Kido Senshi Gundam SEED: The sixth Gundam.
By: Prayer Reverie
Contact: prayerreverie(at)yahoo(dot)com
Summary: A sixth Gundam was developed at Heliopolis, unbeknownst to the Earth Alliance, Orb or ZAFT. AU for changing the SEED storyline and because of Destiny's confirmation.
Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam SEED in any which way (although some days I wish).
A/N: Lomiothiel-YzaknNicol fangirl thanks for the review and the info, but I knew about the rest of the Gundams. Yeah, Fanel was from Escaflowne, I read the mange before starting this and ran out of original names.
Chapter 2: Prometheus attacks!
C.E. 71, January 25th.
"Leah?" he asked.
"My name is Diane Madu." corrected Diane.
"Sorry, my mistake, you look a lot like my younger sister Leah." He apologized.
"Diane here pilots another CGUE and leads the squads when I'm away. She's very talented for her age." said Steve.
"Now where on Heliopolis did you find that suit?" asked Diane, pointing at the shut down Slayer Gundam.
"Near Factory 37S, it was built by OMNI as far as I can tell. But the OS sucks a crap-load of crap, and I was trying to reprogram when Commander Fanel found me." replied Ian.
Ian went over the specifications he found, and the three ZAFT Coordinators exchanged worried looks.
"Mirage Colloid and beam weapons? The Earth Alliance has been busy in the past while. But we receive a comm transmission from Commander Crueset before you came back, and apparently five more units were developed and we managed to steal four of them." said Captain Hashagowa.
"Well I suppose I make the sixth."
-
January 30th
With one of the support teams helping Ian, the Slayer Gundam was reprogrammed, analyzed and finally ready for combat. Ian agreed to hand over a copy of all the data stored inside the Slayer's computers.
Most the Prometheus' crew accepted Ian as one of their own; after all he was a Coordinator. Ian joined up with the ZAFT forces, deciding to get revenge on the Earth Alliance for building the Gundams and destroying Heliopolis.
As a newly minted Private in the ZAFT forces, he was assigned as Diane's wingman and sent on his first patrol mission.
Diane equipped her CGUE with an M7070 shield system and an M68 "Cattus" 500mm recoilless rifle. Her CGUE was painted in a white hue with forest green on the torso, forearms and lower legs.
Ian didn't have much choice to customize the load out on the Slayer; it was arranged for melee combat or stealth missions. The shot lancer, as he found out, was a good way to disable units without destroying them or using power from his battery packs. The downside was that it is a short range weapon, but being able to sneak up on an enemy and take him out without an explosion to alert anyone else was nice.
They were at the halfway point of their patrol and turned back to complete their mission.
"So how is it you joined the ZAFT forces at such an early age?" he asked.
"After the Junius 7 attack, I knew it was my duty to defend PLANT in any way I could. I did very well on the mobile suit aptitude test, and after the Academy I was assigned to the newly built Prometheus to help with tests and such."
"So then how old are you? I get the feeling that not many of the pilots are older than I am." inquired Ian while flying close to Diane.
"I'm turning 17 next month. I've heard that the pilots on the Crueset team range from 15 to 17. As second generation Coordinators it seems there is some 'natural' piloting ability inherent in all of us." answered Diane.
"Wow, that really makes me feel old, and I'm only 20. Well it's sort of good to see young people with jobs these days." He joked.
Diane laughed at that, but her sensor alarms started beeping wildly.
"Sensors are picking up several ships approximately 2000 meters away, it looks like an Earth Alliance task force in attack formation." She reported.
"Aw crap, they got this close without alerting anyone? They seem to have built themselves around the Agamemnon-class cruiser in the center." said Ian, checking his own sensors.
"We've got to report to Captain Hashagowa and Commander Fanel!"
"Calm down, you head back to the Prometheus and I'll stay here and distract them." He said.
"I am your ranking officer on this mission, what gives you the right to order me around?" she demanded hotly.
"Slayer can cloak and slip past the outer ships, your CGUE can't. I've got backup battery power, you don't. Now go!" he replied, and then throttled up towards the fleet, activating his Mirage Colloid.
"Damn rookie." She cursed before acknowledging his 'orders' and turning back to inform the Captain.
If I keep my Phase shift deactivated until the last second I can conserve my power when I really need it. The shot lancer can take out the bridges of those ships, so all I have to worry about are their mobile armors he planned.
He confirmed that Diane was out of range and then started his attack run.
"Damn Naturals! How dare you try to destroy us?!" he screamed while charging towards the first 250 meter ship he saw.
The bridge crew saw the stars in one area shimmer but paid it no attention. The last thing they knew was the shot lancer being fired through the bridge. Ian tore the lancer out of the destroyed bridge and flew towards a 130 meter ship. Targeting the bridge again, Ian positioned himself so the lancer would penetrate from the top, rather than in front. There was always a chance the double-barreled Vulcan turret could find his Gundam.
The ship passed under him and when the time was right, Ian fired the shot lancer through the bridge and then flew away. With two of their vessels disabled, the Alliance task force began to deploy their Moebius mobile armors.
"Crap, surprise attack is over, it's time to fight the old fashioned way." He said.
Disabling one more 130 meter ship, he finally activated his Phase shift armor and armed his other weapons. With his suit now visible, the remaining ships turned to gain a lock with their primary weapons.
Ian flashed the Gundam's eyes, to goad the fleet. In response two of the 250 meter ships fired their Gottfried heavy beam cannons. Ian quickly evaded the incoming beams then throttled up towards a group of Moebius'. Firing his head Vulcan's to distract them, Ian fired twice, destroying one and sending the other spinning off wildly.
Four wire-guided missiles were loosed from the armors with Ian as their target. As much skill as he had with piloting, this was still his first combat mission. The battle-hardened pilot corps of the Earth Alliance could easily tear him apart.
Fortunately for Ian, the Slayer Gundam was more powerful than your average CGUE. Firing his thrusters to move away from the grouping of mobile armors, Ian chose his next target, the Agamemnon cruiser. Arming three of his six missiles, he fired them at another 250 meter ship, doing little damage at all.
Ian activated his beam saber and rushed in close to the main ship. Coming to a dead stop right in front of the bridge, Ian flashed the Gundam's eyes again then swiped the saber up through the bridge, destroying it completely. The cruiser started to veer off course and slid across the top of a 130 meter ship, damaging both capital ships severely.
Finally the Moebius' got together and launched a coordinated assault on Ian. Dozens of missiles were sent flying towards him followed by linear rifle projectiles.
"Holy crap!" he said, pulling up and pushing the Gundam to full speed. He armed and fired his three remaining missiles and they detonated against several other missiles.
In the resulting confusion Ian dropped below the explosion and activated his Mirage Colloid to hopefully escape. He took it slow, keeping all unessential systems on standby or deactivated to conserve power and reduce electronic emissions.
The remaining capital ships and mobile armors spread out in a vain attempt to locate their prey. Calling up his star-chart, Ian surveyed the area he was in, and found a small area of debris to confound his pursuers even more.
He rotated to face his destination, but his proximity alarm went off, alerting him to incoming forces. Looking up, he expected to see Moebius' bearing down on him.
"What the? The Prometheus?" he asked in a surprised voice.
The Prometheus and her escorts had arrived and launched all of their GINNs and CGUEs. The battle was over very quickly. Six of the GINN were armed with M69 "Barrus" heavy ion cannons and M68 "Pardeus" 3-barrel missile launchers or M66 "Canus" short-range guided missile launchers and the Pardeus launchers.
The rest had MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machine guns or M68 "Cattus" 500mm recoilless rifles to deal with the Moebius forces. Seeing it was safe to come out, Ian re-activated his Phase shift and flew at full speed to meet up with his saviours.
"Good job on the save Prometheus!" he said, congratulation the squadron on their victory.
"Ian you little idiot! I'm going to have you court-martialed! Ordering a superior officer and attacking a fleet without orders!" said a very angry Diane.
"Nice to see you too Diane." He replied, holding his laughter in.
"Good job on distracting the fleet Ian. We may not have enjoyed the luxury of preparing for their attack if not for you." said Commander Fanel.
"Just doing my duty. X209 Slayer Gundam requesting permission to land on Prometheus." He replied.
"X209 Slayer, you are cleared to land. Welcome back." came the controller's voice.
Ian smiled as he brought his Gundam in for a landing inside the hangar bay. His first mission a complete success and he got combat experience.
A/N: Second chapter done, and some questions answered. Sort of. Whatever. Please R & R always. Next chapter coming soon!