Disclaimer: I do not own either Zone of the Enders or Gundam SEED Destiny. They belong to Konami and Bandai respectively.
ZONE OF DESTINY
Chapter One: Calm/Storm
Two engineers walked to the mobile suit hangar, having heard that 3 ZAKU Warriors were in need of repair. On the way there, they were discussing what could have caused them to become damaged in the first place.
"Look Alex, I know that you think that Zack is a great pilot and all, seeing as you grew up with him and all, but that doesn't mean that he is invincible." He turned round to face Alex, "I mean he could have been up against some sort of superior mobile suit along with a better pilot. Heck, it could have been one of the three stolen mobile suits for all we know."
Alex Hector was wondering about what exactly happened out there when he had heard that someone unknown had attacked Zack. True Zack was sometimes reckless but it wouldn't have been too easy for him to be taken out, not with some backup. "Look, I know Zack better than anyone else here and if you were to ask me, I'd say that Zack couldn't have been defeated so easily." Opening the door to the mobile suit hanger, he continued, "I just don't think that he would have –". Looking up at the ZAKUs, he was speechless at how much damage had been caused to them. One of the ZAKUs has had it head and limbs sliced off where as another was full of small holes that looked like they have been shot by a miniature beam rifle. Staring at the last ZAKU, Alex could see no visible damage on it. Looking at the report in his hand, he saw that its battery had been completely drained of all its energy. Turning around, he saw Zack staring at his ZAKU with a look of anger in his eyes. Wondering what's up, Alex went over to meet his friend.
"Hey Zack, ZACK!" he shouted, grabbing Zack's attention, "What the heck happened out there?"
When Zack spoke, there was a strong sense of anger in his voice "Happened? Happened? I was attacked while training, that's what happened! And do you want to know something else? He took out all three of us in about 15 seconds!" This outburst had taken Alex by surprise. 15 seconds? There is no way anyone could have taken out three ZAKUs in that amount of time, no matter how good the pilot was. Looking back to the ZAKU, Alex wondered who could have done this. Zack, sensing this in his friend continued, "You know, the guy who attacked was a complete weirdo. He kept on asking me weird questions, such as "How many moons does Mars have?" I've never met anyone like him. And his mobile suit, that was one of the most powerful mobile suit I've ever seen – if you could call it a mobile suit that is!" This had caught Alex by surprise.
"Wait a moment, are you saying that it wasn't a mobile suit that attacked you? Somehow I find that hard to believe"
Zack turned to face his friend with a serious look on his face. "It's hard to believe, but there is no way that a normal mobile suit could have done this much damage to us." He began to think back on what happened during the attack. "Come to think of it, I think he called it an "Orbital Frame" as well as saying that our mobile suits were no match for him."
"Him?"
"Lieutenant Rick Ultis, that was the guy's name". Zack began to leave "If I was him, I'd watch out, because I'm going to hunt him down!"
Rick had just landed on Earth, and taking ELDAs advice, had sealed Horus away in a Vector Trap. Deciding to take a walk, he came across a small village where there was some trouble involving a trailer with animals inside blocking the road. Deciding to investigate, he headed over to see if he could lend a hand.
"Damn engine, why did you have to clonk out now?" a frustrated voice shouted. "If I don't get these animals to the show, I'll never be able to make ends meet!" He opened the hood of the engine only to be met by a cloud of steam. "What the heck? Now what's up with you? Last week, it was the spark plugs, but what is it this time?"
A voice had spoken behind the farmer "Looks like you need a hand!" The farmer turned round to see a young man with red hair and green eyes. "I'm pretty handy when it comes to mechanics." Walking up to the engine, he began to have a look around. "Hmm, it looks like you have a leak on you radiator, to keep your vehicle going, you would need to constantly add water, at least until you can get this fixed." He turned round to face the farmer, "I could fix this no problem, but you would need to buy the parts needed to fix this."
The farmer was surprised at this sudden generosity from the stranger, but he didn't quite trust him. "An' why should I trust you? Fer all I know, you could be one of those Coordinators."
The young boy turned round with a shocked look on his face. "Hey, I'm no Coordinator, I'm 100 percent natural".
The farmer relaxed a bit "Alright, I'm gonna take up yer offer, but that don't mean that I trust ye, ye hear!" The farmer took out his hand "Jimmy McDonald's the name!"
The stranger took out his hand to shake his hand "Nice to meet you, my name is Ri . . . Henry, Henry G!"
"That's an unusual name ye have there, Henry. Anyway, what's a young lad like you doin' out here in the middle of nowhere?"
Henry smiled "Me, I'm currently travelling around the world at the moment." Of course, I need a place to stay for a while, I don't really have anywhere to stay at the moment."
Jimmy decided to return the kindness, "Alright Henry, I'll let you stay at ma' place as long as you earn yer keep and keep you 'ands away from ma' little girl, you hear me?"
Henry smiled "No problem!" As Jimmy walked away to get the parts, a small bleep came from Rick's communicator. "ELDA, is there a problem?"
The female computer voice responded "There are no problems, but I was wondering why you didn't tell him your real name"
Rick pondered this for a moment "Well, Dingo once told me that if you don't want anyone to find out who you really are you should use an alias. Since he always used Henry G, I though I'd use it here." He looked around, seeing an ocean to his right. "After all, it looks like we'll be here for some time". Seeing that Jimmy had returned Rick got down to fixing the engine.
"WHAT!" it was so loud that everyone could hear Zack, "What do you mean that "We are going to pursue this matter", who's idea was that?" He looked at his fellow pilots who were with him during the incident.
"Give it a rest Zack, no one believes us anyway"
"Yeah, just forget about it!"
Zack was taken back at what they had just said. "Forget about it? How can you two forget what happened to us out there?"
"Look Zack, it's the captain's order, and that's the end of the matter OK"
Zack clenched his fist and banged it on the table, "there is no way that this is over! I'm going to see Captain Franklin about this, who's with me?" The two other solders looked at each other as if they though Zack was going mad. "Fine then, I'll go on my own!" Storming out of their quarters, he moved towards the Captains office. "Damn, what is with those idiots? Can't they see that this is probably bigger than the Gundam thief that happened before?" Barging into Captain Franklin's office, he went straight to his desk, not noticing that the Captain was in the middle of a meeting.
"Captain, what's the meaning of you stopping the investigation into that unknown attacker that attacked me not so long ago? That thing is probably already on Earth and attacking our forces, I demand that you do something about it!"
Captain Franklin got out of his chair "That is enough Algrave!" This has caused Zack to stop yelling. "In case you haven't notice, I'm rather busy at the moment with some very important guest." It was then that Zack looked around the room where he noticed two other people. The first was sitting on a long couch was a young woman with long pink hair and quite large breasts. She smiled at Zack despite his rude entrance. He then notices a tall man with long black hair standing at the window. Looking back at Franklin, he wondered who these people were. "Well then Sergeant, allow me to introduce to you Chairman Gilbert Dullindal and Lacus Clyne" Franklin then turned to his two guest, "I'm sorry about this disruption, I'll have him leave my office".
Dullindal turned round to meet this newcomer. "No, it's alright, he can stay." Walking up to the young pilot, he smiled "I suppose you would be Sergeant Zack Algrave?" Zack had no idea on what to think; here he was, being personally addressed by the leader of ZAFT himself. "I was hoping that we could meet after what I have heard about you." He turned to Franklin, "Captain, could you please escort Miss Clyne to her quarters while I have a talk with Sergeant Algrave here." Franklin was about to protest but seeing Dullindal's resolve, agreed.
"Very well, Miss Clyne, would you please follow me."
After Franklin and Lacus have left the office, Dullindal pointed to a chair. "Please, take a seat." Zack, not wanting to upset Dullindal, sat down and began to wonder what he want to see him about. "I have had a little look on your report on an "Unknown" enemy that left three ZAKUs badly damaged." Zack was about to speak when Dullindal raised his hand. "It's alright, I believe your story." Pressing a few buttons on a computer, a large screen appeared. "Are you familiar with the "Ixion Incident"?"
Zack thought about this for a moment, "Isn't that the incident where the EA and ZAFT had a battle with both forces being totally annihilated? I've heard that both sides blame each other for that". Dullindal nodded at this statement.
"Yes, that is what happened, or at least that is what everyone believes what happened". Pressing a few more buttons, a battle was shown on the screen.
In terms of battle, this was but a small skirmish compared to the battles that happened during the war. On one side, was a fleet of four EA battleships and on the other side, there were three ships that were part of the ZAFT military. The leading ship, the Lesseps class battleship Ixion, had launched several ZAKU Warriors at the EA, who in turn had sent out its Dagger Ls out to combat them. The Captain of the Ixion looked at the battle and thought that he could win this through the use of the Abyss Prototype mobile suit. "Victor, have Bartz launch in the Proto Abyss and attack the ships to the rear, Katlyn, tell the rest of the mobile suits to concentrate the remaining firepower on the other ships!" he shouted. When he gave orders, he demanded that they be followed to the letter. Katlyn had just finished her commands when she began to pick something on her radar.
"Sir, I'm picking something up on radar moving at high speed to wards us. It's moving at – wait, this can't be right, there is no way a mobile suit could have pulled off those manoeuvres". At that point several explosions could be heard in the battle. All of those on board the Ixions' bridge couldn't believe what they were seeing. A purple mobile suit had just appeared and had destroyed two Dagger Ls and a ZAKU with single slash. It then proceeded to attack the remaining mobile suits with a constant attack beams before forming what looked liked a huge beam sabre, destroying all four of the EA battleships. Sensing that there was something underwater, it dived into the water. In a few seconds, screams could be heard over the communicator, signalling that Bartz has been taken down before the smallest battleship was taken down, while the Mobile suit flew up into the air. The Captain got up out of his seat.
"I want all of our remaining firepower to fire on that thing NOW!" As he said this, the fleet fired all of its weapons at the single mobile suit, but it proved that it was to fast for them to even target, never mind hit it. Moving toward the smaller battleship, the mobile suit had cut a large hole in the ship, before shooting some beams into it, completely destroying it. It now only had one more target, the Ixion. Flying towards the Ixion, it landed on top of the deck, allowing the bridge crew to get a good look of their executioner. It was unlike any mobile suit they have seen before, with a delicate feminine look to it, the weapons had been retracted into its arms and the head was shaped like a triangular pyramid. However, the most startling feature of the mobile suit was the eerie green lights that pulsed through the whole mobile suit. As it raised its hand, a giant ball of energy was formed before being thrown towards the Ixion.
The file ended with nothing but static, showing that there was no chance that anyone could have survived the attack. This had taken Zack by surprise. Dullindal turned round to face Zack, before he began to question him.
"What you just saw was the destruction of seven battleships, along with approximately twenty-two mobile suits. I was wondering if you could tell me if the suit you saw was connected to the one that attack the Ixion". As he waited for an answer, Zack was having a flashback to his short battle with Horus. Looking back, he could remember the same green energy lines on Horus as there was on the unknown mobile suit – no – Orbital Frame.
"Sir, although they were different units, it appears that they were made by the same people. I can remember those green energy line quite clearly, they were definitely similar to each other." Standing up, Zack continued "Permission to go and find out what is going on here. I want to go and take care of this myself." Dullindal raised his hand once more in order to calm the young pilot once more.
"As it is, it would be far to dangerous to send you out on your own, particularly in a ZAKU. No, you will be assigned to the Minerva, where you will continue your investigation in a discrete manner and I am also promoting you to Lieutenant. As for your piloting skills, you will be assigned a new mobile suit, the ZGMF X71A Solaris Gundam, is that understood?" Saluting the Chairman, Zack began to leave the room before the Chairman had a few more words to say, "By the way I wish you all the best in your mission, after all it is important that we end the war quickly" before saluting the new lieutenant.
It was the end of another hard day's work for Rick. He never knew that from the looks of it that working on a farm could be so difficult. Lying on his bed, he took out a small picture that he had carried ever since he joined the UNSF. It was the day that both he and Jessica managed to pass the entrance exam. It was also important because it was the same day that she confessed her love for him.
"Jessica, I am sorry, but I may never see you again." Putting the photo away he began to wonder how she was coping on her end. The bleeping on his communicator interrupted his thoughts, encouraging him to ask ELDA about the current situation. "ELDA, have you acquired any more information on how we got here and have you figured a way back?"
"I have come to the conclusion that should the Urenbeck Catapult be aimed in the specific direction, it may be possible for others to get here. Likewise, the same theory would apply to return to our dimension. However, there is no Urenbeck Catapult in this dimension and thus is impossible to return." Staring at the ceiling, Rick realised that he was truly stuck here when ELDA decided to ask another question, "Rick, may I ask why did you decide to join the UNSF?" Once again, Rick was surprised by the question, it was almost as if she was "human" but that's impossible, isn't it?
"Why? Well one was to protect Jessica of course, another was that I don't want to see anymore people dying in meaningless wars." Rick continued to think about it, "I also joined up because there has been others who have inspired me to do so. I'm sure that if they could change things, then I could at least try and keep things the way they are just now." A faint smile appeared on his face, "Of course, that will never happen while I'm stuck here" he added. Satisfied with Rick's answer, ELDA had something to say about the situation.
"Rick, remember that while you are here, I will be there for you at all times. If necessary I will protect you, even if it means my destruction." Despite only being a battle AI, ELDA has continued to surprise Rick with her latest statement.
"Hey wait, I don't, want you to put my life above yours, even if you are only a machine. Listen to me, we are going to find a way back home and we are going to go together, do you understand?" At that moment, there was a knock on the door. "What is it?" asked Rick. As the door opened, a young girl with dark hair and blue eyes came in carrying some food on a tray.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I just though I heard you talking to someone." She put the tray on top of the chest of drawers, "I though you might be hungry so brought you some food".
"Yeah, after that long day at work, I'm starving." Taking the plate, he started eating the mashed potatoes, "Man, you sure know how to make a good meal, don't you Sally?" This comment made Sally blush, "I guess that this is what I deserve after all I have done. Your dad sure knows how to push people to work." Sally got up to leave the room, but Rick didn't want her to leave. "Hey, why don't you stay here for a bit longer, I could use the company?" Sitting down, Sally watched Rick eat his dinner "So Sally, from the looks of thing, I'd say that you don't get to see anyone your own age, am I right?"
A sad look had overcame Sally's face "Well . . . it has always been like this Henry. Ever since my mother died, my father has depended on me to keep things going around here while he takes care of the farm." She got out of her chair and went to look out the window. "Besides, most of the boys in our village left to join EA base that's just a few miles from here."
"Wait, there's a base near here?"
"Yes. All the soldiers tend to go to the Hogshead pub in the village. My farther used to go there but the soldiers were getting worse every day. Now he just sits in front of the television all night." Tears were coming out of her eyes at that moment, "it's as if he doesn't even want to live anymore." As he realised that this was upsetting her, Rick tried to change the subject.
"About your mother, what was she like?"
Sally turned round to face Rick, wiping the tears off her face "She was a wonderful woman, who would always put others ahead of herself. But one day she tried to help and old woman who was being harassed by one of the soldiers from the base. Unfortunately, it turned out that it was the base commander who had suspected the woman of hiding a coordinator. My mother was arrested on the charge of treason along with the woman. In the end, both were found guilty and were executed." As much as she wanted to cry, Sally put on a strong face, "What about your mother, what was she like?"
"My mother? The last time I saw her, she had dumped me outside an orphanage." He said in an angry tone. "All I can remember was that she had tears in her eyes when she left me. I was only three years old at the time but it's the only memory that I have of her." Finishing his dinner, he handed the dirty dishes to Sally. "Thanks for staying to talk, even though it wasn't a happy conversation." The smile had returned to Sally's face, signalling that she was happy to tell someone about what happened to her mother. Leaving the room, this allowed Rick to go back into deep thought about what happened that night.
"Mamma, mamma!" a young Rick was trying to chase a woman with blond hair. "Please wait mamma, please don't go!" he cried. The woman turned round to face him. Bending onto one knee she looked at her son. With tears running out of her eyes, she felt that she couldn't look at her son anymore, but decided to take one last good look at him.
"Richard, my dearest child, I'm sorry that I can't take you with me, but I want you to know that I will always love you and will always be watching you from afar." She took her son into her arms, "So I want you to be strong and stay here OK? I'm sure that you won't be alone here, not with all the other children." As she walked away, she turned to face her son one last time, before disappearing from Rick's life forever.
It had been several days since Rick had arrived at the orphanage in the Nereidum County. As such, he couldn't understand why his mother had left him here in this place. A small girl noticed this and decided to go over and talk to him.
"You wanna play?" she asked. Looking at the boy, she wondered if he would join her in a game of hide and seek. Rick looked up at the girl. She had short green hair and violet eyes and a big smile on her face. Remembering what his mother said, he decided that he would start to make friends.
"Sure. I'm Rick Ultis, what's your name?" he asked.
The girl's smile grew even larger "My name is Jessica Higgins, but you can call me Jess, OK?" From that point on, the two became inseparable from one another.
"Whoa!" Rick had woken up with a shock. "Man, it was that dream again. I wish I would stop having it." Looking at the time, he realised that he would need to get up shortly. "Better get up now, otherwise Jimmy will chew my ass off for sleeping in again."
Elsewhere, Zack was preparing to leave on his mission. Having dressed up in his red ZAFT pilot uniform, he proceeded to the hangar bay where his new mobile suit was located. Upon arrival, he saw his friend Alex Hector, who was also suited up for space flight.
"Hey, what took you so long?" Alex shouted at Zack.
"Alex? What are you doing here?" he asked his old friend.
"Surprised? I was ordered by the Chairman himself to be your support mechanic." He pulled out some documents "And here's some info on your new ride. I must say the Chairman must have a lot of faith in my abilities, because that is some mobile suit we have here." Handing them over to Zack, he continued, "It might not look like much when you look at the armaments. Two beam sabres, two beam boomerangs and two "Scylla" 580mm multi-phase energy cannons. More importantly, it has a Neutron Jammer Canceller installed that allows for a fission reactor to function. We shouldn't have to worry about loosing power. But the most important thing is that it is equipped with several more thrusters than any other mobile suit. From the looks of things, I'd say that this suit was designed to be a high mobility close combat suit." Zack was looking at the specifications as his friend was talking.
"Hmph, all this stuff about how powerful mobile suits are. A good pilot knows that a mobile suit doesn't make a good pilot." Handing the documents back to his friend, he looked around the cargo bay to see a grey mobile suit being loaded onto the shuttle that they are to take to reach the Minerva. "I wonder where to start looking into finding that Frame."
"Sorry?"
"What? Sorry, I was only talking to myself."
"Look Zack, I know you have been assigned to find that mobile suit, but remember, you have to keep a lid on it. If word gets out that there are more enemies than we could handle, there will be mass panic among those in PLANT and those down on Earth, do you understand?"
"Alright, I get the message already!" Boarding the shuttle, they prepared for takeoff. Seeing as Zack had to be prepared for any "disruptions" in their journey, Alex took the pilot seat.
"Central Control, this is Solaris One prepared for take off, over." A few moments later, a girl appeared on the viewing screen.
"Roger that, Solaris One, you are clear for takeoff, I repeat, you are clear for take off!"
"Roger that." Alex replied, confirming the launch of their shuttle. After hale an hour flying towards earth, Alex decided to talk about the Minerva. "Hey Zack, what do you think the crew of the Minerva will be like?"
Zack took his eyes off of his control console for a moment, "I don't know, probably like the same as every other ship out there, full of stiff Captains and lazy engineers, not to mention pilots who think that they are big hot shots or something," he replied.
"So they will just be like us then, eh Zack?" A smile had appeared on Alex's face. Realising what he had just said, Zack began to laugh. "You know Zack, that's the first time I've seen you laugh ever since you were attacked." Zack turned round to face Alex, having a smile on his own face.
"You know, I think the Chairman had the right idea when he put us together. After all, we tend to get along so well with each other, don't we?"
Alex agreed with Zack on this, "That's because we have known each other for a long time. If we had been complete strangers, we would have never gotten on with each other so well." Turning his attention back to piloting the shuttle, he continued, "But I do hope that there are some cute girls onboard. At least it would make things interesting."
Zack sighed. "Is that all you care about in the, cute girls?"
"That, and the chance to play around with mobile suits."
"Well, you better not play around with Solaris, because I don't want to fall into the ocean when I realise that you forgot to plug the wires back in during your playing around." It was Alex's turn to laugh at his friend's little jibe, when the radar picked up an incoming battleship.
"This is Captain Quinn of the Earth Alliance. Surrender now or you will suffer the consequences." This has taken the both of them by surprise. Alex decided to try and negotiate their way out.
"This the cargo ship "Solaris One" and we are simply carrying medical supplies for civilians that requested them."
"Do you think that you can fool me you stupid coordinator? I know for a fact that you are carrying a new mobile suit, which you tend to use against us. At that moment, the captain had cut the transmission, leaving a very pissed off Alex at the controls.
"Stupid, who does he think he's calling stupid! I have a right to go over there and kick his ass, right Zack? . . . Zack?" He turned round to see Zack's seat empty, realising that he has already gone to activate the Gundam. A few seconds later, Zack had appeared on the viewing screen, confirming this.
"Alex, open the cargo doors, let's see what this mobile suit is capable of. Once I have launched, I want you to try and communicate with the Minerva, see if they can send us some backup." Alex opened the cargo doors for his friend before he started to try to communicate the Minerva.
"Listen Zack, don't trash that mobile suit up so much that there won't anything for me to fix, you hear?" On the screen, Zack smiled back at his friend.
"Hey, you're forgetting something – I'm Zack Algrave, Ace Pilot Extraordinaire." He pressed a few buttons on his control station, "OK, Gundam Solaris LAUNCH!"
As the mobile suit launched, the Phase Shift Armour jumped into life, changing the suit's colour from the dull grey colour to a pure white while its six wings spread themselves out. When Quinn saw this, he signalled to his first officer in order to launch all of the Dagger Ls that they had.
Zack watched as the EA ship launch several Daggers to wards him. Raising their beam rifles, they began shooting at him but no matter how good their aim were the agility of Solaris was beyond anything they had seen before.
"Whoa, this thing is incredible. Look at this speed, this manoeuvrability, this thing is unlike anything I've ever piloted before." Seeing that there were several beams heading towards him, Zack quickly dodged all of the incoming shots. "Missed me! Come on, can't you hit me, I though you guys were the best the EA had to offer! Heh, my kid sister could have hit me and she's only five!" He continued to mock the EA soldiers as he avoided their shots. Pulling out the beam sabres, he charged right at the nearest Dagger, slicing off the arms before stabbing one of the beam sabres through the cockpit, destroying it and it's pilot. It then quickly moved onto two other targets, slicing one in half while the other was slashed at the waist. While Zack was dealing with the Daggers, Alex was trying to communicate with the Minerva.
"Come in Minerva, this is Alex Hector of the cargo ship, Solaris One, can you read me! I am under attack and requesting backup, over." In replying to his request, an image of a young girl who looked like she was under pressure appeared onscreen.
"This is Meyrin Hawke of the Minerva, due to the fact that we ourselves are under attack, we cannot send you reinforcements. I repeat we can't send any more reinforcements."
"Roger that, Solaris One, over and out. As the girl disappeared from the screen, Alex was beginning to panic. "Zack, it looks like we are on our own, the Minerva has it's hands – oh crap, ZACK!" he screamed. A Dagger was heading towards him while firing its beam rifle. Barrel rolling out of the way, Alex almost managed to avoid all of the shots but a single shot managed to hit the starboard wing. Zack, seeing that his friend was in danger, pulled out one of the beam boomerangs and threw it at the offending opponent, hitting the thrusters of the Strike pack, killing the pilot instantly.
"Thanks man, I owe you one big time." A relieved Alex had shouted over the comm link.
"Heh, once this is done, we'll go to a pub and have a few drinks without any of our superiors knowing, and of course all the drinks are on you!" Quickly turning around, he sliced the last Dagger into several pieces, killing the poor pilot. Quinn realised that they wouldn't stand a chance against a mobile suit this powerful decided to order a tactical retreat.
"Contact the Girty Lue, tell them that the enemy has another new mobile suit!" he shouted as the ship made its getaway. Zack began to chase after it, when Alex contacted him.
"Zack, leave him just now, we have to help the Minerva repel the attack it's having."
Accepting this, Zack had to make a decision. "Alex, you wing is damage. I'll go on my own and help the Minerva, after all Solaris would probably be a lot quicker anyway." Seeing as there was no other option, Alex agreed that this was the best course of action.
"Alright, you better make a move, from the sound of things it looked like a pretty hectic battle." Giving each other the thumbs up, Zack took off at the maximum speed of Solaris and headed towards the Minerva, leaving Alex behind. "I was right though, there ARE cute girls onboard the Minerva, or at least one of them is." With a smile on his face, he began to plot on how to make all of the girls fall for him once gets to the Minerva.
It was another long day for Rick. He had just finished getting some firewood and was making his way back to the farmhouse. Thinking to himself, he decided that it was time to leave this place and head on elsewhere to see if there is anyone else who could help him. However, his thoughts came to a halt when he saw that the farm was on fire. Dropping all of the wood, he ran down to see what happened
"JIMMY!" he shouted, "JIMMY, SALLY!" Trying to get into the house, Rick smashed a window leading to the living room. Unable to see much due to the thick black smoke, he slowly made his way through the house. There, lying at the bottom of the steps was Jimmy, who had bullet wounds on his arms, leg, and stomach. Checking to see if he was still alive, Rick put a few fingers on Jimmy's neck and felt a faint pulse. Lifting him, he proceeded to remove him from the house. Once outside, he laid Jimmy back on the ground but before he could return to the house, the fire had caused enough damage to cause the house to collapse. Looking at the burning wreckage in fear, he wondered if Sally was still inside.
"Sally, ma . . . Sally." Kneeling down, Rick tried to calm Jimmy down.
"Jimmy, what happened here, who did all of this?" he asked, hoping that Sally was still alive.
"They took ma Sally . . . them soldiers took ma Sally!" he cried, coughing up blood. "Please, save Sally, I beg . . . ye . . . save . . " at that moment, Jimmy had taken his last breath; the last thing on his mind was the safety of his daughter over his own well-being. Standing up, Rick decided to go and help Sally at whatever cost.
"ELDA, it looks like we have a mission to carry out."
Finally, the second chapter (or first, depending on the way you see it) is finished. In the next chapter, Zack and Alex will meet up with the crew of the Minerva who are under attack by the Extended Trio, while Rick will launch a rescue mission only to make a shocking discovery. Don't forget to review, even if it's just to criticise me.