Phase 4 – Bullets of Disaster
The Legitimate backed into Kronos, the ZAFT outpost. They were soon docked and held in. The place became very busy as ZAFT soldiers with semiautomatic guns quickly ran into the ship and began to search the ship. The General went straight to the bridge and greeted the crew. "Welcome to Kronos," he said openly. "We are just taking some precautions as you know."
As he spoke, the military units scouted the hangar, mess hall, and other areas of great importance. Yumi awoke with a start as she heard voiced outside the cabin.
Alex looked out to the hallway from the laundry room to see several guards run by. One of them stopped at the laundry room took out a slip of paper and called out to some other guards. "Here's one of them!" he called. Two other guards came in and pointed their guns at Alex. He was ordered to the ground.
Alex just stood there, preparing for a fight. "Why?"
Without getting an answer, one of the guards attacked him with a knife. Alex was barely able to pull aside, the blade cutting the skin of his cheek. Before anyone else could make a gesture, Alex ran towards the other two and tripped both of them. However, as soon as he got out the door, he was surrounded by more soldiers and taken down, landing hard on his elbow.
"What news," the General said, looking around the bridge, "can you give us on the recent happenings?" He walked closer to the Commander. "Perhaps you shall answer?"
Kinoru looked at Hamatari, who nodded to him. "We were in pursuit of a Hulgar war ship," Kinoru began. "We believe it stole important data concerning this warship, the Legitimate, and some of CETA's other important information."
The General stared straight into Kinoru's eyes. He could tell there was something being hidden. He went over to Hamatari and did the same thing. "Can you fill in a few more details?" he asked coldly. "Maybe about the info that was stolen?"
Hamatari gave the General a distasteful glare and replied with an equally cold voice, "That information is unknown, even to us. Even if we did know, that info would be classified to the CETA Alliance."
The General let out a laugh. "Have we forgotten the agreements that allow the CETA Alliance to exist?"
Hamatari continued her cold stare. "No we have not, but do not forget that ZAFT and CETA are only neutral. We do not share such information openly, least of all to a mere General."
The General, though very insulted, kept his cool and smiled. "As true as that is, we will still have the information we want."
Andarian finished his food and cleared his plate. He began walking down the hall when he ran into some ZAFT soldiers. "Are you Andarian?" one of them asked.
"Yes," he said hesitantly. Shortly after answering, he had guns pointed at him. He took a step back and was tackled to the ground.
"Stay still," the guard said, gun aimed at Andarian's head. Andarian relaxed his muscles and the guards lifted him onto his feet.
Yumi was laying on her bed when the door opened. Three guards came in and Yumi screamed. She lifted the covers to hide her panties. One of the guards, who was female, remained in the room as the other two went out. She got her to dress herself quickly
After she was dressed, though she looked sloppy, she was taken off the ship. There, already outside and surrounded by ZAFT soldiers were Andarian, with a small cut on his head, and Alex who had a bruise on his arm and a large cut on his cheek. When they were all together, the guards continued herding them into the outpost.
Up in the bridge, Jessie looked at her computer screen, which brought up an image of her cousin and her friends being taken away. Immediately she spoke up with great rage. "Why are our mobile suit pilots being taken away?"
Hamatari stared in shock and went to the window. Kinoru addressed the General. "Explain yourself. Do you intend to interrogate our pilots?"
"That is exactly it," he replied. "They have been operating illegal machines. Our sources state that the CPSG.-230 Warp, 240 Eclipse, 250 Lunar, and 260 Nightmare, have all been equipped with nuclear power cells, and the Alta System."
Andarian and the other pilots were forced to walk at a quick pace. Their hands were cuffed and behind their backs. Yumi dared to speak. "What do they want with us?" She looked at Andarian and Alex, although both avoided her gaze and remained silent.
As they made their way down the hallway, Alex turned suddenly as Yumi stumbled and fell to the ground. He saw her get hit on the back by the gun as punishment. Filled with rage, he broke free and charged. "Get away from her!" Alex screamed. He rammed into one of the guards and another hit him in the head, sending him to the ground.
"Alex don't!" Andarian cried too late. He got pushed back as the others were brought to their feet. It was not long before they were on their way once more, Yumi and Alex staggering slightly.
They soon came to a heavy concrete hallway that contained what were obviously interrogation rooms and found themselves being roughly taken to separate rooms. Andarian was handcuffed to a chair in a bare room that contained only a small table and one other chair for furnishings, and a one-way glass where he knew he was being watched.
The Chairman led Amaru off the ship and to another limo that was waiting for them outside the station as Amaru took a deep breath in, enjoying the real air of the atmosphere. "This is the first time you've been on Earth isn't it?"
Amaru looked around at the clouds and the birds flying around. "Yes it is," he replied. "It's a sad thing that CETA's Plants don't have all this yet. I heard that the ZAFT Plants have all this, but I've never been there either."
The Chairman got into the car and Amaru sat beside him. They drove along the highway, Amaru taking in the scenery. It wasn't long until they arrived at a large building that reached high into the sky; forty stories at least.
Amaru and the Chairman entered and there were a few CETA military units that joined them. They made their way to the elevator and went to the thirty-eighth floor. There they entered a long hallway and walked to the fifth door on the right.
Inside was a large conference room. On the far wall there was a screen that could be seen by everyone at the long table, which could seat thirty. However, there were only four others there. Athrun of ZAFT sat at the first on the left, Cagalli of Orb beside him. On the other side, facing Athrun and Cagalli was Steven of the Atlantic Federation and one of his military officials.
Athrun greeted the Chairman and Amaru. They sat themselves beside the Atlantic Federation members. Another ZAFT soldier entered a moment later and stood behind Athrun. "Now we can begin," said Athrun.
Steven handed each of them a slip of paper with the agenda of the meeting printed on it and listed them off as Amaru glanced at the Chairman's sheet. The first item on the list was economics.
Andarian waited. The room was silent. No clock ticked nor wind whistled. It was not long, although in the silence it seemed a long time, before a man dressed in a black suit entered. He had brown hair that was slightly spiked. He sat down and looked directly into Andarian's eyes. He spoke slowly and with an intimidating voice. "What is your name?"
Andarian thought this was pointless, for he was sure the man knew who he was, but he answered anyway. "Andarian Tamaru."
"And what," the man continued, "is your position in the military?"
Andarian "I am a Mobile Suit pilot, first class, for the CETA Alliance," he answered.
The man got up and began to walk behind Andarian. "You are the Chairman's son?"
"That is correct." Andarian looked straight ahead, as if the man was still in his chair. When there was a long silence, Andarian began asking his own questions. "Why have you taken us? What has the CETA Alliance done to Zaft?"
The man took a bottle of water and poured it into two cups. He offered one to Andarian. When it was not accepted he assured him that it was not drugged. Andarian then accepted. The man released him from one of the cuffs and handed the glass to him. He took a small sip and set it on the table.
The man sat in the chair again. "So, what Gundam do you pilot?"
"Why do you think I pilot a Gundam?" Andarian shifted slightly, trying to rattle the guy's nerves.
"Because there are only three Gundams in your ship's hangar, and the one MA." It was clear this man knew the differences between a Gundam and a Mobile Suit.
Andarian could not hide this. "Yes, I pilot the CPSG.-240. It is known as the Eclipse."
The man nodded. "Did you know the Eclipse, as well as the other Gundams, use nuclear power?"
"Yes I did." Andarian took another sip of his water. "But it also has a regular power cell. The nuclear cell is only used– "
"But it still has it," the man interrupted. He circled him again. "Did you also know that the Alta system is an illegal project that was not supposed to be finished?"
Andarian turned to the man. "The Alta system?"
The man met his gaze and stood over his shoulder. "Yes the Alta system." He came in close to make him nervous. "You know of it?"
"No," Andarian replied. "I don't know about the Alta system." The man sat down again. "What does it do?"
Jena looked out of her room. Down on either side of the hallway there were several guards on standby. Why ZAFT had boarded she did not understand. She went to the laundry room, dressed in street clothes, to see if she could find Alex. She could not sleep with all that was going on. When she got there, she saw her clothes scattered everywhere and traces of blood on the floor that was not her own. She went as quickly as she could to Alex's room and didn't find him there either. Then she went to Andarian's room and found him missing as well.
When she exited, she saw Jessie walking down the hall, crying slightly. Jessie saw Jena come out of the room and went up to her. "You won't find any of the pilots here," she said, choking on her words slightly. "They were all arrested by ZAFT."
Jena's face went from worried to shocked. She leaned up against the wall and sunk to the floor. "Why did they get arrested?"
Jessie explained that the Gundams had a weapon installed that was illegal, the Alta system. When it was installed, it was believed to be a useful system, but soon became a weapon that hurt the users, therefore, it was banned.
"What does the Alta System do?" Andarian asked, looking at the man. It was then that Andarian realized that the missing page could have been the page explaining the Alta System.
"As the pilot of the Eclipse, I thought you could tell me." He finished the water in his cup.
"I never even knew that such a system was around." Andarian followed the man around the room with his eyes.
"I see…" The man left the room. Andarian could make out another door opening up and closing. He figured the man went into the room behind the glass, for he could still feel his gaze on his back.
The ZAFT General walked down with the Captain and Commander to the hangar. There, many ZAFT scientists were examining the Eclipse, Lunar and Warp. A couple had even managed to get into the cockpits and were trying to hack into the OS, but because Andarian and the others had changed the passwords, they were unable to get access.
"I take it you cannot get access to the Gundams can you?" Kinoru asked with a hint of satisfaction.
"We will eventually." The General walked up to the Eclipse and rubbed the side of the metal foot. He looked up. "Such an impressive machine," he said in a low tone.
"So," Jena started, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She and Jessie had gone to the cafeteria. Resupplying had not yet started because of the incident with the Gundams. Once both sides came to an agreement to resolve the situation, then the resupplying would begin., but the chance of them leaving right away were slim; they were not going to leave without their pilots. "What is this Alta System?" she asked at a length.
"Not much," Jessie replied, "is known about the Alta System, not even the scientists fully understand it. It stands for Automatic Learning Transfer Apparatus." Jessie looked at the rim of her cup and took a sip from it.
It was not long before the man returned. "So," he began, taking his seat again. "You have no clue what the Alta System is?"
"That is right," Andarian replied.
"What it does is link the minds of the users together," the man explained, "but the test process showed it to create a large amount of strain on the user's minds. That is why it was banned."
Andarian was shocked at the news. Such a weapon would give a huge advantage. His thought was cut short as a tremor shook the entire station. The man quickly dashed out of the room, leaving Andarian alone again.
The ZAFT General, still aboard the Legitimate, quickly left the warship. He made his way to the main elevator, used a card key, and went up to the top floor of the main command centre where he found many people stationed at computer terminals for weapons, navigation and other systems of the base.
"What's going on?" the General demanded after getting off the elevator.
"We have a large Hulgar fleet heading toward Earth," one of the female soldiers replied.
Before the General could respond, a male voice spoke up. "Two ships have pulled out of the main fleet. They have begun an attack on Kronos. Enemy power, ten mobile armour, more launching, three mobile suits, and the two warships."
The General stared in horror as he looked at the main screen, showing the large force going towards Earth. "What is the strength of the Hulgar fleet?"
"Unknown," replied the man.
"Alert all other allied forces of the Hulgar fleet. As for us, get the small force on screen," the General commanded. The screen changed to show the small force approaching. The General's face sank deeper into horror as he saw the mobile suits. They looked exactly like the Eclipse, Lunar, and Warp.
Down in the interrogation rooms, Andarian waited. He had no idea what was going on, but it was not long until ZAFT soldiers came in and unlocked the cuffs. "You are to help defend this base," the soldier commanded.
Andarian nodded and left, joining up with Yumi and Alex just outside in the hallway. They ran out to the Legitimate and went straight to the hangar after reporting in to the bridge. "Good to have you back," the Captain said.
The Legitimate launched into space shortly after, followed by some ZAFT warships. Andarian and the others quickly changed into their pilot suits and activated the OS's, running a quick scan to make sure there was nothing changed. Andarian moved to the launch gate. It lowered and opened. "Andarian Tamaru, Eclipse… Let's ride!" The catapult began to move quickly and the Eclipse's weapons attached on. With that, the Eclipse launched into space. Andarian immediately activated the VPS Armour and sped off towards the enemy.
Next to go was Alex. The Lunar moved to the launch gate as it rose. He got on and it lowered again. "Alex Ratsu, Lunar. Here we go!" Again the catapult sped forward and the Lunar's equipment was attached. Once out, the Lunar transformed to Mobile Armour mode and activated the VPS Armour.
Last was Yumi. "Yumi Shira. Warp. I'm heading out." Yumi launched out, activated her Mirage Colloid, and followed the other pilots. It was not long until they found the enemy. They were on the other side of Kronos and had already done a large amount of damage. "This is not good," Yumi said to herself.
Andarian was the first to confront the enemy. He unleashed the DRAGOONS upon a small group of MA's, but only managed to destroy one. Andarian looked off to either side and began to go after another group of MA's when a large beam shot past him. He narrowly dodged the shot and when he looked at the computer screens to see where the shot had come from, he saw them flicker slightly. 'An EMP Beam?' he thought to himself. He turned to the holder of the gun and retracted the DRAGOONS. There in front of him, was the Eclipse.
Yumi sped into a group of MA's, taking her sword to one of them, but on the other side, she saw the Eclipse. She went to it but stopped when she noticed there were two of them. She didn't get enough time to take in what she saw when the Lunar sped by in MA mode, shooting at Yumi. "Alex!" she yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"
"That's what I'd like to ask you!" he exclaimed back. "Why are you attacking me?"
"You're the one who is attacking me!" Yumi shouted back. She flew off to shake the Lunar, but it followed her closely, despite the Warp's speed. She soon saw another battle. There, she saw another Lunar Gundam and what appeared to be the Warp. "What the hell?"
Alex turned to see Yumi and the enemy Lunar that was attacking her. He also saw the two Eclipse's battling each other. "So this Warp isn't you Yumi?"
"How can it be when I'm right here?" Yumi joined Alex and they defended themselves from the other two Gundams.
Jessie ran up to the bridge and Jena followed. She was allowed in and sat in one of the spare chairs while Jessie went to her station. She and Jena were relieved to know that the pilots had returned and were okay. As soon as they were clear of Kronos, Jessie got the pilots to launch and told them to attack the mobile weapons force while they focused their attacks on the warships.
"Load all missile tubes with Anti-beam Depth Charges!" ordered Kinoru. "Fire Barrage Cannons, and prepare to fire missiles."
Jessie looked at the screen and heard Yumi and Alex argue. Andarian called in a moment later. "The enemy has created technorganic versions of our Gundams. They appear to be living things."
The Captain went over to Jessie's station. "So we know they got that data, but we may still have one advantage." She opened a communication link to all the pilots. "Activate Nuclear Cores."
Andarian, Alex, and Yumi stared for a moment, then pressed the button to activate the Nuclear Cores. There was a whir and the power ratings on everything skyrocketed. The VPS Armour also changed. The blue parts changed to red and the black parts also gained a small tint of red.
Andarian ran a system scan to make sure all was working. "Andarian Tamaru, CPSG.-240 X Prominence transformation complete."
Yumi also check her Gundam. "Yumi Shira, CPSG.-230 X Fusion powered and ready."
Alex changed a few settings to compensate for the Gundam's change in power, then confirmed in with the others. "Alex Ratsu, CPSG.-250 X Solar returning to battle."
Yumi sped towards the Hulgar Warp and drove her sword through it, cutting it in half. However, the two parts pulled themselves back together. "They're regenerating!" Yumi exclaimed.
The battle turns for the worst and the Legitimate is forced to retreat. Amaru learns secrets from those of greater power. Things start to get out of hand as the war escalates to a new level. Next time on Gundam Seed Abyss, Supreme Conquest. Nightmare, use your weapons and support your friends!