Char stood on the bridge of his Musai, staring at the slowly rotating colony before him. His face was covered by the mask that he wore over his eyes. It served to partially hide his expressions, as well as add to his mystique. It also diluted the amount of frustration that was showing on his face.
" You followed your orders Slender, you have nothing to worry about, you did the right thing by retreating." Char turned to face the man reporting to him. He was younger than him, probably 18. His arm hung erect at his side in a cast.
" Probably a minor strain." Char thought as he looked towards his 1st officer. Lt Doran.
" Open a priority 1 encoded message to Admiral Dozel."
The Lt. Nods his head as several communication officers start punching in commands. In seconds a large man appears on the main view screen. He stood tall having dark skin and a square jaw. His stature was imposing as his bulky body stood erect in a formal military Uniform. A single long scar was etched on the right side of his face as he stood at attention staring down at Char from the high mounted screen.
" Char! Where are you! I have been expecting you for a special government banquet! My staff has been preparing for this banquet for months! The arch duke himself is expected to attend!"
Char calmly holds up his hands as he starts to placate the angry man.
" I'm sorry Admiral I have become side tracked."
Dozel stares at Char as his nostrils start flaring in anger.
" Side tracked?! I expect you to be here in no less than 1 day or I'll send you to do salvage operations in the shoal zone til the war is over!!!"
Char shakes his head as he confronts his angry superior.
" I have stumbled upon the Federation's fabled "V" project."
The admiral stops as the information was quickly assimilated into his mind. His mouth hung low as he closed it immediately and gave a large burst of laughter. All traces of his anger was washed clean as he started to congratulate the masked man in front of him.
" I should not have expected anything less from the mighty Red comet. What have you discovered about the Federation's new weapon?"
Char shakes his head as he debriefs the admiral.
" It appears that the Federation has developed Mobile suit technology." Char looks over at ensign Slender.
" We were at the end of our mission when we discovered the new Federation warship, and so we are low on missiles and other supplies. I also lost two mobile suits when I sent them out for a reconnaissance, however I cannot bring the Pharmel (1) closer to get an accurate reading due to the fact that we are dangerously low on supplies. I am requesting a full resupply and a new Mobile suit squadron to replace our losses."
Anger seemed to once again flow through the admiral as his face turned red and he starts shaking with rage.
" You lost TWO Zaku's to a Federation prototype?! This level of incompetence is unacceptable from an officer of your stature Char! However seeing as these were variables out of your control I am granting you your request. I want those Federation mobile suits Char. Capture them. If you proof to have any further failures...destroy them."
The screen cuts out as Dozel ends his transmission. Char looks at his crew as a plan starts to form. Lt. Doran clears his throat as he asks for orders.
" Shall we fall back and wait for resupply sir?"
Char looks up as he smiles.
" No, were assembling a team."
Doran looks puzzled as he looks at his smiling CO.
" But sir by now every access shaft has been sealed, we have no missiles for a precise strike to open a hole for you to enter. And we are too far away to get an accurate targeting lock with our mega particle beam cannons."
Char just smiled as he gave his reply.
" We'll send in a unit and manually give the coordinates, I trust your gunnery skills Lt."
The Lt. Looks horrified.
" But sir? The slightest mistake and you could all be killed, or we could destroy the docks and the equipment we need to liberate!"
Char starts heading towards the air lock as he laughs.
" Like I said, I trust your Gunnery skills Lt."
Lt. Doran just shakes his head as he looks out the window towards the Colony. Shaking off the worry on his face.
Ensign Noah Bright was currently heading towards the White base's main bridge. A communicator in his palm as he was directing the remnants of the Federation forces on Side 7. It would seem he is now the highest ranking command officer on board the White base. He was only an Ensign for crying out loud! This was his first post out of the academy he thought.
Noah passed several wounded soldiers covered in bandages as they traveled towards the engine room. He gave a sigh as he made a left turn on the arm track. He still wasn't used to traveling in space, having to use a series of moving handles to get from one point to another was awkward for a person who grew up on earth.
"Noah you there?" The communicator spoke out loud.
Bright grabs it and replies.
" Bright here. Whats the status on the sector 5 maintenance shaft?"
The rather gruff voice over the com barks out his reply.
" This area's sealed off, the only way a zeek's getting in here is if they blasted their way through. We have another problem, that Musai is moving closer." The voice paused.
" I think they're getting in range to use those big guns. The captain is grabbing colony maintenance personnel to use the anti meteorite cannons against that warship, it should slow them down."
Ensign Bright nods his head as he closes out the channel.
" Roger that I'm entering the main bridge now."
As he enters the bridge he starts routing all the emergency channels to the bridge on all the decks. Most of the crew where assigned to defend the docks and were killed by those zaku's. Now they were short handed and were being bogged down with a loss of command.
Noah shakes his head as he opens a channel to the Gundam pilot.
" Gundam pilot, please assist the ground crew in securing the remaining mobile suits."
He waits for a response.
"Mission accepted"
Noah nods his head, then sighs as he was quickly thrust in the middle of a nightmare.
Lt. Doran sat sipping coffee as he waited for the signal from Char. Suddenly the proximity alarms went off as the bridge crew began a fevered attempt to locate the cause of the alarm. Then a skinny blond boy operating the sensor station called out what he saw.
" Lt. I see 3 multiple torpedoes, maintaining an intercept course, impact in 30 seconds."
Doran calmly puts his cup down as he began a loud bellow, barking out orders fast and firm. His uniform stretching out tout as an air of command seemed to surround the man.
" Fire forward thrusters! 30 parsec burst, activate forward CIDS! (2) stand by targeting scrambler! ENGAGE!"
The Musai class cruiser slowed down steadily as a electronic burst flared in a ring around it. The static ring hit all three of the incoming torpedoes. Two seemed to lose control and fly erratically then detonated in a spectacular burst of colored flame.
Several gun ports began opening up on the Pharmel as the Forward CIDS began opening up an impressive display of anti air defense. The final torpedo was cut down in a hail of fire power and detonated harmlessly away from the ship.
Doran gave a satisfied smirk as he noticed several bright flashes coming from the colony.
" Charge main cannons, rotate artillery .5 degrees starboard. Raise forward laterals 1.7 degrees,...no make that 1.9."
Beads of sweat began to form around the man's brow as he continued calculating the blast coordinates.
" Stand by, place a .2 firing variance on cannons 1 through 3, Notify torpedoes tube 6 to launch a signal flare. steady,...Launch flare!"
A green flare launched upwards from the Musai class ship illuminating the area around them for kilometers.
" Fire on my command,...FIRE!!!"
A large blast erupted from the first cannon, followed simultaneously by two more as the battleship blasted super heated particle energy towards the colony. Three long lines of brilliant colored light flew towards the rotating cylindered colony. They erupted spectacularly on the wall leaving a sizable opening into the protective outer shell.
Char and his men all took cover behind several large metallic walls after the signal flare was fired. The resulting blast shook the entire colony, almost stopping its rotation. Char just gave a wide smirk inside his normal suit. (3)
" Nice shooting Doran, I knew my faith wasn't misplaced."
With that the Zeon soldiers all entered the colony with their weapons cocked and loaded.
Bright Noah was pretty sure that today would be the day he remembers as the worst day of his entire life. They were still stuck in the hangar on side 7, out gunned, short on supplies and personnel, and now it seemed that the captain has been wounded by a Zeon bombardment. He was now currently walking into the loading dock that was serving as a temporary trauma center.
He spots the captain laying on a bed being bandaged by a young girl, to his credit he still had a communication line active and was trying to maintain the chain of command. He quickly approached captain Paulo.
" Sir I came as fast as I could,...how bad is it?"
Captain Paulo just smirks, then moans loudly in agony.
" Just a flesh wound ensign, how's the transfer of the proto...Aaaarggh!" He screams as a searing wave of agony envelops him. A doctor rushes over and administers a liquid painkiller.
Another crewman approaches them. The man was large and bulky, having dark skin and even darker hair. He spoke with a slight Latin accent as he tries to help the girl bandaging the captain.
" I'm sorry captain this is my fault." Says the heavy set man.
The captain grunts with pain then looks the man in the eyes.
" Unless your a zeek or a really good shot with a mega particle beam cannon this wasn't your fault."
The man shakes his head.
" If I came sooner from the docks you wouldn't have been manning the missile launchers, and you wouldn't have been hit when the ship fired their main guns."
The captain looks towards Noah Bright as a flash of pain seared through him.
" Corporal Jose,...you saved two men who would have died, that...ugh...is proof enough of your innocence, now quit,...being guilty,...arrgh... and go help the ground crews secure those new mobile suits before I launch you out a torpedo tube!!!"
The corporal saluted and rushed off. Leaving Paulo with Bright.
" whats that Zeon ship doing outside other than firing the odd cannon shot at us,..."
Bright gives a grimace as he walks toward a view screen nearby the captain.
" other than the salvo it just fired at us,...nothing." seeing the captain not saying anything he continues.
" It doesnt make sense sir,... they have the ability to sink us in the dock...but they aren't. I'm also worried about that pilot that saved us, he claims his name is Heero Yuy, but he's not on our pilot lists."
The captain lets out another groan then answers.
" They're waiting...ugh...for something, I dont know what, but the sooner we leave the better. Is he on the test pilot list? That man?"
Bright shakes his head.
" No he isn't, I checked. I can try to contact him?"
The captain moans loudly then nods his head.
" Do it."
Bright starts punching a few keys and commands into the video input nearby the captains bed. Then after a slight pause he gasped.
" Sir this pilot appears to be a civilian! in...hospital scrubs?!"
" what?!..."
Bright turns the monitor around and shows the captain.
" See for yourself sir."
The screen showed a young man approximately 20 years old with shaggy brown hair, and an intense stare looking back at the people in the view screen. One of the girls nearby gasped as she ran towards the screen calling out to him.
" Bennu!...Bennu! What are you doing in that Mobile suit!"
The young man looked slightly puzzled when he saw her. He mumbled out a name,then looked back towards the two Federation officers.
" Sayla,...I couldn't let more people die...it reminded me of something...unpleasant."
The ensign looked at the blond next to him and gave a short cough, grabbing everyone's attention.
" Excuse me, but you know him? Is he a doctor or part of a medical team at the hospital?"
Sayla looks at the man, then shakes her head.
" He was..um..is an amnesiac. We think he was a federation pilot cause the transport ship Kazeki brought him in. He was suffering from space asphyxia. He was deprived of air for almost 18 minutes."
Bright looks stunned.
"Shouldn't he be dead?"
" We thought so too but he just kept living...and now it seems that part of his memories are returning."
The captain gives off a loud moan as he looks at the three casually discussing the nature of their Guardian angel of a pilot.
" Those Zeons are trying to take the colony and this ship. That's why they haven't attacked the space dock yet. We need to gather all remaining materials that we can, and destroy whats left."
Heero looks at the captain as a memory surfaces of him inside a military compound. Mobile Suits stood lined up in long rows. He remembers setting charges and casually leaving the base. Then stopping to press a hand detonator. Destroying the base and causing the mobile suits to burst into flame.
He shakes his head, as another headache erupts causing the cockpit to spin. He then interrupts the captain as he begins to start sending people off to make a last search for survivors.
" Super napalm."
Everyone stops and looks back at Heero.
" Super napalm will destroy the components, ...and my name...is Heero,...Sayla, take a gun. Those Zeon want these Mobile suits. They'll have already deployed troops in the colony."
Sayla nods her head as she hurries off to do her job. Bright gives a huff of irritation as he looks back at the pilot staring at them from the cockpit of the Gundam.
" Heero, put the last of the equipment on board the White base." Bright looks at the young man in the cockpit. Seeing a hardness in his eyes. It was disturbing seeing someone his age that looked like a hardened soldier. It also irked him.
" We don't need to worry about any Zeon soldiers. This colony is well secured." Bright turns away from the view screen. And closes the channel. Captain Paulo looks at Bright and shakes his head.
Then the man seems to fade into a drugged slumber.
Char and his team had been inside the colony for several minutes, gaining valuable data and taking some of the damaged mobile suit parts for study. He was currently the last of his team to leave. He was looking over a damaged head piece. He bent down to pick up what appeared to be an AI interface. When he heard a woman yelling at him.
"Hold it right there!"
Char looks up and sees a young Blond woman holding a pistol at him. He smirked when he noticed the safety was still on. Still this girl looked familiar he thought.
" Drop what your holding!" Char continued smiling as he complied to her orders.
" Take off your helmet! " char was slowly moving towards her with every word she said.
" that mask too...take it off!"
Char casually removes his mask. The girl gave a gasp and step forward. That gave Char all the initiative he needed. He lashed out with a kick knocking the gun out of the girls hand. He backed off real quick while putting his helmet back on. Char shake his head as a the girl rushes towards him then collapses on the ground.
" That can't be, she was last seen on Earth."
Char starts a desperate run through the docks hoping to surprise the Federation personnel. He heard several loud shouts as he flew straight towards the new warship. The space dock was a Zero G zone, and the force of firing assault rifles sent people flying all over. As a result there were more screams of surprise from floating soldiers then there was of Char getting shot.
Suddenly a Federation officer left the bridge and started firing at him with a pistol. His back was to the hull of the ship giving him leverage. The shots grazed Char's arm, Obliterating the communicator he was trying to contact his troops with. He sent a grenade flying towards an airlock door blasting it open. With a strong gust of escaping air Char left the colony.
Heero was just about to launch a rocket propelled cannister and incinerate the remaining Mobile suit parts laying around the dock, when he caught sight of Sayla chasing after a masked man in a military pilot suit. A sudden feeling of dizziness exploded in his head, as a seed of annoyance flowered in his stomach. Then a masked man popped into his memories. He stood in front of the cockpit to a large white mobile suit, its giant gun hung docked on its shoulder.
"Zechs...Zechs...ugh." Heero rested as his mind went spinning in a blur. Then he slowly bends down and picks up Sayla in the hands of the Gundam.
" I'm going to blow the compound. Head back to the ship."
The Gundam stood on the dock elevator with the last salvageable Guncannon. Then It fired a shot from the rocket. The missile went flying down towards the shattered loading dock below, erupting in a massive fireball. Sending searing hot gases flying all across the scattered mobile suit parts.
Heero casually loads the last Mobile suit in the docking bay. Ignoring all the commotion of the ground crew that was struggling to prep the ship for launch. The view screen opens up revealing the same angry officer that Heero now knew as ensign Bright Noah.
" What took you so long?! We should have left long ago! We had a infiltration while waiting on your progress!" The angry man continued on his rant as Heero sat waiting for him to finish.
Seeing that the man had finished his long speech about the productivity of listening to one's officers, Heero casually walks toward a stack of beam rifles and commandeers one.
" What are you doing?! You are not authorized to arm yourself!"
Heero gave a half lidded stare as he starts opening the launch doors for the white base.
" The Zeon have failed in their mission to capture these prototypes, they will try to attack and destroy us."
Bright was about to demand his return when the warning alarms suddenly began screaming. Bright immediately sat down and started gathering information.
" We have two large torpedoes heading straight towards us. We can't dodge them While we're still docked!" one of the Sensor techs yelled.
Fear suddenly displayed itself on Bright's face as the realization that they were about to die caused his face to turn white. Suddenly there were two explosions just outside the dock that rocked the ship. Bright looked around confused expecting to see a scene of carnage.
" Marka? What happened?"
The sensor tech continued to check screens on his display. A sudden loud noise of wheels squealing alerted Bright that the captain had arrived. He lay in a bed bandaged and barely conscious but just having him on the bridge seemed to help alleviate the stress for Bright.
" The Gundam intercepted the missiles. Based on the blast radius and speed they were HYAS (4) torpedoes. That was some impressive shooting."
There were several crewman giving out hearty thanks to the pilot that saved their lives. The commotion died down when the White base finally left the dock. The ship moved forward slowly gaining distance from the colony. Then yet another warning alarm blared.
Bright looked to the sensor tech and waited as the boy gave a confused expression.
" I see two Zaku's heading our way, but that can't be, one of them is moving 3 times faster than any Zaku I ever saw."
A sudden chill went down his spine as Bright heard the captain muttering some words. As he bent down to listen his blood ran cold yet again.
" It can't be! The Red comet! Char Aznable the Red comet!"
There were sudden murmurs of fear and confusion as Sayla looked over from the operations console.
" He single handedly shot down 5 battleships in under 2 minutes in the battle of Ruum!"
Fear soon became panic as the bridge crew all began to clamor about surrender or running.
" Call the Gundam back! We need to retreat!"
Heero heard the call from the White base to retreat, he also knew that they wouldn't be able to outrun a mobile suit. There were only two, and he was starting to feel confident in his recently rediscovered abilities. So he ignored the orders and blasted forward with his verniers.
Char was feeling overly confident with the soon to be destroyed new weapon from the federation. He was almost glad when the mobile suit didn't run at the sight of his customized Red Zaku.
" Now let's test your response time white mobile suit." Char blasted his thrusters sending him flying sharply to the right of his opponent. To his surprise the mobile suit followed his movement and fired a blast from it's gun at his new position.
Char ducked sharply with a quick blast from his thrusters. He smiled as he opened fire at the Mobile suit.
" Not bad, but you shouldn't have been so quick to shoot, you left yourself open."
The burst of machine gun fire from his Mobile suit hit the Gundam head on sending it moving back from the impacts. Then to Char's utter astonishment the mobile suit kept moving shooting at him ignoring his blasts.
It took every ounce of skill he had to avoid the shots but it still grazed the left side of his mono eye terminal. Char backed off giving himself some maneuvering room.
" Slender, get behind him and hit it from the rear." The second Zaku gave an affirmative as he tried to keep up with the quick moving mobile suit.
Heero was having a hard time trying to land a solid hit on the agile red mobile suit. It seemed to move the moment he pulled the trigger. The constant moving was heating up his vernier almost to dangerous levels. He was almost immune to the 120 mm shells that was hitting him, but the armor wouldn't last for long.
Suddenly Heero sees the second Zaku sneaking up from behind, he blasted around aiming at the Mobile suit behind him and opened fired. The beam blasted through the Zaku leaving a gaping hole in its chest before it succombed to an internal melt down. It exploded in a spectacular display of white light.
Char sat stunned at the display of fire power, it appears that the weapon he fired was a compact beam cannon. Char started his retreat after sending a Cracker (5) at the mobile suit.
Char couldn't help but admire the pilot of the white devil that had killed his entire unit. He was retreating for now but after they got a full resupply they would have the upper hand.
" We'll meet again White devil, not many can claim they went toe to toe with the Red comet and live."
Heero watched the exploding Zaku with mixed feelings. He knew what he had done was wrong some how. Yet he couldn't place what it was. He was spared further thought by the sight of Sayla's smiling face as she popped open in the view screen.
" Ben,...Heero, great job! Head back to the white base. I don't think he will be back anytime soon."
The Gundam began it's return to The White base, leaving Heero with even more questions, and a new enemy.
A.N. Whew! That was a long chapter...it just kept coming. Sorry for the long update time but I did warn every one in my profile page I have a long update time.
( 1 ) Pharmel is the name of Char's Musai class battleship. It was the former flagship captained by Dozel Zabi himself. He gave the command of the ship to Char after his infamous battle of Ruum.
( 2 ) CIDS or Close In Defense System is commonly associated with anti air batteries on warships. But it can also be used for anti missile defense. Usually a series of strategically place machine gun turrets.
( 3 ) UC slang for space suit.
( 4 ) HYAS or High Yield Anti Ship torpedoes. The deadliest of rocket propelled weapons. A single missile was designed to destroy a armored Capitol ship. It is the most powerful non nuclear weapon in the arsenal of the Zeon or Federation.
( 5 ) Cracker's are large grenade that have several smaller grenades that launch outwards causing a sphere of explosive might. It is a powerful weapon that is mostly used for keeping enemy troops behind cover allowing yourself to escape. Designed for use with the Zeon type J Zaku it was standardized for space warfare after it's effective tactical advantage on the ground.