Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or Ace Combat 5.
"The Story I was Looking For"
Chapter 3
"I was looking for a story to make me famous. I never thought about doing non-fiction news reporting."
Quote from Combat Reporter Roy Fredricks, MIA with the rest of the Free Atlantians
Combat Reporter Roy Fredricks' POV
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Atlantic Federation
A.F.S. Kestrel of the Powell Carrier-Class
C.E. 71 June 1st
"I arrived at Pearl Harbor on May 27th, only to see the grim faces of the survivors of Porta Panama. The funny thing is they don't consider themselves survivors, nor do I anymore. I was assigned to the 232nd Mobile Company, which I learned from the Captain of the Carrier Group that was to carry them into that they were just youths, the vast majority being from California. I was further surprised to find that it was only one of three dozen units to exist and that the 232nd, the Wardogs, had fought at the Battle of JOSH-A, they just call it Josh. They don't talk about it, but they wished they had arrived sooner, but listened to orders to be patient before they jumped into the fray and saved many lives, that are now apart of the 232nd and its fellow Youth Mobile Companies, often called the Californian Guard or the West Coast Watch."
"I continued to walk among them, seeing that they were black uniforms with blue and red piping. They mimic the mobile suits black with blue and red trim. I also found they got along well with the normal ground pounders of every type, as well as the naval and air personnel. In fact I witness a fight between these hardened warriors and a bunch of fresh troops recently arrived from training, despite the better numbers of the trainees, the experience of the veterans proved otherwise. No one was sent to the brig of the hospital, but all lost leave, well the new soldiers didn't. Something about not wanting to be out right murders? I think it's their view about this war."
"I learned that discipline in these units is somewhat lax," as they have earned it," or so I been told. These people seem to enjoy their rest. I understand they haven't been reinforced. Some say, that the Battles of JOSH-A and Porta Panama were just to weaken the ZAFT Terrestrial Forces so that a big battle could be fought in space with no worries Earth-side, but the units that survived had been said to abandon their duties of guarding the Mass Driver that their job was to be killed. Colonel Jackson had punched so snort nose officer for saying that."
"As I wonder through them and around them, I find that they are a family in all, except by blood relation. That was proven when a review board, investigating Col. Pete Jackson, released a rumor saying that Col. Jackson had fathered children with a Coordinator woman. No one backed down from facing the board and the review board was found to have exceeded their duties and was removed from its duties. All investigations into Col. Jackson stopped immediately with pressure from D.C. The colonel has friends and family in high positions of the government and the military, as well as the Alliance. When the reports of the rumors and where they came from arrived there, the board found their careers in danger. The veterans had a party despite being trapped aboard ship."
"Throughout my stay with them, I found that they connected Blue Cosmos to the cause of the war, as the sole party responsible. They said that up until recently the radicals in ZAFT and the PLANTS had been kept in checked by public pressure to keep the peace, but not now. They said that rumors talk of the assassination of Sigel Clyne, the leader of the Coordinator moderates. That now with ZAFT Supreme Commander Patrick Zala now leading both the PLANTS and ZAFT, the Coordinators have fallen into a military dictatorship. They also stated that the Alliance is also heading down that road and suspects two years at best, before the Alliance is oppressing Naturals and that the oppress will raise up and begin to fight against the Alliance. The Californians want to rebuild the United Nations and seem to be moving in the direction of that of their own accord."
"I meet up with a guy everyone called "Pops" and a woman with two young kids named "Maw." Apparently, the review board had claimed that Maw was a Coordinator, yet blood samples proved that she was a Natural. How they do that is beyond me as the time and price would be through the roof! Col. Jackson had found the two and brought them to the safety of his old outfit. Pops had a 1st generation Coordinator son he was trying to convince to go to Orb to stay safe, but the son didn't live long to make the choice as an ultra-radical in his unit choose for him. The classic stab you in the back with other radicals helping. Jackson saved Pops, but lacked any matching blood or qualified medics to care for his son. Maw was apparently taken by ZAFT forces for pleasure duties for some officers, but once again there was a split in the ZAFT troops and Jackson had avenged the slain ZAFT moderates. Pops soon proved his capabilities in maintain mobile suits and even programming a number, Jackson found ways to use mobile suits not fully capable or not capable period to be manned by Naturals. His beliefs seemed to have grabbed all of the troops under his command and those just around him just as much as his ways of training troops and equipping them. They use completely different OSs from the other Alliance mobile suit troops. Their OSs are closer to ZAFT's OSs than Alliance, which proves the level of training and experience of these units."
"Though all and all, this has caused many enemies to form against him, but the troops seem to rally around him. I've never seen anything like this. I know now that I'm witnessing legends being forged tougher than steel, than any metal in the fires of war. Troops who ignore fictional news and rallies for factual news and rallies. These people know what's really going on. I never thought much about peace with Coordinators as I do now. I only wanted to become famous, but these people, their fame is from their die hard resolution to the citizens and not the government or the Alliance. I've learned that entire black ops team sent to create more hatred had been wiped out to the last man by Jackson's Heroes. They really don't care about the Alliance or the Atlantic Federation Government or their policies, but have chosen to express their beliefs through peaceful talks and demonstrations and not armed rebellion. They truly are heroes of the people."
End Roy's POV
June 8th
"I've just heard we're to mobilize that we are to be the lead elements in the attack on Orb," announced Col. Jackson.
"WHAT?" came one shout.
"That's a joke right?" asked another.
The assembled members of the 232nd were not glad to hear this. They all knew Orb's leadership was against the war. This had to be a joke.
"This is no joke soldiers," said a smirking officer, Major Kurt Lands. "This invasion is to teach Orb a lesson about siding with ZAFT and against the Alliance."
"You outta know from torching those villages in Aussieland!" shouted a faceless man.
"WHO INTERUPPTED?" shouted Maj. Lands, but all he got was stares.
Major Kurt Lands was known as a murder, a butcher, a killer, but most of all as a Bluie. An avid supporter and supposed non-member of Blue Cosmos. He had earned a negative reputation during the Battle of Carpentaria, when he ordered a number of villages and towns torched to the ground and the inhabitants to be slaughtered. Col. Jackson's brother and a loyal band of troops told the ZAFT Forces and requested their aid in removing the then Lt. Lands. The fighting was fierce and Lands was forced back, but Col. Jackson's elder brother, Captain Lan Jackson, was reported MIA and then KIA with his entire band of soldiers. Some say that Major Lands had them shot and that ZAFT has the bodies buried somewhere. Needless to say that he was promoted by the government by placing blame of the incident on Capt. Jackson, but he was then reprimanded sometime later and sent to an observation post in some remote area before being recalled on the recommendation of Defense Minister Muruta Azrael.
"Col. Jackson, I…" started Lands.
"I don't care what a lair has to say. Get the hell of my transport and out of my service," Col. Jackson said coldly with venom dripping from each word.
"COLONEL JACKSON!" Maj. Lands was shocked, but then continued," just like your brother, always the boy scout."
Then didn't get him any words from Jackson. What it got him as a new hole where his brain had been.
"You claimed to never have seen nor met my brother before that day. Now you've paid for your treason with your life," stated Jackson none to sad to have shot such an ass.
"Colonel Jackson, this is the bridge. The captain wished to speak to you," stated the young female voice.
"No older than 15 years old at best," said Techa.
"Colonel… I… Um… The… body?" Roy Fredricks stuttered.
"I'll get a medal," Jackson replied as he walked over to an intercom. "Jackson to bridge."
"We've heard an in-ship gun shot. Any idea where it came from?" was the captain's question.
"Major Lands is dead. He tried to escape custody," was the reply.
"SAY WHAT?" was heard from the bridge.
"I said I shot Major Lands for trying to escape custody after he revealed that he had torched those villages under orders from Blue Cosmos and that Director Azrael is a member of Blue Cosmos and was in on it," was the second reply.
"That I will put down, but I'll make it that Reporter Fredricks killed the traitor, understood?" came the captain.
"Yes sir, understood."
"That's good. Now about the real reason I wanted to talk to you, the Kestrel is planning to defect and join the Orb Forces. It took them a little while, but a Blue Cosmos Sympathizer was giving the briefing on board, but they found out he is an active member and that the Orb has only refused to join the Alliance, and that they refused ZAFT aid. Sound like a plan?"
"The 232nd is ready to defend Orb."
"Yeah!"
"Let's do this!"
"Victory and Justice!"
"For Peace!"
"FOR TRUTH AND PEACE!" was the grand chorus.
Roy's POV
"I never thought I'd hear that. I can't argue. The Alliance has been going down hill politically. Militarily, it's grown too powerful. The more I thought about it, the more of heroes these people became. The more determined they became to restore peace, the more determined I came to want to tell their tale. I wanted to know how they lived before the war, why they were fighting, what were their thoughts, so many questions for so few people. Forget fame, I've learned that they try and avoid fame, but that gives them fame. I knew only one thing to say and I would say it to the day I died.
"FOR TRUTH AND PEACE!" I shouted gaining their eternal friendship.
"From that day forth. I was a member of their family. They taught me how to pilot a mobile suit with in a few days and built one from their spare parts and made a camera for me to record the upcoming battles. We were still in port, but as soon as the new spare parts arrived with the rest of the needed supplies for the upcoming battle and additional supplies stolen to keep them going, the group set sail with the rest of the 4th Pacific Fleet towards Orb. I would be among the first to land and record the hellish nightmare and have it broadcast live for all to see."
"I sat with them all the time, learning their stories. I learned that the one everyone called Chops, was a young woman who had a very hard time keeping herself in check with so many men around, but that a captain named Miroku Ling, from the 239 had captured her heart and now the two were an item. I meet another woman named Sango Oda from the Republic of East Asia. At first I was surprised she was among the Atlantic Federation troops, but I found out she had runaway from home at a young age and found her way into the 334th Oregon Youth Mobile Company, but that they had been nearly wiped out and had been folded into the 234th California Youth Mobile Company. She told me her brother had always been treated better, because he was a male and she was a female. Her parents had come from high society where the males were more valuable than the females. After she learned of the Atlantic Federation accepting youths of both sexes, she ran away and enlisted with fake documents, her originals that she and a few friends altered to get in. She had lost a few of them as they had been assigned to an outpost just a bit north of Firebase November at Porta Panama."
"As I talked to them I found that nearly every walk of life could be found in among these people and not just that, but every ethnic, religious, and political group, but the list still went on with so many different ways. Some twelve year olds had snuck into the ranks, but Jackson watched them with care, as did the others. Everybody was indeed family. The units also hauled along some family and even people they never met before, but care for none the less, even orphans. These were real Alliance soldiers that I knew must go down in the history books. And I swore to do so as a reporter, as a person, as a member of the family."
