New Mobile Report Gundam Wing Side Story: Preventers Branch 7
Chapter 3: End of an Illusion
Newly promoted Colonel Ivan Kolotov, Head of Branch 7, walked briskly towards General Une's office. A tough forty-five year old soldier who had fought brilliantly for the Alliance in the war of AC 195, he still had the proud, confident look of a young cadet that he was 25 years ago. He stopped just outside the door to let the security cameras verify his identity. "Come in Colonel," Lady Une said over the intercom. He took a deep breath before stepping inside.
"Colonel Ivan Kolotov reporting as ordered!" he said as he snapped smartly into a salute.
Lady Une stood up from her desk and returned the salute before saying, "At ease Colonel, is your report ready?"
"Yes mam," he replied, although in a much more quieter tone.
"Then let's hear it," she said. Colonel Ivan had been known for talking like a drill seargent all the time. She didn't like the change in his tone.
"Yesterday, Agent Shadow..."
"That rebellious Lt. Sumie you were always bragging about?" interrupted Lady Une with an playful smile on her face, remebering that annoying little prick.
"Yes mam, she had done very well in th operation yesterday, probably well enough that you'd put up with her complaints and attitude for a couple more months," he replied with a grin before returning to his serious demeanor, "Anyway, yesterday, she managed to infiltrate the Asimov, a salvage freighter suspected of carrying contraband materials covered under the Paris Convention of AC 196. Well, she was right. And it's pretty serious contraband." Lady Une nodded, any contraband covered by the Paris Convention was very serious indeed, since it banned all military MS parts and materials. "She initially thought it was Gundarium, but it wasn't... it is, in fact, what we would have had if OZ had completed its Project NG-00."
Now THAT surprised her. OZ had a very short (and secret) project to develop a stronger, lighter form of Gundarium known as Neo Gundarium. It was dropped due to the sheer difficulty in improving the near-perfect durability of Gundarium. And less than a dozen people knew about it before the Preventers found the records. As far as she knew she was also the only one still left alive out of that dozen. The Colonel read her face and chose to continue his report. "They seem to have taken data from the Neo-Titanium armor used by those darn Serpent MS used by the Bartons last Christmas. Agent Shadow is requesting that the Team 1 and the Invincible be sent out to the derilect colonies DXC2L 1 to 3 to investigate possible MS production facilities, and to get our other forces ready for possible conflict."
"Are you ready?" she inquired.
"The Invincible is fully operational," he replied, "All of her weaponry, personnel, research and manufacturing modules have been completed, and she's been camouflaged so well that you can't tell her apart from those new Tokyo-Maru class freighters. She has a full complement of men and three FF-17C Pergrine space fighters and two WINBC-03 Space Pods*. Her sister ship, the Luxembourg, is also nearly completed just in case, though her team and crew might need a few week's more training."
"What about the Invincible's Team 1?"
"Would you like to come and see?" he offered with a smile.
Lt Mark Gallander looked angrily at his fuel gauge. It was down to half-full. Though he had already done half of his mission, the amount of fuel left meant that he had no reserves whatsoever for any problem that might arise. And this mission was going to be full of them, he was sure. For the past few months he'd been mastering his skills in piloting the WINBC-03 Space Pod. Although it was far better than the civilian version, being armed with a 4-shot 180mm anti-MS recoilless bazooka in the left arm, a reshapable thermal blade and stealth/jamming pods, he would rather have piloted one of those MS used in the last war that he had sorely missed. His frustration was interrupted by a radio transmission. "Eagle 1, this is Nest, you read me?"
"I read you Nest, I'm ready, how's it looking from there?" Nest was the command shuttle piloted by his commanding officer, Captain Pablo Rodriguez, who was monitoring every single detail of the mission.
"Scanners are reading green, Eagle 2 is in position. You may proceed."
He nodded. To his right he saw that the second Space Pod piloted by the pretty Emilie Leferve was also in position. Looking straight ahead, he saw their objective, a pair of derilect Tauruses. After doing a quick scan to make sure that there were no explosive devices, he then rocketed forward for a short distance before using his manipulators to grab the wreckage with as much grace as a gymnast. "There!" he thought to himself, "See that Captain?"
"Uh-oh, we may have a problem here," the Captain's voice said over the intercom, still very cool though with a touch of concern. "I'm reading 8 bogies, 4 going for each of you, bearing 137, forget the Tauruses for the moment, take care of them first."
"Great,"he replied angrily, "Be careful Eagle 2, I'm going in!". Four MS against his pitiful Pod. That hardly seems fair he thought, as he swivled his Pod towards the direction stated. His sharp eyes managed to pick out of the darkness of space the group of four MS, all of them Leos, rapidly approaching him. Arming his bazooka, he selected the lead MS as his target. within two seconds a warbling tone indicating a lock-on filled his ears. He pressed a button and a 180 mm shell blew out of his barrel and streaked towards the enemy. The Leo strafed left and evaded, but as it looked up again a second shell had already been fired at it, and the closure rate was too fast for it to react... In half a second the Leo took a hit in the torso, right were the reactor was, and the Leo disintegrated as several tons of nuclear material and volatile gases expanded into a giant fireball that engulfed the unfortunate Mobile Suit. The remaining Leos made a mistake of scattering, because he was expecting it, and two quick shells took out another and damaged a second seriously enough that it now floated powerlessly in space. Out of shells, he jettisoned the bazooka and searched for the fourth Leo. Unfortunately that Leo was a lot smarter. It had ducked down below his Pod and fired its beam rifle at him as it came up. he evaded, but the Leo now loomed right in front of him, mono-sensor flashing and thermal blade drawn. There should have been no escape, but he'd been trained for this. He blocked the blade with his left arm. Although it slashed through it in under a second, the extra second it took to melt through it gave him enough time to keep the blade from hitting his vital systems. The Leo prepared for another slash as he drew his own blade, and both of them thrust at each other, almost simultaneously. For once, the design of the Pod helped, its shorter, lighter arm allowed it to swing considerably faster, and the blade hit the Leo precisely in the cockpit area, and the Leo slumped down, now immobile from the death of the pilot. He smiled and picked up the beam rifle it had been carrying. It had residual charge for two more shots and as he scanned to his left he saw Eagle 2 was having a tough time fighting her two surviving assailants. Two well aimed shots took care of that. Satisfied at a good day's work, he radioed Eagle 2 "Hey Emilie, you ok?"
"Yes, but Nest isn't responding..."
He tried it himself, but only static greeted him, he turned to where the shuttle should be but just as he turned he saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. A second later a blinding light flashed from it...
"Simulation ended, mission failed, again..." Captain Pablo said as he took of Mark's VR helmet. "Well, at least you're getting better."
"And just how are we supposed to fight more than eight MS, AND WIN, with this crappy thing????" Mark shot back.
"You know I'm not so touchy about rank, but watch it, somebody's watching," the Captain replied pointing to General Lady Une and Colonel Kolotov watching from the tower control room above."And the answer to your question is practice, practice, PRACTICE!" he smiled."Now just sit tight for a moment okay hotshot? I'll be doing the explanations for this mission, since we might finally get deployed in a few days. Probably not though, I still think it's a hoax."
-----------------
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The copilot asked for the 3rd time since they deviated course.
"Yes, I'm sure, don't worry, those three colonies aren't full of debris." The pilot replied, "Besides, this will save us about 4 hours."
Barry Grunter, copilot of the freighter Athens bound for L2-17, looked nervously out the window. "But aren't we violating a law here?"
"No, I've been here before, trust me, it's legal."
"Sir, I have a transmission," it was the radio operator, "It's from the salvage vessel Asimov, they're telling us to leave, this is a salvage area."
"Tell them we're just passing by, and we're a Class C freighter that can legally pass through here."
"Aye sir." and he dutifully sent the message, "Sir, they have ok'd our identity, they tell us to proceed."
"See? Told you so..." the pilot said to Barry with a grin.
"Sir! This is the Radar Room! Targetting radar from the Asimov, they've locked on to us!"
Barry turned pale... it couldn't be, could it?
"Vampire**! Three missiles inbound! Constant bearing, range decreasing rapidly..."
"Radio Operator, send out a mayday! I'm going to try to evade!" Too late.
*Just a note to Wing fans not familiar with UC terminology. Generally, these space pods are not just "escape pods" but are full-fleged space construction units. It's like a space-only robot with no legs and has a pair of simplified arms and hands for construction work. I'm assuming that a lot of junk MS parts were used to make Pods and worker bots like in the original Gundam series and some got into military use. Fans familiar with the RB-79 "Ball" (or flying death coffin, as Core of NA has described it...) from the Original Gundam series should have no problem in getting what I'm describing.
**Vampire is the 20th Century US Navy callsign for enemy missile. Let's just say it's still in use by ships(not MS) in AC 197.
Chapter 3: End of an Illusion
Newly promoted Colonel Ivan Kolotov, Head of Branch 7, walked briskly towards General Une's office. A tough forty-five year old soldier who had fought brilliantly for the Alliance in the war of AC 195, he still had the proud, confident look of a young cadet that he was 25 years ago. He stopped just outside the door to let the security cameras verify his identity. "Come in Colonel," Lady Une said over the intercom. He took a deep breath before stepping inside.
"Colonel Ivan Kolotov reporting as ordered!" he said as he snapped smartly into a salute.
Lady Une stood up from her desk and returned the salute before saying, "At ease Colonel, is your report ready?"
"Yes mam," he replied, although in a much more quieter tone.
"Then let's hear it," she said. Colonel Ivan had been known for talking like a drill seargent all the time. She didn't like the change in his tone.
"Yesterday, Agent Shadow..."
"That rebellious Lt. Sumie you were always bragging about?" interrupted Lady Une with an playful smile on her face, remebering that annoying little prick.
"Yes mam, she had done very well in th operation yesterday, probably well enough that you'd put up with her complaints and attitude for a couple more months," he replied with a grin before returning to his serious demeanor, "Anyway, yesterday, she managed to infiltrate the Asimov, a salvage freighter suspected of carrying contraband materials covered under the Paris Convention of AC 196. Well, she was right. And it's pretty serious contraband." Lady Une nodded, any contraband covered by the Paris Convention was very serious indeed, since it banned all military MS parts and materials. "She initially thought it was Gundarium, but it wasn't... it is, in fact, what we would have had if OZ had completed its Project NG-00."
Now THAT surprised her. OZ had a very short (and secret) project to develop a stronger, lighter form of Gundarium known as Neo Gundarium. It was dropped due to the sheer difficulty in improving the near-perfect durability of Gundarium. And less than a dozen people knew about it before the Preventers found the records. As far as she knew she was also the only one still left alive out of that dozen. The Colonel read her face and chose to continue his report. "They seem to have taken data from the Neo-Titanium armor used by those darn Serpent MS used by the Bartons last Christmas. Agent Shadow is requesting that the Team 1 and the Invincible be sent out to the derilect colonies DXC2L 1 to 3 to investigate possible MS production facilities, and to get our other forces ready for possible conflict."
"Are you ready?" she inquired.
"The Invincible is fully operational," he replied, "All of her weaponry, personnel, research and manufacturing modules have been completed, and she's been camouflaged so well that you can't tell her apart from those new Tokyo-Maru class freighters. She has a full complement of men and three FF-17C Pergrine space fighters and two WINBC-03 Space Pods*. Her sister ship, the Luxembourg, is also nearly completed just in case, though her team and crew might need a few week's more training."
"What about the Invincible's Team 1?"
"Would you like to come and see?" he offered with a smile.
Lt Mark Gallander looked angrily at his fuel gauge. It was down to half-full. Though he had already done half of his mission, the amount of fuel left meant that he had no reserves whatsoever for any problem that might arise. And this mission was going to be full of them, he was sure. For the past few months he'd been mastering his skills in piloting the WINBC-03 Space Pod. Although it was far better than the civilian version, being armed with a 4-shot 180mm anti-MS recoilless bazooka in the left arm, a reshapable thermal blade and stealth/jamming pods, he would rather have piloted one of those MS used in the last war that he had sorely missed. His frustration was interrupted by a radio transmission. "Eagle 1, this is Nest, you read me?"
"I read you Nest, I'm ready, how's it looking from there?" Nest was the command shuttle piloted by his commanding officer, Captain Pablo Rodriguez, who was monitoring every single detail of the mission.
"Scanners are reading green, Eagle 2 is in position. You may proceed."
He nodded. To his right he saw that the second Space Pod piloted by the pretty Emilie Leferve was also in position. Looking straight ahead, he saw their objective, a pair of derilect Tauruses. After doing a quick scan to make sure that there were no explosive devices, he then rocketed forward for a short distance before using his manipulators to grab the wreckage with as much grace as a gymnast. "There!" he thought to himself, "See that Captain?"
"Uh-oh, we may have a problem here," the Captain's voice said over the intercom, still very cool though with a touch of concern. "I'm reading 8 bogies, 4 going for each of you, bearing 137, forget the Tauruses for the moment, take care of them first."
"Great,"he replied angrily, "Be careful Eagle 2, I'm going in!". Four MS against his pitiful Pod. That hardly seems fair he thought, as he swivled his Pod towards the direction stated. His sharp eyes managed to pick out of the darkness of space the group of four MS, all of them Leos, rapidly approaching him. Arming his bazooka, he selected the lead MS as his target. within two seconds a warbling tone indicating a lock-on filled his ears. He pressed a button and a 180 mm shell blew out of his barrel and streaked towards the enemy. The Leo strafed left and evaded, but as it looked up again a second shell had already been fired at it, and the closure rate was too fast for it to react... In half a second the Leo took a hit in the torso, right were the reactor was, and the Leo disintegrated as several tons of nuclear material and volatile gases expanded into a giant fireball that engulfed the unfortunate Mobile Suit. The remaining Leos made a mistake of scattering, because he was expecting it, and two quick shells took out another and damaged a second seriously enough that it now floated powerlessly in space. Out of shells, he jettisoned the bazooka and searched for the fourth Leo. Unfortunately that Leo was a lot smarter. It had ducked down below his Pod and fired its beam rifle at him as it came up. he evaded, but the Leo now loomed right in front of him, mono-sensor flashing and thermal blade drawn. There should have been no escape, but he'd been trained for this. He blocked the blade with his left arm. Although it slashed through it in under a second, the extra second it took to melt through it gave him enough time to keep the blade from hitting his vital systems. The Leo prepared for another slash as he drew his own blade, and both of them thrust at each other, almost simultaneously. For once, the design of the Pod helped, its shorter, lighter arm allowed it to swing considerably faster, and the blade hit the Leo precisely in the cockpit area, and the Leo slumped down, now immobile from the death of the pilot. He smiled and picked up the beam rifle it had been carrying. It had residual charge for two more shots and as he scanned to his left he saw Eagle 2 was having a tough time fighting her two surviving assailants. Two well aimed shots took care of that. Satisfied at a good day's work, he radioed Eagle 2 "Hey Emilie, you ok?"
"Yes, but Nest isn't responding..."
He tried it himself, but only static greeted him, he turned to where the shuttle should be but just as he turned he saw a figure out of the corner of his eye. A second later a blinding light flashed from it...
"Simulation ended, mission failed, again..." Captain Pablo said as he took of Mark's VR helmet. "Well, at least you're getting better."
"And just how are we supposed to fight more than eight MS, AND WIN, with this crappy thing????" Mark shot back.
"You know I'm not so touchy about rank, but watch it, somebody's watching," the Captain replied pointing to General Lady Une and Colonel Kolotov watching from the tower control room above."And the answer to your question is practice, practice, PRACTICE!" he smiled."Now just sit tight for a moment okay hotshot? I'll be doing the explanations for this mission, since we might finally get deployed in a few days. Probably not though, I still think it's a hoax."
-----------------
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" The copilot asked for the 3rd time since they deviated course.
"Yes, I'm sure, don't worry, those three colonies aren't full of debris." The pilot replied, "Besides, this will save us about 4 hours."
Barry Grunter, copilot of the freighter Athens bound for L2-17, looked nervously out the window. "But aren't we violating a law here?"
"No, I've been here before, trust me, it's legal."
"Sir, I have a transmission," it was the radio operator, "It's from the salvage vessel Asimov, they're telling us to leave, this is a salvage area."
"Tell them we're just passing by, and we're a Class C freighter that can legally pass through here."
"Aye sir." and he dutifully sent the message, "Sir, they have ok'd our identity, they tell us to proceed."
"See? Told you so..." the pilot said to Barry with a grin.
"Sir! This is the Radar Room! Targetting radar from the Asimov, they've locked on to us!"
Barry turned pale... it couldn't be, could it?
"Vampire**! Three missiles inbound! Constant bearing, range decreasing rapidly..."
"Radio Operator, send out a mayday! I'm going to try to evade!" Too late.
*Just a note to Wing fans not familiar with UC terminology. Generally, these space pods are not just "escape pods" but are full-fleged space construction units. It's like a space-only robot with no legs and has a pair of simplified arms and hands for construction work. I'm assuming that a lot of junk MS parts were used to make Pods and worker bots like in the original Gundam series and some got into military use. Fans familiar with the RB-79 "Ball" (or flying death coffin, as Core of NA has described it...) from the Original Gundam series should have no problem in getting what I'm describing.
**Vampire is the 20th Century US Navy callsign for enemy missile. Let's just say it's still in use by ships(not MS) in AC 197.