From the last chapter…
"Hi!" the man on the computer said all of a sudden.
Ri had a terrified look on her face and said, "Who… Who are you?"
"Don't worry, I won't do anything to harm you." The man said, "I'm already dead!"
Ri can almost feel her soul leap from her, "Dead? Wh-what d-do you m-mean d-dead?"
Phase 3 – Adeline's Advice
The man had a black hair and a muscular figure. Then he said, "By the way, my name is Jasper Shran. I'm 41 years old now and you're watching what I recorded in Cosmic Era 20. And if you look around you, you can see the legendary Gundams, Wing Zero, Sandrock, Deathscythe, Altron and Heavyarms and another mobile suit named Tallgeese. Actually, I rebuilt them. In history books, they are known to be extinct. Anyway, you 're skilled enough to hack into my final account! How'd I know I was going to die? Well… I was the technological director for the military in this colony, and I hope it's still called Paleonris. Then, I went to earth to get what remains of these Gundams have."
Ri sighed in relief, her tension going off a little.
"And here I thought I was talking to a dead man's soul trapped in a computer. Heck, that only happens in movies!" She whispered.
"Anyway, I rebuilt them in this laboratory using my predecessor's blueprints. But the government knew about this so I immediately secured this laboratory so that no one can get these historical treasures. I don't want them to be sent to war or to be given to the military – I just want them as they are. I'm sure my ancestor would like the same, too. So anyway, when the government found out about this, they stripped me off my job and sentenced me to death."
"Oh, that's gotta hurt." Ri absent-mindedly said.
"Do me a favor, whoever you may be." Jasper said, sounding serious, "Promise me that you won't do anything bad to these things. They are precious to me. And if something bad happens to these things and it reaches my descendants – you're in big trouble. So, this is the end of my recorded account. Oh and by the way, you can still pilot these Gundams just in case you need to move them in a safer place. I added an Operating System to it so you can adjust it anytime – just don't send them into war, although they have bullets and everything else still equipped on them. The gundanium alloys of these things are old and weak. And I mostly advice the Tallgeese to refrain from war – its titanium alloy is getting weak and thin, also having the possibility of having rust, I just sprayed all of them with a laminated armor to avoid major collapses. If the Tallgeese is exposed to solar heat, its weak titanium alloy will melt and the systems will explode, so I advice that it stays in this colony. If needed to be moved, use a hover cargo, please. Each of these mobile suits has computers behind them, informing you of their weapons and a little for-your-information. This is it, time to say goodbye! Take care and remember what I told you!"
"Oh my goodness…" Ri muttered, "These things are actually worth my life…"
"Miss La Flaga!" her communicator sounded, "We spotted your Grappler Cobra and we're about to land!"
She hit the reply button, looking up at Wing Zero's head, "Roger that."
She kept all her possessions in her bag and she took off the password computer and placed it in her bag – only wires of the password computer remained. She exited the laboratory and the door closed. Hopefully, no one saw her go in and out of the cave-like structure – or so she thought. Then, she saw the aiding aircrafts arrive – she waved her arms at them so that they can find her. When she was spotted, they also noticed the door and they asked, "What's this?"
"I went inside." Ri explained but remembered Jasper's words, "But it's just only a storage house with a disgusting smell and I found out it was just trash."
"I see." A pilot said, "Well then, we better get going. Are you all right, Miss La Flaga? Are you hurt?"
"I'm perfectly fine." Ri replied as they lifted the Grappler Cobra, "But that thing's gotta go."
"We understand." The pilot said, "Now, you hop inside the aircraft and we'll take you back to the airbase. And trust me on this, ma'am, we'll get rid of that Grappler Cobra immediately."
Ri smiled and sighed in relief, "That's good news, Mister."
When she returned to her home, she took the password computer she ruined and repaired it. The next day, she secretly placed the password computer to the laboratory.
But not long enough before they found out that one person saw what was inside of the said "storage house" – a witness saw Ri inside with the Gundams around her. And that witness… told the military about that.
End of flashback…
Ri's fingers tightened the grip on the handle of her cup and gritted her teeth, "How could I make such a stupid mistake?!" And with that, the cup's handle crack and the cup fell on the floor, spilling the coffee.
"Gee, what a nice day I'm having!" Ri said in disgust, "I disappointed my brother, I lost my future position and I'm having bigger problems with the Gundams!!! Ugh!!! It doesn't turn out right!!! Why couldn't it get any better?! I JUST HATE MYSELF FOR BEING SO STUPID!!!"
With that she threw the remaining handle which was on her fingers into the wall and it was pulverized into smaller pieces in no time. She felt her knees getting weak and she helplessly cried, sobbing, covering her mouth with her right hand and the other still up in the counter, a trembling fist this time.
The next day…
Ri went to school with her yellow uniform and her hair tied up in a ponytail and her face? Well, wearing an emotionless face this time. She cleaned up her mess in the kitchen when she felt a little better after crying last night.
Everybody in school stared at her, many she can hear murmuring, "Isn't she supposed to be in a RED uniform?"
She wanted to yell at them, but to her dismay, she couldn't because her brain is half empty and half inactive because of what's happening to her.
When school's out, she was still the same – emotionless.
Not until…
"Miss Ri La Flaga!" it was Adeline, waving at her.
Ri ran to her, expecting to hear something good.
Adeline was now wearing a white turtleneck with blue jeans and black boots, and covering her body was a brown trench coat.
"Well?" Ri asked, "Got something to say?"
Adeline looked at Ri from head to toe, "Wearing yellow too soon, eh?"
Ri raised an eyebrow at her and Adeline grabbed her wrist and placed her at the backseat of a black car.
"Hey, where are we going exactly?" Ri curiously said, "To the laboratory?"
"No, we're going to get you into your pilot suit." Adeline said with a smirk, "I have a plan wherein the government can't gain control of the Gundams. Where we can put it somewhere we know it's safe and somewhere… where many people can appreciate them."
Ri said, "Then why are you getting me into my pilot suit?"
"You have to pilot the Gundams to a cargo. Then, you have to be in an Excellion aircraft and try to protect the cargo."
Ri's eyes widened and said, "Hey, am I going to do this alone?!"
"Of course not!" Adeline replied, "You're with other Excellion units. And surrounding the cargo will be vehicles with missile launchers."
"Whoa, this place must be really important! Excellion units are pretty expensive aircrafts for war!" Ri exclaimed.
"It's a place where my uncle works." Adeline said, "And believe me, he's damn wealthy."
"Stockbroker?"
"No." Adeline smirked, "Museum owner."
Ri had a plastered smile on her lips and said, "Nice going, Miss Adeline!"
"Driver, you know where we're heading." Adeline told the driver.
"Certainly, ma'am." The driver responded and they got going.
After an hour…
"What? Four Excellions, a huge cargo and missile vehicles, you say?! And they don't have our permission to manipulate those?! You're kidding me, right?!" the colonel yelled to his phone and he was in the Archangel, paying a visit.
"No, sir. I am not joking around. They are from the laboratory where the legendary Gundams were." The man said on the other line, "And this is absolutely illegal, sir."
"Of course it is!" the colonel yelled, "Release the troops and evacuate the people!"
"Sir, we already evacuated the people, only reason is… we had a huge virus nesting on all of the linear catapults and all the navigators in the military base." The man replied.
"WHAT?!" the colonel yelled once more, "THEN WHAT CAN BE DONE?!"
The horrified man on the other line stammered, "D-don't ask me, s-sir. I'm j-just a m-military reporter…"
"We can help, Colonel." Murrue said, "Whatever the case is."
The colonel closed the link to the military reporter and said, "It seems like they're rebels getting away with the Gundams."
"Rebels?" Mu interrupted, "I don't think so. No rebel can afford even just a bullet from the Excellion."
"Archangel, I need your help." The colonel hesitantly said, "It may be impolite but those things can be used!"
Meanwhile…
"You know what?" the driver of the cargo named Mario told Adeline who was sitting next to him, "Mr. Alfred Nedren must be pretty fond of these things!"
Adeline wasn't paying attention to Mario – he was running his mouth by the second they got the last mobile suit in the cargo.
"Hey, everything okay down there?" Ri asked, who was wearing a pilot suit via the radiotelegraph in the cargo.
"Ahoy, Miss La Flaga! Everything is fine, fine, FINE!" Mario happily replied.
Adeline shook her head because of his noise. Ri was piloting the Excellion aircraft that seems to be tailing the cargo. Then, her radar picked up something – someone was approaching them.
Flashback
"I'll send a special mechanic to the military base to get this powerful chip into the main computer." Adeline said, flashing a microchip that was sealed in a glass container with a purple pillow underneath it, supporting the chip.
"And how powerful is it and what's it gonna do?" Ri said, after putting the last mobile suit into the cargo, now closing the laboratory.
"If installed to the main computer properly," Adeline answered with a confirming voice, "it will spread a virus in the military base's navigators and linear catapults. And this chip locks up all the files and programs in them, but not really eating them up or deleting any of them – it just disables the programs and gives them minor glitches, but still, powerful because it would put the linear catapults and the navigators into no use. I'm sure that they would track us down when they find out about this thing we're doing."
"But these mobile suits are already protected by the Paleonris Earth Alliance Administration, right?" Ri said, "Why do that?"
"The colonel of the military is hard-headed you know." Adeline said, "And I'm sure that he'll do whatever that can stop us. We're just going to block his major solution."
"You're good at this game, Miss Adeline." Ri said with a giggle and climbing the Excellion's cockpit, "May we succeed. And… thanks for helping me out."
"No problem, Miss La Flaga." Adeline saluted. Ri saluted back and the cockpit's door closed.
End of Flashback
"Get ready for combat, Miss La Flaga." A pilot of another Excellion said.
"Combat? What do you mean combat? We're only supposed to protect the cargo, right?!" Ri replied.
"That's impossible!" Ri thought, "The mechanic that went to the military's base already called Miss Adeline and told her that the virus already contaminated the navigators and the linear catapults!"
"Oh, we're entering combat whether you like it or not, Miss Ri La Flaga." Another Excellion pilot said, "Confirmed on our radars are the Archangel, the Strike Gundam and the Skygrasper."
Ri had little experience in war – so she was still nervous about this.
"Don't worry, Miss La Flaga." Another pilot told her, "If your Excellion gets broken, we won't charge you for it. After all, you're the one who found the new additions for Mr. Nedren's museum, plus, you're going to be backed up by the Paleonris Earth Alliance Administration if needed."
She shook her head as she heard a missile hit the ground, "Here goes nothing."
A Gundam appeared in front of her and she immediately switched the shield on as soon as the Strike fired its CIWS Vulcans to her Excellion. Of course, no one in the Archangel knew that it was Ri La Flaga piloting the fourth Excellion. She was mostly underestimated since she's only 20 years old.
She fought back by launching missiles to the Strike but to no avail – after all, the Phase-Shift armor is strong.
"Remember Kira," Miriallia reminded, "Do not kill anyone here. They're just civilians as well."
"I understand that." Kira replied.
The Strike was equipped without a pack – it was just a minor thing, why equip?
"Kira, you take care of the vehicles below." Mu told Kira, "I'll teach these Excellions some lessons."
"Roger that." Kira replied.
"Please oh please!" Ri thought, "Let those people below have the ability to drive the Strike Gundam away!"
Then, she noticed that the Skygrasper was making an assault to her Excellion.
"What are you doing?!" a pilot said, "Fight back!"
"I hope you realize that I'm still a military student!" Ri answered, "AND I'M NOT YET DOING PRETTY WELL, THANK YOU!"
"But for a student, I can say you fly the Excellion pretty good. And besides, you're trained as a soldier, so you should be alert always, okay?" Another pilot teased.
"Instead of talking, why don't you just help me out?!" Ri thought as she was disgusted by the pilot's comment and luckily found a usable weapon. She launched her homing missiles to the Skygrasper.
"Darn that pilot!" Mu cursed under his breath and fired the machine guns at her Excellion. And being an ace pilot that he was, he hit the main engines and the Excellion crashed to the ground but saw the pilot parachute his (actually, her – but Mu thought she was a "he") way on top of the cargo.
Ri let go of the parachute straps and jumped inside the backseat of the cargo – after all, the windows are open because they knew anything could happen.
"Mr. Mario, move!" Ri said, standing from her seat and grabbing the wheels.
Mario obediently went to the backseat and Ri took hold of the cargo. She hit the call button on the radiotelegraph and said, "This is Ri La Flaga, and I'm now driving the cargo."
Then an Excellion pilot replied, "Good to hear."
"Actually-" Mario said but was interrupted by Ri.
"Just shut up for a while." Ri said harshly, "I'm getting out of this big problem at once, so I'm sorry Mario. But I could use some silence to concentrate."
She revved up the engines and went faster.
"Hey, the cargo is getting away!" Kira said but was distracted by the missile vehicles when they fired their weapons at him.
"This thing has a shield, right?" Ri asked Adeline as she looked at the slot full of buttons.
"Yeah, it's the button there at the upper left corner." Adeline replied.
"Miss La Flaga…" Mario murmured.
"Mr. Mario, what did I tell you?" Ri said as she concentrated on the road as the cargo was getting a little off balance. Then turned her attention once again to a set of buttons.
"Miss La Flaga!" Mario pointed to the Skygrasper that was already in front of them.
"WHAT?!" Ri ran out of temper and Adeline also pointed the Skygrasper that was aiming its machine guns to the cargo.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the Skygrasper and said, "What happened to the Excellions?!"
"They seem to be fighting off the Archangel." Someone replied through the radiotelegraph.
Just then, she felt her heart stop for a while when she saw bullets flying towards the cargo.
Author's Notes:
Excellion: just think of these things as supersonic aircrafts with a huge array of weapons. Except that they're white and not a typical dark-colored supersonic plane.