Disclaimer: I don't own the company that made this show.
Notes:
.. : Trailing off of words
… : Interference in communications
Italics: Private thoughts/ pronunciation.
WORDS IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS: Very loud speech or sound.
12321: Scene change or Time frame change.
Bold words: Interruption!
Censored words: well.. who cares!
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Chapter 11: Peacekeeper Downed18th March C.E. 74, Orb..
A cool breeze from the AC unit blew through Captain Miriallia Haww's hair, as she lay in bed in the wee hours of the Saturday morn. She stared up at the blank ceiling of her room thinking about her great date that she was going to have in two days time, when she felt something crawling up her neck.
Yeesh.. I didn't know that mum had an insect problem? Oh well, at least I'm used to this stuff. I'll just squash the bug. Captain Haww reached up with a hand to squish the offending object.
The thing stung her and her world went pitch black as her hand went flopping back down onto the bed. Captain Redwood of the IUE peeped into the room and whispered into a walkie-talkie.
"General, we have the girl, Miriallia Haww whom you say is a really good CIC and close friend to the legendary Strike Freedom's pilot." Reported Redwood.
"Good Redwood, I'll take the rest from here by giving M1 its orders" General Paige said, cutting the line.
When General Dhanit Paige had received the Minites, he had given them the names M1 to M4, each with their own targets, Miriallia Haww, Kira Yamato, Mwu La Fllaga and the Coordinator Princess of Germany, Katherine.
Mrs. Haww stuck her head through the unconscious captains door. Hmm.. she must have been muttering in her sleep. Must be work stress. At least she's got the rest of the week off. Smiling slightly, Mrs. Haww closed the door as quietly as possible, not wanting to wake up her daughter who obviously wasn't asleep. Well at least in Redwood's eyes.
IUE HQ..
General Paige smirked lightly as he uploaded the program objectives into the unit M1. In simple format from the jumble of computer language, it meant; continue host's slumber for another half hour then allow the host complete control till end of host's days off. Then resume control and guide fellows M2 to M4 to targets.
I'm going to have so much fun with this little toys. General Paige howled with glee.
24th March C.E. 74, Orb..
Miriallia Hawke of the Orb Elite Angels Of Freedom forces walked to her comm. office in the wee hours of the morning, humming a lively tune. In the past six days, she had had reunions with old friends like Sai Argyle and Kuzzey. To top off her absolutely wonderful days, Major Dearka Elsman of the First Angel's squadron had proposed to and been accepted by her.
She was about to enter the office room when her mind went blank. Without knowing it, she was heading towards the fourth cruiser hangar of the base, the cradle of the Peacekeeper.
Lieutenant Reminston of the same comm. Unit had spotted her and wondered, "What's gotten into her head today eh?" He didn't know how right he was.
2 Hours later, 0820..
Every single pilots and crewman had finally arrived at the base to do their days worth of mech maintenance and refueling due to the past flight exercises. Noticeable to everyone was the unusually lethargic behaviour of Major Fllay Alster and the disappearance of Captain Haww.
Scratching his head in confusion, Colonel Mwu La Fllaga asked Katherin Von Stryker who happened to pass by, "Hey princess! You seen Miri anywhere? She was supposed to give me a report on the terror cell situation in the Himalayas. Would you- SLAP!"
"I TOLD YOU! CALL ME KATHERINE OR MISS STRYKER IF YOU WANT FORMALITIES NOT PRINCESS!" the relatively small woman slapped her senior hard enough to send the poor Colonel spinning back down the corridor where he came from.
"WRARAWWW!………" Mwu yelped.
With a loud "Hmph!", Katherine continued down the corridor.
Elsewhere in the base, Major Kira Yamato sat typing his fourth report in a day, wondering why he had accepted the job of being a soldier. A sudden knock on the door made him stop his lightning-paced typing. Who could it possibly at this time? He wondered, saying one word, "Enter."
Miriallia Haww walked in slowly, tears falling quite freely. "Is there anything wrong?" Kira asked, getting out of his seat in alarm. Miriallia seemed to be very distressed.
"We..well Kira.. its about De..Dearka. He..he broke up with me!" She cried, and in an instant, had wrapped her arms round Kira's neck, sobbing uncontrollably. (A/N: Something wrong ain't there )
Kira was dumbstruck. Dearka broke up with Miri? I thought they were so close. It must be sad for her to lose another loved o- Kira never finished his thinking before Miriallia Haww drove the chemical laced needle of M2 into the back of the Major's neck. Kira's body stumbled for a moment before correcting itself. Wordlessly, they continued to the pilots' lounge where one Colonel Mwu La Fllaga was having a nice nap.
Damn DAMN DAMNN! Why do I have to act like a stupid drunkard! Fllay snarled mentally, after almost naturally shaking off another admirer casually. Suddenly she noticed two figures darting in the shadows. Miraculously, her lethargy vanished and she was gone in a flash, leaving the unfortunate men behind, choking in a dust cloud.What I saw. Fllay thought as she followed the shadows with more steal than a panther. She caught a glimpse of the duo as they passed too close to the light once. I knew it! It is Kira Yamato and Miriallia Haww.. but why do they look like.. Wait! Their under the influence of Minites! But how could they.. then it hit the traitor Of course.. its because of those idiots from the I.U.E. that the Mistress just made an alliance with! Those fools!
Swearing, she ran back to her room and secured a line with her master who did not take a liking to the news.
" I didn't think they would think of such an audacious plot.. but since its like this, Fllay, this plan is aborted. Continue with what you normally do and inform Tolle of this setback" The evil woman seethed in rage.
Without a question, Fllay acknowledged the order and shut the line with the speed of a bullet. At such times like this, it was better not to talk to Kaira. Swearing once more, Fllay Alster spun around and zoomed out of the room to look for Tolle Koenig.
Mwu la Fllaga awoke with a start when the door of the pilots' lounge opened up. He spotted Kira and Miriallia, "Hey! Kira thanks for finding Miri for me. I owe yah one." Kira on the other hand, responded by rushing up to him with a standard hold-out blade in hand, with Miriallia doing the same.
"Oi! What are you two doing!" Mwu leapt to one side and avoided to attacks by inches. He caught sight of two machines on the twos' necks. Those things.. are they controlling these two. Then I'll just have to get rid of those things! Mwu drew his pistol and took careful aim. Now! He fired at Miriallia Haww
A nine-millimetre round sped out of the muzzle at a good 480km/h, but a similar machine had hopped out of the Captain's shirt pocket (A/N:I forgot what the pocket was called) and immolated itself against the piece of lead.
Before Mwu could even swear, before he could get another shot off, he had been hit by the fourth M-unit and was under the I.U.E.'s control. However, if one was the superbly fantastically optimistic type of person, the only good thing left was that there were no M-units left to target the princess of Germany. But of course, that still wouldn't be a good thing with the enemy controlling the two of best pilots in the World and in Space.. would it?
Fllay Alster and Tolle Koenig took this very moment to burst into the room with a platoon of reinforcements. Hah! It a good thing I tipped the military police and my squadmates off about this. I'll show these I.U.E. fools that they can't get in my wa- Fllay stopped thinking when Mwu La Fllaga put the gun to his own head and said, "Now now, would you really want us to blow your Colonel's head off? It won't matter to me, I can easily possess another body you know."
Fllay mentally swore every single cuss word she had known in her life, knowing that the Minite controlling the Colonel would do what it said it would do. Teeth clenched, she ordered the soldiers to stand back, and the trio dashed out of sight.
Seconds later, Alarms wailed all over the base, sending napping soldiers jumping out of their bunks and their hands to their weapons holsters. Katherine's body guard's hands held an electrified whip in one hand and an assault rifle in the other as they charged towards their master.
However there would have been no need for that as the final M-unit had been destroyed..
Two platoons of guards came rushing into the hangar bays, only to face shriveling gunfire, which sent two men flying back in pieces and the rest flying for cover. Kira and Mwu jumped into their cockpits and Miri followed a second later into the Akatsuki.
Both launched into the light of the sun at its peak. Admiral Ramius who had just arrived, ran for her ship. Colonel Mars Renshin of the Peacekeeper who had been on watch duty that time ordered his vessel to launch, and to power up all weapons to full force.
It was the only ship to get out as the hangar doors jammed shut when Kira initiated a lock down program. The Peacekeeper would have the support of base defenses, but the instant it left firing range, it would be all alone. The worst type of tactical nightmare for a commander against an unknown enemy.
Such a thing was about to be proven right for Colonel Renshin's sense of dread. The Strike Freedom made a sudden spiral, firing a the ship's deadliest assault arsenal, the sonic breakers, blowing to pieces so fast, the Colonel didn't even know what hit him. Cursing fluidly in his native language, he ordered for the shields to be activated as the HQ's lasers opened up on the two mobile suits.
Not that it would actually have done anything to harm the two suits. The Akatsuki simply let the beams glance harmlessly off its chassis will the Stike Freedom, in a spectacular display of skill avoided the beams by the merest fraction of an inch.
A volley of high explosive slugs rammed the Akatsuki's shield in one swift shot from the Linear cannons of the Peace keeper, sending the suit spiraling down into the ocean. The Peacekeeper gave chase, but a sudden screech from the proximity alarms sent the entire vessel veering off course as a monster of a ship, easily 2km long emerged from the depths of the ocean.
Colonel Renshin made a quick check on his support, only to find himself out of support laser range. To make things a whole lot worse, there was a full squadron of unknown suits standing between him and his safety, and to the front, a full wing of enemy suits were being deployed. On the other hand, the Strike Freedom and the Akatsuki were retreating into the cavernous main hangar of the thing.
Refusing outright to allow his commander to fall into enemy hand's, Renshin did what the enemy would never have expected from him, he ordered the ship to activate all weapons, including the new laser coats and ram the ship. Immediately, two oval shaped ships flashed out of the monster's main hangar.
The new enemies had to have at least forty Tristan-class laser cannons around the ship's rim and two evil looking Tannhaussers on both top and bottom of the ship. The vessel apparently had a lot of missiles as well, when the duo fired no less than a hundred Corinthos missiles at the Peacekeeper in perfect synch.
The Peacekeeper itself was unharmed, but the shockwaves jarred Colonel Renshin out of his seat. Swearing again, he had his men fire two precision shots into the enemy's bridge, with shield piercing Thrienfien lasers, turning the one enemy oval shaped vessels bridge to slag in seconds, bringing a cheer from the crew.
However, the ship just made a 180 degree skid to reveal. "Another bridge?" a helmsman yelped. Renshin had no more words to spout, gaping in shock. Then, the enemy flagship finally began its assault. It fired a Tannhausser beam at point blank range into the Peacekeeper's portside wing, clipping off the shield generator and turning that side into a glowing fireball that was being fueled by the lives of so many brave crewmen.
The next volley by the unmolested oval ship slapped the Peacekeeper's hangar bays and blasted its portside weaponry to kingdom come. Renshin's heart grew heavier as more alarms began to wail in his ship, signaling the mortal wounds the mighty ship had receive in its desperate but pointless struggle.
Finally, after the linear cannons on the bottom of the Peacekeeper were blown up after she managed to rip apart half a squadron of enemy suits, the Colonel sent a message out to his men, "Abandon ship." All his men had followed his orders and fled in their escape pods that had been specially armoured and stealth coated to protect them from enemies.
He knew the danger of hitting his own friend, Kira, but if the ship was disabled or at the least stalled, reinforcements would be able to take his place
Unfortunately, like any other true bridge officer, the officers next to the Colonel refused the order. "I refuse to follow such a ridiculous order. Any officer in the navy would go down with his ship!" Young captain Marcus Renshin, junior of the Colonel roared in outrage, only to be silenced by a punch from his elder brother.
Dazed, Marcus stared blankly at his brother as the final two evacuating helmsmen grabbed the Captain by the arms and dragged him off to the closest escape pod. Once the pod had launched, Mars looked back at the enemy flagship along with the five remaining officers with him.
He sent a single message to the Angel's HQ, "It is my deepest regret to say that the Peacekeeper and myself shall not get out of our second sortie in one piece except through death. Therefore, please pick up any survivors you find, whather friendly or not, cause we intend to go out, with all our guns blazing brightly.
Staring out determinedly, he ordered his remaining men to activate the currently off-line laser coating. He was going to take as much of the enemy ship along with him, the whole thing too, if he could.
Seeming to sense this, the enemy flag deployed its main weapon, by the look of it, the Colonels amazement was a full battery of FOUR Tannhaussers that looked like they were to be fired simultaneously. He was right.
With a roar of desperation, the enemy flag released all its fury on the smaller ship, which managed a dodge, but the edge of the laser grazed the ship, blasting the Peacekeeper's top wing off.
Then with a roar of its own, the Peacekeeper immolated itself against the enemy flag's starboard wing its parts shredding off the main structure as the engine core drilled itself into the starboard bridge.
Colonel Renshin was the only one to survive the impact, but he knew he would not live long. Trying to stem a steady flow of blood from his stomach, he reach out for his command chair's keypad and typed in his last command; self destruct.
"Come die with me won't you." The Colonel sneered before he was engulfed in a simply huge fireball, turning him into a silhouette, before there was no longer any trace of the man by the name of Mars Renshin, Colonel of the Orb elite forces, the Angels of Freedom.
The monster let out a loud metallic squeal, like an animal that had been caught in a trap, painfully..
Back in the Angel HQ, the devastating news reached the shell-shocked soldiers. "Admiral Ramius! The Peacekeeper is down! ITS DOWN!" A crewman yelled.
"WHAT?" Admiral Ramius yelled back.
"Its just been confirmed ma'am, just half a minute ago, the Peacekeeper rammed the enemy main vessel and was destroyed in doing so." The crewman said in a more subdued tone.
Fllay Alster and Tolle Koenig who had just entered the Hangar of the Archangel stopped short. They were spies of course, but they still had made attachments with the personnel. Colonel Mars Renshin had been a caring man who had always made it his priority to get everyone home and made it a point to give any man who had died under his command a proper burial.
He was one of the few people whom Fllay had actually had decent conversations with, instead of the other men who were no more than stupid flirts.
"What about the enemy flag!" Fllay suddenly snapped, scaring the wits out of the poor crewman's already small living daylights.
"I'm sorry ma'am, but its gone, along with Major Yamato and Colonel La Fllaga the enemy managed to escape." The man shuddered in fear.
But he didn't need to fear the angry Major at all. Fllay had already fainted as a concerned Admiral Ramius and Captain Koenig rushed to her side.
Elsewhere in Orb, Lacus Clyne was reacting very badly to the news as well as Kira's sister, Cagalli. Both fainted on the spot. Athrun on the other hand, walked up to the balcony of the hose and stared out at the open sea where his friend was, but exactly where, he did not know.
Finally, unable to control his rage he roared out in anguish into the still dusk.
Back at the Angel's HQ, Mayu Asuka and Stellar Louisser had been inform ed of the fiasco and without hearing another word from the courier, Mayu ran off to the Pilots' Lounge. There, she found what was to be the only clue for the Angels to catch their foe.
"What in heaven's name is that?" Stellar said in disgust at the still sparking remnants of M4 that had liquid dripping out of its ruined syringe gun.
Mayu, who had picked it up with a pair of tweezers from her utility belt replied in the coolest tone, "We might not know now, but I''ll get to the bottom of this, even if I have to search every single weapons dealer shop both on this world and out."
Aprilius 1..
The Angels of Freedom had been wounded for the first time, but they would be back for revenge and they would make sure the debt was paid in kind with interests, Kaira could fell it in her bones.
For the first time in her life, Kaira Hibiki felt fear coursing through her body. She had sent the Savaii to extract the I.U.E units, but even so, if it were not for the fact that she had overridden General Paige's commands and gotten Kira to jam the hangar doors, her vessel, the pride of the Destiny Army Navy on earth would have probably been turned to scrap metal by the combined force of five of the most heavily armed warships around.
Muttering darkly, Kaira wondered whether she was right in making an alliance with the Naturals and went back to plot a different plan of attack on the Angels of Freedom..
To be continued..
The Orb forces begin to move their pieces as well. What will come out of Captain Mayu's investigations? Kaira, having already failed in killing her own brother and with the dwindling trust between the leadership ability of their leader, Hibiki finds more problems that might potentially lead her and General Paige to ruin. The next chapter: Battle of Fort Himalaya.
H.O.: I'm back, finally. Tis my longest chap too so far. Mind you, how long do you think Kira will be controlled by the baddies eh?