Chapter 7: From Behind Another's Eyes
Legend
Italics shows character thoughts
Word shows Date, time, and location
-Word- Shows Noises, or actions such as sighing
Author's Notes: After thinking I've decided to use another's point of view for this chapter. To just stick with Scion might get repetitive and I should use the point of view of other important characters, though I won't use Kira and all them unless the story changes for one reason or another since they already have their parts.
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January 10, C.E. 71
On route to Heliopolis, 10:00 A.M.
Setback after setback plagued Scion and his small crew as they attempted to catch up with Rau Le Creuset and his small force, who was taking a slow path to keep his fleet undetected from an EA fleets.
Scion who was trying his hardest to catch up was being plagued by constant ZAFT vessels wanting to sort through the junk for anything useful, which would put Scion on edge as they were persuaded to leave their 'haul' alone so they could move on. Besides that they didn't know exactly what route Rau was taking so they had to just head to Heliopolis hoping to get their before the Creuset team.
Scion sat in his quarters reading over a message on his computer, it was from Yumi. She was heading into space with a kind of prototype ship. It was meant to carry the Gundam and only the Gundam and could achieve extremely high speeds for hit and run tactics, which would ideally suit Scion's plan of attack on the EA and ZAFT. It was armed with mainly anti-missile and other defensive weapon systems. The ship had no name and was currently on it's way and would meet Scion and his current ship where they would transfer everything unto the new ship.
Scion tapped his fingers on the keyboard of the computer, he had finished the letter some time ago. He was actually feeling nervous. This wasn't just a battle with random people like before, Creuset had a reputation and a damn good one too…. He was a bit intimidated.
The days seemed to crawl by…
January 24, C.E. 71
Secret Military Development, Orb Section, 9:00 A.M.
Sixteen year old Shigen Hatake, dressed in Orb's standard military uniform sat in the waiting for the Director of Orb's mobile suit development project with the EA to come see him. Shigen was one of those people that looked younger then he actually was. He was a bit shorter then an average person his age and his brown hair was always done in military fashion, he was of average build and of high intelligent. He also wore contacts lenses even though he didn't need them, it was a mystery as to why he used them. He was to be assigned to one of the prototype mobile suits that the Orb Union had put together with the EA.
-Bing- The door near Shigen at the end of the hallway opened up and a man appearing to be in his middle thirties stepped through. He was a stout man with a trimmed beard and an oversized lab coat, his glasses were small and might have been just for looks and not for his eyes. He approached the younger man.
"You must be Shigen Hatake, correct? I am the director of this development base." The small man called out in a rough voice that made Shigen wonder if he smoked.
"Yes, sir. Shigen Hatake reporting for a new assignment." Came his slightly high pitched voice, another reason to question his age.
"Good good, I've heard that you have exceptional skills when it comes to designing OS's. So I'm going to assign you to the crew of one of those four machines to help with the OS."
"Understood!" Shigen stood quickly and saluted to the Director who motioned for him to be followed.
The two passed through the door the small man had just come through which led to another hallway. They walked in silence until they came to the last door on the right which again led another shorter hallway. When they came to the door at the end of the new hallway it turned out to be an elevator, it opened and the two stepped inside.
As the elevator lowered to some unknown level the Director spoke, "We have four prototype mobile suits. Three of them are the Astray's which is to be a mass produced model for our forces. The fourth is the one you will be working on since it is one that can't be easily massed produced and if we did then war would break loose with the EA since we stole some of their technology for it."
"We did? That's surprising since the EA's 5 prototypes are in this same base, you would think they would have found out..."
"Yes, well it's in another area. We stole a small portion of their 'Phase-Shift Armor' but we can't fully re-create it so we have improvised a bit, but, you will see all this later. Oh, looks like you'll see it now." As the man finished, Shigen could feel the elevator come to a stop. The doors opened and Shigen stepped out to see an incredible site.
"Wow…" Before Shigen were the three Astray's that the Director had told him of, they stood in Red, Blue, and Gold and seemed identical for the most part but they appeared so powerful just by looking at them that he felt a small shiver come over him.
"Ensign Hatake, you will be looking at this machine. Though at this time I am putting you in charge of the entire crew for that machine."
"The entire crew!" Shigen was stunned by that sudden promotion.
"Hahahah! Don't be so modest. I looked over your resume and you've been a leader of many crews for the Orb Union. You just do what you do best and you should do fine. I have faith in the Union's people."
Shigen couldn't think of anything to say. It was true that people called him a mobile suit and mobile armor expert when it came to OS developing and he was given a lot of demanding jobs but to be given control over this machine was something he had not expected. Feeling that he couldn't turn the deal down, Shigen bowed and went over to meet the crew.
In five minutes time, after meeting everyone and getting out orders, Shigen was inside the mobile suit, ready to start working.
"Okay, lets start this baby and see what's inside."
Shigen brought the machine to life, it's opening screen was not set in and just showed the loading process.
"Oh, yeah. This machine was going to be another Astray until we got that new info from the EA, so this machine was just recently reconfigured so everything brand new on it." One of the older mechanics said.
"I see…well give me it's Spec's and I can get on my way."
"Happen to have it right here, boss."
Shigen took the clipboard from the man as it was handed to him and he started looking it over…
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Model number: MBF-P04
Code name: Clarity
Unit type: Prototype Assault Mobile suit,
Color: White Core and Joints, with Black covering any other component
Manufacturer: Orb Union
Operator: N/A
Accommodation: Pilot Only
Dimensions:18.05 meters
Weight: 68.5 tons
Power plant: Prototype Engine (3-Way Hyper Tranfer Engine)
Thrusters: 94,000 - 103,000 kg
Generator: 2,500 - 5,000 kW
Equipment and design features:
----Sensors
----Light Weight alloy
----Extra Armor components
----Solar Panels/Engines (On the shoulders,knee-caps, and on the upper chest area)
Sensor radius: 27,000 meters
Fixed armaments:
----Proto-type 97mm Beam Rifle/Hand Cannon
----Standard Issue shield w/ Anti-Beam coating
---- "Crasher" Close Combat Weapon System
----75mm automatic multi-barrel CIWS "Igelstellung"(2x)
----Two beam sabers placed behind the shoulders.
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Shigen's eyes opened in awe and surprise. This machine at first glance was frightening but this machine as a monster!
"Good lord. It's equipped with a 97mm beam rifle instead of a 57mm, that's like a darn cannon! How can it's thrusters reach 103,000 Kg's? What's this 'Crasher' system?" Shigen scanned through a few pages looking for the details. After a moment of searching Shigen sat back and thought over the system.
So…the 'Crasher' system is kind of canceller against the other Gundam's and their Phase-Shift Armor. With that it could deal damage to them with the average weapon. Also this machine's engine allows it to achieve great speeds through the 'three way system'. Since this machine is equipped with three solar powered engine, one on the back for thrusters and the normal systems, the right side which fills the power rifle which could be called a hand held cannon, and the other positioned at the torso to power the 'Crasher' System. The interesting part is that they call draw on solar energy so in space you would have unlimited power but…the greatest ability is to be able to divert energy from two of the any of the engines to one of the others. That would be how the thrusters could achieve insane speeds, not to mention great power for rapid firing of the beam rifle/cannon, I don't see a reason to boost the 'Crasher' though… but what a magnificent engine.
Shigen brought up the OS, which was the OS from the Astray's. He began working instantly, feeling excited about bringing this machine up to par.
He worked none stop through the coming hours…
January 24, C.E. 71
Secret Military Development, Orb Section, 12:00 P.M.
Shigen had worked nonstop and he could proudly say that the machine was ready to pilot except for the few precise adjustments for space combat. He stretched in the seat and typed in a few more commands and lines of code before turning the OS off and stepping out unto the raised platform next to Clarity's cockpit.
-BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!-
The noise shook everyone who looked up at the siren going off, Shigen the most surprised of all. An announcement came over the com, from the EA section.
"We are under attack from ZAFT forces! Evacuate all military related items and turn to your director for more orders. I repeat! We are under attack from ZAFT forces! Evacuate all military related items and turn to your director for more orders. This is not a drill!"
The com died and all turned to the Director who just happened to come in to check on everyone. He looked around and cut the air with his hands.
"Everyone get ready to evacuate everything and destroy and evidence that we can't take! Priority is on Clarity! Move it!"
Everyone began what Shigen could only describe as a scramble. Everyone began rushing to destroy documents and equipment while preparing to move the Clarity to a shuttle to get it out of the way. Shigen got to ground level and rushed over to the Director who was watching some video feed from a security camera. Sadly it showed several ZAFT soldiers swarming over four of the five Gundam's. Shigen watched as men died and then as the ZAFT soldiers took over the enemy.
"Oh no…that's not good." Shigen said, more to himself then anyone.
"No…that's not good and the EA didn't warn us right away either. They must want us to be caught red handed..." The Director said as he clicked the video off, "Shigen, get on the shuttle with Clarity."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because we never assigned a pilot to it and I understand you have some experience."
"Yeah, but, only to help me understand the OS! I've never been in actual combat!"
"We just need you there just in case! Please, you understand the OS since you made it! You would be ideal at this time!"
"But!"
"It's final. You will follow orders! Report to the shuttle now!" With that he thrust his finger towards the shuttle bay and then turned back to the video screen, which one of the men clicked back on.
Shigen with a doubtful look on his face turned about and jogged to the emergency exit on the north side of the hangar. It turned out to be yet another elevator. He stepped in with a few mechanics who were just leaving. This time the elevator rose many floors to the space docks. Before the door could open and let them all out a huge shock shook the group in the elevator and sent them bouncing against the walls until the shock subsided.
Shigen float near the bottom of the elevator, he was knocked momentarily unconscious but quickly came back to himself. He looked about to gain his bearings.
"Ughh…I don't like this elevator…" Shigen said groggily. He pushed himself from the roof of the small compartment, pushing around one of the men, and opened the door of the elevator, which showed that you could get out through the bottom half but not the top. Not wasting time Shigen stuffed the two men through and then followed himself.
Once on the outside he saw that the shuttle had been damaged by an explosion, the damage was minor and soon fixed. After Shigen and Clarity were loaded unto the shuttle the launch sequence began. Shigen sat looking out the same window the pilot was using, as they blasted out of the colony Shigen saw could see some fighting had indeed gone on outside, since some ZAFT mobile suits and more Moebius Armors were seen destroyed.
Shigen watched until the colony was out of site, after which he went to sit in a seat and could only hope the rest of the people on the colony got off.
On Route to Heliopolis, 2:40 P.M.
"Damn it, aren't we there yet?" Scion said with a irritated voice. They were now on the unnamed prototype ship. It was not far from the colony now.
"We're almost thei-…Huh?" One of the crew said, he seemed to be checking his radar for something.
"What is it?" Scion remarked as he moved to the crewman.
"Uh, we have a shuttle coming towards us but…this is a transport for Orb! It must be moving it's prototypes!"
"Or maybe ZAFT has stolen them…we better find out. Lets get their attention."
"Roger!" The man nodded to one of his crew mates his put a hand over his left ear which held his headset in place and began calling to the ship.
"Orb transport shuttle, we are currently working for Orb forces as a mercenary force. Please state your reason for being in his space zone." The man talked smoothly and quickly, most of what he said was a lie but that didn't really matter.
"We are the Alias, we are currently transporting a top secret military project to Orb HQ, please offer us any assistance available."
"We can only help if whatever you are carrying overrides our current orders. What is your load?"
There was silence for a minute but shortly after the com came back to life.
"A prototype mobile suit…"
The crewman looked at Scion who looked up, expecting Yumi to be there but she was currently sleeping and was unavailable.
"Tell them we are commandeering their ship and the mobile suit. Tell them to follow us on our way to Heliopolis."
"Yes, sir. It will be-"
"Enemy fire! That transport has missiles!" One of the defense systems crew yelled to the captain, who ordered appropriate maneuvers.
"Shit! They must have figured us out or something! I'm launching, We can't let risk ZAFT using an Orb ship for cover!" Scion yelled as he pushed off the ground to the elevator at the back of the bridge.
"Yes, sir! I'll have Revolution prepared for you!" The pilot coordinator cried out.
On Route Away From Heliopolis, 2:55 P.M.
"What!" Shigen's eyes opened wide as he heard this request.
"You're the only one with pilot training! This ship is not recognized as a friendly and we must assume it's an enemy! Please, we'll die if you don't!"
"….But….I….Gah! Fine! Get it ready." Shigen spat out before hustling to the cargo area.
Shigen climbed into Clarity and activated the OS, it was equipped with it's extra armor incase it was needed. The machine roared to life with a flash of it's yellow eyes.
"The enemy has launched a enemy mech. It's unknown and approaching fast! Please launch quickly!"
"Fine! Just get me out of here darn it!" Shigen cried back.
The shuttle didn't have a catapult so Shigen had to exit from the cargo bay door once it opened. He glided Clarity out of the shuttle and made his way towards the enemy machine. On approaching it he was awed to see that it was very much alike to his own machine. Shigen gripped the controls, undaunted by this new finding.
"It can be hurt just like any other machine!" Shigen aimed the rifle, locked on, and fired. In a brilliant flash a beam shot twice the size of the norm burst forth at Scion and Revolution.
Inside Revolution, 3:05 P.M.
"Holy shit!" Scion yelled as he put himself out of the beams way. He never expected to meet such a powerful shot.
"What the hell was that! A cannon!" He continued his way forward and was greeted by moreof the powerful beam bursts. Scion didn't even attempt to try and use the funnels to block them since he wasn't going to chance a head on collision with whatever that prototype was packing. As they neared Scion made some return fire but the machine not only have an outrageous beam rifle but was very agile as well.
"Son of a! Does it have a ships engine on it!"
Inside Clarity, 3:20 P.M.
Shigen was impressed with the mobile suits performance. He had diverted power from the engine that powered the 'Crasher' and used it to boost the thrusters to find that it was easier to avoid the shot at this speed. His own brute strength seemed to be greater then the enemies as well.
"I'm gonna win!" Shigen cried out as if he had already won. It was in that exact moment that he was suddenly hit from behind. He turned and found a small little object staring down at him, it didn't take long for him to realize he was staring down the barrel of a remote beam rifle. He thrust Clarity upward to get a view of the battle field and found, to his surprise and horror, that there was six of the remotes floating about, all locked on him. The battle had turned.
Inside Revolution , 3:35 P.M.
"Hah! I got you!" Scion said as the funnels moved to surround the enemy.
"Scion. The enemy transport has moved away from us and is leaving our radar range." The pilot coordinator said over the com.
"It's fine. Without a transport we can capture this machine. It's better that way. Now you're min…what!"
Scion watched in awe as a blinding blue light erupted from behind the Clarity and then in a burst of light it took off in the direction of the transport. Scion didn't even think of trying to catch it.
As it left his view Scion noted that it was like seeing a comet fly across the sky with almost perfect clarity.
Inside Clarity, 3:48 P.M.
Shigen was slammed against his seat as he raced to catch his transport. He had been told to simple keep the enemy busy until the transport was safe, then Clarity could caught up using the combined power of the '3-Way Engine' Shigen was greatly pleased to slow the machine down when he caught up…it was monstrously fast in his mind and when he boarded the transport he went immediately to the bathroom and threw up. He thought he would be laid up for the rest of the day.
Inside the Unnamed ship, 3:55 P.M.
Scion was once again sitting in his room, thinking about the past battle and in still in his pilot suit. He had been brought back in and told to rest since Heliopolis was not to far from their current position. He was ticked about the past battle but couldn't do anything about it so he let it pass, not that it was a big deal since the fight was more like an exchange of fire and didn't last too long.
After another minute in silence his door opened and in entered Yumi, who for some reason sometimes 'forgot' to knock before entering. She walked over in civilian clothing, a blue blouse and a white mini skirt, which always scared Scion since she looked so different then what he was used too, her hair was done up in a bun though so it wasn't all different. Scion found it easy to not look at her when he spoke to her, not that he a perv or anything...she was just a very pretty girl who seemed to see right through him.
"Scion, you should really stop sulking." Yumi started in her scolding tone.
"Who's sulking? Not me." Scion defended himself, he never understood where she got off scolding him like a mother would her child.
"Fine, I'm not going to argue with you. We're almost there and you should get ready incase ZAFT has beat us there." She seemed a bit on edge as if expecting things to be bad.
"….Get ready how? I'm already in my pilot suit so I can launch whenever. What's wrong? You've never been worried about sortie before."
Yumi shifted uncomfortably as if she was carefully thinking about her words, another oddity.
"I-I..uh…we're just getting into the thick of things with the EA's prototypes. These are mobile suits like Revolution and they won't be so easy to beat…I'm just concerned how you will fare."
Scion didn't buy it. If she really was worried about him then she wouldn't be telling him to 'get ready' she'd be talking about precautions and so on. She wasn't telling him something and he wanted to know what. He'd do it covertly though.
"Fine, fine. Who is running this operation anyway? Who got the idea for the Prototypes?" Scion asked innocently, though he already knew the answer.
"….Halberton, Lewis Halberton. He may be there actually." Yumi said with a hint of glee.
A hint of glee that Scion caught and only served to make him wonder. He stood up and walked forward towards Yumi. He stopped when he was standing beside her.
"I fought Halberton before. It was a big battle and lots of people die--" Scion meant to go on but Yumi semi-gasped which stopped Scion from continuing. He was going to tell her how they talked and stuff but now it seemed irrelevant.
"Umm…are you okay Yumi?" Scion looked to the side to see she was staring at the ground.
"I'm fine, I was just surprised is all. He's said to be a good commander…who takes care of his men." Yumi responded quietly.
Scion opened his mouth to speak but just then the intercom came on.
"Scion, this is the bridge…you might want to see this." The man said, since this wasn't the military Scion had insisted they call him by his first name which took a little getting used to for the men.
"What is it? Heliopolis is under attack?"
"I think you should come up here…"
Scion didn't have to ask twice to know that he was needed. He took one more look at Yumi before patting her on the shoulder and quickly exiting his room. Inside Yumi stood looking forward at the wall at the other end of the room. She walked over to it and stared out the window with a look of worry on her face.
Please be alive…
The Bridge, 2:30 P.M.
"Dear god…"
As the door slid open and Scion stepped inside he was stopped by the site of not a looming Heliopolis, not a battle torn Heliopolis…a destroyed Heliopolis. It was completely destroyed and was little more then one large floating chunk of debris.
Scion slammed his fist into the wall of the elevator as he stared at a second Junius Seven. He bowed his head and grit his teeth together in agony. He had enough trouble dealing with one destroyed colony and now somewhere in the back of his mind he feared he couldn't take another mental attack like before...somewhere else in the back of his mind told her he should be glad he didn't see it happen. The truth was still there though.
He had failed again…
"Sir! We have an engine firing up on the far side of the colony. No! Two! The first may be a decoy since they came from the same place…a third!" One of the crew man said quickly as he checked his radar.
"Can you confirm any of them!"
"The first is unknown as is the second. The third is a Zaft vessel…now wait! Two ZAFT vessels, they are on the rim of our radar range and I couldn't tell before and they appear to be chasing at the second radar signature. The first unknown is going in the direction of EA HQ on the moon while the second is heading towards Artemis! Orders captain?"
The caption looked back at Scion who was still off in his own world. He frowned to see such a young man in pain, he was briefed on Scion's past history and knew this must be very painful.
"You said two ZAFT vessels? That must be Rau Le Creuset! If they are pursing that second signal then that must be an EA ship. We follow the Creuset team! Is that okay Scion?" The caption looked to the young man with a smile. Scion simply looked up with a very grim look on his face.
"Yes, if they have the prototypes then we have to get them… and even if they don't…I still want them to-
"Good! You heard him! Follow the ZAFT vessel now!" The Captain cut Scion off before he could finish and spook the crew. He turned to Scion and motioned for him to go back to his quarters. The young man complied without expression of emotion. When he returned Yumi was gone and Scion spent his time laying on his bed waiting for them to catch the Rau Le Creuset, to pay them for their sins, for the sin that should never have happened again.
On Route to Earth, 3:00 P.M.
Shigen was still on edge. Ever since that short fight with that other prototype he didn't know what to do with himself. He was just so wound up at the moment. He tried doing exercises but that didn't help and he feared he'd never get himself calmed down. His experience in the cockpit of a mobile and piloting it into battle was thrilling beyond compare and Shigen just couldn't contain himself, he actually wanted to pilot again.
But he was told to stay in his room until they made it to Orb Union and to safety. Shigen looked around his quarters, the walls were blank and everything was obviously new since there was no signs of use. This made the room look very…plain. Shigen didn't like his position but forced himself to lie down and try to catch some sleep. For his own sake.
Shigen just knew that he wanted to pilot again…and somehow he felt that he would.
Author's Notes: So now we've got a third character into the fold. From here on out the I'll be spending some time on Yumi and Shigen, probably Yumi more then Shigen until later on. I decided that instead of staying with Scion I'll use all the viewpoints of the characters I made since that will probably make things more enjoyable to the readers.
That said, we have finally reached the anime's timeline and now I have to think carefully on the characters and their personalities, and believe me some people are harder then others, like Dearka and some of the less important people. But I will do my best and if you think I've failed somewhere then tell me.
Oh, if some of the fan want something to be changed in the series then say so in a review and please put why, what you think may come of it, and I may consider it. Though for the most part i'm gonna try to keep things linear but I can and do have somethings in mind to change.
Well, I hope you all like thsi chapter, it's longer then others and I hope I got out all the kinks but I'm horrible at finding my own errors so if you find any blaring mistakes then put that in to change also. Thanks for your support.
-Arcaner