Mobile Suit Gundam: Ghosts of War
By son_of_vegeta (formerly wingzeropilot)
DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own Mobile Suit Gundam or anything official (or most things unofficial) related to it. Leave me alone, I'm a college student. The only thing you'd do by suing me is allow me to declare absolute bankruptcy and be free of my debt.
………Wait a minute, that's a good thing…
NOTE: I am aware of the crappy formatting on this. This work, when I created it in MS Word XP, did NOT look as bad as this. There has to be some kind of uploading problem with Fanfiction.net. Don't bother telling me about it in reviews, as I am fully aware (and VERY pissed) about it.
This fanfic contains much, much swearing. Much like the uncut version of the show where two of the main characters came from. Kudos to Sunrise or whoever did the dubbing for 08th MS Team for allowing such un-censoring in their English dub. It added more realism to the story than ANY attempt to use the word "darn" at any time.
Chapter One: "Everyday", Interrupted
AUGUST 9, 0087: AEUG ACTIVITIES INCREASE AS TITANS ANSWER QUESTIONS WITH FORCE
The newspaper was as dependable as ever for crappy news. Between reading too-liberal views and over-censored news, the man had had enough with the media in general.
"Yesterday's news…" The long-haired man tossed the paper in the garbage. "Hey, Karen. Why is it the damn news people always gotta screw around with what really goes on? Liberal, conservative… All this name-calling bull makes me sick of politics as a whole. I'm gettin' tired of all this back-and-forth news reporting crap…"
The tall, well-built redhead standing at the kitchenette turned her head to look back at the man as he ranted, a usual occurrence. Apparently, even after all these years together, he still hadn't gotten over his ability to point out the obvious and try and turn it into something incredibly revolutionary.
"Hell if I know." She pointed the butter knife in his direction. "You, of all people, should be able to understand what goes on inside empty heads."
"Hey, this empty head over here has saved your ass plenty of times, remember?" he retorted as he crossed his arms, an indignant look coming across his face. "What do you have to say about that?"
"As I recall, your 'life-saving' techniques made you piss your pants every time," Karen Joshua replied, a know-it-all smile blossoming on her face.
Eledore Massis considered this for a while.
"…Your point?"
Karen's left eyebrow raised. Looking at the clock, she put the knife down. "Listen, I'd love to stand here and keep pointing out your downfalls, but some of us have a job to go to." With that, she grabbed the piece of toast she was preparing and headed for the door. "See ya."
He lazily waved a hand in her direction. "Later."
After their required service time in the military was over, the two had moved to Von Braun City on the moon. Eledore, using money he had left over from the various songs he had written, bought a large plot of land and started up his own scrapyard business. A fairly lucrative business, given the sheer volume of debris left over from the One-Year War and the many and varied battles afterwards. He still wrote songs, but he had found a rewarding job in the "repair and resurrection" business.
Eledore let loose with a yawn of grand proportions. I need a nap…
Of course, owning your own business allowed you to set your own hours, too.
Another perk of life.
"Oi, Karen!" a technician called out. He ran past the side of the hangar, towards where Karen had just parked her jeep. The tech waited for Karen to finish chewing on the mouthful of toast before he started ranting about the latest technical difficulty. Haven't even finished breakfast and I'm already on the job…
The tech kept on talking about the problem as they walked into the hangar. Several mobile suits of various designs, primarily GMs, were lined up on either side of the long hangar.
After getting out of the service, Karen had a bit of trouble finding a job she enjoyed. She had tried working at an automotive maintenance shop, but thought the work there just wasn't of big enough scale.
Then she had tried being a secretary for a local lawyer. Working for him had reminded her a little too much of serving under Captain Ryer.
Then she had found her current job: working as maintenance chief for the local organized militia. It wasn't much, compared with the Earth Federal Forces, but she got to do work she enjoyed—tinkering around with mobile suits. Granted, the mobile suits were all outdated compared with what was in service in the government, but it was all technology she was familiar with.
Karen told the tech what to do, and he ran off to perform the required task. Soon, a short blonde came up to Karen and asked about the supplies they had ordered for the MS maintenance crew.
The day she started work at the Von Braun Defensive Force, the beautiful young woman had happily introduced herself as Midori Subasa, and insisted they become friends. She was very friendly, and an extremely talented MS technician. Karen soon found herself with a best friend.
Never expected that to happen…
Familiar work, friendly people, no having to carry out orders that went against her morals, and she was living peacefully with a man she was able to tolerate (to an extent). She was happy with where she was.
That day, as many days in everyday life do, went rather quickly, filled with its own comings and goings, as everyday life does.
Everyday life is a funny thing. It comes and goes, sometimes quickly, other times at a crawl. One can never really say that everyday life is memorable, either.
The memorable events in life are what interrupt "everyday", and all too often, they interrupt in a most terrifying and bloody way.
"I'm home!" Karen called out as she walked back to the large scrapyard that was once a back yard. She walked amongst the piles of junk until she found who she was looking for.
Eledore, for his part, didn't seem to notice her coming. Then again, a colony drop probably wouldn't have disturbed him at that time. Not with his headphones on, blasting rock music so loud Karen could hear it even above the high-powered air drill he was using. Of course, not even the drill or the music could compare to his "singing" along.
She grinned and stood behind him, waiting for him to be done with the part he was working on. It looked like part of an ankle assembly for an old GM. After all, a majority of the mobile suit parts used by her VBDF were provided by Eledore's scrapyard.
The music stopped, as did his singing. "Been waiting on me long?"
Eledore must have been a lot more aware of his surroundings than he seemed to be. Karen chuckled. A lot of people could easily mistake Eledore for any random head-in-the-clouds fool (a lot of people), but she knew better.
"Nah. Just got back."
"Well, welcome back, then," he replied. He stood up, wiping off his greasy hands on a rag. "Just finishing up another part for your team. Just between you and me, I think it'd work best on your suit."
She smiled. He always said that. Of course, if she had taken him up on every offer, she'd be piloting six MS by now.
"C'mon. I'll go get supper ready." She turned, heading for the house.
As the two walked back to the house, a loud, high-pitched whine slowly grew in volume. A sudden, massive explosion ripped through the cityscape behind them. Karen and Eledore whipped their heads around, just in time to watch a Titans Hi-Zack fly by and shoot at what looked like an AEUG Nemo. The Nemo evaded, which made the salvo the Hi-Zack had unleashed hit a few houses behind where the MS used to be.
"Oh, hell. Those goddamned Titans aren't even trying to keep from hurting innocent people!" Eledore growled out. Since the 30 Bunch Incident, he had a distinct dislike for the Federation's newest military branch, a dislike shared by Karen and many people in Von Braun.
The Nemo, for its part, seemed to be trying to lead the Hi-Zack away from the residential area, but the Hi-Zack didn't move more than half a kilometer from where it had stopped to shoot.
Karen's fists balled up. "That bastard knows the Nemo isn't going to shoot at him while he's in the middle of a residential block! He's using us as a shield!" She turned to Eledore. "C'mon, we gotta get moving."
He just stood there, looking angry and confused. "Where?"
"The VBDF hangar. We're a defensive force, we should be defending the city!"
He grabbed her arm, drawing her gaze into his. He saw the need to do something in her eyes, and she in his, but he had to say it.
"Karen, listen to yourself! These are the Titans we're talking about, not some small group of leftover Zeon soldiers! They're the entire goddamned military right now! You know what they'd do if they encountered an active city-sanctioned resistance here?" The rest of the concept really didn't need to be said.
Another explosion ripped through the cityscape, this one not even two blocks away from the two.
Karen broke their gaze, shutting her eyes, her head drooping. She really couldn't do anything about it, and it drove her mad knowing that.
Eledore started off towards where the explosion had hit, not letting go of her arm. "C'mon, Karen. That one was close, and there's bound to be injured people over there. You've got more medical training than most people in the area. Let's go help them."
"Right…"
The battle went on for a while. More civilians than soldiers were killed or injured, it seemed. One stray missile had taken out a war shelter containing nearly 300 civilians, killing the entire lot of them. A hospital was also destroyed by stray fire from a Hi-Zack.
A few of the Nemos had thrown their guns aside, either deciding it would be better if they surrendered, rather than allowing more of the city to be destroyed, or that being a prisoner beat dying in combat.
They were wrong. The Titans took no prisoners that day.
Karen stood and watched as the last of the survivors was taken away in an ambulance to one of the surviving hospitals. She stood, wondering as the battle drew to a close elsewhere in the city.
What the hell was I fighting for eight years ago?
Eledore walked up behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"C'mon. Let's go home." His voice was as weary as she felt.
On the way back, Karen's hands were clenched into fists so hard that soon blood seeped between her fingers.
The next day did not go very smoothly. Since the Titans had successfully occupied the city, the VBDF was "under suspension." Not that it mattered much to about half the techs and eight of the pilots; they were all killed in the fighting between the Titans and AEUG.
So, even though they weren't going to be launching for quite a while, Karen went down to the hangar to do maintenance on some of the MS. Working hard helped clear her head, and after the previous day, she needed a lot of clearing to be done. It helped immensely that Midori decided to show up, for pretty much the same reason. She busied herself working on the cockpit hatch of an old Rick Dom. The rest of the day, if not interrupted by anything, would have made it somewhat tolerable.
Then the group of four off-duty Titans came by the hangar. Not only did Karen have to put up with the fact that she really couldn't hurt any of them for what they had did the previous day, not without disastrous consequences, but they even went out of their way to make the day a living hell.
"Hey, macho chick! Why're ya servicing those old pieces of shit?" one brown-haired soldier piped up as he and his group of lackeys stood outside the hangar doors. "I bet it won't even move!" His arrogant laugh only made the situation worse.
"Hey, I heard that that macho chick over there is Eledore Massis's woman."
"Really? That songwriter guy?" Apparently, one of the soldiers knew about Eledore's songwriting career.
"Yeah. He's the one who wrote all those real shitty songs, ranting on and on about love and stupid shit like that. Worst goddamned songs I've ever heard!"
"No kiddin'. I'd rather listen to that classical boy band shit!" More arrogant laughing ensued.
Okay, everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Even I have songs that I like more than Eledore's. At least they aren't blowing shit up.
Of course, if they just harassed her, it meant that they weren't harassing someone else at the time. Karen tried to keep this thought going through her head as much as she could, trying to salvage something, anything of that godforsaken day.
The Titans, as usual, refused to cooperate.
"Hey, cutie!" Karen turned her head to the speaker, a redhead. The redhead looped his arm around Midori's neck and tried to plant a kiss on her face. Midori tried to get away, but the soldier's arm didn't allow for much movement. The other Titans crowded around the two. Midori's face showed extreme discomfort at not being able to get away from the self-indulging "casanova". "No, not you, macho chick, I'm talking to your friend there. Wanna go get some tea, baby?"
Karen knew that Midori was prettier than she was. It was a simple fact that she had gotten over a long time ago. The Titans officer pointing it out so loudly didn't bother her in the least. The fact that he was making her best friend miserable, now that's what pissed Karen off. Slowly, she stood up, her knuckles white as she gripped the torque wrench as hard as she could.
"Karen…" Midori said, warning clear in her soft-spoken yet firm voice. "Remember: Titans! They're Titans, not drunk idiots!"
It was too late. When Karen got angry, truly angry, there was no stopping what would occur later.
One big, messy fight, with all sorts of techniques and injuries involved.
Eledore barreled down the road in his buggy, headed for the hangar. He had just gotten done with the finishing touches on the GM battle computer he had salvaged a week previous and was on his way to deliver it to Karen.
Then he saw her. Or, rather, the unconscious, beaten-bloody form that was her earlier that day. To make matters even worse, he also saw Midori lying not too far from Karen. Her clothing had been ripped to shreds, and she too looked like she had been beaten badly…
Karen's eyes fluttered open. The brightness of the ceiling light stung for a bit, but she soon adjusted and looked around. Somehow, she had ended up in the medical bay of the VBDF hangar, and was bandaged up quite a bit…
Oh, right. Those Titans bastards ganged up on me after I started that fight with them…
All she could remember at that point had been getting down from the service lift, walking over to the Titans dick who had tried to hit on Midori (while keeping a perfect poker face the whole time), stopping in front of him, and slamming her right fist straight into his nose, which crunched in a most satisfying way. She followed it up with a left uppercut into his gut, and a roundhouse kick to the side of his head as he was doubling over.
Before he had hit the ground, she had hit the brown-haired Titan with a spinning backhand punch and left hook, which left him seeing stars. However, by that time, the two other Titans had caught on to what was happening, and decided to jump her. One went low, the other high, and Karen had found herself on the ground. The second Titan had recovered surprisingly fast from her punches, and started kicking her in the ribs.
She managed to wrestle her arms out of the grip of one of the merciless bastards, grabbing onto the redhead's leg and twisting the ankle around as hard and as quick as she could. The bones, ligaments, and tendons were not intended to bend that way, and a sickening crack came from the joint.
That was the last amount of damage she was able to get in, though. The first Titan she had hit had also more or less recovered, and the other had reestablished his grip on her arms. The two Titans holding onto her lifted her up, and she had no way to fight back as the first Titan pounded her face and gut with his fists and feet.
The very last thing she could recall was Midori screaming, "NO!" as they had dropped her and made their way to the younger, less "macho" woman. After that, she had lost consciousness.
"Hey, you're alive," Eledore said gently, giving her a weak smile. He was sitting on a folding chair right next to her bunk, the back of the chair resting against his chest.
"Hey…" she tried to get up, but regretted that decision immediately. The intense pain that had blossomed from her midsection meant one thing: broken ribs, and lots of them.
"Don't even try, or I'll pump you so full of painkillers you won't be coherent for a month," he said, a serious look on his face washing away the weak smile from before. Concern seemed to flow out of his eyes as he looked at her. "You were out for seven hours. I can only guess what happened to you and Midori…"
Oh, SHIT! Midori!
Any pain she had felt earlier vanished as any thought to her own well-being was annihilated by concern for her best friend. "Eledore, where is Midori? Is she OK?"
His right eye twitched, and his gaze fell away from hers, finding a place in his hands. Not a good sign.
"Well, she wasn't roughed up nearly as bad as you were. Physically, I mean…" The tone of his voice scared her as to the further information he was trying to sum up the nerve to say. Hatred, anger, and sadness for his mate's best friend was painfully obvious in his eyes to Karen. "I'm no doctor, but… Karen, I think she was raped…"
A hollow shock went through Karen, from heart to her extremities. She sat there, trying to get a grasp on reality, and failing.
No way. No FUCKING way… God Almighty, why? Why let something like that happen to someone so goddamned innocent…?! Fuck, I bet that was her first time, too… To lose something like that to fucking bastards like those…
A few minutes later, after Karen had gotten over a little bit of the shock, other thoughts came and began tormenting her.
If I had fought a little harder, I'd have sent those bastards to the hospital, rather than letting them rape Midori. Goddammit, if I hadn't even STARTED the goddamned fight, it wouldn't have happened!
It's all my fault…
Eledore watched as his mate's face conveyed the thoughts going through her head. Shock, sadness, anger, absolute rage, a sadness so intense it raged at his heart, and tears of every kind…
Except joy, of course…
He had to say it, or he'd regret it the rest of his life. "Karen, it wasn't your fault. I'm sure of it. I don't know what happened, but seeing what I did, I'm sure you tried to keep this from happening and whoever did this overpowered you…"
Karen turned to Eledore, ignoring what he said completely. "Where is she?"
Eledore nodded towards the other end of the room. A white curtain separated the two cots, but Karen could kind of make out the silhouette of someone lying down on the bed.
"She woke up about an hour after I got you guys in here. She's just lain there, the whole time, staring at the ceiling… I think this has really gotten to her, Karen." Karen's eyes flashed in momentary anger towards Eledore for that last comment. "I mean, more than what I've heard about rape victims." He made sure to keep his voice very low, just barely above an inaudible whisper, so as to not let Midori hear him. "She's damn near catatonic…"
Karen's head drooped, looking down at the cot where she was sitting up on. "Call the hospital and the police. We can't help her as much as they can, I think."
"Tried. Seems all the hospitals are so full still from the Titans' blowing everything to hell that the best they can offer is field triage at the local high school gym. And the police already have their hands full with earlier Titans shit…"
Silence ruled for several minutes, neither person knowing quite what to say. Then Karen asked the fateful question:
"What do we do now?"
Silence ruled for a few more minutes. Neither one of the two had an answer.
"We fight back." Both heads turned to the sound of Midori's soft-spoken, yet still-firm voice, as the curtain between them slid to the side. Midori stood there, a makeshift gown comprised of a trenchcoat covering her body. They stared at her, surprised being an understatement. Midori was a very peaceful person, one who would never, ever have hurt so much as a fly unless she absolutely had to.
Eledore was the first to respond.
"Huh?"
Midori, with a steely resolve neither of the two had seen before and a complete lack of any emotion whatsoever, explained the plan to her.
Apparently, Midori had some AEUG friends. The kind of AEUG friends who offered to let her join if she ever lost faith in the morals of the Federation's military force. The kind of AEUG friends who had lots of pull with the captains of a few AEUG ships.
The kind of AEUG friends who could maybe even smuggle some working mobile suits out of Von Braun City.
And, more importantly, the kind of AEUG friends who could easily smuggle several people out of Von Braun City.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Author's Notes
OK, I know that one was short compared to most of my other fics (especially Gundam Wing: Vengeance), but it served as a good "pilot" episode.
I'm going to try and write this so that it seems like it's a screenplay to an actual Gundam series. It'll have its own ups and downs (hopefully not too many "filler" episodes/chapters), but it'll definitely be an epic saga. Chapters will be written as though they were episodes, so they'll all be about the same length (6-ish pages is approximately a half-hour show, I guess…).
In case you can't tell, this is set during about the middle of Zeta Gundam. If you haven't seen it (like most of us), don't fret. It'll be released here in the States this year (2003). Yes, it's going to be sweet, especially after this whole "G Gundam", "Gundam Wing", etc. stuff (anything non-UC). It'll be good to watch the darkest Gundam series ever, if you ask me (especially one from the original creator of Gundam, "Kill-Em-All" Tomino).
READ AND REVIEW, OR MY HI-NU GUNDAM WILL STEP ON YOU!