Gundam Seed: Killer's Realm
Phase 18: Diplomat and Killer
Indian Ocean, Unidentified Island, Small Forest
February 4th, 5:34 A.M. Local, 2:34 P.M. Orb
Moving as quietly as possible, Kira moved along the tree line, searching for a good hiding place. It was extremely unlikely that anyone would be looking for him, as the Augury had been destroyed at least a few miles from the island, and there really was no reason to believe that he survived. After all, nothing could survive direct contact with a nuclear fusion reaction......case in point, the Augury.
As he passed deeper into the forest, Kira heard....something. Moving towards the sound, at an exact right angle to his original path, he moved alongside a tree.
Kira crept through the undergrowth, following the sound of voices. Creeping up behind a bush, he snuck a look over it, getting a glimpse of-
A gun pressed into the side of his head, forcing him down to the ground as someone kicked his legs out from under him, forcing him down to the ground.
"Oh, look at what we have here! She'll thank me for this!" Kira heard, and the voice was dreadfully familiar.
"Miguel!?" The Prince of Orb grunted, trying to move out from under the rather heavy ZAFT Green Coat.
"Oh! Sorry Kira." The ace apologized, holstering his weapon. Leaning down, he made to help Kira up, gripping his hand and tugging. "I thought you might have been an OMNI soldier."
"Understandable. Why are you here?" Kira asked, brushing off his pants.
"I'm escorting ZAFT's diplomat to Orb." Miguel replied cheerfully, waving back at the camp. Walking briskly through the bush Kira had been hiding behind, he waved at the camp's occupants. Following after him, Kira blinked at the individual sitting close to the center.
"Lacus?"
"Kira!" The famous pop star exclaimed, rushing forward to greet her friend's best friend with a heartfelt hug. Kira blushed, much to the surprise of the surrounding ZAFT troops, most of whom had concluded that Kira was a heartless killer with a mask of emotions.
"What are you doing here?" Kira asked, still being squeezed.
"Oh! You don't know? I'm traveling to Orb in order to present Father's proposal." Seeing Kira's look of confusion, she explained. "Considering how much aid we've given each other, Father was figuring your government would finally agree to a countering alliance to the Earth Alliance."
Kira nodded, saying "Of course. My father has tried to keep to Orb's ideals, but I think he's being convinced."
"Really?"
"Yes. Most of his advisors, as well as me, have been pushing him to take a side in the war. I, personally, was trying to get him to go for ZAFT." Lacus' bright smile made Kira blush, slightly. Like, a half of a shade redder than normal.
"That's great!" Lacus sang, almost skipping back to her seat.
"Erm....you wouldn't mind if I traveled along with you guys to Orb? I kinda got shot down.....and I don't think anyone on the Barachiel knows I'm here." Lacus' astonished look, combined with the somewhat scared gazes of the ZAFT soldiers, made Kira feel nervous.
"Wait....someone actually shot you down? You. The Destroyer of Artemis? The Killer of Krow?" Miguel choked.
"Krows not dead."
"Might as well be. Anyway, who was this guy?"
"It was a girl actually, and she had a new Gundam." There was a round of muttering as ZAFT personnel traded looks and the outer guards stiffened up, becoming more alert.
"What kind?" Miguel asked, both terrified and curious. Which proved that Mobile Suit pilots were the same everywhere.
"It was sleek, like the Kiba, and could transform into a high-speed fighter. It had several weapons, including a combined beam rifle and linear repeater, Phase-Shift knives, and wrist blades that injected nanomachines into the Augury, destroying its systems. The weapon that ultimately did me in though, was a miniature HALC that fired Nuclear Fusion rounds."
There was a sharp communal inhale amongst the pilots, who by now were sitting in a circle just behind Lacus, around Kira, like children around a story-teller.
"Damn, OMNI's making them tougher, and it hasn't even been a fucking month!" Miguel swore.
"Yeah well, Orb's gonna blow them away if that's the limit of the Alliance's progress with mobile suits." Kira said, grinning. "So how did you guys get here anyway?"
"Our flight got shot down by anti-aircraft fire over Africa, where we were supposed to get a transport from Commander Waltfeld." Miguel said.
"I thought we cleared out Africa?" Kira frowned.
"North Africa. The fire came from Victoria."
"I didn't think OMNI had any anti-aircraft guns that could fire that far."
"Well, they do now."
"How are you getting out of here?"
"By submarine, the Z.N.S Tharsis Montes." Kira started at that.
"Commander Baryx's ship?"
"You know him?"
"He was in the battle where I got shot down." That got the entire circle jabbering, swarming Kira and asking questions about their idol, Mark Baryx. There were also quite a few question for him, ranging from how long he's trained for mobile suit piloting (1,900 hours logged in the simulator) to what he's gonna pilot next (top-secret).
After the mob dissipated, Miguel shooing them to go do stuff in preparation for the approaching transfer to the sub, Kira sat down on the ground next to Lacus, resting his legs (and mouth).
"So how is everyone?" Lacus asked, leaning back to face him directly.
"Well, all things considered, fine. I mean, after the Augury was destroyed, Jack in the Kiba ripped the cannon off of the Gundam, so that couldn't have done any harm. And considering that we have an entire team of Gundams on the Barachiel, no Constantine or Megalodon will do it in." Kira said, laying back and, for once since the entire war started, relaxed. They were on an island that measured all of two square kilometers in the middle of the Indian Ocean! There was no way any Alliance soldiers would find them here.
A sharp crack split the air, preceding the literal explosion of one of the guards head, causing the rest of the group to scatter, Miguel and about five other ZAFT troops circling Kira and Lacus as they rushed off into the forest, the sounds of rifle fire echoing. A soldier popped out from behind a tree, bringing his assault rifle to aim at them.
Acting as quick as only he could, Kira drew his knife, flipped it open, and threw it at the soldier's head, sinking the blade ten centimeters into his forehead. At a full run, the group passed the corpse, Kira plucking his knife out of its head and the rifle from its grip, passing the weapon to Miguel while he held his knife at the ready. Another two soldiers raced into view, trying to get a good aim through the trees. A fusillade of bullets, aimed by the far faster and more accurate Coordinators, cut them down quickly.
"What the hell!?" Kira shouted as they resumed their fast and frantic dash towards the island's beach.
"I guess they tracked us!" Miguel shouted back, slightly annoyed.
As the group got past the last few trees onto the beach, they stopped for a second to catch their breath, and then looked up.
And saw a Constantine staring at them, the camera's at each end of the cruciform visor focused directly on Lacus. The armor on the sides of its head lifted up, revealing two large 85mm guns, swiveling slightly to aim directly at the group.
Then a couple of dark yellow and blue beams struck the Constantine from the side, smashing it to pieces and scattering them along the beach. Turning, the group of Coordinators saw the Isurus lifting itself onto the beach by its arms, before walking up to them and setting its feet onto the ground. The cockpit opened, out climbing Mark Baryx in his body armor-like pilot suit and do-rag. From a pod on the Isurus' back dropped nine ZAFT soldiers, fully armed and fanning out along the beach, setting up a perimeter.
Out of the sea came SIMCA's, also equipped with personnel pods, crouching on the beach to allow soldiers to disembark and spread throughout the island. The chatter of gunfire intensified, as the ZAFT troops added their own rifles to the mix.
"Looks like you landed yourself into quite the situation." Baryx commented to Kira gruffly, watching as the survivors from the diplomatic guard began trickling out from the forest, more often than not being carried by soldiers. "Well, I suppose you're coming along for the ride."
"Of course!" Lacus chirped happily. Baryx cocked an eyebrow at Kira, who responded with a slightly sheepish look.
"Well, just climb in the pod and I'll take you guys to the Tharsis." Nodding, Miguel ordered the five guards into a circle formation around Lacus and Kira, taking the lead. Once inside the pod, they found that, despite being made for nine armed and armored soldiers, it was still somewhat.....cramped.
The soldiers in question must be related to sardines.
In this case, the guards were all crammed shoulder to shoulder with Miguel in front, while in the middle, their backs forced Lacus and Kira together, chest-to-chest. Which was not actually all that uncomfortable for Kira. So long as he didn't think too much about how Lacus felt against him......yep, now it's getting uncomfortable.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 00000000000000000000000000000000000000
Approximately one hour, thirty-two minutes later
Indian Ocean, Z.N.S Tharsis Montes, MS Hanger
The group climbed out of the pod, Miguel and the guards taking a look around to make sure it was a ZAFT ship while Lacus and Kira tried to stop blushing. Coming around the catwalk, Baryx clapped Kira on the shoulders, almost causing the teen to collapse.
"Welcome to the Tharsis Montes Miss Clyne. And you too, Mister Yamato. I gotta ask: how did you survive that explosion?" rubbing his shoulder, Kira responded:
"I climbed out of the cockpit before the Fusion shell went off. Still got a sunburn from it though." Twisting, Kira showed all assembled the horrid-looking red burn covering his entire back.
"Damn! Doesn't that hurt?" Miguel asked, wincing as he tried to approximate the pain a burn like that would cause.
"Yes."
"Hey Dad, did you get-" This from a rather muscular teen wearing a ZAFT Red pilot suit with dark brown hair and brown eyes, which widened upon seeing Kira. "Holy shit! You're Kira Yamato!" In no time flat, he dashed over to Kira, stopping in front of him to jabber.
Before Kira could get anywhere near understanding the flood of excited words pouring from the pilot's house, Baryx yanked the Red next to him.
"Gary! What have I told you about doing that?" He hissed, clenching the Red by the shoulder. This caused Gary to pause for a moment.
"Not to?"
"Exactly! Now introduce yourself properly." With that, Gary came to attention, turned sharply on his heel, and saluted.
"Gary Baryx, SIMCA pilot!" He snapped out, standing straight as though his father had shoved a sniper rifle up his ass. Lacus, Kira, Miguel, and the five guards alternated their gazes between Gary and Mark, studying them. Both had dark brown hair and eyes, were built tall, muscular, and of average width (although Mark's armor/pilot suit made him appear quite bulky).
"Yeah, he's my dad." Gary said, nodding towards Mark. Kira's stare switched again to Mark.
"But....you're only twenty-five!" he stammered.
"Forty-three, actually." Mark said. "You haven't spent too much time around other Coordinators, have you?"
Kira thought for a second, tallying. "Yes, actually, I have."
"How many adults?"
"Er....."
"Exactly. It doesn't really show up until around thirty years or so, but Coordinators don't really age the same as Naturals."
Huh. I wonder what that means for me then.... Kira pondered, following as the group headed for the bridge. as they passed through the remarkably cramped corridors, Kira kept track of all he saw. An ally ZAFT may be, but Kira didn't really trust anyone.
Well, his family certainly. And Athrun. Jack. Liene. Ok, he trusted a lot of people, but he wasn't naive.
Arriving at the bridge, the majority of the group stayed behind, allowing Lacus, Kira, Mark, and Gary to proceed. Ducking under the bulkhead, Kira commented on the lighting, which was bright and white.
"Oh yeah, its bright now, but you out to see it in combat!" Gary chortled. "Then we switch to a low-power red lighting in order to preserve power and also lower our sound profile."
At that moment, the lights changed to red, causing everything to look darker.
"Hey, look at that. Something must be happening."
"Attention all crew! Megalodon school approaching at high speed. Prepare for combat!"
Mark swore. "Damn it! Most of our SIMCAs are on that island cleaning out the OMNI troops. Should've guessed they had a carrier around here."
"What's the problem? Just use your Isurus to deal with them." Kira said.
"We could, but while we're occupied with some of the Megalodons, the rest would attack the Tharsis."
"Well, let me go!"
"We only have one Isurus and Gary's SIMCA, the rest are WAAMs."
"Let me take a WAAMs then."
"Are you nuts? You'd be ripped apart by the Megalodons."
"You think so?" Mark glared at Kira.
"Fine. It's your funeral. Take the first WAAM on the right, we already equipped it with a rifle." Nodding, Kira dashed off back towards the hanger.
000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 00000000000000000000000000000000000000
Indian Ocean, depth of 430 Meters
One minute later
"Alright, ready Kira?" Gary called over the radio, covering the WAAM with his SIMCA.
"I'm fine Gary. You don't need to watch over me."
"But the WAAM-"
"Your engineers have maintained it well, correct?"
"Well, yeah, but-"
"Then I'll do fine. Just watch out for yourself. The Megalodons are fragile, but they're quick, and that water cutter of theirs is no joke."
Just then, they detected the Megalodons on their own sensors, turning in the water to face the school of about 45 armors.
"Jeez. how do they fit so many on a single carrier?" Gary muttered, still astonished at how many Megalodons appear at one time.
"I'm guessing that they stack them like crates, and use Constantines to take them out of the holds for the pilots before kicking them overboard." Kira suggested, causing a short ripple of laughter amongst those listening.
The talk ceased when Baryx dashed his Isurus forward, causing Gary to squawk and follow him in his SIMCA. Staying well behind them, Kira followed in his borrowed WAAM, targeting one of the Megalodons on the outer part of the formation with his combined phonon maser/torpedo rifle.
Baryx fired the first two shots, the Baryon Burst Fire Cannons in his Isurus' hands firing bolts into two Megalodons, smashing them to bits for the immense water pressure to crush. Gary followed, launching four torpedos from his shoulder launchers, causing the Megalodons to scatter, attempting to break the sonar lock. At that moment, Kira made his move, shooting his target with a quick blast, before launching a trio of torpedos from the launcher on his WAAM's right arm. The Megalodons scattered further, before recognizing the WAAM as one of their preferred targets and dashing forward to kill it.
The Isurus and SIMCA intercepted them, high-energy beam claws and sonic claws tearing into a total of six mobile armors. A group of five Megalodons fired off their own torpedos, all charging towards the two high mobility suits engaged in close combat with them.
On Kira's side, Megalodons swarmed towards him, launching torpedoes and aiming water cutters. Miraculously, Kira dodged what torpedoes he couldn't shoot, before launching the rest of his torpedoes, destroying a good number of his assailants. However, now the rest had reached water cutter range. Staying away from their noses, Kira managed to survive the invisible assault of water, losing only his WAAM's left hand and the tip of its right foot. He managed to shoot five of the Megalodons, destroying two, disabling ones hydro-ramjet, and severely damaging two more, leaving them to be crushed by the pressure. Descending rather slowly, Kira barely managed to avoid many of the surviving armor's attacks.
Dealing with the other half of the school, both Baryxs gaped at how long Kira was holding out. Entire groups of WAAMs had been slaughtered in positions similar to his, and yet the Prince of Orb managed to survive! Still, his position wasn't exactly stellar. A blast of the back Baryon Cannons cleared a large opening in the swarming mobile armors, allowing Gary's SIMCA to get through, disemboweling three Megalodons as he moved to assist the WAAM. The last of Gary's torpedoes drew the attention of the group assailing the ZAMS-refit, destroying four and forcing some of them away from it.
The distracted Megalodons were rapidly dealt with, as they tried to deal with both the SIMCA and WAAM, one dashing among them, cutting them to pieces while the other assailed them from a distance. Soon enough though, they managed to at least incapacitate one, a group sacrificing themselves to sever the WAAM's rifle arm.
Which did them no good whatsoever, as the elder Baryx finished his targets and joined his son in finishing the school.
"Damn. When did you get so good in a WAAM?"
"Simulator practice. A lot of Morgenroete test pilots trained on simulators loaded with data on various ZAFT mobile suits."
"Ah."
000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 00000000000000000000000000000000000000
Indian Ocean, Near Orb, Barachiel
4:07 A.M.
"Captain! Contact on the sonar!" Jackie called, startling much of the bridge crew.
"Damn. Any indication as to who it is?" Murrue swore, tensing up.
"No idea, but it's moving fast! It'll be below us in thirty seconds."
At that moment, the contact surfaced......and further, leaping into the air with a somersault to land directly on the deck in front of the bridge, in all its shining silvery glory.
"Jack Kagizaki, reporting for duty!" the radio sputtered, the Kiba doing a salute.
"........."
000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 00000000000000000000000000000000000000
A/N: A very belated update. We're getting closer to the Big Battle of Orb, which Velly and me have been working hard on. Still got JOSH-A to go through, as well as the Mobile Suit and Gundam reveals.
On different note, The first time Kira ever pilots a ZAFT mobile suit!
("Technically speaking, both the Freedom and Strike Freedom were ZAFT suits.)
.......The first time Kira ever pilots a cannon fodder ZAFT mobile suite!
("What next, Setsuna piloting an Ahead? Amuro piloting a Zaku I? Suzaku piloting a Burai?")
Ah, shut up.
G. Wagers: There you go boy, story, with a guarantee for no filler for a while.
Oh yeah, on last thing: There's a small, teensy, minuscule chance that I may update my Code Geass fic for the first time in...... er.....when K'GoN?
("When you published it, February 9th.)
Oh yeah. Anyway, small chance, but possible.
Knightmare Gundam of Ni