Gundam 00: Phoenix
What Matters
Arvineo, February 21, Phoenix Carrier
Everyone listened in as Wesker spoke with Tieria about the situation Celesital Being had suffered during the final moments which had crippled them in the bridge of the Phoenix as it continued to cruise through the skies.
"So Veda's been hacked and out of your access, but do you know who may have specifically hacked it ?" Wesker asked Tieria.
"That's why I'm after that machine you ran into on three different occasions. It's likely the pilot knows who has taken over Veda and his Quantum Brainwaves from what Nena has said makes this all the more likely," Tieria replied back firmly. There was no doubt in his stance or voice that the enemy which continued to huntthe Rising Phoenix's Gundam had knowledge they needed.
Wesker took a seat in his chair as he thought over what was just said.
Everyone waited for the captain's answer until they heard his response. "Even if that's so, I don't think we'll likely be able to capture that machine, even with numbers on our side. If another incident occurs it'll make it all the more difficult of a trade if we lose one of our own. A trade I'm not willing to accept," Wesker then stated, still looking forward, directing the part of it towards Nena who gave a slight sigh being reminded more often then she liked. "Also," he began, "We're still one Gundam short, Helana's recovering and from what I've been told repairs are taking much longer than usual on the Flivery due to the complexity of repairing from the damage it sustained." Wesker then turned his head to Tieria. "So the answer is no, we've got enough problems like getting the fleet to safety. Maybe when we discuss this with the rest of your comrades we can plan something, but for now we're just too busy to even track those machines."
Tieria nodded his head as if he has expected that sort answer. "I understand your situation. Finding the answers is vital, but I can put it off until your done with your task." Tieria then headed towards the door as everyone watched him depart.
"You leaving us already?" Wesker asked wondering where Tieria was going.
Tieria turned his head. "I've have to make contact with someone, but I will remain onboard for the moment. There are also a few things I have to go over when I come back." After that he left down the lift leaving the three Gundam pilots on the bridge with the captain.
After the door sealed itself Wesker got up as the main screen scrolled down to be displayed.
"Putting that talk aside, we've got a mission to do after you guys get some rest, mainly it involves Nena, but you guys are being dragged along as support," he told them as he brought a map up on screen. "We're still waiting on vital intel, but I might as well give you guys a basic rundown." The Atlantic Ocean on the map began to have the colour red spread over specific areas before it showed an arrow passing through a very small passage that did not go through the marked areas. "We need the Drei to disperse GN Particles in key areas as a way to keep enemy communications from getting through and telling them the location of our fleet and to mask our movements till the remaining vessels can reach the African continent, they should be able to find safety on their own once they've reached the continent. An orbital elevator may be there, but Africa isn't the most stable place I've been to and I don't think it's changed too much since I've left."
Daveral took a good look at the map for a moment noticing most of the dispersal areas were in random locations and the fleets course seemed too straight forward, as if the UN forces in the Atlantic weren't taken into account.
He then spoke up after he took his eyes off the screen, "I'm going to guess that intel you spoke of is about enemy forces in the Atlantic because our fleet is just cutting straight through the Atlantic and right to Africa," he pointed out.
Wesker nodded his head. "You're right indeed, it's the only reason why we haven't started moving the fleet out. Anyways you're all clear dismissed we'll take more about this in the morning when the mission begins."
The three quickly cleared out of the bridge as Wesker retook his seat and lay back wondering how long it would take for the information he requested to arrive.
"It's good to see Flint back and I'm also glad they all made it back with a friend," Kail said happily, finally breaking his silence after several moments of work.
Wesker turned to his friend with a calm, but slightly worried appearance shown by his eyes and replied, "I'm also glad Kail, but I've spoke with them down in hanger and we may have some issues to resolve."
"And that would be?" Kail answered waiting for the rest of it.
"Well, Daveral and Nena were arguing, apparently the man who killed her brothers is still out there and she went into an all out rage to try and avenge them. She said she doesn't want to be responsible for the deaths of her teammates if they got into another situation like that, but I don't know if she'll be able to. She isn't exactly the most stable."
Kail joyful tone then died away as he replied in a serious manner, "Well let's hope she listens to what you said to her, I'm pretty sure she doesn't want anything else weighing on her mind, hopefully she'll listen to reason."
"I hope so Kail, if not, we're going to be lose her. Daveral won't take kindly to that, he takes it quite hard with members of his team constantly going out of action for periods of time, but I don't blame him, he's got alot of weight on his shoulders for someone so young, the closest thing to a leader our Gundams have. The kid is barely out of his teens."
"I told him not to take it so hard, so I hope that sticks with him. With Flint back he should be getting back to normal since Helana's the only one out, but she's alive and onboard with us," Kail said back. "Remember they grow up fast and learn quickly it's what humans are famous for."
Wesker looked at his friend for a moment wondering why he placed so much emphasis on 'human' when his friend definitely seemed more human then any innovade he had seen or heard of before turning back to the front to look at the map.
Silence enveloped the bridge as Wesker changed his thoughts to a different matter, one that did not affect just a handful of people, but one that affected all of them. If it worked many lives would be spared, if it didn't blood would be spilled.
Arvineo, February 22, Capital City Outskirts
The Death Wing squadron passed overhead near the outskirts of the capital city, watching for enemy mobile suits that might come after the troops who were making their way to the rendezvous point.
Willard sat back in his seat abit lazily because so far, nothing was going on both in the air and on the ground. The Arvineo radicals who have just issued essentially their surrender for the extremely short war must be delaying enemy forces who were probably either rounding them up or finding out what the hell just happened to cause the radicals to cease most hostilities.
The storm that had raged finally passed and now the starry sky reappeared overhead. It was a relatively peaceful sight if it weren't for the machines of war fighting beneath it's gaze.
"So how many more trips do the we have to take? I'm getting sick of flying escort missions and then guarding, why can't we have another dogfight like the one we just had awhile ago," one of Willard's squad complained about the boringness of their current duty.
Willard gave a small, amused chuckle about the comment. "Ya, last fight we had was great, racked up several more kill for myself even if we had to call in Teller to finish the job. We might as well be death itself, I don't think we've lost anyone yet."
"True that, we're definitely best of the best at the moment. Now if the Ace got upgraded to come closer to being able the compete with Gundam then we would truly be feared," came a reply back to him as the squadron began to pull away from the city as everything seemed clear.
As they began to distance themselves from the city a transmission came through the comm. "Seems like we've picked up the last of the troops, Arvineo's who are running away with us thankfully brought of few of their own air transports with them. We're currently now returning to the Phoenix, and requesting fighter squadrons to return for escort over."
"Roger that, we're making our way back now to provide escort," Willard responded back to the other pilot. "Alright guys we're heading back to escort the transports, anything threaten even one of them, shoot it down. Anything else, ignore it."
"Don't need to tell me twice," an immediate response came as their fighters raced back to regroup with the others.
"Any idea what we're going to do with the people we're taking on?" one of them said, bringing up something that had been on alot of peoples mines when they heard this upon returning to the Phoenix from their previous mission.
No one said anything, as their didn't seem to be a good answer to the question at the moment till Willard spoke up to break the silence. "Don't know, but the captain's probably got something planned, hopefully they won't take up space like some of the guys from the base did or we'll have to drop them off somewhere."
A slight pinging sound began ringing slowly in his cockpit drawing his attention before anyone could say anything else as Willard looked to see several blips appear on his radar ahead of them.
Turning his fighter over slightly to its right, he saw several object moving down on the road from the cockpit. They didn't appear to be any vehicles he recognized, too tall and too humanoid, they obviously were mobile suits and judging by their bulk and speed he guessed they were Tieren Commander Type-Bs as there were kicking up trails of dust behind them.
They could possibly engage them and rack a few more kills up, no one would mind, but with their current load out, it wouldn't be effective as they were equipped with air-to-air missiles and wasting 75mm auto cannon ammunition could be the worst idea if they got caught in another prolonged fight at close ranges which the Ace wasn't designed to survive from.
Willard quickly signalled for his squadron to ignore the mobile suits below even as several shells were fired at them. They may be bored, but they weren't dumb enough to engage something that was likely to waste ammunition for a fight that could possibly come up at anytime and come back to haunt them.
"They're shooting us with those things, are they complete idiots? They'll need much better mobile suits then those tin cans," came a mocking comment referring to the Tierens as the squadron came under light AA fire before they quickly got out of range.
As the Tierens left Willard's sensor screen several new contacts appeared coming from the north west. Immediately he recognised them as the transport group and their escorts as his squadron closed the distance and then began the final trip back home
Arvineo, February 22, UN Transport Fleet
Sergei gave a slight sigh of relief as the conflict on the continent had ended for now, but this did not help that the Rising Phoenix managed to escape with most of their remaining troops. It would be up to the fleets Atlantic to neutralize the enemy, they just could not reach the other side of the continent fast enough even with the engines working at full.
There were also a few remaining pockets of resistance that needed to be cleared out, those who did not surrender after their leader's final order was sent out which had been broadcasted for all to hear.
Then there was the images they received from their interception force revealing not only the same Gundam they had fought during their chase for Celestial Being, but also two new models that were hostile all sides in that battle. Just where the hell did they come from?
"Sir, 5th Mobile Suits Team has returned no sign of any enemy activity," said one of his subordinates as the Sergei watched a handful of mobile suits land on the deck.
"I can't believe we come all this way only for them to get away," groaned one of the crew as the person stretched their arms out. "You think the Atlantic fleet will be able to find them sir?"
"I don't know," Sergei replied back honestly. "They do have that machine which can spread GN Particles over a wide area. They can effectively cut off contact with anyone in the Atlantic who's on our side."
"What if they go into space?" someone asked, adding in another bit of information and a series of questions.
Sergei thought what would happen if the Rising Phoenix Carrier decided to go back into space. Reports already show that it's capable re-entry so what were the chances that it could break out of the atmosphere? If the carrier went into space then locating it would be nearly impossible, space was just so empty and vast and their forces up there were limited by the amount of machines and warships that could carry them.
If they could catch the Rising Phoenix when they tried to leave the Earth's atmosphere that could put them at a huge tactical advantage, as something that big would need massive amounts of thrust to escape the clutches of gravity, it just couldn't possibly operate many combat systems under that amount of stress. The next best plan would be to catch them when they just left the Earth's orbit and catch them when they were weakest, the timing and location must be exactly precise however or they could miss the target by a long shot.
Leaving his thoughts Sergei then turned towards one of the bridge operators. "Get me contact with UN Command, we're going to have to make sure that they don't have time to disappear completely off the grid. We're not going to spend part of our lives just trying to find them."
"Yes sir."
Sergei then looked into the pitch black sky pondering over if the deciding factor of this conflict taking place in the vast emptiness of space once more as it had been with Celestial Being.
Arvineo, February 22, Phoenix Carrier
Daveral looked out of the observation deck and watched soldiers from Arvineo assemble in the hanger below in a orderly fashion as one of their officers, along with a translator, began to take account of all these people.
Currently is was early morning and although everyone arrived during the night the decision to take count of all these soldiers did not take effect till everyone managed to get some sleep after their ordeal in the capital city.
"So you think anyone here trusts these guys?" Flint said from behind him.
"I don't know, but I hope we can, I just wonder where we're going to put them," Daveral said still looking down on the people below. "So how was prison?" he asked Flint wanting to know what his friend had gone through.
"Well," Flint began as he sat in one of the seats. "Quite boring and quiet, aside from getting beat up by a single officer. I probably would've gone insane, being locked upped in a cramped room does terrible things to a people like me." Now it was Flint's turn to ask the question as he then opened his mouth, "I hear Nena ain't the happy the girl she used to be when she first arrived, something about her life can't get any worse kind of thing, care to explain it to me?"
"Captain took gave everyone a break in Spain, and, well, remember the place where numerous civilians were killed during the wedding?"
"Ya, what about it?"
"I took Nena there, and hoped it would at least make her open her eyes to what she had done. Ever since that she's been depressed and she's been getting nightmares, but it's not as bad as before. Thought I even lost her one time when she decided to go for a walk in the early morning and didn't come back," he explained to Flint who quickly understood what had happened.
"So you think she'll ever be back to normal?" Daveral heard Flint, asking for his opinion.
"Iwould like her to find a balance between what she is now and before, but that isn't going to be easy for her," Daveral answered.
"Alright anyhow, saw Helana earlier this morning. How did she end up like that?" Flint quickly switched the subject. He seemed quite eager on catching up on what happened during his short incarceration, but Daveral didn't mind he had nothing better to do at the moment other then answer the questions and fill Flint in.
Daveral remained silent for a few seconds as listened to voices from the hanger below before he replied back to Flint, "Helana protected Nena from a blow that would've killed her," Daveral said giving the quick version of it. "I didn't expect it as Helana didn't even say a word."
"Whoa slow down," Flint said abit loudly in surprise before he continued on. "Helana defending Nena, the girl that absolutely hated Nena and who rarely spoke a word to any of us most of the time? You can't be serious."
"I am," Daveral said plainly as he let Flint digest what he had just told him.
Flint scratched his head thinking over it muttering random comments about what he had just heard.
Not drifting his sights, Daveral continued look down while wondering if the two girls could ever get along. Sure Nena had spoken to him about it during their flight to escort Flint, but he never had time to truly think about it. Helana is the last person he expected to be friendly with most people, but if she did managed to change for the better it would seem alot more likely Nena would as well.
Hopefully Nena could change for the better, he just couldn't bear the thought of it not happening after what she's been through. The time she spent getting to know ordinary people and witnessing what she has caused better make her understand others and herself if she ever wanted to move on in life.
"Hey, Flint," Daveral then said catching his friends attention. "Mind me asking you a favour?"
"Like what?" Flint asked.
"If we get into another fight with the same machines I want you to make sure Nena doesn't get killed and that she control herself if I can't help her myself. I don't want anything to happen to her," he said softly in a rather quiet tone making sure no one else heard.
Flint raised a brow wondering what kind of request was that. "Of course I can, but do you have feelings for her? I know you would obviously deny it, but seriously you can tell me we're friends the last time I checked."
Daveral just gave a weak smile. "Maybe I do, but that isn't going to show any time soon and that's only if she notices me." Daveral ended with a slight chuckle. "Honestly though I don't stand a chance in gaining her interest."
He heard Flint laugh a little before he felt his hand pat him on the back. "Well if that's so I'll make sure she makes it through this, as well as you. I just got to see the outcome in the end."
"Thanks Flint, if we make it through all this I owe," Daveral replied back as his smile widened. It was good to have his friend back.
Nena thought over Wesker's words he had said to her. Ever since the night to this morning the phrase constantly repeated itself in her head.
She understood what he meant, she did not want it to come to reality; being responsible for the death of a teammate. She just did not need anything else on her mind, being responsible for a senseless massacre was bad enough.
Still, she did not know if she could control herself if she saw Ali Al-Saachez. It just brought up so much anger just seeing him still alive after what he's done and she just wanted to be the one to kill him so badly even if it meant something went wrong.
Suddenly Nena heard a knock on her door resonate in her ears as she then went to answer to see, to her surprise, Tieria Erde standing to the side of the door.
"What do you want?" she asked him. "Shouldn't you be off doing something for Celestial Being?"
"That's exactly why I'm here," he said in a neutral tone, as if he had expected that response before he continued forth. "I just wanted to say that if both the Rising Phoenix and Celestial Being ever ally themselves together, with the possibility drawing closer by each passing day, you will have to listen to what your captain has told you and change the way you act."
"I know," she replied back, "but you can't expect me to forget what he's done, especially not after what he's done," she muttered the second part that Tieria almost did not hear as she tightened her right fist which had formed as a slight feeling of hate grew inside of her before it faded away.
"Not just that, but Celestial Being is going to want evidence that you can change. Ever since your little incident we don't know whether we can trust you or not. I for one do not, as you have brought disgrace upon the Gundam Meisters and as equally responsible for those who have died as it was your actions that costed us both resources and the lives good people."
"Hey Tieria, it's not-"
"I do not want to hear it, or any excuse for the matter" he interrupted her. "Even if it wasn't your actions that stirred the situation up, killing civilians is a completely different matter. You'll be lucky if anyone does not resent you for it. Many see you as what Setsuna would say, a 'distortion' in this world. If you hope to lose that title you better be willing to change the world not for your gain, but for every single person who lives. That's the true purpose of a Gundam Meister not what you've claimed to do."
Nena's attitude quickly changed upon hearing those words, as her thoughts moved to the related subject about Gundam Meisters, their purpose and what she's done. All of them negative towards herself.
"Don't even call me that, I'm no Gundam Meister," Nena said back to him as a slightly surprised look appeared on his face. "I have to live with it, the guilt, the regret, all of it. I know what I've done. I don't care if everyone back at Celestial Being hates me, I deserve it, but I think it may the only way for me to make up for what've done. I just can't find a better reason."
Tieria crossed his arms as he leaned to the side of the wall. "Are you trying make up for what you've done or is it just you trying to hopefully forget about all this and not have to worry about it anymore?"
Looking back at him in a serious manner, she responded with, "I want to try at least, I just can't stand being the way I am at the moment or the way I was before," she said trying to convince Tieria she could change. "I want to find some reason to keep living life, and maybe I will if I just try hard enough by helping people who want to change this world for the better."
Tieria stared at her for a moment as if he was deciphering what she just said in his mind before coming up with a response."You have matured since the last time we've met, and I believe what you are saying so hopefully I can take your word for it and you follow through in the end, but remember Nena I won't forgive you, but I can endure working with you if it's for the best interest of Celestial Being."
Matured, she never expected someone like Tieria to say that to her, especially after the first impressions she gave him when she had been on the and she felt quite relieved. Hearing that he could at least bear to work alongside her also made her feel abit more confident in helping Celestial Being after this had all ended.
Tieria then stood up straight and began to walk away before he stopped several steps from her room.
"Oh I forgot, something," he began as he took out the envelope she gave him previously to give to Setsuna, "You'll have to be the one who hands it to him, so you can truly express your thanks in person if we ever see him again." Tieria then left down the hallway and disappeared around the corner.
Holding it up to her face, she stared at the letter thinking on what Tieria had just said before she ripped the letter into small pieces and tossed the pieces into a small bin. Tieria was right, she would need to express her thanks in person and not with a letter, especially since much has changed ever since she wrote it. If she ever saw Setsuna again, she hope he would change his opinion on her if she managed to explain everything to him and not be considered a 'distortion' by him.
"Nena," she then heard her name being called out by Daveral familiar voice from outside of her room, "get suited up and head down to the hanger, we've got another mission to do. Wesker will explain everything once we're ready to go."
"Right," she acknowledged as she then turned to her locker to get dressed after shutting the door.
Helana could only stare at the ceiling for most of the time. She just didn't know how much longer she could spend in this room doing nothing other than just sleeping, but her body said otherwise as it still ached and getting up was an extremely painful task at times. Still the recovery went quite well and she wouldn't be surprised if she could start moving around in a day or two.
The days passed by quickly for her, and there always seemed to be something interesting happening while she was still down that she needed to catch up on. The least she expected was to see Flint in this very room, happy as ever as if nothing really happened to him. She wasn't that fond of him, or anyone for that matter, but seeing a familiar face and his smile made her feel less regretful about abandoning him back there. In fact Flint didn't even seem to care that she had left him to be captured and even abit glad.
Glad you left me behind other then shooting me to protect the secrets of our GN Drives. I get to live longer now, thanks to what you did and I don't mind it at all,was what he had said when the topic was brought upin a laid back voice.
She never understood Flint, always looking on the bright side of things more than anyone else. He must have been raised quite well to not worry about so much compared to everyone around him or he just ignored things, one or the other.
Sometimes she envied the way Flint was, being nearly the exact opposite of her. It must be nice not worrying or having a grudge against other people or the world.
Thinking about grudges, it would be hard for her to go back home to see if her parents were still around. There were just so many bad memories and hate, even worse in the poorer run down areas where she lived. Maybe her parent were living a better life ever since she ran away as there would be more money to go around so it may not be all that bad going back home or at least be bearable.
Sten if you're watching down from up there then be happy, after this is over I'll be going home and I'll make things right for both mom and dad...and myself, Helana thought as she put on a weak smile as she slowly tried to get up a this time hoping this time the pain would be much less.
Pacific Ocean, February 22
Looking at a map which was in the corner of the of her main screen, Nena followed the assigned route to the first point where particles were to be dispersed. She would be stuck in her Gundam for several hours or possibly the entire day even if the Phoenix kept close, hiding from the enemy in the highest reaches of the atmosphere.
Thankfully she wasn't alone as the Lancaster and Zesus were here with her. The Virtue remained onboard, however, as Wesker continued to discuss matter with Tieria. If they needed help, however, they would have to rely on the Death Wing who could quickly mobilize in the case of emergencies if not the entire fighter complement, although that would just be excessive unless an army somehow found them.
"Two days of running escort and making the entire area over the ocean go dark with flashy particles. I'm glad I brought music to keep me occupied," Nena heard Flint comment on the mission.
"Thankfully we can keep ourselves occupied with autopilot doing most of the work till we reach the point. I can catch up on some reading that a I've missed," Daveral responded back.
A light chuckle from Flint came through before he said, "You and your books, I swear that's all you do. By the time this is over you'll have a shelf-"
"Too late I've already got a shelf of books that have all been read," Daveral abruptly interrupted Flint , as if he had read his mind. "But most likely I won't read anything, if those two pop back up we have to be ready."
She felt the exact same way, even with all the time it took to take to get to the first point, they would never know where or when the two would pop up to strike. They had to be ready to fight back and defend themselves and this time her emotions wouldn't cloud her own judgement; she did not need any more sorrow or guilt in her life which she repeatedly said to herself hoping it would get through.
"You we'll be able to take them down if they appear?" Flint then asked.
"I doubt it, but we can hold them back till either help gets here or go running away again."
"You guys will stop me if I lose control, right?" Nena then said, breaking her silence. and waited for a response.
"Hopefully we can both things start to go wrong," Daveral replied back. "But you better be able to control yourself to some degree, alright?"
She then looked down on her Haro, "If I do what I did again try to stop me. My life doesn't need to get any worse than it already is alright?" she said to it in a slightly cheerful voice with a wink.
"Gotcha, gotcha," it replied back to her in its monotone robotic voice.
If those Flint or Daveral couldn't stop her from trying to achieve revenge and somehow her Haro failed, then Wesker's words truly have failed on her and a life would be the sacrifice for failing to listen, whether it was her own or that of another.
Unknown Location, February 21
Inside a small room, a conversation went on between Judgment and Ribbons in private over the communicator which was just about to end as Judgement repeated his superior's instructions back to confirm he knew what to do.
"So one last attack on them and if that fails we head up to space?" Judgment said giving the simple answer, after hearing orders from Ribbons.
"That is correct, it is likely the UN will suspect this as well. We will let them wear them out, if not should not succeed I got something special planned to settle this once and for all," Ribbons said back to Judgement in his usually soft tone, his voice still filled with confidence even after the failure that had occurred.
"Understood, I will contact you when it's all over and report in the results," Judgment then bowed before shutting off the communicator.
Walking out of the room he looked to see the mercenary Ali Al-Saachez sipping on a beer who looked up at him.
"Finish what you are doing, it's time to go after them once again." Al crushed the can in his hand showing there was absolutely nothing in it as he got up upon hearing those words, gleeful as ever.
Whatever happened after this mission it would cause a major blow to the Rising Phoenix, no matter what happened.