SUPER ROBOT TAISEN S ZERO
Chapter 6 - The Fall of Heliopolis
Space Century 136
Tensions were mounting between the Earth Union and the colonies. Due to the Bloody Valentine and the Bunch 30 tragedy, these tensions soon escalated into a full-scale war. It seemed a foregone conclusion that the Earth forces, thanks to their superior numbers, would be victorious... but as the colonies fielded new weapons such as the Mobile Armors, these initial assessments proved false.
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"The way is clear, everybody... let's do it!" Kain Wakaba enthusiastically said as he began maneuvering his Dragonar unit towards a breach in the hull of the ship he and his friends were in, eager to finally put the attackers in their place. The three Dragonar units slowly but surely followed suit, drawing their weapons and getting ready for their first battle... and inside his cockkpit, Kain was already shivering with anticipation. Piloting those new mobile weapon really gave a feeling of power and invincibility... but he shook those intoxicating feelings away, and forced himself t concentrate on fighting he Giganos units that were certainly coming their way...
He didn't have to wait long, as a volley of missiles struck the side of the hangar they were in, collapsing another part of the wall in a series of explosions... and soon after, a small group of the motorbike-like Gandora units showed up, speeding towards their new targets with single-minded stubbornness.
"So, here you are..." Kain said, gritting his teeth at the sight of the invaders. "How dare you attack my hometown and think you can do whatever you want? Tapp, Light, let's go!"
Leaving the Dragonar-2 and Dragonar-3 behind, the Dragonar-1 jumped down from the platform it was standing on and landed in front of the Gandoras, causing the Giganos soldiers occupying the cockpits to widen their eyes in disbelief and quickly steer to the side to avoid colliding with the mighty new prototype. Faster than they expected, the Dragonar-1 unlimbered its machine gun and opened fire on the Gandoras just as they were turning around for a counterattack... and one of the motorbike-like Metal Armors was hit and blew up!
"Hell, yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!" Kain exclaimed as he saw his opponents scatter in a sudden panic, the Dragonar-2 and 3 descending from their platform behind him and getting ready to fight at their friend's side...
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"What's going on here?" Lt. Natarle Badgiruel, an attractive but stern-looking dark-haired woman wearing the Earth Union military's standard grey uniform exclaimed as she watched the images on the screen in front of her, showing the Dragonar units as they began fighting the enemy, and the Strike Gundam as it began making its way through the half-destroyed colony. "Why are the Dragonar units and that G-Weapon moving? I wasn't told about any of this!"
"Well, I'll be damned..." Sgt. Ben Rooney, a large and muscular man with a short-cropped beard and tanned skin, wearing a red vest with mimetic pants, heavy combat boots and a blue beret on his bald head, scratched his cheekbone in confusion as he watched the footage from the attack on Heliopolis... and the unexpected intervention of the very weapons they were trying to keep a secret. "Who on Earth could be piloting them now? The designated pilots for the G-Weapons haven't even arrived yet!"
"And they won't be able to..." another officer said from behind them. "Unfortunately, we've confirmed that the designated pilots for the G-Weapon were all intercepted by the ZAFT forces and killed before they could reach us! I'm afraid we've lost what little edge we had..."
Natarle forced herself to keep her cool, and took a deep breath, despite the fact that things seemed to be going to Hell in the blink of an eye. "Just what we needed... what about Captain Ramius? Have you been able to contact her?"
"Negative, Lieutenant... we still haven't had a response from her!" the other officer, Petty Officer Arnold Neumann, answered. Before Natarle could say anything else, though, Sgt. Rooney turned to the screen and tried to open a communication with the Strike Gundam's pilot... and he was quite surprised when he saw just who was piloting the G-Weapon! A young chestnut-haired boy, sitting at the console, with Lt. Ramius sitting behind him nursing an injured shoulder!
"What? What is a civilian doing here?" she asked in surprise, with more than just an hint of outrage at the fact that a mere boy had been able to sneak into the Strike Gundam's cockpit so easily...
Meanwhile, the Blitz, Buster, Duel and Aegis were taking to the air, trying to get as far away as possible from the battle that was raging inside the colony. Actually, it would be a gross exaggeration to call that a battle... simply put, Heliopolis was being destroyed, with no one in the condition to do anything about the advancing Mobile Suits and Metal Armors.
As Miguel Aiman, piloting a GINN, and his wingmen Matthew and Olor advanced, the young ZAFT ace frowned slightly as he saw that only four units matching the description of the Heliopolis Gundams were present... one was amiss, and the answer to his unspoken question came when Shiho's own GINN emerged from the battlezone, rapidly retreating towards the escape route.
"Shiho! Can you hear me? What's going on here?" Miguel asked. Shiho's GINN fired a shot from its Ion Cannon to delay any eventual pursuers, before the young girl's garbled voice answered from the orange GINN's speakers.
"I'm afraid the mission failed..." Shiho answered, feeling a little frustrated at how close she was to capturing the Strike as well. "An enemy soldier boarded the Strike Gundam and is currently bringing it back to the Earth Forces... I was unable to hijack it! Rusty has been killed in action!"
"What?" Miguel exclaimed, as the Strike Gundam came stumbling out of the battlezone, trying to avoid stepping on the fleeing civilians and to dodge the numerous attacks the invaders were sending its way. With a grunt, Miguel unsheathed his GINN's sword and placed himself between Shiho's own GINN and the Strike. "Dammit... Okay, you go back to the Vesalius and meet up with Cmd. Le Crueset and the others... I will try and capture this machine! Matthew! Olor! Cover me, I'll take care of the Strike!"
"Okay..." Shiho answered, taking off after the four stolen Gundams one second later. Miguel's GINN charged the last remaining Gundam one second later, and inside of its cockpit, both Kira and Murrue could see the rapidly-approaching cyclops Mobile suit, sword raised and ready to strike. Kira gasped in surprise and jerked the controls towards himself, causing the Strike Gundam to activate its verniers and quickly jump backwards as Miguel's sword only cut the air. Incredulous at his opponent's skill, Miguel turned his GINN to face the Gundam once again...and thi time, the agile GINN jumped up and raised its sword, trying to bring it down upon the Strike Gundam...
But he was denied victory as the Strike Gundam raised its arm and intercept the slash, causing the sharp blade to simply bounce off of the Gundam's body in a shower of sparks! Miguel widened his eyes in surprise and quickly maneuvered his GINN out of the way to avoid a counterattack. "What? What's with that armor? My sword didn't even dent it!"
"Must be the new kind of armor they told us about, the Phase Shift Armor... once activated, it renders the GINN's sword useless." Shiho answered, still not out of range of Miguel's comm. devices. "Be careful, Miguel! We need beam weaponry to bring that thing down..."
"I see... but even if its armor is that good, it will be useless if the pilot can barely keep the Mobile Suit standing!" Miguel quickly reasoned, launching another attack which Kira barely avoided. "Not to mention, even that Phase Shift Armor can't last forever! Sooner or later, that Gundam will run out of battery power!"
A well-aimed slash got the Strike Gundam on its chestplate, causing it to oscillate and fall backwards, demolishing a few more buildings on its way down! Kira grunted from a sharp pain in his arm and tried to survey the damage... and his eyes widened in horror as he saw a few shapes obviously belonging to Sai, Tolle, Miriallia and Kuzzey running away from the place, in a desperate attempt to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the battle. Unfortunately, their chances looked pretty slim...
"Sai... Tolle... everyone..." Kira murmured, trying to shake his dizziness away. Gritting his teeth, the young boy stood up again and got ready to face his opponent again... while Murrue, the pain from her wound lessened somewhat, frowned grimly at the orange GINN visible in front of them...
"This is bad... I know of that pilot. His name is Miguel Aiman, and he's a ZAFT ace known as "the Magic Bullet of Dusk"..." she explained. "At this point, we have no chance in a straight-up fight... It's odd though, I thought he would pilot his customized orange GINN..."
"Maybe so..." Kira answered. "But if I can't drive him away, my friends will be in danger! I have to find a way to survive..."
"Trying to pilot that Mobile suit without training? You're in over your head, Natural!" Miguel exclaimed, diving down to attack again. The GINN thrust its sword forward, trying to impale the Strike's chest... but Kira, fueled by his survival instincts and his determination to protect his friends, quickly dashed forward and rammed the GINN's chestplate with the Strike Gundam's shoulder! Miguel let out a brief shout of anger and disbelief as his GINN was thrown backwards and landed on its back with a loud crash! Kira let out a sigh of relief and, trying to take advantage of the time he had bought, he started pressing a few buttons on the consoles, causing Murrue to look at him in confusion...
"What are you doing?" the young officer asked.
"Trying to reprogram this OS... the system is completely off!" Kira answered, never breaking his concentration, and causing Murrue to ask herself how could that young boy do such things with such seeming ease... "This is absurd, how could anyone expect to use such a complex machine with such a buggy OS?"
"It couldn't be helped... The system hasn't reached completion stage yet, we have to settle for what we have now..." Murrue explained, then raised her head in alarm as Miguel's GINN climbed back to its feet and stood ready to attack again!
"Damn you... if only I could use my own GINN, this would already be long over!" Miguel exclaimed, charging forward to attack the Strike with his sword. The Strike fired a volley of bullets from the Igelstelung, the gatling guns mounted in its head, peppering the GINN and causing it to veer off course... then, as the enraged Miguel attempted another sword slash, the Strike Gundam, now moving with a lot more precision and fluidity, dodged the blow and punched the enmy in the face, smashing its monoeye camera!
"Argh!" Miguel exclaimed as his GINN slammed into an half-destroyed building. "What... what's with this guy? Now he's moving a lot better..."
The Mobile Suit stood up again and fired from his machine gun, forcing the Strike on the defensive as Kira tried to see which weapons he could use. Much to his displeasure, he found that, other than the Igelstellung, he could only use a pair of Armor Schneider combat knives stored in the Strike's legs. Knowing that there was no helping it, Kira unsheathed the daggers and dashed towards the Magic Bullet of Dusk, dodging the latter's shots as explosions rocked the earth around them!
"Damn piece of Earth trash!" Miguel cursed.
"No, don't do it here!" Kira shouted uselessly, worried that the ZAFT ace's shots could further damage the colony. "STOP IT!"
The Strike Gundam skillfully slipped through its opponent's attacks and slashed the GINN's arm at the elbow, causing a shower of sparks to erupt from it... then, it plunged the second Armor Schneider in the opponent's chest, and Miguel grit his teeth in frustration as several warning were set off in his cockpit!
"Ugh... can't be... Hydraulic system not responding... Multidrive system offline... Useless, I have to scrap the machine! Matthew, Olor, we're retreating for now!" Miguel exclaimed, punching a button on his console and starting a countdown before snapping his safety belt and abandoning his cockpit through a side opening and escaping to a safe distance. "Dammit, if only I didn't get my GINN damaged in that battle against that Serpent Tail guy, I would have won..."
"This doesn't look good!" Murrue warned. "Now! Step away from that GINN!"
Kira barely had time to register what the young officer had said and to resheath his Armor Schneiders before the GINN blew up in a huge fireball that tossed the Strike Gundam backwards, scattering burning shrapnel all around itself! Kira grunted from the unexpected blast and was slammed backwards as the Strike Gundam landed on its back... but luckily, he saw that the Mobile suit had not been damaged too much, and that even his passenger was okay. For now, things were going well... or about as well as could be expected, considering the ZAFT and Giganos forces were still raining down on Heliopolis, and the colony seemed to be on the verge of collapsing...
Kira quickly prayed to himself that his friends had managed to get to safety, before the Strike Gundam picked itself up from the ground and started walking away...
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Meanwhile, on board Giganos Empire's Copernico-class battle cruiser...
"Commander, we're positive that the enemy has launched the Dragonars!" a Giganos officer told one of his superiors, who was enjoying the view of the collapsing colony. "Our Metal Armor forces inside Heliopolis are taking casualties!"
The commander smirked cruelly at his underling's resume. "Heh... that's good, that means they couldn't hold back the D-Units anymore! What about the Gundams? Have our ZAFT allies recovered them?"
"We've recieved confirmation of four captured G-Weapons, but there seem to be problems with the fifth one..." thesoldier explained. "Anyway, at the moment our allies' GINN squadrons, led by Commander Rau Le Crueset himself, are keeping the colony's defence forces under pressure, and we believe it won't be long before the fifth G-Weapon is captured as well."
"Excellent... in that case, we'll send a squadron to pinpoint and capture the D-Units!" the commander said. "This will be a fatal blow to the Earth Union's ego!"
"Understood..." his underling answered...
...and a few minutes after that, while the battle around Heliopolis was still raging on, a squadron of elite Giganos Metal Armors floated out of the Copernico battleship's hangars - a stocky blue Drau and a bright yellow Gebaye, led by an impressive-looking red Metal Armor with a monoeye camera, jetpacks on its back and an helmet-shaped head, carrying a large machine gun in its arms: a Dyne, a particularly agile and powerful Metal Armor often used as commander of Drau and Gebaye squadrons, universally recognized as a deadly opponent!
"Alright, soldiers, listen up!" the Dyne pilot told his underlings. "Our opponents may be the pathetic Earth Union, but this time hey're using the Dragonars and what appears to be one of ZAFT's G-Weapons. Take care, and try to swarm those guys whenever possible."
"Yes, sir!" the soldier piloting the Drau answered cockily. "But I'm sure there will be no problem! We've got this one in the bag... along with a nice Selentium Cross!"
The Gebaye pilot was quick to agree. "Yeah, this time nothing will prevent us from getting a promotion!"
The Metal Armor trio sped towards the rapidly failing Heliopolis, while in the surrounding space, the defending Moebiuses were falling victim to the technological superiority of both ZAFT and Giganos Empire's weapons. Only Mwu La Flaga's Moebius Zero was still holding his own against his enemies, and had managed to down quite a few of them... but now, in front of a customized CGUE piloted by Cmd. Rau Le Creuset, even he was rapidly finding himself in a pinch!
"Dammit..." Mwu swore, his gunbarrels darting around in a vain attempt to hit the evasive CGUE. "Can't we do something against this difference in battle strength?"
"From the looks of it, there is an unexpected problem..." Rau commented to himself, easily dodging all of Mwu's fire. "A rather annoying fly buzzing around. It is highly ironic that we would meet here in battle of all places, wouldn't you agree... Mwu La Flaga?"
An electric jolt of some kind seemed to race through Mwu's brain, alerting him to a barrage of bullets coming from the opposing CGUE's assault rifle, and the blond lieutenant managed to veer his Moebius Zero sideways just in time to avoid being hit. His linebarrels headed back to the small craft, then they shot out again as Mwu made an attempt to catch Rau's CGUE in the crossfire.
"Rau... is that you, you bastard?" Mwu exclaimed in frustration as his opponent easily dodged all attacks. After all, there was a reason Rau Le Crueset was one of the most well-known and decorated officers in ZAFT military.
"You always seem to be in my way, Mwu La Flaga... though I imagine you'll probably say the same about me!" the masked commander shouted as he returned fire. He managed to throw Mwu off for a moment, which he wisely used to speed towards one of Heliopolis' entrance ports.
"Ugh... he's entering Heliopolis!" Mwu said to himself, trying to keep up with his nemesis. "You are not getting away, Rau Le Crueset!"
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"Even using Metal Armors now... what do these people think they're doing?" Aoi Wakaba asked herself as she watched the images from the external cameras with ever-growing concern. "Operator, have we contacted Giganos HQ yet?"
"Still no answer from their HQ... huh? What's this? I'm getting a transmission..." the other comm operator answered, before stopping to listen intently to the message he was receiving. For a moment, Mrs. Wakaba actually hoped that this would be the Giganos HQ telling them this was just an independent action, and that they would call off the attack at once... but sadly, as she saw her colleague's face turn into a grimace of horror, she understood that something really bad was about to happen soon! "Wh... what? You... you can't be serious about this! This... this is a war crime! They can't do that!"
"What do you mean, a war crime?" Mrs. Wakaba asked. "What just happened?"
The other technician gulped loudly. "It... it appears Giganos' Mass Driver has just aimed a shot towards Heliopolis! Estimated time of impact, 30 minutes! If it hits us head-on, not much will be left of this colony!"
"What? Are you serious?" Mrs. Wakaba exclaimed in horror. "Switch to Alcata orbit immediately!"
"It's too late, the asteroid would still hit us..." the operator replied, as a sense of dread and impending doom grew between the two of them... Heliopolis was doomed, with its inhabitants none the wiser... the most Aoi Wakaba could do was to at least try to save as many people as possible... "How's the situation of the ships?"
"Idaho and Archangel should be ready to depart soon, but they still need some time!" Mrs. Wakaba answered. "Lifepods are already being launched as we speak... we can only hope they find help soon! And I hope my son is among them..."
"All rescue units, listen up!" another operator exclaimed. "Set off immediately after taking the refugees in! A shot from Giganos' Mass Driver is heading towards us! All citizens of the colony, evacuate immediately!"
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"Dammit... watch where you are aiming, you idiot! You could hit someone!" Kain exclaimed after using the D-1's shield to parry a salvo of missiles from a Gandora. He retaliated with a quick peppering from his machine gun, hitting one of the motorbike-themed Metal Armors and turning it into smithreens, but he soon had to fall back as another opponent attacked with his missiles. A searing laser beam, courtesy of the D-2, speared the offending Gandora through the main engine, causing it to detonate, while Light's D-3 ran interference and swayed the missiles before they could do damage. Another salvo of missiles targetted the D-2 from behind... but Kain took notice of that and warned his friend of the danger!
"Take care, Tapp! He's behind you!" Kain exclaimed, just in time for the boy of colour to turn around and dodge the shots with an high jump. He quickly turned the D-2 around in midair and descended upon the Gandora, whose pilot only had time to widen his eyes in horror before the D-2's fist smashed his cockpit, and him along. The last few remaining Gandoras were either cleaned up by the D-3's precise aiming or fled, deciding it was a better idea to live and fight another day, and the three friends thought it might be a good time to breathe a sigh of relief.
Sadly, the situation would not let them. As soon as their hands left the consoles, a loud explosion tore apart the hangar's doors, exposing everything inside of it to the cold void of space, and sucking debris and everything not secured out of the colony! The unprepared Dragonar units were dragged along and thrown into space amidst the surprised screams of the young pilots, who desperately tried to regain control of their robots as the responsibles for the attack, a Drau, a Gebaye and a Dyne, appeared in front of them and fired away!
"Gah! Be careful, everyone!" Kain warned, once again using his shield to soften the blow. Tapp tried to aim his shoulder cannons at the attackers, but he underestimated their speed and experience, and every shot ended up falling too far from their mark to be really dangerous.
"Damn... this is infuriating!" Kain cursed, discovering much to his displeasure that fighting in outer space was a whole other can of worms with respect to gravity conditions. "And in all of this, I still haven't found Mom yet... Mom, are you still in the colony? Please, run away... I'm afraid this place won't hold much longer..."
This distraction almost proved fatal to the young pilot, as the Drau aimed its rifle at the D-1 and fired away, hitting the Dragonar in the side! Kain screamed in pain as he was violently jerked around by the blow, but quickly recomposed himself and gt ready to fight again, just as the new enemies began their assault in earnest!
"Kain, be careful! They're trying to get up close and personal!" Light warned from the D-3's cockpit. The Drau quickly swooped down to attack the Dragonar with the disk-shaped head, while the Gebaye chose to attack the D-2... and Kain's unit was soon faced with the red, and far more dangerous, Dyne, who managed to get the jump on him and forced him backwards, almost pinning the D-1 to the wall of the collapsing colony!
"Man, these guys are persistent!" Tapp shouted, two more shots from his shoulder cannons missing their intended target. The Gebaye attacked with its assault rifle, forcing Tapp to an hasty evasive maneuver, as Kain desperately searched for a weapon for close combat. The Dyne as a far cry from those Gandoras he had fought inside the colony, and it was already giving him an hard time.
"Give it up, Terran!" the Dyne pilot exclaimed, using the racist slur that was common in Giganos Empire to insult Earthborn people. "I'll capture you as a POW and hand your unit over to my superiors! They will put it to better use than you could ever do!"
"Like Hell you will!" Kain shouted back. Finally, he managed to lift one of the Dragonar-1 legs and kicked the Dyne in its midsection, forcing it away from himself and buying enough time to reposition himself and shoot again. Sadly, the Dyne recovered earlier than expected, dodged the rifle volley Kain was shooting at it, and quickly closed the distance again, wailing of the helpless D-1 with its metal fists!
"Kain!" Tapp exclaimed, before making a desperate turn to avoid the bullets his opponent's Gebaye was shooting at him. The boy of color grit his teeth and dashed backwards, in order to have a clearer shot at the yellow Metal Armor, and lowered his D-2's shoulder cannons in an attempt to aim. "Alright, you Giganos scum... this is payback for earlier! Take this!"
The D-2's shoulder cannons fired again, and this time, the laser struck the Gebaye in its midsection, dealing a fatal blow! The yellow Metal Armor seemed to freeze in midair, as if flabbergasted at the fact that it had been defeated... and exploded one heartbeat later in a huge ball of fire!
"Nicely done, Tapp!" Light said as he fired his D-3 machine gun. He missed the first time, but the awkwardly-moving Drau was out of luck the second time, and the D-3's gunfire struck true, almost bisecting it and causing it to explode as well!
Kain, on the other hand, was using the D-1's hand to try and force the Dyne's mechanical, ominous face away from himself, but his struggle was proving to be a losing one against an opponent who was clearly more experienced and more skilled than him. At that moment, the D-1 was with its back to Heliopolis' outer walls, and the enemy Dyne keeping up the pressure...
"D-dammit... is this it for me?" Kain asked himself in frustration. Determined not to get killed in such a place, the young boy tried to take a look at his weapons... and just then, the computer on his console flashed to life, showing the schematics of the D-1... and, more interestingly, pointing to a weapon hanging by the D-1's midriff, which Kain had not noticed until then - a laser sword, very much reminescent of a Gundam's Beam Saber. "Huh? And what's that... a laser sword? Well, I'll be! That's exactly what I needed! Hey, you Giganos goons, I'm not done yet! Take this!"
With a sudden start, Kain pushed his opponent away, and the unprepared Dyne pilot was left fumbling around as the D-1 reached for one of the laser blades hanging by its waist. Kain quickly grabbed his weapon and activated it, causing a long, thin blade of green energy to activate wit a low buzzing sound. The Dyne pilot got his act together and shot his machine gun at the D-1, but the Dragonar unit brought up his shield and blocked all the bullets before dashing at his opponent, bringing his new weapon forward in a powerful arc and finally piercing the Dyne's chest, fatally damaging it!
"Ugh... Damn you... Terran..." the Giganos soldier choked out as his robot began to break down. "Long... long live... Giganos Empire..."
Kain kicked away the Dyne, and it exploded one second later, throwing the Dragonar unit back to Heliopolis... but this time, the battle was already over, and Kain was capable of drawing breath for a while, his heart still pumping from the tension. "Phew... man, that was hard... for a moment, I thought that was it... Hey, you two! Tapp, Light! What's your situation?"
"We're fine!" Light exclaimed. "But the colony won't be... the radars have confirmed that the Giganos Mass Driver has just shot an asteroid at Heliopolis! Estimated time for impact, 15 minutes! We have to get out of here, if we don't want to get caught in the aftermath!"
"What?" Kain and Tapp exclaimed. Then, Kain turned his Dragonar back to the colony. "Then... I have to go back inside! My Mom is still there... I have to check if she's alright!"
"Kain! You can't go back there!" Light tried to reason with his friend, who was already on his way to the collapsing colony...
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Inside Heliopolis, Kira and his friends were in a rather awkward situation as well. After Miguel and his wingmen had been driven away, Kira had landed the Strike Gundam and he and his friends had tried to tend to Murrue's wound... but as soon as the pain had subsided, Murrue had taken out her gun and pointed it at Kira, much to the small group's surprise and shock!
"What? Hey, hold on a sec... what's the meaning of this? We just helped you, remember?" Tolle shouted, standing protectively in front of Miriallia.
Murrue's expression didn't waver. "I am grateful for what you've done for me, but you kids have been exposed to a top military secret. This Mobile Suit's presence in this colony is something no civilian should have been aware of - and no civilian should handle carelessly, either." she said.
"Give me a freaking break..." Tolle sighed as he and his friend all stood in one place alongside Kira. "I mean, you just had Kira pilot the damn thing one minute ago..."
"Your names, one at the time." Murrue ordered. Starting from Sai, all the young Heliopolis inhabitants told Murrue their names, ending with Kira... to which Murrue nodded and introduced herself. "And I am Murrue Ramius, an officer of the Earth Union military. It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that none of you may leave here now. Despite the circumstances, the fact remains that you have seen an high-class secret military project. Until I am able to notify the appropriate authorities, who will then determine the best course of action, I cannot allow any of you to leave."
"What? This... this is crazy!" Sai exclaimed.
"This is the biggest joke of all! What else could possibly go wrong today?" Tolle exclaimed... just before an alarm signal blared from all of the colony's speakers!
"A shot from Giganos' Mass Driver is heading towards us! Estimated time to impact, 15 minutes! All citizens of the colony, evacuate immediately!" Aoi Wakaba's voice warned the population, causing both Murrue and the group of teens to freeze in fear!
"Ugh... me and my big mouth..." Tolle murmured.
Murrue lowered her handgun and frowned. The situation was getting worse and worse by the minute... At this point, there was no time to discuss about military secrets or whatever, all of their lives were in grave danger! "Tch... it appears there is no other way..." Murrue said. "You all, follow me! I will get you to the Archangel, the ship that's harbored in this colony... and hopefully, we can get away from here in time! Kira... you take the Strike and get out of the colony! The Archangel and the Idaho will follow suit... quick, there isn't much time!"
Kira was still asking himself was exactly was going on there... but he knew better than to waste time in pointless discussions while their lives were in danger. "All... alright!" Kira exclaimed as he climbed back onboard the now deactivated Strike. "Don't worry, everyone... I'll make sure I get out of here in one piece! You follow Miss Murrue to the Archangel!"
"Be careful, Kira!" Miriallia reccomended, before the Gundam's hatch closed. From one of his screens, Kira watched as his friends followed Murrue along a deserted road back to the military HQ. Then, he powered up the Gundam again and flew upwards, to the exits of the colony, hoping he would not meet with too many ZAFT Mobile Suits or Giganos Metal Armors...
"15 minutes to the impact... time is wasting!" he murmured to himself.
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In the colony's corridors, the batle between Mwu La Flaga's Moebius Zero and Rau Le Crueset's customized CGUE was still raging... but it was clear that the masked commander was about to get the upper hand. Neither the Moebius' Linear Gun nor its wired gunbarrels were cutting it, while the CGUE has already inflicted quite a lot of damage to the small flier, destroying two of the gunbarrels.
"Damn..." Mwu swore. "This is not looking so good..."
Rau smiled thinly inside of his CGUE's cockpit. "Well, Mwu La Flaga... much as I'd like to finish things with you once and for all, it appears I have more urgent matters to attend to." he said as he gave a quick glance to his consoles. "Furthermore, this colony isn't going to be around for long. You might want to get away from it, if you want to live longer."
"What?" Mwu exclaimed as the CGUE began speeding away. "Darn... just what I needed! Better get the Hell out of here, before it's too late..."
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"Let me go, you two! My Mom could still be there, for all I know!" Kain exclaimed, as he frantically tried to wriggle his Dragonar-1 free from the D-2 and the D-3 holding him. "Dammit... I need to save her! Or at least see if she's evacuated along with the others!"
"Don't be an idiot, Kain! That asteroid is about to impact on us!" Tapp tried to reason with him. "And that's not all... there's a couple of very large objects approaching this place! Battleships, from the looks of it..."
"What?" Kain exclaimed. Just then, a pair of massive objects emerged from the colony and headed towards outer space, trying to break through the huge army of Metal Armors and Mobile Suits (both ZAFT and Neo Zeon) swarming Heliopolis. A couple of battleships, to be exact... the lead one was mostly white, with grey and red highlights, and seemed to possess a couple of large, sturdy "legs" on the front part of its main body... while the other one looked a lot more bulky, with several cisterns mounted on the sides, and quite a bit more damaged than the other. Following them from a safe distance was the Strike Gundam, still moving quite awkwardly, its pilots trying to adapt to the new zero-g conditions... "No way... and what's hat Gundam doing here? Is it one of the Gundams you were talking about earlier, Light?"
"Yes, I'm pretty sure of it..." the improvised pilot of the D-3 answered, remembering the blueprints he had sneaked a peek at. "The Strike Gundam, if I recall correctly... but I never knew there were two Earth Union battleships hiding in our colony! This thing is getting more and more messed up by the minute!"
"And it's about to get a lot worse! Look at that!" exclaimed Tapp... as the CGUE piloted by Rau Le Crueset emerged from the colony, trying to attack the escaping ships! The Dragonar pilots saw the Strike Gundam make an abrupt turn and meet the CGUE's beam saber with his Armor Schneiders, and barely managing to divert Rau's attention away from the two battleships, who were busy defending themselves as well as they could from the swarm of enemy Mobile Suits and Metal Armors trying to attack them. The CGUE quickly got to a safe distance, only to be met with a couple of shots by Mwu's Moebius Zero's linear cannon. Mildly annoyed, Rau quickly dodged the attack and got away from his opponents, eyeing suspiciously the Strike as it stood ready for another attack...
"There is something strange about that Gundam's pilot... I can feel it..." Rau thought to himself, before allowing himself a small smirk. "Well, that can wait. For now, we've done all the damage we could..."
"All units, retreat to the Vesalius and the Copernico!" Rau ordered. "For now we've done all we could... and the Mass Driver shot will be here any moment!"
The allied Giganos, ZAFT and Neo Zeon troops started a fighting retreat, stopping from time to time to fire some volleys at any would-be pursuers. The Dragonars soon approached the Strike Gundam and the Moebius Zero, keeping their weapons drawn and pointed at the retreating enemies.
"They're getting away! And what's with this Gundam? Who's piloting it?" Kain exclaimed.
A comm. screen opened up on the three boys' consoles, showing the helmeted face of the blond Lt. Mwu La Flaga, whom the trio of friends immediately recognized as an Earth Union pilot from his uniform. "There's no time to reminisce about that... we have to get away from here, this colony will not last much longer! Follow me, everyone... I'll take you to the Archangel's hangar, and we can clear up a few things!"
Some of the improvised pilots seemed to be about to object, or at least to ask a few questions... but they quickly understood that Mwu was right, and that they had to retreat while they still had time! "All... alright!" Kira answered, letting the three DRagonar pilots hear his voice for the first time ever since the mess had begun. Needless to say, all three of them were quite surprised to say the least!
"Kira? Kira, is that you piloting that Gundam?" Tapp asked the young boy. "How did you get in this mess? And where are Tolle and the others?"
"Tapp? Kain, Light?" Kira wondered aloud, as the Strike Gundam turned to the three D-Units. "I can't believe it, how is it that you got inside those things?"
"It's a bit of a long story... we'll explain everything later!" Light said, as the Dragonar trio and the Strike Gundam began following Mwu's Moebius Zero towards the Archangel - which Light correctly guessed to be the larger, "legged" ship. All but Kain, that is, as the Dragonar-1 pilot was still trying to get back to Heliopolis in search for his mother...
"Hold on a second! I still haven't seen if Mom is alright!" the youngest of the Dragonar pilots exclaimed. "I have to go back there! I just need a few minutes!"
"Which the Mass Driver shot isn't going to allow you, kid!" Mwu told him. "You need to think of saving yourself now... don't worry, I'm sure your mom is safe and sound right now! Quick, the impact is imminent!"
"You might want to do what he says, Kain!" Tapp exclaimed, as both the Dragonar-2 and the Dragonar-3 began pulling the Dragonar-1 in the direction opposite to the colony, in an attempt to get his closer to the Archangel and away from the imminent impact. Kain thrashed and protested... but ultimately, there was nothing he could do as both his friend dragged him away, getting closer and closer to the Archangel and the Idaho. The legged ship's hangars opened up, ready to let the new weapons in. The Strike, the Moebius Zero and the three Dragonars all entered the hatch, with the D-1 still putting up some resistance...
And that was when disaster struck.
It started as a blink in the distance... then, the reluctant pilots all saw its brilliance get brighter and brighter, as a small meteor, shot from the Giganos HQ on the Moon, darted towards Heliopolis... and struck, almost faster than the eye could see!
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen. All Kain, Tapp, Light and Kira saw was a flash of blueish light going right through the colony with a deafening noise and speeding away in the distance... and to the untrained eye, it might have looked like the meteor has ethereally gone through Heliopolis, leaving it unharmed...
But this impression was horrifically shattered a moment later. Cracks rapidly started appearing on the doomed colony's hull, while beams of blinding lights radiated in all directions... and all of a sudden, the colony exploded, taking all the lives of those who hadn't been fortunate enough to escape with it! It was a terrifying sight, and even an hardened soldier such as Mwu La Flaga found himself wincing at that, as the wreckage that was once Heliopolis was engulfed in the explosion, shattering in thousands of debris which were launched in the depths of space.
In the Strike Gundam's cockpit, Kira Yamato turned his eyes away from the wreckage and cried for his hometown's destruction...
And Kain Wakaba, still being restrained by his friends, reached out with the D-1's hand towards the doomed colony and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Mom... MOOOOOOM!"
oooooooooo
TO BE CONTINUED...
Well... hopefully this time I've gotten back in my SRW groove! I have a lot of ideas for this saga, and I would hate to see them go to waste...
I haven't added much to this chapter, but hopefully it is more streamlined and flows a little better than my previous draft. I will start working on the next one soon enough, and maybe, just maybe, I can update this story before the end of this month. What can I say, one can always hope!
By the way, I have to thank EmperorDraco7 for pointing out a mistake I had made - Miguel Aiman was supposed to pilot the normal GINN he had in the anime, since his own customized orange GINN had been damaged in a battle with Gai Murakumo. I just corrected that.
Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and I bid you farewell! If you can leave me a review as well, that would be very much appreciated!
See you next time!