Chapter 4 - Violated Neutrality
LUNAR CHRONOLOGY
Space Century 98 - As part of a great program for the expansion of the human race in space, in order to solve the problems of overpopulation, the first permanent settlement on the lunar surface are created.
Year 104 - Professor Lang Plato completes the first Metal Worker, a giant antropomorphic robot designed for heavy works, in order to better exploit the lunar soil, rich in gold and other valuable raw materials for industry and technology. With the Metal Worker going in mass production, the Moon begins to grow economically at an exponential rate.
Year 130 - The lunar colonies have reached a level of welfare equal if not superior, to that of Earth, and their technology is now advanced in all fields. In conjunction with the rise of tensions between the Earth and the Principality of Zeon, Lunar politics were consolidated around the lunar figure of Marshall Guiltorre Iskandar, who claimed that the Moon had the right to enjoy more independence from Earth.
Year 132 - Guiltorre becomes governor of the lunar colonies. The generations born on the moon do not feel that there is any link with the Earth, instead seeing it with hostility because of its oppressive methods and its constant meddling in lunar politics and economy.
Year 133 - To avoid landing operations of transport vehicles carrying raw materials from the Moon to Earth and the colonies, the lunar colonists begin the construction of the Mass Driver, a gigantic device allowing the lunar colonists to simply 'shoot' the raw materials excavated from the lunar soil into space. Some Earth politicians believe that the Mass Driver could become a dangerous weapon aimed towards Earth, and submit a formal complaint to marshall Guiltorre. All complaints are ignored, and Guiltorre's policy continues on its way.
Year 134 - Guiltorre institutionalizes an obligatory entry visa and a limited stay on the lunar colonies for the inhabitants of Earth, while much less restrictive measures are applied to the inhabitants of the space colonies. Alliance between the lunar colonies and the refugees of Neo Zeon on the mining asteroid Axis, under the leadership of General Maharaja Kahn. Diplomatic crisis between the Moon and Earth.
Year 135 - The Mass Driver is completed. Guiltorre, his support from lunar public opinion boosted, declares the independence of the Moon colonies as Unified Giganos Empire. In his speeches, Guiltorre clearly shows his political and racial vision, submitting that Giganos Empire is intended as a means for a new step in human evolution. In secret, Giganos Empire converts much of its advanced Metal Worker technologies to create an army of war machines known as Metal Armor. Maharaja Kahn passes away, and his teenage daughter Haman claims leadership of Axis and reinforces the friendly relationship between Neo Zeon and Giganos.
Year 137 - Tragedies of the Bloody Valentine and Bunch 30. The colonial alliance called ZAFT add its military strength to that of Neo Zeon and Giganos Empire. After the destruction of the Titans and the Foundation Romefeller, this triumvirate becomes a major power in the Earth Sphere.
Year 138 - The Mass Driver is aimed towards Earth.
oooooooooo
Lunar colonies, year 138 Space Century. A large room in Giganos Empire's main government complex, a large window on the back wall from which the best view of the planet Earth, which stood out, in all its majesty, against the backdrop of the gray lunar soil and the infinite black space, could be enjoyed, the landscape only occasionally disturbed by a few floating pods or a shuttle that was leaving the headquarters from the hangars.
Guiltorre Marshal, governor of the young colonial nation, a tall and charismatic man in his sixties, with short gray hair, a stern face that to have been seemed carved in iron, and dressed in a manner quite similar to a high-ranking military officer of the nineteenth century, with black cloak and boots, and adorned with military stripes pinned on his chest, loved this sight. Earth was the planet on which he was born, and that even today, billion of years after its birth, continued to nurture life, the only planet in the Solar System to be capable of such an impressive feat. Sure, humanity might have colonized other worlds... the Moon... Mars... but only Earth kept on being habitable without the need for humans to do anything to bend her nature to their will. A veritable miracle, unique in all creation and worthy of admiration...
Giganos' governor sighed grimly, thinking back of the delicate situation he was in. Indeed, Earth was a truly wondrous planet... but even such an impressive vistawas not enough to relax Guiltorre and distract him from the problems that were occupying his thoughts at that moment: His army of Metal Armors, aided by Neo Zeon and ZAFT's Mobile Suits, his allies ever since the war had first started, had managed to match the Earth Union's more numerous but technologically inferior forces with almost disappointing ease, at least for the moment... and everything led to believe that final victory in this war was firmly on Giganos' side and the Earth Union would have soon been overthrown.
Unfortunately for him, fate had other plans.
Only two days before, the Giganos Imperial Guard (the elite troops of Giganos' army)had reported that a squadron of Earth Union Mobile Suits had managed to ambush a group of Imperial cargo ships. The element of surprise had managed to earn the Earth Union victory in this battle, and the Union had managed to capture three new Metal Armor models, the mighty D-Modules, also codenamed Dragonar... all of which were, at that moment, en route towards Earth on a Union battleship. Such an incident would surely have disastrous consequences for the Empire he had led so firmly until then, if left unchecked. Once the three Dragonar units were in Union territory, it was only a matter of time before the Earth forces could reverse engineer the technology used to create them, and create their own army of Metal Armors, turning the tide of the war! Not even the Mass Driver, whose use even now Guiltorre was loathe to authorize, would have been enough of a deterrent, at that point...
Just as those Blue Cosmos fanatics used to say, quantity has a quality all of its own. During the One Year War, the old Earth Federation had managed to use their more numerous GMs and support vehicles to counter the more powerful and versatile Mobile Suits of the Principality of Zeon. Sure here was the famed RX-78 Gundam, but it was just one robot. It could't possibly have turned the tide of the war all by itself, though it definitely was a major boost for the Federation's morale...
Guiltorre shook his head and sat down at his desk, examining the files that had been recently sent to him, a table lamp the only thing allowing him to see what was written on them. Once again, no good news. The Giganos intelligence division had managed to locate the Dragonars and the ship carrying them... but that was exactly the problem. Considering where the Earth forces had gone to hide the precious load, the triumvirate couldn't afford to act impulsively, in order not to compromise their alliances among the colonies...
A sound from the flat screen on his right distracted Guiltorre from his reverie, and the Giganos governor raised his head from the paperwork to answer the call. The officer appearing on the screen in that moment did a proper military salute and waited for his governor to allow him to go on, before he started speaking.
"Marshall Guiltorre, Your Excellency..." the officer began. "I beg your pardon for the disturbance, but a very urgent call is coming in from our allies, with regards to the Dragonar issue. Lady Hamaan and Chairman Zala have just received important news from their intelligence divisions, and wish to communicate them directly to you."
Guiltorre frowned slightly. Whatever those news were, if the reports he had received were true, it wouldn't have changed much anyway... Still, he wasn't the kind of man to simply dismiss a call from his closest allies, so he nodded in authorization. "Very well then. Patch the communications through to my office. I shall personally update Lady Hamaan and Chairman Zala on the latest developments."
The soldier repeated the earlier salute and disappeared from the screen, leaving it in static for a short while, before two more comm windows opened, each one containing the silhoutted image of one of the people the soldier had just spoken of...
On the left of the screen, there was a young woman in her earliest twenties, with flowing magenta hair elegantly cascading on her shoulders, highlighted by her black dress and by the golden headgear partially covering her face, giving her a noble countenance. Her piercing eyes were the colour of emeralds, and were planted in a cold, calculating face... it looked as if the young woman could simply glance into Guiltorre's mind and read his innermost thoughts. But despite these unsettling features, the young woman boasted an incredibly charismatic presence, and despite the sense of danger emanating from her frame, she still managed to feel magnetic and alluring. Of course, this was none else than Hamaan Kahn, the de facto ruler of Neo Zeon, a respected and feared personality who, despite her young age, was more than capable of moving in the complex maze of alliances and power plays of the conflict. Guiltorre knew for certain that she had managed to alternatively gain the alliance of both the Titans and the AEUG...
The man on the right, on the other hand, was probably close to fifty years old, but his grim face, already marred by wrinkles, and his greying hair gave the impression of someone slightly older. He was wearing a purple uniform, going into black on his shoulders, the kind of uniform reserved for high-standing ZAFT politicians... and in fact, this was no surprise, considering this man was Patrick Zala, Chairman of ZAFT's Defense Committee and member of ZAFT's Supreme Council. His demeanor looked calm and collected, but there was something, deep in his grey eyes, which would have chilled even the most hardened soldiers. As if fire and ice were shining inside of them at the same time, it was possible to perceive a fierce determination inside of them. In fact, Guiltorre reflected, Zala had always been one of the most hard-lined in his policy towards Earth, and things had only gotten worse after the Bloody Valentine tragedy, a little more than one year ago: among the more than two hundred thousand Coordinators who had been killed by the Earth Union's nuclear missiles, there was Lenore, Patrick's beloved wife...
"Chairman Zala. Lady Hamaan. It is a honour to be talking to you." Guiltorre politely greeted them, his hands placed in front of him on his desk. "I had been waiting for your call, and I trust no more problem have arisen, in the brief period of time after our latest meeting."
Patrick answered first, with a barely noticeable nod of his head. "Greetings as well. No problems as of now, Excellency Guiltorre. The situation, in ZAFT's Supreme Council, seems to be stable at the moment, and troop morale is high."
"The same can be said of Neo Zeon." Haman went on, her voice sounding almost dangerously calm. "At the moment, most of our army is fighting on Earth or in the farther colonies, wherewe're hoping to enlarge our sphere of alliances. Furthermore, we're still fighting the last remaining stragglers of the AEUG." The young woman pronounced the last part with a small hint of regret - after all, both Neo Zeon and the AEUG had opposed the Titans, and Haman thought it was too bad that their ends were now diverging...
Guiltorre nodded in satisfaction. "I am glad to hear that. Therefore, if there are no more pressing matters to attend to, let us discuss the problem at hand." he said, receiving affirmative nods from both of his 'guests'. "Good. I guess you are calling me with regards to the recapture of the D-Modules... Giganos' latest project, also known by the codename of Dragonar."
"Indeed." Zala confirmed. "We trust we have some informations that could prove vital to their recovery. We have received trustworthy reports attesting, beyond any reasonable doubts, the position of the Earth Union cargo ship carrying the new modules."
"I thank you for your aid, Chairman Zala... yet, I regret to inform you that, no earlier than a few hours ago, I received the same info from our intelligence departments. The Idaho and the D-Modules have beenlocated in Heliopolis." he affirmed, anticipating what his two allies were about to tell him. "As you already know, gentlemen, Heliopolis is a civilian colony, under the rulership of the Orb Union, one of the few places where Natural and Coordinators live side by side. Which obviously leaves us in a bit of a bind. Any military action in Heliopolis' space would compromise all the alliances we made among the colonies' citizens."
"That much is true." Haman replied, her jade green eyes slightly cast to the floor, as if she was deep in thought. "An unprovoked attack to a neutral colony would turn all popular opinion against us, and we cannot afford that now. However, Marshall Guiltorre, there is a piece of information that you might have overlooked, and thatt could turn the situation to our advantage still."
Axis' ruler's words caught the Giganoos leader off guard. "A... piece of information, Lady Haman? And... what would that be, to be exact?" he asked, sounding both self-controlled and interested.
"As you well know, Marshall Guiltorre, Heliopolis is where one of Morgenroete's main centers is located. They are among the major developers for weapons and space technology, along with Anaheim and Nergal." Haman explained. "What you probably do not know, however, is that recently, the same center, under orders from the Orb Union itself, has developed five new Gundam models, all of them with new piloting technologies and revolutionary armaments... all of which flies in the face of Heliopolis' proclaimed neutrality. This is, for all intents and purpouses, an act of war, and makes fair game of Heliopolis."
Guiltorre slowly nodded. "Hm. Obviously. Now that we know that Heliopolis possesses and develops enemy equipment, nothing forbids us from attempting an attack." he affirmed. "Very well then. I will immediately warn my troops in Heliopolis' proximities to stand ready. We will shortly begin the operations to recover both the D-Modules and the new Gundam models."
"Good." Zala answered. "ZAFT's Supreme Council has already been updated on the matter, and our troops are ready to aid Giganos Empire in their actions. Rau Le Crueset's elite team is also ready to intervene, and is heading to the proximities of Heliopolis space as we speak. It is composed of our best field commander and five of the top-scoring elite soldiers in our troops, and we are confident that they will be able to use the new Gundams to the best of their abilities once they are in our hands."
Haman nodded, expertly hiding a sly smile. She hadn't become leader of Axis at the young age of eighteen just because of her good looks, and she knew a plot in motion when she saw one. Orb Union, which by extention meant its ruler Uzumi Nara Athha, could not possibly have authorized the creation of those new Gundams, which meant the order came from a rogue faction of the Principality, or possibly even the Earth Union itself. Anyway, that wasn't the problem. The simple fact that those weapons had been built in Helipolis represented a good enough excuse to enact a military operation that would have gained the Spacenoid alliance a new set of formidable weapons! After all, three Metal Armors and five Gundams, all revolutionary models, would have interested anyone...
"Axis' armed forces are very busy in military actions in other quadrants..." the crimson-haired woman explained. "But we'll still give you all the aid we can. We will probably be able to spare some Mobile Suit squadron and our own strategic bases in Heliopolis' vicinities."
"I truly appreciate your aid, gentlemen. It will be necessary, in such delicate times." Guiltorre finally answered. "So, in a few days, after all the details have been defined, our armed forced will unleash a decisive assault on Heliopolis. We will recover the Dragonar units, and take possession of the five new Gundams. If we can count on Commander Le Crueset and his squad, the mission's success is almost a given."
It was not an exaggeration, and all three of them knew it. Commander Rau Le Crueset was the most skilled of ZAFT's field commanders, both as a strategist and as a pilot: he had been awarded with the Order Of The Nebula, a decoration only given to ZAFT's most outstanding soldiers, and only the best pilots were admitted as part of his team. Among ZAFT's military forces, his reputation and the respect he earned himself were without equal, even though he was known as a mysterious, intimidating fellow...
"Our strategy has been defined, then." Haman concluded. "All is well. Once the operations are done with, we'll verify the results. For now, I hope for a positive resolution of the issue at hand, and I offer you my best regards."
Zala nodded. "Likewise, Lady Haman. Once those new weapons are in our hands, our objective to unify the colonies against the corrupt Earth Union will make substantial progress."
"I trust I'll be able to give you good news in a short amount of time. Meanwhile, gentlemen, I give you my best regards as well." Guiltorre concluded. "Our reunion has been adjourned. Farewell."
"Farewell." the other two greeted back, before their images vanished from the screen. With a relieved sigh, Guiltorre leaned back on his chair, allowing a small smile to grace his grim face. Now that the problem was back under control, he was feeling a lot more confident. With the Dragonar back in their hands, and the Mass Driver fully operative, even as a last-ditch measure, what could they possibly have to fear from the regular Earth Union forces?
Oh, how wrong he was...
oooooooooo
A few days later, Heliopolis colony.
A young resident stretched lazily and stifled a yawn as he slowly walked through the crowded streets of the space city, indifferent to the multitude of people and vehicles going back and forth around him. After rubbing his eyes, he raised his left arm and looked at his wristwatch, just to keep an eye on the time. Ten o'clock in the morning. He still had a quarter of an hour to reach the place where he had an appointment with his friends, in order to discuss what they had deemed an important matter...
Well, he was fine with it being important. After all, it was not like he had much to do. For Kain Wakaba, sixteen years old, Natural from Earth who had been living in Heliopolis for quite some time now, it was a completely idle day. His brown hair, dyed black with some blue highlights, was combed backwards in a Seventies hairstyle, and he was dressed in a red shirt, a short-sleeved blue and white jacket, somewhat worn blue jeans and red trainers with white soles. He looked like a street boy, and this wasn't a completely incorrect impression: he was quite an impulsive and rebellious boy, quite intolerant of rules and of getting involved in something that had nothing to do with him. In fact, that was pretty much the reason why he and his mother had transferred on that colony... after his father, against Kain's better judgement, had decided to keep serving for the Earth Union army, Kain and his mother had wanted nothing to do with that dirty war and with the interests lurking beneath it...
Yes, he was okay with his friends calling him so suddently. What really annoyed him a little was the fact that they could have chosen another moment to do so. After all, week-end mornings are made to sleep in, right? And very few things annoyed Kain more than having to wake up early, when he could sleep in!
"Yaaawn!" the boy grunted, failing to hold a second yawn. "Darn, Tapp and Light sure could have chosen a better time! I was there at home, sleeping my ass off and minding my own damn business... and those two call me for an urgent reason! Meh, at least I hope it's a goodenough reason to get me out of bed so early..."
"Well, will you have a look at that! Who'd ever expect to meet Mr. Kain Wakaba going out so early during the weekend?"
Kain rolled his eyes and murmured an obscenity. Here was something that could annoy him a lot worse than any rude awakening... a soft, snobbish female voice, belonging to a girl one year younger than him, dressed in a pink shirt, a rather short skirt and elegant shoes on thigh-high socks, her fiery red hair tied in a ponytail behind her! She had appeared from the indifferent crowd of people he had left behind him, carrying an expensive bag under her right arm, and her grey eyes were looking at him haughtily... an expression Kain and his friends were used to!
"Ugh..." Kain grunted, rubbing his head as if he was getting an headache. "Just the one girl I reeeaaaally wanted to meet to start my day, Miss Flay Allster... although, what I am doing right now should be none of your damn business!". Kain never liked that bratty redhead who thought she was hot stuff just because she was the daughter of some Earth Union bigwig...
The redhead named Flay wrinkled her nose a little. "Well, you're right, I'll give you that. I have better things to do in my spare time than argue with you..." she answered dismissively. "I guess you're just going to hang out with the other two members of the idiot trio, right?"
"The 'other two', for your information, are called Tapp Oceano and Light Newman..." Ken shot back. "And even if I was, what's your damage?"
Flay crossed her arms on her chest and shrugged. "Hmph, none at all! You have fun with those two... I have an appointment with *my* friends, and I'd like not to be late. Therefore, farewell."
Without further wait, Flay turned her back on Kain and walked away with what Kain loved to call her 'prima donna walk'. The young boy shook his head as she walked away, then went on his way, murmuring unflattering things about a certain spoiler redhead under his breath.
"That girl, I swear, is a veritable ball-buster!" he growled. "Really, what does Kira see in such a shrewd? There are so many girls who are cuter and nicer than she is... Well, no matter, Tapp and Light are waiting for me now. Let's see, the place of the appointment should be... right there!"
Looking around himself, Kain saw two familiar figures waiting in front of a small street: two boys around his age, who were chatting between themselves like old-time friends - which they actually were: one of them had dark blond hair, combed in a rather large fringe on his forehead, and was garbed in a blue shirt, black trousers and white shoes, giving an overall feeling of simplicity and tidiness at the same time; while the other was a rather large yet meek-looking boy of color, with short black hair and a similarly informal fashion style - an orange short-sleeved shirt, jeans and white trainers. In one hand, he was holding an I-Pod, which he was trying to listen to and at the same time follow his conversation with the blond. Already feeling in a better mood, Kain smirked and approached the two boys, waving as they turned to him.
"Hey, you two! Tapp! Light! What's the big idea, waking up an honest student at such an unholy time as he's trying to enjoy a weekend of peace, huh?" he jokingly asked. "Our resident genius Light Newman has discovered some new law of mathematics?"
Light Newman, the blond guy in blue shirt, rolled his eyes and chuckled to himself. "Yeah, yeah... you keep joking about that, Kain, but the truth is, your grades are barely average as it is..." he mocked. "Anyway, as I was explaining to Tapp here..."
Tapp Oceano, the rather large boy of color, paused his I-Pod and raised his hand. "Yo, Kain! What's up?" he asked, his music set aside for a moment.
Kain greeted back. "Other than the fact that you two scoundrels have thrown me out of bed, and a close encounter of the worst kind with Miss Allster, not bad at all... But now, I'm curious to know what's the big deal about this call so early on a Saturday. And why isn't Kira with you? I thought you would've called him as well..."
"Kira and the others had things to do for professor Kato..." Light explained. "Sai, Miriallia and Tolle are with him right now... but anyhow, I'll tell him about it when we see him again. Back to the problem at hand, Kain, I called because I discovered something that kinda unsettled me... regarding some "materials" that have been brought, or built, in our home colony in these last few days!"
Here, Kain could not help but frown in alarm. Materials? Something unsettling? What was the deal about all of this? It was never a good sign when Light went about it in such a roundabout way... "What? Hey, hey, hold on a second here, Light Newman! Don't tell me you've been hacking in Heliopolis' security files again! My mom told us once or twice already that it's an illegal thing to do, and I'm not too big on getting in trouble!"
"Fact is, Kain, that this is something real big!" Tapp went on. "But... this isn't exactly the ideal place for talking about it... maybe we should go to our secret place and talk about it more calmly, right, Light?"
"Yeah, I'd say so..." the blond boy concluded. "Follow me, guys, I'll show you what I discovered..."
As he and Tapp followed their computer-savvy friend in the narrow street, away from the crowd of people walking around, Kain could not help but think that the day was going to end up horribly for them... they were going to get in trouble with security, and his mom would have given them a well-deserved tongue lashing.
First an early wake-up, then Flay, and now this... no, it definitely wasn't his day.
oooooooooo
Heliopolis' people had no way of knowing just how much worse the day was going to get... Outside the colony, away from the radars, two of Giganos Empire's Copernico-class battle cruisers, readily distinguishable by their cylinder-like shape, reminescent of some sort of iron flower, and one of ZAFT's Nazca-class battleships were just waiting for the right moment to unleash their Mobile Suits and Metal Armors and start the operation. All things considered, no one was expecting it to be a bloodless deal...
Looking out into space from one of the Nazca's windows, his eyes affixed on the star-decorated void streaming off into infinity, Commander Rau Le Crueset was waiting, his figure radiating authority and confidence. Despite his young age, seemingly not much older than twenty-eight or so, Creuset was very well-known and respected in ZAFT, and his strategic abilities had won him the command of the most prestigious squad of pilots in the colonial alliance's military... and the highest military decoration in ZAFT, the Order Of The Nebula. No one was a better choice than he was, for this important mission; and no pilots could draw out the potential of the new Mobile Suits better than the Red Coats under his command.
With a relaxed gesture of his arm, the young commander adjusted the silver mask he was wearing on the upper part of his face, making him look somewhat like Char Aznable, the infamous Zeon ace of the One Year War. In fact, that wasn't the only thing those two had in common: Creuset was tall and well-muscled, while still quite lithe, and long, slightly curled blond hair framed a serene face, giving him an even more charismatic countenance. He was wearing the white uniform typical of ZAFT's top military officers, with black trousers and boots, and if one were to look carefully, one could have seen a gleam of satisfaction darting in the emerald green lenses covering his eyes...
Recovering five Mobile Suits and three Metal Armors. Not an everyday mission, but Crueset was convinced that there wouldn't be any problems, barring some unpredictable element. And Creuset already had some idea of who could become potential threats to the mission...
Well, so be it, then. That would have been a good chance to settle an old score, once and for all. Creuset was kind of hoping he would, in fact, be given this chance... but for the moment, he had to focus on the mission. Personal issues could be set aside...
One of the room's automatic doors slid open with a barely audible hiss, and Crueset turned to the five figured appearing on the entrance, giving them permission to come in with a nod of his head. The five entered the room and saluted, standing in a straight line in front of their superior. Five teenagers, four boys and a single girl, dressed in the red uniforms denoting the elite pilots of ZAFT, an obvious sign that, despite their young age, those five would have been formidable opponents for anyone.
"Pilots Athrun Zala, Nicol Amalfi, Yzak Joule, Dearka Elsmann and Shiho Hahnenfuss reporting in for duty, sir." the apparent leader of the group, a boy around sixteen with shoulder-long cobalt blue hair and green eyes, began. "You called for us, sir."
Creuset briefly observed the five teenagers gathered in front of him, and nodded in satisfaction. "Indeed I have, Athrun. Heliopolis is only a few hours away, so I needed to give you the final reccomandations for this mission. When our allies from the Copernicos will give us the green light, you will go out with your GINNs, and reach Heliopolis' spaceport. From there, you should have no problem reaching the underground bunkers where the Archangel and the Idaho are hidden. You will sneak in and hijack the Gundams, then you will use the bunker busters to force the two ships out. Our Giganos allies will see to the rest: they will take down the Idaho and recover the D-Models, and the operation will be completed. Still, remember not to stay and fight for too long, should any problem arise. The five Gundams' OS is still unknown to us, and fighting with an unfamiliar machine is not reccomended. As I already said, Athrun, I leave to you command of the operations. I trust you will do a good job as usual."
The blue-haired teen nodded. "Yes, sir. We understand. We will carry out this mission to the best of our possibilities."
"We will take the Gundams and bring them in." Nicol Amalfi, the youngest of the team, an innocent-looking boy of about fifteen with curly, light green hair, answered. Privately, Nicol felt a pang of regret at themention of the bunker busters. Sure, it was a war, and of course there were casualties, but he still couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that they were attacking people who had no idea what was going to happen...
The boy standing at his side seemed to understand what Nicol was thinking... and snorted derisively at that. "Hmph... now, don't get worked up over these things, Nicol!" Yzak Joule, an arrogant and hotheaded pale-skinned boy with white-azure hair and a very confident demeanor, said, his lips turned slightly upwards. "We're fighting a war, in case you missed it... and this colony was building weapons for the Earth Union, while claiming neutrality all the while! Hah, laughable!"
"You hit the proverbial nail on the head, Yzak." Le Crueset confirmed. "With the creation of these new Gundam models, Heliopolis has become fair game for all intents and purposes. Therefore, there is no need to think too much about such issues. Anyway, you know what your target is. Miguel's Mobile Suit squad and our Giganos allies will support you during the operation. Pilots Elsmann and Hahnenfuss, is that all clear for you too?"
"All clear, Commander Le Crueset." Dearka Elsmann, a dark-skinned blond guy of about seventeen, known for being a bit of a cocky, laid-back joker and Yzak's best friend. "We can assure you that there will be no problems."
"We will complete our mission, and capture the five Gundams." Shiho Hahnenfuss, the only girl in the group, confirmed. She had long, flowing dark brown hair tied in a ponytail on her back, and she was known as a sociable, affable girl in everyday life, and a serious professional in the battlefield. She also had the honour of being the youngest female pilot ever to reach Redcoat status.
"Very well, then." Le Crueset said, giving one last appraising look to his squad. "If that is the case, you may take position. Our operation will begin shortly, and I trust you will give it your all as usual. Remember that the success or failure of this mission will shape the future of our war against the Earth Union. That will be all."
"Yes, sir!" the five answered almost in unison, saluting before heading out of the room, slowly and orderly. Le Crueset watched them walk away, before giving another glance at the hollow space just outside of his window. The small smile dancing on his thin lips was more than enough to show that he was extremely interested in how that operation would have turned out...
"Five new Gundams, three new Metal Armors, and new piloting and weapon technologies." he said out loud. "Very interesting. I'd really like to see for myself what they're capable of."
ooooooooo
Inside Heliopolis, the day seemed to have started out normally enough even for 16-year-old Kira Yamato: sure, it was still a bit of a peculiar day, since, instead of working at his computer like he used to do in his free days, he was now checking some projects along with his friends Sai Argyle, Tolle Koenig, Miriallia Haw (Tolle's girlfriend) and Kuzzey Buzzkirk. All that as part of an assignment their teacher had given them, and on whom they were trying to catch up.
Kira, with his messy chestnut hair and violet eyes, a clean and innocent face and dressed in the same school uniform as his friends (in other words, he had that boy-next-door look that could easily have blended in any crowd...) clicked a couple times on an icon on his laptop's screen and looked carefully at the graphics appearing on it, apparently projects for some very complex machinery. Luckily, Kira seemed to have a knack for solving such things...
"There, Kira... these are the data professor Kato wanted us to analyze in the first place." Sai Argyle, with his short, dark blond hair and glasses, told him. "What do you think? It's definitely something different from what we usually work on..."
Kira rubbed his chin with one hand as he tried to make sense of the data he was seeing. "Well... you're right, Sai, they definitely are different. They look like some kind of analysis data, but I have no idea what it could be. I have never seen anything like this myself, and I guess we'll have to spend a bit of time on this to understand..."
The oldest of Kira's group, Tolle Hiroshi Koenig, was quite ordinary-looking as well, with a sociable expression and short dark brown hair. He sighed in fake sadness as he looked at the data. "Nuts... Why can't a guy get a well-deserved weekend of rest, instead of staying clamped here to work his brain off on these riddles?" he asked himself. "I swear, I think professor Kato does that out of personal sadism!"
"Please, Tolle!" Miriallia Haw, a cute brunette whose hair curved upwards slightly at the ends, good-naturedly ribbed her boyfriend. "I too would like to do something different, on Saturday morning... but I don't think we should complain that much about it, right? It's still work we have to do! I swear, you spend too much time with Kain and the others..."
Kira ad his friends chuckled a little at their friend's little joke. "Hehee... yeah, I think that's why Kain, Tapp and Light would say in such a case..." he affirmed, slightly distracting himself from his work to look around the room...
And that was when he saw an unknown person standing near a door... a person dressed quite informally, with strands of blond hair peeking out of a large beret. He or she (Kira couldn't tell from that distance) was leaning against the wall, eyes, looking down at the floor, and it was quite obvious, to Kira at least, that the mysterious person was tense... for what reason, Kira could only guess.
Looking more carefully at the stranger, who just reacted with a sideways glare, Kira spoke to the last member of his group of friends, Kuzzey Buzzkirk, a short guy with neatly cropped black hair. "Kuzzey... do you happen to who that person is? I don't think I ever saw him around here..."
"Oh, that..." Kuzzey answered, looking in the same direction. "That's a guest of professor Kato's, but I don't know why he's here, exactly. Probably has something to do with Morgenroete..."
The next few minutes were uneventful enough, with Tolle and Kuzzey going through a few projects (who really looked like the interior of a Mobile Suit's cockpit), and Kira, Sai and Miriallia trying to get some programs to work, as the mysterious blond person kept waiting, shuffling his feet from time to time in an impatient gesture, and keeping an eye on the working students. For some reason, Kira found himself looking at him from time to time...
The violet-eyed boy shook his head and went back to his work. "Okay, so the problem with connections is solved..." he said, as he punched some final instructions in the program and got it to work. "Now, I guess we're halfway there..."
"I envy your computer skills, Kira..." Tolle said. "You're a real natural with these things. No pun intended, of course..."
And that's when all Hell broke loose.
Something impacted on the colony's walls, shaking it dangerously for a few instants, and causing its structures to move around as if they had been hit by a small earthquake! Kira and his friends screamed in fright, and the mysterious stranger muttered a curse, leaning further on the wall, and barely managed to keep himself upright. Kira glanced up from his work and looked around himself in fright, as if trying to understand what had caused that sudden tremor in the first place...
And another blow, even stronger than the previous one, rattled the entire colony!
"Ah!" Sai exclaimed, holding his glasses on the bridge of his nose with one hand. "What... what's going on? Is... is that a meteor?"
Mirialla neared Tolle, who placed his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. The beret-wearing stranger raised his head slightly, with almost palpable anger. Kuzzey remained frozen in place for a second, while Kira darted up, leaving his laptop on the desk. "I... I don't think so... If it had been just one hit, then... but I heard two in a row!" the violet-eyed boy commented...
And he was proven right when Heliopolis was hit a third time... and then a fourth...
"Kyaaaah!" Miriallia screamed, holding on to the nearest desk to avoid being knocked prone. "What's... what's going on? Are... are we being attacked?"
"We... we're an Orb colony! We're neutral! They can't do this!" Kuzzey exclaimed.
Unfortunately, the announcement coming from the colony's speakers destroyed their illusions.
"Warning. Warning. To all the civilians. Please calmly head to the underground bunkers, and wait for instructions. We are under attack from the combined forces of ZAFT and Giganos EMpire for unknown reasons. I repeat, get to the bunkers and wait for further instructions..."
"An... an attack?" Kira murmured in horrified disbelief. "ZAFT... and Giganos Empire? What's... what's this all about?"
oooooooooo
Just then, in a dimly-illuminated basement, well equipped with a computer, a stereo, resonance boxes and other such objects, three young Naturals were unknowingly finding the answer to their friend's question. Hard at work on his computer, Light Newman was showing Kain and Tapp (the latter of which was still busy listening to his I-Pod...) a very disquieting thing... something that could be putting the whole neutral colony in jeopardy!
"Hold... hold on a damn minute here! Are you trying to say that Morgenroete is building... Mobile Suits... for the Earth Union?" Kain asked in disbelief, his face nearing Light's computer as he tried to get a better look at what had appeared onscreen. In fact, it was the schematics for Gundam-type Mobile Suits, similar to the ones used by such notable people as Amuro Ray, Kamille Bidan, or the five teenage colony soldiers who had been sent to Earth one year earlier to destroy OZ... There was no way around it: the faceplate, the V-fin on the forehead, and the yellow slit-like eyes immediately denonunced those models as Gundams!
Light nodded and grit his teeth. "Yeah... exactly, Kain, Mobile Suits for the Union, identified as Strike Gundam, Aegis Gundam, Blitz Gundam, Buster Gundam and Duel Gundam..." he explained, calmly but with clear worries. "I don't know the details yet... but it seems that Orb government commissioned the creation of such Mobile Suits to this colony's Morgenroete branch."
"What? Orb government?" Tapp asked, nervously fiddling with his I-Pod. "Are they dumb or what? They're just asking for trouble this way! And by the way, isn't Orb supposed to be neutral? Why would they start building Mobile Suits for the Earth Union? Lord Uzumi never had any love for it..."
"That's where the problem lies, Tapp..." Light explained, leaning on his chair. "Y'see, the situation is a little more complex than it seems. Fact is..."
He never got to finish his sentence, before a quick succession of explosions rattled the colony, and the basement they were in! Kain bit back a swear word and tightly grabbed the desk, as Tapp and Light tried to keep their balance... and one moment later, a familiar female voice, clearly belonging to a mature woman, spoke from the PC's sound boxes!
"This is Heliopolis Colony. To the Giganos Empire and ZAFT troops launching an unprovoked attack on our colony. You are violating our neutrality with your inconsiderate actions. You are asked to cease hostilities and retreat immediately..."
The two allied powers' response was immediate and brutal, and the three teens felt the ground shakke under the soles of their shoes as more missiles slammed on the colony's walls! However, Kain was not concerned about that... as he was horrified to hear that voice, and to know that it owner was in a dangerous place!
"Oh, no... Mom!" the young boy exclaimed. "Mom is... part of the communication personnel of this colony! Now... she's directly on the enemy's line of fire!"
"Dammit..." Tapp exclaimed. "C'mon, guys, we got to reach the spaceport, pronto! No time to waste!"
Before the three friends could even suspect, the space around their colony had been plunged into hell...
oooooooooo
Outside the colony, huge squadrons of clumsy-looking Giganos Empire units, mainly the stocky-looking Drau and Gebaye, armed with their trademark 50mm machineguns, and agile GINNs of the ZAFT military, readily recognizable by their Zaku-like mono-eye, their greyish-green colour, and the crest on their heads, were fighting side by side, tearing through the colony's flimsy defenses like paper.
In the span of a few minutes, Heliopolis' civilian population had been plunged in the hell that was war...
oooooooooo
TO BE CONTINUED...