Disclaimer – Don't ask cause I don't own it.
A/N First battle scene of the remastering, here ya go. been thinking about starting a new Seed fic once this is done where the Dreadnought Gundam actually gets a trained ZAFT pilot. What say you to that?
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed
Starlight
Chapter 3
First to Fight
CE 71
Open Space
Artemis Near-space
Richard settled into the cockpit of the Nemesis and strapped himself in. They had managed to avoid detection and slipped by the Nazca class Vesalius and Laurasia class Gamow, and positioned themselves near the Archangel. The 4 stolen G-Weapons were on the offensive and Laura's suspicions that they were heading for the Eurasian Federation space base of Artemis were confirmed. Richard moved the Nemesis onto the catapult and signaled to the bridge.
"Soran I'm ready to launch"
The white haired coordinator's face appeared in a small box at the bottom corner of Richard's front monitor.
"Roger that, commencing lock on now"
Richard felt a sharp thump of the Nemesis locking onto the catapult. After watching the readouts Soran spoke again.
"I'm showing all systems green light, you're ready for launch"
Richard nodded.
"Good, what about Sara and Kale"
"Ready when the captain gives the word"
"Then here we go, Max give me a Sit-Rep, what's the Earth Forces ship doing?"
Max's image replaced Soran's and he checked his screens on his terminal.
"She's running like hell for Artemis. She has a Nazca class, the Vesalius, to her stern and the Gamow's off to her left keeping pace. Strike is in battle with the stolen G-Weapons and it looks like they've sent a Moebius Zero on a strike mission against the Vesalius"
Richard nodded.
"That Zero would probably be Mu La Flaga. What's Laura's game plan?"
"You three move in and hit the G-Weapons and we'll move to a thousand kilometer off Archangel's bow. If the Moebius Zero's attack doesn't draw them off we'll drop the Mirage Colloid and hit the Gamow with everything we've got"
"Simple but effective, I like it. Alright people lets get this show on the road. Richard Arin, Nemesis launching"
"Kale Aran, Launching in Hermes"
"Sara Trath, cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war, Ares launching"
Kira Yamato looked over his screen trying to think of something, anything he could do. His GAT-X105 Strike had been grabbed by the Zaft captured GAT-X303 Aegis, piloted by his friend Athrun Zala. Ever since Heliopolis Athrun had tried to convince him to join Zaft because he was a Coordinator, but he had refused, he had people on the Archangel to protect, he wouldn't go willingly Phase Shift Armor down or not.
"What are you doing Athrun?"
Yzak Yule, pilot o the X102 Duel, demanded. He was all but pissed; he had been so close to destroying the Strike. Dearka Elsman, pilot of the X103 Buster added.
"We were told to destroy it! You're disobeying direct orders!"
Athrun Zala, Kira's friend since childhood and pilot of the X303 Aegis shook his head.
"If we can capture it, then we're better off. I think the Commander would agree with me!"
Kira decided to break in.
"Just what are you up to, Athrun?"
"I'm taking you to the Gamow, if you know what's good for you; you'll shut up until we get there."
"I won't go willingly; I'm not going any ZAFT ship. I won't be a prisoner"
"You don't have a choice. Unless…unless you want me to shoot you down"
'How did it come to this?'
Kira was trying to think of something, anything, when twin green bursts of beam energy slammed into the Aegis and knocked him free. Seeing his chance he kicked in his thrusters and headed back toward Archangel.
Sara gave a smirk as she watched the Aegis roll away on her zoom, seemingly out of control. At that range her hyper impulse cannons wouldn't cause much damage but they sure as hell would knock them around.
"It's a hit but little damage at this range, think I knocked the pilot stupid though. Time to go boys, our covers blown"
Inside the Nemesis Richard nodded.
"Confirmed, Sara you have the Buster, Kale take the Blitz. Duel looks like its intent on destroying the Strike so he's mine. The Olympus is already in a position to cover the Archangel so the Aegis is handled, let's go"
The three Gundams fired their thrusters and shot off toward the Zaft stolen G-Weapons.
Inside the Blitz ZAFT pilot Nicol Amalfi watched as the Strike broke away and made a beeline for the "Legged Ship". He was prepared to pressure until is target warning indicator chirped. The scope showed 3 unknown Mobile Suits on an intercept vector toward himself, the Buster, and Duel.
"Yzak, Dearka, we have incoming"
Duel pilot Yzak Joule checked his proximity systems. Indeed there were incoming, and one was heading strait for him. From their patterns one heavy weapons, probably the one that had knocked Athrun out of the fight, one was short range to melee combat and was mid range. It looked like it was patterned after the Strike.
"Dearka take the heavy one, Nicol the short range unit, I got the strike look-alike"
Each of the three shot off toward their respective targets, confident in success but mindful of their energy usage while Athrun and the X303 Aegis recovered after the nasty hits they had taken.
Sara pulled down her Hyper Impulse Cannons again and took aim, this time on the Buster who had just begun to move toward her. After she got the lock on tone she waited for a heartbeat and then squeezed the trigger sending twin searing blasts of partial energy down range. Knowing that would be enough to draw his attention she locked her Impulse Cannons back into place and pulled her beam rifle.
"Let's see what you've got Buster"
Dearka cut his X103 Buster out of the way just as another twin green beam blasts wiped past.
"What the hell"
On his monitor a small box opened showing a zoomed view of the 3 new machines which then split off to intercept them. He sent word back to the Vesalius just as one of the three, his target, flew at him. The RGX-X077 Ares approached, beam rifle at the ready.
"So you wana play huh"
He readied his 94mm high-energy rifle, took aim and fired. To his amazement the red, OD green and gray machine cut sharply to the left and unleashed 3 shots from its 57mm beam rifle. He fired his boosters and attempted to get above it, but the new G-Weapon unfolded a 3 tube missile launcher from its right shoulder and unleashed all 3 large missiles at the Buster. Dearka pulled the Buster's 350mm gun launcher and fired at the incoming salvo detonating all 3. Only to be hit by a follow-up shot from the machine's beam rifle in the shoulder. Dearka chanced a quick glance over at the damage on his side monitor. The Phase Shift on the shoulder had taken the hit but had shorted out and returned the armor to its normal gray. Another hit like that would probably blow the arm off, which also meant his missiles were offline as both were linked.
"Damn this guy is serious, and I'm almost out of power"
Inside the Ares Sara smirked.
"Gotcha now"
She lowered the Impulse Cannons and fired again, Dearka dodged again, but barely.
"Damn who is this guy?"
Nicol found engaging the blue and red G-Weapon just as hard, if not more so, as going 1vs1 with the Strike. It consisted of only close and short range weapons but its pilot knew how to use them. He never let Nicol get to far away, keeping him inside the Hermes' weapons effective range but too close for the Gleipnir or beam rifle, and the Lancer Darts wouldn't be able to build enough speed to be effective. So Nicol realized he had 2 options, get back to his weapon's effective range or just go into melee combat.
With the aggressiveness and skill this machine's pilot was displaying, neither option seemed too healthy.
Yzak Joule, pilot of the X102 Duel, for his part was having as hard a time as his friends Nicol and Dearka. The 4 of them had managed to overpower the X105 Strike until another three units, including a Strike look alike, had arrived. It looked almost identical to the Strike. If it wasn't for the slight differences in the chest, different backpack, different rifle and shield, and the visible Machine Cannons he would think it was another one.
"Just how many Strikes did the naturals make?"
He kicked the Duel into a series of sharp curves and loops trying to get away from the new G-Weapon, which had made a bee line strait for him and sunk in like a pit bull. Like the others its pilot was aggressive but highly skilled. Regardless of what Yzak tried it kept on him it kept on him, unleashing its beam rifle every now and then when a good shot opened.
"Damn you"
He spun the Duel and returned fire with his rifle. The new machine simply raised its shield and blocked the beam. Inside the Nemesis Richard smirked.
"Nice try Duel"
Richard deployed his Machine Cannons and began to unload their ammo at the Duel. He knew they wouldn't do serious damage but they would eventually wear on the Phase Shift Armor and the pilot would half to worry about them none the less as they were the same as the anti-air units on ships, just cut down and with only 4 barrels. Yzak raised the Duel's shield to block, and got knocked back for his trouble as some of the rounds hit home anyway. Seeing the Duel disoriented Richard raised his rifle, grabbing hold of the forward grip to stabilize the shot, and took careful aim.
"Wish I could have captured you, but I doubt you would give me the same consideration"
Richard took aim and fired. No sooner had Duel righted itself than the green energy beam struck dead true into the faceplate, removing the Duels head from its neck. He knew Duel could still fight, which was shown by the fact it began to maneuver around, so Richard lowered the beam rifle and continued firing the machine cannons. The then repeated the rifle shot, this time into Duel's shoulder armor which blasted some free and sent it spinning.
"YZAK!"
Richard cut the Nemesis sharply away as an energy blast comparable to the Ares' Hyper Impulse Cannons streaked past, which managed to tag his beam rifle and melt it. He discarded the unit and drew a beam saber from the back pack rack. He turned to see the GAT-X303 Aegis in mobile armor mode charging toward him.
"Nicol, get Yzak out of here, I'll cover you"
Nicol responded.
"Sorry Athrun I've been engaged by the other one. And watch it; this unit is equipped with Mirage Colloid as well"
Athrun gritted his teeth, dodging machine cannon fire from Nemesis, and switched into Mobile Suit mode.
"Damn it, Dearka can you get Yzak out of here Nicol is tied up"
After a moment Dearka responded.
"Yeah give me a second to get away from this one"
"Thanks"
Athrun turned his attention back to the Nemesis.
"Now for you"
He charged forward firing his rifle. Richard simply dodged left and right as the Aegis came in, he has a suspension of what he was going to do, and had a surprise ready.
"Looks like we'll be capturing one of them today anyway"
Just as he reached the Nemesis Athrun ignited his beam sabers as a feign, and then transformed into Mobile Armor mode. Richard had seen the move coming, though the Aegis had almost grabbed hold of him anyway. He drew back his shield and Athrun watched surprised as a beam blade ignited on its tip. Richard thrusted Nemesis above the charging machine and slashed out, catching two of the "claws" and slicing them off. As Athrun was backing off Richard shut off the energy blade and pointed his shield at the Aegis. On the top of the Shield a grappler, similar to the Sword Strikes "Panzer Eisen" rocket anchor, popped up and launched out. Athrun was still too close to avoid it and it latched onto one of the Aegis' remaining "claws". Athrun turned and twisted as he tried to throw it off, but Richard had already gotten hold of him.
The Nemesis reattached the drawn shoulder saber to its lock and began to circle the Aegis, wrapping it in the attaching monofilament wire. As it reached the end of the wire Richard stopped and flipped a switch on his control console, sending an electrical current into the wire and then the Aegis, draining the batteries inside the shield, which were meant for this, to do so.
Athrun's friends could only listen in horror, hearing him scream as the current flowed into the machine, then go silent. Dearka and Nicol watched on in horror as the Aegis faded from brilliant red to dull gray, its Phase Shift Armor shorted. Nicol turned the Blitz from its fight with the Hermes.
"Athrun!"
Nicol was jarred around inside the cockpit as a short range beam shot from the Hermes slammed into the Blitz's back. Dearka's image appeared on his forward monitor.
"We can't do anything right now Nicol, our powers almost up"
"But…"
The next voice was Yzak's.
"No buts, were pulling back, we'll get the Natural bastards for this"
A message then appeared on all 3 of their consoles, Vesalius attacked, moderate damage return immediately. Nicol griped the controls tighter as he turned the Blitz around and followed the other two.
As the other three Zaft G-Weapons retreated Richard activated his communications system and contacted the Olympus.
"Laura we managed to grab one of the stolen Earth Forces Mobile Suits, get a welcoming party ready, I don't know what this guy may be capable of. And contact the Archangel and arrange a meeting"
Laura's image appeared on his forward monitor as Richard directed the Nemesis and the captured Aegis towards the cloaked ship.
"Roger that, good job, come on home"
Aboard the Earth Alliance ship Archangel the whole crew watched slightly stupefied as the 3 new Mobile Suits surrounded the now deactivated Aegis. The four machines sat just off of Archangels port-bow. With all eyes on the new Mobile Suits civilian volunteer Tolle Koenig, who sat at the helm, was the first to spot a change in the star pattern off of the ships bow.
"What's that in front of us?"
The rest of the bridge crew looked to the forward screen. Off of the Archangels bow there was a place within the star field background that didn't quite match up to the rest. Everyone watched, shocked as that disturbance seemed to melt away leaving behind the massive form of a ship almost 500 meters in length. For a moment no one moved, no one spoke, or even took a breath until Ensign Natarle Badgiruel broke the silence.
"Prepare to target weapons, order the Strike to rearm and…"
She was cut off by the ships acting captain Murrue Ramius.
"Belay that"
"Captain!"
Murrue turned and looked back to the ship in front of them.
"Tactical analysis ensign Badgiruel"
Natarle looked back down to the console in front of her and paled.
"3 Gottfried class guns, 2 Lohengrin class positron cannons, 4 missile batteries, primary and secondary retractable anti-air systems, and if what we just saw was any indication some kind of Mirage Colloid"
Murrue turned back to her acting XO in the Archangels CIC, sharing her pale expression.
"Confirm that"
Natarle looked back down to her instruments, then back to her superior officer.
"It's confirmed"
Murrue moved from her seat toward the view port stopping just behind the Helm and Navigation stations, her whispered reaction still herd by the whole bridge. Her expression still pale and viable nervous, no one ship had ever displayed this much firepower. A ship like that only had one real purpose, hunter-killer.
"She's a predator"
The Archangels acting communications officer, civilian volunteer Kuzzey Buskirk turned from his seat to face the captain.
"Captain, were receiving an unknown transmission, It's coming from that ship and it's directed to the EAS Archangel"
Murrue nodded and returned to her seat, regaining some of her composure, as the 3 unknown G-Weapons began to move the Aegis toward the new ship.
"Patch them through; maybe this will give us some answers"
On the forward monitor appeared the image of a young woman, about 24 with long brown hair and baby blue eyes. She held an unassuming average appearance and also sported a few freckles, as well as golden wire frame glasses. She was sitting in what appeared to be a very simplified ships bridge.
"Acting Captain Ramius I presume"
Murrue nodded.
"Yes it is, to whom are we speaking"
"Captain Laura Reeve, commander of the Independent Mobile Suit Carrier Olympus. I trust you enjoyed seeing our Mobile Suits in action"
The entire bridge was silent for a moment until Murrue spoke again.
"I must admit were grateful for the help, but, just where did your ship and Mobile Suits come from"
Laura smiled.
"We're willing to answer all of you questions captain, our XO has extended an invitation for you and your crew to come over to the Olympus. We'll give you a tour and give you the chance to look over our machines. Also the XO has asked to meet with the X105 pilot Kira Yamato"
Murrue thought for a moment.
"I'll discus it with my officers; we'll contact you on this frequency in 10 min"
"I look forward to it"
Laura's image vanished and Murrue turned to her acting XO and CIC officer Natarle Badgiruel.
"What do you think?"
The acting executive officer shook her head. At the same time the bridge door slid open allowing Lt Mu La Flaga, the Hawk of Endymion, entrance to the command deck.
"It's a trap; why else would they ask for the pilot of the Strike"
Mu shrugged.
"Maybe they just wana meet the kid. I doubt they want to attack us. If they did they would have helped ZAFT, not fought them off and captured the X303. If we can get any help out of this it's worth it"
Mu finally took a look at the ship that sat off the Archangels bow and gave a low whistle.
"Damn that's big"
Murrue thought about it for another moment.
"Alright, only I, the commander, and MrYamato will go over. Natarle you'll take over here until we return"
"And if you don't"
"Then get out of here and make a run for Artemis"
Natarle nodded and the captain sat back down and singled Kuzzey to contact the other ship. After only a few seconds Laura's image again appeared on the main screen.
"Hello again captain, made a decision"
"Yes, myself and our 2 pilots will be coming over shortly"
Laura nodded
"Thank you captain, we'll talk about everything once you've come over. We'll open the port hangar for your shuttle, see you in a bit"
Her image disappeared and Murrue sat back in her seat.
"Yes I suppose we will, Lt La Flaga if you'll get Mr. Yamato and meet me in the Launch bay"
Mu nodded and left to get Kira, this would certainly turn out to be interesting.
About half an hour later Richard as in the open hatched cockpit of the Nemesis as the shuttle from the Archangel, and the X105 Strike with its Launcher pack, made their way into the primary bay. Like the Archangel the Olympus used a type of airlock system on its linear catapults to allow the actual MS bay to remain pressurized.
Still in his Normal Suit he placed his helmet on and stepped form the cockpit. He joined Laura, Sara, Kale and Cagalli to greet the group from the Alliance ship, Cagalli now clad in a brown Normal Suit. As the 2 officers from Archangel stepped from the shuttle the Olympus crew recognized Murrue Ramius and Mu La Flaga from personnel files. Having the "Hawk of Endymion" on board would be a treat.
Then hearing a gasp from Sara he followed her gaze to the Strike's cockpit. There on the hatch wearing a blue-ish green Normal Suit stood Kira Yamato. Richard felt as if he were looking in a mirror. He couldn't stop his throat from tightening and the tears from coming, he had found his brother! There was no doubt among the Olympus crew assembled there, whose jaws were on the ground, that Richards brother had been found. Mu and Murrue gave each other strange looks as Kira floated down to them. Before anyone could speak Richard, having calmed, stepped forward and offered his hand to Kira.
"Good work out there"
Kira accepted the gesture.
"Um, thanks"
Before Mu or anyone else could react Richard's emotions got the better of him and he pulled the surprised teen into a tight hug. The two Earth Alliance officers just stared strangely at the Olympus pilot. Kira floated back a bit as he was released, wondering exactly why this pilot would just hug someone for no reason. Then Mu and Murrue's jaws hit the deck and Kira's eyes widened in shock as Richard removed his helmet, and Kira found himself face to face with himself. Like anyone in a situation such as this Kira did the one thing everyone does after a sever shock to the system.
He fainted.
Kale just shook his head as Mu and Richard moved to secure the unconscious floating teen.
"Oh yes, heart of a tiger that one"
A/N And before someone say's something about the skill level displayed in battle, yes Richard and Kale would be more than capable of out-flying Yzak and Nicol. though both are Red Coats the Heliopolis mission was their first combat sortie as where Richard was a team commander with combat experience and Kale was a Red Coat with just as much cockpit time as Richard. as fos Sara, well, look who her instructors were.