Hello, and welcome to another chapter!
I apologize in advance if this chapter feels sloppy, but i had a bit of a "Writer's block" with this chapter. So...sorry.
Regardless, enjoy!
Copyright: Sunrise inc.
Gundam SEED: 2002, 2013
Gundam 00: 2007
Chapter 6
AD 2312
May 2
Earth orbit, Upper Orbital Ring
It has been a little over a month since they've departed from the factory base at Lagrange 3.
They've been going around, chasing leads on someone Lasse and the others called "an old friend". The one holding on to the last of the five GN Drives.
Someone who has been missing for the last four years.
2 weeks ago
Lagrange 1 hideout
They arrived at the hideout yesterday to pick up some spare parts for the Seravee, the 00(which was still inactive without a second drive), and resupplying their onboard supplies, along with doing some maintenance checks on the Ptolemy.
"Mr Ian. Can I ask something?"
"hmm? What is it, Kira?" Ian replied, looking up from his console.
"If I remember correctly, there were only four Gundams during the missions four years ago, right?"
"Hmm? Yeah, what about it?"
"If that's the case, where did the fifth drive come from?"
"I guess this is what happens when you hide some things off the database, huh? You see, Kira, before Celestial Being actually built the Gundams, the plan involved creating only five GN drives, no more, no less. Well, I was recruited only when tests on the 0 Gundam and the 2nd gen Gundams were fully underway, so I'm not too in the know on why only five were built. Maybe it was for confidentiality reasons? I know the brass in the HRL and the AEU are prone to doing that kind of thing, so I wouldn't be surprise if my predecessors here did the same."
"I see…so, why did the last drive go missing?"
"You did read up on what happened four years ago, right?"
"sorry, but I was a little too focused on learning this world's history."
"Well, during the battle four years ago, the Exia, our missing Gundam, engaged an unknown Mobile Armor, while Tieria and Allelujah defended the old Ptolemy. After that battle, we were busy retrieving the Nadleeh and its Solar Furnace, and by the time we managed to get to Exia's last known location, we were busy helping Lasse out of the GN Arms, and the Exia was already gone."
"Could he have been captured?"
"Not likely. We've been keeping our ears open for information, and from what intel we've received, he's been pretty busy on his own. Unfortunately, he's pretty good at going off the radar, so we haven't been able to get in contact with him."
"Is that why we're following the information?"
"Yeah." Ian finished, as he looked at his watch, and a look of surprise appeared on his face. "Oh crap, we're starting to fall behind schedule. We can talk more later."
"R-right." Kira hastily replied, as he got back to work.
So far, during this month of searching, some of the intel have turned out to be either dead ends, or abandoned hideouts.
If there's one thing Exia's pilot(Setsuna F. Seiei, according to Feldt) was good at, it seemed to be staying hidden from sight, much more impressive in that he's been doing it for four years with something as inconspicuous as a Gundam.
Mileina speaking broke him out of a daze that he himself wasn't aware of.
"We've received an encrypted message from our Agent!"
"From Wang Liu Mei? What does it say?" Lasse asked.
"A Federation cruiser is headed towards an old mining asteroid field at Lagrange 2. Seems like they caught word of Anti-Federation forces hiding out there."
"Lagrange 2, eh? We're a little too far out from there, and I don't want to risk using Trans-Am with only Tieria's unit being active."
"But still, shouldn't we at least check it out?"
"No." Tieria replied, as he entered the bridge. "As much as we need to find Setsuna and the Exia, we can't afford to get involved at this stage."
"But what about Katharon? Can't we try to help them?"
"Sorry, kid, but that's the way things are. I'm sorry for not being able to help those guys, but with the state of our fighting strength right now, we can't risk a direct engagement. And besides, Setsuna knows how to look out for himself."
"I see.."
"Sorry kid, but that's the way it is."
As the Ptolemy steered away from its current heading, Kira could only look out the window, and pray that the people of Katharon will stay safe.
Lagrange 2
EFF A-LAWS Space Cruiser
MS Hanger
"So, this is the new model, huh?"
In a section of space just outside the asteroid sector of Lagrange 2, sits a single Baikal-class cruiser, just about ready to deploy its Mobile suits against the Anti-Federation forces hiding out in this sector.
In its hanger bay, stand six red-colored mobile suits belonging to the autonomous peacekeeping force, A-LAWS. Among them, two of them were the brand new GNX-704T, Ahead, sent to this ship for field testing against enemy forces.
One of it's pilot: Captain Barack Zinin.
"That's right, sir. Fresh of the production line, too." One of the engineers replied, as Barack moved closer to his newly assigned machine.
"But still…it looks too much like a Tieren, don't you think?"
"Not surprising, captain." The head mechanic replied, coming from the GN-XIII docked behind the Ahead. "The designers were former HRL engineers, who developed this based on the information we got from the former HRL's Tieren Taozi,and from the winged Gundam."
"The one that was captured four years ago? If I recall, it was missing it's GN Drive when we found it."
"Right, but most of what remained of the hardware was salvaged for study, and was put into developing this machine. The tech labs recently finished the system tests, and the simulator showed an improved performance over the rank and file GN-XIIIs, but…"
"Trouble with the controls?"
"Yes, but as we've had a precedent with the Advanced GN-X, it was a lot easier to smooth out this time round."
"They didn't try reverse-engineering the OS from the Gundam?"
At that comment, the head engineer looked around, looking to see if the surrounding was clear, silently asked Barack to come closer, and whispered to him.
"This is technically top secret, so you didn't hear it from me. Understand?" Hearing this, Barack nodded, and the engineer continued. "Apparently, when they tried to start up the Gundam's control system, the OS was already wiped from the system. What the Ahead is currently using is a modified version of the OS copied from the Advanced GN-X, so the techs can properly avoid the same problem with the thrust output from said unit."
"Is the performance going to suffer?"
"No, it won't. The unit's output is stable enough to not require a limiter at full power."
"Then I'll drop the queries here." Barack said, cutting off the head engineer. "Anyways, I would like to see how this thing performs for myself. Besides, if this thing performs well, then I think I can get over the design aesthetics."
"If you say so, Captain" the engineer replied. "Now, about your personalized settings…"
"Won't need it for now." Barack said, as he moved towards the Ahead. "Besides, I want to see how this thing performs on the default settings."
"Attention all hands: mission area reached. I repeat: mission area reached. Ahead first squadron, standby for launch. Ahead first squadron, standby for launch."
"Looks like you're up, Captain."
"Looks like it. Is the drive fully charged?"
"Yes sir, whenever you're ready."
"Right then," Barack said as he settled into the cockpit's seat.
"Time to put these terrorists in their place."
and...That's it for Chapter 6!
I'm a little sorry if it feels short, but I felt that it was best if I cut off here. regardless, we are now officially through with the prologue arc, and we are about to kick start the events of season 2!
Also, for the Ahead's origin, I'm taking another bit of "Artistic License" here, as it is only mentioned that former HRL engineers worked on the Ahead's design, so I came up with a reasonable backstory for it here. Sorry again if it feels(or is) different from canon.
Look forwards to the next chapter, as we kick off the main series' plot!
And Merry Christmas, folks!
Uploaded: 25/12/2018
Next update: 25/02/2019