(Author's Note: There won't be any battles in this chapter, it'll be more plot and character development… Hmm, I think I'm beginning to see a pattern in my own writing. And I've decided to reformat my chapters, so hopefully they won't look as hellishly ugly as they did before! -^^-;;
Once again, excuse any OOC-ness. I haven't seen the 08th MS Team, 0079 or 0080 series, but these guys will be unrecognisable by the time I'm through! Bwahahaha!)
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With essential crew requirements met, the Speranza prepares to leave for Luna II.
All of the crew know they are the last hope for the desperate Federation...
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3rd December 0079
"Alright, all personnel reassigned to the Speranza, get aboard and prepare for launch!"
Keith's call into what remained of the base's intercom was heard, and the sound of rapid footsteps were heard even in Kojima's office.
Keith replaced the intercom microphone and looked at Kojima. "Look, I was out of line yesterday, and I'm sorry." he said to the older man.
Kojima looked up from a stack of singed documents. "No, it was my fault. I shouldn't have doubted you, though you could have got your point across a little less forcefully."
Keith grinned slightly sheepishly. "Oh, okay then. So, you'll be staying at this base?"
"I think not."
"What? You're coming with us?"
Kojima's face wore a sad smile. "Yes. According to what's left of the supply teams, my wife's been evacuated to Luna II. I'm worried in case something happens to her, so I suppose I'd best come along."
Keith was surprised at this. "Evacuation to a military base? Isn't that more 'out of the frying pan into the fire' than from danger into safety?"
"Not really. With the amount of Federal navy units there, Luna II is probably the safest place to be for us."
Keith smirked. "Evidently you guys didn't learn your lesson early on. The Zeon navy has mobile suits, remember?"
"Another reason for me to come. I may not be an expert, but I suppose I could try and think up some better strategies if I see these units firsthand again. Besides, you lot need a leader with experience around."
Keith chuckled. "Alright, but I think you're crazy. Still, we're going there to produce our own mobile suits anyhow."
"Definitely a good plan. If the enemy has something you don't, get one for yourself. One of the first things to know about war, and something we've been trying to do for quite a while. Anyhow, don't you think we should get aboard the ship ourselves?" Kojima asked, a twinkle in his eye.
Keith blushed, and Kojima laughed. "Come on then, let's get going!" he cackled, grinning.
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As Keith and Kojima scrambled aboard the Speranza, they literally bumped into Shiro and two people neither had met before in their lives.
The first was a short, stocky man in a Zeonic uniform, who stood beside a beautiful young woman with short, whitish-blonde hair.
Shiro smiled. "Not much time for introductions, but this will have to do. This wonderful lady here is Aina, and this fellow beside her is..."
"Packard, Norris Packard." the man answered, with a faked drawl in his tone. He grinned up at Keith, who chuckled, getting the obscure-but-still-known reference.
Shiro and the lady Aina raised an eyebrow as one, whereas Kojima just smiled.
As the five moved to the bridge, Shiro tapped Keith on the shoulder. "Look... I know you hate this war as much as the rest of us... so why are you coming along?"
Keith's face showed no emotion when he replied, "I got Sceers, right? But someone gave him orders. And someone else gave this someone orders. What I'm saying is, I want to find who's responsible for this at the top of the chain of command. Then I'll truly get my revenge. Besides, I don't want some green rookie trashing the Gundam."
"Oh..." Shiro said quietly.
Finally, Keith found himself in front of the door into the Speranza's bridge.
"At last, there you are!" Tiff yelled from the captain's chair. "We sent a message to a couple of guys in orbit, and they relayed it to Luna II. They're sending two prototype ships to escort when we exit the atmosphere!"
"Really? That's nice of them, let's hope they work properly... what the..?" Keith said.
A group of Ground GMs and assorted other mobile suits were visible from the bridge window, standing guard over the Speranza.
A certain Ground Gundam was among those gathering to protect the ship...
Keith quickly pressed the COM button. "Michel, what're you doing?!"
"I thought we might need some cover to get out of the atmosphere, just in case..." came the answer, and Keith felt slightly guilty about shouting at him.
"Cover we may need, but you're supposed to be coming with us. You did volunteer, didn't you? And you can't be in two places at once, so..." Keith replied, a little more kindly than before. "Just get out of the Gundam and get on the ship."
"But.."
"We can't use the Ground Gundams where we're going. Best to leave them for others on our side to use. Before you know it, you'll probably get a new MS, so don't worry." "Oh, okay then.."
Keith turned back to Tiff. "Is this thing ready to rock?"
"Just a few more minutes, the engine room crew say it'll take a little while for it to warm up!"
"Alright... Prepare to close all gangplanks and airlocks!" A shudder ran through the Speranza, just as a lone figure scrambled aboard. Slowly, the huge white bulk of the ship rose into the air and stopped, hovering.
"Minovsky Craft system online, engines readied, defensive systems online. All ahead, 40% power!"
Slowly at first, the ship began moving forward, then it tilted a little and climbed higher into the air, its engines flaming. Just then, Michel burst through the door into the bridge, gasping for air.
Keith smiled and gently patted Michel on the back as he flopped into a seat, breathing in deeply. "Well done! Just in time for us to get going, I see!"
"Increase engine power, 80%! We have to get out of the atmosphere now!" Tiff ordered, and nearly immediately the crew were slammed back into their seats by the huge increase in acceleration. Keith had to hold onto a railing in order not to be pinned against the wall behind him.
Clouds sped past as the Speranza rushed through the sky. All of a sudden, there was a sensation of heat, a huge white flash and in a second all there was to see was the infinite dark nothingness of space, lit at a few points by the stars, tiny specks of light in the darkness.
Tiff sighed. "Alright... turn it back down to 50%. We've done it."
Keith felt the joy of being weightless once again, a sensation which was suddenly curbed when the Speranza's internal artificial-gravity ring kicked in, its spinning ensuring none of the crew had to float aimlessly around.
A sudden realisation popped up in his mind. James, Michel and the others wouldn't know how to pilot well in space, would they?
"I think it's safe to say that this is the end of our operations on the ground." Tiff smiled.
"And this is the beginning of them in space. Suit up, guys, it's time I showed you what fighting in space is all about."
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After only a handful of minutes, a very small group had massed at the MS deck, with mixed feelings.
James was nursing a horrible hangover, Michel was becoming increasingly nervous about the whole thing, and Eledore had a certain grim, determined look on his face.
"Right, you ALWAYS have to remember the basic rule of Mobile Suit piloting:
enemies can come at you anywhere. But in space, it's a lot more difficult to find, track and destroy a threat before they attack you or one of your colleagues." Keith explained, feeling a lot like one of the instructors back at the Zeonic Academy.
"So, I will show you how to move and locate targets better in space! Get in your mobile suit or weapon, and let's go!"
"But I don't have a Mobile Suit..." Michel complained.
"Ah, for now you can use one of the GMs. We only need one, but I would appreciate it if you could bring yours back intact. Right," Keith added as he turned back to the other pilots, "I'll launch first in Gundam! Go on, get in and move towards the catapult!"
Quickly, the pilots hopped into their machines. Keith, obviously, chose the Gundam, whereas James decided to operate Guncannon and Eledore was behind the wheel of the Space Tank for the first time. As Michel climbed into the GM's cockpit, Keith almost cursed himself for letting him use the weakest machine on the ship.
Still, they didn't have much else...
No time for thinking like that now. Remember, you've got to show an example to these guys. Keith pushed at the movement controls, and the Gundam walked purposefully forward. Almost immediately after it entered the catapult area, clamps attached themselves to the Gundam's feet.
Keith opened the communications channel with him and the ship. "Right... Launch!" he yelled, and was rewarded when the Gundam shot forward, accelerating at a massive rate, heading straight for the Speranza's open hatchway into the cold darkness that was space.
"Right, do what I do! James, you launch after me!" he said, only just remembering to activate the verniers before exiting the Speranza. "Oh, blast..." Keith groaned, realising that the Gundam was still configured for ground use. As the titan floated right in front of the catapult's range, he hurriedly flipped through the onboard combat computer systems, finally switching the Gundam into "Space Mode".
A split-second later, James hurtled from the catapult, and it was only now Keith noticed the repaired Guncannon's new arms had been painted black.
Just in time, he moved the Gundam sideways with two quick blasts of the verniers, and the Guncannon zipped past where he'd just been.
"Jeez, that was cuttin' it a bit close!" grinned James, before once again clutching at his head and letting out a moan of pain.
Keith laughed. "See? That's why I didn't bother drinking last night! Hey, hold on, use the thrusters to stop!"
James sighed and hit the verniers again, causing Guncannon to slowly halt. "Oh, damn... it's still operating on the assumption it's on land!"
"Switch it over! I had the same problem earlier!"
After a short period of muttering and some cursing, the Guncannon adopted the same position that was used so often in space, rather than looking as though it was standing on nothingness. "There, I've done it." sighed James.
"Right. Michel, Eledore, switch to space mode before you launch!"
There was a sound of both pilots saying various variations of "yes", with Eledore's voice sounding strangely monotonous. Obviously Karen's death had hit the poor young man hard, and Keith made a mental note to try and comfort him sometime.
Immediately the red and greenish-white of the GM was visible against the background of space as it launched, closely followed by the dark green of the Space Tank.
"Michel, how's the movement in space going?" Keith asked into the comm.
"Not too well, I don't know much on the GM's controls." came the answer.
"Hmmm..." The GM wasn't too dissimilar from Gundam, was it? Maybe he could use his suit as an example.
"The control sticks are for using the arms, the pedals are for movement. Hitting both pedals will use all the verniers and move you forwards, using the left one will turn you to the right and vice-versa. I'll give you a diagram later."
"Okay, thanks!" Michel said back into the comm.
And thus the space practice began, at first the three learners moved slowly and found it hard to dodge when Keith came speeding past, but eventually all were zooming joyfully through the eternal night.
"Ha-ha! Wonderful!" grinned James as he zipped right over the Space Tank.
Only one of the pilots wasn't moving very much. Keith just sat, weightless in the Gundam with only the straps holding him in his seat, looking at the Earth.
"...how beautiful the Earth looks from up here..." he whispered. Indeed, it was wonderful-looking. It was easy to forget the devastation the planet had suffered through up here, its pattern of cloud, water and land making it look a little like an oversized marble. Even the biggest explosive would only cause a small mark on the beauty of the world.
But, wait... wasn't that a little mark just there? It seemed to be getting bigger to Keith's eyes. A little hurriedly, he pressed the "Image Enhance/Zoom" button.
A familiar wedge shape came into view...A Magellan-class battleship! No, two of them! Keith had to fight the urge to fire on them straight away.
The communications line opened, and the visual window appeared in a corner on the front cockpit screen, showing a red-haired and harassed-looking young man in a Federation uniform. His rank badge was that of a captain's.
"Where the hell have you guys been?! We've been searching all over Earth orbit for you!" he smirked.
"Aha, we more or less just launched... you're our escorts, correct?" replied Keith coolly.
"Yeah. Captain Kawada of the Magellan battleship Osiris, here to assist!"
Kawada grinned and pulled a nearly-theatrical salute, which Keith nearly chuckled at.
"And your friend is...?"
"Oh, the other ship. That's the Anubis, under the command of Captain Miyahara."
"Excuse me, but I heard two prototype ships were heading out to escort us, not two beat-up old Magellans!"
"Beat-up old Magellan? You haven't looked at our hull properly, have you, Mr. Holt? Go, on have a look." Kawada said with a good-natured laugh.
Keith looked. A massive, elongated tube was attached to the front of the Osiris, replacing the two top mega particle cannons. The very end of this tubing was just under the bridge.
"That, my friend, is possibly the heaviest weapon used by the Federal fleet. It's a railgun, huge modifications had to be done to this ship in order for it to be used."
"A railgun...?" Keith could barely have imagined this could happen. The only real use of railguns earlier in the war was when hundreds of them were Earth's last line of defense against the colony drops, using electricity and a system of magnets to fire shells at massive speeds, capable of punching holes in thousands of tonnes of metal. If Kawada wasn't lying and his Magellan was carrying one, then...
"Powerful, eh? C'mon, you guys had best return to the ship. Then you'd best follow us."
"Alright. All mobile suits, return to the ship. We're finally going to Luna II."
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Can anybody say "Eeek"? And _yes_, the name Kawada is a reference to the film Battle Royale. Hey, you didn't complain at the Evangelion reference (Langley)! ^_^
Sorry this chapter took so long... but expect delays with the next one too, I'm going back to school again soon. *sigh*
Oh, and there's going to be ANOTHER new Federal secret weapon at Luna II, one that's going to have a massive role later.
Here's a hint: It was only built in light of the tearing-up of the Antarctic Treaty.