Phase 1: Those Who Call For War
Armory One, Lagrange Point 4
October 2, C.E. 73
Gwen Afon ran a hand through her shoulder length black and red hair, letting it drift out into the wind. The jeep weaved in and out of the parked mobile suits and supplies. Armory One was in a state of chaos, mechanics, commanders, and Defense Committee agents all vying for control, and organization had been the firs casualty of this battle.
Lunamaria had glanced back to talk to Gwen when their driver, Vino Dupre, spoke up suddenly, in a panic.
"Wha-hold on!" he jerked the wheel, weaving through the feet of a GINN that had moved out from the side of a hanger. Luna sighed in relief and relaxed, falling back into her seat. She glanced back at the GINN.
"What the hell?" she asked. "This is a mess."
"It can't be helped," replied Vino. "It's been a while since almost anyone's done anything like this. Everybody's a rookie here."
Gwen leaned in from the back. "Not everyone. We've got Israfil with us." She laughed lightly. Israfil S. Suvorov had enlisted towards the end of the last war and didn't have much more experience than anyone else, but there had been a lot of trumpeting about his being a veteran pilot, as if Jachin Due alone had made him an instant ace.
"Hey! He did shoot down an ace you know." Vino replied.
"Supposedly. It was never a confirmed kill, and he's admitted as much. You're just standing up for him because you love his unit." Luna replied, smiling. She and Gwen almost could have passed as sisters, with similar builds and body types, and even similar uniforms. The two had been best friends at the academy, and had been thrilled when they discovered they'd be stationed together on the Minerva.
Vino grumbled, and the two girls gave each other a quick high five and a smile.
-Ascension-
Space port
Neil Valder stepped through the security at the port without any troubles. He smirked slightly to himself. Oh if only the Patchworkers knew what he was going to do.
He was dressed casually, a pair of long, stylish jeans with tears, a white shirt with some band emblem on it, a black jacket made to look like a combat jacket, and a pair of black sunglasses. His long black hair was tossed and worn with a casual arrogance, and more than a few girls glanced at him as they walked or drifted by.
He waited for Sting, Stella and Auel, looking around the lounge. It was designed for cosmetics, made to look pretty and hold a lot of people, if they could be called that. His eyes stopped on a pair, one dressed as an Orb dignitary, briefly, and he dismissed her and her guard as a non threat.
Sting came up and patted his shoulder, nodded to him, and Neil returned it. "Time to go, huh?"
"Yep. Can't be late." They were speaking in generalities, something that could mean anything to anybody else. Sting led the way, followed by Auel, Stella, and Neil. They stepped outside the port, into the bright, artificial light. Neil squinted lightly. Feels just like the real thing. He smiled slightly. He had to give the Coordinators credit, they sure knew their tech.
Sting crossed the street, motioning for the others to follow. Neil followed at a loping gait, the smile on his face, like he was thinking of some secret thought, ignoring the rest of the world. He was relaxed and loose, but he could feel it, the old specter of excitement in his bones. Soon he'd hear the screams and the shots, see the explosions, feel the blood on his skin. Soon.
-Ascension-
Near the Central Elevator
Athrun Zala stood to the side as Cagalli stepped into the lifts that would take them to Durandel, lost in thought. He could still feel that icy sensation on his skin, had felt it the moment he saw that kid, the one in the port, something just completely and fundamentally wrong.
He shook his head and followed Cagalli into the lift as she brought up the topic of her visit, the Orb refugees. Athrun thought back to that kid in the port and shuddered again. Something completely and fundamentally wrong. An icy sensation on his skin.
-Ascension-
The Girty Lue
Ian Burnham looked out the window, into the void, space. The PLANTS loomed before him, dark and massive, majestic, a testament to humanity's technological power. He brought a dark cigarillo to his lips and breathed in deeply. No point in dwelling on it now. Work to do.
He exhaled, the smoke drifting around his head, the dark, earthy smell filling his nostrils. Burnham was dressed in a standard EA pilot suit, the helmet drifting near his head in the low gravity. His emblem, the dragon's head, was imprinted on the helmet in a dark maroon red.
"Dagger Pilots, to your machines! Lieutenant Burnham, prepare to launch!" Burnham nodded, extinguished the cigarillo. He grabbed the helmet and went towards the hanger. No point in dwelling on it. Work to do.
-Ascension-
Central Elevator
Athrun watched Cagalli's face as the full view of Armory One came into view. She stared in shock. It was gorgeous, and he didn't at all blame her for the look on her face. He had always loved the PLANTS.
It was such a shame he could never go back to them permanently.
The elevator came to a rest a short time later, and the two were led to an office. PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Durandel stood and greeted them both warmly.
"Princess, welcome." He said. "I apologize for having you come all the way here."
"I should be the one to apologize for making you take time out of your busy schedule to meet with me, Chairman Durandal," said Cagalli as the two shook hands.
"How are things in your country?" asked Durandal as the two of them moved towards the couches in the room. "I understand that ever since you've become their Chief Representative, many of the problems that Orb has been experiencing since the war have been resolved. As the head of a friendly nation, I am happy for you. And a little envious."
"I still have a lot to learn," admitted Cagalli, taking her seat.
"Now. What could this urgent matter be, that would require you to come here in secret?" asked Durandal, ending the small talk. "From what I've heard from our ambassadors, it's a complicated matter that you wish to discuss. Am I correct?"
"It doesn't seem to be a complicated matter to me, but we've yet to receive a clear response from your administration on this matter." Cagalli answered. "My nation has made repeated requests that you cease the use of Orb's technology and human resources for military purposes."
-Ascension-
The Girty Lue
Ian Burnham controlled his breathing, calmed himself.
"Ian Burnham. Dagger, Burnham custom, launching!"
The catapult shot him forward, the speed wipping his machine's heavy cloak back and stopped suddenly. Burnham kicked in the lower power thrusters on the legs, conserving energy. His rifle consumed too much energy for him to waste it on casual accelerations. And besides, he had times. He kept the trans-phase armor off, waiting.
"Daggers, activate mirage colloid and move into tposition." He ordered, his voice collected and low.
"Roger."
"Roger"
The two Daggers disappeared from sight, though Burnham could faintly make out the shapes. They moved towards Armory One quietly, patient. Burnham smiled. They were good, probably some of the best. He had trained them himself.
Burnham took his Dagger to a spot where he could see the entrance of the docks well, the handful of ZAFT ships resting, unaware. Burnham activated the Targeting System, the 'scope eye' sliding down over the main eye unit. In the cockpit, the screens blackened except for in front of him, where it became circular and zoomed in, like some giant sniper scope. He settled into the seat, getting comfortable, and waited.
-Ascension-
Armory One
Their talks didn't seem to be going anyway, so Durandal had decided to continue them as they toured the Armory One Base. As Cagalli and Durandal talked, Athrun couldn't help but notice the large number of new mobile suits, including brand new ZAKUs. He couldn't help but wonder how close ZAFT was to violating the Treaty of Junius Seven.
"You, Princess, are a courageous woman. You fought in a mobile suit during the last war," complimented Durandal. "And you are also the successor to the Lion of Orb, Lord Uzumi, the man who held onto his country's ideal until the very end, without giving in to pressure. What do you believe we should do with the condition the world is in now? I'm sure you already know the answer."
"We will protect our nation and our ideals. It's as simple as that," replied Cagalli.
"'We will not attack another nation, we will not allow another nation to attack us, and will not intervene in the conflicts of other nations'," quoted Durandal. "Correct?"
Cagalli nodded her head. "Yes."
"Naturally, we feel the same way," said Durandal. "If possible, that would be the best way. But it is not possible without power. Even you, Princess… no, you of all people should understand that best. Isn't that why Orb maintains full military facilities?"
"Please do me a favor and stop calling me Princess," said Cagalli.
"Representative Athha. Please forgive me," he said with a slight bow. "However, I must wonder, what are you afraid of? Is it because of the pressure from the Atlantic Federation? They believe that Orb is providing military aid to us regardless of the treaty."
Cagalli clenched her fist. The relations between Orb and the Atlantic Federation had reached a delicate stage. She had hoped that she could convince Durandal to stop using Orb technology for military purposes, which would get the Atlantic Federation off their back. However, it seemed that Rondo Mina Sahaku's assessment was dead on: Durandal wouldn't stop.
"But there is no truth to that," continued Durandal. "Although we did welcome refugees from the Battle of Orb, it's only natural that those people would wish to make a living here with the skills they have.
"But excessive power will only bring about more conflicts!" argued Cagalli.
"No Princess," said Durandal. "Power is necessary because there will always be conflict."
Cagalli opened her mouth to say something when suddenly the base's alarms went off.
-Ascension-
The spy had led them into the base, though Neil Valder hadn't paid attention to the details of the trip. He was right under the Patchworkers' noses, right in the middle of one of the strongest bases he had seen. He smiled. It was simply perfect.
The spy stopped them and opened a bag. It was filled with weapons.
"Here, take your pick."
Neil reached in and pulled out a pair of fully automatic pistols, with extended magazines and red dot sights. He set them on the ground, disassembled them, and checked every part. They were perfect. He reassembled them, and then grabbed a corresponding set of magazines et into a webbing, designed to be worn like a shoulder holster.
Sting and Auel had both grabbed submachines guns, and Stella took a knife and a ZAFT pistol with an extended clip. The four of them nodded to each other when they were ready. The spy nodded.
"Good luck." He said, and left, getting as far from the hangers as he could.
Neil grinned. "Ready Sting?"
"Ready. Let's go."
The four of them burst into the hanger like a whirlwind, unbelievably fast, in the midst of the mechanics and handful of pilots before they knew what was happening.
Neil spun, his pistols unleashing a buzz saw sound as they cut down the engineers nearest to him. Kept going, letting loose little bursts, each shot hitting a target. Someone returned fire and he ran in that direction, still firing, suddenly slid to his knees and unloaded a burst into the soldier's face, the rounds tearing through bone and tissue.
The others were going at a similar pace, feats of marksmanship and acrobatics the stunned Coordinators couldn't believe possible before they were cut down.
Neil ejected his empty clips and reloaded them, providing covering fire for the other Extended to get into their machines. A small group of soldiers entered the hanger opposite of him, but were unprepared, armed only with pistols, and Valder had no problem dropping them all. He couldn't lie, he was enjoying this, so much, so much!
He dropped the pistols when they clicked on empty and climbed aboard the fourth machine, one with a jagged, threatening silhouette. He started it up. The screen in front of him flashed to life.
MOBILE SUIT NEO OPERATION SYSTEM
Generation
Unrestricted
Network
Drive
Assault
Module
G.U.N.D.A.M
_Ver.2.5.3 Rev.07_
Z.A.F.T
Neil deactivated the self destruct, and worked the controls, his machine standing, the others rising at the same time. He glanced around the cockpit and saw its codename. He grinned and laughed.
"The 'Eulogy'. Fitting! hahahaha!"
Around the base, in complete shock, engineers and soldiers alike watched as the Gaia, the Chaos, the Abyss, and the Eulogy rose, and opened fire on the base.
The Eulogy grabbed its beam machine pistols, and sighted its targets, a group of GuAIZs that hadn't even been activated yet. The beams tore into the machines, tearing them apart, and Neil began to laugh again. "This power! The Coordinators sure outdid themselves!"
"Destroy as many of the machines as you can!" Sting ordered. "Stella, you take the left!"
"Understood!" The Gaia transformed and bounded off, the ground shaking under its foot steps.
-Ascension-
Armory One
"It's the new models! Someone's stolen them!" shouted a soldier.
"They what?!" exclaimed Durandal, stunned.
"Scramble all mobile suits! We need to recapture them!"
"New models?" questioned Cagalli as she and everyone else climbed back to their feet.
At that moment, she got her answer. The Abyss appeared, firing its cannons at a hanger, destroying the mobile suits inside.
"That's a…" stammered Athrun.
"A Gundam!" finished Cagalli, shocked.
The four machines, one green, one blue, and two black, tore into the few forces that had been scrambled. The GINNs were useless, ceremonial machines and little more. The GuAIZ R units were an inferior remake of an older machine, designed for rookies and ill prepared for combat. In essence, it was a shorthand of a total disaster, nothing nearby to stop the four stolen machines.
-Ascension-
Outside Armory One
The two Daggers suddenly materialized in the mouth of the port, right in front of the ZAFT Nazca class ships. They opened fire with heavy bazookas, the explosions tearing into the ship's armor. It exploded, blocking the exit, effectively ending any ZAFT chance of cutting off the future escape route.
With their ships.
A quartet of GuAIZ R units flew out from between the reckage a minute later, looking for the now hidden Daggers. Even moving at tops speed, they were easy targets for Ian Burnham.
"Enemy units in sight, four GuAIZs. Targeted and firing!" he said, still quiet, but his voice filled with excitement. His Dagger opened fire, firing the four shots in rapid succession.
The high power beams tore into the GuAIZ units, tearing them apart, each shot sent expertly through the cockpit. The machines disappeared inside fireballs, consumed. Burnham looked for more targets, smiling slightly. He hadn't lost the touch, not at all.
-Ascension-
"Quickly, get the Princess to a shelter!" Durandel commanded.
A soldier nodded, saluted. "Please, right this way." He said to Cagalli and Athrun.
The three went running, trying to get away from the center of the combat zone as quickly as possible. An explosion suddenly ripped through the hanger nearest to them, and their guide fell. Athrun ran up and checked him. A large chunk of metal had torn into his chest, still protruded grotesquely, and Athrun had to try not to be sick. He rolled the body back over.
"Cagalli, come on!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her, moving towards the destroyed hanger.
Suddenly the black Gundam, the one that could transform landed in front of them, firing on a pair of DINNs. The two machines went down, hard, one trailing flames and smoke behind it. Athrun moved, covering Cagalli with his own body.
"Damn it!" Shouted Athrun.
"But Why?" Cagalli demanded, to herself than Athrun, "Why is this happening?"
The Gaia transformed back into its Mobile Suit form, firing on other ZAFT machines in the area. We aren't going to make it if we stay out here like this Athrun realized. He looked around, trying to find something, anything, and then he saw it, a ZAKU Warrior unit that had been tossed from a warehouse by one of the downed DINNs. It was their only chance. He grabbed Cagalli's arm.
"Come on!"
-Ascension-
"Standby to launch Impulse," echoed the voice of Meyrin Hawke, the mobile suit controller and communications officer for the Minerva. "Pilot to Core Splendor. Sword Module selected. Opening Silhouette Hangar 2. Silhouette Flyer, standby for launch." As she spoke, a container opened, and a backpack module attached to a small aircraft was loaded into the Minerva's specially designed central catapult. "Platform setup complete. Central catapult online, opening airtight shutters. Emergency crew, standby at launch stations. Raise central catapult to launch position. Core Splendor, all systems online, initiate launch sequence. Hatch opened, linear launch system engaged. Catapult power level normal. Course clear, Core Splendor, go ahead, launch."
Following the clearance, the pilot of the Core Splendor pushed the controls forward, and the small fighter flew free of the Minerva's central catapult.
"Catapult engaged," continued Meyrin. "Please deploy Silhouette Flyer." Following the Core Splendor's launch was the Silhouette Flyer and its accompanying backpack module. "Now, deploy chest flyer." Another object was loaded into the catapult and launched, this one looking like a mobile suit's torso, everything from the waist up. "Deploy leg flyer." A final object was loaded into the catapult and launched, this time the legs of a mobile suit.
Israfil S. Suvorov sat in the cockpit of the Resonance, the dark hanger becoming illuminated as the port hanger door opened. "Resonance, please launch!" Meyrin ordered, and Israfil didn't waste a second. "Israfil S. Suvorov, Gundam Resonance, launching!"
The catapult shot forward, pushing him back into his seat. He gritted his teeth. Whoever they were, they were going to pay.
-Ascension-
Armory One
Athrun brought the ZAKU to its feet, the mono-eye flaring. He shifted the controls and drew a beam tomahawk, the blade coming to life. He glanced at Cagalli.
"Hold on. This is going to get rough."
Stella spotted the moving ZAKU almost immediately, and she frowned.
"What now?" she questioned, raising Gaia's rifle and firing. But the ZAKU nimbly dodged her shot. "What?"
Maneuvered with the skills of a clear veteran, the ZAKU moved forward and tackled Gaia with its shield. Stella stumbled back, losing her rifle in the process.
"Bastard," she said, drawing one of the Gaia's beam sabers and charging the ZAKU as Athrun drew the ZAKU's beam tomahawk.
The two clashed, hitting each other's shield. The ZAKU stumbled back slightly, and Stella lunged, swinging her saber. The ZAKU dodged back however, and dodged back again, evading the Gaia's second attack.
"Stella!" exclaimed Sting, landing the Chaos behind the ZAKU.
"Another one?" questioned Athrun. The Chaos charged forward, drawing its beam saber. Athrun tried to raise his shield in time, but the ZAKU just wasn't fast enough, and the Chaos sliced through the machine's left forearm.
Suddenly, several missiles hit the Chaos's back, preventing him from pursuing as he turned to see what hit him. A small fighter flew past him, catching him off-guard. But overhead were the upper body and legs of a mobile suit, following after the fighter. The fighter suddenly folded up, and the legs flew towards it, the fighter slowing down slightly and docking with them, the legs spreading apart as it did so. The leg-fighter combination then flew forward, and docked with the upper body ahead of it, forming a complete mobile suit. Sting and Stella were too caught off-guard by the unconventional machine to stop it, and Treize and Auel were busy elsewhere.
Then, a backpack detached from a small plane and flew towards the newly combined mobile suit, attaching to its back. The backpack was visually comprised of a fairly small backpack proper, two wings, and a pair of anti-ship swords. The mobile suit's Phase Shift armor activated, turning it white and red as it drew the swords and landed before them.
It combined the swords into a double anti-ship sword and spun it about, wielding it in both hands as beam blades flashed to life.
Everyone stared in surprise at the new mobile suit.
"Why is this happening?" asked Shinn Asuka. "Are trying to start another one? Another war?!"
The Sword Impulse Gundam lunged forward, readying to cut through the Gaia with its combined Excalibur swords.
"No princess. Strength is a necessity. There will always be conflict."
Read and Respond, please! Added in a few more characters, and introduced Neil and Burnham properly. Looking forward to seeing Israfil in some real action.