Gundam SEED Destiny: Kira

by Tellemicus Sundance

He had no memory, found drifting amongst the final battlefield. Two years of peace have passed since that day, unrest and distrust are again rising. This is the story on how he recovers what he lost, what he forgot, and what he never knew he had. DISCONTINUED

2. Diamonds in the Junk

Gundam SEED Destiny
Kira
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Phase 2: Diamonds in the Junk

253 Mathilde Asteroid
Two days later, 7:02am

Dressed in a simple green jacket and black flight suit pants, Akira silently watched all around him as he slowly walked down the hallway. Even if Captain Brimfield hadn't informed him, Akira could've easily figured out that he was currently walking somewhere within an asteroid. The hallways all had a rather distinctive roughness about them. There were even little plants growing in pots along the sides of the hall. The ceiling lights, some flickering and other completely broken, were roughly spaced out with cables running from one to the next. However, the biggest hint that he was on an asteroid was the noticeable lack of real gravity.

He wasn't sure where he was going. Only that he felt an overpowering need to get away from the infirmary and explore. It was suffocating in a sense to be cooped up in bed all day, especially when he was feeling much better. So, against Rokrona's orders, Akira left the room and promptly got lost in his new surroundings. The colony itself seemed strangely for its size. If Akira's estimate was correct, it should've been able to house easily five thousand people at any given time. And while there were a few women every so often, there seemed to be no real families or children anyway. It wasn't anything to alarm him, but it just seemed strange. He didn't really like the still silence that hung heavily in the hallways.

Reaching the end of the hallway, he found himself floating in front of a sealed door. Through the reinforced window, he could see it was some kind of laboratory or designing room since there were a number of old-fashioned computers with the desks and tables covered in various amounts of papers, files, and folders. Curiously, after fiddling with the locking mechanism on the door, Akira entered the room.

After quickly surveying some of the papers, Akira blinked in surprise. Shuffling through the other papers, he couldn't help but stare. These were some of the original blueprints for the ZGMF-1017 GINN, the first mobile suit ZAFT had ever created! What were these doing here! Wait; was this colony actually an old mobile suit construction and testing facility?!

Hurrying over to the nearest computer, he quickly booted up the old machine. Almost immediately he came across a problem. The main software was a complete mess, programs scattered erratically throughout the entire mainframe that instantly shutdown the entire computer upon attempted access. This was the work of a virus, how he knew this he didn't know. Well, he'd just have to clean this mess up if he wanted any real answers then.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

11:28am

It was taking all of Captain Brimfield's willpower to prevent himself from gawking and to maintain his patented cool expression. Compared to his colleagues, he was perfectly normal. All the rest of his crew were scrambling around, examining, and excitedly yelling out comments and discoveries among themselves. They had all the enthusiasm and energy of a five-year-old on Christmas day. And why shouldn't they?

They had found the crown jewel of all treasures!

Resting on the bay floor in the midst of thousands of other mobile suit components was what remained of the torso of one of ZAFT's most advanced mobile suits. Even badly charred, powered down, missing its headpiece, the right shoulder, right arm, right shin, its beam rifle, and its signature blue wings, the ZGMF-X10A Freedom was an incredible sight to behold. Coupled with pieces of other mobile suits, including the gun-shield of the Earth Alliance's Calamity, the beam-deflector shields of the Forbidden, and a high-grade beam bazooka, this was the best haul they'd ever made!

"Ohajin," Brimfield said, his voice deceptively plain. "Get Professor K in here. I want the Freedom repaired at all costs."

"Yes sir!" Ohajin said, immediately leaping away to fetch the professor.

As a pirate, Brimfield was always looking for the next great prize to steal. The Freedom definitely ranked up among the highest prizes anywhere, especially if the rumors of it being nuclear-powered were true. However, Brimfield also knew another commonly overlooked fact about the Freedom. He and his own pilots were capable, but nothing overly remarkable. Only the most truly skilled of all pilots could've even considered climbing into its cockpit and be able to use it to its fullest potential. And the Freedom's previous pilot had certainly been such a man.

And as tempting as it was to think about adding this mobile suit his contingent, he also knew that it would ultimately be a foolish idea. The former pilot of the Freedom had rapidly become something akin to a martyr. He and Athrun Zala were being hailed as two of humanity's greatest heroes, more-so by Coordinators than Naturals. To add the Freedom to his collection would be an open invitation to ZAFT, the EA, and even Orb to come pirate-hunting. But that wasn't to say that he couldn't have his men dismantle, examine, and mass produce its technological wonders into their own machines.

"Quite a haul you've brought in this time, Jonas," a feminine voice said from the side. "I hear you've even brought back an amnesic pilot as well."

"Professor K," Brimfield greeted neutrally. "I trust I don't have to tell you what needs to be done here, right?"

"Of course not," K said as she turned her hull-gray eyes upon the wreck before her. "Would you like my preliminary assessment of it?" Not waiting for an answer, K continued, flicking her long red hair back over her shoulder. "The internal propulsion drive is likely fried to a crisp. The ultra-compact fission reactor is ruptured. The emergency shutdown and safety cooling systems are just barely preventing a complete meltdown. Structural damage is clearly immense, suggesting an even greater degree of internal damages as well. And finally, I predict no less than seven of the ion pumps have been destroyed, probably when its idiot of a pilot made his final charge."

Professor K was a real genius at mobile suit design and engineering, obviously. Had she not had some…troubles while attempting to join the ZAFT Experimental Weaponry Research Division, Brimfield had little doubt that she'd have been one of ZAFT's leading personnel in the development of their newest weapons. Yet, by an arguable stroke of bad luck, she'd been forced to flee the PLANTs and took refuge on the Mathilde Colony, using the alias of 'Professor K.'

"Sounds like you're really looking forward to the job," Brimfield commented dryly. "Please be sure to give it your best efforts when you restore it. This mobile suit will fetch an incredible price, even in its current state. The better restored it is, the higher the price will be."

There was a ghost of a smile on the woman's lips as she glanced at her esteemed colleague out of the corner of her eye. Then she looked away and fully entered her 'Madam Genius' state of mind as she lightly jumped up to the wrecked machine and started yelling out orders to the crew.

A beeping sound on his communicator drew his attention away. Grabbing the offending object he switched it on. "Captain!" a voice said, a noticeable note of panic present. "You're not going to believe this!"

"What is it?" he asked, jumping over towards the entry way where it was quieter.

"Our Colony network is detecting activity within the East Wing on Level Two!" the voice said. "I've tried shutting it down using our failsafe systems, but they're not responding!"

Immediately Brimfield understood the man's panic. When his crew had stumbled upon this colony about seven years earlier, the original colonists had already long since fled. Apparently there had been rumors of a Blue Cosmos attack that promised a repeat of the Mendel Incident. The terrorists had indeed attempted to follow through with their threats, but the abandoning ZAFT personnel had left behind a rather nasty surprise. Apparently they had been planning on disbanding the colony for a while, so they had programmed their computer network to target and kill all living people who approached or entered the colony, using their automated defense system.

Years after that incident, the defense system had all but shut itself down to conserve what remaining power it had. When Brimfield arrived, he'd quickly hacked into the computers to disable the network using a powerful computer virus since he couldn't undo what the ZAFT geniuses had created. After that, it was reasonably simple for he and his crew to install their own up-to-date network. If the original ZAFT network had finally managed to adapt to and bypass the virus, the crew of the Early Harvest would certainly become target practice for the killer network!

"I understand," he said, speaking a little louder due to his own sudden fear. "Continue surveying the situation and report any changes to me immediately." Turning back to face his blissfully ignorant crew, Brimfield called out, "Hidai! Saketa!"

"Hai?" the aforementioned men responded as they dropped down in front of him.

"We have a situation in the East Wing, Level Two," he said, his sharp gaze conveying the seriousness of his statement. "I need you to investigate, but suit up for possible biological and projectile weaponry."

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

12:03pm

"Change the coolant flow to half speed, adjust laser focusing point from one-point-zero-three to point-zero-zero-zero-zero-seven, switch the automated heat designator to manual targeting. All systems green." Akira muttered to himself as he sat crouched over the computer screen, his fingers seeming to randomly dance across the keyboard.

He wasn't sure why he was doing this, only that it felt…natural, right. The sensation of doing this type of work filled him with a strange sense of bitter longing. It was like the equivalent of riding a bicycle for the first time after almost three years. It was a little scary at first, but once you started moving, the more comfortable you became until it was as though you'd never stopped riding that bicycle. It felt like he'd done this countless times before and now he was merely falling back into a state of mind that was both familiar and alien at the same time.

So focused on his work, Akira didn't even notice that he had company. The two men, former ZAFT Special Forces before their disgrace at the Endymion Crater, were dressed in heavy armor and wore protective masks over their faces. They exchanged silent glances of confusion and annoyance before entering the room.

"What are you doing in here, boy?" Hidai demanded loudly, his voice causing the boy to practically jump out of his chair in fright. "This entire Wing is off-limits! Do you have any idea what could happen if you accidentally set off the defense system?!"

"We'd all die," Akira answered bluntly, still staring a little wide-eyed at the men who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "But you don't have to worry about that anymore though. I erased a few programs and made some new ones."

"What are you talking about?" Saketa asked, eyeing the boy as though he'd lost his mind. "These computers have been plagued with viruses since before we even arrived here. And these are ZAFT military defense systems. If Captain Brimfield couldn't hack into and shut them down, then no one can!"

"Yeah, I know he caused the virus," Akira corrected, turning his attention back to his computer screen. "I just had to hack and cancel a few programs and system commands here and there to put the automated defense on indefinite standby." Calling up a few screens, he scooted over to offer the men a view and began pointing out a few key points to them so they'd understand.

"Captain," Hidai said, speaking in his communicator. "I think you should come see this. That kid did…something to the network here."

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

12:17pm

"I can't believe this," Brimfield muttered, more to himself than any of the others who'd crowded into the room. He was currently scrolling through the restored original ZAFT network with barely-noticeable wide eyes. He had spent the last seven years trying to slowly piece the network back together so that he'd not have to worry about his crew falling under attack. And this amnesic pilot, probably not even old enough to legally drink, had just come and fixed it in under an hour of booting it up! "This is incredible."

"You don't know the half of it!" Professor K piped up from the computer terminal that she was sitting in front of. After a request from Saketa, who was also quite experienced in mobile suit development, K had joined them in the room to examine the new designs Akira had been working on. "These are just ingenious! I never would've even considered reducing the power output of the MMI-M8A3 76mm heavy assault machine gun that the GINN used to use for an increased rapid-fire rate."

As K began babbling to herself about the seemingly insignificant adjustments that caused an overall increased efficiency rate, Brimfield turned to look sharply up at the slightly embarrassed teenager. "How is it that you cannot remember your real name, yet are a genius of computer programs and mobile suit designs, Iyadomi?"

Rubbing the back of his neck bashfully, Akira couldn't help but glance away. "I don't know, Captain…I just do."

Humming to himself as he contemplatively eyed the teenager, Brimfield considered his options. Clearly this boy had skills galore, but were they limited to simply computer analysis and suit designs? Obviously, Akira didn't even know that he could do these things until he sat down and somehow pulled the information out of his damaged memories. If that was true…what would happen if he put the boy in the cockpit of one of his GINNs?

Standing up abruptly, he turned and crossed his arms over his chest into a position that brooked no argument among his crew. "I believe I may have found a use for you while you're here, Iyadomi." Seeing the boy's curious gaze, Brimfield turned to Hidai. "Hidai, take Akira here and get him suited up. We're going to have a little fun."

Upon seeing Hidai's answering sneer to his Captain's statement, Akira couldn't help but feel a sudden urge to flee. They were planning something, something he was likely not going to enjoy!

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

2:35pm

"Am I the only one who thinks this is a little ridiculous?" Akira asked over the comm. "How do any of you even know that I won't accidentally crash into the asteroid?"

He sat in the cockpit of an old, badly dented GINN, wearing the same flight suit that he'd been found in a week ago. In front of him were three other mobile suits; the Captain's 'newly acquired' Strike Dagger, a purple and white tiger-striped CGUE that Hidai piloted, and a maroon GINN whose pilot Akira hadn't met yet. All four suits were carrying a standard GINN sword and their beam rifles' power settings were set low enough that even if the beams did strike, it would only knock the suit around.

"Life is ridiculous, boy," the unnamed pilot cheerfully answered. "The sooner you accept that fact, the happier you'll be in the long run. Trust me, I know."

"That's enough chitchat, Goldie," Brimfield said, hitting the GINN's torso with the flat of his blade just hard enough to send a painful ringing noise throughout its interior. "Remember, this is a standard training exercise."

"Are you serious, Captain?!" Goldie cried out, a clear whine in his voice.

"What's that mean?" Akira asked, somehow knowing he wasn't going to like the answer.

"It means the losers have kitchen, latrine, and hallway clean-up duty tonight," Hidai responded, his voice resolutely neutral. "And the crew tends to get very…messy after a long voyage."

"Shit," Akira muttered to himself. He just knew that that was what he would be doing after dinner tonight!

"Pay attention!" Brimfield yelled as his mobile suit charged forward without warning, sword raised in preparation.

With only a second's hesitation, Akira boosted the GINN's engines and sent it rocketing upward, narrowly avoiding the Captain's vicious slash. Awkwardly adjusting the GINN's position, Akira reversed its trajectory and came down upon Brimfield's suit, sword already cocked back to swing. Brimfield's suit didn't even need to look up to see the descending GINN. The Captain merely punched the thrusters and shot away safely, leaving the GINN to make an awkward landing.

Seeing an opportunity, Hidai and Goldie rushed. Spotting their charging forms in the corner of his eye, Akira simultaneously brought his sword up to block while having his GINN jump to the side. Sparks erupted off his blade as Hidai's sword was roughly deflected to the side. Goldie, with awesome reflexes, caught his footing and immediately gave pursuit to the fleeing GINN. Pushing the old GINN's thrusters to the maximum, Akira pulled out the GINN's rifle with its spare hand and began to aimlessly fire shots at the attacking GINN.

"Never lose sight of your enemies!" the Captain's voice called out as a sudden impact knocked Akira about the cockpit very roughly. The added g-forces made the impact even worse. Something grabbed a hold of his GINN's right arm and threw him to the side as though he were a lightweight. Only a split-second save by Akira's once again blasting the engines prevented him from crashing into the cliff behind him.

Just as he was about to raise his rifle to fire, he became acutely aware of the Strike Dagger's sword resting within inches of his GINN's cockpit. Panting slightly now that he had a chance to breathe, Akira stared at the Captain's mobile suit while the other two approached from the sides.

"How did we beat you?" Brimfield asked as he opened visual communications.

"It's three on one," Akira said, trying to keep his irritation out of his voice. "and I'm using this piece of junk GINN…Besides you're all a lot better pilots than I am."

"That is wrong on two counts," Brimfield said, shaking his head while staring sternly at the teenager. "Even the best equipment in the world would not stand a chance against a person who was familiar and comfortable with the most outdated model. If you and I were to switch our mobile suits, who would win? I would, of course, because I'm more experienced with the GINN than this Strike Dagger."

Then the Captain gave Akira a small smile as he continued, "Besides, your reflexes are superb. You've been able to dodge or deflect all of our attacks so far and have been able to avoid crashing despite us not giving you much of a chance to fight back." Now the Captain's frown returned full force. "Your problem most likely is you're focusing too much on fighting us one on one. You need to develop your spatial awareness more if you ever hope to survive in mobile suit combat again."

"Yes sir," Akira said quietly. He nodded his head to prevent the man from being able to see his frown. Akira really didn't want to have to fight again, that much he knew for sure.

"Good," Brimfield stated with a note of finality to his voice. "Now, are you defeated or merely resting?"

Looking up in confusion, Akira stared at the Captain. What did he mean by that? Defeated or merely resting…? Then it hit him: the Captain was giving him the chance to back down or to continue. Well considering that he'd likely have to do 'clean-up duty' if he back down, Akira's response to the question was to finally bring the barrel of the rifle up in the direction of the Strike Dagger's cockpit. That action, not matter how slight it may have been, was enough to cause the Brimfield to back away quickly.

The fight resumed in earnest.

KIRA – Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny – KIRA

11:31pm

After laying the exhausted boy down on the bed in the quarters that had been given to him, Brimfield silently left the boy to sleep in peace. He had run Akira through a series of exercises and duels in the GINN for almost seven hours straight, stopping only to change suits when the ones they were using ran out of power. Despite the boy's best efforts, he was still condemned to the gruesome experience of dishwashing, mopping, and alcohol-induced vomit-cleaning. Those chores had taken him a very long time to complete due to the sheer amount he had to sanitize, with some help from Hidai and Goldie who had taken pity on him after the first three hours.

Now Brimfield sat in his personal office, reviewing the total inventory of the parts they'd collected on their most recent trip. With all these parts, they could easily reassemble nearly six individual squadrons. And the bonus of selling a rebuilt-Freedom to ZAFT would have him and his crew set for life. It was a fanciful thought, but he knew he'd miss this life of scavenging, pirating, and danger.

"Still up I see," a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts from the doorway.

"You really need to learn to knock, K," he growled out in his annoyance. Why did she always, without fail, do that?! "What do you need? I'm busy."

"What do you plan to do with that kid? Iyadomi, was that his name?" K asked, moving into the room so the door could close properly.

"I had just planned on helping him get back onto his feet and then take him to the PLANTs when he's ready," Brimfield answered as he set down the inventory reports to face the redhead. "Why?"

Smiling in that 'almost knowing' way that she knew annoyed him, K said, "I didn't realize you'd adopted the policy of retraining mobile suit pilots, especially amnesic pilots…You wanna keep him, don't you?"

Forgoing their usual games of denial and retaliation, Brimfield nodded ever so slightly. "The kid is just amazing. In the time it took him to master flying those GINN units, I had been still be struggling at figuring out which button was used to boost the engines and which to fire the rifle. He will make an incredible pilot someday, especially if he can regain his memories."

Sighing dramatically, K shook her head almost woefully. "Men and their toys of mass destruction." Seeing Brimfield giving her that glare, the one which usually resulted in her rapid exit of his room, she said, "I want Iyadomi to help me with a few things tomorrow when we begin to dismantle and reconstruct the Freedom. I have a feeling his level of expertise in mobile suit design could be easily transferred to maintenance and repair. He'd be an invaluable assistant."

Staring at K with his usual hard gaze, Brimfield thought her request over carefully. He really wanted to give Akira more practice within mobile suit cockpits as soon as possible. However, he could also see the potential of K's request.

Letting out a weary sigh, he said, "We'll see what Iyadomi says tomorrow. Now leave."

"You really need to lighten up a bit, old man," K muttered smiling, knowing that she was annoying him all the more. Honestly, Brimfield was just too easily to tease sometimes.

---

(Author's Note) Man, I must be more obsessed with this story idea than I'd originally thought; to get the second chapter out mere days after the first one?! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I was trying to show that no matter what happens, Akira is still Kira at heart. That being said, I figured that he could/should regain some of his older talents rather quickly. This is extremely important for the storyline as a whole; the sooner he's able to re-master those skills again, the better.

The following is a little background information on the Early Harvest. If you want to see a picture of what it looks like, use this link. www(dot)mahq(dot)net/mecha/gundam/index(dot)htm. Please note that the corresponding picture is not entirely accurate.

EARLY HARVEST
Class: Cornelius
Unit type: salvage ship (heavily modified)
Manufacturer: Morgenroete, Inc
Operator: Captain Jonas Brimfield, crew
First deployment: unknown
Dimensions: unknown
Wingspan: unknown
Weight: unknown
Propulsion: unknown
Equipment and design features:
Mirage Colloid
Sensors, range unknown
Fixed armaments:
4 x manipulator arms, mounted on hull
2 x shield, mounted on aft hull
2 x "Lohengrin" positron blaster gun
1 x "Gottfried Mk.71" 225cm high-energy beam cannon, mounted on bow hull in front of the bridge
10 x surface-to-ship missile launchers
8 x surface-to-air missile launchers
Mobile weapons:
? x ZGMF-1017 GINN
? x GAT-01 Strike Dagger
? x ZGMF-515 CGUE
Launch catapults: 2