmission from the Serene, but so far they had not found anything of value and they were running out of places to search for they've already been up in the air for over four hours.
"Ahead Team Two, begin dispersal of smoke in this sector," Graham then heard from Barack.
Currently both Barack and him were sharing command over all units due to their experience and the fact they were higher rank, but at the moment, Graham just let Barack give out all the commands. Should battle finally come, however, he would pitch in. He didn't need pilots getting killed for no good reason and they were technically his men, but he was not going to be the voice of his commanders.
One of the GN-Xs carrying a missile launcher instead of its ordinary lance fired a single large round that zoomed towards the target area and then detonated. A massive cloud of obscuring smoke then appeared which began spreading out and dispersing but remained relatively thick.
As the smoke dispersed, Graham wondered if this would truly work, surely the enemy's mother ship's silhouette would not become visible if the most high powered cameras in space and on the ground could not provide any evidence of this ship.
Just then, he then saw through the thick grey smoke on his visuals, a silhouette of a vessel appearing very faintly.
Guess I was wrong, Graham mentally said to himself before contacting all units. "Enemy ship sighted, all units engage!" He quickly marked the enemy ship's location on the map as all the machines rushed in and began attacking at range.
Now, Gundams, just when will you appear for that challenge I dearly want. Me and my boys have been waiting far too long to restore the name of the Flag Fighters and fight in memory of our fallen comrades. Do not disappoint us, he thought to himself as the attack began and the warrior inside of him awakened with a roar sending him hurling towards his opponents to see that they are finally dead and defeated.
Nena watched the mobile suits come towards their location by retrieving the feed from what the Ptolemaios saw from the ship's many hidden camera which gave it a full view of its surroundings.
"If they find us, we're in trouble," Nena murmured to her Haro as her patience slowly began to fade away with the enemy this close to the Ptolemaios and a full squadron of A-Laws mobile suits was more then what they could handle, especially at such close distances.
Either they would be found soon or they would have to start blasting away at the enemy machines hoping the surprise attack would deal enough damage for them to survive the prolonged fight to come afterwards.
Smoke then suddenly obscured all the ship's cameras causing Nena to stare at her screen.
"Just why the hell did they launch–"
The ship then shook violently as the Ptolemaios began taking several hits before it could deploy its GN Field.
"So that's why," Nena growled as she saw the catapult door open up and controls were handed over to her for the launch. "Nena Trinity, Vier, heading out!" she announced as the catapult propelled the Vier forward and out onto the battlefield.
Author Notes: If there are any mistakes or things I may have overlooked, since I have not watched Gundam 00 in awhile now, please tell me so I can use that for future reference and for correction. Also, I may be holding off on the fourth Rising Phoenix Gundam for now. Kind trying to avoid having too many characters where I lose track and stop giving them attention, which I have sadly already done to some of the characters here such as Nena who kinda went back seat with the start of the second half of this fic.