Falcon of Tekkadan

Chapter 29: The Trigger of Success

Kenji was currently clashing blades against Sandoval Reuters while Mikazuki was dealing with the mysterious Arianrhod Mobile Suit.

"So, you're the Falcon of Tekkadan? Prepare to have your wings clipped!" Sandoval yelled.

"You should be more worried about this falcon's talons!" Kenji yelled back as Phoenix was trying to overpower the Mobile Suit's strength. Suddenly, he saw Sandoval's bodyguards fire wire hooks at him. So, he quickly pushed Sandoval away and evaded the wire hooks. He then saw Sandoval fire his own wire hooks at Barbatos.

"Big brother! Watch out!" Kenji yelled. This got Mikazuki's attention as Barbatos pushed the Arianrhod Mobile Suit back and dodged the wire hooks. Barbatos then tried get close to Sandoval's Mobile Suit but had to stop because of the bodyguards opening fire on it.

"I won't let you." One of the bodyguards said.

Phoenix even had to use its wing shields to block the gunfire.

"You're the ones that are going to be hunted down." Sandoval declared.

Both Phoenix and Barbatos began to evade the gunfire together with Barbatos behind Phoenix and tried to get in a few shots themselves. During this, the Arianrhod Mobile Suit, which was piloted by a female pilot, tried taking all three enemy Mobile Suits. She was during surprising well against all three of them, but just as she was about land a hit on Sandoval, a sniper shot came out of nowhere, making her miss.

"What was that sniper shot?" Kenji asked.

"A sniper?" Mikazuki asked, then he noticed an incoming black Mobile Suit. "There it is."

"Another Arianrhod Mobile Suit, just our luck." Kenji said.

They then saw Isurugi take on the female pilot. "I'll hold her off. Get Sandoval."

"I know." Mikazuki said.

"No need to tell us twice." Kenji said.

Both Phoenix and Barbatos were flying straight towards Sandoval with Phoenix in front, they were being shot at by the black Mobile Suit but were not getting hit.

"Little brother, keep flying straight, we're more likely to get hit if we dodge." Mikazuki said.

"Where did that idiot get his marksmanship training? From a guy who wears glasses?" Kenji asked.

As they were getting close to Sandoval, his bodyguards appeared and opened fire on them.

"If they're guarding it, then that must be him." Mikazuki said.

"Trust me, that guy with the curved blades is Sandoval Reuters." Kenji said.

The bodyguards fired their wire hooks again.

"Little brother, keep the boss busy, I'll deal with those two." Mikazuki said.

"Be quick about it, big brother." Kenji said as Phoenix increased its speed to pass through the bodyguards and get close to Sandoval again.

"You again? You've got guts. I'll give you that." Sandoval said as he engaged in melee combat against Kenji, who was able to both dodge and block his attacks.

It wasn't long until Barbatos joined up with Phoenix and the two of them engaged the boss together. After a few minutes Barbatos managed to knock both of Sandoval's melee weapons out of his hands. He fired missiles at Barbatos and Phoenix, but they dodged them and Barbatos fired at them, making them explode. Then Phoenix proceeded to slice all of the limbs off of Sandoval's Mobile Suit, followed by Barbatos pinning him to one of the enemy ships and beating him until Sandoval got out of the cockpit.

"Good. It's hard taking the enemy alive." Mikazuki said.

Phoenix sheathed its sword and used its hand to grab Sandoval. "But the pay is better with a live bounty." Kenji said.

"The Devil and Falcon..." Sandoval muttered.

After Sandoval was captured, Isurugi called out for the entire Dawn Horizon Corps to surrender, who did just that. Kenji brought Sandoval to the Hotarubi, where Orga had him sent to Isurugi, thus completing the mission. When that was done, Tekkadan went back to Mars.

After they had returned to headquarters, Kenji and Mikazuki were both eating in the mess hall. Once they finished their meals, they got up and tried to take their trays back to the kitchen. That was when they were both approached by Hush.

"May I have a minute?" Hush asked.

"Mikazuki. Kenji. I'll be going ahead." Akihiro said as he walked out.

"What is it?" Mikazuki asked.

"You want something from us?" Kenji asked.

"I want to pilot a Mobile Suit, too." Hush said.

"What, you again?" Eugene asked. "Mobile Suits are the keystones to battle. We can't just let a newbie like you pilot one."

"Eugene has a point. The risk is very high when you pilot a Mobile Suit." Kenji said.

"Couldn't you ask Boss for me?" Hush asked Mikazuki.

Eugene tried to object, but Shino stopped him. "Wait. Sounds interesting, eh?"

"You shut up." Eugene told Shino.

"Why?" Mikazuki asked.

"You're the best when it comes to piloting a Mobile Suit." Hush said.

"That's not what I'm asking. Why do you want to pilot one?" Mikazuki asked.

"You must have a personal reason." Kenji said.

"To become stronger than you." Hush said directly to Mikazuki.

"I see." Mikazuki thought about it. "Okay. I'll tell Orga." He started to walk to put away his tray and find Orga.

"Hey, Mikazuki?" Eugene objected.

"If Mikazuki and Kenji will look after him, why not? About time those two have someone under them." Shino told Eugene.

"Geez. I'm not taking responsibility for this." Eugene complained.

Kenji turned his attention to Hush. "Listen up Hush, this is very important. You will have to face death multiple times while in a Mobile Suit, there's no avoiding it. If you can stare at death right in the face without freezing up from fear, only then can you call yourself a true Mobile Suit pilot. Until then, focus on building up your resolve. Understand?"

"Don't underestimate me, I'm ready." Hush said.

"I hope so for your sake." Kenji said as he went to put his tray away and meet up with Mikazuki.

Later, Kenji went with Orga, Mikazuki, and a small Tekkadan force to the Terra Liberionis offices to confront Allium Gyojan about the Dawn Horizon Corps attacking the Admoss Company's half-metal mine and the attempt on Kudelia's life. Kenji, Orga, and Mikazuki went directly to Gyojan's office while the rest of the Tekkadan group went to secure everyone else in the building. They even got one of Terra Liberionis members to show them the way. Once inside, Orga and Gyojan both sat down to discuss the situation and what is to be done.

"What can I do for the boss of the highly reputed Tekkadan?" Gyojan asked.

"The attack on Admoss Company's half-metal mine plant. The assassination attempt on Kudelia Aina Bernstein. And the fight that you picked with us using the Dawn Horizon Corps." Orga explained.

Gyojan tried to play innocent. "I don't understand what you're..."

"How are you going to set things straight for all this?" Orga asked.

"Wait a minute." Gyojan tried to explain himself. "We too have heard that someone was after Miss Kudelia at the plant. We were relieved to hear she was safe. This danger we face when standing for our rights. It's unavoidable for activists like Miss Kudelia and myself. But we cannot back down now just because we are threatened. Now is the time to act, right after this dreadful event. We're just now preparing for something big. Couldn't you ask Miss Kudelia to join, too?"

"Kudelia told me before that she'd declined all such offers." Orga said.

"She said that because she feared for our safety. She must've realized that the lawless Dawn Horizon Corps were after her. She's like that." Gyojan said.

"What are you talking about?" Mikazuki asked.

"I'm sorry, but do we have the word 'idiot' written on our foreheads?" Kenji asked.

"Well, no." Gyojan said.

"Then why are you talking to us like we are?" Kenji asked.

"A child like you might not understand..." Gyojan tried to explain but Orga cut him off by putting his feet on the table.

"I came to set things straight. I already told you that. I didn't come to listen to you blabbering." Orga said.

"I told you. I don't know. Just let me talk to Miss Kudelia." Gyojan requested.

Orga took out a tablet and threw it over to Gyojan on the coffee table. "This is the damage we incurred in the battle with the Dawn Horizon Corps. I'll have you pay double that as compensation."

Gyojan looked at the total and immediately stood up. "As if that were possible!" Then he threw the tablet to the ground.

"You know what happens... if you can't pay up?" Orga asked.

"Well... Wait. I'll get the money." Gyojan went over to the phone to make a call.

"How much you wanna bet he's calling his people to deal with us?" Kenji whispered to Orga.

"Wouldn't surprise me..." Orga whispered back, then he raised his voice to Gyojan. "Hey. Did you get the money?"

"I'm trying to right now." Gyojan said before turning back to the phone.

Kenji slowly made his way over to where Gyojan was standing. The moment Kenji heard Akihiro's voice faintly on the phone he took the phone out of Gyojan's hands and put it on his ear. "Akihiro? Was that your voice I heard just now?"

"Hey Kenji, Gyojan told the guy I just knocked out to deal with us." Akihiro said.

"Is the situation under control?" Kenji asked.

"Yeah, we have the entire Terra Liberionis force subdued, they won't be problem." Akihiro said.

"Good, carry on." Kenji hung up, took a few steps back away from Gyojan, and turned to Orga. "Seems like he wasn't planning on paying us after all, it was more like planning to take us out."

"Mr. Itsuka, I can explain..." Gyojan said.

"We've lost some lives over this matter. If you don't have the money, you can go straight to heaven... and apologize to them." Orga said.

Gyojan turned to Orga. "But..."

"Just one question, how do you prefer to die? Gun or katana?" Orga asked.

"I... I don't want to die!" Gyojan pleaded.

"Both then..." Orga said.

Mikazuki took out his gun and fired a few rounds at Gyojan, who fell to his knees. Then Kenji got in front of him, positioned Gyojan's body up straight, put his hand on his katana, and performed a quick draw to cut off Gyojan's head.

Orga got up. "Well then. Let's go home."

Mikazuki put his gun away. "Right."

Kenji cleaned the blood off of the blade and sheathed his katana. "Let's leave this mess for Gjallarhorn to clean up."

The next day, Naze and Amida arrived at Tekkadan Headquarters to inform them that McMurdo has granted Tekkadan the rights to manage and operate a new half-metal mine Teiwaz had developing on Mars, which will be the largest mine in all of Chryse. This was Tekkadan's reward for getting rid of the Dawn Horizon Corps, ensuring the safety of Teiwaz's routes. Kenji was looking over the site with Naze, Amida, Pops, Eugene, Shino, Ride, and Yamagi.

"It's a lot shabbier than what I'd heard. There's nothing here yet." Ride complained.

"That's what's great about it." Amida said.

"If you start mining now, it'll bring you a huge profit for five, ten years, no, even decades from now." Naze said.

"It's a mountain of treasures." Amida said.

"Yeah Ride, don't judge a book by its cover." Kenji said.

"It's really generous of him to give us such a great gift." Pops said.

"Who knows what'll happen decades from now. Will I be an old guy?" Ride asked.

"I can't imagine it, either." Yamagi said.

"Try to enjoy life now while you still can." Kenji said.

"It means that we have to think more about the future now. We'll need more hands to run this place. And we'll have to learn new skills." Eugene said.

"Got to hand it to the Deputy Boss." Shino said.

"Shut up, you're doing this too. We can't leave it all to Orga." Eugene said.

"Hey, where's the Boss?" Ride asked Naze.

"Up in the skies around now." Naze said, looking up at the sky.

"It's pretty amazing how he was invited to Ares, Gjallarhorn's HQ on Mars." Amida said.

"Him and big brother. But I wonder why Mac wouldn't let me go up there with them." Kenji said.

"I'm sure Lord Fareed has his reasons, don't worry Kenji." Naze said.

"Tekkadan is going to become even greater." Eugene said.

Dexter then approached them from behind. "Oh, good. There you all are."

"What is it?" Pops asked.

"They want you to check out something at the mine." Dexter said.

Dexter guided the group to a certain location at the mine, it was a hole with a Mobile Suit uncovered.

"This is it." Dexter said.

"This is a Mobile Suit, isn't it?" Yamagi asked.

"Calamity War-era?" Kenji asked.

"But this frame..." Yamagi said.

"It has some equipment on it that I've never seen before. But it looks like a Gundam Frame." Pops said.

"A Gundam Frame." Shino said with a smile on his face.

"You're thinking of piloting this, aren't you Shino?" Kenji thought. "Please don't paint it pink…"

"There's another one further on. It's a little too big for a Mobile Suit." Dexter said.

"Too big? That doesn't sound good." Kenji thought.

The "other one" looked more like a black beetle than a Mobile Suit. Kenji didn't know why, but looking at it gave him an uneasy feeling…