Chapter Two: Journey to a Broken Home/ Fall of A Giant
Lagrange Point 3 Colony Cluster, Former Colony L3/C-242 Debris Field.
December 24th. PCA 0079. 1946 Hours.
"Sir! Radio contact re-established with Luna Two!" exclaimed the young woman at the communications console on the Gabriel's bridge.
"Confirmed. Ask of their status, and request reinforcements if at all possible." responded executive officer Thomas Harrison, who was in the captain's chair while Barillas was on the mobile suit deck.
"Aye, sir."
A few minutes later, the young woman snapped off a respectful "Yes, sir" before closing the line with Luna II. Leaving his position in the centre seat, a position he hated, Harrison walked over to communications.
"What news, Gail?" he enquired.
"Sir… the garrison took huge losses, over fifty per cent, before the League made their retreat. Given the nature of our mission and current circumstances, they're sending Mobile Squadron Four, who will arrive within the hour."
Harrison nodded. Over fifty per cent losses?He thought. That one blow may prove costly to us. At least the EOF was unscathed. This was of little comfort to the XO. He had reasoned that even if Ceres Fleet had taken a serious pounding, the Earth Orbital Fleet, the largest in the Federation when assembled, was still at full strength. Unfortunately, the eight Sector Groups of the Earth Orbital Fleet rarely joined to a single force.
Harrison returned to his chair, where he returned to his musings. They say Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I wonder how our C-in-C will take this.
Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base, L3 Sector.
Office of The Commander-in-Chief, Admiral Elizabeth Schenkelberg.
December 24th, PCA 0079. 2000 Hours.
If Commander Harrison possessed any telepathic abilities, he would have been regretting it by this point. Admiral Schenkelberg, the woman who oversaw and had to approve any actions taken by EFSF Operational Command, was furious. So furious, she had called to a meeting all six admirals directly beneath her in the Space Forces' chain of command, the Chiefs of Operations. The seven people now seated in the spacious office, all wearing the black duty jackets of the Federation's flag officers, had the fate of the war to consider.
"Ma'am, I fail to understand why you deployed Mobile Squadron Four." stated Rear Admiral Ash, in his usual emotionless tone.
"It is not your place to question me, Ash. However, the reason they were deployed is simple. Our latest warship, carrying our new prototype mobile suits, was involved in a combat action that ended with the League destroying a colony. MS-Four is there to recover them, and destroy those bastards who condemned three million civilians to death." replied Schenkelberg, clearly displeased by the junior officer's insubordinate tone.
"We've lost two of the prototypes already. If they truly are our salvation in this newborn war, we will need them, and their carrier. And with the League unafraid to use nuclear armaments, we'll need all the equipment and manpower we can muster." claimed Vice Admiral Reed.
The discussion went on these lines for several minutes more, before an ensign from the operations centre informed them over the com system that Mobile Squadron Four had arrived.
Lagrange Point 3 Colony Cluster, Former Colony L3/C-242 Debris Field.
December 24th. PCA 0079. 2008 Hours.
On the portside hangar deck of the Gabriel, Alex Williams stood, facing his Gundam. He supposed it was his now, at least until a more qualified pilot arrived from a vessel of Mobile Squadron Four. Jane Yoshihara coughed softly, to indicate that she was behind him. The two stood in silence in front of the Gundam for almost a minute, before Jane asked a simple question:
"Why?"
Though she had not explicitly said it, he knew exactly what she was talking about. Like him, she didn't understand the butchery that had occurred hours earlier, and claimed their fellow pilots. He turned to face her, seeing that Jane was almost in tears by this point. In a highly uncharacteristic move, Alex stepped forward to hold the other Gundam pilot in his arms, letting her shed the tears she had fought to keep in. They spent what seemed like a lifetime like this. Neither had really kept track of how long it had been for the rest of the world, but it had probably been no more than a few minutes.
The scene was interrupted by an alarm signal. Enemy attack!
Jane lightly whispered in Williams' ear a sweet "Come back to me when this is done" and kissed him softly on the cheek, before parting company to board Gundam 04. Williams, taken aback, blankly stood for another few seconds before moving to Gundam 02. Pushing off in the lack of gravity aboard ship, Alex floated up to the cockpit hatch, before turning and pushing back into the cockpit seat. Pressing a small button right at the inner edge of the right console caused the hatch to close, which brought the front monitor panel and main console into position.
Aboard the Pegasus class carrier Blue Spectre, twelve Titan pilots went through a similar process, preparing to launch from their mothership to aid the Gabriel. It would be a bloody battle.
Bridge, League Fleet Vessel Voracious, Close To L3/C-242 Debris Field.
December 24th. PCA 0079. 2012 Hours.
Aboard the Voracious, the arrival of Federation reinforcements had just been detected. The Pegasus class assault carrier and its Salamis cruiser escorts had flanked around them to meet up with their allies, a clever move that left the Voracious and its group facing four enemy vessels, rather than one. The tension between the two sides quickly filled the vacuum of space, as both sides waited for the other to move.
The first move, as it turned out, belonged to the Earth Federation Forces. Under orders from Blue Spectre, the cruisers Romulus and Remus opened the firing, launching a four-round barrage with the six missile launchers, three twin-barrelled main guns, and lone single-barrelled main gun that comprised the bow-facing armaments of each vessel. The volley of fifty-six beams and forty-eight missiles proved largely ineffective, as most of the missiles were shot down by AA fire, and the beams were aptly evaded. The few shots that did get through fell mostly on the Berlin, which lost a main gun turret, as well as taking damage to the large bow section of the ship.
Voracious' commander did not order a return barrage. Instead, the surviving six Rhinos were sent out, all aiming for the Blue Spectre. That vessel then chose to lash out itself, firing the pair of twin-barrelled mega particle cannons that had deployed from their protective shells on the sides of the hull. The four huge beams tore right through the Hamburg, destroying both its engine nacelles, the bridge, and the 'neck' on which most of its main weapons were mounted. What remained of the once-proud League vessel was consumed by fires and secondary explosions during the following few seconds.
Enraged, the Rhino pilots increased the speed of their move toward the Federal mobile suit carrier, to strike a blow to their enemies. Blue Spectre was in the process of launching Titans, and the ship's two catapults had so far got out four of the dozen mobile suits aboard the vessel. The closest of the four to the Leaguers, the Titan Command type that led the Federation mobile suit group, opened fire on its enemies with its 105mm assault rifle, before three 120mm machineguns unloaded bullets into it, causing it to explode in a pyre of red and white flame.
Gabriel decided to make its presence known, as it opened its mobile suit launch hatches and extended the catapults, preparing to send out the surviving Gundams. Before it did so, it fired the two hyper-impulse positron cannons on the sides of the hull. Releasing two brilliant streams of blue-white particles at extremely high speed, the cannons proved their worth, as they vaporised large sections of the Berlin, which found its surviving hull to be nothing more than a battered hulk.
Launch of the Gundams commenced then. Stepping onto the catapult plate, Williams' Unit-02 crouched slightly, before the plate thrust it forward at high speeds. As the plate reached the end of the catapult Williams detached the Gundam, and fired his thrusters to push away from the ship. Yoshihara copied the move seconds later, heading to join the Titan unit.
"Sir! The Berlin has taken massive damage, she's lost her engines and mobile suit decks, and the heat of those beams has damaged the lower portion of the bridge." reported Voracious' radar operator.
"Very well. Launch signal flares, order the mobile suits back to this ship." ordered Sanders, his tone betraying the anger he felt.
Though they saw the purple 'return' flares launched from the surviving ship of their group, the League mobile suits found themselves unable to leave the combat area. The eight Titans still in operation were keeping them extremely busy, though none of the fourteen mobile suits were likely to fall victim to their opponents any time soon.
A split second later, a Rhino exploded. A mega particle beam had passed right through its reactor, causing it to lose containment and detonate. The beam had come from the barrel of Gundam Unit-04's rifle. Jane Yoshihara was pleased with her second kill, a precision shot indeed. As the five remaining Rhinos scattered, a volley of six yellow-green beams from the 'neck' guns of the Voracious destroyed a Titan, and forced the remainder of the Federal unit to hold back. This cessation of fire allowed the five Leaguers to begin their retreat move, as further fire kept the Federation suits at bay.
Returning to their respective ships, the Federal MS powered down for the time being. The Voracious fired a parting volley of missiles, before retreating, taking a course that avoided Luna II and the EFSF's Earth Orbital Fleet.
Bridge, EFSFS Gabriel, En Route To EFSF Luna II Base.
December 24th. PCA 0079. 2344 Hours.
"Commodore Andes, you're doing what?!" exclaimed Captain Barillas, yelling at the image of the older Federation ship commander on the screen.
"I'm placing you and your crew under arrest, Captain." replied Andes, placing emphasis on Barillas' rank. "During an operation under your command, the Federation Forces lost two classified prototypes, in combat no less! Not only that, but you placed the survival of your vessel over that of a colony, leading to its destruction! Under EFF regulations, you and your crew are being charged with treason, for allowing a colony to be destroyed, as well as breach of the Classified Objects Directive of PCA Double-Zero Sixty-Nine. You will be escorted to Luna Two by Mobile Squadron Four, where you will be placed in the brig pending trial."
After finishing listing the charges and giving orders, the commander of the Blue Spectre closed the channel. Barillas was stunned. He questioned the logic behind the decision, but it was not his place in the chain of command to openly do so. The arrest orders had come from Rear Admiral Patrick Ash, the commandant of Luna II himself. Barillas knew that Ash was opposed to the 'Ranger Three' project and mobile suits in general, but this was excessive. The crew of the Gabriel weren't responsible for the destruction of Lagrange Point 3's C-242 colony, the League were! He supposed that all this would come up at the trial, so he continued to piece together the case for himself and his crew.
Alexander Williams' Quarters, EFSFS Gabriel.
December 25th, PCA 0079. 0004 Hours.
In the room, there was silence. There had been for quite a while now.
The silence was interrupted by a beeping noise. This caused the only occupant of the room to wake from his slumber with a start. Calling out "Just a second!" the room's occupant slid a pair of uniform trousers over his navy blue boxer shorts, and put on a sky blue undershirt. Making sure the trousers were properly fastened, the young man in the room pressed the button that opened the door to his quarters.
"Merry Christmas, sleepy!" exclaimed Jane Yoshihara, before toppling Alex in a playful tackle that would shame most rugby players. Luckily, the lack of gravity aboard ship prevented Williams hitting the deck in a painfully literal sense.
"Eh? Oh, it's tomorrow. Merry Christmas." he replied, still barely awake. "Wait… what's so merry about this Christmas? We've been arrested, and as soon as we reach Luna Two we'll be shipped to the brig."
"I suppose that's true, Alex. Wait, since when did you take such a negative view on life?"
"Since that moron of an admiral unjustly had us put under arrest!"
"Calm down, would you? Once Admiral Schenkelberg hears what he's done, we'll be out in no time."
"I suppose so…"
The two Gundam pilots continued to talk for several minutes, during which Jane's arms remained firmly wrapped around her fellow pilot's waist. With Luna II and trial approaching, both needed all the cheering up they could get right now.
At 0300 Hours, Gabriel reached Luna II, and the crew found themselves being shepherded to the brig, as promised.
Hearing Room A, Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 0930 Hours.
In the main Hearing Room at Luna II, the officers and crew of the EFSFS Gabriel were seated, facing a long table, at which three admirals presided over their trial. The trial had been going on for over half an hour by this point, and it had not been going well for the one hundred and fifty members of Gabriel's crew. Rear Admiral Ash was leading the prosecution case, recounting the details of the events that occurred on December 24th. He informed the court that the Gabriel had retreated into the main portion of L3 Colony C-242, where the League subsequently placed a nuclear warhead. He told the court that this nuclear warhead destroyed the colony and two of the four Gundams, which should not have been in combat anyway.
Taylor Barillas led the defence of his crew, informing the admirals at the front of the court that retreating into the colony was a last resort after League forces began firing on the colony. He reminded the court that the three Titans that had been assigned as a defence contingent had been wiped out, and use of the Gundams was a desperate measure. Despite the valiant defence and epic oratorical abilities of the captain, the case was turning against the crew of the Gabriel.
The trial was interrupted by an announcement:
"Level one battle stations; all base personnel to assigned stations. This is not a drill. Repeating: Level one battle stations; all base personnel to assigned stations. This is not a drill."
That was a very bad sign. If the base's control centre had determined that the situation warranted level one battle stations, it meant that enemy forces had been sighted. The crew of the Gabriel were escorted to the brig; they were not going to be involved this time around.
Main Control Centre, Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 0941 Hours.
"Four enemy ships sighted, cruiser types!" reported a sensor operator, at one of the many banks of consoles at the control centre. The main screen switched from base status to a live image of the enemy vessels. They could be identified as the League's Musai class, even at their current range.
"Confirmed. There's only four of them, they'll surely retreat when intimidated. Copernicus group, launch!" ordered Admiral Ash, now at his post in the control centre. The base commandant's orders were quickly relayed to Luna II's main spacedock, where the dreadnought Copernicus prepared to move out.
Main Spacedock, Launch Gate A, EFSF Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1013 Hours.
The four enemy ships were moving to the perfect position for the ship about to launch. They were approaching the main spacedock's launch gates directly. The Leaguers knew that this would be where the base would send out its defence force. Were any ordinary officer leading the Musai group, they would have stood down instantly had they known the nature of the enemy about to launch. The Federation's dreadnought Copernicus was a fearsome opponent, more so even than the Magellan class vessels of the Federal space fleet. Larger and even more heavily armed than the Magellans, the dreadnought also carried a contingent of twelve mobile suits, something no other 'big gun' warship of the EFSF could claim.
Unfortunately; today was not the Copernicus' day to shine. As soon as Launch Gate A began to open, ready for the massive vessel to exit, the four vessels approaching fired a six-round missile barrage at the dock. All two hundred and eighty-eight missiles hit, destroying the launch tunnel completely as Copernicus approached. The massive vessel, unable to stop itself quickly enough, crashed into the wreckage of the dock and was left paralysed, not even able to launch its mobile suits.
The Leaguers, now with an unopposed run at Luna II's main space gate, prepared for their assault.
Main Control Centre, Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1017 Hours.
"Admiral! The Copernicus has crashed at the gate! League ships are continuing to advance towards the main spacedock!"
"Damn them! We can't afford to lose whatever else remains of the garrison. Release the crew of the Gabriel from the brig, have them launch immediately with a Titan squad." replied Ash, his cold-hearted orders freezing the control centre momentarily.
With the League rapidly approaching the base, Luna II was desperate. Ash knew this, and believed sending the currently unassigned Gabriel into a potentially lethal conflict the only logical move he could make.
Main Spacedock, Docking Berth #27, EFSF Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1038 Hours.
Half of the ships of the Luna II garrison had taken damage. Williams could see this as the base monorail brought him toward the Gabriel's berth. Cruisers and battleships were missing gun turrets, had holes in their hulls, were lacking bow sections. Some had even lost their bridge towers, and at least one had a wrecked engine block.
The other half of Ceres Fleet was gone.
When the League had attacked, they had been merciless. Most of the damage inflicted to the surviving ships came from mobile suits, a testament to the combat superiority of the humanoid weapons. It amazed Williams that Rear Admiral Ash couldn't realise the potential of the mobile suit. He couldn't explain it, but it seemed Luna II's commander hated all mobile suits, and hated the Gundams as much as League Rhino types.
Arriving at Berth #27 the crew of the Gabriel disembarked from the monorail and headed for the boarding tunnel, through which they could get to their posts aboard the ship. For the most part, the one hundred and fifty-two people boarding the Archangel class carrier looked the same.
Most wore the standard beige uniform jacket with its black shoulder pieces bearing the rank pins of the officer wearing it, Federal Forces insignia pinned to the left breast, black collar fastened. The uniform was completed by matching beige trousers, bearing a black stripe running down the outside of each leg, a pair of laced black boots, and a beige peaked cap, with an EFSF insignia pinned on the centre of the front section. The only person lacking the black shoulders was Captain Barillas, whose uniform bore red shoulder pieces, a perk given to ship's commanders only.
Two members of the crew wore noticeably different uniforms. The two pilots, Williams and Yoshihara, wore navy blue jackets with white shoulders and white trousers with a navy blue stripe. Williams' jacket was open, revealing the collarless sky blue undershirt he wore.
As the crew boarded, they knew that the only reason they were being sent out was that Ash didn't want to risk any of the remainder of his precious Ceres Fleet, and believed that the Gabriel, a ship in assignment limbo was all the task required.
Boarding finished shortly after quarter to eleven. Gabriel was awakened.
Main Control Centre, Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1049 Hours.
Within the control centre, an operator was conversing with the communications officer of the Gabriel. The officer in question was giving the ship its orders, though the orders weren't very specific. The carrier, and the dozen mobile suits that were to join it had been ordered to 'drive away League forces approaching Luna II'. Luckily for Ash, Admiral Schenkelberg was waiting in the wings, merely observing his actions. Unluckily for Ash, she was not pleased by her observations.
"Correct, Gabriel. Move to Launch Gate C as soon as you're ready, and wait at the turning point. Once you reach there, dock control will open the space gate and your ship can move out." said the operator, who could hear Gail Macarthur fuming at her post on Gabriel's bridge. Closing the channel, the operator sighed. He disliked the orders as much as she did, he was just doing his job by passing them on.
Bridge, EFSFS Gabriel, Luna II Main Spacedock- Launch Gate C.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1104 Hours.
Leaving Luna II's dock, the newest Federation vessel entered open space, and quickly sighted the enemy. The four ships were close to Luna II's surface, near the Main Spacedock's wrecked Launch Gate A. They seemed ready to deploy mobile suits into Luna II, if they could find a way to get them in past the crashed dreadnought Copernicus.
"There they are." exclaimed Barillas. "Weapons officer; prepare a warning shot with the positron cannons, don't try and destroy the enemy, just scare them. Deploy mobile suits, ready for combat."
His orders confirmed, Barillas sat back slightly in his command chair. He knew that among his inexperienced crew were several tough officers, who could cope with the naïve younger ones. As the gunner lined up his shot and the MS deck sent out the dozen Titans, the 'Shadow Warriors' squad that had kindly been provided by Admiral Ash, he considered recent events.
The Luna Two garrison battered; own command almost destroyed, two Gundams and a colony lost; arrested on overblown charges; trial begun; ordered to defend the bastard who wanted me jailed. Interesting few days I've had. Now to top it off, this is the third time I've been in combat in forty-eight hours. That moron Ash better be offering good combat pay for this.
"Sir? Positron cannons are ready to fire, all our mobile suits apart from the Gundams have been sent out."
"Hm? Oh, good work XO. Fire the warning shot!" ordered Barillas.
Again, two massive beams emerged from the barrels of the Gabriel's most powerful guns, this time not aiming for a fatal hit, though they did come extremely close to one of the League vessels, one which Barillas and his crew were no doubt very familiar with…
Bridge, League Fleet Vessel Voracious, Close To Luna II's Surface.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1109 Hours.
"That was far too well aimed to be a missed shot, that new ship we faced at the colony is trying to warn us away. Very well, we shall heed their warnings. Order all ships to retreat, and to fire a missile volley to cover our escape." ordered Major Sanders. Like most of the other bridge officers aboard the Voracious, he was still trying to blink the afterimages of the enemy vessel's energy cannons from his eyes, with only a limited amount of success. Not wanting to lose any more warships in combat, especially not ones that had only been serving with him for little more than a day, Sanders took the logical course of action and prepared to escape.
The promised volley of a dozen missiles was fired from each of the four ships to cover their escape, eight of them 'blinders', missiles that detonated automatically several seconds after launch, releasing a bright flare. None of the actual missiles scored hits on the Federation vessel, as all of them were shot down either by Titan rifles or Gabriel's own anti-air guns. The Gundams had not even been launched.
Barillas and his ship prepared to return once more to Luna II, where they assumed their trial would continue. Barillas hoped that the absolute moron given the name of Ash would relent and give his ship duty status, instead of simply jailing the crew for actions he personally didn't like. Satisfied as he was with his position as an officer in the Federal Forces, the forty-two year old captain found himself becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the flag officers of the Federation, who all seemed obsessed with maintaining an obsolete status quo in a drastically changing environment.
Hearing Room A, Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base.
December 26th, PCA 0079. 1715 Hours.
"This hearing is dismissed. Admiral Ash, you are to return this crew to their ship immediately!"
Nobody in the hearing room had noticed the opening and closing of the doors, as the both prosecutors and prosecuted were in a heated debate over the actions of December 24th. Barillas had been trying to convince Ash that the destruction of the colony was not something that any of the officers on trial could have avoided, and that claiming otherwise insulted the two deceased Gundam pilots who had tried to prevent the destruction. Once Admiral Schenkelberg opened her mouth, however, the whole room took notice.
"This trial is nothing more than an indulgence of your personal dislike of our mobile suit development plans. The crew of the Gabriel, as they have claimed, were not responsible for the destruction of a colony. The League wiped out that colony with a nuclear weapon."
Ash was nothing if not quick to respond. "Ma'am, these officers allowed that colony to be destroyed! They used the Gundams in combat! These alone are grounds for imprisonment!"
"QUIET! I am the commander-in-chief here, and the final decision will always be mine." exclaimed Schenkelberg, stressing her superiority. "The Gabriel is to be assigned as an autonomous squadron of the Ceres Fleet, under my direct command. The Shadow Warriors mobile suit squadron are also to be assigned to that vessel, along with the two Gundam units."
The most senior officer of the EFSF left the room at that point, her point quite vehemently made. Admiral Ash fumed, but knew he could do nothing but accept the orders given to him.
Barillas wondered how he had got to this point. A newly-minted captain, with a mostly-new crew and a brand-new ship, which carried the two most powerful mobile suits ever, was now under the direct command of the Space Forces highest-ranking officer. Hopefully this would prove a good thing.
Williams sat, stunned. It seemed that he and Jane would be combat pilots, part of a newly-formed squadron based around the Gabriel. The battles they would be a part of would likely be intense, but he had vowed to use the Gundam to defend his mothership and all those aboard, as well as to destroy as much of the League as he could.
With a mobile suit as powerful as the Gundam, the amount he could destroy with it was an incredible amount.
Main Hangar Deck, EFSF Gabriel, Within Luna II's Main Spacedock.
December 28th, PCA 0079. 0940 Hours.
In the main hangar of the Gabriel, all was quiet, a fact only true to the most deafened of people. From both the portside and starboard decks, ten Titans were being loaded onto the ship, members of the Shadow Warriors squadron. They had been unloaded after the brief encounter with League forces two days earlier, and were now being brought aboard once more, walking onto the deck as trucks carrying their optional equipments and ammunition came aboard through the central docking hatch. On the rear deck a similar process was underway, except that mobile suits and trucks had to share the single launch deck. The half-dozen at the back were all regular model Titans, the vanilla of the Federation's mobile suit forces.
More interesting by far were the mobile suits coming on via the forward deck. In addition to the impressive Gundams were a limited-production Titan Kai, the elite pilot model, for the Shadow Warriors' commander; a pair of Titan Cannon types, to provide fire support; a High Mobility Light Armour type, for rapid assault missions; an Electronic Warfare type, to serve as a mobile sensor platform for squad and ship alike; and finally; a Sniper Custom, for long-range precision fire against enemy MS. The remaining four coming aboard were more regular Titan models, though, like their brethren on the rear deck, their performance was superior to the regular models used by the rest of the fleet by almost twenty per cent.
Among the chaos of loading and trooper-like cursing of the chief mechanic as parts were improperly loaded, Alex Williams sat in the closed cockpit of his Gundam. It was his for definite now, as it had been painted with the Shadow Warriors' black jaguar insignia on the right shoulder, as well as having "A.W." and "01-03" painted in black on the right shoulder. The two letters were his initials; it was Gundam-02 no more, but his own mobile suit. The four numbers represented his squad position. The first half of the numbers indicated that he was part of the First Team, the latter half made him the third of the team's three mobile suits.
Williams was too busy to notice all the commotion around his mobile suit. He was busy modifying the onboard computer to better suit his preferences as a pilot. Test pilots never usually did this, so he was enjoying the personalisation process immensely. Opening the main OS file, he was greeted with a dark blue screen with the EFSF insignia embossed on it. As the operating screen ran its startup procedure, several words appeared letter-by-letter on the screen:
RGX-79-01
Guardian Utilities Non-nuclear Defensive Armaments Mecha
(Codename: "Prototype Gundam")
Earth Federation Space Forces
Mobile Suit Operating System version 3.02
That screen was quickly replaced with one comprising several options, listed in a neat row along the left side of the screen. In the top right corner was a clock, informing Williams that the date and time was 0079/12/28 – 0943. Pressing a button on the right armrest control panel opened out a foldaway alphanumeric keyboard, designed to be used for OS modification. Williams selected the first option from the list of six displayed, "Movement Systems". From there, he quickly began typing in his personal alterations to the way Gundam responded to his controls and commands, including macros that allowed him to carry out multiple actions via a single button on the left armrest. Despite the fact that most of a mobile suit's operations were carried out by the computer, the pilot was still the essential component of any cockpit, and further simplifying the pilot's duties could only increase their efficiency.
After what seemed an age of typing, deleting, re-typing, and confirming, Williams came to the last of the sets of options and OS operations. Though it was the second of the options on the main screen, Williams had been putting off selecting "Armament Systems" until the rest of the system had been tailored to his exact requirements. Selecting the menu, a sub-menu was quickly displayed. There were only two menus, "Onboard Weapons" and "Optional Weapons". Selecting the first tag, Williams prepared to read through the details.
When the menu opened, it displayed the three weapons horizontally across the screen, with a label above, and a small image below. The three labels were "60mm Vulcan Cannons", "Beam Sabers" and finally "Combat Blades". Selecting the first, Williams was treated to information regarding the weapons.
Name: HV-03B/60
Description: 60mm vulcan cannons
Number: Two (linked-fire only)
Location: Head-mounted
Ammunition Per Gun: 380 rounds armour piercing
Information: The HV-03B/60 vulcan cannons are a new model of vulcan cannon, using the 60mm calibre, as opposed to the standard 35mm used in the HV-01 and -02 cannons used in previous EFF mobile suits. These guns, despite being of superior calibre to their predecessors, are still only capable of inflicting minor damage on a mobile suit. The most logical uses for these guns are for suppression fire, main camera destroying shots at close range, and anti-missile operations. Located outside and slightly above the 'dual eye' main cameras, these guns are head-mounted, for ease of use and maintenance access. The trigger to fire these guns is mounted on the right control stick, to the right of the right thumb control/ thruster control button.
A pair of similar screens accompanied the beam sabers, and the as-yet unused combat blades, two metre Luna Titanium blades held in the side skirt armour, which could be used for close combat as well as, or in place of the beam sabers. The "Optional Weapons" were similarly informative and uninteresting, giving information on Gundam's powerful beam rifle and the unused 380mm hyper bazooka, an unguided rocket launcher intended for anti-bunker and anti-ship operations. There had been a tag for a third weapon, named "Positron Blaster Cannon", but no image had been presented, and a 'No Available Data' error message box popped up in the centre of the screen when Williams tried to access the file.
Returning to the main menu, Williams chose the furthest left tag of four along the bottom of the screen, marked "System Update. Doing so brought up a display of sixty-four red cubes, arranged in eight rows of eight. A second or two later a popup window reading "Now Rebuilding" came up, as the first cube turned green. A few minutes later all sixty-four had turned green, and the popup blinked out, to be replaced with one that exclaimed "System Rebuild Complete". Sighing, Williams switched the OS back to Normal mode via a button on the right side of the main panel screen, which switched the screen to its usual Critical Information view, giving weapons, fuel and damage status, as well as operational status of 'KN System'.
After powering down the mobile suit Williams exited the cockpit and headed for the briefing room, where the Shadow Warriors' commander, one Lieutenant Commander Lisa Hughes-Jones, intended to inform her squad and its newcomers, Williams included, of how she operated and how she intended the Shadow Warriors to operate.
EFSFS Gabriel Main Briefing Room.
December 28th, PCA 0079. 1030 Hours.
The eighteen mobile suit pilots of the Gabriel had gathered in the briefing room, as per the orders of their squad commander. The long conference table seated twenty-two, ten on each side, and one at either end. Nine pilots sat along the left side of the table, eight along the other. The eighteenth pilot, Hughes-Jones herself, was standing in front of the 1.5 metre wide plasma display on the wall behind the head of the table. In front of each pilot was a small dossier, containing the non-classified elements of their personal profiles and technical data on the Gabriel, the battleships Bethlehem and Jerusalem that escorted it, and data on all the MS types aboard the ship. On the display was technical diagram of the League's frontline mobile suit Rhino, with captions to either side detailing known components of the mobile suit and its armaments.
"You are all likely wondering why you're here." began Hughes-Jones. "The reason this meeting has been called is to introduce the pilots of the Shadow Warriors, new and old, to one another. The dossiers you have in front of you give information on each other, on the ships of our group, and the mobile suits we all use. Know your hardware and know the hardware of your allies, and you will succeed. In this briefing, we will also go over the enemy's hardware, so we can understand what we are facing."
The first person to speak was Benjamin Fowl, the pilot of the Sniper Custom and leader of Team Two. "Why bother? Whenever we face an enemy now, they'll swarm the Gundams, and the Gundams will take them apart."
"You're significantly overestimating the abilities of these Gundams, you know." responded Jane, somewhat annoyed. "Just 'cause they can take bullets they can't win battles alone."
The debates and discussion went on for a while longer, until the time readout on the plasma screen reached 12:00, time to get ready.
Alexander Williams' Quarters, EFSFS Gabriel Residential Block.
December 28th, PCA 0079. 1310 Hours.
Jane Yoshihara seemed to have the worst timing of anyone the other Gundam pilot could ever recall meeting. Alex was, like the rest of the crew, changing from regular duty uniform into the highly formal dress uniform to be worn when attending highly formal occasions. The quartermaster's office at Luna II had one that was a perfect fit, unfortunately he was still getting into it.
As Jane walked in, she found the other pilot halfway through fastening his trousers, one of his ever-present blue undershirts maintaining his decency.
"Ah! You could at least press the buzzer, you know."
"Sorry, sorry." chuckled Jane. "Just wanted to try and embarrass you a little."
"Mission accomplished, Ensign Yoshihara."
Deciding to politely ignore his long-time friend, Alex finished fastening the dark blue uniform trousers he was putting on, and began sliding the black belt through. Fastening the silver EFF insignia buckle, he picked up the navy blue jacket and put his arms in each sleeve. Buttoning the jacket, Williams got to sorting out his collar. Unfortunately, fastening the collar wasn't as easy as it looked. Exasperated by her friend's inability to fasten his own collar, Jane pushed lightly off the deck over to Alex, where she proceeded to fasten up the red collar piece.
"Thanks, Jane. Now I've gotten my own uniform sorted out, I can see you're gunning for 'belle of the ball' award at this pompous ceremony." claimed Alex, finally taking a proper look at his comrade.
She wore the same blue jacket as him, shoulders adorned with the rank pins of an ensign and the matching peaked blue cap Alex was yet to put on, gold trim on both gleaming in the light. The key difference was that Jane had chosen to wear a skirt with her uniform, something the male Gundam pilot was only likely to do when influenced by a vast amount of alcohol. The plain, knee-length navy blue skirt seemed to suit her perfectly. Her black hair flowed freely a short way down her back, and her green eyes almost glowed.
In short, she was beautiful. In the years since their first classes at the Mobile Suit Academy in Antwerp, Williams had never really noticed the fact. He was stunned at how blind he had been.
"Why thank you, Ensign Williams." replied Jane, blushing slightly. "You're not looking too shabby yourself."
She wasn't wrong. Now he had finally finished getting into his uniform, Alex was rather dashing. His average length blonde hair was hidden beneath his cap, but his eyes, almost as blue as Gundam's, seemed to burn. Standing five feet eleven he was a good three inches taller than Jane, and was in good physical condition, something vital for piloting mobile suits in space.
Breaking the silence that had enveloped the room, Alex brightly asked "Shall we go?", to which Jane responded with a pleased nod. Alex then realised he had forgotten to put on the black boots that went with the uniform. Sliding each boot methodically over the white socks he wore, Williams proceeded to lace them up, before finally joining Jane to head to the ceremony they were to attend.
Central Meeting Hall, Earth Federation Space Forces Luna II Base.
December 28th, PCA 0079. 1310 Hours.
"Evangel" Autonomous Mobile Corps Launch Ceremony.
Within the gigantic Luna II base, the Federation had constructed a meeting hall, built to be of such a scale to match. Literally thousands could be seated in the huge hall, but only a fraction of that number were here now. The one hundred and fifty officers and crew of the Gabriel were in attendance, as were the eighteen pilots of the Shadow Warriors. Also there were the combined one hundred and eighty officers and crew of the Magellan class battleships Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the ships assigned to escort the Gabriel, and formed the rest of the Evangel Corps.
On the main presentation stage, a woman stood behind a podium. In her own dress uniform, adorned with all the pins and insignia of an Admiral, the tall, brown-haired woman prepared to speak. As she did so, a giant image of her appeared on the house-sized screen behind her.
The woman's voice boomed from the speakers around the hall as she began to speak, her voice instantly silencing any conversations going on in the hall.
"YOU ARE GATHERED HERE TODAY, OFFICERS AND CREW OF THREE OF THE FEDERATION'S MOST POWERFUL WARSHIPS, TO COMMEMORATE THE LAUNCH OF YOUR SMALL FLOTILLA!" exclaimed Admiral Schenkelberg, her voice tinged with a slight German accent. "THIS AUTONOMOUS CORPS, NAMED 'EVANGEL' AFTER THE HEBREW WORD FOR GOSPEL, WILL BE THE FIRST GROUP IN OUR FLEET DEDICATED TO WARFARE USING THE HUMANOID WEAPONS WE KNOW AS MOBILE SUITS! CARRYING NOT ONLY AN INCREASED NUMBER OF THESE WEAPONS, BUT THE TWO MACHINES THAT ARE THE EPITOME OF THE TECHNOLOGY, THE 'GUNDAM' TYPES, YOUR FLEET WILL BE PART OF OUR FRONT LINE IN MOBILE WARFARE. GOOD LUCK TO YOU ALL, MAY YOU BE SUCCESSFUL IN WHEN YOU BATTLE THE LEAGUE! FOR EARTH!"
Resounding applause echoed in the hall. Evangel Corps was alive.