CE 71, January 25th
Sirens were going off everywhere, explosions rocked the city. Several GINNs flew overhead, destroying targets of opportunity as they went. Bodies littered the ground and fires started to rage out of control. The factory block was a battle zone as well, three or four ZAFT pilots managing to keep several Earth Alliance soldiers at bay. Two mobile suits lay inside of large trailers, both suits a dull grey color.
Kira had just finished one of the strangest things in his life; he had led a girl to the factory block where she had cried out that her father was a traitor. The fighting continued on the main floor of the factory as Kira returned, and he shouted out a warning to one of the defenders. "Look out, above you!"
The defender reacted quickly, spinning and crouching and then firing three shots to take down the ZAFT pilot. "Why aren't you in a shelter?" she demanded, raising her voice to be heard over the gunshots and explosions. "Don't worry about me, I'll get to L3!" he waved her question away. Kira could almost see the frustration on her face. "There's nothing left of that shelter expect for the door!"
To reinforce her point, the hallway leading to L34, and the path back to his friends, exploded. Neither of them had any choice. "Don't stay up there!" she warned him. Kira agreed; it was getting dangerous on the upper level, so he vaulted over the railing, landing on the mobile suit with no hassle. The woman clad in a mechanics overalls stopped in surprise at the ease of his jump and landing.
Her hesitation cost her, one of the ZAFT elite pilots shot her in the shoulder, and seeing that his rifle jammed, pulled a combat knife out and approached to finish the job. Kira stepped in front of the wounded woman to protect her. Both of the teenagers stopped as they recognized each other.
"Athrun?"
"Kira?"
A bullet shot rang out, interrupting the ill-timed reunion of two old friends. The wounded defender was firing her handgun with poor aim, driving the pilot away. "Get in!" she said, pushing Kira into the open cockpit of the mobile suit she and her comrades had so valiantly defended.
She flicked switches and pushed buttons, bringing the other consoles and the monitors to life. Kira heard the distinct sound the machine powering up, and then the faint static from the radio. "Lieutenant Ramius' whereabouts are uncon---med, reques—ng back-p for the ---eapons."
"I'm still alive boys." The woman, apparently Ramius, muttered. She gripped the control sticks and started to make the suit stand. It stood successfully as the factory exploded around them, flames burning everywhere. Ramius gunned the thrusters as best she could, very wobbly flying out of the factory remains and landing unsteadily on the concrete outside. They expect to fight like this? Kira wondered.
A GINN approached them, its heavy sword poised to strike. She hit a button and instantly the armor changed colors, and took the blow with no damage, but they were sent flying into a nearby building. The woman hit her wounded shoulder on one of the consoles and cried out in pain.
Motion was caught on one of the backup cameras on the mobile suit, zooming in to show a group of teenagers running away. Kira recognized them, they were his friends. One of them turned to watch the giant mobile suits, and she stood out in Kira's mind. Miriallia!
The GINN was conversing with the other mobile suit that was lying inside the factory, now red in color. "Let me take over, we can't hope to survive like this." Kira said. The mechanic was slow to move, so he spoke again. "You might as well float in space without a space suit, now move!"
Taking the pilot's chair, Kira pulled a keyboard out and started to rapidly type, muttering commands as he did. An alarm went off, showing the GINN approaching again. "Weapons …" he muttered, and almost instantly a screen popped up, showing the built in weapons on the mobile suit.
Armor Schneider's and head vulcans were his current options. He targeted the oncoming GINN and opened fire, surprising the pilot with a well performed counter. Kira boosted into the air, the GINN followed, but as Kira landed he pulled out both combat knives and avoided the return fire from the ZAFT suit.
Charging forward, Kira dodged some of the bullets, and let the others deflect harmlessly off his armor. He stabbed one of the knives into the shoulder joint of the gun arm on the GINN and the other knife into the neck, creating sparks from both impact points. The cockpit opened and out flew a green-suited pilot, using his jet pack to escape. "Get away from the GINN!" Ramius warned.
It was too late; the GINN self-destructed, throwing Strike backwards. He gunned the thrusters to stop, and surveyed the carnage around him. Turning to ask the Lieutenant a question, he saw her slumped over, apparently unconscious. More motion was caught on camera, showing falling debris from a nearby building. Standing underneath the falling concrete and steel were his friends, having used the building to shield themselves from the explosion.
"NO!" Kira yelled, and dived forward, shielding his friends with the entire mobile suit. He found the button for the loudspeaker and spoke. "Are you guys alright?" Their reactions were obvious, surprise from all of them.
"Kira?"
"What are you doing in there?"
"How can you pilot that thing?"
He smiled. "I'll explain later, right now I want you all to find somewhere safe, I'm going to stand up, and then we need a first aid kit."
"You're hurt?" that was Miriallia.
"I'm fine, but there's a wounded person in here with me."
They complied, and waited for Kira at a nearby park, sitting on the bench patiently with an easily scrounged first aid kit as Kira made the mobile suit stand up and walk over to them. Setting the strike in a kneeling position, he rappelled down with Ramius, still unconscious. They set her on the bench and wrapped her wound in gauze and let the poor woman rest, they had important questions to ask Kira.
"So you're a Coordinator?" Sai asked.
Kira looked down at the ground. "Yes."
Miriallia stepped forward. "Why didn't you tell us earlier? There was no need to hide it." She said softly.
"I guess I wasn't sure how you'd all react to it." Kira said. Tolle waved it away. "That doesn't matter to people like us. So how did you find this thing?" he asked, pointing at the Strike, once again a dull grey color.
"After I led that girl to a shelter, I ran back out to get to L34, only to have the corridor explode. I jumped down and that Lieutenant pushed me in. Here I am now."
There was a groan from over where Ramius was lying down, and they all turned to look at her as she slowly sat up, holding her shoulder. "I don't think you should sit up just yet." Sai advised her.
The injured woman looked at them with a menacing glare and then pulled a gun out and aimed it at the teenagers, who immediately sought cover and found none. Miriallia clutched Kira's arm, and he stepped in front of her as best he could to protect her. Tolle looked defiant, staring right back at Ramius.
"You've all been witness to a top secret Earth Alliance project, which in wartime can be considered spying and treason, therefore punishable by death. I cannot let you go with the knowledge you possess." Ramius stated.
"Listen, we're Orb citizens and that means we're neutral!" Sai argued.
She cocked the hammer on the pistol. "And that's a good excuse to sell these secrets to ZAFT." Tolle snorted. "They already have that red one, it's not like-" he was cut off as she fired a round into the air. "State your names, all of you."
"Sai Argyle."
"Kuzzey Buskirk."
"Tolle Koenig."
"Miriallia Haw."
There was a pause. "Kira Yamato."
"With the authority placed in me by the Earth Alliance, you are hereby subject to whatever punishment they choose for you. Hands in the air where I can seem them."
They were all interrupted when something exploded along the main colony shaft. Out shot another mobile suit and a damaged mobile armor. "A CGUE here? And a Zero-type Moebius?" Ramius questioned, no longer paying attention to the group of teenagers.
Kira acted immediately, rappelling up the zip cord and into the cockpit, activating the phase shift armor just as the white mobile suit disabled the linear cannon on the Moebius armor. The CGUE turned its attention to the people and fired a few times, only to watch in awe as the bullets were deflected off the armor of the Strike, now standing in between the ZAFT suit and the people.
An alert popped up on one of his secondary monitors, flashing an arrow in one direction. Kira followed the arrow to a large trailer and was a little surprised when it opened up, revealing a large green cannon. Hitting another button, the Strike turned around and loaded the pack onto the hardpoints, showing the new weapons. "Finally, some weapons." Kira muttered, and aimed at the mobile suit.
The cannon swung into action as he locked on. "No, not inside the colony!" Ramius warned, but it was too late, Kira had already fired. The crimson red and blue beam melted the arm and machine gun on the CGUE, forcing the pilot to retreat just as one of the larger mountains exploded in a ball of fire. Out from the remains of the mountain flew a large ship.
"The Archangel!" Ramius cheered.
Kira watched as the damaged CGUE retreated. The damaged mobile armor landed on the ship as the ship itself prepared to land. The pilot onboard was skilled; he or she landed the ship with no difficulties at all. Ramius caught Kira's attention. "That ship is an ally, take me up there!" she ordered.
"I won't leave my friends behind!" Ramius considered arguing about bringing civilians on board a battleship, but stopped as she remembered that they have all bore witness to a top secret project. Confining them all aboard the Archangel would be easier until she found a superior officer. "Fine, use the G-Weapon to transport us all up to the hangar."
Kira complied, opening the hands so everyone could step onto the palms, and then he curled up the fingers, creating a wall that they could use to steady themselves as he jetted upwards to the open hangar bay. They landed safely, and Kira deposited his friends and the injured woman onto the deck. "Exit the mobile suit immediately and step away from it."
The cockpit opened and Kira once again rappelled down, this time he was greeted by his friends. Footsteps were heard, many of them. The surviving crew had rushed to meet Lieutenant Ramius. "Ensign Badgiruel, where's the Captain?" she asked, returning the junior officer's salutes.
"The rest of the crew is dead Lieutenant. I believe you're the senior officer onboard now." The Ensign replied. "Not quite." A voice interjected. They all turned to see the pilot of the mobile armor walking towards them, still in his flight suit. "Lieutenant Mu La Flaga of the Earth Forces 7th Orbital Fleet. I request permission to board your ship." He said formally, saluting.
"I'm Lieutenant Murrue Ramius of the Earth Forces Sector 2, 5th Special Division. Permission granted."
Mu nodded and walked over to Kira. "So, you're a Coordinator." It was not a question.
"Yes."
Some of the crew raised their weapons, prepared to kill Kira. Miriallia stepped in front of him, blocking their aim. "So what if he's a Coordinator? He saved us!" Tolle stepped forward as well. "Yeah! You want to get to him, then you've got to get through me first!" he threatened.
"Enough. Lower your weapons." Murrue said irritably. "We don't have a lot of time before ZAFT comes looking for us, so we need to act fast and prepare the ship and the remaining G weapon. Ensign, prepare a team to gather as much as possible and bring it onboard the Archangel. Lieutenant, if you don't mind, I'd like to have you pilot the G weapon."
"Are you serious? I can't pilot that thing. I've seen the special pilots inside those suits; it was a struggle just to get them to move. That kid is obviously better suited to piloting it. Once I get my Moebius Zero repaired I'll keep flying that." Mu held up his hands.
"I don't think Alliance command would appreciate a Coordinator piloting one of their top secret projects." Murrue argued.
"Yeah, well I don't think Alliance command counted on ZAFT hijacking four of the five G weapons." Mu countered.
Murrue paused. "Fine, then lets get to it. Find the mechanics and have them get started on repairs immediately."
"We don't want any part in your war!" Kira was livid, the nerve of that woman, ordering him to stay inside the cockpit of the Strike on standby. "None of us are a part of the Earth Alliance or ZAFT!"
"Then do it for your friends, because if this ship is destroyed, you can be sure ZAFT will show no mercy to anyone left in this colony." Murrue snapped.
Kira felt his anger raise another notch; he couldn't believe she was using his friends as hostages in this manner. "Fine, but if you even so much as touch them …" he didn't finish his threat.
He left his friends reluctantly, and was being escorted by Murrue down to the hangar when Mu caught them. "I'll make sure he gets to the hangar bay Lieutenant. You know more about this ship than I do, so that puts you in charge, rank notwithstanding. I'll join the CIC once he's on standby."
Murrue thanks him and then left for the bridge, when she was out of sight, Mu turned to Kira. "Try not to let her get under your skin, she's under a lot of pressure, running a new battleship with less than a skeleton crew, she doesn't even have Captain's training. We all need to do the best we can."
Something about Mu helped Kira relax, it was as if the older man were like the brother Kira never had. He felt a little bad about snapping at Lieutenant Ramius like that, but considering the tactics she used on him, it wasn't completely irrational. The Chief Mechanic approached Kira as he walked to the zip line on the mobile suit. "Morning Kid. If you launch, you'll be using the Sword Striker pack, good for melee combat. Here're the specs." The grizzled man handed Kira a data card. "Listen, I don't care if you're a Coordinator or a Natural, you've got courage to fight for what you think is right. I respect that."
Maybe the Earth Alliance isn't full of backstabbing officers after all.
He had barely finished reviewing the data pad when one of the comm screens turned on. "Prepare to launch Kira; three GINNs and the X-303 Aegis have entered through the Tanembaum district." Murrue informed him.
The Aegis? The red mobile suit from the factory? Then Athrun …
"Right, Kira Yamato, launching!" the Sword Strike launched, rushing out to meet their foes head on.
The first GINN didn't even have time to react; Kira fired his Panzer Eisen rocket anchor, destroying the mono-eye instantly. Half blind, the pilot barely screamed before Kira sliced the mobile suit in half with his Schwert Gewehr anti-ship sword. The other two GINNs started their attack runs on the Archangel, leaving the Aegis and the Strike to face off.
Kira swung his sword, colliding with the shield on the Aegis. "Kira! Kira Yamato! It's you in that machine, isn't it?" he knew the voice well. "Athrun Zala? Why did you attack Heliopolis?" he demanded.
Seeing that the Strike was distracted, one GINN armed with a Barrus heavy ion cannon aimed and fired at the back of the enemy mobile suit. The alarm on the Strike went off and Kira managed to block it in time with his small shield, which unfortunately melted, rendering the Panzer Eisen useless. He kicked the Aegis away and grabbed his Midas Messer beam boomerang.
"Damn, how could he have dodged?" the pilot wondered.
Throwing the beam boomerang, Kira charged forward, sword at the ready. The GINN avoided the boomerang with ease, letting the weapon fly past underneath. The ion cannon took too long to fire, so he was forced to dodge backwards as Strike slashed down with the giant sword. The boomerang completed its arc and started to return to the Strike, slicing off one of the GINN's legs at the knee as it did.
Distracted by the unexpected attack, the pilot could only scream in fear as Kira once again charged, slicing a good chunk of the torso off. As circuits shorted, the ion cannon fired, missing Strike, missing Aegis, the other GINN and the Archangel. It struck the main shaft in the colony, vaporizing a few large supports.
The last GINN fired every missile he was packing, four anti-fortresses and a total of 10 smaller missiles. Kira wondered just where the pilot was aiming, the missiles didn't even come close to the Archangel, but to his fear, they all struck the colony shaft damaging it further.
"No!" he cried out, moving in position to attack the last GINN. The Gottfried cannons beat him to it, one of the turrets fired, destroying the GINN in an instant with their immense power, and striking the shaft as well. The shaft exploded and the colony started to break apart. Kira screamed as the Strike was sucked out into space, and didn't hear Athrun calling for him as the Aegis was sucked out the opposite direction.
Murrue stared in fear as the Archangel struggled to maintain position. "What have we done?"
Finally, an update. Thanks to all of those who reviewed "A Meer Loss". Keep your eyes out for whichever story gets an update next.
--Prayer