Chapter 8
Disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam belongs to both Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate; while
Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri is owned by Takumi Yanai
AN: I would like to give credit to keiman and kei, who did beta on this chapter and who has been a great inspiration to me
October 10, 0079 U.C.
Somewhere within Side 3
There was a knock at the office door of Lieutenant Colonel Killing.
"Enter!"
The door opens and in comes a robust man in his forties sporting a grey mustache, his cropped grey hair covered by a dark-green cap common among many Zeon soldiers with its classic spread-wings motif.
"Lieutenant Steiner Hardy, Cyclops Team, reporting as ordered!" he said, giving off a hard salute as he did.
"At ease, Lieutenant," replied Killing, the blond-haired man with tinted glasses who remained seated at his desk. "According to this," he held up a datapad, "you and your men have almost completed your training with regards to our latest mobile suit models meant for amphibious and underwater warfare?"
"Eighty percent completed, sir. The rest of the training, as I was told, will be conducted and finished on a land base on Earth, in order to get used to the actual gravity and aquatic conditions down there."
Colonel Killing nodded. "The Mission Cyclops Team you will undertake to lead will be dubbed Operation: Gatecrashers. Once training and final preparations are completed, you and your men are to conduct a lightning raid into the capital of Earth Federation Japan, Tokyo, particularly in their Ginza District, where your target, the Gate, is located."
Killing pressed on the datapad's screen and down came a large monitor from the ceiling to the side of the men. It first showed the world map of the Earth with color-coded areas marked red to represent the territories Zeon presently have under their control. The image then zooms in to the Japanese Islands and zooms in further to Tokyo until a full map of the city is shown.
"Mechanized Airborne Divisions from Hawaii and the Philippines will create a diversion and deal with any resistance from the Feds. This will allow Cyclops Team enough time to plant a thermobaric device at the Gate, leave and escape before its detonation. Of course, you can expect heavy resistance near the Gate. Intel indicates that the Feds have finally rolled out their own mobile suits and have been set up to defend the Gate at all costs. But I take it that you can handle yourselves, as your track record states. Otherwise, your group wouldn't have been recommended for this mission." Colonel Killing finishes with a sly smile on his face.
"Cyclops Team will do the job, sir! No, question about it." Steiner replied crisply.
"Good. Then I, through our Supreme Commander, Admiral Gihren, will expect great success from you and your men on this mission, Lieutenant."
October 11, 0079 U.C.
Onboard Komusai Entering Earth's Atmosphere
That is what Lieutenant Hardy recalled in his meeting with Lieutenant Colonel Killing as he stared out the porthole of the Komusai, seeing how Earth's atmosphere was steadily increasing to greet it as the craft continues its descent. He has heard that the Colonel is a hardline supporter of Admiral Gihren and aims to please his superior and idol, no matter who has to be used or tossed aside. The man is an opportunist and a fanatic, as simple as that.
But Steiner does not see that happening to himself and most especially, to his men. They will get the job done or die trying. Of course, he would prefer that they get to live though any mission and laugh off all the messy business war brings over a night of beer and a card game. But he and his team understand the risks; anytime, anywhere, any one of them, or all, will meet their end, preferably in battle. So far, Cyclops Team's roster has remained consistently whole and unshaken to Steiner's relief and great trust that he has for every member of his team, from his second-in-command, 'Pretty Boy' Andy Strauss; the 'Russian' Mikhail Kaminsky; and last but not least to the junior member of the team, Gabriel Ramirez Garcia.
Andy is with Steiner in the lead Komusai, and was meticulously grooming his abundant blond doo with a comb, which he usually does before coming close to striking up a conversation with his old friend and best buddy. "Ain't it a beauty, huh, Stein?"
"Hmmhmm." Steiner grunted, not leaving his view of the outside. Clouds were coming into view as the spacecraft finally entered the atmosphere.
"Look at that! Is that the sea? I've never seen so much water."
"Yes. It's a shame that we only get to marvel all of this from afar. But then again, it is for the best. Had the majority of us been living here, who knows how long such a natural wonder would remain unspoiled."
"Going all softy, Stein?" Andy hummed, mocking his superior.
"Hmph. Maybe. I grow weary over all this fighting. When this war is over, I wish to retire to some peaceful farmland and raise cattle for the rest of my days."
"I hear ya. As for me, I would love to settle down with the one true love of my life."
"You have to find that one lucky someone first, Andy."
"Hey! Are looking down on the charms of the Andi-meister?"
"Attention! We are about to make our final approach. Please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts." the pilot announced on the intercom. Both men did as they were told.
"Work before our dreams." Steiner stated as he clicked his seatbelt on.
"Then let's work for our dreams." Andy added, grinning mischievously.
In the months after Operation British, Zeon conducted several terrestrial landings of their forces on Earth. The 3rd Zeon Terrestrial Landing Force landed on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and from there branched out to Indonesia, Malaysia, and to the Australian continent. Of course, Zeon forces snaked their way to the Visayan Islands and eventually landed and occupied Luzon where the Federation main military bases of Clark and Subic are located. It is Subic Naval Base that is the two Komusais intended destination and it is there that the Cyclops Team is to conduct their final preparations for Operation: Gatecrasher.
"So this is Earth." A stout man with a bonnet emerged out of the second Komusai after landing on the runway of the ex-Federation military facility. "A toast then, for our arrival here!" He brought out a small stainless flask and took a couple of swigs of its contents.
"Hey, Mikhail, go easy with the vodka or whatever. We need you in top shape for the mission here." A tall dark man with a red bandana on his head followed the one named Mikhail, lightly admonishing him for his drinking.
"Hmph. Don't go on telling me, rookie! I know how to handle my liquor. And it's whisky! I may be Russian, but I think vodka is for wusses!"
"Gabriel is right, Mikhail." Steiner, along with Andy, met the other two members of Cyclops Team at the base of the boarding steps. "You won't be needing that for what comes next." He produced an open palm and is waiting for the Russian to hand him the decanter.
"What do you mean?" Mikhail asked, giving his CO a querulous look.
"Flask first. And don't make me repeat myself." Steiner returned Mikhail's frowning with a no nonsense stare that made the Russian not think twice before handing over his booze.
"Good." Steiner began, slipping the drinking vessel into his pocket. "To sober you up really good, a hundred laps around the facility. And that goes you for you two as well." He looked at both Andy and Gabriel, pressing his point on the two.
Both men were taken aback
"What? Me too? Your own best friend?" Andy said.
"Yes, you too, Andy. We're on a mission here. The only personal bonding I expect from you three is to follow my orders to the best of your abilities. We've been through many missions together and we have emerged alive and intact as a team; I expect nothing different on this mission. But, since this is our first assignment here on Earth, I expect all of you to get used to the gravity here first and what better way to do so than by taking a few laps around the base. Now, are there any more questions?"
Gabriel made himself heard. "Just one, Lieutenant. From the sound of it, you're not joining us?"
"No. I've got to see the commander of this base first. Perhaps, if the meeting were to end quickly, I might join you. But," a wicked smile formed on Steiner's face, "if it comes down to that, expect another hundred laps."
The three men loudly groaned in unison.
Alnus Base
October 12, 0079 U.C.
"Bad news, General!" Yanagida started after entering Lt. Gen. Hazama's office.
"Great! What now?" The older officer looked more wrinkly than usual with all of the problems of late which were besetting him with regards to running the base camp. He would have preferred to be fighting the Empire right now than having to deal with political intrigues and saboteurs that probably abound and were threatening to undermine his leadership.
"A media team has just arrived, and well, doing what media teams do best." Yanagida said, feeling for the commander of the expeditionary force.
"Being a pain in the ass, I bet." Hazama finishes. He and Yanagida set out to meet their intrepid and possibly annoying visitors because nothing good ever comes out when the press is around.
"So this is the Special Region. Other than the military atmosphere all around, it seems no different from Earth."
Nanami Kuribayashi, a local reporter from Japan tried to absorb the happenings around her as Federation personnel were busy with their tasks and duties around the base on Alnus Hill.
"Nanami, we're ready when you are!" called out a camerawoman in maverick clothing, TV camera held on her shoulder. She looked rather annoyed and impatient with the budding young reporter's naivety.
"Um, right!" she said, snapping out of it. "How's my hair?" She tried fixing her bangs with a free hand while holding on to a mike on the other.
"It's fine. You look pretty. Now, can we get on with it? We're running on a tight schedule here."
Nanami was about to go on with her take when a bunch of Federation soldiers brashly interrupted her "Hey there, cutey pie! Want to interview us? Get us on camera?" a spokesman of the group said while his fellow buddies were making lewd faces at her.
This startled her and made Nanami nervous. She has been just a few months on the job and her employers made her a field reporter, probably because of her looks, if nothing else. But she has said to herself many times that she had to get her act together and act tough about anything that comes her way just like her big sister, Shino. The uncouth remarks steeled her and she was about to respond when her camerawoman interposed for her.
"Unless you jerks have anything really interesting to share, I suggest you let us do our job here. We don't have time to be screwing around with the likes of you, so take a hike!"
Most of the men jeered at the challenging words of the camerawoman while one just could not let such an attitude slide. "What was that, bitch?"
Nanami looked back and forth between her camerawoman and the insulted soldier, shaking in her boots and dreading a possible brawl between the two others. It would have come to that had there not been an intervention of the situation.
"Hey, you guys! Help us here! Fifth Recon has returned with the Kerensky Corps!" a passing soldier said.
He looked like he was in a hurry and he was not the only one. The base is in a stir as word of the Kerensky Corp's supposed return spread among the personnel.
The face-off between the camerawoman and soldier ended with them staring each other off. The soldier joined up with the rest of his buddies who are heading towards the growing scene in the middle of the camp.
"Nanami! This must be something big! Let's go!"
"Uh. Oh, r-right!"
Nanami and her news team followed. What they saw was reminiscencent of something typical in a war drama scene. Body bags, lots of them being unloaded from the trucks and then being neatly lined up on the ground.
"What happened?" Nanami was beginning to feel sick inside at the gory sight.
"Nanami! We're ready!" The camerawoman was frantically signaling her that she was about to start filming.
"Ok!"
"You're on!"
"Nanami Kuribayashi reporting here from the Special Region. I'm right here in the Federation's FOB, or forward operating base." She brought up her datapad, reading it, which has some notes she jotted down earlier. "Alnus Hill. Right now what I'm seeing could only be described as a tragedy. Body bags being unloaded from these trucks-"
"I'll take that…" Yanagida interceded and suddenly grabbed Nanami's microphone. Several MPs accosted the rest of the news crew and confiscated their equipment and belongings. A few of the crew, particularly the camerawoman, fought back but were eventually overpowered by Federation security.
"General Hazama, what's the meaning of this?" Nanami asked the Federation commander who was present.
"I'm sorry, Miss Kuribayashi. Firstly, I don't know who authorized you and your people to come here. Secondly, you should have come directly to me first before doing any coverage."
"Are you quashing freedom of the press here, General?"
He did not answer her; instead he signaled for a couple of his men to 'escort' the young reporter away.
"The public must know what's happening here! Big sis, if you're here, please help me-Hey! Watch where you're touching me!"
October 13, 0079 U.C.
Road to Alnus
"Are you sure about this?" Kuwahara asked Itami.
"No. But I hate to think what they'll do to her, regardless of whether she actually killed any Federation soldiers or not." Itami replied
"Even if she has already openly admitted to perpetrating the crime? Not to mention how she came to be in possession of a standard-issue firearm which only our forces use." Kuwahara pushed on, not making it easy for Itami who is conflicted on the decision regarding Rory.
Third Recon had backtracked the way they had come, encountering some stragglers of Coda along the way who, more or less, had come to accept the offer of sanctuary and protection back to their base back in Alnus. Even though they have been released from the duty and responsibility of escorting the majority of the villagers, the few ones that remained with them, the ones that had lost family and friends and did not have the capacity to take care of themselves–children and the elderly mostly, did not make the journey back to the base any quicker. This was welcomed by Itami because it afforded him time to think over Rory's ultimate fate but, before he knew it, that time had come and gone and he still did not have a clear-cut decision in mind.
"We don't know for an absolute certainty that she actually killed any Federation soldiers. As for the rifle…she could have picked it up anywhere." Itami defended.
"Then what about the fact that she actually tried to kill us? Are you going to let that slide?" Kuwahara continued with his badgering, re-igniting the friction between the two men which had begun some time ago.
At this point, Rory, who is lying on a cot on the ground, decided to interject into the discussion of these two.
"Um, can anybody please tell me what this is all about, that is, having you two arguing?" she asked.
"Shut up! Just lie there and keep quiet!" Kuwahara snapped at her, his predisposition over the demigoddess obviously having not changed since the incident.
Kuribayashi sighed and decided to butt in. "They're arguing for your sake. Our softy Lieutenant here is thinking of letting you go while Pops wants to bring you in for questioning. But if you really killed our people, as you claim, expect no sympathy. At the very least, you'll probably get the firing squad."
While what Shino said is just not possible, since she is virtually invincible and thus cannot be killed, Rory could understand where all this issue was heading. She does feel a genuine sense of regret for what she had done but the thought of having to separate from Itami frightened her. For personal reasons, she needs him and dhe will do anything to ensure that it becomes so, even if it means having to go through any punishment that awaited her.
"Please, help me up." she requested.
Itami nodded to Kurokawa who in turn helped the crippled girl to sit up.
"Give me your hand." she asked Itami, bringing forth an outstretched hand of hers.
While puzzled by the request, Itami did so anyway. Rory took hold of his hand, then suddenly lunged and bit deep into his arm, drawing blood. Itami cried out. Both Kurokawa and Kuwahara helped in separating the biting girl from their squad leader which they finally managed so to do. Rory, with a euphoric expression on her face, savored every last drop of blood she was able to draw from Itami by licking it clean from her mouth and lips. Sickened by what the girl had just done, Kuwahara wanted to go at it with her but he was stopped by Itami.
"It's alright! Really, it's nothing." Itami assured him, but he cringed from the pain of the wound.
"She's like an aswang." Rodriguez commented, eyes wide with awe.
"A what?" Linguine asked him.
"A sort of vampire or ghoul in our folklore. Just seeing her doing that," referring to the bloodletting he had just seen, "gives me the creeps."
"Man! I know that was so wrong on so many levels but a loli magic girl doing a vampire thing is just too much!" Kurata was getting excited over the whole happening for the wrong reasons, which earned him a few deathly stares in his direction.
"It is done…I've made a blood pact with you…Itami, correct? With this bond I have shared part of my essence to your being. In effect, I've become a servant, or, if you prefer, a slave, to you. It should abate my final submission to Emory's will."
The people around her gave her doubtful looks. She sighed and further elaborated for their sakes.
"It simply means that I won't be killing indiscriminately from now on while the pact is in effect. You have Itami here to thank for that, for putting me down."
"In other words, we were nothing more than chopped liver without the Lieutenant?" Morgan offered his two cents into the discussion from the Bloodhound's gun turret.
Many would disagree with the Papua, New Guinean's assessment; for it was Third Recon's combined effort that had led to Rory's defeat and teh successful protection of the Coda caravan.
"Really? Just like that?" Itami examined the wound on his arm while flexing it. Rory's bite marks are visible and have bitten deep into his flesh. Kurokawa had already shifted to him and examined his injury.
"Cut the bull! What did you actually do, you little…" Kuwahara could barely control himself, but the serious look coming from Itami told him to stand down. He merely snorted. "If I were you, I'd have that wound properly checked and tended to. Who knows if she has rabies or something."
"She's not a dog, Pops." Itami defended.
"Hmph. She could have fooled me."
Rory did not mind Kuwahara's crass comment. "Making a blood pact with someone is no trifling matter. You should be honored, if not grateful, that I've done such a thing for you are the very first person that I've ever done it with."
"I am flattered and all, Rory. But why do it? I'm planning to let you go anyway. Regardless of what anyone says." he looks at the others around him, not caring what they think of him or what he had in mind "I'll take full responsibly for my actions and I don't mind if any of you report me for my infractions." His stare stayed longest on Kuwahara.
The rest of Third Recon remained silent, either not wanting to go against their CO's wishes or, they too, like Itami, were conflicted on what to do with a case like that of Rory's. Ultimately, good or bad, it is Itami's decision.
"Mari, help me with Rory's legs." he asked the female field medic.
Kurokawa brought forth and unpacked the severed limbs. Both still appeared raw in spite of the long period of time that had passed since they had been violently separated from their owner, a testament to Rory's claim of her unusual makeup, being an immortal being of sorts.
Both Itami and Kurokawa went about unwrapping Rory's bandages at her stumps. They are soon assisted by Kuribayashi and Kurata, to the surprise of both Itami and Rory. Finally, both Rodriguez and Linguine joined them by helping in 'connecting' the demigoddess's legs. To everyone's amazement, the girl's lower limbs are repairing themselves: flesh, tendon, and bone, until there are no indications that they were damaged, much less, torn apart earlier. Everyone backed away, to allow Rory to stand and test her bearing.
She mischievously looked over and smiled at Itami. "Regardless of your decision, Itami, I'll be going with you. Not just because the pact I made with you is binding, but because I personally want to go and be with you, no matter what."
Itami sighed. "Do what you wish. But like Pops said, I can't guarantee your welfare once we reach Alnus. If they ever bring up the issue regarding…"
"But you will not tell them; am I right? At least not in the way you should." she said, her impish smile still remaining. Though deep inside of herself, Rory really does not want things to get any harder for everyone involved, most especially Itami.
"Let her come along then, if that's what she wants." said Kuwahara. "However, she ain't getting hold of her weapon. Not even on the base." The older soldier intently looked at Rory, pushing his point. "One stupid move from you and it will be over. You got that?"
She merely smirked at the threat. "If that is what it will take to earn your trust and put all your fears and worries to rest, so be it. I agree to the terms."
And with that, Third Recon and the survivors proceeded on the last leg of their journey back to Alnus Hill. A cloud of apprehension still hung over the group, not just regarding Rory, but also because of what fate awaited the refugees. Will they be accepted or will they be turned away? All of these concerns will be addressed once they reach the base. As for Rory, she could not help feeling guilty over the fabrication regarding her blood pact with Itami.
I'm so sorry for lying to you, Itami. The blood pact is not what you think is, but it is the least I could do when the time comes. What is true, however, is what I sense in you; something that I yearn for that transcends blood pacts and being an Apostle of a death god. I wish that you show it to me, Itami…