(07: Only After The Going Gets Tough)
On the face of it, no mechanic really needed an excuse to slack off, but in this case they had a real good pair: first, their orders were to take it easy on the maintenance schedule, second: the Knights were at it again. This had a good chunk of the crew's attention completely drawn to the bay, to the point that one of the Mechanics had put it out on the ship's monitors.
The only one not down there was Miriallia, whose weapon was not really conducive to close quarters, though the composite compound bow she had did have a bayonet spike for those days when someone got close to her. Instead, Miriallia had used a hasty-set target in the starboard-side launch bay to make sure she knew how to use it right. She had done so earlier in that day, but she was back on the bridge now for her duty shift. After her first volley, she had not missed more than one shot outside the eight mark in a row, per ten shots. In the end, there was little or no risk of her actually having to fight someone with the bow, since she was the combat controller for the Mobile Suits, but if that day ever did come to pass she wanted to make sure she was capable to the task.
And that left the remainder to spar in the bay, which included Hikaru (alone), Umi with Yzak, Flay, and Natarle, and Fuu with Nicol and Mu. They had arrayed in a circle in the main taxiway, and one would stand in the center of the circle and face off against a foe he or she chose, until one of them won the spar. The victor would become new (or continue to be) the center of the circle, the vanquished would return to the circle to await being called to the spar. One of the mechanics had a task board up and reversed, with a score grid that traced the wins and losses for each fighting pair. So far, Umi held the lead, but not by much since Nicol had knocked her out of the center position.
Nicol's weapons, paired short swords about 30cm long, he could use in one of two fashions: forward, whereby the blade was set forward (above) his grip, or reversed (below) his grip. He could also use one reversed and one forward, which gave him excellent defense against anyone else, since the rest had just one weapon. Speed and variability were his allies; his time in the Blitz had taught him that fighting is not always a game of who has the bigger weapons, it is who uses their weapons right. In fact, even Hikaru was not capable of getting past his guard, and lost with a small cut to the exterior of her armor.
Natarle was called upon next, for what it was worth. Natarle's only real training with swordsmanship was the proper ceremonial handling of a Naval Officer's longsword back in the academy, which for her was well before Murrue had gone through the academy. Still, she pressed her advantage with the longer sword, forcing Nicol to take a completely defensive posture as she kept the momentum and swings going. It came to a head after about thirty seconds, where Nicol literally had to cross his blades to defend against Natarle's blade, and she used what little size advantage she had against the teenager to push through him, forcing him to the ground and an automatic defeat state. It went without saying that landing on the ground made you incredibly vulnerable to your foe, and was something severely discouraged in these battles.
Fuu was summoned into the circle, and being one of the primary Magic Knights had a weapon that evolved as her abilities did, in this case her sword was approaching massive in stature. In this case the size and length of the weapon was a mixed blessing, as Fuu had to keep Natarle outside a certain radius or Natarle would get in close with her saber and it was all over. In the course of the battle, though, she had managed to achieve what she needed to do, keep Natarle away long enough to give her the advantage. Another fifteen seconds of trading blows and the battle came to a head, where Fuu had managed to hit Natarle in the left shoulder with the flat of her blade, instantly knocking her to the ground from translated impact. End this matchup.
Flay went in next, the kodachi she carried really ill-matched to face someone with a two-handed sword that was longer than Flay was tall. And then there was the whole concern that Flay was not really a violent person to begin with, nor was she versed in its use. Still, she had accomplished what Natarle failed in hesitation, she got inside the main arc of Fuu's sword and stayed there, though the speed with which Fuu was wielding her sword was ever-improving, and almost rivaled that of the persons with the smaller blades. Almost, however, does not equal 'can do'; Flay, in some form of insanely neurotic luck episode, managed to get in and get the blade of her kodachi inside Fuu's guard, in such a fashion that it would have been instantly fatal if she drove it in on her. More than a few of the onlookers were a bit shocked as to the outcome.
Mu was actually asked in next, with his highly uncharacteristic but oddly graceful weapon, a halberd. The weapon was a polearm, meaning that the blade was attached to a long shaft of metal or wood, with an ax blade on one side, a pick blade opposite the axe, and a pike blade at the end facing away from the grip. All in all, it would be a fearsome weapon if only Mu could use it right. He was one of the club that relied on guns to accomplish the dirty work, and would need some practice... Flay, figuring her luck might hold from her short battle with Fuu, pressed in close on her commanding officer and was immediately checked backwards by the haft of his weapon applied to her gut. Reminiscent of how Fuu handles her sword, the weapon that appeared ungainly and heavy moved with overt grace, this time presenting the pike blade to her as a challenge to try bypassing his long reach. She took up the challenge, insanely jumping over the blade of the halberd and attempting to lunge in at him while still grossly off balance. All she succeeded at doing, however, was landing face-first on the hard steel deck; moments later the handle of the halberd came to rest next to her face, signaling the end of this one.
Yzak jumped in when beckoned, and furiously went to work on the Earth Alliance Commander. He wasn't really trying to maim or kill Mu, but the fact that he was still Earth Alliance and Yzak still considered himself ZAFT but on temporary hiatus meant that he had some small shred of hostility still in there. The unload was impressive, but Mu was more or less in control of the battle due in no short part to his luck and the hotheadedness of his foe. Despite Yzak's head start, he was not able to land one good blow on the aerofighter pilot, and the battle culminated after about two minutes with Mu using the haft of his polearm to literally trip Yzak up. When the Duel pilot went outside, trying to bring his sword wide and around into Mu, the Hawk of Endymion drove the non-bladed end of his halberd between his foe's legs and spun to the counter, causing the Duel pilot to hit the ground with a resounding clang of his head against the floor.
Umi went in next against the defending champion and started in with a vengeance. Like Hikaru, Umi was trained in a sword style and was actually very adept at this, a one-on-one battle. It was those rare engagements that were many-on-Umi that tripped her up most the time, but so far the only instance where the main minions of Zagato had attacked in numbers was a battle that Yzak resolved in his usual direct, crass and brutal fashion. Umi had to admit that he was effective, if tactless, unlike the rather refined and cheery (and effective) Commander La Flaga. The sound of her blade grating down the pole of his polearm was loud and screeching, and had the attention of just about every person in the hangar. This time, Mu had little time to act or think, since the main component of Fencing battle is speed and reflex, two things polearms are not really meant for. Silently everyone had to admit that it was only a matter of time before Mu made a mistake and lost this one. They were partially correct.
Clong. It sounded nothing so much as an object hitting the starboard doors of the catapults. "What the hell was that?" Murdoch asks, setting down the marker that he was using to keep score for the sparring.
Cwang. Fzzzsssttt. Clong. The klaxon sounded about three seconds before the sound of the Buster, outside on guard duty, fires its beam cannon and gun launcher. Fzzzzzssssssttttt. WHAM. Whatever the last was, it had bounced off the inside edge of the port-side launch bay and rattled downward to where it was likely jamming the lower vehicle doors closed.
"Imminent breach, starboard catapult! Marines to hangar catwalks, all personnel prepare to repel boarders!" The voice of the Captain was enough to break any reverie that they were in. All the Knights move to positions of cover as the mechanics haul out their personal weapons, mostly pistols but a leavening of assault rifles in the mix as well. About thirty seconds later, the Marine team showed up in body armor and under full arms, and ten seconds after that the cook showed up with his now-infamous Light Machine Gun.
'Imminent' was correct. The next hit stoved in one of the doors on the starboard catapult as Kira came out into the bay and jumped into his Gundam. "Dearka's machine is down, everyone, watch yourself!" Athrun was out of the ready room next, dressed and into his Gundam in a matter of moments. His Gundam was just powering up as the new arrivals entered the bay.
The first of the new arrivals was a fairly big guy with a fairly big sword and light blue armor. This made him appear even larger, so they didn't really know what they were going to have to do to bring him down. The second tango was not so much a person as it was a spectral wolf that appeared to be made out of light and lightning. If anything, the second of them was the more scary, and probably the more dangerous since they were all standing on metal plates.
"Oh, this is good. A lightning dog and a bodybuilder with a blade."
You will pay for your impudence, machine warrior. You were no match for me days ago, you will be no match today!
"Huh? What the fuck is he talking about? Since when have we fought some glowing doggie?" Yzak asks in retort.
Silence! You will die today!
"Lovely." Mu signals for the Marines on the catwalk to open fire, and immediately the bay becomes choked with the sound of weapons fire. It was enough that they had to cover their ears, and that was before one of the Marines fired a 40mm grenade launcher into the target.
Now that you have shown me the ineptitude of your comrades, we will get down to business now. Despite the arrogance of the foe, and despite the fact that the lightning dog was unharmed, Lafarga was down and bleeding, apparently having taken several hits that were intended for the more threatening of the two tangos. Automatic weapons tend to do that, they figured, though they had scant time to observe as Lafarga belly-crawled his way out of the line of fire, since the main threat was now advancing on the Magic Knights. The next sound was one that Dearka, Athrun, and Yzak knew well, the sound of the crazy cook's LMG, and strangely he was managing to put a stable bead of ordinance into about a half-meter circle, in an angle that would have put the rounds centered on the tango's forehead. If they were not being stopped by some kind of shell. Same thing from Mu's service pistol and the Marines as well; that gave him an idea; he pulled out his service radio and switched over to the preprogrammed channel for the Gundams.
"Kira, Athrun, Mu here. He isn't doing anything while people are shooting at him, just guarding. I have an idea..."
"You say so." Kira and Athrun had not moved their units yet, just watched. When the Marines opened up hard, again, the two Gundams moved into action. The Strike had the Aile pack hard-mounted right now, while the Aegis had its own weapons ready, so the two Gundams drew beam sabers and applied them to the shell the enemy was producing, grating inward with the beams while still connected to the ship's main power accumulator; they had the energy to use their sabers for damn near a day if needed. Aegis was using two, and the Strike was using one, which allowed them to create a triangle pattern around the enemy so he could not move.
What do you foolish Humans hope to accomplish with this? You cannot harm me, your weapons cannot touch me.
"Oh, we don't have to touch you, all we have to do is turn up the heat," Athrun comments rather callously. "Nothing can survive when exposed to 25,000 degrees for an hour."
Do you believe me that weak? I cannot be harmed by such pithy tactics!
"Hey, I got all the time in the world. How much do you have?" Athrun asks in retort. "Kira, switch to radio only."
You do not have all the time in the world, miserable Humans from another world, for this one will be gone in less than a fortnight.
"What's up?"
"We need to figure out some creative way to permanently disable or kill this dickhead, and do it fast. My sabers will hold for a good while, but not all day."
"Hey, Athrun, what about that time we met that psycho half-dressed wench at the Spring of Eterna?" Nicol asks on his radio. "Think that would work here?"
"I don't feel like trying it." If the monster in question was pure energy, then trying to hold it would result in a system overload at a minimum, and quite possibly permanent and more severe damage to any part of his Gundam that contacted it.
"Well, we're at a stalemate, so any idea would be welcome." Mu says from the next crate over, which was picked up by the radio in Nicol's hand.
"Oh, this sucks pretty bad, it's going to take a few winches to get me out of this," and Dearka sounded rather displeased at his fortune for the day.
"What happened?"
"That wolf-thing hit my suit with some form of energy blast, knocked it down between the left leg of the ship and the vehicle bay."
The enemy did not wait around for them, he annulled his shell and jumped straight up, clearing the beam saber blades with ease. On the way down the cook put a few very hasty but well-aimed shots into the body of the target, though the slugs passed right through without harming it. The tango landed in the center of the group of Knights, preventing anything even approximating support fire from being used, since any shot chanced hitting a Knight more than anything else.
Though the Knights had all sprung up and were readying guard, the next move came from the enemy. The surge-style attack the enemy loosed went in all directions, throwing crates, diagnostic machines, pneumatic canisters, personnel and weapons in every direction for twenty meters. This, however, had the effect of clearing the field of fire, and Athrun was just as fast on his trigger as the Marines were. The air became heavy-choked with the acrid smell of cordite-based propellant as the Aegis loosed a dozen rounds of Vulcan into the target's body, all of which failed miserably to cause any apparent damage to the target. The battle was looking grim, grim.
Yzak was just beginning to lever himself up with his sword when the wolf approached, and hit him with a targeted surge blast that threw him clear across the bay toward where the Strike was standing. When he landed, he did not move. Athrun's beam rifle came out and targeted on the errant creature, though a shot simply impacted on the same shield as prior and did nothing more. The look he got from the monster belied the thought that he heard: You are wasting your effort, Pilot. Surrender and face the inevitable death.
"Fuck off, you insolent ball of energy," Athrun replies very testily. "Huh? Oh, wow, why didn't I notice that before?"
"What?" Kira asks in retort.
Athrun's Gundam points to Nicol, makes a cutting gesture with two fingers, and taps the head ornamentation on its head, specifically the pentagon-shaped plate that the antenna fins came out of. What he was referring to was an element on the target, of course, though the enemy was baffled by the gesture and made fair to attack Athrun's Gundam next. The surge attack dissipated its electrical component into the grounded metal floor, leaving only the impact component to move to and strike the Aegis, and the Aegis was still connected to the ship's power grid so it was itself grounded. Of course, in a battle situation the Aegis had its Phase Shift active, so the impact caused precisely no damage to the unit; it was Athrun's turn to laugh. "Pathetic. Your attack has no effect on my machine." Athrun kills his external speakers as he brings up the Aegis beam rifle and takes two shots at the enemy. "Nicol, move your ass up! We don't have all day!" Athrun half-shouts on the radio frequency.
There was activity behind the enemy, as Nicol moved to Hikaru and explained the matter, then the two of them branched off and explained to Umi and Mu, then to Natarle and Fuu. They coordinated fast and moved in on the tango, the assault starting with Hikaru's Ruby Lightning and Umi's Sapphire Whirlwind, though the attacks befell the tango's barrier shell and caused no harm. Seeing the new threat, he had the nominal response of using another surge-shockwave attack, but this time they were ready for it, and Natarle and Nicol had the counter for it. When the attack reached them, they used their weapons (and their wills) to redirect the attack back at the monster basically as a desperation move—the plan called for someone to 'absorb' (take the hit from) the attack, and the remaining personnel would go in on the enemy and attempt to destroy the one corporeal object of its being.
The attack deflected, it returned to sender and immediately overpowered his own defenses. Flay went in first, stabbing inward with her kodachi in an attempt to pierce the gem, and she nicked it on the left side, immediately causing the monster to audibly howl in pain. Mu was close behind, and brought the pick-blade on his halberd right into the center of the gem with a tremendous force and will behind the weapon. The gem immediately fractured as the monster collapsed to the floor, whining as if it was in severe pain now.
D—damn, I—I cannot—I must not lose—not to the Magic Knights—damn you...The gem was pulsing deep lavender, giving off an eerie glow to the assembled onlookers.
"Why is Zagato doing this?" Nicol asks, still a bit sore from the initial assault.
I—I will not tell. You will die before Lord Zagato, knowing—it matters not. I would not betray his confidences to you, regardless.
"I understand. In the next life, we may speak again of this matter," Natarle says, giving a small bow to the foe, then delivers the final blow with her sword to the gem. As it shatters completely, the monster disappears in a blinding white flash, leaving as its only trace a strange burn pattern on the floor and the fragments of the gem. "And now, the other one," and she gestures toward his last known location with her sword, which still had small particles of the lavender gem on it that caught the bay's lights from time to time. "Fuu, check Yzak," she orders before she moves toward Lafarga.
"Yes, immediately," Fuu says with unusual exasperation; she must have realized that Yzak took a full-on hit from the enemy, and would be in pretty bad shape right now...
The cook already had him covered, actually, since changing task was simple while he was trying to maneuver on the big lightning dog (attempting to flank it). When they got to him, Lafarga was already starting to suffer shock from blood loss, and was completely incapable to the battle not even counting the light machine gun that was aimed centered on his head. When Natarle looked toward Fuu (who was turning out to be just as useful as the ship's doctor, maybe more given their propensity for being wounded in battles), she was already coming that way, bracing Yzak in his rather battered state to allow him to walk.
"How're you feeling?" By the time Fuu had helped him to the area of Lafarga, he was well enough that he could sit on a low crate.
"Don't ask," Yzak replies to Nicol's question.
"Fuu, can you...well..."
"Yes, I can." Fuu kneels down next to the guy in blue. He had a distant, vacant look in his eyes already, which did not speak well of how much blood remained in his veins. "Winds of Healing!" Most of the bleeding stopped within a few seconds, but the raw trauma from the gunshot wounds was still there. "I—I must have used it too many times in a row, it's not working well..."
"I'll try," Nicol steps up; "Winds of Healing!" The effect radius, since he was not touching one person, was large enough to encompass all the gathered personnel, as well as undo most of the raw damage to Lafarga. He would likely still be sore in strange places for some time, but such beat the hell out of being dead, which is what he came within a good minute of being in Natarle's estimate. (1)
"Holy shit. Since when have you been able to do that?" Dearka asks crassly.
"Hey, I'm actually trying here. Gundams are not the be-all-end-all, especially on this world."
"I noticed," Dearka retorts in a very dejected manner. It occurred to a few of them that it may have been Dearka's machine that was now stuck between the port-side 'leg' of the ship and the vehicle doors, those that didn't understand or hear the gist of his radio comment earlier.
"I dunno, I still think one of our Machines can hack it in these parts," Athrun replies.
"I dunno, I think that glowing wolf had our butts handed to us, he just made one small tactical error and we capitalized on it," Natarle notes. "I'm not sure if it was maxed out or if it was toying with us, but that thing basically had our heads on pikes."
"Oh, thanks for raining on our parade, Commander. For a second there, I was beginning to believe we won on merit," Yzak was now standing fairly well, but still looked like hell shoveled into a basket.
"Keep telling yourself that," Natarle says to the pilot, then looks down to the sword-swinger. "Start talking, big guy."
"Where am I?"
"What?" Natarle asks. "I hope you know where you are, you busted your way in here with that electric wolf."
"I...don't remember...where...what...Princess Emeraude! Where is she?"
"Whoa, slow down, Charlie. No sudden moves," the Cook orders, his Light Machine Gun moving not a whit.
"Who are you people? Well, will you at least allow me to stand?"
"Up slow, keep your hands where I can see them and off your blade." Lafarga complies with that much, and did not try to reclaim his sword. "Now, would you be kind enough to introduce yourself?" The Cook asks in a gratingly civil fashion, while still staring at him over the adjustable sights of his Light Machine Gun.
"I am Lafarga, Captain of the guard to Princess Emeraude."
"Isn't that supposed to be a rather pointless job on Cephiro? I mean, everything I heard about before Zagato started this shit, this place was a nice, quiet hamlet," Athrun asks, standing behind and to the right of the Guard Captain in pilot suit but without helmet. His hand was on a pistol, but it was not drawn.
"It was, there is no threat to the safety of the Pillar of Cephiro. When I had something to do, it was mostly with monsters in the area of the Temple. That ended when Zagato abducted the Princess. I cannot tell you what has transpired since, I do not know what happened."
"Amnesia?" Natarle asks. "When you walked in, you had some kind of glowing blue marks under your eyes."
"Glowing blue marks?" Natarle nods as confirmation to Lafarga's question. "It may be that I was being controlled with some kind of magic, but that ceased when I was injured." (2) Before anyone could comment, he pressed onward: "Do you know of the whereabouts of Princess Emeraude?"
"No, sorry," Kira replies hastily.
"We'd like to know ourselves," Athrun appends on the heels of Kira's comment.
"Yeah, I'd like to run the boot of my Gundam up Zagato's ass for starting all this," Yzak declares at his most ascerbic.
"Gun...dam? I do not know what you mean, warrior from another land," Lafarga's pronunciation of the unfamiliar term was uneven at best.
"That thing," and Yzak points to his machine, the Duel Assault Shroud that had remained unused for the last three fights he had been party to.
"Oh. Is that...a Rune God?"
"No. The Rune Gods are with the Magic Knights, the rest of us work with those things," Athrun notes. "And you?"
"I am a swordmaster, my duty is to the Princess. If you will allow it, I must return to that duty."
"Commander?" The Cook asks.
"Might as well. Keeping him serves no purpose, and apparently he harbors no ill intentions toward us, so..."
"Before, one thing..." The Cook shoulders his Light Machine Gun and picks up Lafarga's blade. "Damn, this is one helluva heavy sword, how do you manage?"
"Many years of practice and duty to the Princess."
"It takes all kinds, I guess." The Cook offers the blade to the swordmaster, who immediately sheaths it.
"Good luck in your duties, Magic Knights." Without another word, the Swordmaster left the way he came to the Archangel, silent and unobtrusive, especially in the face of that monster that had accompanied him. Which left one last task for Natarle...
The fragments of the gem that had been the only physical component of the monster that had attacked them were still where they had fallen to the deck. Using a very delicate touch and a work glove, Natarle managed to sweep the remnant into a zipper bag of the same type that police use to contain evidence, and took them to her cabin for safekeeping, as a small shred of evidence that what transpired here was real. Not that it would matter in the end, in her estimation, since they were all probably dead people walking in front of a court of inquiry, but...
-x-x-x-
"This place gets nastier and nastier. I just wanna go home..."
Sai looks to his long-time friend, then sighs mightily. "Quit whining, Kuzzey. We all want to go home, so we have to take down Zagato and save the Princess. That's all." He looks back to his console. "That's...all we have to do."
"Still, why does the really bad stuff always happen to us? I mean--"
"I wouldn't say this is bad as much as it is just plain strange," Murrue replies to the communication crewmember. (3) "Besides, you could always think of it as a bizarre exotic vacation, right in the middle of a war."
"I'll think of it as a vacation if we could find a beach and go swimming," Newman says just barely loud enough for Tolle to hear in the secondary pilot's chair, which gave hem a good laugh for that irreverent thought.
"That is a thought." Miriallia notes.
"What?" Newman asks, shocked that anyone other than Tolle had heard it. "How did you hear that?"
"Huh? What d'you mean?" Miriallia asks.
"I thought only Tolle heard that," Newman notes, looking back toward the CIC.
"I know he said something, but I didn't hear it." Murrue notes. "How did you hear that?" She asks as she looks left and back, down to where the Operator was sitting.
"Huh? He didn't—he did—huh? I'm confused."
That's a first, Miriallia confused. I think I need to write this down, Tolle notes within the confines of his mind.
"Thanks a lot, Tolle."
"He didn't say anything, what are you on to?" Sai says from the EWO console.
"This is great, Mir, are you reading my thoughts?" Tolle asks.
"I don't know, I don't know what's going on." She sounded slightly upset about the matter...
"All right, all right, everyone calm down." Murrue says calmly. "Miriallia, are you all right?"
"Well, I'm just not sure what's going on, Captain."
"Okay, guessing from what's happening you may be reading minds." What the hell else is going to happen on this Magical Mystery Tour? Murrue asks, then realizes something: "Did you just hear that?"
"Yes, Captain, something about a Magical Mystery Tour," Miriallia notes.
"Well, that settles it."
"Am I...in trouble?" Mir asks timidly after a few seconds.
"No, in fact I'd say you're probably due a round of thanks. I won't ask you to spy on any of the crew, that would be uncivil and probably illegal. The enemy is another story, so if you hear something think about attacking a big white ship, tell me."
"Will do, ma'am." She jolts, hearing something across the ship. "Oh, the Levitator is back online, Captain." Three seconds later, Murrue's comm station rings, and true enough the engineer on duty had called to report the news.
Murrue thanked the Engineer for the prompt service and hung the handset up, then looked down and back to Miriallia. "Miriallia, that's just...wow."
"I dunno, Captain, I think there's gonna be a lot of problems in the near future," she notes honestly.
Murrue considers it for a few seconds. "Oh, I think I know why. Well, whatever you do, don't start a fist-fight over what rattles through someone's mind, please."
That's not what I meant, ma'am, Miriallia thinks.
"Oh? Well, regardless of the reason, just don't start a fight, please."
Eep, Mir thinks quietly. "This is going to take some work."
"Captain, Accumulator's up, we have enough charge now," Newman notes from the helm, partially to take some of the heat off Tolle's girlfriend.
"Very well, helm, fire up the Levitator. When we are clear of the ground effect, test the engines at quarter, normal, combat, and flank speeds."
"Aye, Captain," Newman says with cheer in voice; he liked gunning the Archangel, it had a lot of power to unload when the pedal was down, or so the expression went. "We're clear of the ground and trees in the area, now ramping up to quarter power." He started pressuring the throttles forward.
"Whoa, Helm, aren't we above a quarter?"
"No, Cap'n, I haven't even gotten to ten percent yet—holy shit, why are we going that fast?"
"All stop."
"All stop, aye." Newman brings both throttles back to neutral. "Cap'n, I am not joking, I was at eight percent."
"I don't get it. The atmosphere isn't any thinner than it was yesterday before we got shot down, what's going on?"
"Could the ship have evolved?"
"What was that, Sai?" Murrue asks; suddenly, all eyes were on the EWO officer.
"Well, I mean, the Lady Knights' weapons evolve, so isn't it possible that the ship would evolve?"
"This ship isn't a magical weapon, last I checked." Murrue notes. "Still, this is a land of the will, as Clef noted more than once. Could it be possible that the will of the crew is for the ship to get home, and that is making it faster?" The intercom rings. "Bridge."
"Captain, Natarle." Her voice sounded fairly grim. "I'm down here in the hangar area, when the helm stomped on the engines it knocked over part of a stack of barrels of grease, and when he stomped the brakes it knocked the rest in the opposite direction. Murdoch took a hit from one of the barrels, he'll live but he's pretty badly banged up. Kira and Fuu are taking him down to the doc right now. Are we under attack, Captain?"
"Negative, no hostiles in the area, Natarle."
"Understood, Captain, what's going on with the engines?"
"We're working on that right now."
"Thank you, Captain. I've issues to see to here."
"As you were, Natarle. Good luck."
"Thank you, Captain, hangar is out."
"Well, that settles it, something is definitely not normal here." Murrue dials up the Engine Room. "Engine Room from bridge."
"Engineering, go."
"Ensign, we just had the engines up to 8 percent and it appears we had a momentum approximating quarter speed or more. Is something amiss with the controls down there?"
"Negative, Captain, we confirm you had it up to 8 percent. And you say we had an airspeed equal to quarter speed?"
Newman nods affirmative. "Aye, that is what it appears to be."
"Whoa. Something isn't right, it even sounded like we were under ten percent down here. Fifteen minutes, Captain, we'll see what we can learn down here."
"Aye, thank you."
"Engineering, out."
"This is stranger'n hell," Chandratta notes.
"Tell me about it," Murrue retorts.
-x-x-x-
Athrun, Yzak, Natarle, and Hikaru had joined the mechanics in picking up the grease barrels and securing them to a wall anchoring point without any of them spilling their contents. Twelve had decided to take a journey, and the final one had taken Athrun and Hikaru chasing it down the port-side catapult bay and rolling it back to the hangar area to be secured. Afterwards, Natarle cut loose on the mechanics and had them secure everything that was not in immediate use, to avoid a repeat of what happened to Murdoch. There were grumbles, of course, but with the sight of Murdoch getting flattened by a grease barrel still fresh in mind they would not dare scoff at it.
Kira had entered about a minute after the last barrel was secured, followed shortly by Fuu. "How is he, Ensign?"
"He'll live. Doc seems to think he has the hardest head on the ship."
"That's very possible." Since Kira was still on duty right now... "Ensign, if you would, please aid the mechanics in securing the equipment. We don't need this to happen again."
"Yes, ma'am." He turns smartly and starts aiding them in securing the mobile tool cabinets.
"Anything else for us, ma'am?" Athrun asks entirely level, though Yzak gave him a dirty look for it.
"No, thank you for the assistance rounding these up." Her gesture was to the stack of barrels that was now well past secured. "Aren't you on standby, Athrun?"
"I am, ma'am, but some things take priority." By which he meant the injured mechanic, not necessarily the barrels.
"Well, you may return to your post, then. Yzak, dismissed, and thanks for the help."
"Yeah, whatever;" he walks off without a further word.
"Ma'am." Athrun salutes the Commander in ZAFT fashion and takes the personnel elevator up to the cockpit of his Gundam. That may have run a shiver up her spine a week ago, but not today.
"Aren't you off-duty, Commander?" Hikaru asks rather innocently.
Natarle sighs. "Yes and no. Yes, I am not on watch right now, but I still have to do my job when needed."
"Oh. Military life must be...strange."
"It's not bad, it's just...you have to think different." Natarle sighs. "Thank you for the help, Hikaru, Fuu."
"A pleasure." Fuu and Hikaru head off toward the inner corridors of the ship. Since they had been practicing again, they were headed for the shower. Natarle had been with them, since she wanted to make sure she was doing things right with her swordcraft, and after a few moments contemplation decided she'd feel better about herself if she took a shower as well.
Her quarters were still in proper fashion, since she kept everything secured by the regs. Natarle gathered her stuff for taking a shower quickly and headed out for the shower room, contemplating the thought of having a hot tub on the ship. Granted, it was grossly unprofessional of a warship to have a hot tub, but so far they had done a pretty good job of shredding the regs. If anything worse happened, Natarle had little doubt that the Captain would authorize it to be built, and Natarle even had a sneaking suspicion where it would be built. How they were going to build it as a gender-split affair was still eluding Natarle, but she figured the Engineers down in the engine room would have a good plan for that, or the hot tub would have to be one gender at a time, which would be almost as bad as not having one.
She arrived at the shower room just as the Captain announced that they were going to begin testing the engines to verify all systems, and that personnel should be aware and prepared for sudden impacts and jolts. Natarle knew the routine; it was no different from being in space. Mindful of the possible that she could be caught undressing when a jolt occurred, she undressed rather hurriedly. She had started with the glove that had the bright blue sapphire gem that matched her sword, and before she even completely removed it her whole wardrobe disappeared into it. She got over the shock fairly fast and moved fast into the first shower stall, the same one she almost always used (except when it was occupied prior by someone else).
The warm shower was a step in the right direction for her soul, she figured. For sure it felt better than almost anything she did on the ship, including trying to get along with the rest of the crew. About a third partway through her routine, a group of persons had shown up in the shower, by her estimate three of them. Two of them had to be Hikaru and Fuu, the third wasn't saying anything, which left the possible that it was either Miriallia or Flay. Miriallia was usually quiet, Flay was almost antisocial to anyone except Kira. "Hey, Miriallia, what was that stuff Tolle was listening to?" Natarle could tell Hikaru asked the question.
"He's an ancient music fanatic. He once explained to me how he thinks that 'metal' from so long ago is better than the 'metal' of today."
"And?" Hikaru asks.
"He's an airhead. What can I say?"
I think that says it all, Natarle thinks.
"Thanks, Commander. At least someone agrees on that point."
"Wha—how--I didn't say that out loud, what's going on?"
"Oh, crap, I did it again. Sorry, Commander."
"Huh? Can you read minds or something?" Natarle had meant the question half-smartass, but...
"Apparently so, Commander."
"How...long have you been able to do that?"
"About thirty minutes, as far as I can tell."
"Holy shit." The ramifications of that were staggering to Natarle, but she figured anything was possible in the frozen-over hell that was their life in Cephiro.
"Sorry, Commander, I'm trying to avoid listening to other people's minds." The sound was muffled, as if Miriallia was speaking with her shirt over her head.
"Not a problem, Crewman." Natarle hoped she had managed to keep her voice level on the matter.
A jolt had occurred, catching everyone in the room unprepared. For Natarle, she got real personal with the rear wall of the shower stall, and remained with her body compressed to it for a few seconds as Newman gunned it, apparently. "Agh, who landed on me?"
"Oh, sorry, Miriallia." The speaker had to be Hikaru, and from sound pattern it appeared they were on the floor and real close to each other.
"Okay, off me so I can get up, please." If Miriallia could sound less pleased, Natarle wasn't sure how, short of some form of psychotic episode.
"Why is the ship doing this?" Fuu asks.
"They think something's up with the engines," Miriallia notes, now from a standing position. "When I was on the bridge, the first time he tried the engines, he had it up at 8 percent, yet we were going faster than quarter speed."
"No way."
"Way, Commander."
"Well, just frigging good. First we get jumped by some kind of lightning wolf, now our engines are overpowered, is anything else strange going to happen before the day is up?"
"Don't say that too loud, it may actually happen."
The intercom speaker clicks audibly. "Attention all hands, it is the conclusion of engineering that somehow, our engines are now more powerful than they were when this ship was commissioned. Be advised from now on we will have some issues with whiplash when taking off or stopping. That is all. Hikaru Shidou, please report to the bridge with Mokona."
"Oh, man, I never got to take a shower."
"That's military life for you," Miriallia says. "There were a couple times when this started that we didn't even get an hour of sleep before we had a battle."
"Oh, wow. That must be bad."
"That's not really the way that I put it at the time," Miriallia replies deadpan. Natarle could hear the door opening and closing.
"If you don't mind my asking, Fuu, how is Murdoch doing? Or was the last you knew when you dropped him off?"
"I did what I could with my magic, but I can't use it too many times in a row or it loses power. I asked Nicol to help when he gets in from guard detail."
"Thank you, Fuu." Natarle had decided a while back that even if she didn't agree with this crap, she'd still be civil to them. After all, it appeared Yzak had it right, the three ladies were the Magic Knights, the rest of the ship was just support. The shower now off, Natarle pulled her towel in and began trying herself off. After a few moments, the next two showers started up, which told Natarle that the others were just climbing in now.
All in all, this day had gotten all the more strange from the word 'go.' And there was still 12 hours in the day left.
-x-x-x-
"Helm, all stop."
"Helm all stop, aye." Newman brings the dual throttles back to neutral. For better control of the engine speed, the Engineers had installed a pair of throttles similar to those used in Mobile Suits, that had a long actuation so he could easily control the engine output. These two throttles could be moved with one hand, and were to the left of his helm couch. He hauled back on the throttles until they got to a predefined notch that had no acceleration. "Helm confirms engines all stopped."
"Thank you. Set her down, Newman, slow." Murrue picks up her handset. "Attention all hands, this is the Captain. We have arrived at the location of the third Rune God of Cephiro. All personnel are advised to be on the lookout for possible boarding actions by enemy parties; involved personnel are to muster in the hangar in fifteen minutes with arms. That is all." 'Involved Personnel' included the four ZAFT pilots, Kira, and the three Magic Knights.
"Shall I prepare the team?"
"No, Natarle, I'll take them out this time. Just be ready to move when we have awoken the third Rune God so we can get this done fast."
"Aye, Captain." Natarle's voice was surprisingly neutral on the matter.
Murrue had headed down to the armory, where the four ZAFT pilots and Kira were waiting. Once she authorized it, the armory guard unlocked the facility and Murrue headed in to assemble the six kits that would be needed. Sorting that out took ten minutes, including the sign-out sheets for each weapon. If nothing, she tried to keep such matters by the book, but not always did it work that way... Yzak and Athrun both received a pair of LAWS rockets, just in case the worst was needed in the base of the volcano they were headed to.
Out in the hangar, the pair of jeeps used prior were the ones used this time. The lead jeep was Murrue, Hikaru, Athrun, and Kira. The rear jeep was Nicol, Yzak, Dearka, Umi, and Fuu; Nicol and Fuu had the front, Yzak and Umi were sitting on the opposite sides of the jeep due to yet another shouting match, though this arrangement was not making Dearka feel very good about his chances of survival. Not so much Zagato, no, he figured they'd take him out without too much an issue, it was his friends that were still trying to strangle each other, despite having a third party between them, that really had him worried.
The drive from hell ended eventually, and Dearka was fast enough to get out of the jeep without getting choked by Umi. That much accomplished, the group assembled near the mouth of a rather gloomy-looking cave that led into the interior of a volcano. "All right, Mokona says the last one is in here. We've gone through Zagato's henchmen like beer at a college party, so there's a good chance that if he's going to try one last time to stop us, it'll be in here and it won't be pretty. Any questions?"
"Yeah, are we gonna throw a kegger after we kick the crap out of Zagato? I keep hearing that rumor in the galley," Yzak says without any trace of temerity or shame.
"You're not the only one that keeps hearing that," Murrue notes with a tone that neither confirms nor denies it. "The only problem is someone has to cough up the kegs before we can have a kegger."
"That could be a problem," Dearka notes.
"No, really?" Yzak asks sarcastically.
"Anything else?" There was no further questions from the crew; "All right, let's go. Yzak, Dearka, you have point." (4)
The trip through the cave access was rather pithy, a meter 100 meters unto a precipice that was in the bowl of the volcano itself. Above them was the open sky of evening; below them, a river of fire and lava unseen by most in Existence. To port, an array of crags of various size and purpose; to the starboard--
"Well, there it is, now, how do we get in?" Nicol asks.
"Jump?" Dearka says half-seriously, as if he had just then realized it was the dumbest thing possible.
"I don't know about you, Dearka, but I can't walk on water, I ain't even going to try lava," Yzak retorts.
Hikaru, who normally would have something to say on the matter, had disappeared into thin air in plain view of Umi and Fuu, who though startled said nothing about the departure.
"Yeegh, not a pleasant way to go," Murrue thinks aloud, looking down into the lava.
"Get used to the thought. This is where you all shall rest." Eyes and sights immediately centered on the speaker, a guy in a black cloak and ornate headdress, standing downrange among the crags.
"Oh, wow, is this guy like the last mini-boss before we get to trash the Final Boss?" Yzak says, drawing on just about all of his video-gaming knowledge for the comparison.
"You shall gain no such luxury. Your struggle ends here."
"Drop 'em, everyone," Murrue says as she sights him up with her assault rifle.
The roar of the lava was almost indistinguishable from that of the gunshots, but not quite. Six assault rifles spoke; unsurprisingly to any of them, the enemy was untouched by their efforts at battle, for he had a shield in place. Umi and Fuu tried next, each with their best attack spells, and failed in the same fashion. The whole affair was a losing battle, and they all could sense it.
"Useless. How you defeated Inouva eludes me."
"Huh? Who the hell are you talking about?" Yzak asks, using it as both a legitimate question and as camouflage for opening up a 'friend' of his...
"Inouva, the being of pure energy that you called a wolf. He was far more than any creature from your home world, and all you could care about was killing him. Well, allow me to show you the same courtesy, soldiers of a different world."
"Eat me." Yzak brought the LAWS tube up and centered it on him in one swift motion, firing an instant thereafter. With the classic several-shotgun firing sound the rocket leapt from the tube and bored straight in on the enemy. The rocket did not miss, but by the same token it did not hit, either. Again the shield stopped it cold, detonating it harmlessly without so much as even increasing the air pressure inside the shell. "Man, this is getting to be pretty pathetic. Are guns this useless everywhere in Cephiro?" Yzak casts aside the LAWS tube; it bounces off the edge of the precipice and tumbles into the lava as Yzak draws his sword. "Why don't you come over here and I teach you what a Coordinator is, huh?"
"I have nothing to learn from you, but something to teach to you." He holds out his right hand, aiming directly at Yzak. "Death." The pressure blast was too much, even as Yzak braced; it knocked him backwards and over the edge of the precipice.
"Winds of Admonishment!" Fuu had just barely managed to get the grapnel spell around the Gundam Pilot, as he had less than a meter to the lava floe below (5). It was the work of some severe control on Fuu's part to get him back up on the ledge, while the others distracted the enemy from disrupting her and causing Yzak to be lost to the flames.
Yzak landed back on the precipice as the enemy prepared his next attack, and this one had a far different effect than knocking someone around. The magic wind that assailed them all had the effect of stripping them all of their magical accountments, be they armor, weapons or gloves. This left them all in their normal clothes with the only available weapons being the assortment of firearms that had already proved ineffective against him. Even still, they continued firing, though Murrue was beginning to build a half-baked plan for the last three of the LAWS rockets.
"Why do you continue to fight? What does this mean to you? Surely those of another world are not lacking in their own problems to concern over, are they not?"
"Problems," Yzak's snort was quite derisive. "Try a bloody shooting war involving a whole world and colonies in space. 'Problem' doesn't even begin to describe it, jackoff. And you know, I'd love to get back to that war, which means I have to take out a certain troublemaker here before I get to go to the war at home. Follow?"
"A troublemaker, am I? It is good to see that I am held in such high esteem by my unworthy foes."
"Oh, good day, Zagato. You should have told us sooner who you are, that way I'd've gone to get my Gundam." The whole bent of Yzak's comment was thoroughly sarcastic. "You know, that still sounds like a good idea. Wait here, I'll be back in ten minutes to finish this fight."
"You will not get that luxury—huh?" the doors had opened, expelling Hikaru back onto the landing separate from the doors. "Ah, the third of the Magic Knights."
"Did the Rune God kick you out or something?" Dearka asks, and like usual only Dearka thought it funny.
"What—who—who is that guy?" Hikaru asks, then draws her sword.
"Trifling power. Not even a challenge to me." Again with the magic winds that stripped her of her weapon and armor, leaving the whole crew basically completely defenseless.
"I won't give up! I can't give up, I've come this far!" Hikaru shouts in retort to his attack.
"You have come this far to die. Your existence here is hopeless, I will not allow you to get to Princess Emeraude."
"Why? Why are you keeping us from her?" Nicol asks.
"That is beyond you. Now, I have no time to spare for deus ex machina, so you have two choices. You can press the matter, and I kill you all, now, or you can leave here, and you will have at least a few weeks before Cephiro is destroyed."
"Like hell I'm gonna leave." Athrun notes as he picks up a loose stone and tosses it at him. It never reached him on count of the ever-present shield, of course.
"Your attempts degenerate to throwing rocks now? Oh, how the mighty of another world fall flat on Cephiro."
"Fuck off," Athrun offers as a rather lamed retort. Zagato was right and everyone knew it, their weapons were worth nothing in this battle.
"Someday, long after I am dead, I may come to understand the meaning of that imprecation. Between today and then, however, it shall be you that will 'fuck off' as you so crassly put it." His hand came up, centered on Athrun, who simply braced himself for the inevitable and guarded forward with his left arm. The attack came but never reached him; Hikaru had stood forward and taken the brunt of the attack. "And you, Magic Knight, are you in such a rush to die that you would shield the degenerates among your ranks?"
"They are my friends! I won't let you harm them!"
"Noble but pointless. Very well, I will grant you the demise you seek."
The attack came again, but this time it never made it to Hikaru, as Athrun had dragged her to the ground while Murrue stood forward and took the hit. It did not kill her, as he had threatened, for Murrue definitely qualified as tougher than she appeared.
"Damnit, what's your game, man? What's this shit all worth?" Dearka asks in a grossly pissed off fashion.
"We have both failed to answer this question. So, I guess you volunteer next."
"Get down, Dearka!" Kira shouts as he drags him to the ground. Kira was not fast enough to dodge the hit himself, and was knocked aside rather roughly, to the point that the shockwave knocked him into the rock wall next to the entrance tunnel.
"KIRA!" Athrun shouts, but his shout was rapidly drowned out by the sound of roaring flames and winds; the doors to the Rune God's chamber had opened again. This time, however, the Rune God had come manifest into the area between the door and the precipice, looking as a lion with a mane and body of pure red flame.
"Young lady from another world, thou hast proved unto me the strength of thine heart and thy bonds of friendship with those you have never known prior to thine journey. I shall now reveal unto thee my true form and grant thee my strength for the upcoming trials." The Rune God changed form, this one into a humanoid appearance that looked more wolf-inspired than else. Also of note was the large shield-extension on the left arm that appeared it would give Hikaru excellent defense in close quarters. Even Yzak was a bit intimidated.
To match the change, first off all prior lost equipment was restored to the attached users; second, the equipment was upgraded in all cases, including the first for the weapons of the others. It was a significant shock to Nicol to now be holding paired spatha, the old Roman Cavalry longsword, about length and a half to his original short swords; Yzak's broadsword now had the appearance of some form of a slender two-handed sword. Additionally, the Lady Knights' armor and swords had evolved again, and matched almost exactly what Yzak predicted, though the armor was no longer mirrored between them, it was stylized in the fashion of their Rune Gods, and on that Yzak figured it was likely easily capable to stopping an armor-piercing 30-caliber round, regardless of how light it looked.
The last thing to come of note was that Murrue, Kira, Dearka and Athrun also had their own gloves now, though their weapons were by far the most bizarre combination. Athrun carried a pair of katana, both full-size blades, Kira had a strange weapon that appeared to be two swords joined at the pommel, making one large two-bladed staff-sword-whateverthehellitwouldbecalled thing, and Dearka now held a rather large combination battle ax and pick-ax weapon that could not be handed with any but two hands. Murrue's, though took the cake, as it was a simple armband with a large multi-faceted ruby in the center of the spiral, wrapped around her left arm. They could only begin to guess what that was for
"I will send you all to the abyss before you can make the situation worse!" Zagato's attack befell a shell projected by Rayearth, the Rune God of fire, which expanded outward to the point that Zagato flat disappeared, likely having fled the field of battle.
"Now is the time; the legendary battle for this world is upon us all! Call out our names and don us!"
"Go for it, Hikaru, we'll meet you guys in the atmosphere," Murrue notes after she stows her weapon.
"Okay, thank you for the help and friendship, Captain."
"You can thank us by coming out of this alive." Murrue turns toward the exit. "Let's go, pilots. We have a war to finish and a war to return to."
"That's what I want to hear!" Yzak says as he heads for the door, followed quickly by the rest. Their jeeps, and the Archangel, were but minutes away.
Author's Chapter Afterword:
The blood is in the water and the fighters are pumped and ready for it. Now, the only question remains, how shall the battle transpire, and how shall the aftermath be? Remember, winning the battle is only the first step for the victor, and sometimes the only step if they win but fall afterwards...
Now, as to the nature of why Umi and Fuu got three links each and Hikaru got four, well, let us say that her will is more dynamic and more powerful on this subject; Fuu still partially think of this as a game, and Umi is still partially convinced she should not be there. It's likely not enough to hinder them in battle, but it is enough to degrade them on certain subjects. Hikaru was the first and always the foremost about wanting to really help the people of Cephiro, and was the first one into the breech, always ready to stand and fight regardless of who threw what where and why they did it (confused yet? I think I am...). Thus, she gets the link of four.
Umi is linked to Yzak because of their mutual temperament and elitism, though not in invective (for which Umi will eventually slap him for). Umi is linked to Flay because when not riled up, their personae are pretty close. And she is linked to Natarle because of their cool heads under pressure and certain sense of grace and tactical aptitude.
Fuu is linked to Nicol through their mutual sense of kindness and strong yet quiet will. Fuu is linked to Miriallia by their sense of being as quiet yet critical support personnel, not necessarily front-line operators, yet still there to get the job done, and through their quiet, relentless sense of duty. The link to Mu is a tenuous one, but mostly across their continually pragmatic but can-do attitudes that always finds a way to solve the problems, and secondary through their mutual habitat of the air, Windam being the Rune God of the winds, Mu being a pilot first and foremost of aircraft.
Hikaru is linked to Dearka because of their nature of battle: they are both the heavy-hitters of their respective teams. Hikaru is linked to Athrun through their unyielding drive to do what they believe is right. Kira is linked to Hikaru through their adaptability and flexibility, and their strong convictions in right and wrong. Hikaru is linked to Murrue most of all because of their command stature and drive. While Murrue and Hikaru can often be doubtful of their course, when they get down to it, don't stand in their way or you will get run over in the process.
And now, as to the Archangel getting a bit of a boost, let us simply say it has something to do with the fragments of Inouva's gem and the will of the crew, not one or the other. For ref, the Archangel now has enough solo thrust to escape the atmosphere of any planet at 1.2 Terran gravity or less. There is no telling what else will become of the ship, so stay tuned to see what other trials and changes it undergoes.
Also, in reply to a review about the status between Kira and Flay, keep in mind that when they were in Aube Kira and Flay had a helluva falling out. This is Flay's way to work her way back in on him, shall we say, though Kira is quickly getting the hint that Flay is trying to manipulate him and isn't going to play by her rules completely. This is one element taht could get real messy real fast, depending on how Flay (and the dice) want to play it. As to Hikaru and Kira, they will get some very serious action here in short order, and quite a bit more in the next section of this fic. Stay tuned, the fun isn't over yet.
Next up: the battle against Zagato leads to an extremely unexpected round two, and is where they landed after the battle the end of their adventure? .
Footnotes:
(1): The dice strike again: by random choice, Lafarga lived. He was right on the edge, but it looks that the team Fuu and Nicol make when healing was enough to save him this time. His was 50/50, he scored high. As to Nicol's healing spell, this is just the beginning for him, and in a significantly later chapter the matter will be better explained by some experts on the subject...
(2): In the anime, it took a lot of firepower (literally) for Hikaru to shake him out of his controlled state. Interpret, it seems like the raw damage is what shocked him out of the controlled state, so it goes without saying that taking eight or nine hits from .30-cal rifles would do the job (yes, he is a really tough bastard: most people wouldn't survive four hits from a .308, movies notwithstanding).
(3): In both the Manga and the Anime, this is the position that Kuzzey always sits at.
(4): Walking point means to take the lead. It is often also called the 'sniper bait' position, for obvious reasons.
(5): Another case of the dice saving Yzak's butt. Hope he can keep this streak up, the way he gets into trouble...