AN: Well Hello there! I bet a lot of people were not expecting an update on this today, of that I am almost certain. Its been a very, very long time since I last updated this but I am not going to get into that really. That explanation would be long and boring as for why it ended up taking so very long, at the end of the day the issue was resolved and here I am with the update.
That's really all that matters no? Though admittedly I cannot deny that this potentially couldn't just occur again...but that's not inspiring at all so let us leave such talk eh? Here I am with an update, and the story is finally starting to pick up, new characters enter the stage, plots are revealed, details come to light, fun, fun, fun. Still, I won't keep this going just for the sake of an inflated word count so here enjoy the story.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Gundam
Sword of Zeon Chapter Four: The Cost of Betrayal
Federation Proving Grounds, Monterey California
California Base, Defense Perimeter
July 8th, 0091 UC
1100 Hours
"The Argama...now that ship takes me back" Steven Liu stated rather morosely flicking his half smoked cigarette down below, the bright cherry of flame igniting away from the thin browning and blackening paper of the tip shining like a descending comet as it plummeted away from the viewing platform. He glanced outward at the docking Carrier as it touched down upon the torn and shredded tarmac of the primary launch runway. Its pearlescent white paint gleaming in the fierce light of the morning sun. 'Just like it did when I first saw it years ago...' The ship despite the fierce conflict it had weathered showed it had held up well despite the firepower and manpower that had been thrown against it back during the war against the Neo Zeon under Haman Karn and Glemy Toto. Indeed it looked just like this when he had saw it engaging the forces of Neo Zeon above the city of Dublin, though despite the injuries it had received in that conflict here it was back in action...It was almost like nothing seemed to stick to the AUEG, the losses the Federation suffered, the Titans suffered, none of it had ever seemed to matter against that ship.
"That's the Nahel Argama Steve, not the Argama." The voice of the elderly technician who ran the mobile suit combat simulators broke into his thoughts. "The original Argama was so damaged during the course of the battle of Dublin that it had to be replaced, hence that..."Leathery tanned, sun-baked skin, thin callused a hand gestured outward to the ship just as its landing struts and studs began to dig into the torn up runway ceasing the vessel's momentum and bringing it to a swift decelerated stop.
Steven just scowled at the older man, Roy he knew had gone over to the Earth based branch of the AEUG, Karaba back during Gryps. "Same model of ship." He grumbled at his mistake as he looked over the vessel again, this time more thoroughly. 'Still though what's it doing back here so soon?' After all it had departed shortly before the Zeon remnant attack on the base, what business could have brought it back around to their little corner of the world? It had to involve the Zeon, nothing else made sense, and that was just the icing on the cake as far as he was concerned. Zeon hit a Federation base, regular military, not the pretty boys in the Londo Bell, it should be the normal Federation forces and not anyone or anything else that brought those Zeon to justice for what they did...but it wasn't just that simple, after all it wasn't every day that someone like Major O'Sullivan went over the fence either...a Former heavily decorated Special Forces detachment leader just goes rogue and links up with the enemy during an assault on a Federation base? It was nonsense like nothing he had ever heard of before, even Amuro Ray had never defected to the AEUG in such a fashion...
The worst part to his eye? It was all obviously premeditated, nothing like that could have ever worked if it was not planned to be that way in advance. The fact that the Argama had been called back to station, obviously, obviously indicated that the higher ups were having second thoughts about the normal military's ability to actually respond and retaliate for the assault upon them, it was insulting to be quite frank. Even if the rumors were true and the Londo Bell were only going to be providing consultation and advice for this juncture of the operation, this was a Federation military matter. They could and would handle it on their own, it was their bases that had been hit, it was their cities that had been hit, the Londo Bell should have no stake in the operation, but all the same...Liu would follow the orders issued even if he could see through the paper thin facade of why they were in place.
After a petulant moment of silence and contemplation Liu eventually caved and turned to the older man before gruffly stating:"Com'on we have a briefing to get to." They needed to go over the general mission plan and briefing before they could chase the damn Zeon back into whatever hole they and the Major had crawled into. The Pacific was a big place...but they would find them, he felt that in his bones.
One Day Prior
Tianjin Offshore Platform 1, Bohai Sea Northern China, Earth
July 7th, 0091 UC, 179 Nautical Miles Offshore
Zeon Remments Asian Headquarters
1900 Hours
"You know I could have just killed you back then and there...the thought must have crossed your mind, it crossed my own enough." The Commander of the Remnant Zeon forces, those of both Space and Earth muttered, her ears catching the faint impact of his heavy boots upon the metal gantry-way descending down the angular and narrow hall towards her room, that had been her first and only warning she was soon about to be entertaining guests in her newly assigned 'quarters'.
The thick metal door had pushed open without a word and those words just hung in the air between them as the Zeke stepped into the chamber.
She pushed herself up from the sole bit of furniture within her quarters a military issue Principality of Zeon Earth Attack Force cot, circa 0079 from what little she could make out from the rusted out manufacturer marks. The thing certainly felt like it was more then a decade old with how it was fond of sagging, and spilling her over like the contents of a overheated bowl left too long in a microwave. Brushing a handful her blonde locks aside from her face she faced him, he looked...better then had since he had last seen him, but considering that had been after...whatever the hell sort of attack he had suffered, that wasn't saying much.
His face was still gaunt, still pale and bloodshot, his right eye still an irritated and bloody crimson from where blood vessels had just burst like overripe grapes sagging upon the vine. The largest tell however was also the most obvious, he had a portable oxygen pump attached to his belt, its little feeding nose securely fixed into both nostrils. 'He's dying...' That much came as no surprise to her, what he had withstood, surviving again and again would have undoubtedly killed lesser men, for a 'Proud Spacenoid' such as him however dying before the completion of the mission was unacceptable, surgeries and treatments had kept him among the living long after his expiration date had come around.
But it was obvious despite the advent of medicinal technologies and treatments that were almost miracle like compared to what had been around back in the old AD era...it just wasn't enough to hold it off forever, the damage inflicted was simply too great, it could merely be slowed, not stopped. 'Good...the sooner the Zeke bastard is roasting in hell, the better.' Venom and hate seeped into her thoughts, he had caused too much pain, too much death throughout the solar system to ever be pardoned of it.
"Back at A Baoa Qu?" She questioned as again reseated herself. 'Or back in Africa? Or at Loum?' He had certainly had his fair share of chances throughout all the engagements they had fought against each other in throughout the course of their...relation. Throughout their rather storied encounters they had fought against one another, attempted to destroy each other and besides what was to be the finale of their confrontations...Side One he had always come out on top. Loum, the first of their battles...He had forced her to disengage, her craft, a spaceborne fighter at the time barely holding together as his heavy machine gun rounds tore apart the fuselage. At A Baoa Qu, after a short and rather brutal duel had left her and her GM Command both defeated.
Then Africa,the Congo...almost a year ago by this point, he had engaged her though she hadn't discovered he was the pilot of the Bawoo until after the fight had already concluded and he had left most of her Nemo flaming wreckage scattered about that river valley.
Side One was the only time in their confrontations where she could definitively said she had grasped victory over the Zeke, where she had blown his Zaku II into flaming pieces, and for most of the war thought she had ended him there and then. It was only at A Baoa Qu had she learned by some twist of fate he had crawled out of the battered and ruined machinery of his C-Type.
"Yes, there at that distant battlefield so far removed from us here and now I could have removed you permanently from the equation but I chose not to." He confirmed.
'He wants to monologue.' Her upper twisted slightly, twinging in disgust. She let out a stifled sigh before speaking herself, eyes no longer focusing upon the Commander of the Remnant but once more upon the rusting steel walls of her room, corroded rivets and bolts angling outward. "You could have, you didn't need to take me as a prisoner." She conceded, now more then anything just wanting to rush this along to the man's point and finish this off here and now.
Silence hung between them in the small private room as the Commander stepped further into the chamber before resealing the metallic door behind him.
"I thought about it, but there and then, I thought better of it because I knew that I could best placate the restless spirits of my comrades not by killing you but by humbling you, defeating you openly in battle, overcoming anything and everything you had." He offered after the moment of silence. "I was too caught in the grandeur of the battle..."He mused. "If there are threats, they need to be removed, immediately and decisively, personal feelings and stake mean nothing, I was wrong to spare you, now more then a decade later I realize that...but because of that mistake..." He trailed off coughing and spasms racking his large frame as his little oxygen machine let out a startled beep and a small sound of air popping and sudden suction and pressurization began as the little device and tank began funneling more oxygen into his nostrils, he breathed in the purified mixture deeply.
The only sound within the room was the man's deep breathing and the artificial noises of his little oxygen pump.
"We find ourselves here." She finished his thought for him. She had to agree with his sentiment if nothing else, she didn't plan to bring the corrupting and tainted persons that had poisoned the Federation over the preceding decades to trial, she planned to kill them, the Chairman, his council, his advisers, the entire upper crust of the Federation had to be torn out and removed like the cancer it was.
"We find ourselves here." He agreed.
"I can't forgive you for what you did back during the war." She spoke solemnly, truthfully.
"I don't expect you to, I expect you to fight for me, because we both know that nothing will change if we do not fight to change it. I spoke the truth earlier when I said it was no concern of mine if your grand revolution got put into motion and that is indeed the case, but...that does not mean our alliance cannot stand. I need an able pilot, a commander, in you I have these things, and through me you have access to weapons, equipment, resources and more to fight your war." He summed up the very offer he had pitched to her more then three months ago when the first of those messages that came through Imago Trading began filtering into her inbox.
"I know." She replied softly, she knew what she could gain from their partnership, though she bore no love nor loyalty to the forces of Zeon, they could stand in place of proper allies in this time.
"Olympus will be ready to begin stage two in two weeks." He offered in closing as he walked stiffly and slowly back to the door that led to the hall, back to his brothers and sisters in arms, relics of Haman, Delaz or Gihren. Ghosts that walked among the living, those who could not comprehend the future or present and so instead dwelt within the past.
"I will be ready she confirmed." As she rose off of her bunk yet again before she turned to watch the Commander depart, upon her exterior she bore the cool, professional visage she had become renown for. Yet beyond the icy exterior she was near in turmoil. 'Two weeks? So soon?' She had expected that it would at the very least take another month to begin stage two' This didn't sit right, something was off...'yet apparently that was not the case, either he had far more forces then he had let on to, far more resources then she had thought likely...or...or perhaps those in space are pushing to move up the timetable.' Either way she supposed it made no difference, it just meant that more people that had the Federation been a kinder, more gentler place need not die, would sooner rather then later.
Still though misgivings aside she couldn't help have her lip quirk upward as she spoke. It was time to rattle the Zeke's cage a little bit, just to inform him that was indeed going to be a equal partnership, that without her he wouldn't have had access to all the information he had wanted out of California Base's data-banks. That he wouldn't have had an insider, that he wouldn't have had access to her skill and resolve.
"When you speak to the Colonel please give him my fondest and most sincere wishes." She spoke obnoxiously, sarcasm hung between every word.
The Commander of the Neo Zeon forces paused, his gloved fingers barely centimeters away from the door handle.
His shoulders tightened, his posture straightened and even without seeing his face she could tell there and then that he was livid, driven to a near rage just by the mere mention of his supposedly hidden benefactor. He all but spat the words, scorn and venom dribbling from like a serpent's fangs. "When?"
Her lip quivered for a moment before it broke into a sincere grin.
"When you, yourself came back from death once again." She remarked, her tone dialing down into the spectrum of the arctic. "After all if you faked your death after that bitch Haman got what was coming to her, it wouldn't be difficult for others to do that, and the fact that you are all but most certainly a former member of the Gihren Faction back out at Axis during the Post War Era there would no way you'd be backing the Aznable Faction these days..." She offered a small shrug. "It just made sense, after all you are a figure of infamy and renown, a scourge upon the Federation, they could never deal openly with you, and considering you have been hiding for the past few years well...It just made sense." She concluded, and indeed it had, at least to her following their encounter in the Congo.
Dieter Kreis was many things, veteran pilot, squadron commander, terrorist, and more but above all he was a figure of infamy, he could have never dealt with all the factions and politicking required for his own operation to get off the ground little lone begin organizing resources for a new earnest war effort. No he needed an intermediary, but someone of renown, someone of influence, with enough credibility to actually act as a viable go between for all the various backers of his little cause.
Given his politics, Aznable was out by default and that vastly limited who it could have been, and this was the train of thought that had led her to whom she suspected the Commander had actually partnered with given his history and leanings. A lesser known figure in the waning days of the Space Attack Force but someone that had fought alongside the rather infamous figure of Dieter Kreis twice, at Solomon and A Baoa Qu both. Someone who along with the Black Phantom had been enough of a loyalist to the collapsed Principality to retreat into exile rather then give up on the 'ideals of Zeon'. Someone who had like him made the long voyage into the deep space retreat of Axis, someone who according to records, captured documents and spy reports that much like the Phantom was dead, but that was easy enough to doctor, easy enough to fake.
Not mention that whole business in the Congo stank of some outside force supporting the Zeon forces during their operations on Earth. Another ghost, another relic of the old Principality...someone who had sat out the Neo Zeon War like Aznable and waited. Officially the Butcher of Cologne had died sometime shortly after Haman Karn's ascent to power out at Axis, but it seemed at least here and now nearing a decade after the fact he had survived. Just as he had survived the fall of California Base, the collapse of the Principality, and now apparently Haman's purges out at Axis.
Colonel Enzo Bernini, yet another toady of Dozle, Gihren and Delaz come out of the woodwork like his would be mouthpiece here and now.
"You know much. You assume even more." He spoke softly after a moment, his words so thin and weightless she could scarcely hear them. "But just because you assume something to be true does not make it so, and I would strongly advise you to not voice your...theories to the others, they may think it odd our would be defector would already presume to have so much freedom allotted to them so soon after coming over to our side of things." He paused, his body posture and stance loosening, losing its combative nature.
A pregnant deathly still silence hung in the air, turning the room's atmosphere oppressive for a handful of heartbeats.
"Remember O'Sullivan, remember where you stand with me." His back to her, she could not make out his face and yet all the same she could practically taste the sneer that had to adorn it at the moment.
And then he was gone, the door swung open, and he departed without another word.
She strolled over to the door before gently closing it and wandering back to her bunk to reseat herself. Poking and prodding the old Zeke while amusing was exceptionally dangerous, she knew that, and yet to do what she needed to do she needed his understanding of this situation, their alliance was something of circumstance, not desire.
Not to mention he had indeed confirmed her suspicions. There was indeed someone behind this Neo Zeon resurgence. Someone beyond Captain Kries and his quaint little band of insurgents and old Principality and Neo Zeon fighters.
Eleven Days Later
Juneau Class Submarine Clorinda
The Bohai Sea
Off the Coast of Northern China, Earth
July 19th, 0091 UC
0700 Hours
The interior of the military submarine was damp and not comforting at all to say the absolute least. The air reeked of industrial grade solvents and grease, yet these were the smells familiar to the ex Titan, it was the constant barrage of salted air and water that put him in such a foul mood as they searched the South Pacific for the Zeon Transport. "You know if we had known the heading on that freighter could have already pinpointed the most likely destination due to sat imaging." Steven remarked more to himself then to his senior officer via the still activate communication network as he paced the small officer's briefing room aboard the vessel.
"Of course Lieutenant, but due to the nuclear detonation much of orbital coverage network was blanketed in hot ash, vapor and other radiated materials." Came the static ridden and hissing reply from the legendary Captain from the One Year War, Gryps, and most recently...the Neo Zeon War. Captain Bright Noa, the vaunted war hero, the pinnacle of the Federation, the commander of White Base during the first incursion with Zeon more then a decade ago...the ex traitor.
Liu didn't bother to reply so the other man continued along with his assessment.
"Still though even with the regional data we can confirm that no vessel matching our silhouettes docked within the Southern Coasts of China, so either it continued onward or its still out there lurking somewhere." He frowned as he stared downward at the tactical map placed upon the briefing room's central metallic table, here they were patrolling, searching out in force and yet for all the ships assigned to them, for all the squadrons put at their disposal, he was ill at ease, the Zeon had knew what they were getting into during the assault at the base, they had paid for it with the loss of a few suits and pilots but it was the Federation that paid the brunt of the bill, either during the assault itself, O'Sullivan's betrayal or during the nuclear detonation that the Zeon used to cover their retreat.
Over twenty pilots and machines had been lost during the initial assault, when most of their crewmen and technicians had still not been at battle stations, more then two dozen pilots and machines either lost or damaged, when the Zeon began shelling the base itself. More then a dozen more were lost in the heated and fierce combat that had engulfed the base for the next few hours, combined with the damage done to the base facilities themselves, and all the other equipment such as ships and aircraft and...Zeon had clearly won the engagement when came to the material scale.
"Four Aquatic Types, and two reconfigured Ground Types were destroyed during the assault on California Base, hopefully it hurt them, hopefully they don't have sixty more machines waiting for them back at berth with pilots to match." Steven halfheartedly grumbled mostly to himself.
"Lieutenant..." The cracking static of the comm broke him from his thought as he turned to the small audio receiver on the table. "I learned a long time ago to assume nothing, data supports that what we saw during the assault on California Base is likely the bulk of their forces, so expect anywhere from around to six to eighteen additional machines of varying era and configuration. But expect and be prepared for anything..." Bright ended it off there but Liu was smart enough to pick out what went unsaid. 'Who knows if they have another nuke to fire off if they get cornered...'
Prior to Federation Pursuit of Suspected Zeon Remnants into the South China Sea
Federation Proving Grounds, Monterey California
California Base, Defense Perimeter
July 19th, 0091 UC
0900 Hours
In darkened chamber of metal, wood and glass from within the darkened brass and gold innards of a machine, a computer stirred the seeds of treachery, the fruit of betrayal readying itself to be born into the world and carry with it the labor of its grim harvest.
One of the scarce handful of structures that had never been struck either by the preliminary shelling of the base itself or during the battle itself, the primary control tower none the less went unmanned this day. It was an entirely redudant station of course as such things went, this was most likely why the Zeon had never bothered with it to begin with. More pointedly however with the departure of the Argama and in the aftermath of the assault, there simply was no need for it to be operated any longer, the control tower had after all been for mere force ordination and logistical monitoring, it maintained a connection to the Federal tac-net EFTN(Earth Federation Tactical Network) but after the base proved vulnerable, all of its responsibilities were housed elsewhere following the attack. Just as O'Sullivan had predicted all of the crucial operations for command and control had been transferred over to the primary command center. It was this prediction that had led O'Sullivan to assault it as her entry point to mine for the information that her new paymasters sought, not to mention offload the SD that the Zeon had so kindly filled with their custom made Icebreaker program.
The Icebreaker program along with the litany of other malware and viri that had been unleashed upon the Federation server farms and databases from O'Sullivan's defection had been more or less all quarantined and isolated from the network. Most of them had been contained, isolated and deleted, most...not all. The handful of programs that still remained active within the Federation servers had however proved an apt source of information, specifically regarding the local force's planned retaliation and strike plans. Among their various other uses such as data mining and compiling the various information gleaned and gathered from the various regional and local data stores, they also were quite handy in allowing the Zeon Forces to be well aware of the encroaching Federal forces that pushed further and further closer to their very door step.
From ship displacement, to number of pilots, to the amount of munitions stored aboard, all were compiled and sent off wirelessly across the Federation's own communication and data storage network before finding itself in Zeon hand's. O'Sullivan's treachery was yet to be complete...though its final card to play would soon become evident with the coming assault upon the Zeon fortification in the Bohai. These final "gifts" of her's for her new hosts would final prove their value, her completion of her own objectives back at California Base would soon bear their sinister fruit.
As the entire outer base's radar and OHR(Over the Horizon Radar) arrays and grids burnt out, as screen after screen across the base suddenly just blackened, as lighting fixtures and bulbs just burst as power surged. The now defanged North America Western Garrison was blinded over the course of a single two hour period that day. The how of it had been simple, the insertion of the Icebreaker had been the beginning and the end of this particular story while most of its viri and malware packages had been detected and destroyed in the aftermath of the battle. The most critical one had not, designed to hide itself within the makeup of the rudimentary electric and power control programs and automated commands. Such level of information on the makeup of these programs and having a viri custom tailored simply for this purpose had been something that had been coordination between them and O'Sullivan since near the very beginning after all.
Yet even as personal rushed across the base, disconnecting central servers from the primary mainframe, struggling to restore manually the automated processes, for now it was enough. California Base was now strategically insignificant. For the foreseeable future, it was as strategically valuable as a anthill. With that done and the raid on Lisbon such a successful, the first stage of Olympus was over. Now the second and even more critical then the first stage of the operation would soon begin.
Lunar City of Granada, The Moon, Earth Sphere Federation
July 19th, 0091 UC
1700 Hours
The interior of the apartment was spaciously and smartly decorated, its furnishings both encompassing to make as much use of the open space as possible and to otherwise instill a sense of smallness upon visitors to it. It was decorated in rich red coloring upon the walls, cream soft carpets to steal the cold away from the polished and varnished hardwood flooring of the living chamber. Yes it was elegant, but all the same utilitarian, spartan
It was from this opulent suite that a war was being planned, that a nation dead yet to be born again was being stirred to war. That the suspected and in this case correctly assumed by the former Titan's Major O'Sullivan that Dieter Kreis's "Superior", his partner operated from within. For what better place within the Earth Sphere could ex Zeon move as freely or unopposed as the very city they had occupied more then a decade ago? Granada like Side Six had become a secondary home for them all following the Zeon War of Independence.
The middle aged former Principality officer stared down at the litany of status reports and data feeds as they ran across the almost 40 inch screen of his wall mounted monitor from the comfort of his leather clad sofa. His opal black eyes focused upon the incoming data streams, specifically those being laser burst, via tight beam configured array in the Korean Province, it was from here that he learned that the attacks upon Lisbon and California had indeed gone to plan, this was good, very good. Hitting the Federation, once in such an obvious military target such as California Base, and then once more in one of the few cities to actually survive the rather infamous First and Second Descent Operations...yes, they had proven their point.
The Federation was as vulnerable now as it was in the aftermath of Gryps when that Karn whore had led Zeon to their doom.
Enzo Bernini, Colonel of the now collapsed Principality reached down and pulled fourth a tumbler of Scotch from the rather ornate and stylish bronze and glass table with his free hand, his eyes never leaving the screen even as he absently poured himself a few fingers in a heat pressed iron goblet. The blackened and grayish steel gleamed in the dim artificial lighting of his abode as he grinned before downing the fine liquor.
Everything was going to plan, with Olympus under way, the Federation would not survive to the next year, it and all its corrupt pawns would be fed to the flames of the rebirth of a new greater Zeonic State.
"For the rebirth of the ideals of Zeon." He murmured to himself as he refilled the goblet and swirled its liquid contents about. Soon, very soon it would be time to make contact with the Aznable faction and confirm that their side of the agreement had been met, but of course there was no rush. No rush at all to meet with a traitor like Char.
Still this was a war after all, and certain distasteful things could not be ignored or put forever. Just as a ranking novice mobile suit pilot would eventually have to kill his first man or die, so would this be true of the collective Neo Zeon factions. So long as they were separate they would merely die apart, none of them had enough strength to survive a straight war with the Federation alone and as much as it disgusted Bernini it was common knowledge that Char Aznable also now going by the name Casval Deikun these days as well led by far the largest of those splinter factions.
So an alliance between the two of them if not just an outright merger made all the sense in the world...even if the thought of breaking bread with one of the men to kill the Zabi dynasty personally disgusted him to the point of turning the contents of his stomach sour.
But he supposed such was war. Distasteful things could not be ignored.
AN: Well, I just think this is short now compared to just how long people waited for it...then again after waiting this long, the chapter could be thirty thousand characters long and I'd still think it short.
But all the same I have no rant or rambling in me this time so I shall simply leave you with this, I do hope you enjoyed the chapter and remember to favorite and review.
-Till Next Reborn Akatsuki