Note: Before I begin, I want to apologise for the delay on this story; I've been trying to contend with a lot at once, and failed miserably. I'm back for now, but don't know how long for. For now, I hope you enjoy this, and I'll see you at the end.
Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Heaven Strike Force
Phase III
With the ship on course for Lagrange 3, most of the crew set about their usual routines, with Ian and Mileina setting about repairing the Gundams and restocking them, Miss Sumeragi had another look into the enemy capabilities to improve the accuracy of her forecasts, and Lasse piloted the ship carefully into the region they were to meet the convoy at. In their quarters, Alleljuah and Marie reminisced and remembered the good times they had shared before the havoc had started. Setsuna set in the co-pilots seat alongside Lasse, knowing there was nothing he could do for 00 Gundam until they had the 0 Raiser and equipment on board Ptolemy. Lockon sat in his room, remembering his family as he did in these quiet moments, wondering what they would say if they could see what he was doing. Tieria, conflicted by the arrival of Rertyan, set about going over the information in Veda's database, rechecking all he could to make sure there was nothing else he was not aware of.
Inside the holding bays, Feldt looked over at the newest arrival with interest in her eyes. The Tactical Operator had always been curious and intrigued by the machines, especially since her parents had been pilots for the first generation of Gundams, but none quite as much as this one, and she could not pinpoint why that was.
A clatter of metal and a short curse echoed in the air. Curious, she vaulted the railing and went to investigate, finding a pair of legs jutting out from beneath the middle of Reaper X.
"Damn flux coil," came a mutter from within the machine. "Stay put, damn you!"
"Um, are you alright in there?" Feldt asked, peering into the hatch. A red-faced Rertyan looked down through the gap between the hatch edge and his body.
"Miss Grace?" he asked. "Could you show me your hands?"
"My... my hands?" she flushed, unsure what he was asking for, but showed the man anyway.
"Perfect," he nodded, slipping out of the access bay. "I need someone with small hands. I've got a thermal coupling which has dislodged itself from the rig, and now I can't reach the damned thing. Would you mind-"
"Not at all," Feldt smiled, pulling herself into the space. "I thought Mr Vashti was meant to be helping you?"
"He said something about that, but I thought the other Gundams should take priority," Rertyan explained. "Waste of time having only one Gundam fully functional, after all."
"I guess so," Feldt nodded. She looked around the compartment for a moment or two. "I can't see it."
"By the transponder matrix," Rertyan clarified. "Just underneath the coolant exchanger; it's jammed under the flux coil."
"Ah, I see now," Feldt said, shuffling upwards until her hips bumped against the edge of the hatch. "Almost... There! I got it!"
"Great," Rertyan grinned, trying hard not to stare at Feldt's lower body. "Can you fit it into port 3 for me?"
"Alright," Feldt nodded, squeezing herself a little further into the maintenance section and fitting the coupling into the port. Almost instantly, the coupling began to glow orange. "Ok, it's in! Now- ah!" Feldt yelped, looking down to where her hips met the hatch.
"Everything alright there?" Rertyan asked.
"Um, I'm... I'm fine," she replied, blushing with embarrassment. "But, um... I'm kind of caught..."
Rertyan looked up at the hatch and chuckled a little.
"Alright," he said. "Hold still and try not to hold on to anything in there."
Without another word, the Gundam Meister took hold of the Operator's ankles and pulled, extricating her from the hatch after a few moments. She looked over to him as he moved to check she was alright, realising their closeness with a blush.
"Um, th-thanks," she stammered out. Rertyan smiled, satisfied she was ok, and let go, closing the hatch.
"Thank you," he replied. "I couldn't have done it without your help. Hopefully the modifications I made will allow the power-linking to align properly." He moved to the cockpit with Feldt close behind, looking curiously at the machine. He saw her look of intrigue and smiled. "Let's test the configuration." he said, gesturing for her to come over. When she reached the cockpit, Rertyan sat her down inside it and booted the system up. The screens flickered into life, displaying the information for the Gundam. "Just bring the engine revolutions up from one hundred to three thousand, then wait for my signal and press this button." He pointed to a red button with a blue 'Y' shaped arrow, the point aimed from the single flick. "Can you do that for me?"
Feldt nodded, then began the process while Rertyan observed the rear cones. After a few minutes, he gave the signal, and she pressed the button. The change was obvious almost instantly, as the cones started to spray out a vast amount of particles, the shimmering mass of GN particles lighting the air like stars. It looked amazing to the young woman however, and she watched in awe as the air lit up and the screens displayed the work levels of the engines. That's when she saw the drive output system, much to her surprise.
"There, perfect," Rertyan smiled, hitting the kill switch. He looked to Feldt and smiled. "Anything you want to ask?"
"Who are you?" she asked. "Who do you work for?" Rertyan chuckled at this.
"I figured as much," he said, though he was not irritated by the question, as Feldt thought he might have been. "I work for a shadow organisation of Celestial Being called Fereshte. We help Veda update on new machines the Earth Sphere Federation come up with, as well as design and build prototype machines for the Meisters to use. Reaper X is one of those prototypes."
"I see," Feldt nodded, before tensing up as Rertyan leaned over her, flicking some of the switches and checking some of the systems. She blushed at how close they were to one another. "Wh-what are you doing now?"
"Hm?" Rertyan asked, still checking on things. "Just making sure the link-up is stable, that's all." He glanced to Feldt curiously. "Something wrong?"
"N-no! Not at all!" she amended quickly. "But, um... could you... show me how to work it?" Rertyan cocked an eyebrow. "S-so I can help you repair it."
"Oh, I see," Rertyan nodded. "Well, in that case, come with me." He helped her out of the cockpit for Reaper and over to the X Cloaks one. He set her in the seat and began pointed to the controls and explaining them. "Obviously you have the throttle and revolution balance controls, then the missile lock systems. Weapon rechargers are around here."
"What about this button?" Feldt asked.
"No, don't press that!" he said quickly, gripping her wrist firmly but gently. "Don't touch that one while we're on Ptolemy. Ever."
"I-I'm sorry!" Feldt said quickly. Rertyan breathed a sigh but smiled softly.
"It's ok," he replied. "That button is the manual discharge for the Death Arrow. We don't want to use that any time soon."
From above the machine, safe in the enclosure of the observation booth for hangar 3, the ship's forecaster smiled to herself as she watched the young crew member and their latest pilot. She thought back to when she first met Feldt, how uncertain she was and how introverted she had become from the disappearance of her parents, and then to how much she had grown out of her shell in the years with the crew of Ptolemy. It was good to see she was developing into a rounded but kind person.
"Miss Sumeragi," came a voice from behind her. The woman turned to see the purple-haired Innovade standing in the doorway.
"Tieria," she said, turning to face him. "Is something the matter?"
"It's about Veda," he replied. "As you know, I am integrated to Veda's systems, so I can access every portion of its database."
"Yes, I'm fully aware of this," the Tactical Forecaster nodded. "What about it?"
"I have found some information locked under a subscript in Section 8," he replied. Miss Sumeragi blinked and frowned at this. "Also, I found some information is under the same restriction in Section 7."
"Information about the Gundams, the Meisters and the GN Drives," she mused, raising her hand to her chin thoughtfully. "What could have been sealed within those files?" She turned to Tieria. "Did you find anything else?"
"There was only one thing which Fereshte has made public to Veda," Tieria admitted. "It seems the seventh GN Drive Rertyan spoke of was lost in an accident involving a prototype machine which it seems Reaper was based on. Supposedly, the machine lost control of its generation utilities and overloaded. The wreckage was never recovered, nor was the pilot; it is believed that both she and the Gundam burnt up in Earth's atmosphere."
"I see," the woman nodded morosely. "Now I understand why he did not explain; she was probably close to him."
"I also discovered that there was a prototype missing from the Celestial Being docks," Tieria went on. "It was a subframe based on Exia's original designed, but it was decided to be too costly to have a second Exia, so the Alternate Frame E3 was decommissioned. It has since disappeared from the docks."
Miss Sumeragi nodded, thinking about this information. Were Fereshte behind its disappearance? And if so, what could they possibly have done with a decommissioned prototype?
"Miss Sumeragi," came a voice over the intercom. "We have just reached Lagrange 3. The technical assistance convoy is in sight. Taking her in now."
"Well, that's our cue," the woman said to the Innovade as she walked out. She stopped at the doorway, just behind Tieria. "I trust you will keep this information between us?"
"Of course," Tieria replied as the forecaster left. He walked up to the window, watching as Rertyan and Feldt left the hangar before then turning his gaze on the machine they had been working on. "What else do we not know about you, Darkspire?" he wondered aloud before leaving the room to see the technicians and their 'gifts'.
"Billy!" Miss Sumeragi greeted jovially as the bespectacled brunette appeared around the corner. "Good to see you again!"
"It's good to see you too, Leesa," he replied, hugging her close.
Since the end of the Innovade war concluded, when he realised how much of a mistake he had made in acting with spite towards Miss Sumeragi, Billy had aligned himself with Celestial Being, particularly the mobile suit research and development side of affairs, to make amends for his actions, and also to end the tyranny of the Earth Sphere Federation, or rather that of Heaven Strike Force. Linda Vashti smiled at the young duo as they embraced, turning her attention to her own husband and their daughter.
"Mum!" Mileina called, wrapping her arms around the older woman's torso. Linda smiled, hugging her daughter with one arm and gesturing for Ian to join them with the other.
"I missed you both so much," she smiled, holding her family close.
"We missed you too, mum," Mileina smiled back.
"I can see," Linda laughed. After a moments longer, she let go of them, noticing the others had arrived to the dock. "Hello again, everyone." Her eyes fell on Rertyan, or, more accurately, his left shoulder, which bore a blue shield with an F emblazoned within it, a yellow halo encircling the F above the lower flick, and a pair of yellow wings flanking the shield. "You're with Fereshte?" she enquired. Rertyan looked up and nodded.
"That's right," he replied. "Why do you ask?"
"Because we just heard the transmission," Linda replied. The blank looks told her the crew had not heard it. "The Fereshte base; it detected a large Heaven Strike Force fleet inbound for its location." Rertyan's eyes widened. "There are eleven ships headed for it; five carrier class, each holding thirty to fifty mobile suits and armours, three bombardment-type destroyers, the HSF Mothership, the Smirnov, and two frigate-class ships. You had not heard?"
"No," Rertyan growled, turning to Miss Sumeragi. "I'm heading out now; finish transferring the equipment, then meet me there." He went to go for the door, but Miss Sumeragi grabbed his arm.
"No you don't," she said firmly. "I understand your desire to protect them, but we can't launch yet. Be paitient; I'll send Reaper X and Archer Arios as soon as we are ready. The other Gundams can catch up when we get there." Rertyan glowered at this, but accepted it.
"In that case, let me help until then," he said. "I am proficient as a mobile suit technician; I can help install the extra equipment."
"Alright then," Miss Sumeragi nodded. "Let's hurry and get ready; we can not afford to lose any allies."
"Right," said the group as they started their preparations. Ian turned to his wife as they others moved off.
"How long have you known about Fereshte?" he asked curiously. She winked at him.
"Where do you think I was at the start of my time in Celestial Being?" she replied coyly. He simply chuckled as he went about his duties.
While the Gundam Meisters tended to their machines, Mileina, Ian and Linda brought the new equipment on board and readied it, Feldt returned to the bridge to take inventory of the items, and Billy and Miss Sumeragi went to the briefing room. Once they reached it, Miss Sumeragi turned to her boyfriend with a serious look.
"Is everything ready?" she asked him. He took out a data stick and plugged it into the terminal.
"Indeed they are," he replied, showing the schematics and diagnostics of the latest equipment. "We brought them as requested; GNR-010/XN, the XN Raiser; GNR-020/C, the Cherudim Boost Wing; GN-009/T, the Seraphim Trinity. We were able to salvage most of the wreckage of Seraphim and the 0 Raiser for these, and we cannibalised the remaining parts from the 0 Gundam and enemy units left in the area to improve them. The Boost Wing was based on the 0 Raiser and reconfigured for use on the Cherudim. In theory, it should increase the response rate and energy efficiency of Cherudim by sixty percent, but we won't know for sure until we test it."
"Excellent," Miss Sumeragi nodded. "I'm glad you are with us now, Billy; since you joined us, the Earth Sphere Federation has been producing new models thirty percent less frequently, and we are finally able to outmatch them for the first time since the GN Drive Tau was released to them."
"Yes, it certainly is easier for Celestial Being," Billy agreed. The image of the Seraphim Trinity appeared on the screen.
"So, what's different between the original Seraphim and this version?" Miss Sumeragi asked with interest.
"The Trinity has two additional capabilities compared to Seraphim," Billy explained. "It has a quantum bit system we are calling the Cannon Bit, which are the two additional GN Cannons mounted on it, and an improved power system which decreases the recharge time between bursts. Hopefully, this new system will allow Seravee to be defended at all times." Miss Sumeragi nuzzled against Billy as he spoke, bringing a warm smile to his face. "You missed me, huh?"
"Of course," she replied. "You missed me too, right?"
"Of course I did," he replied, laying a soft kiss on her forehead.
While the Seraphim Trinity was brought aboard to be integrated to Seravee, the assault containers for the Boost Wing and XN Raiser were both attached to the hull, as there was not enough space for the two additional machines. Setsuna glanced out of the cockpit's all-round display, watching Marie and Alleljuah work on Arios, restocking the missiles and modifying the balancing of the machine. For the first time in a long while, he found himself thinking of Saji Crossroad and Louise Halevy, and how they were moving on with their lives; after the end of the Innovade War, Saji had expressed an interest in cutting his ties with Celestial Being and moving on with life in the Earth Sphere with Louise, so they had been placed inside the salvaged escape pod from the Regnant and launched towards the nearest orbital elevator. They had not heard anything from them since then, but Setsuna still found himself wondering if they had been safe after that. He soon forgot about this thought, however, and went back to calibrating the weapons systems and control modules for the battle ahead.
In the second storage deck, Tieria and Mileina set about installing and checking Seraphim Trinity with Seravee. The brunette smiled a little as she glanced over to the Innovade as he worked. She had hidden it well, but since meeting Tieria, she had held a soft spot for the Meister, and now was no change to that fact. She smiled meekly as she risked another glance. He looked down at her from his position at the top coupling to Seravee.
"Something wrong?" he asked, oblivious to her intentions. Mileina blushed and looked away.
"N-nothing," she replied quickly.
Tieria cocked an eyebrow at this response, but looked away and did not press the matter. Behind Seravee, from the back of Cherudim, Lockon chuckled.
"Honestly," he said. "The guy's clueless. You'd think after three years he would have figured it out, but I guess not." Rertyan, who was working on the fixings alongside Lockon, looked over at the two ahead of them.
"You're right," he replied. "Guess being linked to Veda makes a guy blind, huh?" Lockon laughed at this.
"You know, for a shady guy in a shady organisation, you're not that bad," he said. Rertyan smiled.
"Thanks, I think." He shrugged it off as his connection was completed. "There. With this, the Boost Wing's starboard engines will link directly to Cherudims." He looked over to Lockon as he finished his connection. "Hopefully this will give you an edge if they reproduced the Gadessa."
"Yeah, the damned thing did have me out-gunned, huh?" Lockon shrugged. He paused. "Say, did you see Feldt before the ships docked? She seemed a little flustered."
"She did?" Rertyan frowned. "She seemed fine when I was showing her how to use the X Cloak." Lockon was staring at him now, making him cut the thought short. "What?"
"Why were you showing Feldt that?" he asked bluntly.
"Oh, well, she helped me fix the power-linkages in Reaper X, and she wanted to know how to pilot it if the need ever comes," Rertyan shrugged. "It's not that big a deal." Lockon sighed, his hand on his forehead and hip as he shook his head.
"Tieria may be blind," he said plainly. "But I don't think he's the only one." Rertyan scoffed.
"Come off it," he replied, double-checking his work. "She's not interested in me; Feldt barely knows me."
"And yet you showed her how to use your support machine," Lockon added. "Come on, don't tell me there's nothing there."
Rertyan stopped, thinking about this, but was cut off by the intercom.
"Ready Arios, GN Archer and Reaper X for launch," it called over the decks. "Ptolemaios II, prepare for anti-ship and anti-mobile suit combat!"
"Well, they're playing my song," Rertyan grinned, removing TEX from the Karel it was in. "Later, Lockon." The Meister was gone before he could say another word.
The Meisters strapped into their machines, preparing for launch as the catapults unfurled from the launch decks on deck 1 and 3.
"Arios Gundam and GN Archer in position," Feldt confirmed, bringing the catapult charge level up. "Voltages stable at 750 and 450. Timing transferred to mobile units."
"Roger," Alleljuah confirmed, disengaging his drive repause. "Alleljuah Haptism, Arios; taking off!" The winged Gundam shot out of the deck 1 catapult instantly.
"Marie Parfecy, GN Archer, I'm heading out!" Marie confirmed, launching after Arios. No sooner had she launched did the two machines dock. "Power coupling successful."
"Archer Arios, heading to target," Alleljuah informed the ship as they headed off.
"Stick to the plan," Miss Sumeragi said into the comms. "There will be approximately a five minute window where Archer Arios and Reaper X will be the only machines on site, so stay on your toes."
"Roger that," the two supersoldiers nodded. Feldt typed in a command into the console.
"Bringing Reaper X to launch deck," she said, altering the launch parameters. "Voltage increased to 900. Timing transferred to Mr Darkspire." A light sigh came over the communication link.
"Miss Grace, could you just call me Rertyan?" he asked, activating his engines. "Mr Darkspire sounds too weird." He looked up. "Reaper X, Rertyan Darkspire and TEX, obscuring the light!"
The latest addition to the Ptolemy's crew shot off, the dual engines of the X Cloak allowing it to catch up to Archer Arios quickly. Alleljuah appeared in the call window to Rertyan's right.
"Remember the plan," the super soldier said. "We will fight off the advanced troops while Ptolemy catches up to us, then execute plan B7." Rertyan rolled his neck. "Can you keep up to Arios?"
"I think you'll be the one doing the catching up," Rertyan replied, pressed a few buttons, then the red button he had had Feldt press. "Disengaging primary engine repause. Full thrust ahead." He looked to his left, where TEX's image had appeared. "TEX, fire the boosters; we can't waste time like this."
"Hey! What are you-" Alleljuah's words fell on deaf ears as the two engines on Reaper X's back fired, launching the machine forward faster than Arios could muster. "Dammit. Ptolemy, this is Archer Arios; Reaper X just accelerated beyond our limit."
"What?" Lasse exclaimed, shocked by this. "I thought Arios was the fastest Gundam we had."
"It was," Miss Sumeragi replied, gritting her teeth. "Damn fool. Alleljuah, switch to plan C2, divert all power to thrusters until you reach the battle zone."
"Roger that," Alleljuah nodded, following his instructions. Miss Sumeragi turned to the helmsman.
"Lasse, take us to full thrust," she ordered. "We have to get there as quickly as we can."
"Yes, Miss Sumeragi," he nodded, accelerating the ship. The tactical forecaster's gaze fell on the diminishing trails from Reaper X and Archer Arios as they sped away.
Dammit, Rertyan, she cursed in her thoughts. What else did you not tell us?
Hope you liked that, everyone. I'm sorry for the delays to posting; exams are a nuisance, but they take priority, I'm afraid.
I'll try to post as frequently as I can, but don't expect anything major.
As I said last time, here is the information for another machine; this time, we will cover the Boost Wing and XN Raiser;
Model GNR-010/XN
Nickname: XN Raiser
Manufacturer: Celestial Being
Operator(s): Celestial Being
Based on: 0 Raiser
Design Specifications
Power Plant: Large GN Condenser
Height: 9.8 Metres
Standard Weight: 40.3 Metric Tons
Accommodation: Single pilot cockpit only w/ Haro docking port
Known Pilots: Red Haro
Armaments: 2x GN Beam Machinegun, 4x 4-tube missile launcher, GN Buster Sword II, optional 2x 3-tube missile launcher
Systems: Trans-Am and Twin Drive balancers, Quantisation support, advanced engine management
Additional Notes: Based off of the damaged 0 Raiser, the XN Raiser was designed to improve 00 Gundam further than the 0 Raiser managed. The additional bladed foils on the back add to 00's arsenal of swords, while also making the XN Raiser more streamlined. Only compatible with 00 Gundam, though planned to be used for all Gundams initially.
Model GNR-020/C
Nickname: Boost Wing
Manufacturer: Celestial Being
Operator(s): Celestial Being
Based on: 0 Raiser
Design Specifications
Power Plant: 2x GN Condenser, 6x GN Generators
Height: 10.3 Metres
Standard Weight: 38.7 Metric Tons
Accommodation: Single pilot cockpit only w/ Haro docking port
Known Pilots: Blue Haro
Armaments: 4x Shield Bits, 2x GN Beam Rifle
Systems: Mid-air transformation, bit control system, advanced energy control module, advanced targeting system
Additional Notes: Designed solely for Cherudim to improve stability and power balancing in battle, the Boost Wing boasts a huge amount of power for very little weaponry. When docked, the Boost Wing gives Cherudim an improved sight system and higher level of power available at any one moment, resulting in faster fire rate and higher power shots. Can be equipped with an additional GN Rifle II for Cherudim.
Bye, everyone!