Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam
Back with another update, this one is very different from the original arch in the original Purpose.
The new suits introduced, the Sensou-Mercs are based on the Graze suits seen in Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, I thought they had that old patched together look that would suit a mercenary organisation.
This chapter's monologue moments go to Nichol Amalfi.
Gundam Seed Purpose Renew
Chapter 6: Umbrella breaks
The Purpose's ruined form cast a shadow over the Archangel's hanger. It was a far cry from what it had been before, the piles of weapons Gekido also secured, were added to a scrap pile. Murdoch's crew were diving through the wreck, taking parts they thought they could use for the Strike. Gekido knocked two of them aside and shot a fierce look at the others. Putting on a pair of gloves, Gekido opened up what was left of the gun blade (which wasn't much considering how it blew up). He pulled off pieces of melted wire, cogs that had become crushed and useless, even shells.
"Here, hold this," he said, tossing one of the shells like a keg of beer.
One of the mechanics caught the shell, and looked at his friends in confusion as they stepped away from him. Gekido put his hand through one of the holes on the gun blade, carelessly cutting his arm on the sharp edges. It was a superficial cut, one Gekido didn't care for. When he got what he was looking for he pulled it out, and caught the interest of the other mechanics.
"What's that?" one of the younger ones asked.
"I don't know, targeting matrix maybe," another suggested.
Gekido tested the objects weight in his hand, it was heavy, not as heavy as the shell but enough to do the job it had to. It was pipe shaped, allowing Gekido to toss it in the air, for it to spin in midair and fall into his hand again. He tucked it into his jacket, and put the jacket on.
"How important is that part, it was so wrecked," one of the mechanics said.
"Yeah, I mean what was it even for?"
Murdoch walked up behind the group, patting two on their shoulders.
"That is the most important part of any gun, the firing pin," he said.
"Why would he take the firing pin?"
"I know machines, but I don't know dogs," Murdoch huffed and guided his team away from Gekido.
With no one distracting him, Gekido began looking up at the Purpose and assessing the damage. The damage to the Gundam's face plate was superficial, the eye looked worse than it actually was. His main camera hadn't been affected at all, though the damage to the V-fin affected his sensors. There was also a slight delay on communications, suggesting the V-Fin's were more than just to make the Gundams look cooler. Performing a strong jump, Gekido floated up the Purpose's left leg, pulling on the edges and making his way to the left shoulder. He adjusted his position until his knees were resting on the machine's shoulder.
'Slight damage to the arm link, as a result the delay between the time I pull the trigger and a round goes flying is longer now, the armour's worth shit now, debris could fly into the hole and damage other systems too,' he summarised the damage, and then floated across to the Purpose's head.
'Slight damage to V-fin, easily repairable, surface damage to the eye isn't a concern, if anything it'll make people think I'm blind on the right, advantage to me, need replacement weapons, reload on vulcans, could give some of my pay to the Archangel crew for some rounds...no, what the hell would they do with the money anyway, wait, they'd have the rounds to spare what with the other prototypes gone,' Gekido looked over his shoulder, seeing Murdoch talking with the other mechanics.
"HEY MURDOCK!" he yelled.
"What?" Murdock inquired, turning his head with mild interest.
"Were any spare parts for the other prototypes put on the Archangel?" Gekido asked.
Murdock looked up at the ceiling, taking a moment to think. Probably not so much about whether he should share classified information with a mercenary, more so whether or not there actually were parts on the ship. Everything had happened so fast at Heliopolis, that there was barely enough time to do an inventory of what they had that was relevant to the Strike.
"We have some spare parts, but without the units they were intended for, they're just useless," he said.
"Not necessarily," Gekido said.
"What do you mean?" Murdock asked.
"Morgenroutte may have developed a different OS, but the frames are nearly the same, other than the transformation features of the Aegis, the others would go with one another, provided they're not using the same weapons, in that case you'd simply switch the weapon plugs in the hands, or the hands themselves," the mercenary explained.
There was a sudden squawk coming from the ceiling, a sign that the intercom was being used.
"Gekido, come to the bridge immediately," Badgiruel said.
Gekido scowled at the ceiling, before kicking off of the Purpose and floating for the elevator. Kira met him half way, floating into the elevator with him. The coordinator had a distracted look on his face, a look that Gekido noticed. He leant against the railing, looking at Kira with a frown.
"Anything to say for yourself?" Gekido asked.
"No," Kira said.
"You and the pilot of the Aegis know one another, you're close friends right?"
Kira widened his eyes slightly, and it was all the answer Gekido needed. He sighed, his expression becoming somewhat warm as he looked towards Kira again.
"If you don't fight him, there's a good chance he's going to end up killing one of your friends, likewise there's a good chance you'll unintentionally do the same thing to one of his buddies," Gekido explained.
"I..." but Kira remained silent, unable to come out with a good enough answer.
"Its war Kira, I think I'm fighting someone I know too," Gekido muttered.
"Who?" Kira asked.
"Certainly not someone whose as close as you may be to that Aegis guy, but he's someone I entertained the idea of calling friend, someone from Sensou I found less annoying than everyone else," Gekido explained.
The elevator stopped and both Gekido and Kira floated onto the bridge. Mu was leaning by his elbow, against Murrue's chair, both looking out at space. Natarle's focus however was on Gekido, and she motioned her head to the main screen.
"We have something we'd like you to confirm, Haw," Natarle looked to the communications officer.
Miriallia shifted uncomfortably in her seat as Gekido floated behind her.
"We received this coded message a few minutes ago," she said.
"We also detected several heat signatures following us," Natarle added.
Gekido planted his hand on Miriallia's chair and looked at the screen. Miriallia felt Gekido's hand tense and squeeze her head rest.
"It's a coded message, traded between Sensou mercenaries, it requests we adjust our course thirty degrees to the left, move at half speed for six minutes, and then readjust our course to its previous position," he explained.
"Why are they following us?" Murrue asked.
"They're a mercenary company, either someone hired them to escort us or attack us," Gekido said casually.
"They wouldn't have sent this message to us unless they knew a member of Sensou was with us," Natarle said.
Some of the others nodded their heads in agreement, each looking at Gekido for an explanation. He crossed his arms, gritting his teeth together as a vein throbbed on his forehead. His eyes turned white as he raised his head.
"YAMATO!" he yelled.
Elsewhere on the ship, Yamato sneezed, then sunk into his chair.
"Oh no, something very bad is about to happen to me," he whispered.
Back on the bridge, Gekido stood next to Murrue. He had explained that Yamato had hired a Sensou company to assist in escorting them. When the Archangel adjusted its course, it gave them a better view of the incoming Sensou forces. Rather than a repurposed Drake class carrier, or the standard jets used by Sensou, the escort force seemingly consisted of six mobile armours. They were blockish in shape, less streamlined than the mobile armours used by the EA. Gekido narrowed his eyes at three of the armours, spotting the GINN legs sticking out of them.
"Forces identified as long range transportation ships, Sensou M101-Kutans," Pal reported.
"They're carrying mobile suits," Mu said, spotting the same thing Gekido had.
Kira nervously gripped the Strike's controls. In case of a double cross, he had been told to go on sortie. He was connected with the Archangel's main radio, enabling him to hear what the people on the bridge heard. Miriallia put her hand to her ear and grimaced, turning to Murrue.
"Miss Murrue, we have a man requesting to speak with you," she said.
"Put it on the main screen," Murrue said.
She and the other members of the crew, excluding Mu and Gekido, heaved in disgust. They saw on the screen, a man, eating of all things a Burrito. A sauce had been spread around his mouth, and pieces of the burrito such as onions and peppers floated around him. His cheeks were bulging, amplifying the size of his face. The rest of his body seemed to press against the brown Sensou flight suit he wore, which was supposed to be baggy to others, but was tight for him.
"Yo, Gekido," he said, not finishing what was in his mouth.
"Bentos Haggan," Gekido said.
"What's this I hear," the Sensou pilot paused, burping and licking some of the sauce on his gloves. "What's this I hear about you leaving the company, you know the rules Gekido, you work and then you leave on our terms."
"I do things on my terms Bentos, that's the whole point of being a mercenary," Gekido retorted.
The bridge remained quiet, whilst Miriallia tried not to vomit at Bentos's disgusting manners, the rest of the crew noticed the tension between the overweight man and the grey haired youth. Their eyes glared at one another. Bentos shoved the burrito into his mouth and squashed the wrapper.
"So you abandon Sensou, after everything we've done for you, for your adopted family? You leave Sensou, go off to fight your own battles...and you don't think to invite us along?" the man asked.
A horse laughed belched out of Bentos's mouth as he slapped his arm rest. The Archangel crew looked between the Sensou mercenaries in confusion. Gekido's eyes relaxed and he smiled.
"You've got some balls on you son, a lot more than the company heads have, god if only I was at Heliopolis, was the fighting good?" Bentos asked.
"Better than it's been in a long time, the Black Storm was there," Gekido said.
"Fuck, now that would have been a good fight...back when I was sober," again Bentos laughed, his breath sounded strained, and crumbs floated out of his mouth. "So you're the captain Gekido has thrown his lot in?" Bentos asked, keeping his eyes on Murrue, or rather two specific parts of her.
"Yamato made this call without consulting us, we appreciate the offer of help, but we will be approaching our destination soon," Murrue said, frowning at Bentos.
Bentos laughed, hanging his head back. "I see the second great quality this girl's got Gekido, god I am envious, sorry lass, but we've been given a job and we don't leave unless it's done!"
"My name is Murrue Ramias, I am a lieutenant and the acting captain of this ship," Murrue's voice was stern, unwilling to take, or even put up with Bentos's behaviour.
This time Bentos didn't laugh, wiped his mouth and raised his hand into a salute.
"Gekido already introduced me, I'm a captain myself of the first mobile flotilla," he said.
"Mobile flotilla?" Mu looked at Bentos in confusion, something all of the crew members shared.
"Oh yeah, I suppose Gekido wouldn't know it either, it's a work in progress actually, a few of those pricks in the board found me offensive," Bentos said.
"Can't imagine why," Tolle muttered, leading Natarle to shush him.
"I was given command of a token force, to test a new system in combat. Basically these Kutai's act as hit and run war ships, and they launch us into combat," Bentos explained.
At that point, the Kutais got close enough to the Archangel for them to see them fully. Out of three of the Kutans they spotted the legs of mobile suits they weren't familiar with.
"Are those new models?" Gekido asked.
"Well spotted," Bentos grinned. "Let's show the Earth Alliance that they aren't the only ones who have developed their own mobile suits," he said.
He gripped both controls and pushed them forward. The leading three Kutais suddenly began to shift, releasing the mobile suits they carried. Three mobile suits, their armour was blocky like the Kutais and smaller than the GINN's and G weapons. Unlike ZAFT designed suits, the heads had no great horns or decorations on them, and the main camera was not of a Monoeye design. Rather it looked like a literal camera protected by a simplistic helmet. Each of the mobile suits was blue coloured and carried a 120 millimetre rifle, and a shield that was smaller than the Strike's. The presence of the shield, was because of the fact that some parts of the suit's under frame was exposed, on the lower chest and the forearms.
"They actually went and did it," Gekido muttered.
"Allow us to introduce, the Sensou-001-Mercs," Bentos said.
The trio of Mercs flew around the Archangel together, twirling in midair.
"Show offs," Gekido hissed.
He turned around, walking back to the elevator.
"YO GEKIDO!" a voice yelled over the radio.
Gekido stopped, his face taking on a bored look. He didn't turn around as another face appeared on the screen. Unlike Bentos, it was the face of a teenager, probably just a year or two older than Kira's friends. He had wild blue hair and grey eyes, and a friendly expression that was a contrast to Gekido. Gekido sighed in annoyance as the pilot began to speak.
"Oh, I see you Gekido, YO! Good to see you survived Heliopolis, are you the one who got the prototype out? Man I'm betting its beat up already, you never take care of your mobile suits. Did you meet any nice girls in Heliopolis, I heard they're beautiful, case in point the ladies I can see on the bridge now," the youth explained.
Murrue and Miriallia blushed, and Natarle hid her face with the tip of her hat. Gekido continued walking into the elevator, pushing the button to go down.
"Hey Gekido, Gekido? Gekido?" the pilot watched Gekido leave in confusion.
"Get off the line Wade," Bentos said.
"But I wanted to catch up with my buddy Gekido."
"NOW WADE!"
Wade sheepishly nodded his head, his face fading from the screen.
"You know about us?" Murrue asked.
"The G-Weapon project's confidentiality went out the window when ZAFT attacked Heliopolis, there were whispers of what was going on there, but now there are all eyes on this ship Miss Ramias," Bentos explained. "Not to say you guys weren't doing a good job keeping the secret, but take it from someone who knows, money can make lips loose...so can a bad employer," Bentos narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke.
"What do you mean?" Mu asked.
"I'm saying no matter what you do to keep the secret, there are people in the Earth Alliance who want to see the whole system crash and burn. Unlike some of my fellow former EA pilots, they don't up and turn mercenary, they take more direct action in their 'fuck yous' to the alliance brass."
"We shouldn't be listening to this," Natarle said.
"Unfortunately not every person has your respect for the system Miss, I'm not saying the Alliance is filled with traitors, on the contrary for every one person looking to see the alliance fall, there are hundreds more that believe it should be dominating the Earth sphere, and there are a thousand more who just want to carry out the duty they believe they joined the alliance to fulfil," Bentos explained.
"Who were you?" Murrue asked.
"I'm the realist who saw that the Earth Alliance was a failed system the moment it launched nuclear weapons at a place filled with innocent people," Bentos said, without his lazy or friendly tone, instead he had a strong frown, one that wasn't giving way to a laugh. "Anyway, we were on our way to the Umbrella before Kuzunagi offered us a job. Once we've completed our mock battle there, we'll escort you to Halberton's fleet," Bentos said before cutting the line.
"Good grief, at this rate, mercenary companies are going to be more powerful than the alliance," Mu said.
"That's why we need to get the Strike to Alliance HQ," Murrue said, with Natarle nodding her head in agreement.
"Oh and before I go," Bentos suddenly appeared again. "Like I said, more people know about the Strike than you think, and the Umbrella is a Eurasian base, Eurasia is looking for ways not to be the bitch of the Earth Alliance, so don't expect a warm welcome here."
Again, Bentos cut the line, leaving the bridge crew and Kira with an uneasy feeling.
Mercenaries, people call them dogs, others call them traitors. 'At least a dog is loyal to its master' I heard that once at the academy. We're taught to believe in ZAFT and what it stands for, what's its meant for, and I didn't need lessons to believe in it. After Endymion, there was a boom of veterans leaving ZAFT to join private military companies, or become private contractors. Belief in ZAFT had soared, which is why it became necessary for pilots as young as fifteen to be accepted. Before the war actually kick started, I wouldn't have been allowed onto the battlefield. Seeing what went down at Heliopolis, I can't exactly blame people for leaving ZAFT. But these mercenary companies, sometimes they make the battles bloodier. I don't believe the best way to change ZAFT is to leave it. I still believe that I can help people, that's all I want.
Nichol Amalfi looked at the distant Eurasian base. The Umbrella was infamous for its ability to withstand a siege. A series of arrays built into the base, formed an impenetrable barrier. Often invading forces had to leave because they had run out of provisions for a prolonged battle. Artemis was considered to have no strategic value, so no great resources or effort was put into a full attack. The Captain of the Gamow, Zelman said as much.
"So what's our strategy, sit back and wait until they come out?" Dearka asked, with a snicker.
"Shut up Dearka, when the commanders get here do you want to be the one who tells them we didn't do anything?" Yzak said.
Dearka shrugged his shoulders, grinning despite Yzak's snap. Nichol looked down at the map, judging the distance between the Gamow and Artemis.
"But the umbrella doesn't always stay open does it?" he asked.
"Reports say that it deactivates once our ships leave the area," Zelman said.
"My machine, the Blitz, it has the same phase shift armour as the others, but also something extra," Nichol said, raising his head and smiling.
"Mirage Colloid," the pilot of the Massacre said.
It had been one of the first times he spoke. Before he had stood away from the briefing table, looking out at space. He wore the standard red uniform of the aces, only his green hair was visible. The young man turned around, revealing his red eyes and tanned skin.
"Blitz can remain undetected indefinitely," he said.
"Exactly," Nichol nodded his head in agreement. "If we go a short distance from Artemis, I can move in and destroy the emitters," he explained.
It's the only plan we have, and it isn't long until I'm back inside the Blitz again. I guess that Yzak and Dearka are making fun of me, calling me a coward. It's not that they enjoy fighting, they both want to do well, and be praised for that. Myself, I've never been one for promotions or high praise, I just want to carry out my duty, I want to keep doing what I feel is right too. Sometimes that's all people can do, that's all anyone should. They call the pilot of that white machine, 'dog of war' but I'm sure he's not a bad guy. I'm sure he's simply doing what he feels is right, just like anyone else would.
"No fucking way!"
"Language please," Yamato muttered.
Tachi had his head pushed against the viewing screen, looking at the armed guards surrounding the Archangel. He also saw the Sensou-Mercs lined up with the Sensou Ginns. The GINNs had been repainted blue, except for the third, which was painted brown. But like Tachi, the crew of the Archangel were both confused and shocked to see three mobile suits standing side by side. They had similar heads to the G-Weapons, but didn't have phase shift armour on them. Both the right and left unit had black chest armour, and grey and blue limbs. The centre machine differentiated from the other two in its white, yellow and red colour scheme.
"Eurasia has made its own mobile suits," Gekido said.
He walked towards his adopted family, taking a roll of tape from behind his back. The three coordinators looked at Gekido in confusion, quickly shifting to horror as he pulled at the tape. After a few minutes, Gekido rubbed his hands together as he walked away from one of the wardrobes. His eyes twitched in annoyance as Haro floated around him.
"Haro, where's KiTaYa?" the machine asked.
Gekido took hold of the robot, testing its weight, he bounced it on the floor several times before nodding his head.
"What is that man planning, and where are Tachi, Kisagi and Yamato?" Flay wondered, watching Gekido walk down the corridor.
A bright smile crossed the girl's face as her friends floated out of one of the elevators. She gripped Sai's arm, taking no notice of the troubled expression on his face. Once they got into the canteen, the chef Kai raised his head to the crew members. He then narrowed his eyes at the presence of the armed Eurasian guards. Stepping away from his position, he floated to Neumann and Chandra.
"Where are Natarle, Mu and Murrue? What the hell's going on here?" he asked.
"Some of the guards took them away, said they needed to verify our identification," Neumann said.
"I bet Natarle's having a fit right now, this isn't regulation," Kai said.
"The best thing we can do right now is keep our heads down," Chandra added.
"For now, but something stinks here and isn't my food," Kai muttered.
In the locker room, Gekido put on his flight suit, letting the helmet hang off of the back of his neck. He crouched low as he heard people come into the room. The clanking of metal told him they were carrying rifles. Silently floating around the lockers, Gekido kept his breathing controlled, almost nonexistent as the Eurasian guards searched the room. Once they were out of the room, Gekido let out a deep breath.
'I know what you're up to Garcia,' Gekido thought.
He imagined the meeting with Garcia, the three officers being dragged into the barely lit room. He imagined Garcia, fat and cocky Garcia.
"Yes, I was stationed at the Grimaldi front myself," he predicted the man saying, now however, Garcia had forgotten exactly what it meant to be a front line soldier.
'You made some enemies, and did some horrible things to get this cushy posting Garcia, nothing personal, but a jobs a job,' Gekido thought as he looked over his knife, he slid the blade into its sheath and looked up towards the ventilation shaft.
I'm sure that pilot of the white suit, isn't a bad guy. I'm sure he's just like me and the others. Yzak and Dearka joined to make their parents proud, and because they believe in ZAFT. Rusty believed in ZAFT, he may have questioned what we did sometimes, but he never doubted the intentions of our commander. Le Creuscet has his quirks, and he's a ruthless fighter, but he always treats us kindly. He has every confidence in our abilities, he even defended Athrun when Thanos tried to lecture him about his recent sorties. Thanos himself is a decent man, he saw what happened at Junius seven first hand, but he didn't give up. He's continued to not give up.
The Blitz moved through space as if it was a part of it. Its heat signature, and even its very presence was camouflaged by the mirage colloid system. Nichol's breathing was calm and collected as he identified the umbrella arrays and approached them. His display showed what each array would do, generate a light wave, linking with several other light wave generators to form the infamous umbrella of Artemis. Simply taking out one would weaken the barrier, but not render it completely useless. Nichol ignited his beam sabre, slicing one of the generators apart. The sabre generated heat, but it was benign to the Artemis sensors, the loss of one of the generators however would draw some heads.
The Massacre pilot, I think he knows the mercenary. Were they friends? I can't imagine that, fighting against a friend. I don't think I could go on if I had to fight any of my friends. If those two do keep fighting, is it a sign of a weak friendship? Or a strong one? I don't understand these mercenaries, and the logic that drives them.
Gekido sat in the ventilation shaft, playing a game on his I-phone. As he played, he listened to the conversation going on in the cafeteria. Flay was as usual looking to Sai for reassurance, asking if they would be safe there. The officers however, particularly Murdoch and Neumann voiced concerns over how Artemis was handling their arrival. They knew better than Kira's friends that there were tensions between the Eurasian and Atlantis federations. No one had any idea however just how decedent the alliance was, filled with people on the inside who wanted to see it burn. Garcia was one of those men, the kind who wanted to be in charge over what was left of the ashes. Gekido however had no taste for political kills, everything he was doing now, was someone else's justice.
"We wish to speak with the pilots of the mobile suits," finally, he heard Garcia's voice.
"Why?" Neumann asked him.
"We are well aware that you are agents of the Atlantic Federation charged with this top secret mission, we're actually honoured to be see the suits before they are officially announced…now who are the pilots?" Garcia demanded.
"You already have the pilot, Major La Flaga," Murdoch said.
"HA! We've our own reports on your previous battles, according to those a Moebius Zero fought, utilising its gunbarrels, no one but La Flaga would have been using that machine. We also heard reports of a white mobile suit, that junked useless piece of garbage in your hanger," Garcia explained.
Gekido's eyebrows twitched and he squeezed his phone.
"Let me go," he heard Miriallia say.
"Sonofabitch," Gekido heard the Haro in his bag mutter.
He looked through the vent, seeing Garcia holding Miriallia, two more soldiers held Tolle back. Clearly he wanted Kira and he wasn't going to stop until he had him. When Kira stood up, Gekido felt a smidge of respect for him.
'Still a cry baby,' he thought.
He gripped his mouth, trying to keep himself from laughing. Garcia lost his cool and tried to punch Kira. But with perfect form, he grabbed Garcia's arm and pulled the admiral to the ground.
'Okay, he's a pussy who can kick ass,' Gekido grinned.
"Stop this, what Kira's trying to tell you is true," he heard Flay speak up from Sai's side.
"Shit," he muttered.
"If you really must know, that boy's a coordinator," Flay said.
'Damn it,' Gekido thought, seeing Garcia's expression shift.
Once the admiral and soldiers took Kira out of the room, the Heliopolis crowd glared at Flay.
"Why did you have to go and do that Flay?" Tolle asked.
"Because everyone knows it's true," she retorted.
"Didn't you stop to think what would happen to Kira?"
"Stop talking down to me, Kira's on our side and this is an allied base, so I don't see a problem with it."
"And who do you think the Earth Alliance is fighting?"
'Respect for Kira up by one, respect for Flay down by one,' Gekido thought.
He began shifting through the vents again, looking for an entryway into the hanger. Once he got there however he saw that the Strike, and the Purpose had been moved. Leaving the vents, Gekido made his way to one of the maintenance hatches. He floated around the Archangel, keeping close to it so that none of the Eurasian guards would see him. Taking a spot near one of the wings of the Archangel, Gekido looked down to the presentation area that had been prepared.
As well as the three Sensou Mercs and custom GINN's, the Purpose and Strike had been placed there. The Strike had its Sword pack equipped, but it wasn't the only Earth Alliance machine there. There were three machines similar to the Strike, at least in the head design. Instead of the Strike though, they had weapons built onto the suit, the massive black packs, looked like they could fold into a pair of cannons. Two of the machines were the same colours, grey, blue and black on the chest. But the machine placed at the centre of them had a grey chest area, and white armour with red and yellow high lights.
'Eurasia, actually built their own mobile suits, looks like Acteon industries may have made it, but how could they have finished it so fast, unless someone from Heliopolis was feeding information from Project G to the Eurasian Federation,' Gekido thought.
He swung his back around and reached into it, pulling out the Haro.
"Haro, wow, Gundams Haro," the little bot chirped.
"What was that noise?" Gekido heard someone speak behind him.
He tossed the Haro over his shoulder. The little robot slammed into the face plate of a passing Eurasian guard, knocking him back first against the wall. Gekido rushed towards the man, grabbed ahold of his head, and slammed it against the hull of the Archangel. The guard was wearing a normal suit, and his helmet's visor shattered. Satisfied that the man was knocked out, Gekido returned to his vantage point.
"Look," Kira began, "I'm not a soldier or a military contractor, I'm just a high school kid who got caught up in the attack on Heliopolis, I don't want anything to do with this war," the boy explained.
"But you're already a traitor to your fellow coordinators aren't you?" Garcia asked, an evil grin across his face.
"Sonofabitch!" Haro muttered, until Gekido shoved him back into the bag.
"Me, a traitor?" Kira's eyes were wide in shock, and denial.
"I don't know your reasons, but the fact is you still betrayed your fellow coordinators, it's all right, Eurasia would be happy to offer you sanctuary, we're not as anti-coordinator as our Atlantic federation allies," Garcia explained.
"What the hell's going on here Admiral?" Bentos asked, taking a step away from the Merc.
"It doesn't concern you," the admiral said.
"Sir, we already have our mobile suits right here, with a far more superior defence system than the GAT series," one of the new Eurasia pilots said.
He was wearing a black and red Earth Alliance flight suit, and had his helmet's visor down. Gekido inwardly cursed as he noticed the hand of one of the Sensou pilots go to his pistol holster. Across from that man, one of the Kutan pilot's looked at her personal computer. She was a woman in her late thirties, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. Gekido remembered her, Julia Harper, career alliance military woman before she became disillusioned after Junius Seven. She kept looking at the computer, her hand slowly going to her pistol.
"Damn it," Gekido cursed, "Of course they would see there's a bounty on his head."
"We've got a problem Bentos," Julia said.
"What is it?" the man asked.
"Latest contracts came in over the data net," Julia turned the pad around, showing off the picture on the screen.
Garcia's face turned pale white, seeing his own face, next to the word 'execute on sight'.
"Alliance brass doesn't mind Eurasia having its own mobile suit development project, they do mind if you don't share or steal from their own project," the pilot of the brown Ginn said, a white haired coordinator, whose name always escaped Gekido's notice.
Bentos unbuttoned his holster, and gripped the handle of his pistol. He narrowed his eyes furiously at Garcia, causing the man's guards to raise their own weapons. Bentos suddenly raised his hand, forming a gun with his finger and thumb.
"Bang," he said, before his signature laugh echoed through the hanger. "You should've seen your face, we're not gonna kill you when you've hired us for a job already," Bentos explained.
Kira looked between Bentos and Garcia dumbfounded, the mercenary was clutching his sides laughing, and the admiral was still sweating. All that laughter stopped however, as the base itself shook.
"What the hell is that?" Garcia asked.
"Long range bombardment from a Nazca class's cannons," one of the Ginn pilots said.
"That's impossible, we have the umbrella," Garcia said.
"Sir," a terrified voice echoed through Garcia's radio. "Our reflectors have been destroyed!"
"WHAT!" the admiral yelled.
"Right on time," Gekido smirked. "The Blitz!"
"What, what are you idiots doing?" he heard Garcia yell.
"In case you haven't noticed there's an attack going on, I'm heading out if you want to stay," Kira's voice came out of the Strike.
The Strike had already activated its phase shift armour, and was taking off towards the main gate. Likewise, the Eurasian and Sensou pilots climbed into their own machines. The Mercs powered up, their simplistic main cameras shining as they took off. Garcia began rushing to safety, followed by his guards, and two money hungry mercs. Gekido drew his pistol and aimed at the two guards. Suddenly, bullet holes appeared in the side of their heads. Gekido and Garcia widened their eyes, as Julia flew at the admiral. She shoved her knife through his neck, and dragged it across.
"NO!" Gekido yelled.
As Garcia floated away from her, desperately clutching his neck, Julia took out her phone. She casually took a picture, automatically uploading it to the Sensou database. Her team would officially have completed the job.
"You knew this was going to happen didn't you?" she asked Gekido.
"One of the prototypes at Heliopolis has a stealth system, it turns invisible," Gekido simplified.
"Great, well nothing personal Gekido, but I needed to salvage this disastrous job," Julia said.
She wiped her knife on Garcia's coat sleeve, and shoved his body back. The imminent flames would take it, and ZAFT would take credit for Garcia's death. Gekido floated towards the Purpose, his eyes on Julia as she floated to the Kutan.
"Bitch, Bentos said they wouldn't kill someone they were already on a job with," he snarled, powering up the Gundam.
"You wish to debate ethics when you were planning to kill someone at their home base?" Biggs asked.
"It couldn't have happened to a better person," Gekido huffed.
"Yet, you debate how it was done," the AI retorted.
"Bastard, Purpose launching!"
I heard my dad once talk about mercenaries. He was prepping a speech demonising privatisation. 'What sets our soldiers apart from mercenaries, is conduct and accountability, our soldiers cannot act out of bounds of the regulations that we have set for them, and if they do, they are punished and shamed accordingly.' One of his opponents later retorted that 'the 'conduct' and 'regulations' set by government organisations are flimsy, and this accountability you speak of is the famous lied told by every politician who ever lived, soldiers will not be punished if their actions were in favour of their faction's status quo. If accountability really did exist, then every Earth Alliance soldier whom launched a nuke at Junius Seven, would have been tried and punished as war criminals'.
Now that I'm actually fighting in this war, seeing how different commanders operate, I can't help but wonder sometimes. Is winning this war worth the sacrifices that are made? We speak of things like 'justice for Junius seven' of being 'accountable for our actions' even now Le Creuscet is winning over the council, using his good intentions as a justification. I've been piloting the Blitz for a few days, and already I feel as if I never would have been able to fight as effectively in a Ginn as I can in this. We try to say that we're better than the Earth Alliance, that we're better than mercenaries, there are even rising groups of people in the Plants who say that we are a superior species to the Naturals. Its nuts really, they talk as if we're some kind of evolutionary step.
Yet then Heliopolis happens, we couldn't possibly take it further than that right? If so, then we're no better than any of them. The naturals, the Earth Alliance soldiers, the mercenaries, they're all like us right? Just people trying to fight for what they believe in. I know who I am at least, Nichol Amalfi, soldier of ZAFT, a guy if he can help it, won't let another Junius Seven happen again.
The Blitz and the Strike slammed their grappling weapons together. Their anchors slid back into their wrists, both pilots facing one another down. Nichol's eyes darted from one enemy machine to the other, he wasn't expecting new Alliance machines, or mercenaries. He ignited the Blitz's beam sabre as two blue Ginns flew towards him. They were firing shots from their recoilless rifles, hitting the Blit'z shield. Nichol grit his teeth together as he bought his sabre round, catching one of the Ginn's arms.
"You must have been with ZAFT, why did you leave?" Nichol asked over the channel.
The Ginn slammed its legs into the Blitz, knocking it back.
"You think Heliopolis was the first despicable act ZAFT committed? You're a damned idiot," one of the pilots said.
Nichol quickly recovered, firing his beam rifle at the two Ginns.
"When ZAFT fired the N-Jammers into Earth, true they robbed it of nuclear weapons, but they also sent it back to the dark ages of the energy face, just as Earth was about to recover it now has to suffer from its natural resources being plundered," the second Ginn pilot explained.
"Okay, new job people, we escort the Strike back to the Archangel," the Sensou commander said.
The Sensou pilots collectively 'hoorahed' and started forming defensive formations around the Strike. Emerald beams came down on the Blitz, forcing Nichol to dodge. He looked up, seeing two of the new Eurasian machines, the two grey and blue ones. Nichol fired his beam rifle back, only for the two suits to activate light wave barriers that surrounded their bodies. The Blitz fired its triskeros missiles, hitting both barriers. But when the smoke cleared Nichol grit his teeth together, both machines were still standing.
"They have their own umbrellas," he grimaced.
Both machines deactivated their barriers, and resumed firing the twin cannons on their shoulders. Nichol raised his shield, feeling the force of the blasts push the Blitz towards the bottom of Artemis. Suddenly, a read beam ripped through space, cutting one of the mobile suit's in two. Nichol heard the second pilot scream as another shot tore through his machine's side. The mobile suit blew up, and Nichol took the chance to look to where the shot had come from. Moving in a line were Nichol's team mates, the Massacre leading the charge in the middle. It had the 'tail' on its back stretched out, revealing a cannon barrel. Folding the appendage back onto its back, the Massacre raised its shields, built into the shields were its new weapons, twin barrel gatling guns. The barrels rolled, and red bubbles began pounding Artemis, triggering a ring of explosions. More explosions filled the base, consuming staff and opening breaches. Kira looked at the destruction in shock, the smoke and haze of the fires illuminated the Massacre, making the already frightening machine look more demonic.
"My god, that things like a monster," he heard Wade tremble beside him.
"There's the Strike, mow down those traitors and those pathetic looking new machines," Yzak said.
"You sound like you're enjoying being in charge," Dearka muttered.
The Buster unleashed a flurry of missiles. Kira watched as the Mercs fired their rifles with perfect accuracy, shooting each missile down. Suddenly, a beam ripped through the smoke, striking through on the Merc's cockpit. The machine floated lifelessly by Kira, and he felt a pang of guilt, tears threatening to gush out of his eyes. He widened his eyes as a beam sabre ignited in front of him. The Blitz materialised, and swung its sabre down on Strike's shield.
"Why?" Kira asked, gritting his teeth together.
He pushed the Blitz back, and drew out the Strike's Anti-Ship sword.
"Why can't you just...LEAVE US IN PEACE!" Kira yelled as he slammed the sword into the Blitz's sabre, throwing it backwards.
The Mercs and Ginns fired their rifles, hitting the Blitz several times and throwing it back.
"Damn it Nichol we can't spend our time looking out for you," Dearka said.
He flew in front of Nichol, firing his cannons, hitting one of the blue Ginns.
"Kira, get on top of the Archangel, quickly," Miriallia's voice echoed over the radio.
"Thank god you guys, is everyone all right?" Kira asked.
"Neumann got us all to the bridge, and he says hurry up so we can get out of this fireball," Mir said.
"NO YOU DON'T STRIKE!"
Kira and the Sensou mercenaries looked towards the Duel. Yzak yelled, charging towards the escaping formation.
"Surprise ass hole," a voice spoke from above.
The Purpose slammed into the Duel's back, stepping off of it and launching towards the formation. Kira landed the Strike on the Archangel, looking towards the other Sensou mercs.
"They'll be...massacred," Kira gasped, seeing the said machine aim its guns at the suits.
The Massacre however swerved to the side, dodging twin emerald beams. One of the Eurasian suits, the white and red one moved through the smoke, firing its twin cannons at the ZAFT machines. It activated an energy shield on its wrist, blocking the Massacre's shots. But the Massacre moved its other arm, still firing at the retreating suits. The second blue Ginn was ripped apart by the flurry of beams.
"All of you get behind me," the Eurasian pilot said.
He activated his suit's umbrella shield, protecting his retreating allies.
"Wade, catch this," Gekido threw one of the dead suits to his Sensou ally, and flew to assist the Eurasian suit.
He fired his head vulcans, drawing the prototypes away. Both machines looked at one another, before they both landed with their allies on the Archangel. Yzak let out a string of curses as the Archangel flew out of the crumbling Artemis, and kicked its thrusters to its top speed. Nichol's eyes remained locked on one of the lifeless Ginns, even as their true enemy escaped, he remained fixated on the mercenary's words.
He said we made things worse on Earth, was he right? If so, then how can we win this war, without completely destroying our enemy? It wouldn't go that far...right?
Next Chapter 7: The graveyard
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. The Sensou mercenaries I introduced wont stay with the Archangel for the whole show. Here's who I based some of them off of, as well as who I'd pick to voice act them:
Bentos Haggan: Mark Addy/Robert Baratheon of Game of Thrones, the general mannerisms he portrayed as that character and his laugh too. Bentos was a warrior back in his day, the image of a soldier, but after a certain event he let himself go, yet is still a decent pilot.
Julia Harper: Katee Sackhoff/Kara 'Starbuck' Thrace of Battlestar Galactica, if it was live action Julia would look like Katee. She's like the chapter said, a career soldier, but got fed up with the alliance and joined a mercenary company. A good mobile armour and jet pilot, sticks exclusively to that skill set, ruthless when on the job but has a soft side.
Wade: Sonny Strait/Krillen of DB/Hughes of FMA, or Nolan North, anybody who could portray that character who really wants to be your best friend. Wade's not a hardass like the other mercs, he's still pretty naïve and he likes to think he's Gekido's buddy, no matter how Gekido feels about it.