Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam SEED or any of its characters. Ensign Roger Doolittle, Astray pilots Sara Nakamura, Kenji Tiran and Maria Velasquez, Commander Alexander Stanton and his team, Jason Pryce and the A-ZGMF-X22 Herald are my creations.
Chapter 8: Darkness
Lagrange Point 5, ZAFT Military Station
Yzak Joule had mixed feelings about his job as a commander. At times, it brought him a great sense of pride to lead his own team.
At the moment, however, pride was not exactly what he was feeling. The silver-haired youth sighed as he pressed a button on the wall-mounted console and the door to the communications room slid open.
"What do we have?" he asked as he walked into the room. The nearest technician, a young man in a standard green uniform, put a hand over the receiver in his headset and answered.
"Commander Joule, we're getting a transmission from a ship claiming to be the Archangel." Yzak frowned.
"What?" He paused for a moment before continuing. "Does it check out?"
"Yes, Sir," the technician responded. "The identification codes match the Orb warship." After a moment of puzzled silence, Yzak answered.
"Accept the communication," he said, his brow furrowing.
I never thought I'd get a call from that ship. The door behind Yzak opened with a soft hiss. Turning around, the silver-haired man caught sight of two of his teammates, Dearka Elsman and Shiho Hahnenfuss. The former had decided, unlike Yzak, to alter his hairstyle significantly since his reenlistment, allowing his blonde hair to grow out quite a bit and combing it back, so that it now fell behind him to just above the base of his neck.
Shiho was a different matter entirely. Her dark brown hair was cut in a style nearly identical to Yzak's, at least in the front; in back, it fell down to her waist. Both were dressed in the red uniforms denoting elite ZAFT pilots.
For reasons Yzak would never understand, Shiho dressed in the male version of the red uniform, eschewing the skirt in favor of the long coat and pants Dearka wore.
"So," the blonde asked, "what's going on?" Yzak looked back at the technician as he answered, as though seeking confirmation.
"We've been contacted by the legged ship," he said. The technician, who had been conversing for a few moments now, looked up.
"The message comes from Athrun Zala," he said, causing Yzak's eyes to widen considerably.
Zala?! Fantastic.
"What did he say?" the commander asked.
"He stated that the Archangel is coming here," the technician responded. Yzak was nearly at a loss for words…nearly.
"Why the hell is that guy contacting us now?" he asked, no small amount of frustration evident in his voice. Out of the corner of his eye, Yzak caught Dearka displaying a wry grin.
"Obviously, he's telling you that he's on his way," the blonde quipped.
"Point," Shiho added.
"Hahnenfuss, do not encourage him," Yzak returned. Sometimes it was like he was the only sane member of his team…
"Zala added that the ship was being pursued and that the hostiles might follow them here," the technician added. In a strange way, that actually made Yzak feel a little more excited about seeing his former teammate again. Looking back to Dearka, he realized that the redcoat's grin matched his own.
"Uh, Commander?" Shiho asked, perhaps a little disturbed by the looks on their faces. Yzak chuckled softly and turned back to the technician.
"Tell Zala that we'll roll out the welcome mat for him," he said, and then addressed Dearka and Shiho. He already knew how Dearka would respond, and he surmised that Hahnenfuss would follow along, but he asked the question nonetheless. "How do you two feel about spending some time in your mobile suits?"
Archangel, Mess Hall
"You know, it's really too bad they don't have champagne onboard," Roger said, "because that was awesome."
"Aren't you underage?" Sara asked.
"People keep fussing over that detail," Roger remarked, shaking his head. "Anyway, I'm just saying that was the only fight I've been in since joining you guys that was actually fun." At the other end of the table, Kira laughed.
"You just got a Gundam," he said, grinning. "I think you're on a power trip." This caused Flay to laugh. Roger was somewhat more puzzled.
"What's a Gundam?" the Alliance pilot asked, reminding Kira that the word wasn't widely used.
"When the OS comes online, it reads G-U-N-D—," Kira started, causing Roger to nod in understanding.
"I see," he said. "It's an anagram."
"Acronym," Sara corrected. Roger shrugged.
"Whatever." The conversation paused for a moment as Athrun entered the room and took a seat at the table.
"I managed to contact ZAFT," he said. "They granted us permission to dock." Kira nodded, but there was another concern.
"What about the Advent Faction ship that was following us?" the brunette asked. Athrun smiled.
"There'll be a mobile suit team waiting at the PLANTs," he said. "I didn't ask for one, but Yzak won't pass up a chance to get into the cockpit." Kira grinned at that. From what Athrun had told him about the Duel pilot, that was probably true.
"You know," Kenji said, "I'm surprised ZAFT is willing to help you out so much. I mean, it's not every day they bend over backwards to accommodate someone who defected to Orb; it's kind of weird." Kira shook his head.
"Chairwoman Canaver understands the situation we found ourselves in," the violet-eyed Coordinator said. "ZAFT made certain allowances for actions taken during the war, so Athrun isn't looked at as a traitor."
"Besides," Roger put in, "acting accusatory is the last thing anyone wants to do right now. Everyone's trying their best not to provoke another war, so it's really not that weird." Kira knew the yellow-eyed pilot had a point. His very presence was proof that the Earth Alliance was attempting to mollify ZAFT and Orb. Conversation paused once more as a small mechanical whirring announced the arrival of Lacus and her Haro. The songstress approached the table and smiled.
"Hello, Kira," she said. "It's good to see you."
"Hey, Lacus," he replied.
"Haro! Haro, Lacus!" The pink automaton bounced up onto the table. Roger's eyebrow rose.
"Speaking of weird stuff," he said, addressing Lacus, "who makes those things?"
"Actually," Athrun responded, "I built that."
There was a moment of stunned silence. Roger stared at Athrun as though he had grown a second head.
"What were you smoking?" he asked. Kira laughed, and Athrun smiled and shrugged.
"Lacus liked it," he said. The pink-haired girl nodded in confirmation.
"I liked it so much that Athrun made me more," she said. "I have about a dozen now." Roger slapped a hand over his face.
"You built more of them?" The Alliance pilot shook his head in disbelief. Kira laughed. He'd never seen anything wrong with Lacus' pet robots, so it was quite amusing to see Roger's reaction to them.
"So, Kira, are you feeling better?" Lacus asked, redirecting the conversation. He nodded.
"I'm feeling kind of tired, but maybe that's normal after being kidnapped," he said, smiling a little at his own understatement.
"I'd imagine that it is," Lacus said, smiling in return. "It's good to know you're safe."
"So," Kira asked, "how have things been with you?"
"Well, I've been very busy," she said, "but it's worth it. There's a lot of remaining tension between the Alliance and the PLANTs, and we've been working to help things along, usually by moderating discussions between the two groups."
"It's good to know there's progress being made," Kira said. Whatever he was about to say next left his mind when he heard the chair next to him moving. It had been months since he'd had a chance to spend time with Lacus, and Kira had been enjoying this conversation so much that he had almost forgotten that Flay was there. Turning, Kira saw that she was getting up to leave. "You don't have to leave, Flay," he said.
"No, it's alright," she replied, but her voice and facial expression betrayed that she was anything but alright; a sort of shy sadness was evident in both. Kira reached out and took her hand.
"Hey," he said. "What's the matter?" Flay simply shook her head.
"I just...I just have to go back to our room for now, okay?" At a loss for anything to say, Kira just nodded, letting go of her hand and allowing Flay to leave.
"I'm not sure why she's so upset…" Kira trailed off as he saw that Lacus didn't look too comfortable either.
"I think I should go as well," the pink-haired Coordinator said. Kira didn't even manage a question before she stood and departed. Confused, Kira looked over at Athrun.
"Did I say something wrong?" he asked.
"If you did, I didn't hear it," he replied. Both boys looked at Roger, who simply shrugged.
"Women," the Alliance soldier said. In the seat opposite from him, Sara rolled her eyes.
September 26, CE 72, Tesla, Bridge
"I've received word from the deck crew that your machines have been repaired and re-supplied," Stanton said, scanning his assembled team. "We're coming up on the legged ship, so we're going to try one last attack.
"We're getting pretty close to the PLANTs, aren't we?" Lia asked. Commander Stanton nodded.
"Sensors have picked up several ZAFT ships out ahead of the usual traffic," he said. "Once we engage the legged ship, we'll have fifteen minutes until we enter their firing range."
"I can't believe this," Rodriguez said, shaking his head. "We're going to have to break off our attack because ZAFT will be protecting the Naturals." The GuAIZ pilot made no effort to hide the bitterness in his voice. Stanton understood.
While there had been a very large percentage of ZAFT that recognized Naturals as a threat, most of them had not held on to this view. As the fighting had drawn to a close at Jachin Due, most had chosen to remain with ZAFT, even if it meant taking the path of Clyne and Canaver. Worse still, many ZAFT soldiers had actually started to believe in coexisting with the Naturals. That was a dangerous idea, and it made the Advent Faction's mission all the more important.
"All of you stand by in your machines," Stanton ordered. As the pilots left the bridge, he called out to the new addition. "Pryce, I would like a word." The blonde held out a hand, grabbing the doorframe and bringing himself to a halt.
"Commander?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"During our past sorties against the legged ship, I've discovered that Athrun Zala has stayed on as one of their mobile suit pilots," the commander stated. "Unless Yamato himself gets into a suit, Zala is our most dangerous opponent out there. I had hoped to be able to personally pay him back for his betrayal, but I'm not too proud to admit that I can't do that." He paused for a moment, looking at Pryce. "I was hoping you could take care of him." The blonde pilot looked pensive for a moment, before an icy smile, eerily akin to Dr. Sanford's, took shape on his face.
"I'll see what I can do," he said.
Archangel, Crew Quarters
Kira caught up to Flay in the hallway outside of their room. She'd been finding excuses not to talk to him for the past few days, at least not about whatever was bothering her, but this time she had no convenient excuse, so maybe they could finally make some progress.
"Flay," he said as he came to a stop, "what's making you upset?"
"Kira," she replied softly, never turning to face him, "I…I can't—."
"Please, Flay," Kira pleaded. "You know you can tell me anything."
"Not this," she said, and her voice suggested that she was on the verge of tears. "This is different." Kira was about to ask her what that meant when the combat alarm went off.
"All hands, Level One battle stations!" Flay departed, heading toward the bridge, and Kira followed. Partly, he wanted to know what she thought she couldn't tell him, but there was also the fact that he didn't have anything to do on the ship at this point, and sitting around while combat took place was killing him. There had to be something he could do.
Open Space
"How far are we from the PLANTs?" Athrun asked as he left the catapult. The Strike Rouge followed him out.
"Not far," Cagalli responded. "We just have to hold out until then."
"Why settle for holding out?" Roger inquired as the Sword Calamity launched. "We have them outnumbered seven to five; I could go ahead and slice that ship to pieces." Before anyone else could answer, Athrun activated his com link.
"Don't get overconfident," he said. "I killed a G-weapon pilot back at Jachin Due. Just being in one of those doesn't make you invincible."
"Ensign Doolittle and I may be the only ones in Gundams," Cagalli said, "but the same advice goes for all of you. Don't try for anything other than keeping our ship safe."
"Copy that," Roger and Kenji replied.
"Comprendo," Maria answered.
"Understood, Cagalli-sama," Sara responded.
"Will you stop calling me that?" Cagalli shot back.
"Sorry," Sara replied, her tone of voice telling Athrun that she was enjoying the situation. "I couldn't help myself."
After launching its mobile suits, the Archangel had turned around and was heading for the PLANTs at the best speed it could manage. This meant that the Gottfrieds couldn't be used, but the ship was hardly defenseless. The Valiants swung around, pointing back at the enemy now, and twin hypervelocity projectiles flashed from the linear cannons. The Laurasia-class responded with a salvo from its beam cannons and railguns, and the five GuAIZs rushed at the Orb machines once more. Athrun braced himself for another attack from the command machine, but it never came. Instead, the tattooed GuAIZ went straight for the Rouge.
"Cagalli," Athrun started.
"I see him," she replied over the radio. The Rouge opened fire with its beam rifle; the command GuAIZ took the blast on its shield and returned fire with its own weapon. Turning one's back on an opponent was a rather serious mistake, and Athrun aimed his Astray's beam rifle, intending to show the enemy commander just how bad a mistake he had made.
Lia fired her rifle, sending an electron beam at the Alliance machine. It sprang to the left, avoiding the shot. For her next attack, she fired to the right of it and then to the left, attempting to get the G-weapon to walk into a shot. The enemy mobile suit dodged one beam and blocked the other, firing one of its Panzer Eisens at her. Lia dodged and fired both extensional arrestors, their beam blades inactive. The metal claws grabbed her opponent's two anti-ship swords, and Lia reeled in the cables, pulling the G-weapon toward her and keeping it from moving its swords. She was forced to change tactics, however, when a roiling crimson-white ion beam burst from an opening in the enemy suit's chest. Lia released the grip she had on her opponent's weapons and jetted upwards, narrowly avoiding the attack.
"In case you're wondering," the Alliance pilot's voice came over her com link, "the answer is yes, I really am this awesome."
"Damn Natural!" she hissed, extending her machine's beam claws and rushing forward.
Cagalli fired the Aile Striker's thrusters and dove to the side, evading a shot from the command GuAIZ's beam rifle.
"What exactly makes you think you can just focus on me?" she asked, returning fire. On the left side of her CIS, she could see Athrun's Astray closing in, beam rifle at the ready.
"If you're worried about Zala being left all alone," the enemy replied, "then you need not fear." As if to punctuate his statement, the Rouge's sensors alerted Cagalli to a sixth mobile suit launching from the enemy ship.
"Archangel, can you identify the new suit?" she asked. Terrence Byron's voice emerged from her radio a few seconds later.
"Negative, Commodore Athha; its thermal profile doesn't match anything in the library." Cagalli refocused on the command GuAIZ, but the blip on her sensors had her more worried.
What are you?
Athrun turned away from the Rouge and its opponent to face the new arrival. No sooner had he done so than his cockpit alarm went off, and he barely brought his shield up in time to block a shot from the new suit's beam rifle.
Just over eighteen meters tall, the machine was very different from a GuAIZ, bearing a more human-like head with a two-eyed visual system and a distinct V-fin. The body and limbs were slenderer than those of a GuAIZ, more like what one would find on an Astray, and the whole thing was colored in black and grey. The mobile suit's most distinct feature, however, was the small backpack it bore. The pack itself was nothing more than a thruster array, but extending from it were two wings, fifteen meters long and ending in arrow-shaped tips. As the machine drew closer, the wings swung up and arrayed themselves over the mobile suit's shoulders, firing small thrusters on their rear edges for finer maneuverability. The enemy suit held a beam rifle in one hand, while the other held a shield, the lower half of which bore a sharp-looking edge and came to a wicked point.
"Athrun Zala, I presume," the enemy asked through the com link.
"The same," Athrun replied, "and you are?"
"Jason Pryce," the pilot of the new suit answered. "I must say, it's something of an honor to meet the legendary Red Knight of ZAFT, although I hardly expected to find you piloting something like that."
"I'm not going to waste time talking to you," Athrun said, drawing the M1's beam saber. A chuckle emerged from the radio.
"Well said, Zala." The enemy machine reached behind its shoulder and drew its own beam saber. Almost before Athrun realized what was happening, the new machine's thrusters fired and it surged forward, closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye and lashing out with its beam saber. Athrun parried the blow, but just barely. He responded with a burst from the Astray's CIWS, but the rounds just bounced off the back and grey machine.
"Phase Shift armor," Athrun said.
"You figured that out fast," Pryce answered. "Apparently, working with the apes hasn't dulled your intelligence any." Athrun lashed out with his own saber, but the enemy machine, apparently a G-weapon, darted out of the way.
Roger backed up, narrowly avoiding another strike from the GuAIZ's beam claws. Jokes about their respective skill levels aside, he knew that the only thing that had kept him from being damaged thus far was the fact that he had the superior machine. Roger might be a better pilot than his opponent, but it was by the narrowest of margins.
As the Advent Faction pilot closed in again, an electron beam streaked toward her, forcing her to break off her attack to block it.
"Don't think you can have all the fun," Sara's voice emerged from Roger's com link. The Earth Forces pilot smiled.
"I wouldn't dream of it," he replied. While Sara engaged the GuAIZ, Roger shifted his attention to the new machine Athrun was fighting. He tapped on the controls, snapping the Sword Calamity's two anti-ship swords together. The weapons aligned alongside one another and their electron blades flowed together. The result was a weapon that was the same length as a standard Schwert Gewehr, but with double the mass and a much thicker beam blade. It would be slower than an individual sword, but a lot harder to parry.
The black and grey mobile suit dodged one slash from Athrun's beam saber and blocked another with its shield. It returned fire with its CIWS, forcing Athrun to fall back, holding up his shield to stop the armor-piercing rounds. Roger chose that moment to make his move, rushing the enemy and swinging his combined weapon.
"Block this!" he shouted. The sword swung with incredible kinetic force, meeting no resistance…
The weapon cut through the vacuum where the enemy mobile suit had been a split second ago. Roger had barely registered that fact before his cockpit alarm went off. The enemy was directly above him.
SHIT this guy's fast!
The dark machine didn't attack with its saber. Instead, it swung its shield forward, using the pointed end to slash at Roger. The Alliance soldier grinned.
Bastard doesn't know about my Trans-Phase arm—
His grin disappeared as the shield edge sliced cleanly through the Sword Calamity's head, taking out one of the optical cameras.
"Holy shit!" Roger backed off as Athrun attacked the enemy machine again. The shield's edge looked different from the rest of it, reflective and silvered as opposed to the predominantly black shield body, and Roger figured that the edge must be made of an extremely dense material, one that could pierce Phase Shift. It was hardly a new idea; the Alliance had employed the technology on the GAT-X370 Raider's spherical breaker and the GAT-X252 Forbidden's scythe. Roger just hadn't been expecting it to be used here.
"Out of the way, kid!" someone yelled over the radio.
"Hey," Roger started, moving his mobile suit to the left somewhat, "who are you calling ki—whoa!"
A high-velocity electron beam lanced through space about three feet from the Sword Calamity and crashed against the enemy machine's shield. Waltfeld's M1A darted into the fray, moving to help Athrun flank the enemy. Roger figured he'd let the veterans work this out. Snapping his swords apart, he headed off to rejoin Sara in fighting the GuAIZ.
Archangel, Bridge
Kira had his hands fisted tightly at his sides. There had been nothing for him to do on the bridge, and he was feeling by turns helpless and angry. They were very close to the PLANTs, but the battle was going poorly. The Sword Calamity and Ensign Velasquez's Astray had both been damaged, albeit lightly, and Athrun and Waltfeld, despite working together, were hard-pressed by the Advent Faction's new machine. Cagalli couldn't help, as she was occupied with fending off the command GuAIZ.
It's one of those pilots, Kira thought. Out of the two he had met back on Azathoth, only one of them, Pryce if he remembered correctly, was going to be ready to fly soon. If he was correct, that meant that the machine out there was the "Herald" he had spoken of.
And if that's true, the brunette thought, that machine is probably a Gundam.
The bridge shook from another explosion, and Kira gripped a nearby control panel for support. The Laurasia-class was firing at them, which meant that Captain Ramius couldn't offer much support to their mobile suits, no matter how much trouble they were in.
"Call Captain Waltfeld back," Kira said. Byron, the parasite operator, gave him an uncertain look, and then shifted his gaze to the captain. Murrue nodded.
"Captain Waltfeld, we request that you return to the ship immediately."
Open Space
Sara pulled back, attempting to keep her shield between her Astray and the GuAIZ's CIWS fire. She returned fire with her beam rifle, the shots splashing against the mobile suit's shield. Sara expected the enemy pilot to shoot back. Instead, the Advent Faction soldier launched the extensional arrestors, beam blades active. Sara didn't have time to react, but the sword Calamity interposed itself in between the weapons and the Orb suit, swatting the arrestors aside with its swords.
"That's not very nice," she heard Roger say over the radio.
"Well, I was never exactly Miss Congeniality," the enemy pilot responded. Sara grinned. Tuning out Roger and the enemy's dialogue, she turned her Astray to get a better look at Athrun.
Captain Waltfeld had been recalled to the ship, leaving Athrun alone to face the Advent Faction G-weapon, and it wasn't going well. Athrun couldn't go on the attack, and his attempts to defend himself were meeting with limited success. As Sara watched, the G-weapon rushed Athrun. He fired the Astray's thrusters and darted above it, but the grey and black machine twisted around to track him, firing a burst from its CIWS. Armor-piercing incendiary rounds ripped through the Orb suit's right leg and the thrusters on the limb went dead.
"Roger, Athrun-san's in trouble," Sara said quickly. "Can you keep your girlfriend under control?" The Sword Calamity crossed blades with the GuAIZ again, and Roger laughed.
"No problem," he replied. Without further ado, Sara fired her M1's thrusters, closing in on the fight between Athrun and the new enemy and locking onto it with her beam rifle.
The enemy machine reacted incredibly fast, darting to the side just as she fired, and the green beam streaked off into the vacuum harmlessly. Athrun added his own firepower, but the G-weapon evaded or blocked the shots with frightening ease. Athrun moved to flank the enemy, but that didn't work either. The black and grey suit shot up and away from the two Astrays, opening up with its rifle, and Athrun was showered with lethal green beams. The M1's shield stopped two of the shots and Athrun dodged another, but the fourth beam speared the Astray's damaged leg, blowing apart everything below the knee. Sara could hear Athrun swearing over the radio.
This isn't working, she thought. The damn thing's too fast for ranged attacks.
"Athrun-san," Sara said, "I'm not going to get anywhere using my rifle. I'm going up close." Athrun was the better melee combatant and Sara knew it, but she also knew that his machine had taken damage and was less maneuverable than hers. Against this infernal machine, they needed all the agility they could get. Athrun must have realized this too, because his reply was short and to the point.
"I'll cover you as best I can," he said. Sara drew her beam saber and rushed the enemy machine as Athrun sent several rifle blasts at it. The G-weapon evaded the particle beams, moving down and to the left, which put it right in front of Sara's Astray. Not missing a beat, the Advent Faction pilot stowed his rifle and drew a saber from behind the mobile suit's shoulder. As Sara crossed blades with the machine, the enemy pilot's voice emerged from her speakers.
"Are you sure this is wise?" he asked. The G-weapon moved to evade more beam fire from Athrun, and Sara moved with it, staying in melee range. She made a few more strikes with her weapon, but all were blocked or dodged. "Attacking a superior machine one on one is generally fruitless at best." Sara pulled back momentarily.
"It's not all about the machine," she said, eliciting a chuckle from the enemy pilot.
"Such suicidal drive to prove your worth," he said. "You must be a Natural."
Just give me an opening, you arrogant prick.
After a few more seconds of circling each other, Sara saw her opening. The enemy pilot stowed his beam saber and reached back to draw the rifle. Seizing upon the opportunity, Sara fired her M1's thrusters and rushed forward at full speed, swinging the beam saber as she did.
"Got you!" she cried with no small amount of satisfaction. That'd teach that conceited moron to underestimate Natur—
Suddenly, the G-weapon's wings swung forward, pointing at her. The arrow-like tips snapped open and two segmented metal tentacles lashed out, one wrapping around the Astray's right arm, the other coiling about the mobile suit's torso.
"On the contrary, my dear," the enemy pilot's voice was tinted with amusement. "I've got you." Sara caught sight of Athrun's M1 moving in for a shot, but apparently so did the enemy, as it spun around, yanking the captured Astray into a position between the G-weapon and Athrun's machine. Realizing she was being used as a human shield, Sara wrestled with the controls, but couldn't break free.
Alright, she thought. My arm's immobilized, so I can't shoot him, but maybe I can…what? A small alarm was sounding, drawing Sara's attention to the Astray's controls. The power reading for her machine was dropping at a frightening rate. While it had been in the yellow zone, near optimum levels, before the enemy machine had grabbed her, it was now in the white area. As Sara watched, the level decreased further, dropping into the red zone. As the Astray reached critically low power levels, the beam saber shrank down and disappeared, the plasma blade retreating into the mobile suit's system as its containing magnetic field began to fail. Sara began to panic, wrenching at the hand levers, and managed to get her M1 to thrash around for a short while. After only a few seconds, however, the power dropped to almost nothing and the Astray stopped moving. The thrusters and limb actuators ceased functioning, immobilizing the suit. The com link and sensors, however, ran on minimal power, so the Orb pilot could see the pulses of light moving down the tentacles and flowing into the G-weapon, and she could hear what her enemy said next.
"The Stygia system pulls electricity directly from other mobile suits and feeds it into the Herald's battery." The tentacles withdrew into the wings; the tips snapped shut and the wings swung back into their normal position over the mobile suit's shoulders. "It has the added benefit of immobilizing enemy mobile suits, as you've probably noticed." Sara slammed her fists down on the control panel in front of her, unable to do anything as the G-weapon flashed towards Athrun again.
Roger whipped the Schwert Gewehrs toward the GuAIZ again. The enemy mobile suit took the blows on its shield and pushed away, firing its beam rifle.
Well, Roger thought with a grin, two can play at this game. Turning one of the swords around, he pointed it at the enemy. While the standard Schwert Gewehr used magnetically contained plasma for a blade, the Sword Calamity's weapons used a cycled electron beam instead. The beam was accelerated up through the inside of the blade, redirected at the tip and sent out as a beam edge. When it reached the hilt, it was normally redirected again and sent back up for another round of acceleration.
But if I push this button…
The pommel of the sword opened up and the electron beam launched out, slamming against the GuAIZ's shield and no doubt giving the pilot a nasty surprise. Roger laughed as he heard his opponent swearing over the com link. He spun the Schwert Gewehr back into its normal orientation, and the emerald beam edge reappeared, thin at first but strengthening as it cycled back up to speed.
"You Naturals think you're so clever for coming up with your own mobile suits," the enemy pilot said. "It would be kind of cute if you weren't using that technology to menace Coordinators." Roger snorted in disgust at the last bit.
"You look down on Naturals the way you do and yet you still have the balls to blame everything on us?" he asked, incredulous. "You know, in the Earth Forces we have a word for Coordinators who act like you." There was a moment of silence before the enemy responded.
"Are you calling me a space monster?" she asked. Her tone had lost all of its earlier mocking humor and now held a sense of outrage.
"If the shoe fits…" Roger trailed off, hoping that Athrun hadn't heard that. The insinuation had the intended effect, and the GuAIZ came straight at him, firing its beam rifle. Roger gritted his teeth, barely blocking the attack, and responded with another Scylla blast. The Advent Faction mobile suit took the ion beam on its shield and backed off somewhat.
Okay, maybe it didn't have the intended effect. I got her angry, but she doesn't seem to have gotten any sloppier.
During the brief pause, Roger saw that his opponent and he had traveled quite a distance from the Archangel, and were now very near where Athrun and the enemy G-weapon were fighting. Floating nearby was an M1 Astray, completely intact but apparently lifeless.
"Roger!" Sara's voice emerged from the Sword Calamity's cockpit speakers.
"Are you okay?" he responded, slashing at his enemy again.
"I'm okay," Sara replied. "I just can't move and I can't do anything to defend myself." The Orb pilot's voice was tense and indicated clearly how much her current state was unnerving her.
"Just hang in there," Roger said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. "Try to stay calm."
"Okay," Sara answered, her breath shuddering slightly. Roger lunged at the GuAIZ again, but this time it backed off quite a bit, moving to the right.
"What the hell are you—," Roger started, but stopped when he saw that the Advent Faction mobile suit had positioned itself right next to Sara's Astray. He moved to fire the Scylla, but realized that a blast from the ion cannon might hit the Astray as well.
"What's the matter?" the enemy pilot asked; her tone of mocking humor had returned. "Cat got your tongue?"
"Roger, shoot her," Sara said. Her voice was audible to more than one person, however, and the GuAIZ turned slightly, facing more toward the M1 and causing Sara to gasp. This prompted a cruel laugh from the Advent Faction pilot.
"Aw, is your toy broken?" she taunted. Roger tensed as he saw the GuAIZ's beam claws extend.
"No…" Sara said softly. Roger gritted his teeth.
"Don't you dare," he said. His only answer was a soft chuckle.
"Go to Hell, Natural," the enemy said, drawing back, and then plunging the beam claws into the Astray's cockpit.
The communications system had been left on, allowing anyone listening to hear, with crystal clarity, Sara's agonized screams as the hot plasma blades burned her to ash. There was a moment of horrified stillness as the GuAIZ withdrew its blades from the dead M1 and kicked it away. In his cockpit, Roger too was completely quiet. There was no witty retort; not even an expletive to throw at his enemy, not after this. Finally, he said one thing into the radio.
"I'm going to kill you."
Without any further ado, Roger snapped the Sword Calamity's blades together and fired his thrusters at full power, rushing at the GuAIZ. The Advent Faction pilot brought up her shield, but Roger didn't stop, instead swinging the combined weapon with all of his mobile suit's power. The increased mass and the stronger blade breached the shield's protective magnetic field, and the sword cut the defensive item in half, taking some of the GuAIZ's left arm with it. As the enemy pilot frantically backed away, Roger pulled on the controls. The Sword Calamity held its blade one-handed, reaching up with the other to grab one of the Midas Messers from its shoulder mount. Snapping the beam boomerang around once to extend its plasma blade, Roger sent it flying at the GuAIZ. The olive-colored mobile suit twisted as best it could to get out of the way, but the boomerang still connected, slicing its head off. Roger caught the weapon as it returned, spreading the Sword Calamity's arms slightly and firing the Scylla.
The ion beam had nearly reached its target when the cannon-wielding GuAIZ intervened, taking the blast on its shield. Looking back, Roger remembered that Maria's Astray had taken damage earlier, and must have retreated, leaving one of the Advent Faction soldiers free. Gritting his teeth, Roger snapped the Schwert Gewehrs apart and charged his enemy with both weapons.
Athrun heard the scream and saw the disabled Astray tossed away, its cockpit a glowing red wound, followed by Roger attacking Sara's killer with a level of speed and, truth be told, ferocity that Athrun had never seen out of him before. Shifting his attention back to the enemy G-weapon, he raised his M1's beam saber.
"This ends now," he said, flooring the thrust and swerving around behind the black and grey machine. Athrun kicked the G-weapon with his machine's remaining leg to knock it off guard, and then struck with his saber. It was an attack he'd used before, and it was devilishly hard to counter.
This time, however, it didn't work.
The Advent Faction G-weapon fired its foot- and wing-mounted thrusters, righted itself, spun and blocked Athrun's attack with its own beam saber in the blink of an eye. For a moment, Athrun couldn't even react. He hadn't seen anyone other than Kira do something like that.
"As you were saying," Pryce stated calmly, "this has been fun, but I think it's time we wrapped this up." With that, the G-weapon struck with its left arm, the razor-edged shield slicing the Astray's sword arm off just above the elbow. Athrun tried to back away, but the G-weapon streaked around behind him, and CIWS fire shredded the M1's flight unit thrusters. Athrun turned just in time to see the enemy mobile suit lash out with its beam saber, taking the Astray's head off.
The cockpit screens went from clear pictures to static, and then the entire CIS imploded. The screens shattered as the deadly shield tore a massive gouge in the cockpit, allowing Athrun to see the G-weapon staring in at him.
"Well," Pryce said. The M1's cockpit had decompressed and no sound from the cockpit speakers would reach Athrun, but the backup headset in his helmet was still working. "This is the skill of the famous Athrun Zala? I must admit, I'm a little disappointed." The dark machine drew back and pointed its beam saber directly at Athrun, and the Orb pilot felt his blood run cold. "Goodbye."
Before the Advent Faction ace could deliver the killing blow, however, he was forced to dive away as a high-power electron beam streaked past. As the damaged M1 slowly drifted to face where the shot had come from, Athrun caught sight of Captain Waltfeld's M1A. The voice that became audible in Athrun's headset, however, was not the one he had been expecting.
"Why can't you people just leave us alone?" Kira Yamato said from the Orb suit's cockpit.
"I'm afraid we can't do that," Pryce replied. "There are still a few more things we need to learn from you." The Gundam, referred to as the Herald if Kira's memory served him, flashed towards him. The Orb pilot responded by aiming the sniper beam rifle and firing. He hadn't taken the time to acquire a lock, however, going for speed instead of pinpoint accuracy. The Herald simply spun out of the way. The enemy machine was very close now, so Kira didn't waste the time to try and aim another shot. Instead, he threw the electron rifle at the Herald, reached back and drew the Type 70 beam saber mounted behind the M1A's shoulder. The enemy machine sliced the rifle in half and kept coming, its saber crashing against Kira's.
"Athrun, get back to the ship!" Kira said, pushing the Herald back and attacking with his saber.
"I can't get back," Athrun replied. "My Astray is totaled; I'm going to need someone to get me." Kira stole a glance at the other Archangel mobile suits. Maria had been forced to return to the ship, leaving Kenji as the only remaining M1 pilot. He was locked in a vicious melee with one of the GuAIZs. Cagalli was attempting to get out to Athrun, but she was being hemmed in by two other GuAIZs, one of which was the command unit. Roger's Sword Calamity, meanwhile, was engaging the canon-wielding mobile suit while the last GuAIZ, heavily damaged, retreated to the waiting Laurasia-class.
Damn it! No one was free to help, which meant Kira would have to try and repel the enemy before taking Athrun's M1 back in. He took another swing with the M1A's saber, which the Herald dodged. The follow-up attack was blocked by the Gundam's shield. It left Kira wide open to a killing strike.
That killing strike, however, never arrived. As Kira had expected, the Herald avoided attacking the M1A's cockpit, opting instead for a saber attack on the Orb suit's head, which Kira dodged.
"What's the matter?" Kira asked. "You're not willing to damage your precious sample?" He lashed out with his saber again. The Herald drew back, its wings swiveling forward and pointing at Kira. This didn't stop the Orb pilot, however. "I won't let you do that!" he cried, diving forward and attacking. His beam saber flashed out and cut half of the right wing off.
"That may not work," Pryce replied, "but there are many ways to disable a mobile suit." He blocked Kira's next attack with his shield and countered with his own saber, slashing upward and cutting the left arm off of the M1A at the shoulder. The Advent Faction pilot followed up with a burst from his CIWS, which Kira dodged.
Before the battle could go any further, however, a hypervelocity projectile streaked into view and slammed into the Herald. The Gundam's Phase Shift protected it, but it was still knocked back as the projectile fragmented and exploded from the sudden stop.
"Get out of our territory, you bastards!" The transmission had come from a blue and grey mobile suit, between seventeen and eighteen meters tall and covered in thick armor. A large-barreled railgun was mounted on its right shoulder, and a box on its left shoulder opened to reveal five missile tubes. Powerful thrusters were mounted on the mobile suit's back and legs, its right hand held a beam rifle, and a large blue shield was mounted on its left arm.
Kira hadn't seen it in almost a year, but there was no mistaking the GAT-X102 Duel.
True to form, the Duel was followed closely by the GAT-X103 Buster. The broad-shouldered mobile suit, beige and green with faded red trim, opened its twin shoulder-mounted missile launchers and loosed a dozen of the explosive projectiles, driving off the two GuAIZs attacking Cagalli. Behind the Buster was what looked like a blue CGUE with two shoulder-mounted beam cannons, along with nine other mobile suits and two Nazca-class destroyers. As the ZAFT forces closed in, the Advent Faction troops began to withdraw.
"Well, it looks like you and I won't have the chance to finish this," Pryce stated evenly. "Rest assured, however, that you will see us again." The Herald turned and darted away, heading back to the enemy Laurasia-class.
The cannon-wielding GuAIZ did an about face and retreated as the area was suddenly shot through with beam fire and hypervelocity projectiles. Roger paused as the barrage stopped, shivering slightly with the aftereffects of his adrenaline, until new blips on his CIS alerted him to the approach of a trio of new mobile suits. Turning to look, he nearly mistook them for GuAIZs, and raised his anti-ship swords briefly. However, these were different machines. While nearly identical to the GuAIZ and wielding the same beam rifles, these new mobile suits were grey in color, their shields were more forward-pointed and the extensional arrestors had been replaced with folding railguns. There also might have been some modifications to the thruster array, although Roger couldn't be sure from this angle.
"It looked like you needed a hand," the pilot of one of the new mobile suits said. "Commander Joule figured we'd come out and personally welcome you guys to the PLANTs."
"Thanks," Roger replied.
"No problem," the ZAFT pilot replied. "Always glad to help out with a victory."
"Victory?" Roger figured that he sounded retarded, but he couldn't help it.
"Those guys were chasing you and they were sent back home with their tails between their legs. We won." Roger knew the truth of the ZAFT pilot's words, but he couldn't help thinking of the Astray pilot who wouldn't be going home to her boyfriend.
"Yeah," he finally said, albeit halfheartedly. "We win."
Author's Note: It's finally here! I'm sorry it took me so long to get this to you, but I was taking Final Exams, so writing had to be delayed for a while. Hopefully this makes up for it.
I had always planned on killing off Sara, but it became significantly less fun as I developed her character more. In the end, I still went with it for several reasons. I wanted to show that the Advent Faction is determined and skilled, and that there is a price to be paid for going up against them. The scene also gave Lia an extra villainous moment, and Roger is going to be all the more determined to kill her after this. Sara's death will also affect her boyfriend, Hiro, although I won't reveal exactly how at this point.
As for the introduction of the Herald, I hope no one thought I God-modded it. To lay it out clearly, Pryce is nearly equal to Athrun at this point (Athrun is better, but the margin is razor-thin). Therefore, if Pryce is in the superior machine (and he is), he's going to win. Against Kira, Pryce is still in the better machine, but the two fight to more of a draw (the Herald takes some damage; the M1A takes some damage). Hopefully that clears things up a little bit.
Next Chapter: The Archangel crew spends some time in the PLANTs, Roger makes a new acquaintance and some disturbing new problems arise.