Patriot-112: Hey there, everyone. Since I've decided to quit writing Gundam SEED: Nation Of The Ice, which is now under new ownership, I've felt really disappointed. Not just at my lack of interest, but also my own laziness. Hence, why I came up with this redemption fic, however, instead of the Antarctic Continent, the focus will be on the mostly neglected Lagrange Point 2, which the leading government will be named the Stal Coalition.
I hope my fans of NOTI can forgive me for not being there, but I hope that NEBSparky86 will continue where I left off and make it a good fic to remember. Now then, let us proceed.
-Prologue-
At the Beginning of the Cosmic Era, as a result of the Reconstruction War, new nations begin to rise from the ashes of the old era... which included the super nations such as the Atlantic Federation, the Eurasian Federation, the Republic of East Asia, the Oceania Union, and finally, the United States of South America.
Other, minor nations that were born from the devastating war were the Orb Union, the Kingdom of Scandinavia, the Equatorial Union, and the South African Union, the last being a puppet nation of the Atlantic Federation.
When the Space Colony program was initiated, a large number of Space Colonies were built in order to alleviate population levels on the Earth. One of these clusters of colonies, was in the Lagrange Gravitational Point 2 area, behind the dark side of the Moon, AKA, L2.
As a result millions of people decided to emigrate into space, seeking a new life.
However, tensions will begin to rise, as George Glenn, a prominent folk hero, gave a confession that he was a Coordinator, a genetically enhanced human with amazing abilities. This resulted in many critical voices speaking out, with the majority coming from the Environmental Group... Blue Cosmos, who radically opposed coordinator technology.
Thus began the turbulent tension years, when Coordinators and moderate Naturals, normal born humans, across the globe were persecuted because of their genes, and were forced to flee into space, mostly to the L5 and L2 Colony Clusters.
Then, in C.E. 67, the Space Colonial Alliance, a Revolutionary Group opposed to the Sponsor Nations treatment of the PLANTs, and the other pro-Coordinator Space Colonies, launches a popular revolution that lasts for 3 months, and results in the expulsion of the Sponsor Nation Forces, and the establishment of the first Space Colony Nation, the Stal Coalition. Among the weapons used, was the mobile suit, which proved to be a very deciding factor.
Following the Coalition's example, The Zodiac Alliance presses forward it's demands for more autonomy, and eventually becomes the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, or ZAFT.
However, tensions soon turn into a full-scale war.
On February 14th C.E 70, after the destruction of the U.N. Council during the Tragedy of Copernicus, the newly founded Earth Alliance declared war upon ZAFT. However, Blue Cosmos, having worked its way deep into the E.A, used their influence to deploy and launch three Nuclear Warheads at the PLANTs. While two were stopped, the one missile which made it through destroyed the Agricultural Colony of Junius 7, killing over 20,000 Civilians. There would've been more if the PLANTs hadn't been warned before hand
This tragedy was received with very negative views from the Stal Coalition, the Orb Union, and many of the other nations who accepted both Coordinators and Naturals. However, despite being in an unofficial war with Blue Cosmos, the Stal Coalition refused to partake in war against the more numerical Earth Alliance, despite having better technology and M.S.
However, the people of the Stal L2 Cluster know, that eventually, they'll enter the war whether they want to or not.
After almost 11 months of fighting had passed, the end of the war was no where in sight, and the Stal Coalition governing body, the United Council realized that the war was beginning to get too far out of control.
And now, on January 25th, of Year 71 of the Cosmic Era, the discovery of a Top Secret project in the Orb Colony of Heliopolis, prompts a team of Stal Special Forces, along with allies from the Takeo Foundation, to investigate...
Phase-01
The False Peace
Orb Union Colony of Heliopolis, Lagrange Point Three
January 25th, C.E. 71
The Space Colony of Heliopolis, an O'Neil Island-3 Type, of the Orb Union, was sitting peacefully in it's place in the Lagrange Point Three, or L3, as it's solar panels, and the cylinder itself, spinned at a decent pace. The space colony was constructed during the early decades of the Cosmic Era, and was one of the only few colonies not in a colony cluster, like the Stal Coalition colonies of L2. Of course, that would be unwise considering the current war going on, between the Coordinators of ZAFT, the military branch of the PLANT Colonies of L5, and the Earth Alliance, influenced by the former environmental-turned-terrorist group, Blue Cosmos.
Normally, one would be concerned that a single colony will be way out in L3 all by itself, endangering it's inhabitants. However, with the exception of the Eurasian military satellite of Artemis, Heliopolis was as far away from the war as anyone could get. There was no strategic value to the colony, nothing either side would gain from attacking it. So it was safe to believe that war would never come to Heliopolis, or to the Orb Union, here.
Of course, that assumption was about to be proven false, as while using the peaceful atmosphere of the colony as a veil, the Earth Alliance was making the final adjustments to it's G-Weapons project. The project was considered the final hope of the EA, which would help in breaking the deadlock stalemate that the two sides were now in.
With the help of Morgenroete, Orb's main military supplier, and Rondo Gina Sahaku, the head of the Sahaku Noble Family, the G-Project had progressed far, and were almost in the final stages of being completed. However, despite their attempts to keep it secret, the project was found out anyway. Not just by ZAFT, but the Stal Coalition's military, the SCAF, as well.
Thus, waiting in the Asteroid field behind the colony, a small group of ships floated in place, observing the colony. They were primarily colored a gunmetal grey, but had different colored trim. The lead vessel, the largest of them, known as a Dauntless-class battleship, was colored a dark grey with a cobalt trim. The words on the top 'arm' of the vessel were colored white, revealing it as the Resilient.
On the bridge of the vessel, wearing a grey naval officer's uniform was a man who looked to be in his late 30's, standing about 6' tall, and had red hair in a caesar cut, and dark grey eyes. Around him were men and women, all of whom wore a similar uniform, however the women's versions were more of a light grey color.
The man looked at the colony in front of him, his eyes narrowed as if he was peering into the habitual area of the O'Neil Island Type, as if looking for something in particular. He gave a sigh as one of the bridge crew, a female ensign, came up to officer, one Samuel A. Kobinski, looked at the female officer.
"Report..." the man said.
"Sir, the EA transport with the G-Weapon pilots onboard has just arrived, right on schedule." the young woman, who had indigo colored hair and yellow eyes said, and the officer nodded.
"Good, and the Team on the Brazos?" he asked.
"They've entered the colony as well," the ensign said, "They have not alerted the militia to their presence yet."
The captain nodded at that, seeing the operation was going as planned.
"Good," he said, "And the ZAFT Forces that are on the other side of the colony?"
The ensign eyes narrowed a bit, "They haven't moved, but I assume they will soon." she said, and the Captain gave a sigh.
"Have the crew and ship go to general quarters," he said, "If the commander of that ZAFT task force is who I think he is, we better make damn sure we get the hell out of here, fast."
The ensign saluted and headed back to what she was doing.
The Admiral gave a sigh as he looked back out of the viewing window of the bridge. Over 10 years ago, when he was still an aspiring engineer, he presented the theory of Mobile Suits to R.E.I., which soon spread to the Takeo Foundation, and the PLANTs.
During the Three Month Revolution, that theory was put to the test, and the SCA, before becoming the Stal Coalition, gained independence for the L2 Colony Cluster. And the key to that freedom, was the mobile suits he helped design, and were used effectively to drive the Atlantic Federation Troops of the then-Sponsor Nations from the Colonies, and establish themselves as the first space nation. Then, a few years after that conflict, the Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty, aka, ZAFT, made their debut with their own mobile suits.
Since then, the Mobile suit has proven quite effective in conflict.
But now, the possibility of the Earth Alliance, led by the BC-influenced Atlantic Federation, obtaining the power of mobile suits was fast approaching. And once used in vast numbers, is threatening the safety of, not just the Colonies of Stal or the PLANTs, but the neutral nations who are friendly to Coordinators, including Stal's Earth ally, the Sovereign State of Japan.
He sighed, knowing that when Mobile Suits came out, it was only a matter of time before the Alliance constructed their own suits, and they, along with ZAFT and Morningstar, will lose the advantage. The only reason the EA has been holding out against ZAFT is thanks to their numerical advantage, and the resources and production facilities of earth. The moment the EA begins mass production of Mobile Suits like how they mass produce tanks and linear artillery, ZAFT is going to be needing a lot of help.
"Captain, move the Gyrfalcon closer to the colony, but not too close." Kobinski said, "Once our G-weapons come out, I'd want them picked up quickly, so we can get out of here."
"Aye sir," The Captain said, as he relayed the orders to the Comm officer, as one of the ships in the fleet slowly began to move closer to the colony.
The Admiral could only watch, as the said ship began it's course toward the O'Neil Cylinder.
'Soon...it will begin,'
Meanwhile, Inside Heliopolis
A group of people dressed in Normal Pilot Suits, and carrying firearms with LBE gear carrying pouches of ammunition, were floating through the passageways of the colony, towards their intended destination. The color was a distinctive brown with grey trim, with a few exceptions. One of them was wearing an Emerald Green normal suit, and had a female figure, their helmet visor hiding their face as it was polarized.
The group finally arrived at a door, as one of the brown suited men held his hand up in a halt gesture. He then signaled for another brown suit to come up, and then pointed to a console next to the door. The brown suited man nodded as he pulled out a small handheld device, plugging it into the terminal, as he started typing into it. After a few moments of typing, the light on the door turned green as it slid open.
The group then proceeded through the door, and meeting them on the other side was the sight of the inside of Heliopolis, which was not new to the group considering they all grew up in a similar place. The group then continued as the simulated gravity the colony provided prevented them from floating. They then approached the crest of a hill and peered down at a group of buildings with a bridge in front of them, which was packed with trailers and military vehicles.
The leader, brought up a pair of binoculars and looked at the assembled traffic jam on the bridge.
"There are the first prototypes," he said, as he looked passed the bridge, and focused on a building that had the appearance of a hangar, "And there is the hangar where our objective is."
He lowered the binoculars and turned toward the group and focused on the Emerald clad woman and another brown suit.
"You two know what to do." the Leader said, "Once we reach the facility, we split up. I'll take half of the team with me to gather as much as we can, while you take the rest to secure the other prototypes. Understood?"
The two nodded, and the leader motioned to the entire group.
"Let's move!" he ordered and the team of Stal Coalition Special Forces headed off to complete their mission. However, they were unaware of another group of eyes on them as they moved off the hill and headed for the facility.
"What the hell is Stal doing here?" Yzak Joule said, as he and the rest of the ZAFT infiltration team watched at a distance.
"It looks like we aren't the only ones after the EA's prototypes... " Another Red suited pilot said, the only one with a more female form. "Considering REI's reputation, I wouldn't put it past them having known about this from the beginning... "
"Amy's right." Athrun Zala said, as he glanced to Yzak "Any ideas?"
Yzak thought about it for a moment before he looked at the only female in their group "Amy, you take some of the squad, follow them and see what they're up too." He said, "The rest of us will proceed with the mission as planned."
Amy nodded "Got it, see you at the Rendezvous." She said, "Be sure to save a Prototype for me." She signalled three of the Greencoats to follow her as they headed to follow the Stal Coalition soldiers.
"You think there could more Prototypes than what intel told us?" asked Dearka, while Yzak shook his head.
"I'm not sure," he said, "But if there are, I'm gonna kick the idiot who gave us crappy intel in the balls."
That resulted in a few of the team to chuckle.
"Right now let's focus on the mission." Said Athrun, "Miguel and the others should be on their way right about now."
Meanwhile - Elsewhere in the colony
"Don't you think your looking through the news a bit too much, Jaden?" A young man with dark brown hair and blue/purplish colored eyes said, sitting at a Gazebo.
"I like to be well informed," Said the young man sitting across the bench, looking through the news feeds from his laptop. He was wearing a red and black vest-like shirt, and matching red and black pants, and had a pair of sunglasses currently sitting on the bench. He had short spiked black hair and crimson red eyes. "And for good reason - looks like ZAFT finally took over Kaohsiung."
"You seem to support ZAFT a lot, Jaden." said the brown haired teen, "You planning on joining them?"
Jaden Kaeto winced a bit at that info, before scratching the back of his head. "Well, not exactly. I just like to watch history being made. Of course, the Wong Family Massacre isn't something I enjoy." he said, chuckling a bit before he frowned "But, look at it like this… when you measure the moral scale between ZAFT and the EA, at least ZAFT isn't willing to fling nuclear weapons at civilian colonies. Sure ZAFT isn't perfect, they did commit to the April Fools crisis which practically crippled the Earth power grid killing who knows how many people… but what would you do after someone shot Nukes at you? You'd want to make sure that didn't happen again."
The younger teen listened to Jaden, as he soaked in the words he was hearing. He knew that ZAFT had a cause to make sure the PLANTs weren't threatened again, such as cutting off the EA's route to space by capturing the mass drivers under the latter's control, or dropping N-Jammers on the planet to ensure the use of nuclear weapons is negated. Still, doesn't excuse the lives lost, though.
"Either way, we've both got more important things to worry about." Jaden said, "We've got most of Kato's work done, so just as long as-"
"Hey Kira! Jaden!" A voice called out, causing Jaden to groan.
"Damn you Murphy's Law..." He muttered, as a young man with short brown hair and blue eyes, and a young woman with light brown hair and blue eyes walked towards them.
"There you guys are, we've been looking all over for you!" The man, Tolle Koenig said.
Jaden groaned "I am going to predict what your about to say," he said, "Professor Kato decided to be a lazy asshole again, and is pretty much cancelling our weekend so we can finish that damn project of his?"
The two new arrivals blinked at that. "Uh yeah," said the young woman, Miriallia Haw, and Tolle's girlfriend, "How did you know that?"
The sound of a forehead impacting the small table of the gazebo was heard throughout the park as Jaden began muttering curses at slave driving professors and their damn projects.
"Really?" Kira asked, as he groaned as well. "We've only just finished the work he dumped on us yesterday! "
"Well, you two are among the best programmers and engineers in the colony." Mirallia Haw said with a small giggle, "Of course Kato'd ask for you help."
"He does this every. Time." Jaden groaned out. "Whenever he wants shit done, he always comes to us instead of just doing it himself! Or better yet, why not hire someone to do it? Bloodied Slave Driver..."
Tolle and Miriallia could only chuckle at their friend's ire, before the sound of the news broadcast got their attention. Tolle walked around and looked at the screen of the laptop with a curious look on his face.
"Development on the news?" he asked and Jaden nodded.
"Yup, the EA just got their asses handed to them again in Taiwan." he said, as the screen showed the reporter in the foreground, wearing a flak vest as two ZAFT Mobile Suits, ZGMF-1017 GiNNs were blasting away at the Alliance positions.
"If this was from last week, then they might've already taken Kaohsiung," said Tolle as Jaden turned off the computer.
"Kaohsiung isn't that far away from home, is it?" Mirallia asked, sounding a bit worried. "Will the homeland be alright?"
"Birdy?" The all-too familiar mechanical chirp sounded off, as Kira's green and yellow robotic bird landed on top of Jaden's head, causing him to growl.
"I got you this time..." he muttered, slowly raising his hands, before he quickly tried to grab the bird… only for it to jump from his grasp and flew away. "Damn! I swear I'll turn you into scrap metal one of these days!"
The others just chuckled at Jaden's expense. After a minute, they calmed down and Tolle answered his girlfriend's question.
"There's no need to worry about it though, Mir." he said, "Even though there close, Orb is neutral. I could never think of Orb turning into a battlefield."
Jaden shot a glare at the flying mechanical bird before he sighed "I hate to say it, but it may not always be like that." He said, causing the others to blink. "Orb is neutral for now, yes… but how long do you think that's gonna last? With Kaohsiung lost, the EA only has the Victorica and Panama mass drivers to reach space. Without them, the EA can't supply their space forces. If they lose those Mass Drivers… who has the next available Mass Drivers not under ZAFT control? The Orb Union and Japan."
"You don't think the EA would attack Orb, would you?" Mirallia asked, and Jaden shrugged.
"It wouldn't surprise me," he said. "No one thought they'd be stupid enough to nuke a PLANT colony, and look what happened. For now, we're fine… but if ZAFT manages to take Panama and Victoria, the Earth forces will get desperate… and while Orb has the highest technology on the planet, rivaled only by what REI and the Takeo Foundation create, the EA will get desperate - and Orb does not have the numbers to stand up against the EA's manpower alone. While neutrality is doing us good is keeping us out of the war… when the war comes to us, Orb is going to find itself with no allies to call upon when shit inevitably hits the fan."
"W-What about Japan?" asked Mir a little frightened by that prospect, "They're closest to EA territory, and they have a Mass Driver as well."
Jaden nodded at that. "True, but while they're in danger of being invaded, they're being supported by R.E.I., who gives them funds, M.S., and Iron Raven PMCs to help train their forces and defend their homeland. Not to mention they're an ally of the Stal Coalition." he said. "Then there's also the Takeo Foundation, whose always had strong ties to their homeland. If the EA attacked Japan, they'd have a fight against three of the most advanced military forces in the earth sphere, plus two of the most powerful private militaries as well. If the EA attacked Japan, then they might as well be declaring war on all of them. They may have a manpower advantage, but if Stal and Japan officially get into the war alongside ZAFT? The EA will lose the one advantage they have… at least until they eventually make their own mobile suits - that will be the real tide changer."
The couple could only gulp at the thought of that. If the EA somehow got Mobile Suits...Heaven help them.
"So, uh, anyway," said Tolle as he scratched the back of his head nervously, "Shall we be getting back to the lab?"
Jaden could only chuckle as he began to pack, but noticed Kira was staring off into space. "Kira?" he asked, waving his hand in front of his face. "Earth to Kira, come in!"
This snapped Kira out of his daze as he jumped a bit in surprise "Gah, wha?" He shouted.
Jaden sighed, shaking his head with a smile. "You need to stop daydreaming Kira," he said with a light chuckle. "Especially when we've got work to do - come on, let's get cracking."
"R-right!" Kira said, as he quickly began packing his things up.
Meanwhile, outside the colony
ZAFT Nazca-class Vesalius
Inside the bridge of the Vesalius, Captain Frederick Ades's eyes narrowed as he looked at a report from the infiltration team, sent via an encrypted channel. "Commander, you might want to see this." He informed.
On the bridge, a man wearing a white ZAFT uniform and a white Mask floated over to Ades, as he looked at the report. Had his mask not covered his eyes, Ades would of seen them narrow ever so slightly "Stal Coalition commandos?" He asked, "What are they doing here?"
"Yzak believes they must of heard about the EA prototypes as well." Ades said, "It's entirely possible, I wouldn't put it past Stal and R.E.I. to have known about this for quite a while... what should they do sir?"
Rau Le Creuset was quiet for a moment before speaking.
"Have the team continue with the mission." he said, "We'll leave them be for now, and have the Council handle this."
He then went to his seat before checking his watch. "It's almost time," he said, "If we plan this right, we'll prevent the Earth Forces from mass producing their own mobile suits."
Ades nodded and turned back to the crew.
"All hands we are moving up to condition Yellow!," he announced.
Meanwhile - Inside the Colony
With Kira
"I'm telling you, its nothing like that!"
"Really? You're lying."
"Yeah! Why won't you just come out and admit it?"
"But I told you..."
This was the sight Jaden, Kira, Tolle and Mirallia walked towards as the four of them reached the vehicle terminal, as three girls went on gossiping. The most notable of them being a young woman about 16, possibly 17 years old with long neck length crimson red hair and pale blue eyes. She glanced up as they approached and smiled "Ah, hey Mirallia!"
Miriallia waved to them as she smiled, "Hey there!" she said as one of the girls walked up to her.
"I bet you know, Miriallia," the girl said, causing the copper headed girl to blink.
"Know what?" she asked, while the redhead looked embarrassed.
"Come on, stop it!," she said, as the third girl spoke up.
"She's got a letter from Sai Argyle, but she's not saying anything!" she said, while both Kira, and Jaden blinked at that info.
"Will you two give it a rest!" Flay Allster shouted threateningly, only for the two girls to giggle as they hopped out of her grasp. Jaden glanced at Kira, who was looking a bit jealous - granted he didn't blame him. He knew Kira's had a crush on Flay Allster for a long time now - in fact almost all of his friends knew about the Crush with the exception of Sai and Flay. Jaden too would admit that he was a bit… attracted to Flay, of course the fact her Father is one of Blue Cosmos's top members and supporters, and plenty of that old propaganda has leaked from her father and into her was rather evident. If her attitude were a bit different…
His thoughts were interrupted by a short cough behind them, as Jaden and Kira glanced behind where a woman and two men stood behind them. "If your not moving on, mind if I do?" The woman asked.
Jaden's eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses, but stepped out of the way "Sorry, go ahead." He said, as the three walked passed them, entering the next terminal car.
'EA soldiers… Navy probably.' He thought, as they drove off. 'Must be here to pick up the Archangel and the Prototypes. Good riddance.'
"What's the big deal, anyway!?" he heard Flay snap, and turned as the girl and her friends walked off, or rather stormed off in Flay's case as they headed to board a terminal car.
"How about that Sai," He heard Tolle say, and he resisted the urge to groan as he rolled his eyes.
'Oh great...,' he thought to himself, '...here comes the Pest-mode,'
"Writing a love letter to Flay Allster? That's a surprise," He said, before he put his hands on Kira's shoulders "But he could prove to be a strong rival to you, Mr. Kira Yamato!" With that he walked towards the next car, Mir giggling as she followed, leaving Kira gaping like a fish.
"But, I'm not... " He tried to say, but neither of them listened as Jaden sighed, shaking his head as he headed towards the car as well. Both he and Kira got in the front seats, while Tolle and Miriallia jumped into the back, and then the car took off, heading toward their destination.
Meanwhile, Heliopolis Traffic Control Room.
The staff in the Colony traffic control room were manning their stations. making sure that any ship coming won't crash by accident. They were also a bit edgy since this was the last day that the Alliance Top Secret Project would stay here, and the sooner they're gone the better.
"Man, I can't wait till the EA leaves," said one of the staff members, "I feel like I've been walking barefooted on pins and needles with them around."
"Same here man," the second Staff member said, as he sighed, leaning back. "We can finally relax for a bit..."
At them moment however, a small alarm began beeping on their consoles,and they immediately sprung into action. After a few minutes they finally found out what the fuss was about.
"A mobile suit? But whose?" the first controlman said as he continued typing.
"Hang on, I got it." the second controlman said as he finished and then suddenly the image of said mobile suit appeared, causing them to gasp.
"REMS-101E Reiterei Hoch...it's a Stal High Mobility Machine!" the second controlman in shock.
"But what's it doing here?" the first Controlman said, "There are no Stal Coalition Space Navy patrol routes near this area, and the Bran Line is near L2 on the other side of the moon."
"He's a long way from home, that's for sure..." the second controlman said, "What's he doing though?"
"He's just moving along the sensor range… technically not within our borders, but we can still see him." The first controlman said, "Keep your eyes on him… I've got a bad feeling about this..."
Outside Colony, along sensor range.
The REMS-101E Reiterei Hoch was moving through the space near the colony, not doing anything hostile, but moving in order to gain attention. In the cockpit of said Mobile the pilot, whose normal suit showed she was a young woman, gave a tired sigh at the boring mission she was given, but understood it. The helmet visor was depolarized, showing strands of pale blue hair, and teal green eyes.
'All eyes on me, right?' She thought to herself, as she continued to pilot her machine around the colony. The Captain gave her a mission, which clearly stated she was to act as a distraction, while the team did their job, while at the same time delaying the ZAFT forces not far away.
Still, this job was boring as hell. Not to mention she's probably making the colony defense forces, if you can call a bunch of dark green rookies in Mistral Worker Pods that, very edgy.
"Come on you guys, get a move on." she said to herself, as Kierra McDonagh continued with her decoy mission.
Heliopolis Interior
Morgenroete Facility
The Stal infiltration team finally arrived at their destination, as they approached the rear entrance to the Morgenroete facility. No one was around who could see them, as the leader approached the door, and typed in a series of commands into it.
"Our contact should be here by now... " one of the Commandos whispered.
"Think he chickened out?" said another in a joking matter.
The Commando along with a few others chuckled, until the only female of their group, looked in their direction, who stopped chuckling and kept quiet. Just as they did, the door began to open.
"Okay, let's go!" the commander said, and the team began to rush in, unaware of the ZAFT tails behind them.
"Where are you going…?" Amy asked with a raised eyebrow as they moved to follow them. "Keep your eyes peeled everyone… I've got a bad feeling about this... "
The ZAFT Commandos continued to follow the Stal soldiers until they arrived at a large steel door, big enough for a mobile suit to walk through. The Stal team looked at the door, as the commander walked up to it.
"About time you showed up," a voice said, and the Stal team turned and saw a man clad in a orange Morgenroete jumpsuit, and wearing a black cap move toward them, "I was starting to get nervous, considering the EA is leaving today with the other prototypes."
"Sorry for the delay," The lead Commando said. "Had to make sure we weren't detected - we can't afford to mess up this chance to get an edge against the EA. Are they ready?"
The Morgenroete employee nodded.
"Yeah, and the terminal with all the data on the G-Weapons is ready as well," he said, "I hope those mobile pads on your wrists can hold all the information."
"That won't be a problem..." said the Team Leader, and the contact nodded and went up to the door and pressed a few buttons on the control pad and soon the door opened. The Stal team along then entered and when they were fully in the room, the lights switched on, revealing two mobile suits.
"There they are - X-108 Sapper and X-107 Cataphract," the Morgenroete engineer said. "Built just the way Stal and REI wanted them to be, using data straight from the Astray program and the G-Weapons."
The lead Commando nodded in satisfaction before turning to the female pilot and the pilot next to her.
"Koizumi, Adelmo, you're up," he said, and the two nodded as they ran toward their respective machines, with the woman heading for the Cataphract, and the other heading for the Sapper.
"Before you guys take off, Lady Mina suggested you take that." the engineer said before pointing toward what looked like a MS-scale bazooka, "It's an improved version of the X-102 Duel's Hyper Rail Bazooka she made for the Sapper, and it packs one hell of a punch."
Bertram Adelmo, a young man with silvery grey hair with black banes, and indigo colored eyes looked at the Bazooka, nodding in appreciation "Nice," he said, "I'll be sure to grab it."
The lead Commando nodded before spotting the computer terminal.
"Alright, let's secure the data and anything else we could get." he said and the Commandos spread out and began looking for anything of interest.
"Just to tell you something," the Morgenroete engineer spoke up, "Just recently one of my guys found a hidden program in the six EA machines OS, which is designed to stream back data to JOSH-A. Apparently the EA High Brass set up a contingency in case something were to happen."
"Saw that one coming... " Akina Koizumi, a woman with Black hair with two streaks of violet, which reached mid-back tied into a bun, and pale aqua eyes. "Typical EA... "
"Yeah, well get ready 'cause here's something even weirder." The Morgenroete worker said, "I was working with the programs, and I noticed something off… as you know, there are six Astray units, six EA G-Weapons, your two G-Weapons, and the one MS that Morningstar requested."
The Lead commando nodded at that "Yeah, we know." He said, "What's strange about that?"
"The strange part?" The engineer asked, "How about the fact that there's another machine that wasn't built by anyone from the EA, Orb or you guys?"
"Wait, what?" Akina asked, with a raised eyebrow. "You mean there's a sixteenth Prototype here?"
"I think so. One of the private hangars of Morgenroete was rented out, big enough to house a Mobile Suit inside." The engineer said, "No one thought anything of it at first… but I noticed someone was getting G-Project equipment and materials sent to that hangar, along with a whole lot of other things. Its all been signed by Lady Mina Sahaku in advance for approval, she seems to be the only one who knows anything about this."
The Commando Leader's face scrunched up at that info, before turning to one of his men.
"Hans, take three men and check this hangar out, and report back here, double time!" he ordered, and the one called Hans nodded and picked three random men, and before they left, the Morgenroete engineer gave them a digital map of the facility and pointed them in the right direction.
As the four left, the whole conversation was heard by the eavesdropping ZAFT soldiers. "Sixteen Prototypes?" One of the Greencoats hissed, "Intel only said there were six! Nothing about an Orb or Stal Program!"
"It was to be expected Orb would try to make its own prototypes," Amy said, "Though… I'm interested in this extra hangar… leave the Stal forces alone. We're heading towards this extra hangar."
Meanwhile - Aboard the Vesalius
"Its time." Rau said, as the clock hit the synchronized time when the attack began.
"Weigh Anchor! Vesalius Launch!" Ades ordered out, as the Vesalius and its Laurasia-class escorts engines activated, moving towards the colony. Their hangars opened as GiNN's were loaded up and launched out into space. The Everest stayed back, but launched a few of it's mobile suits to help.
In one GiNN, one Miguel Aiman looked at the approaching colony as a smirk appeared his face. He was hoping to take out a few BC Naturals out of the equation.
Heliopolis Traffic Control Center
Alarms began blaring as the colony's sensors detected the ZAFT vessels heading toward them as well as the use of the N-Jammers.
"Heliopolis here! Approaching ZAFT Vessels please respond!" One of the controlmen ordered on the comm. "I repeat, Approaching ZAFT vessels, please respond!"
"Will someone shut off that alarm?" The Chief Controlman shouted as he entered the room, grabbing the headset of the other controlman "Notice to the Approaching ZAFT vessels! Your approach is in violation to the treaty signed between our nations! Stop your ships at once! ZAFT Vessels, stop your ships at once!"
"N-Jammer interference increasing!" Said another controlman, "Sir, this is clearly an hostile act!"
The Chief's eyes widened as he heard that, "You gotta be kidding me!? And on the last day, too!"
Meanwhile, in Archangel drydock
"What!? ZAFT's here!?" a man wearing the uniform of a EA captain shouted in alarm, as he held a phone, "How long do we have!?"
"The three ZAFT ships are moving our way, and launching Mobile Suits. I'd give them ten minutes or so." Came the reply. "We will launch to support the Heliopolis Militia, but we may not be able to hold them off for very long."
"Dammit! Alright, do what you can. I'll handle things on my end!" he said and put the phone down and turned to the group behind him, one of them being Ensign Natarle Bagidruel, a woman with short black hair, and purple eyes.
"Get Lieutenant Ramius for me!" the Captain ordered, "Tell her to get the G-Weapons to the Archangel as quick as she can!"
The Ensign nodded, before saluting, and left with another member of the crew.
Meanwhile aboard the Resilient
"Admiral, sir! An urgent message from Ensign McDonagh!" said one of the CIC ensigns of the Resilient's bridge crew, "The ZAFT Fleet has begun to head towards the colony, moving at full speed!"
"What?" Admiral Kobinski shouted, "Are you sure?"
"Yes sir - wait, Sir! Their launching Mobile Suits!" The Operator shouted. "The Militia is launching their Mistrals, and the EA transport is moving out as well!"
Kobinski growled as he heard the report, gripping the armrest of his chair.
"What the hell is that fool doing?" he asked to himself, and turned to the CIC operator, "Call the Ensign back here at once! And contact Woods! Tell him that shit is about to hit the fan, he and his team need to move their asses and get our prototypes out of the colony!"
"Y-Yes sir!" the Operator said and went to work on doing just that, while Kobinski looked ahead at the colony a scowl on his face.
'Damn you... Rau Le Creuset!'
Meanwhile, Colony Interior
Morgenroete X-107/X-108 Hangar
"What?" The Commando team leader shouted into the comm, "ZAFT's actually attacking the colony?"
"Yes sir! GiNN's are launching, and the Heliopolis Militia is moving to defend, along with the EA Transport." Came the reply. "The Admiral says you guys need to haul your asses out of there before shit REALLY hits the fan in there!"
"Dammit! Why now?" he groaned out, "Roger that, we'll exfil out now."
He then turned to the rest of the Platoon, and called out to them.
"You guys finished yet!?" he shouted.
"Just about sir!" said one of the team members as he was downloading the last of a file from the Terminal. "Need just 10 seconds!"
"Good! Cause we need to get the fuck out of here, ZAFT just launched their M.S. and are heading straight for the colony," he said, catching the others off guard. "So, get your asses in gear people!"
With that, the Commandos begun to speed it up, and the leader turned to the two pilots in their Mobile suits, the hatches were still open, so they can still hear him.
"You two get your machines up and running now! We'll meet you outside!"
"We're going as fast as we can here!" Bertram shouted back, "Their Operating Systems aren't exactly finished, and it takes time to instal new ones!"
"And there's the other Striker Packs for the Cataphract! The only one that it's equipped with right now is the Aile Striker." Koizumi also pointed out.
"We'll handle the other packs! You just get those OS finished and then get the hell out of here!" the leader said and turned to the Morgenroete engineer.
"You best get to a shelter, pal. Things are about to get real FUBAR around here!" he warned, and the engineer nodded.
"No worry, I'll be just fine. And the other Striker Packs in the truck trailers are in the garage next to this building. Take Route 23 after you leave the factory, and take the first exit, it will lead you to an airlock." the engineer instructed and the Commander nodded.
"Thanks, now get going!" he said, and the engineer nodded and took off.
"Of all the things… I didn't think ZAFT would be this stupid!" Bertram cursed as he typed away, installing the machine's OS as quickly as he could. "Attacking Orb is only going to make things worse for them!"
"If this attack is led by Rau Le Creuset, then it doesn't matter Bertram," Akina said, "If the rumors I heard about him are true, then he's even crazier than I thought."
"Still doesn't make this situation any better!" Bertram said, before they suddenly felt a large tremor shake the entire building.
"What the fuck was that!?" shouted one of the commandos, while Lieutenant Mason Woods, the team leader of this operation gritted his teeth.
"That, my friend, is hell letting loose."
Meanwhile on the other side of Morgenroete
Murrue Ramius grunted as the entire colony shook, grabbing to the side of a crate to maintain her balance "What the HELL was that?" She shouted, "Did ZAFT just fire on the colony!?"
"Lieutenant Ramius!" One of the engineers shouted, "We've lost contact with the ship! Situation is unclear!"
Murrue gritted her teeth at that. "Get X102, X103, and X207 to the Archangel! And prepare X303, X209, and X105 for departure!" she ordered.
The other engineers immediately followed her orders as they went to accomplish their tasks.
"Lieutenant! We're still having problems with the OS." said another engineer.
Before a response could be made, Murrue heard the sound of engines as she and the engineers looked up to see three ZAFT GiNN's soar overhead, opening fire on the ground with their 76mm Machine Guns. "Down!" She ordered as they jumped and ducked for cover, as the GiNN's soared overhead from their strafing run.
"There here faster than we anticipated..." she growled out. "Get X105 and X303 ready for combat! I know their OS isn't finished, but whatever the case we'll get them out of the factory district!"
"Yes Ma'am!"
Meanwhile with Jaden
Jaden along with Kira, Tolle, Miriallia, and their two other friends, Sai Argyle, and Kuzzey Buskirk were doing their assignment by their professor. They were not alone as a person dressed in a brown coat and a grey cap was waiting for the professor to come back.
'This would be going a lot easier if Kato just told them we're making Operating Systems for Mobile Suits.' Jaden thought with a groan, 'They're lucky they have me around to make sure its not a complete wreck... too bad I won't be staying here for-' however before he could finish that thought, Jaden felt a familiar sensation in the back of his mind, causing his head to jolt up.
'Wait...' he thought, 'This feeling… that's...' His eyes narrowed "Rau!" He growled out. Just then, the room began to quake, making the students and guest grab onto something.
"The hell was THAT!" Sai shouted, "Did a meteor hit the colony?"
"If it was a meteor, we would have had several days warning." Jaden said, his eyes narrowed. "Those were tremors from an explosion... " He quickly stood up "Everyone, we're heading for the shelters!"
The others were surprised by Jaden's statement. But they agreed it was better to be safe than sorry. The students then went out into the hallway, with Jaden leading them straight to the emergency stairwell. When he opened the door, they saw other Morgenroete workers heading down the stairs.
"What is going on?" Sai asked in concern seeing the numerous people walking down.
"I don't know!"
"We're under attack by ZAFT! Their Mobile Suits are already inside the colony!"
Jaden cursed at that info, now knowing that his feeling Rau was spot on. And considering the bastard's reputation, he'll probably blow up the whole colony in the process. He then heard Tolle yelling and turned and saw Kira heading down the hallway to try to catch the Professor's 'guest'.
"Oh for the love of..." He growled before he ran to follow "You all head for the shelters! I'll get Kira and Cagalli! GO!" None of the others could retort to that as Jaden ran down the halls after the two. Kuzzey blinked when he realized something.
"Wait... did he call the Professor's guest Cagalli?"
Meanwhile outside the Colony
Mu La Flaga cursed as he, in his Moebius Zero, and his two wingmen in their outclassed Moebius units, fought the ZAFT forces, trying to keep them away from the colony, but failing as a few managed to get in. Add to the problem, the Colony Militia, piloting only Mistral Worker Pods with machine guns attached, were literally being slaughtered. On top of that, his transport had already been destroyed, and both of his wingmen were now dead.
"Can't we do anything about this difference in firepower?" Mu shouted out, as he chased after another GiNN, activating his Gun Barrels to surround it. He fired one Gun Barrel, destroying the GiNN's Machine Gun, however it then drew out it's sword to go for a close-combat kill. But that didn't work either, as Mu quickly shot off its right arm, forcing the GiNN to fall back. Only for another to take his place. "Shit!"
Meanwhile, in another area, even though her delaying mission was over, Kierra in her Reiterei Hoch was doing another mission of her own. Rescuing any survivors of the militia from their damaged beyond repair worker pods.
'Damnit… out of the whole militia, only four of their pilots survived... ' She thought, as she grabbed onto the fourth Mistral unit she had found, hauling it back to the ship. 'It's frightening how Mobile Suits have outclass almost everything else in the war. Though they could at least try to leave survivors!'
She arrived at the Resilient as the Dauntless-class opened the side door to the hangar. Her MS' feet touched the steel floor and walked forward passing by mechanics who were busy opening the three other Mistral Pods she reeled in.
She placed her recent rescue near a group of engineers and they immediately got to work in getting the pilot out.
Meanwhile - With Kira
After a few minutes of running, Kira had finally caught up to the guest "Where are you going?" He demanded as he grabbed the guest's arm, "There's no use going this way!"
"Why are you following me?" The Guest asked, in a rather feminine voice causing Kira to blink "You better run away from here!"
"Kira!" Jaden shouted, as he finally caught up with them. "What the hell do you think you're doing? We gotta-" At that moment there was another small explosion, causing the hallway they had just come from to collapse, sending dust flying everywhere which caused the guest's cap to go flying off. When the dust settled, Kira looked at the guest, and was surprised to see long flowing golden blonde hair.
"You're a girl?" he asked, which resulted in Jaden groaning, facepalming.
The now revealed girl glared at Kira for that.
"Yeah, what do you think I was?" she snapped, "Come on, let's hear it!"
Kira was taken aback by the girl's outburst. "I-I just..." His thoughts were interrupted by another explosion.
"Both of you go back! There's something I need to see by myself." the girl said.
"Well thanks to you, we can't exactly go back." Jaden said, pointing back to the collapsed hallway. "So it looks like we're stuck here, Princess."
The girl flinched slightly, while Kira just rose a confused eyebrow. "Come on, there should be more shelters in the factory district." He said as he grabbed to the woman's wrist before he took off in one direction, Kira following soon after.
'This day keeps on getting better and better.' Jaden thought sarcastically
With Amy
Amy cursed when she and her team heard and felt the explosions throughout the building.
'Shit! They're attacking, already!' she thought, as she looked ahead at the four Stal Commandos who were surprised by the tremor caused by the explosions.
"Son of a bitch, is ZAFT actually attacking the colony!?" One of the Commandos shouted.
"It looks that way," said Hans, who was leading them to their destination, "We better high tail it or else they'll blow the colony to pieces!"
With that the Stal Commandos continued their dash toward the private hangar, as Amy and her group continued on.
"Let's go, everyone," Amy said and the ZAFT commandos continued tailing the Stal team.
With Jaden, Kira, and Cagalli
"Come on, we're almost there!" Jaden shouted, as they passed through another corridor, "Shelters should be just after the hangar!"
The three ran through the last doorway, however upon entering the hangar bay, the eyes of Kira and the woman widened as they saw on the bottom floor was a gunfight between ZAFT Commandos and Morgenroete workers. However, also in the hangar were a pair of obvious Mobile Suits, with a more humanoid, almost samurai-like design to them.
"W-Wait, these are..." Kira began to say looking at the Mobile suits while the woman shook her head in distress as she fell to her knees.
"I knew it..." she said to herself, catching Jaden and Kira's attention as they looked at her, "...The Earth Forces new Mobile Weapons...FATHER YOU BETRAYED US ALL!"
Jaden's eyes widen in alarm and turned back to the fight and saw one of the engineers down below, a brunette woman, aim her rifle at them. "Duck!" He shouted, as he shoved both of them down to the ground, avoiding the bullets. "Way to go Princess, you nearly got us shot! Keep your head down and follow me!" With that said he and the others got back to their feet as they ran towards where the shelters were.
Murrue Ramius, after seeing who she shot at, immediately lowered her rifle.
"Children? Here?" she said to herself, as the firefight kept blazing around her.
Back with the three teenagers, they finally reached three doors which led to the shelters. Two of the three lights were colored red, while the one in between them was colored green showing there was still room.
"See? Some people have managed to make it here," Kira said, Jaden hit the intercom button.
"Is there still someone out there?" A voice responded after a few moments.
"Yeah, I've got two civilians here!" Jaden shouted, "Open the door and let them in!"
"Two of them?" The voice said, "We're all full in here! But there should be about 37 shelters in the left block. Can you make it there?"
"Oh son of a..." Jaden groaned before he glanced at the woman. "At least take one of them - She's a VIP!"
"VIP? What do you-"
"Does the fucking Daughter of Uzumi Nara Attha mean anything to you?" Jaden barked back, causing Kira and the woman's eyes to widen, as the former looked at the latter.
"Y-Your Cagalli Yula Attha?!" He shouted in shock.
"How the hell did you know who I was?" Cagalli shouted at Jaden, who rolled his eyes.
"Your picture is on the news all the time, princess." He responded, "Only an idiot wouldn't be able to recognize you." He then glanced back at the Intercom. "So, will you let her in or no?"
There was a longer pause "Alright, alright we'll let her in." The voice said, as the door opened. "Sorry."
Jaden then turned to Cagalli who was still shocked her disguise was seen through so easily.
"Get in." he said, causing the woman to blink, before Jaden grabbed and began pushing her into the elevator that will take her down into the shelter.
"H-Hey...what are you...!" she said in protest as Jaden managed to get her fully into the elevator before pressing a button closing the door.
"Wait! Don't do it!" she said again, just as the door shut on her and the elevator took her down. Jaden sighed as he turned to Kira who still had a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Come on, Kira" he said, "We gotta get to the shelters before they fill up too!"
Kira, finally snapping out of it, nodded at Jaden as the two ran back through the hangar, heading towards the left block. They reentered into the firefight again, which seemed to get worse, as the majority of the Morgenroete workers were wiped out, along with some ZAFT greencoats mixed in as well.
Kira then spotted one Greencoat taking aim at the woman from before.
"Lookout! Behind you!" he shouted and the woman turned around and fired the last of her mag into the ZAFT sniper killing him. Looking around for the voice that warned her, she saw two of the kids she saw from earlier.
"Those kids from earlier, what are they...?" she began to say, before the sound of another of her men dying got her attention. She dived down and fired her sidearm, killing another commando. "Come down here!"
"Thanks, but we're heading for the Left Block shelters!" Jaden shouted, "Don't worry about us!"
"There's nothing over at Left block now!" Murrue said, and a moment later the door they were going to approach exploded, causing their only way out of the hangar to cave in.
"Oh for the love of… Fine!" Jaden shouted, "Kira, get down there and inside that machine! Its probably the safest place here right now!"
Kira looked at his friend, a hint of concern on his face.
"But what about you?" he asked, only for Jaden to smirk.
"Don't worry, I got my own way," he said, "Hopefully the hangar it's in hasn't been found yet. You just get down and stay in that Mobile Suit, now go!"
"Jaden, wha-"
"Just do it!" Jaden shouted as he jumped over the railing, and landed at the bottom of the hangar, running in one direction.
Kira, deciding to trust Jaden, jumped over the railing himself, surprising the woman as he landed on the mobile suit, albeit faltering a bit, but managing to get up.
As he was making his way toward the cockpit, one of the engineers shot and killed one of the Red Coat Commandos through the visor, as he fell back instantly.
"RUSTY!" shouted another Red Coat as he yelled while firing his assault rifle, killing the one who killed his friend.
"Hamana!" the woman as she attempted to shoot the Commando, only to be shot in the shoulder.
Kira's eyes widened as he hopped down the head of the Mobile Suit, landing next to the woman. However the ZAFT commando leaped forward with his Jetpack, dropping his empty rifle, and drew out a knife to finish off the EA officer. Kira looked up in fear at the ZAFT Commando… but as he got closer, he got a clear look at his face from the visor… and he saw someone he hadn't seen for a very long time.
"...Athrun…?"
"...K-Kira?"
The two stared each at other as explosions erupted all around them, both of them with shocked expressions at seeing each in the same , Murrue, raised her arm as she attempted to use the distraction to kill the commando, only for her shots to go wide and miss, and snapping the Elite Red out of his stupor to rocket away to the other mobile suit.
Kira watched as he watched the ZAFT soldier who he thought was his best friend take off before being grabbed and thrown into the cockpit of the mobile suit they were standing on, with the EA officer following after him, and closing the cockpit hatch.
Meanwhile - With Jaden
Jaden landed on the ground of the hangar, as he dashed between the two Mobile Suits still inside 'Just my luck ZAFT attacks now… fucking Le Creuset... ' he thought, 'I should have taken you out after Endymion… would of made my job a hell of a lot easier.'
He began to run, however he stumbled across what appeared to be a dead ZAFT commando in a Red Normal suit. His visor was definitely trashed, and there was plenty of blood. Jaden groaned a bit, kneeling down for a moment 'Probably from Le Creuset's team...' he thought, 'Poor kid...' he took the kid's rifle and ammo, knowing he'd probably need it if he ran into more commandoes. He then took off the ZAFT pilot's helmet, so he could at the very least close his eyes. However as he did that, he blinked as he saw the damage wasn't nearly as bad as he thought. The visor was destroyed, but he couldn't see where the bullet had embedded itself, only where the glass of the visor had cut into.
Deciding to check, Jaden checked the pilot's pulse 'Holy shit he's still alive!' He thought, 'The damn bullet bounced off his skull somehow… he'll have a hell of a concussion, but still...'
He then sighed "Well, I can't just leave you here." He said, as he picked the ZAFT commando up over his shoulders and carried him off. "Come on kid, you ain't dying today."
Meanwhile - X107/X108 Hangar.
"Yes! It's good to go!" said Akina, as she began to start her G-Weapon up.
"Mine too, starting her up!" said Bertram on the radio, and soon the Sapper began humming to life as well.
"About time!" The informant said on the comm, "The others are heading towards the equipment trailers - I'll inform them now. Just hurry up and get out of here before things really go to shit here!"
"No need to tell us twice!" said Akina, as the eyes of her mobile suit flashed blue before the roof opened up revealing the colony interior outside.
"I just opened the doors for you, hurry and get out of here!" said the Informant, "ZAFT just captured three of the other G-Weapons!"
"Copy that! Akina Koizumi, X107 Cataphract, taking off!" the Cataphract then launched vertically into the air through the opened skylight, while the Sapper's Yellow eyes blinked on after it left the hangar.
"Bertram Adelmo, X108 Sapper, heading out!" Following it's sibling unit, the Sapper launched into the Colony interior, and immediately caught up with the Cataphract.
"Alright, let's get out of here!" with that the two mobile suits proceeded to exfiltrate out of the colony.
Meanwhile - With Jaden
"Come on… don't die on me now kid... " Jaden grunted as he finally reached his private hangar in the back of Morgenroete's factory district. He placed his hand on the handprint scanner, as a green light scanned his hand print. A few moments later the light flashed green and the door opened. He brought the ZAFT Commando inside, closing and locking the door behind him.
"Lucy! Lights!" He shouted out as he helped the ZAFT soldier onto a table. "And get the medkit ready."
The light immediately turned on as various machines began activating, until a voice sounded in the hangar.
"Why exactly do you have a wounded Red Elite ZAFT Pilot here in the Secret Sanctum?" the female voice jokingly asked, as a mechanical arm brought up a large green case with a red cross over a white circle on it.
"Well, I wasn't about to just leave him to die." He retorted, as he grabbed the medpack from the arm, setting the medpack on the table, pulling out everything he would need. "And Secret Sanctum? Really Lucy?"
"What? I thought it fit since you spent most of your free time in here!" Lucy said, as a holographic form of a woman appeared next to the table, her body glowing bright red and orange with shoulder length hair, short devil-like horns sprouting from her head and a devil-like tail. She looked at the Red Elite Commando. "Oh, he doesn't look good."
"He's damn lucky though," Jordan said, as he began treating the Commando's head to the best of his ability. "Most of the damage came from the glass of the visor, the bullet actually bounced off his head… he's gonna need a shitton of stitches, but he'll live."
Lucy nodded "Good. Though what do you plan to do with him after you heal him?" She asked, "If ZAFT finds out you're alive..."
"They were bound to find out eventually." Jaden said, shaking his head. "We'll take him with us… for now I suppose. Once we have a chance we'll send him back to ZAFT if he wants us too. I suppose it just comes down to how 'loyal' he is to Le Creuset."
Lucy nodded at that, "Right. Although you better hurry, I hacked into the security cameras, and we got company coming." she said seriously, causing Jaden to look at her.
"How many are there?" he asked.
"About four of them. And they appear to Stal Commandos." Lucy said.
"Stal?" Jaden asked, "Must be here to pick up their prototypes… how could they have found out about us though?"
"I don't know," Lucy said, shaking her head "But the fact is there approaching fast, should be here in a few minutes."
Jaden groaned as he pulled out some bandages "As much as I hate to, we'll have to speed this up." He said as he began wrapping the bandage around the ZAFT pilots head. "Start downloading all critical files, and delete any copies. And get the Hellblade-X ready to launch."
"Got it - be done in a bit." Lucy said as her image disappeared.
Jaden finished wrapping the bandage around the Pilot's head. The bandages covered his left eye, while his right was still exposed. "Well, you're gonna live at least." He said, "You'll have a damn nasty scar afterwards, but nothing that can't be fixed at a Hospital."
With that said, he helped pick the ZAFT pilot off the table before he carried him to the opposite side of the hangar. There resided what appeared to be a Mobile Suit, one resembling the other G-Project MS, yet looking radically different at the same time. It was already colored black with bright red and gold trimming, and its standard head looked to be replaced with one a bit more akin to a ZAFT MS with a Monoeye design, while still possessing the V head crest the G-Weapons possessed. On each of its shoulders were a pair of shields, one shield having the numbers '666th' written on it, while the other shoulder had the emblem of a GiNN, only with Demonic-like wings and wielding a katana sword descending upon its target.
Jaden smiled as he looked at the machine "Well old girl, its that time again." He said, as he walked towards the MS. "I was kinda hoping cool heads would keep this war from going out of hand… but after this… I don't think that's an option anymore." He walked up to a locker next to the mobile suit, pulling out a rather large duffle bag before he approached the the ascent cable. "Lucy, is everything ready?"
"I've copied and downloaded all of our files, and deleted any extras." Lucy said on the intercomm, "I've transfered myself to the Hellblade-X's internal systems. We're ready to go."
Jaden nodded as he carried the ZAFT pilot into the cockpit, setting him behind his seat "Just hang in there buddy," he said as he took his seat on the cockpit, the hatch closing before them He hit the activation switch, as the Operating System to the MS came to life.
MOBILE SUIT OPERATION SYSTEM
/Version ZM0 – N000/
General
Unilateral
Neuro – Link
Dispersive
Autonomic
Maneuver
G.U.N.D.A.M Synthesis System
ZGMF-X00A Hellblade X
Jaden smiled as his Mobile Suit powered up, he then glanced at the main hangar door, and was tempted to blow it open with his beam rifle, but decided not to.
"Lucy, can you open the door?" he asked.
"You got it...Open Sesame!"
Outside the hangar, the four Stal Commandos - and unknowingly three ZAFT Commandos - had arrived at the private hangar, as the Commandos tried to crack through the door's security.
"What's taking so long?" Hans demandedly asked.
"I don't know!" The Commando engineer shot back, typing furiously into the terminal. "Whoever programmed this things defenses was a total asshole… a genius yes, but still an asshole..."
He continued to try to hack the terminal, but then an anime sprite clad in a Orb Pilot suit showed up on the screen and comically stuck it's tongue at him, causing him to growl in annoyance.
"Why you..." he said, as he reached for the pistol on his belt, before suddenly the doors began to open, causing the others to jump in surprise. They slowly slid to the side, and a loud 'thump' was heard, followed by another, and then another. Then a Mobile Suit's hand grabbed onto the side of the hangar door, as the rest of the Machine peaked its head outside, its lone Monoeye scanning the area.
"What. The. Fuck!" said one of the Stal commandos, as well as one of Amy's team as the Mobile fully revealed itself. It was then that Amy recognized the unit by the number on one of it's shoulders.
"I...It can't be!" she said in shock as the mobile suit was now fully outside. "That… that's impossible..."
"Ma'am... " One of the other ZAFT commandos muttered, "Is… is that… the X? Only… pimped out to the extreme?"
Amy was speechless, as she looked at the Mobile Suit which walked out of the hangar doors. 'Jaden-Nii… is that… really...' she thought. However the MS simply looked up at the skies, its engines flared to life as it rocketed up into the Heliopolis airspace.
"Whoa shit!" shouted one of the Stal Soldiers as the machine took off. Then a female voice spoke up.
"Attention all personnel. This building will self destruct in precisely 10 seconds. All persons who are close to this building...MOVE YOUR ASSES OUT OF HERE QUICK!"
That caused the Stal and ZAFT commandos to immediately bolt away from the hangar building, and seconds later the building went up in a fireball.
Meanwhile Outside Colony
A single ship was watching the events unfold at Heliopolis, it's appearance almost matching the EA's Archangel, yet still radically different. Instead of possessing a legged design, the vessel had two long exposed catapults, however they both shared a similar color pattern of white, red and gold. Written along the side of the vessel was the words 'MSS Hercules' engraved upon it.
On the bridge of the vessel, the captain of the vessel sat in the Command chair, while the rest of the bridge crew went about their duties. The Captain was a woman about 26 years of age, with sandy blonde hair tied into a loose low ponytail, and brown eyes, wearing what looked like a cut down version of the ZAFT uniform, minus the skirt and sleeves (1.).
"Status on the situation," said the woman "Any word from our contact in the colony?"
One of the Bridge operators, a young woman of 18 with dark green hair, and grey eyes, shook her head.
"No Ma'am, either he shut off his beacon, or he's dead." she said.
The captain sighed "Just keep scanning," she said, "We need to get our G-Weapon before anyone finds it. We can't afford for the Katana to fall into EA or ZAFT's hands at this point."
"Yes Ma'am," the operator said and continued to look for their contact.
The Captain, Trisha Hohenheim continued to look at the O'Neil Cylinder Colony with narrowed eyes.
'We get here only to witness ZAFT attack a neutral colony belonging to the Orb Union, and thus risk losing a potential ally,' she ranted mildly in her mind. 'This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?'
"Ma'am! We're picking up a transmission from inside the colony - its our contact!" The Comm operator announced.
Trishia sighed "Good, put him through." She said, as the Comm officer nodded. "This is Captain Trisha Hohenheim of the Morningstar Assault Carrier Hercules, are you receiving us?"
"Finally! N-Jammer interference has been playing hell with comms." A voice replied "I've got good news and bad news - the good news is the Katana G-Weapon hasn't been found by ZAFT or the EA, she's still safe in her hangar at the back of the facility. However, the bad news is that we won't be able to send her to you guys with ZAFT still attacking the colony - too much of a risk that someone might find it and intercept it en-route."
"Can't someone just pilot it out?" Trisha asked.
"Negative, we didn't get the chance to assign the Katana with a pilot yet." The contact said. "We either need to wait for ZAFT's attack to stop, or we need to think of something else."
Trisha did not like that one bit. They had to get the Katana out of the colony and back to L4, and ZAFT was not helping matters one bit.
'Dammit! What can we do?' she thought to herself, 'If we don't get the Katana out of here, ZAFT or the EA will find it and will undoubtedly use it.'
It was then a thought hit her.
"Get me Uzumiha!" she ordered.
Meanwhile - MS Hangar
Inside the Hangar bay, the Hercules Mobile Suits were all prepared to launch at a moment's notice. The Mobile Suits currently inside the vessel mostly consisted of standard TMSF-081 Patriot's, with a few TMSF-081HMCT Mach Patriots. However, one machine near the back of the hangar looked slightly different, with a primarily grey coloring with black and blue trimming.
Inside the cockpit of this Patriot, a young woman wearing a normal suit matching the colors to her machine was leaning back, her helmet off revealing her shoulder length crimson red hair tied up into a loose low ponytail, with bright blue eyes. Her head was nodding in rhythm to the song playing in her cockpit - KOTOKO "Light my Fire".
However her comm light blinked causing her to pause the soundtrack, and answer the hail.
"Uzumiha here..." she said.
"Pilot Uzumiha, this is the captain."
Hikari Uzumiha blinked but smiled "Ah, Captain. We heading out now?" She said, "We're all ready to deploy here."
"Not exactly." Trisha said, "We have a mission for you - only you. The Katana G-Weapon is ready, but we need someone to pilot her out of Heliopolis since they lack a proper pilot for it. I need you to launch, head into Heliopolis and recover the Katana before it's discovered by ZAFT or the EA."
Hikari blinked before smirking, "You got it, captain. Rules of engagement?" she asked.
"Just that if anyone tries to get in your way, you're free to engage." was the response from Trisha.
"Roger that cap, I'll head out now." She said, as she quickly began putting her machine though its startup sequence. "I'll be back before you know it."
The MS came on and then proceeded to walk toward the launch catapult elevator. It took her unit to the launch area, and the countdown for launch appeared on Hikari's viewscreen.
"Hikari Uzumiha, Patriot Kai, Launching!" She shouted out, as she launched off of the catapult, and out into space, her thrusters bursting to life as she sped towards the colony. Many thoughts going through the young woman's mind about how this incident happening right now will influence the war.
Patriot-112: And stop here! Not bad for a first chapter.
117Jorn: And hence we have started the successor to NOTI! There will be many changes from what NOTI had, however there will be many things that will be from NOTI as well. You know what they say: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Patriot-112: That's right, so before we leave let's show you what the ships and MS of the Stal Coalition, and Morningstar! Jorn, if you please…
117Jorn: Gladly. We'll start off with what was introduced this chapter :D
Stal Coalition Ships:
Dauntless-class Battleship
Type: Battleship
Ships of the Line:"Dauntless", "Enduring", "Endeavour", "Resilient", "Resolute", "Vindicate", "Defiant", "Exonerate", "Illustrious", "Royal Oak", "Constitution", "Lady Washington", "Audacious", "Colossus", "Formidable", "Indomitable", "Reliant", "Venerable", "Bounty", "Interceptor", "Revolution", "Surprise", "Persistent", "Renown", "Valiant", "United", "Kongo (JNSDF)", "Rectitude", "Fortitude", "Resolution", "Sovereign", "Resistance"
Manufacturer: Rotkehlchen Engineering Industries (R.E.I.)
Operator: Stal Coalition Navy; Iron Raven; JNSDF Spacy
First Deployment: C.E. 70
Dimensions: Length, 320 meters
Wingspan: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Powerplant: Unknown
Special Features: Sensors, range unknown
Armament: 2-barrel High-energy beam cannon x 9; 3-tube missile launcher x 3; 4-tube missile launcher x 4; Missile launcher x 32; 54mm CIWS x many
M.S. Compliment: REMS-101A Reiterei x 10; REMS-101E Reiterei Hoch x 5; REMS-102X Sturm x 3
History: An improvement of both the Ticonderoga and Changsha class designs, the Dauntless-class is, by far, the largest and most powerful warship built by the Stal Coalition. It outmatches even the Earth Alliance's Agamemnon-class flagships, and carries a total number of 18 mobile suits total, dwarfing ZAFT's Nazca and Laurasia class warships M.S. carrying capacity. Earth Alliance ship commanders were warned never to engage these ships one-on-one, or with no less than 6 ships, for a single Dauntless-class' heavy fire-power alone was enough to deal severe damage to a small task force.
Appearance: Based off the Darwin-class from Gundam AGE. Colors: Dark grey with cobalt trim.
Gyrfalcon-class
Type: Mobile Assault Warship
Ships of the line: "MAW-N-001 Gyrfalcon", "MAW-N-002 Caracara",
Manufacturer: Rotkehlchen Engineering Industries (Based on data from Archangel)
Operator: Stal Coalition
First Deployment: January, C.E. 71
Dimensions: Overall length, unknown
Weight: Unknown
Wingspan: Unknown
Propulsion: Unknown
Special Features: Sensors, range unknown
Armament: dual-barrel high energy beam cannon, power rating unknown x 3; REI-M71A "Kralle" Positron Blaster Cannon; 76mm "Osa" CIWS x many; 3-tube missile launcher, loaded with either "Abnäher" or "Schlitten" missiles x 2; 4-tube missile launcher, loaded with either "Abnäher" or "Schlitten" missiles x 2
History: **Classified**
Appearance: Based on the Diva from Gundam AGE. Colors: (Gyrfalcon) White with brown trim, along with black flecks over the top hull. (Caracara) Black with brown trim, along with grey flecks over the top hull.
Stal Coalition Mobile Suits
REMS-101E Reiterei Hoch
Unit Type: Space Use Mass Production Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact High Energy Battery
Manufacture: Rotkehlchen Engineering Industries
Operator(s): Stal Coalition; Iron Raven
Equipment and Design Features: Sensors, Range Unknown
Fixed Armament: None
Optional Armaments: REI-M67A2 80mm machine gun w/ 50 rd drum magazine; REI-CQ67 76mm Spear Machine gun; Shield; REI-SM67A1 anti-armor sword
Pilot(s): Kierra McDonagh, Keon Reynald, Rylan Kelmoren,
Appearance: Based on the CMS-574E Elmeda.
Colors: Primarily Gunmetal grey with black and Amber trim.
Technical and Historical notes: The Stal Coalition's REMS-101A Reiterei was considered the first mobile suit type to be used in combat against the Pre-Earth Alliance Forces of the Sponsor Nations. However, many in the military believed that it will not catch up to an experienced veteran pilot's reaction time fast enough, so, Rotkehlchen made an improved model of the Reiterei which put extra emphasis on speed and agility. This resulted in the development of the REMS-101E Reiterei Hoch.
The Hoch type was produced in relatively low numbers, but saw action in skirmishes with the Earth Forces, until the Stal Coalition declared war on the Alliance during the Battle of Orb. It was piloted mostly by experienced aces and top graduates from the SCAF Military Academy. One unit, piloted by young Top Graduate, Kierra McDonagh, participated in the covert op to Heliopolis to capture two Gundam units and any data of the G-Weapon Project.
GAT-X107 Cataphract
Model Number: GAT-X107 Cataphract
Unit Type: Prototype Multi-purpose Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact High energy battery, power outing unknown
Manufacture: Morgenroete/Earth Alliance
Operator(s): Stal Coalition
Equipment and Design Features: Sensors, Range unknown; Hardpoints for Striker Packs;
Fixed Armament: 75mm Igelstellung CIWS, fire-linked, mounted in head; 2 x Beam sabers, mounted in forearm; 2 x Armor Schneider combat knife mounted in skirt armor; Shield mounted on either forearm; 2 x EBP-01X "Derringer" Beam rifle
Optional Fixed Armaments: Same as the Strike Gundam; REI-XS 71 "Raiken" heat blade
Optional Armaments: 57mm High Energy Beam Rifle w/ 175mm grenade launcher;
Pilot(s): Akina Koizumi
Appearance: Body frame the same as the Strike's, but the head is based on Gundam Deathscythe's.
Colors: Primarily black with grey limbs, and a cobalt trim.
Technical and Historical Notes: The seventh G-Weapon built as a stronger counterpart to the Strike, with many differences being the additional beam sabers in the arms, and the pair of 'Beam pistols' which will be later incorporated into the Strike E. The Cataphract along with sister unit, the GAT-X108 Sapper, were placed in a warehouse before ZAFT's attack on Heliopolis in order to acquire the other five prototype Gundams. The Warehouse was ignored by ZAFT, but Stal Commandos, who infiltrated the Colony under the cover of ZAFT's attack, found the two prototypes, and commandeered them.
Akina Koizumi, a recent top graduate of the SCAF Academy, piloted the unit safely out of the colony, and had taken the Cataphract as her own unit. She was then given a prototype heat katana, the "Raiken", by Rotkehlchen Engineering, to up the ante on her close quarters weaponry.
GAT-X108 Sapper
Model Number: GAT-X108 Sapper
Unit Type: Prototype Heavy Assault Mobile Suit
Powerplant: Ultracompact High Energy Battery (Later modified with H3 Cold Fusion reactor)
Manufacture: Morgenroete
Operator(s): Stal Coalition
Equipment and Design Features: Sensors, range unknown
Fixed Armament: 2 x 75mm "Igelstellung" CIWS, fire linked, mounted in head; 2 x 55mm "Grendel" autocannon, fire linked, mounted in torso; 4 x 60mm "Bärin" CIWS, fire linked, mounted in chest; 4 X 9-tube "Dementor" homing missile, mounted on legs; 2 x 22-tube Waspen" micro-missile launcher system, mounted in shoulder armor; 2 x 4-tube "Waspen" micro-missile launcher, mounted on hip armor; 2 x "Hackbeil" super heated anti-armor knife, mounted in forearm
Optional Armaments: 2 x 120mm "Brawn" double Gatling gun, can be stored on back storage racks
Pilot(s): Bertram Adelmo
Appearance: Based on the OVA version of the XXXG-01H2 Gundam Heavy Arms Kai, but with the army switchblades in both forearms. Original Colors: Blue torso, head, and feet, with black trim on torso, and white limbs and face-plate. Adelmo Colors: Blue replaced with Army green, black trim replaced with yellow, limbs colored tan.
Info: Designed along the basis of heavy assault, the GAT-X108 Sapper was considered a walking arsenal of heavy artillery which could annihilate a small fleet, or a tank column, in under 30 seconds. It's armament consisted of two double gatling guns, chest and head mounted vulcan guns, torso mounted auto-cannons, homing and micro missiles, and for close range combat, two superheated switchblades mounted on the forearms. The overall term for this Gundam: Overkill.
The Sapper was taken from the Morgenroete facility on Heliopolis by Top graduate pilot Adelmo Bertram. After safely bringing it back, and being made it's permanent pilot, the young pilot had the colors changed, mostly due to the original blue reminding him and some Stal service members of Blue Cosmos. Nevertheless, the Sapper was a truly intimidating machine in it's own right, with it's heavy weaponry dealing untold amounts of damage.
117Jorn: I believe that should do it for today - don't want to fill up half of this chapter with Specs afterall.
Patriot-112: Yup. Until next time peeps!
Both: SAYONARA!