Ch 2 – Astraea
As for the current status of the world, it had been divided into 3 main power blocs across the world in light of these Orbital Spires. One would be dominated by the World Imperium, an imperial monarchy whom later triggered a Solar War for the sake of monopolisation of its Solar Energy. Another one would be used by the Indian-Chinese Federation, something like a new Soviet Union reborn, but without Russia.
The last one was still being built in Kenya, and partitioned to the Euro Universe. As the former European Union's successor state, they had absorbed Russia, Turkey, continental Europe and even the former Soviet Union except for Central Asia. Because of the problems surrounding the incompletion of its Orbital Spire, the EU faced multiple problems and tried to increase military power within its borders.
And now, Marlene and Rudio had sortie off to the EU, actually Italy. There, a theft had taken place and it was of something rather powerful… known then as a secret weapon of the EU during the Solar Wars.
EU Military Facility, United Italian States, Euro Universe
The United Italian States was the successor state to Italy, after incorporating the Vatican City, Malta, and San Marino in its system. Its Chief Consul would be the Head of State, and the Vice Consul served as Head of Government.
Along the eastern shores of the Italian coast facing the Balkans, there was a military base of the EU there. However, after the recent theft, security had been increased and the buildings there stil showed signs of the fight that had gone through there.
Walking into the base, it was both Rudio and Marlene. However, instead of their usual clothing, they donned the deep green uniform of the Italy Contingent of the EU. They then approached one of the Italian soldiers, who was resting on a bench and had his arm wrapped in a cast.
"You two must be the new people transferred here recently," he spoke.
"Hey there, quite a mess you got here," Rudio said, "did something happen here of late?"
"Yah, and quite a disaster at that," the soldier wondered.
"We are from the Sardinia base and have been ordered here," Rudio answered, "I am… Franco Mussulino and she's…"
"You can call me Theresa Kario," Marlene said.
"And I am Lieutenant Emilio Ribisi. Let me fill you guys in on the details," he said, "it was only last night, and I was on patrol duty that time. And then, I saw a suspicious Hellion lurking around."
"Could it be an inside job?" Rudio suggested.
"Couldn't be, ," Emilio said, "It even have to shoot down the gate containing the…Agrissa."
"Agrissa?!" wondered "Theresa".
"Yup, the Mobile Armour that secured the Continent from further invasion of the Imperium during the Siege of Normandy," Emilio said, "anyways, I got a group of my people ready to take down the threat. However, that Hellion managed to dock in with an Agrissa already and fought against us."
"And he escaped in the end," "Franco" said.
"And this injury was only the lucky one," Emilio said, "some of my comrades even wind up in hospital because of that guy. But I fear what he would do with the Agrissa more…"
"Don't you worry Emilio," "Franco" said, "that's why we are here for, to investigate this matter."
"Thanks you two," Emilio said, "I do seem to recall that the terrorist fled towards the West…"
And then, the two incognito Meisters left the area immediately and out of the main gate. Once they were outside in the forest nearby, Rudio took out a small device and pressed it. Suddenly, the Gundams Astraea and Abulhool appeared from their cloaking ability.
"Too bad the cloaking device can't operate while the Gundam itself in motion," Marlene sighed.
"Regardless, let's fly out West," Rudio said.
As the two Gundams flew off to the skies, they flew over the EU military base. Emilio saw the two images in the sky, and took out binoculars to see them.
"Huh? What are those Suits?" he questioned to himself.
Area 51, Disraeli Province, World Imperium
Inside the underground base Area 51, Lelouch happened to be strolling around the halls and rooms within the base. In a certain room, he saw the girl Chall and she was tending to a young girl with resting in a small bed.
"Lelouch, hello," she greeted.
"Chall, I was just walking around here to see the things here," Lelouch answered, "and who's the girl?"
"Feldt Grace, the sole child of Rudio and Marlene," Chall explained, "She is only three years behind you, I believe."
"So they have a child… but what would become of her?" Lelouch asked.
"Well, she is already selected by Veda by default to work her life in Celestial Being," Chall said sadly, "she's quite unlucky here. Her whole future had already been dictated by her birthright."
"And you," Lelouch said, "was yours dictated by birth too?"
"No, but fate is different plans for me," Chall said, "I was of the Imperium aristocracy not long ago, the Marquisate of Wellston. Nonetheless, my family was murdered."
"By whom?" asked Lelouch.
"My father's company dealt with arms and tends to sell Mobile Suits to both opposing sides of a war," Chall said, "So he has pretty much enemies with most people."
"Reality is always quite harsh with people sometimes," Lelouch said.
"And yet we must deal with it," Chall said, "that's why I chose to be a Gundam Meister… so that I can atone for my father's sins and stop the spiralling conflict that came from the greed of my father, the late Marquis of Wellston."
"I should find a cause to fight for…something to surge me forward…" Lelouch said.
And then, a forth person came into the room. He was that man whom Jeremiah spoke to earlier on, Grave Violento.
"Hello, you must be Lelouch," he greeted.
"Grave Violento, an intelligence agent of Celestial Being," Chall said, "don't worry, he's friendly with people."
"Indeed, and I am here for important analytical reasons too," Grave said, "there had been a theft of the Agrissa in the EU military base, and Rudio had sent me confirmation from a soldier there that it may be the work of terrorists."
"And who it may be?" Chall asked.
"I have my hunches, but will need the confirm from Rudio first," Grave said.
"Can you send me the data on the case?" Lelouch wondered, "I would like to examine it myself."
"Right away, sir," Grave said.
Villa Fiche, Marseilles, French Republic, EU
Marseilles was a prominent city of France, a leading EU state alongside Germany and Russia. On its outskirts, there was the Villa Fiche. There, a few men of a shadowy group were discussing in the board room, with a man standing behind all of them.
"With all due respects, the costs of such an operation is quite consuming," a man of the group said, "What I'm saying here is if we have the resources to…"
"We already have amassed the necessities for it," another man of the group said, "that's why we stole the Agrissa in the first place."
"And our targeted place, it has been checked for the security," a third man said, "and we are all cleared from the Fatherland Warning System if we launch the virus on time."
"All that's left is our pilot of course," the fourth man said, "you will be ready, Robert."
The man from behind then looked up at them and walked in front.
"Yah, I am already prepared for the worst," Robert said, "if anything goes wrong, I will cut all ties with this organisation. You have my trust, Doctor."
"Indeed Robert, judgment shall be placed over the murderers," the Doctor said, "and this is our cry against the tyrants."
Area 51, Disraeli Province, World Imperium
In the base, Lelouch was typing madly on the computer mainframe. Grave and Chall were beside him and helped in with his work. On the screen, there were dozens of various news and other events.
"Yup, there had been a purchase for explosives from a military contractor in Russia," Chall said, "enough to blow up half of Nanyang (Singapore) for instance…not including the fallout of course."
"And someone bought oil from the Saudi Empire," Grave added, "oil is worthless now with solar energy, so what use they could do?"
"Flammability, it can start up quite a mess," Lelouch said, "the Agrissa that was stolen was intended as a hovercraft to contain and transport over vast distances, thanks to its powerful boosters. In fact, any Hellion Medium can easily fly that thing."
"So we got a fast moving carrier unit, flammable oil, and explosives able to devastate a small city," Grave summarised, "whatever could they all mean?"
"It is now as clear as day!" Lelouch declared, "We are having a terrorist attack!"
"But it could be anywhere and any time," Grave said.
"There had been a purchase in Russia," Chall realised, "so there should be a buyer and his details."
"True, but it will be easier with the Saudis instead," Lelouch claimed.
"And why is that?" Grave asked.
"Only that they are poor desperate people who reacted badly to the oil downturn and resorted to invading its neighbours all across Arabia," Lelouch said, "They would do anything for extra cash and known to have blamed the Imperium and EU for the oil embargo."
"I have a contact in Suille as a coincidence," Grave said, "the Emirate of Suille; it is still a powerful nation along Arabia's Western Seaboard near the Suez."
"They live off mineral resources and information trade; they ought to know all that is going on in the region and even beyond," Lelouch said, "set up your contact."
"At once sir," Grave replied.
The Royal Palace, Suille City, Emirate of Suille
The Saudi Empire had dominated almost all of Arabia, after conquering Yemen and over half of Oman. However, parts of its West managed to break off with the Empire. The small region was a coastal place centred on the city of Suille, where minerals had been found in Year 2014.
After succession, the governor had declared Suille and a large area surrounding it a free sovereign state as the Emirate of Suille. From there, he became the Emir of the city and his family was established as the ruling house. Currently, Grave was strolling along the Palace with the Royal Chamberlain, Salem al-Gaza.
"Okay al-Gaza, your patrons are one of the best in info warfare around these parts," Grave said, "So what's the word on a recent oil purchase from the Saudis?"
"Don't be absurd, the oil is now worthless!" Salem exclaimed, "no one will be in their right minds in buy such stuff."
"Not unless they want to go by unnoticed and through the really black market at that," Grave said, "so what's the word?"
"Uh… if you really want to know, then I see no harm…" Salem admitted, "It was… it was…"
He gazed around and came up to Grave's ears. Then, he whispered something into it.
"It was an order of 200 gallons under a corporation called the DRL," he said.
"DRL? And they are…" Grave said.
"I'm afraid that the House of al-Suille only knows this much," he responded, "Now please leave before the Saudis invade us again, or your safety will not be guaranteed."
Atlantic Airspace, approx. above the Atlantic
Just above the Atlantic Ocean, both Gundams Astraea and Abdulhool were flying over the region. Suddenly, they received in a call.
"Looks like there's nothing around here…" Marlene said.
Lelouch's voice then spoke through the 2 units.
"As a foreword, this link is established between us in Area 51, and the two Gundams," Lelouch said, "we have identified the culprits behind firstly."
"So who it was?" asked Rudio.
"The DRL as one would call then, it stands for Democratic Revolutionary Legion," Lelouch said, "they are a group originating in Marseilles by a Dr. Eduard Fiche. Like the historian that was the doctor, they aim to bring forth a revolution on the scale of France and Russia upon the World Imperium and other monarchic states."
"And I assume they are terrorists here," Marlene said, "one of those anti-monarchists here."
"They are a wanted terrorist cell in the Imperium, 28 EU states, the Gulf Federation and Suille," Lelouch said, "I believe they plan to destroy an important site built in the name of imperial power."
"They could be anything at all," Rudio said, "like Saint Basil's Cathedral, the Kremlin, Notre Dame, Forbidden City…"
"But the most prominent monument of imperial power is among the lead in the world, the World Imperium," Lelouch mentioned, "you are to locate the assault for an intervention."
Suddenly, something else flew in towards the two Gundams and past them. It was the Agrissa unit, but had a Hellion docked to it already. It was not under standard EU aquamarine colours, but in a red tone; red being the colour of revolution and bloodshed.
"That looks like our guy to me," Marlene said, "GN Missiles firing away!"
Suddenly, Gundam Abdulhool launched away a volley of missiles away. However, the attack was simply stopped by an electro-field put up by the Agrissa.
"Just to let you know, I can see into your actions," Lelouch said, "this thing seems to be able to form some kind of electromagnetic shielding."
"Then we must get close enough to it," Rudio said.
'Indeed, I will coordinate you two from here," Lelouch said, "Rudio, get near to the enemy unit."
"My Astraea will tale care of it," he said, "And you better take care of dear Feldt."
Suddenly, Gundam Astraea sped towards the Agrissa. Inside, the pilot of the Hellion saw the machine and turned his whole unit back.
"Never seen this type before, what could they be?" Robert wondered, "But I will still blow it up before I can get to my destination."
Suddenly, the Hellion part fired from its linear rifle and tried to shoot down the Gundam. However, the Astraea quickly dodged out all of those attacks so far. Astraea returned back with its Beam blasts from the Beam Rifle.
"Is that just what I think it was?" Robert exclaimed, "Beam weaponry?!"
At once, the Astraea switched out its Beam Rifle for a weapon hidden in it. Taking the chance, the Hellion fired at it again relentlessly. However, the Astraea was getting all too close.
"You want to get close in on the action, you will get your action," he said, "plasma field activate!"
A hatch in the front of the Aggrisa and it shot out voltages of electricity at the Gundam. Inside it, Rudio yelled out in raw agony to the pain.
"The Doctor will be very interested in you, so I can just destroy this thing," Robert said, "but you, your life is pathetic."
Suddenly, the Agrissa was bombarded by several GN Missiles from the Abdulhool and was distracted from the plasma field. The Astraea then continued with its assault, and was countered with the plasma tip of the Hellion unit's Sonic Blade.
"So the Agrissa uses plasma for a variety of functions," Lelouch computed, "from defence to offense, the plasma generators has them all. By locating the plasma generators, you can render it harmless."
"And the generators would be where?" Rudio asked.
Lelouch looked at a live feed of the events ongoing over the Atlantic. Suddenly, a focus point was placed over the top of the Agrissa itself.
"The top of the Mobile Armour," he answered, "by destroying it, the plasma generator will be destroyed and the unit will cease operation."
"And you must being the man in alive," Grave interrupted, "this is by Veda's orders."
"Oh I see where this is going," Marlene commented, "he will be just like me then."
"Alright now, Marlene will distract the Agrissa from its destination," Lelouch ordered, "While the Agrissa is distracted, you can attack it with the GN Sword immediately."
"Roger!" both of them cried.
Then they put their operation to work. Gundam Abdulhool launched away some of its missiles around the sky, and some into the Agrissa. It then turned to attack the fighter-like Gundam in response.
"Okay, the target is now placing all attention on me," Marlene reported, "Rudio, do your magic."
"It's no magic, just a good pilot's skills," Rudio replied.
Suddenly, his Astraea flew to the Agrissa behind suspicion and got near it. From above, it swopped down and pierced into the backpack on the Agrissa. Suddenly, the plasma blade shut down along with its engines. Without propulsion, it simply fell down to the ocean, but the Hellion component managed to escape scot-free.
"No! He must be captured alive," Grave called out.
Just then, the Abdulhool shot out Vulcan blasts from its wings and shot down the Hellion's flight pack. With it being grounded, the Astraea grabbed it by its hands and threw away its Linear Rifle.
"Terrorist unit has been disarmed and captured live," Rudio reported back, "will be returning to Area 51 pronto."
DRL HQ (Villa Fiche), Outskirts of Marseilles, French Republic, EU
In the basement of Villa Fiche, there was the secret meeting grounds of high-ranking DRL members. Among them, Dr. Fiche was gathered there too. All of them were watching real-time records of New York, where the Crown Prince of the World Imperium resided and the monarchy's financial capital in Wall Street. Everything was going on peacefully, which wasn't supposed to happen.
"Robert has been belated by hours already!" one of them exclaimed, "There's got to be no coincidence now!"
"Perhaps Fatherland Security has gotten to him," another suggested, "or a storm I had heard in the Atlantic maybe."
"No no, I had checked the weather patterns," a third man said, "They were nowhere Robert's flight patterns."
"What is clear is that we must not allow the revolution to die out yet," Dr. Fiche said, "I propose that we replan with allying factions…"
However, the TV screen suddenly went blank. In a few seconds, there was a message on it. It said, "Your plans have been compromised."
"What?!" someone exclaimed.
In the next few moments, there was a bomb dropped on the Villa. Some of the members there had tried to flee, but were caught up in the destruction themselves.
Overhead of Marseilles, Gundam Abdulhool was flying overhead. Marlene looked back at the smoking remnants of the former Villa.
"Those suckers didn't know what hit them," she remarked.
Area 51, Disraeli Province, World Imperium
Back within Area 51, there was a holding cell for its less cooperative subjects. There, Robert was being held there and strapped to a metal chair. Grave and Lelouch were observing him from a hidden window adjacent.
"You couldn't be anything from the Imperium, not even the IBI," Robert claimed, "those imperial bastards like to make their victories loud for their prestige. So who are you now and why must you stop me?"
Inside the observation room, Grave chuckled and turned off his mic.
"Sir, wait here," Grave said, "I will handle this myself."
Grave then went inside the room and looked at his target, Robert Stad Jr.
"A plainclothes, so you must be the guy who got me," Robert remarked, "no wait, they are not here. I suppose I am correct."
"You must be Robert Stad Jr., a most unfortunate case indeed," Grave said, "your parents died on a business trip to the Canary Islands. It was by an Imperium assault over border issues; that must have fermented your hatred of the Imperium to join the DRL."
"Who are you to know?" Robert demanded.
Suddenly, Lelouch came in instead.
"A kid, now this is a shocker," Robert said.
"Robert, your body has been identified as dead in a bombing outside of Marseilles," Lelouch said, "to the world, you are now dead. Now you will be christened Fon Spaak by Veda."
"What are you talking about?" Robert asked.
"You had seen those Mobile Suits that defeated you and the Agrissa," Lelouch said, "They are called the Gundams. Through them, we can change the world."
"So you are also terrorists yourselves," Robert said.
"No, we do not engage in random destruction of civilians," Grave corrected, "we seek to correct destruction wrought by battle."
"Interesting…" Robert replied.