AEUG
"Unidentified Hyukebein. Lower your weapons and surrender immediately." Yazan Gable, the leader of this Titan assault force, was getting tired of repeating himself. If he wasn't specifically ordered to capture all Mao related technology without harm, he would have taken a great pleasure just sending its adamant pilot to hell in a few seconds. But now, he had to push his limited patience and play diplomat. The black Hyukebein unit made no move, but didn't lower its photon rifle either. The shuttle it came from was silent, but given that they fired a couple of shots at the thrusters, the pilot in there could still be alive or, at the very least, unconscious. But Yazan was too cold and ruthless to simply care.
"I want to know why you are attacking us!" Came a harsh reply, and Yazan was genuinely surprised to see a female pilot looking defiantly at him from his screen.
"You're violating space regulations by passing here. This is a Titans controlled area." He said. "We are to confiscate any weapons and mobile suits from the offending party."
She was upset before, but this time Erin was outraged. "I've been using this route for almost a year now! I've never heard of such a thing."
There wasn't. But Yazan was angry at the other pilot's adamant refusal to his orders. "Are you calling me a liar? Surrender NOW, or face the consequences."
"No. I refuse to be bullied around by an ugly man." Erin replied in mock anger, which finally flared the Titan's loose temper. Without warning he gave the signal to his unit to open fire at the Personal Trooper…
… Only to find it missing…
There was a scream of protest from one of Yazan's team, and he looked as one of his units disappeared in a brief moment of explosion as the Marasai was shot neatly at the cockpit. The offensive move wasn't even noticed by their radar. Damn! That thing's too fast! He realized a bit too late as the Hyukebein attacked the next closest target, but this time it's photon beam missing the Marasai's head a few centimeters away. He realized that whoever was piloting that robot wasn't used to the controls, or simply inexperienced. An opportunity that he planned to extort. He quickly ordered his men to attack before the Hyukebein does.
Meanwhile, Erin panted heavily in the cockpit, feeling a little dizzy, taken aback by the sudden rush from the Personal Trooper. She simply willed the robot to shoot her closest opponent as soon as she noticed that they were going to attack first. Only to find herself gripping tightly against the seat at the robot's sudden feedback. She wasn't even sure what just happened a few seconds ago.
"You'll pay for this!" one of the Marasai units shouted out before his leader can give him any specific instructions, hoping to pin the Trooper in hand-to-hand combat instead of tempting fate with its obviously powerful range weapons, a second Marasai followed closely behind to give him additional support.
Unfortunately for both of them, Erin may have been not so proficient with her rifles, but not so with sabers. Instinctively the Hyukebein took out its laser blade from its forearm, and sliced the two charging robots in one fluid motion. The two mechas suspended briefly in mid-space with their respective halves, before they violently disappeared in the brief explosions. Erin bit back a scream as the remaining three Marasai opened fire simultaneously, the first managed to knock her back with its bazooka shell. But fortunately, the Trooper's armor held, thus the damage was not so extensive. The two rifle beams bounced off effortlessly with its equipped beamcoat.
Erin never realized how powerful this Trooper was. And by the way it looked from her opponents, neither do they.
"Personal Trooper, surrender NOW, or I will destroy the shuttle." It was Yazan, who took the advantage of Erin's preoccupation with the other suits to secure themselves a hostage.
Erin watched in horror as Yazan fired a couple of shots at the hapless shuttle, both hitting precisely at the wings, to prove his point. One more shot and the shuttle will not hold on any longer.
"Alright! Please, stop! I'll surrender!" She shouted desperately, remembering Sam's look of pride when she told her brother was going to graduate as soon as she'll come home. To prove her sincere intention, the Hyukebein threw its photon rifle and laser blade from its grasps. And were now floating aimlessly away.
"Very good. Now, get out of that cockpit and prepare to be arrested…" Yazan's instructions were rudely cut off by a weaker radio signal.
"Erin, I won't let you do this…" Sam whispered.
"SAM!" Erin shouted, sure enough she could see the shuttle powering itself up. "Stop it! That's enough, they'll kill you if I…"
"They'll kill more people even if you did. The way they've killed my parents!" Sam cried out, and Erin was stunned by her friend's unusual streak of anger. "This is how they treat us Spacenoids! We who owed them no pain! Witness this, Erin, to what they will do to those who fought against them!" As she uttered those words, the shuttle's boosters suddenly came alive, and with its last urge of power, the shuttle threw itself at Yazan's Gaplant.
Yazan could have simply moved away to safety, or find another solution to cripple the mad shuttle. Instead he chose the most efficient and brutal solution of all: by calmly shooting the shuttle's bridge. Erin found herself screaming at him, and her Hyukebein moved along with the strength of her protest. Because when the shuttle exploded, Yazan found himself face to face with the Personal Trooper, it red eyes glowing malignantly. It's pilot screaming, "YOU MURDERER!" and punched the Gaplant's torso with all its might with its clenched metalshod fist. Yazan looked on in shock at the amount of damage he sustained from such a simple attack as the cockpit began flashing warning signals angrily. The rest of his unit flew towards their commander to aid him.
Only to be blown apart by a couple of missiles.
Yazan looked up to see a huge ship moving towards them. And Yazan bit back a curse, for he's not mistaken to identify the Ahgama. The AEUG's battleship. A couple of suits were in fact heading for them. Seeing that he had lost this round and that he was no match without MS or mothership support, he quickly made his escape, with the extra thrusters that miraculously remained intact. The Trooper gave no signs of giving chase, in fact it seemed to have altogether stopped.
Meanwhile, in the silence of its cockpit, Erin was drifting away into unconsciousness even as the Ahgama was trying to contact her. When was the last time Jed sent me that telegram again? The thought managed to register in her mind when she finally closed her eyes.
-----
"Can you hear me? Do you know who you are?" a voice penetrated in the fog that was surrounding her mind. Erin squinted against the light that was glaring overhead, half-expecting it was Sam pestering her again, but the other person's frame was much smaller than Kaye's. She suddenly felt sick.
"How long have I been unconscious?" She managed to croak. Even to herself, Erin's voice sounded hoarse.
"You've been asleep for two days. Don't worry, it's nothing serious." Erin's eyes managed to adjust with the light, and found herself in a rather small infirmary and wearing a white hospital gown. From her bed, she could see the stars stretching out from the nearby window and the smell of antiseptic was strong in the air. She looked at the person sitting by her bedside, and saw a young girl, a few years younger than herself, wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants, a green jacket wrapped tightly around her waist. She was also carrying a tray with a bowl of soup and a glass of water, apparently today's rations for her patient. "Who are you? Where am I?"
The girl gave a warm, friendly grin as she placed the items on a small table near the bed. "The doctor told me you've just woke up. So he instructed me not to give any answers to your inquiries and let you get your strength back."
Erin pondered that for a moment. "At least your name, there'd be no fault in that, right?"
The girl looked at Erin, amused at the older girl's obvious logic. "Well, I guess the doctor won't mind that. Anyway, back to the subject: if you want to know, I'm Paula Cis."
"Paula." Erin extended her hand. "I'm Erin Shore. Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise," Paula accepted the hand.
"And where am I?"
"You're in the battleship Aghama of the Anti Earth United Government." Seeing Erin's raised eyebrows, Paula extended her hands palms outward, a sweatdrop forming at the side of her head. "I know, I know, I don't look like it. But I'm an active member."
"The AEUG?" Erin asked sitting up while Paula was depositing the tray of food in front of her. She had heard of this infamous organization before, and that they were once Zeon remnants that dedicated themselves defying the Federation's rule by causing trouble with their own activities among the Space Colonies.
But while working as a transport pilot for the past two years, along with her experience when she was fighting against the Titans a few days ago, Erin began to realize that if anyone should antagonize anyone else: it was the Titans. She wondered how much the said group had gain political power that they can afford to bully others with impunity.
"How did I get here?"
"I'm sorry Erin." Paula looked genuinely apologetic, "but I've been given orders not to answer any questions right now. Get some rest, and if you're lucky enough, I'm sure Lt. Quattro will fill you in on some matters."
"Lt. Quattro?"
"Yes. He's the leader of the Aghama's MS offense team. Actually, he's the one who led us to this area ahead of schedule. Glad that he did, or we wouldn't have managed to get to you in time. If there's anything you'd want to ask about the encounter two days ago, it would be him."
"Thanks," Erin nodded, convinced that Paula will not offer anymore conversations that would either worry or tire her unnecessarily. She placed her spoon in her bowl of soup, realizing that she was indeed famished.
-----
Seventeen year old Kamille Vidan hurried to where his car was waiting, exhilarated with his success to cut today's karate class. He realized that if he was lucky enough, he might reach the Temptation before her captain disembarked. He could even be there, and maybe can spend a few minutes for an autograph…
"KAMILLE!" A shrill voice interrupted his thoughts, and Kamille managed to prevent himself from groaning out loud in exasperation, hoping that he simply misheard.
He wasn't. Fa Yuiry, a friend of his since childhood, had somehow managed to caught up with him despite his well laid plans for her not to. He always wondered how she pulled it off, as she had this tendency to show up when he didn't really need her company, and not when he did. It was rather amazing how their friendship even made it this far given the circumstances, as they never agree with anything.
"Are you skipping club activities again?" Fa proved his point with her nagging grown-up voice of hers. The kind of tone which she developed over the years, particularly used when asking Kamille to clean his room, or eat everything in his plate, or making sure that he does his homework in time. She practically became the big sister he never wanted… much of his annoyance. But a small part of him appreciated her concern, as he was having his own problems regarding his own family.
"So what?" Kamille challenged her as he hopped on his driver's seat. Fa hesitated, but only for a moment, and sat next to him in the passenger seat sighing "Are you sure you really have to go there?" she asked, deciding that they should talk about a safer subject (along with the fact that she already knew how stubborn he could be despite her counsels). She had already knew the cause of Kamille's sudden cheerfulness; a mood she never saw in him for quite some time ever since he found out that his father was keeping a mistress and that his mother wasn't making any moves to resolve it. Instead of rightfully divorcing him altogether, she decided to keep at it as if nothing ever happened. The Vidan household had been under a lot of tension because of this, and it was beginning to show strain on the young boy.
"Sure I am! It's been awhile since any Federation cruiser EVER came to Green Noa 2." Since the Titans decided to establish their base of operations here, he silently added sardonically. He hated that group as long as he could remember, even before he could find the reason why he should be.
They had barely made it, as the linear car was on the verge of leaving. Quickly they took their seats and wore their safety harness, before the vehicle careened off to the Colony's outer surface. Kamille always looked forward for this trip, whatever the reason, as this was his only gateway to look into space. It looked so wide and peaceful there, almost an entity by it's own. In the moment when the young boy looked at the stars, he felt a very strange sensation. He could have sworn that he could see lights playing among the stream of stars flowing… he shook his head, thinking he was being delusional, and the image quickly disappeared.
Before he could collect his thoughts to ponder on what just happened, the ride was over…
To Kamille's disappointment, he had apparently missed the famous captain of the One Year War for a few minutes. Fa was surprised when she heard him say that.
"Is it true that Bright Noah is a Newtype?" Fa asked, trying to cheer him up a little, as her friend continued his way, hoping that Bright would be somewhere in the vicinity.
"Of course he is, or he wouldn't have been able to command the White Base." Kamille replied without giving her a second glance, leaving Fa behind, much to her annoyance. What am I? Chopped liver? She wondered. Still, she followed suit.
The young man halted when he saw someone else, but not Bright Noa. A group of Titans… why are they gathering in port was beyond him. With them around, it usually meant trouble.
"KAMILLE! Will you wait up!" Fa called out in exasperation. A fatal mistake in her part, when one of the Titans, a tall blonde man with an arrogant smirk on his face, instinctively looked at the voice. Hoping to find a pretty girl, he was disappointed that it wasn't so. "Kamille? It's a girl's name. But he's just a boy." It was an innocuous reply, and he was pretty far away from their earshot. But Kamille had somehow got the message…
And he was very angry.
With a purposeful stride, and ignoring Fa's calls, Kamille approached the group. He pushed a guard aside before he could say that this area are off limits, jumped over the bars that separates his section to the Titans, and punched the blonde officer right on the face.
Everyone, including Fa, looked at the event in stunned horror at what the youth just did. Lt. Jr. Sheen and Lt. Kirkicon shouted "Jerid!" as the blonde flung helplessly on the ground. Fortunately, the gravity in the station had pillowed his fall, so he didn't connect hard on the surface as it should have normally been. But the other Titan officers attacked Kamille, not pleased to see one of their member attacked for no reason whatsoever. Their number did not daunt the young man, as he managed to pull off a couple of more punches at the approaching men valiantly. But eventually he was overwhelmed in a matter of seconds, punching and kicking him into submission.
"STOP IT!" Fa shouted helplessly as she tried to reach Kamille, but a guard wisely intervened for her behalf, and kept her away from further Titan retaliation.
Kamille, however, was another subject altogether. Held firmly on the floor by four Titans, Jerid stood up, shrugging away Emma and Kirkicon's help angrily, and approached the squirming boy, rubbing the blood that was flowing from his nose with a dangerous look in his eye.
"Bastards, you'll pay for this!" Kamille shouted at them. Here, Jerid drop his foot hard on Kamille's head, cutting off the latter's ranting. "What the hell do you want, you punk!" he demanded. Jerid's first experience in a Colony as a Titans officer and he was attacked by a stupid kid without warning in front of the others, this won't leave a good impression for his subordinates in the future.
"What's wrong with a name like Kamille? I'm a man!" the boy shouted. Fa winced sympathetically, granted her friend had always hated his name for years; and that it was just the first of his problems…
"A man, huh?" Jerid mocked, finding the reason simply absurd, "Well, you should be punished like one." With that, he gave a kick right at his forehead. Kamille bit back his urges to scream, as well as his urge to fall unconscious, determine not to let Jerid have his satisfaction. Then he felt himself lifted as he was led away to be detained in the Titans base.
Meanwhile, Fa managed to break free from the guard's grasp to watch Kamille been taken away. Then she turned around and fled to search for the nearest telephone booth, determine to find and inform Kamille's mother as soon as possible.
-----
It took Erin a couple of more days for the Doctor to be truly satisfied that she was strong enough to walk around the ship on her own. As the girl gratefully changed back to her normal clothes, Paula once again showed up with her food and volunteered to give her a tour. Something about this set-up stirred Erin's suspicious nature, and she asked if her friend was putting her under "supervision" as they were floating along the corridor.
"Yes. I am," Paula said, deciding that subtlety was not their strong conversation point. "This is military SOP concerning outsiders, so you'll have to forgive me. The AEUG aren't exactly pirates."
"I never said you are."
"Anyway, if you don't mind me hanging around, you're free to do anything you want. Except accessing the bridge." Paula said. "You can even visit the hangar and see your Trooper's maintenance."
"The Hyukebein?"
"Yes. Astronage managed to fix it, but can't figure out the some parts in the cockpit. He told me I should take you there if you're up to it. Lt. Quattro was there the last time I looked, so it won't be a bad idea checking it out first."
"I agree. Lead the way."
"I'm glad to see you on your feet." A tall blonde man wearing a red AEUG uniform and sporting a pair of sunglasses that hid his eyes, but Erin could see that he had a distinct scar on his forehead as he approached the two girls. "Quattro Bajina."
"I'm safe to assume that you're the guys who helped me?" Erin asked, accepting Quattro's handshake.
"Yes, we've received your SOS from Luna. We came as soon as we can, but we were unfortunate to rescue your pilot."
"You mean Samantha Kaye?" Erin nodded at the Hyukebein's direction.
"Yes. She's the test pilot for this Hyukebein that Mao Industry is going to give to us."
"Director Mao is part of AEUG?"
"No. She's more of a supporter for the cause. She wasn't as reckless as she used to be when she joined with the White Base seven years ago." Quattro said, referring to the famous group that won for the Federation the One Year War, as he directed Erin and Paula to the black robot. "Kaye, however, was a recent member. Her last mission was to secure the Hyukebein for us."
"I'm sorry for the loss, then. Sam must have been a very dedicated soldier."
"Yes. It was a heavy loss." Quattro said, he had lost good soldiers too in the One Year War, but decided not to bring that up. "But this piece of information added the tragedy: the Titans finally took control of Mao Industries."
Erin was stunned, to say the least. "When?"
"Yesterday. They've suspected, but put it into action before they could even prove it."
"And the Director?"
"Lynn Mao's under house arrest. She's much too important for mecha and weapon research. They won't get rid of her so easily."
"I see. So we're on our own then."
"We?" Paula asked, unwittingly putting herself in the conversation.
"Isn't it obvious? I can't get home even if I wanted to with the Titans around. Their officer is bound to make my face public for others to identify."
"So, what are you going to do then?" Paula said suspiciously, thinking she had an idea where this will be going…
"If you'd let me, Lt. Quattro. I want to join the AEUG. I want to avenge Sam."
Quattro gave a grim smile. He had heard that reason before. "I see no reason why not, particularly when you're the only person who can pilot the Trooper."
"What?"
"That's true." Astronage, the Ahgama's mechanic, emerge from the Hyukebein's cockpit. "Miss Shore, if you follow me?" Erin floated towards the cockpit and looked inside as her first ride in the Trooper literally kept her in the dark. Now she could see the controls and screens that adorned the cramp space, thanks to the mechanic's other enhancements. But she could see a screen in the rightmost corner of the screen that looks like an x-ray picture of someone's brain. "See this?" Astronge said, tapping at the picture. When she nodded, he continued, "This is your brain pattern downloaded to the computer's EOT system. It's an elaborate identity code that determines the robot's pilot, it also serves as a database for your speed and attack capabilities, and the system adapts itself for your output."
"That's… amazing." Erin said. "So basically, the computer is hooked to my brain and keeps notes of my performance?"
"As well as conforming to your level of skill, keeping up with you once you've improved. You'd have think it had a mind of its own."
"It sounds like the psychoframe the Neo-Zeon were perfecting." Quattro said. "Kaye should have been the only person who can use it. But you managed to control the mecha without any problems."
"Not exactly. The Trooper completely rejected me when I first got in. But Sam managed to say some sort of code to allow me to use it." She hesitated. "She apparently deleted any related data regarding the first pilot…"
"Which is Kaye." Quattro said. "She must have realized she won't make it."
"Yeah," Erin said, not looking at anything. "Does her family know?"
"They should be receiving news of it right about now."
"Well… that's good… at least she'll be given a proper mourning." Erin replied, wondering why an intelligent, beautiful girl with a loving family like Kaye would involve herself in this crazy battle.
Quattro nodded but seemed to be preoccupied with his miniature speaker strapped on his wrist, then muttered his consent. He quickly turned to the other three. "Captain Henken has informed we're approaching Green Noa 2."
Paula grinned at Erin as the latter re-joined them to the corridor. "Normally, we need to wait for two more days for reinforcements. With you around, though, it's almost as if Lt. Quattro has three Rick Dias backing him up."
"You're not going?"
"Paula will stand guard with the Ahgama, we're going to infiltrate the Colony on our own." Quattro answered for her rather briskly.
"You may have to fight in the residential area as well," a new voice cut in, the three pilots looked at the newcomer. Erin immediately recognized him. "Senator Brecks." She said simply, almost as surprised as when the first time she met Paula. Brecks was one of the few Senators in the United Earth Federation who vocally opposed the Titans' military rule. Disgusted that his voice fell flat on deaf ears, he eventually abandoned his career and founded the AEUG. He also formed his own notoriety: he was presently the most wanted man on Earth. But Breks seemed to be unconcerned with that; in fact he actually looks like that he was genuinely amused.
"Commander Brecks would be more like it," the bearded older man said lightly as he herded his three younger counterparts to the briefing room. "I recently heard that you want to be involved with this," he said to Erin. News sure went fast, she had to give credit for the ship's gossip system "It would be cold of me if I didn't. Besides, I want to repay you for your kindness."
"What we're going to do next will not be considered by others as 'kind'." Quattro reminded her.
"If those words came from the Titans, it would be a compliment."
Brecks surprised her by laughing quietly. "You've got wit. I like that in a fighter." He shifted his attention to Quattro. "Will that be alright, Lieutenant?"
"She destroyed four Mobile Suits on her own in her virgin flight. I've no objections bringing her along."
"You've said awhile ago we're going to fight in a residential area. Why?" Erin asked, determined not to be side-tracked.
Brecks sighed. "You're going to infiltrate a colony that was now converted into a Titans base. The base was specifically constructed within the residential area."
"Not only that." Quattro added, "But we are to capture the Gundam mk. 2 that the Titans were secretly testing with. Our mission is to get in there and steal the Gundam for future study. If the Titans decided to attack, the civilians will be involved."
"Who's the genius who'd make a Gundam in a civilian colony?" Erin asked, shocked by this piece of information.
"It's been done before." Quattro said briskly.
"Point. Sounds something the Red Comet would think of."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Uh… I'm sorry. I kind of spaced out." Erin stammered. "You think a couple of suits would be up for this?"
"I should hope so, because that's all the Ahgama can spare." Quattro said. "You may decline, if you want."
"No, but thanks for the thought. I'm in."
"Then you two should be in your Mobile Suits and warm-up." Brecks said seriously. "The operation will begin after two hours."
-----
"That new kid's a Newtype. I'd bet." Brecks commented to Captain Henken as he settled down on his chair in the Aghama's bridge.
"You said the same way about Paula, sir." Henken joked and his counterpart gave a smile, chuckling. Of course, it did turn out that Paula wasn't "one of them", despite her superb fighting performance. And Henken never missed a chance to point out his commander's mistake every now and then.
"As for the Red Comet…" Brecks said. "I guess this would be his first entrance after seven years of absence."
"Surely, you don't mean Lt. Quattro?"
"You've seen his record ever since he joined us, didn't you? There's no doubt about it."
"Maybe," Henken reluctantly agreed. He turned his attention to their target Colony and mused further as he saw the Hyukebein Mk 4 and the Hayaku Shiki leaving their ship.
"Maybe…"
-----
The first fifteen minutes of their infiltration mission went off without a hitch. Namely disabling the locked hatches from an abandoned section of the Colony their insider provided. This was once used as a commercial port, but ever since Green Noah 2, now renamed Gripps, was converted into a Titans base of operations, the port was inadvertently closed a few months later. Erin suspected that it was more from harassment by tax increase the Titans have imposed on the space faring business than civilian security.
"Never did much on maintenance, huh?"
Quattro gave a grim smile. "They only see it as a facility they could use until it wears down. Never as a homeland for 1,000,000 human beings. If the Titans feel that they have no more use with this Colony, they won't hesitate to destroy it."
"They would really do such a thing?"
Quattro nodded soberly, remembering the 30th Bunch Incident. "They will." He said simply, ending their discussion. He checked his watch, "We've managed to buy ourselves some time. Through this route, we'll only have ten minutes to reach the base, steal the Gundam and head for rendezvous."
Erin checked at the map the Ahgama downloaded to the Hyukebein's computer. She looked doubtfully at the area they were supposed to attack: a base in a large residential area. "Seems pretty thick. Those buildings would help our cover… but we'll still be open to the Titan MS units."
"That's why we have to execute this mission as fast as we could before they could organize themselves. We attack on my mark, got that, Erin?"
"I understand."
-----
After infuriating the local MP for feign ignorance (as well as obtaining himself more painful bruises for the trouble), Kamille was finally left alone (much to his relief) in the darkness of his detention cell, wondering what the heck happened that he ended up in such a dilemma. He wondered if his parents could help him out of this. Knowing Fa and his mother stubborn persistence, Kamille was sure he'd be able to get out of here... although he wasn't sure if he'd appreciate it, though. After a while he felt his body unusually heavy. I must be very tired…
Even as he drifted off to sleep, despite his attempt not to, the vision that visited him returned. But this time, the starlight seemed to grow brighter, stronger, and for some reason he felt oddly at peace with himself. Then he heard voices… two of them, in fact… as if they were looking at him, calling him…
He was rudely awaken by a sudden jolt from his seat, and found that a section of his wall recently collapsed… he could hear shouting from the Federation officers and loud gunfire. Kamille felt another sensation, a sense of being cautious but alert… Are we under attacked? In any case, he had no intention to simply sit around and do nothing when he realized his opportunity to escape. He rammed against the broken door that gave way under his weight, and crashed into an approaching figure… that turned out to be his mother accompanying that MP officer.
"YOU!" The officer gasped pointing at Kamille with an accusing finger. With a snarl, Kamille gave the MP a savage kick on the face, taking morbid satisfaction of seeing him fall on the floor unconscious.
"Kamille!" Hilda Vidan protested, Fa already told the details, but she had no idea of Kamille's display of his volatile nature. Her son did not even spared her a glance as he ran as fast as he could away from her. Hilda attempted to catch up with him, but was foiled by the falling rubble and the other Federation officers scurrying around in the midst of chaos.
But Kamille could not hear her cries to stop, his mind was focusing on one thing: his hatred for the Titans and his desire to pay back for what they did to him. Following his instincts, he found himself outside the building and right in front of the nearest Mobile Suit storage facility. "I won't forgive them!" he raged, and ran to the building as fast as his weary legs would let him.
-----
As expected, a couple of sentries intercepted them when the two robots were halfway to their goal.
Quattro was distracted for a brief second before he shot the closest GM with his rifle, ordering Erin to back him up as the two mecha weaved into the abandoned streets. They were to fight against their counterparts with minimal damage to the Colony as they could, so both units were forced to rely on their sabers, and use their rifles if they were really forced to. Satisfied that Erin can handle this, Quattro was shooting at the two persistent GMs when he felt a strong reaction to his mind. "What the?" he swore. The sensation was eerily familiar…
Erin felt it as well, but not as strong as her leader. It did make her feel a bit disconcerted with this mental pressure, and wondered where that came from, or a weapon their enemy recently developed.
"Look out!" Quattro called out as a couple of bazooka shells destroyed the side of the buildings that the two mecha were taking protection from. "The mk. 2. Two of them, in fact." Quattro said, not believing the sudden stroke of luck. "And armed. Watch yourself."
"Yessir." Erin was beginning to find it disturbing that the Titans seemed not to care that they are opening fire in a Colony with total abandon.
-----
"That's a Personal Trooper!" Kirkicon exclaimed, identifying the black suit that evaded his beam rifles. "No doubt about, it's the missing new prototype."
"Interesting," Jerid said, eyeing the mecha as well. "Then this is the best chance to test the mk. 2's capabilities."
"Careful, I heard that Yazan had a hard time with the Trooper. There's this yellow suit that I can't identify, and he's almost as fast as the other one."
Damn AEUG, causing such an inconvenience for everyone else. Jerid swore. He even grew more agitated that no matter how he and his comrade tried, they ended up shooting down buildings and couldn't even put a dent on the enemy suits. But the enemy made no attempt to attack, in fact it seems that they were waiting for them to wind down from the fighting. As if they're planning to capture the Gundams…
"Jerid, I'm going to contact the home base for back-up before we ran out of ammo," Kirkicon said urgently, who apparently realized this as well.
Jerid gritted his teeth, but could see the logic in that reasoning. As they requested for back-up, the two black Gundams retraced their steps for the base, with the Hayaku Shiki and the Hyukebein following closely behind.
-----
"Emma Sheen?" Captain Bright Noah, who managed to organize his wits and rank faster than the rest of the ranking officers running around to establish a defense unit against the two AEUG robots, said in surprise to see the young Titan officer volunteering to pilot the still damaged Unit 3. "Are you sure? I've heard you still don't have any battle experience."
"I've been trained for army reserves." Emma replied. "I can handle this. Besides, I just recently heard that Lieutenants Jerid and Krikicon need backup as soon as possible."
"Very well…" Bright was rudely cut off when a youth shot past him and roughly shoved him aside. His annoyance turned into shock, however, when he realized that the boy was accessing the Unit 3's cockpit.
"What are you doing! Stop!" He called out.
But Kamille ignored that order, and hopped into the cockpit, closing the hatch firmly behind as he did so as the last thing he'd ever want was to be dragged out here by annoyed Federation officers… even if one of them was Bright Noah. As his hands activated the correct switches to power up the immobile suit, he was glad that he took the effort to hack into his father's military files with his computer in the past.
"Emma!" Bright said, grabbing her hand and leading her away to safety as the Gundam attempted to stand, crushing the roof in the process. Kamille's voice apologetic through the speakers: "I'm sorry, Captain Bright! Lt. Sheen!"
"That boy!" Bright muttered, but having a weird sense of déjà vu, it was almost a re-enactment of that disastrous day that marked the beginning of the One Year War. It's like the second coming of Amuro Ray…He certainly didn't know if that was necessarily a good thing.
-----
Meanwhile outgunned and outmaneuvered, the two Gundams were forced into a corner at the Titans' base when Erin called Quattro in alarm.
"Lt. Quattro! There's another Gundam mk. 2 in the premises!"
"What!" if two was quite enough, three was overkill. But Quattro's sensors did pick up the third mk. 2 Erin pointed out. But this one seemed to be immobile and unsure on what to do next. He stopped Erin from attempting to engage it in combat. "Don't harm him, he's not doing anything."
Suddenly, Kamille had made a decision. Using the speakers, he responded. "That's right! I'm not your enemy… I'm at your side!" He willed his mk. 2 to draw out its beam saber. "I'll show you proof!"
"Proof?" Erin echoed, dumbstruck at this sudden turn of events as the Unit 3's thrusters kicked into action, and hurled itself at the group of mecha. With the beam saber, Kamille neatly sliced at the Unit 1's leg, causing the latter to fall on the ground with Jerid cursing at the impudent pilot, and with its free hand shoved the Unit 2 onto the side of the wall of the Titan base.
"Surrender, or I'll crush you along with this building!" Kamille threatened the pilot.
"What is he doing?" Emma gasped in horror at this worst case scenario gone true, but Bright got himself busy by activating the overhead speakers from a nearby jeep. Using the radio, he called out. "Lt. Kirkicon! This is Captain Bright Noah! There's nothing more you could do. Surrender quietly and follow his instructions!"
"Damn," Kirkicon swore, but seeing no alternative, he followed suit. "Unit 3, you win. I'm surrendering. I'm leaving the cockpit."
As the Titan pilot abandoned the Gundam as fast as he could, the Hayaku Shiki and the Hyukebein exchange an almost look of bafflement. "I guess he can be trusted." Quattro commented. He then shifted his attention back to the Unit 3. "What's your name?"
"Kamille. Kamille Vidan."
"Thank you for your help, Kamille-kun." Quattro said. "You can help Shore by carrying the Unit 2. I will clear the way for you both so follow as closely as you could."
"Roger," Kamille said, taking a deep breath. The dye is cast, he made himself publicly a traitor of the Federation by defying the Titans. Somehow, that doesn't seem to be an entirely such a bad idea… "I hate the Federation, but I hate the Titans even more." He surprised himself by admitting these words.
"Then you'll be safe with us."
-----
"I can't believe that three people just came in and took two of our Gundams. TWO!" Basque snarled angrily at Franklin Vidan as the huge man walked around the office to cool off, flinging the damage report violently on his desk, while the rest of Basque's aids wisely kept quiet whenever their officer was in this mood. "And you go saying that the leader of the group was the Red Comet?"
"The yellow suit can't be identified by our logs." Lt. Vidan said. "But his performance is extraordinary. I do believe it's 'him'."
"'He' was as dead as his fathers before him." Basque said curtly. "And may I remind you that we are not here to discuss history?"
"No sir." Vidan immediately switched back to their original conversation "I've seen the report, and from what I've gathered, it seemed that it was my son was involved with this debacle as well." But then again, it was really a small loss, Vidan figured, and Basque should not have put up such a fuss for conveniently getting rid of those useless Mobile Suits in the first place. He wondered what he was really up to…
"Thank your good fortune, Lt. Vidan, that you will not pay dearly for your son's trespass. You and your wife will be briefed shortly for our next mission to retrieve our technology from the rebels…"
"COMMANDER BASQUE!" Bright's voice rang out as he and Emma Sheen entered the room despite protests from the security officer posted outside. Basque told the guard to let them pass with restrained patience, in which the latter did with great reluctance.
"What can I do for you, Commander?" Basque said, a hint of sarcasm on his tone.
"I demand an explanation why you've conducted secret tests of Mobile Suit performance in a civilian Colony!" Bright said, his tone of voice suggesting he was not in the mood of beating around the bush.
"You are in no condition to demand anything at all. This is what the Spacenoids and the AEUGs wanted in the first place: complete and utter chaos with complete disregard of the Federation government's achievements, even if it means the destruction of their own. What you see here, Commander, is the result of their unflagging defiance."
"They would not cause such destruction in the first place if you have never built a base here!" Bright was rudely cut off when Basque's heavy knuckle connected painfully against Bright's jaw. The latter staggered back in shock, but he wasn't undaunted. "How dare you strike at your superior officer?"
"On the contrary, it was you who are forgetting your place, Commander. The Titans were formed for the sole purpose of eliminating the remnants of Zeon and its sympathizers. We also have ZAFT to worry about. We will do what is the most appropriate of action. We are not binded by Federation jurisdiction."
"If you will keep treating the colonists like this without further thought of their well-being, you will only generate more anti-Federation sympathizers, Zeon supporters or not!" Basque was suddenly getting tired with this whole tirade. It was apparent these thoughts were shared by his men when one of his aides attacked Bright, shouting "Shut up!"
Bright fell on the floor, with the rest of the Titans upon him, as they literally beat the stuffing out of him.
Basque calmly left the scene as if it was the most common thing that ever happened. Emma, who kept her peace during the whole conversation, quickly gave her superior officer a neat salute as he passed by her. Moments later, she returned to watch helplessly with this morbid sport and couldn't help but feel the wrongness of it all.