Gundam: The dark era

by Rock-KOF

What happened in the wars before Heero Yuy took on Oz? The answer is here. I would like to point out that many characters in here are also in my sister's story, assasins. It's M...VERY GRAPHIC! NOT FOR KIDS, BUT PLZ R&R IF YOU CAN HANDLE IT! Inc.

7. Gundam: The dark era: Chapter 6

Read my lips. Gundam Wing is not mine. Gundam the Dark Era is. How's that for political quotation?

Gundam:

The dark era:

Chapter 6:

Risky business:

A few days later...

Howie slung his pack over his shoulder and got off the helicopter. There were fighters landing on the runway. He looked to the right then up at the control tower. General Treize was standing in his commanding position in the center of the room. They acknowledged each other with traditionary head nod.

A jeep pulled up in front of Howie.

"Need a ride?" The driver asked.

Howie nodded. "I could use one." Then he hopped in. Another plane landed on the runway. Howie noticed the tools in the back of the jeep, meaning this guy was probably an aviation mechanic. "Flying C.A.P.s(combat air patrol)?"

"Yeah. They got one, too."

"Got one what?"

"Transport. On their way back. Took some fighters with 'em, too."

"Well, that's good."

The mechanic parked on the end of the runway.

"Well, Max's plane got hit. He said he's having problems with his aircraft. I'm gonna check his plane out after he lands. He said..."

Somebody with a loud voice shouted "Hey! Grease Monkey!". He was trying to the mechanic's attention. Howie slipped out of the jeep.

There was one guy who was bandaged up, smoking a cigarette. He was being accompanied by the loud mouth guy, who had a rifle slung over his shoulder.

"What is it?" The mechanic asked.

"Sorry, I don't mean to bother you, but can you take of this guy for a while?" Said the loudmouth guy, pointing at the bandaged guy.

The mechanic was annoyed. "Why don't you do it?"

"He's becoming a nuisance. It's pain in the ass to have to babysit him wherever I go."

"You know what?" The bandaged man said. "Fuck you. I ought to burn you with my cigarette."

"You can't, you moron." The loudmouth guy countered back, pointing at his bandaged face. "You are blind as a bat!"

"I'm not blind! I just can't see through these fucking bandages!"

"Maybe I should take them off for you..." The guy with the rifle pulled out a knife. Howie got between them.

"Uh, I think we should end the conversation right there."

"Yeah, yeah. Hurry, I'll take him. Get him in the jeep, Max's plane is taxiing in now. I need to go check it out."

Howie helped the bandaged man into the back of the jeep. The mechanic took off toward the plane. Howie stood at the end of the runway with the other guy and watched.

The mechanic looked over to discover that the bandaged man was still smoking. He grabbed the man's cigarette and tossed it aside.

"Don't smoke. We're getting close to the plane. It could be dangerous to have a lit cigarette around it."

They came to a stop under the plane's left wing. The mechanic's assistants were already there, checking the plane. The plane was riddled with bullet holes. From the looks of it, the dogfight must have gotten pretty hairy. He climbed up to the cockpit. He banged on the glass to get Max's attention. Max looked up and gave him a thumbs up, though he seemed clearly rattled.

"What's wrong with this plane?" The mechanic asked his assistants.

"Well..." Answered the chief assistant. "The hydraulics were shot all to hell in the dogfight. The landing gear are clearly fucked up, it's amazing he was able to put this bird down. But, the big thing is that his cockpit door is jammed. He can't get out."

"Can't find anything else wrong?"

"Can't find anything else wrong."

"All right. We need to get him out of there."

The chief assistant smelled the air.

"Sir? Do you smell something?"

The mechanic sniffed. He did smell something. It may still be dangerous. He looked over toward the jeep.

The bandaged guy was lighting another cigarette.

"NO!"

Down at the end of the runway, Howie and the rifle toting, loudmouth guy watched the bandaged guy toss away a cigarette.

"BOOOOOOOOOM!"

The plane exploded in a huge ball of orange flame. The shockwave practically leveled the two. A piece of the plane, still aflame, skidded down the runway toward them. The man with the rifle had to jump to avoid it. It was the plane's cockpit door. He stood there, gaping at it.

Howie shoved the guy.

"You fucking idiot. You couldn't babysit that guy for two minutes. Now, 10 or more men are dead now. Just think. That pilot died scared and cut off..."

"Stop it..."

"FUCK UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! DO YOU HAVE SHIT FOR BRAIN'S? YOU STAY HERE AND THINK ABOUT IT!" Howie shoved the guy to the ground. "DO PUSH UPS! YOU THINK YOU ARE THE CENTER OF THE WHOLE FUCKING UNIVERSE, DON'T YOU? AFTER EVERY PUSH UP, I WANT YOU TO SAY 'I am a dick head. I love my penis.'. NOW DO IT!"

He gave him the push up. "I am a dick head. I love my penis."

"Good. Now you keep on doing those until I come back. AND DON'T YOU DARE FORGET WHAT HAPPENED HERE TODAY!"

Howie left as the fire trucks came in.

Fex was standing near the end of the hall, watching soldiers coming out from breakfast. Then he saw Howie coming down the hall, clearly upset in some way.

"Hey, Howie, what was that explosion?"

"Don't worry about it." He answered coldly. "It's being taken care of." Howie took a position next to Fex on the wall. "I feel like we're going to have an assignment today."

"Why do you think that?"

"I don't know. It's just a gut feeling. And, unfortunately, my gut feeling is usually right." There were loud voices just around the corner in the mess hall. Howie, who had his eye's closed, opened his eyes and stepped away from the wall. "And my gut feeling is we're going to have a nasty confrontation here in a second."

A noisy group of bald soldiers entered the hall. They were obviously trouble. The tall one at the head of the group turned toward Fex and Howie. He noticed the J.T.M.S. initials stitched into their uniform's. He made a face approximating at a grin. He didn't know what Howie's gut feeling was telling him, but he knew what his was telling him...

...Don't say a damn thing.

The man spoke. You could almost imagine, from the sound of his voice, the guy saying 'I eat pussy!'

"So, these are the first members of the J.T.M.S.? I have been waiting for this moment."

Fex didn't say anything, he just kept giving him the same cold stare. When the tall bald man understood he wasn't getting an answer from Fex, he looked over at Howie.

"The famous Howie..." He extended his hand. "I've wanted to meet you for a long time."

Howie looked down at the extended hand with disdain. "I'm sorry." He said, looking up. The bald man withdrew his hand. "I don't sign autographs for Blood Curlers."

Then it made sense to Fex. He looked at their uniform's and noticed the B.C. initials stitched into their shoulder patch's.

"I see. That's fine. Do what you want." He started to lead his group away. Then he turned and said. "See you on the battlefield. We may not meet as friends..."

Fex watched them as they left. When they were out the door, Fex asked Howie "Those guys were Blood Curlers?".

"Yes."

"I've only heard rumors about them. I don't know anything about them."

"I wouldn't worry about that now. Come on, let's go."

Howie opened the door to the J.T.M.S. barracks.

"Daddy's home." He called.

"Hello, daddy." A voice answered from one of the bunks. It sounded like Chris. Kat was lying on her bunk to the right, looking totally pissed as usual.

"Bloody fucking morons!" Doc. cried from another bunk. "Why do you waste your bloody life smoking?" Fex and Howie came across the bunk to see Doc. looking at his various medical pictures. He was currently looking at a picture of black lungs. Lee was leaning against the wall, smoking. "Can't you see what happens to your lungs? You bloody fools!"

Lee removed the cigarette from his mouth and inhaled deeply. "Quit the dork shit, Doc.."

"I'm only trying to help, ya' bloody wank."

"Well, if we wanted your help, don't you think we would've asked for it?"

"You're not going to ask for the help you really need."

"Shut up..." Lee flicked his cigarette into the Doc.'s lap.

"OH! AH!" The Doc. bounced the cigarette around and finally got rid of it. "Don't do that! See? Those bloody cigarettes have fried your bloody brain!"

"You wouldn't know until you've tried it. So shut up, ya' stupid fucking Brit."

"Fex Anderson." Rapter's voice called from the corner bunk. Fex entered into Rapter's quarters.

"Hi, there."

Rapter was just sitting there, arms folded, eyes closed, in the chair.

"'Out of Zion shall come forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, nation shall not raise sword against nation, and they shall not learn war anymore, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken.'"

"Excuse me, sir?"

Rapter didn't answer.

"Sir?"

"..."

"Rapter, what are the Blood Curlers?"

Rapter opened his eyes, but they were staring into space.

"The Blood Curlers..." Rapter started in a very matter of fact tone. "... are a group of mercenaries that intentionally drive their own soldiers insane. Though not much is known about their training methods, it is known that their pre-battle rituals include slitting their own wrists, taking the blood and pouring it over their heads to drive them into a blood frenzy. When they are hired by somebody, the way they split the money is whoever made the most gruesome kills would make the most money. That's that. Their style of warfare is obsolete, but there's no doubt that they have a considerable psychological effect on the battlefield."

"Hm... Thanks for the info."

Just then, the loud speaker came on. General Treize's voice was on the other end.

"Rapter and Taylor. I need you two in my office now."

Rapter stood up. "Well, gotta go. I figure that's going to be our first assignment. You might want to get some rest."

"Sure. I'll do that."

When Rapter and Taylor left, Fex went to his bunk and fell asleep.

At 1000 hours, they got their mission briefing in the J.T.M.S. briefing room. Rapter stood at the head of the room in front of several screens.

"People, this is it. This is what we have been training for. Now, as all of you should already know, our planes have been flying C.A.P.'s almost nonstop since that attack the day we arrived here. This morning, one fight of those planes intercepted and shoot down a Rebel transport. The contents of the transport plane survived and landed on..." Taylor turned one of the screens and put a satellite picture on it. Rapter pointed at the photo. "...this hill right here. Mr. Anderson, what is it that you see in this photograph?"

Fex took a long look at the photo. "It looks like a mobile suit to me."

"That's what it looks like to me, too. It appears to be a experimental mobile suit. But no matter what it is, the rebels want it back. Our job today is to help make sure they don't get it back." Taylor turned on the large screen in the back. It displayed a battle map. "Now, Chris and Lee, you two are going to guard this hill...here. You are going to be in your leos. There is going to be one other leo with you. His handle is Dog man. Helicopters will airlift a special cannon to you so you can better protect the hill. Don't give up this flank until your are relieved. Chris, your leo is being outfitted with a sniper rifle, Lee, yours is getting a standard leo rifle. It's not going to hit anything in the valley we're expecting the attack to come from, but it will work well if they get close. And you will also be tasked with reloading the cannon. We'll be dropping an ammo pack in with the cannon. Dog man's job is to fire that cannon. Each belt the cannon takes is thirty rounds. So every thirty rounds you gotta reload that cannon, Lee. Dog man is packing the most heat at long range, but he is packing the least short range heat. All he has is the beam saber, shoulder cannons, and leo pistol. We've got the same thing going on the hill to the right. Howie and Taylor, you two are going there in your leos. Now, Fex, we haven't gotten your leo yet, so you're going to be flying with the Mosquito squadron, protecting Fly squadron, who are the ones that will be retrieving the wreckage. Don't let anybody shoot down any one of those helicopters or the mission will fail. And finally, Kat and I will head two separate squads of ground troops to be dropped in the fields in between the two hills...here. Our task is to capture a two story building at the base of the hill here. The building is currently under the enemies control, and it is said that they have surface-to-air missiles there. We can't allow them to shoot down the helicopters in the retrieval team. We'll be dropped off a few miles away to avoid the possibility of our choppers being shot down. We'll also be dropped on different roads several miles apart from each other. Where the roads intersect, that's where the building is. From there, our squads will flank it from both sides. Doc. will be in an emergency helicopter waiting to come get medical aide to our wounded quickly. Now, any questions? No? Fine, then I'd like to turn your attention to some unrelated matters. General Treize has asked me to enlighten you. 3 days ago, a force of just three men attacked an Alliance ship convey and reportedly stole a top secret weapon. After that, they used the weapon and managed to destroy the entire convoy."

"Wow." Howie exclaimed. "It must be a pretty powerful weapon, then."

"Yes. The attack was carried out by the 'Ghosts', you know."

That was a term most of them had never heard before.

"The 'Ghosts'?" Fex asked.

"Yeah. The 'Ghosts' are a very secretive group, consisting of only 3 people that we know of. Absolutely nothing is known to give us a decent idea of what they are, or what their intention's are. They wear cloths that obscure their identity. There's a black 'Ghost', a blue 'Ghost', and a red 'Ghost'. Here are images captured from the cargo ship shortly before it was destroyed. Taylor."

Taylor switched on the first picture. It showed a well lit corridor in the ship.

"Now, as you can, nothing is wrong in this photo. Guards are standing at their post's, just like usual. But look at this second photograph."

It was the same corridor, but it was pitch black, with just a sliver of red light coming out of the door in the far right corner.

"Shit! We can't see anything in this photograph!" Lee yelled.

"Calm down, Lee. We've got another photo for you."

The last photo had more light in it, and it painted a gruesome scene. The guards that had been standing faithfully at their posts in the first picture were laying on the floor now, covered in blood. The walls were similarly painted with blood. And there were three non-recognizable figures standing in the hallway. The three 'Ghosts'.

"Wow...So that's them..." Fex said.

"Now, as you can see..." Explained Rapter, pointing at the photo. "...From the wounds, and the way the blood has splattered on the wall, they were cut by some kind of blade. This is true. When the 'Ghosts' are fighting on the ground, the use swords, and they are very proficient with them. Now direct your attention to their patches. This is interesting. Taylor, enlarge the black 'Ghost's' insignia. See? It's a rebel patch. But look at the blue 'Ghost's' patch. What is that patch, Kat?"

"I don't know. I've never seen one like it before..."

"Exactly. This is probably not the same blue 'Ghost' that was around since the 'Ghosts' were last spotted, because back then, the blue 'Ghost' also bore a rebel insignia. This new patch is probably the patch of some new organization we haven't encountered yet. But the red 'Ghost's' insignia is disturbing. Take a look."

When Taylor magnified the image, there was a collective gasp in the room.

"That's an Alliance patch!" Fex exclaimed.

"Yeah. And the truth is, it's next to impossible for that guy, whoever he is, to remain hidden with our intelligence. To keep his identity hidden for this long is absolutely mind boggling. Normally, a double agent like him would have been caught long ago. The only possible way I could think of that he has evaded us for so long is that someone is pulling some strings for him upstairs."

"A government conspiracy? Bloody hogwash!" Doc. countered.

"I don't want to believe it as much as you do, Doc.." Rapter said. "Anyway, that's it for now. Zero your sight's, clean your weapon's, study the maps, and stock up on equipment and ammo before the mission. Meet up with your corresponding team's at 1700 hours. You are dismissed, people."

They left the briefing room.

"Hey, Lee! What did Rapter mean when he said double agent?" Chris pestered his older brother.

"He meant a spy who is working for the rebels. Basically, they're sent from the rebels to work inside our organization and sabotage shit. When the right time comes, they strike."

"But do you think there's such a thing as a triple agent?"

Lee was clearly getting agitated. "God dammit, Lee! No!"

1728 hours...

(5:28 standard time...)

All the birds were in the air.

"Wow! Can you see that, Lee!" Chris said with giddy excitement, sitting in his leo.

"What?"

"This! I'll patch it through to you!" A new screen appeared on Lee's HUD(head up display). It showed the choppers deploying the cannon to the hill. "Isn't it cool?"

Lee frowned at Chris through the pilot-to-screen. "I'm not saying anything." He said. Then he switched off the communicator.

"Cut the chatter in there. We've got 10 seconds till the drop. Get ready."

The cargo bay door to the transport opened.

"Oh, boy..."

A CAH-16 skimmed low to the ground. It slowed sown and began to hover over the narrow dirt road. The ramp in the back of the chopper opened and Kat's squad filed out onto the dirt road. Once they were all out, the chopper closed the ramp, turned around and headed back home. Kat, with her five-seven in hand, motioned her men to follow her down the road.

Chris, Lee, and Dog man were on site. They hadn't assumed combat position yet. They were socializing.

"Dog man..." Lee inquired. "Where are you from?"

"A little place called outer space. I was born on space colony 0772."

"Oh! So you're a colony resident. Cool! What's it like living up there?"

"Better than living down here. Earth is overrated."

"You got that right."

Chris was checking to make sure all the parts on the sniper rifle his leo had were intact. Then he looked down the scope.

"Holy shit! Enemies are already advancing on this position!"

"Really?" Dog man asked. He couldn't believe the enemy was already coming. "Lee! Load up the gun!" Dog man got into firing position. "Chris! Buy us some time with your sniper rifle!"

"Will do, sir!" Chris fired the first round from his leo's sniper rifle. He was surprised how powerful it was. His first shot hit the closest leo in the arm, and it took the arm off. Actually, its more like it exploded off, since it went spiraling way far away from it's body. Better yet, it was the arm the leo had been holding its weapon with. Chris wished he could see the look on the pilot's face...

"Hurry up!" Dog man ordered.

"I'm coming!" Lee said, scrambling over to the cannon with an ammo belt.

"Hurry up!" Dog man repeated. Lee inserted the belt into the cannon's feeding mechanism. "Hurry!" Lee pulled back the cocking hammer and then let go.

"Fire now!"

Dog man pulled the trigger and began mowing down enemy leos.

The late afternoon sun beat down on Kat's squad. Kat was guessing that it was about 95 degrees. It was really hot. Fatigue was still far away from setting in. Kat hoped the heat wouldn't get to their brains.

"My...GOD!" One of Kat's squad members said, seemingly out of the blue.

"What the f..." Kat turned around towards her squad. But it wasn't some childish prank like she expected it to be. Her comrade's were looking up in genuine shock. She turned around to see what they were looking at. She was scared to see what it was...

...And there was a really, really good reason for that.

There were two bodies hanging up in a tree, both naked. One of them had his chest cut open and all of his inside's were hanging out. The other had his penis and his testicles cut off and stuffed in his mouth.

"HOLY FUCK!" Kat was on the verge of puking. This was the most disgusting sight she had even seen, undisputably. She couldn't look at it anymore.

"What are we going to do?" One of her squad mates asked.

"Go on with the mission." She answered. "We'll send somebody back to get these guys. Come on. We can't stay here any longer."

They continued past the mutilated bodies...

They didn't get far, though...

It wasn't long until Kat noticed movement in the huge oak tree 50 yards away in the wheat field on the left. It was probably a bird, she thought. Just as soon as that thought ran through her mind, the maniac in the tree opened fire with his machine gun.

"Hit the deck!" She commanded. Her troop's fell over and took cover. The machine gunner kept firing. Kat could hear his insane laughter, just barely over the roar of the machine gun. "These must be Blood Curlers..." She concluded. The bullets kept ricocheting overhead. It was scary and deeply disturbing. They had to keep down. The machine gunner kept firing. He kept laughing, too. He was definitely a Blood Curler. Nobody else could be this insane...

Not smart...

Kat knew that his machine gun would eventually overheat and explode. And that's exactly what happened.

"BOOM!"

The gunfire stopped. Kat jumped to her feet. She saw him flying out of the tree, arms gone, the rest of his body badly scalded. Parts of the gun flew everywhere. Kat breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on, guys. Let's go."

Her squad slowly stood up, nervous. But they were brave and stood up.

"Fuck you!" A mysterious voice called from near the area where machine gunner had fallen.

"Oh, god." Kat sighed. "That guy can't possibly have survived that."

"We're gonna kill all of you!" This voice was from the right side.

"Oh, NO!"

Then multiple voices began taunting them, saying very similar things to what the last two voices had said.

"Get ready, guys!" She said, cocking her gun.

...Then the voices suddenly stopped.

"W-what?"

"What's going on?"

"Calm down!" Kat ordered. "They're just messing with you."

Suddenly, automatic rifle fire broke out from both sides. Some of her men got hit, but they all hit the dirt regardless.

"Don't take that shit from them! Fire back!"

They responded with a volley of their own. The medics dragged the injured into the middle in between the two firing groups. They began working as Kat directed the return fire.

"You!" She yelled at the kid she kneeling next to. "Use your grenade launcher!"

He aimed blindly through the stalks of wheat. Once he built up enough courage, he pulled the front trigger. The grenade exploded several yards away and expelled dirt and several bodies 30 yards in the air. Kat patted the kid on the back.

"Good job!"

As soon as she withdrew her hand, bullet holes riddled the kid's back. His head slumped forward and he died. Kat pivoted her head. The Blood Curler that had killed him was now rushing her. She punched him in the crotch. Then she put her gun against his jaw bone and fired. Blood splattered over her hand. She kicked his dead body over.

"Damn it! Don't let anybody else in that close!"

She heard a really loud gunshot, probably from a sniper rifle. Then one of her team members exploded.

Kat stood there, covered in his blood. That set her off.

"I can't take this. I can't take this. I can't take this. I can't take this. I CAN'T TAKE THIS!"

She dove into a bush and took cover.

The Blood Curlers started yelling, screaming. They were starting to charge as a team. Their fire intensified. Kat watched as more and more of her men fell to the enemy fire. Finally, there was only one left. The first Blood Curler stepped onto the dirt road. Kat's last soldier had no ammo left for his assault rifle, so he tossed it aside and brought out his handgun. The Blood Curler charged him with a sharp, jagged knife. The Blood Curler got to him first. He stabbed Kat's last man. The knife came right through his back. He removed the knife and let the man fall dead.

The rest of his Blood Curler friends came onto the dirt road. The man with the bloody knife howled in triumph, not unlike a wolf. Kat noticed his friends elbowing him. Then he looked back down at his victim. He knelt down and started carving into the body. Then he reached down and picked something up...

...A man's heart...

He started eating it. His friend's started howling. Kat fainted.

Fex was flying in Mosquito 6, helping to escort Fly team. They got a transmition from General Trieze.

"Mosquito squadron, the ground team has captured the building. You are go to capture the cargo. Out."

The squadron leader called his wing men.

"Okay. Our mission is to protect is to protect Fly squadron. That is a priority. When the situation gets tight, remember that. Remember, even if one gets destroyed, the mission is over. Got that, Mosquito 6?"

"Yes, sir." Fex answered.

"Good. Let's go."

The planes fell into formation and escorted the choppers.

Treize still didn't feel secure. He wanted an update from all the units. He dialed in the frequency for the team protecting the western hill.

Lee's face came up on the screen.

"How are things going there, Lee?" Treize asked.

"Oh, yeah, what a great way to ask how we're doing! We've got enemies incoming but we're keeping them contained! We'll hold out here!"

"Good."

Over the communicator, Treize heard Dog man say "Lee! Ammo!".

"Sorry! Gotta go!" Lee switched off his communicator.

Treize switched to east hill frequency. He got Howie. Howie told him nothing was happening, and from the lack of background noise, that was believable. So he got off that frequency. Then he tried Kat's ground unit again. Still no response...

Kat woke up. The Blood Curlers were gone. She looked around. They had hung up her comrades up in the oak tree in the same gruesome fashion of the other two down the road. She couldn't stand it. She ran down the road towards the rendevous point.

Up in the air, one of the Mosquito squadron members was playing Italian opera style music.

"Mosquito 4, turn that shit off."

"Sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to refuse that order."

"Can you tell what those people are saying? Why do you listen to that stuff?"

"No, I can't understand the lyrics, but I listen to it to calm myself down..."

"Well, I guess if that's what it's for, then there's no harm in it."

Fex pulled his fighter up next to Mosquito 4. Mosquito 4 was waving his hand, kind of he was conducting the opera. To Fex, it looked completely idiotic. But he was sure that to him, it was soothing.

Radar warnings went off.

"Enemy fighter plane! It's coming! Don't let it shoot down any of the helicopters!"

Mosquito 1 through 5 zipped quickly to the aide of the choppers, but Fex got caught in thought and lagged behind.

"The fighter is getting close! It...it...wait, it's passing the helicopters! It's coming for us!...Wait it's passing us, too. Wait...Mosquito 6! He's singling you out! He's headed straight for you!"

Fex suddenly sprung to life. He started looking all around him. "Where? Where is he?"

"Hello, there."

Fex checked his six. The enemy plane was right behind him.

"WHOA!"

Fex banked left right before the planed fired it's cannons. The enemy turned to pursue him.

"So, this is what the J.T.M.S. is turning out? I anxious to test you. Just try to shoot me down."

"Fex! Do it! Shoot him down!"

Kat stumbled toward the building. She was almost there. She could see Rapter at the front door. She made a final sprint toward the door.

"Rapter!"

Rapter turned his head and when he noticed Kat, his eye's went wide.

"Kat! You're alive!"

"Yeah! Blood Curlers beat the fuck out of my squad."

"Yeah, I know. I sent one of my runners down there. He said it looked like hell."

"Yeah, it did. Did you..."

"Yes. We've captured the building. We have one more thing to do here before we call the reinforcements in."

"What?"

Rapter motioned for Kat to follow him. They went through the front door into the living room. Several of Rapter's squad members were lined up, guns in hand, in front of some of the enemy that were taken prisoner. Rapter handed Kat a video recorder.

"Record, Kat." He instructed.

"What's going on?" Kat asked, reluctantly turning the camera on.

Rapter grinned, then with a certain pride he said "Retribution.". Then he turned and said "OPEN FIRE!".

His men began shooting the prisoners, and Kat was filming it. She was filming this bloody, unjust event. Some of the prisoners died willingly. Others tried survive the barrage as long as they could. They curled up on the ground, trying to make themselves smaller targets.

When the smoke cleared, there were dead bodies all over the ground. Kat had finished recording, but there was blood all over the camera. There was one prisoner left alive, and he was sitting in the corner with a bullet wound to the chest. Rapter started toward him.

Kat ran in front of him to stop him. "Don't do it! It's not right! You need to learn mercy!"

"Like shit I do! This is retribution!" He continued toward the injured prisoner.

Kat forced herself in front of him again. She ripped her uniform.

"What the hell, Kat!"

"Don't kill that guy! Do what you want with me! Rape me! Injure me! Fucking kill me! Just don't kill him! You don't want to face accusations of war crimes!"

"Are you threatening me? I don't think you wanna do that. I'll kill you before you tell anybody!"

Kat stopped and got out of the way. Rapter walked up to the injured prisoner. He got something out of his pocket and showed it to Rapter.

It was a picture of his family...

Rapter stared at it for a while. Then he delivered a swift kick to his stomach.

Fex was still trying to evade the enemy plane. Somehow, he and the enemy fighter pilot had gotten into a conversation.

"Pathetic. I was expecting more from you."

"Urmmm... Save it. I don't give a rat's ass about what you have to say."

"Your father was a coward you, you know. He ran, betrayed his destiny. He never believed in pacifism, and you know that..."

"Shut it!"

Fex leveled out and started flying straight. The enemy plane pulled up behind him.

"Mosquito 6, hurry up! The retrieval team has already left the area!"

The enemy plane got a missile lock on Fex.

"Goodbye..."

Fex got cocky.

"That's what you think."

Then Fex pulled back on the stick hard and applied the airbrake. He went right over the enemy plane and got behind him.

"What?"

Fex fired his cannon. The plane drew flames and began to go down.

"Damn you...FEX ANDERSON!" Then his radio cut out.

3 hours later...

Treize was debriefing all the units involved in the operation.

"Despite some heavy loses on the ground, Operation PICKPOCKET was a success. All the units met their objectives, with the exception of the squad headed by sergeant Kat. That was out of your control, Kat, so we won't penalize you. For a more detailed debriefing, meet with your more direct commanding officer. Dismissed."

Back in the dorms...

"You know I'll be taking that out of your pay, don't you?" Rapter asked Kat. She was staring at the floor.

"Yes, sir." She felt so humiliated, because Rapter had kept everybody else up to witness this.

"Don't you ever question my command decision again, got it?"

"..."

"HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Rapter hit her in the face. And when he did, everybody else felt her pain.

Wow! So melodramatic! Review!