Gundam 00: Phoenix
Return of the Bird and Being
AD 2312 Lagrange 1, August 31
Flashes of light raced across the depths of space, four red GN-Xs and the two Aheads racing after several Aces that were trying to get away that had just recently struck one of the Federation's battleships patrolling the which forced it to be out of commission for the next few weeks.
"All units, stay on the target, they won't be able to get away if we push them towards the asteroid field," one of the told the rest of the team pursuing the Aces.
The squadron raced after the Aces, gradually cutting more and more aircraft down due to the asteroid field ahead limiting both their mobility and speed, all necessary for a fighter to survive.
"They may have had the advantage in speed, but they're no match for the new Ahead!" Another then said spoke out as one of the Aheads began to accelerate extremely quickly before cutting down an Ace with a single shot from its particle rifle.
The squadron leader glanced at his sensors upon seeing the Ace explode. Only three more to go.
The squadron leader then looked up at his screen. "The Rising Phoenix will know that even the Earth Federation will not tolerate terrorist that threaten its stability. And they will know that the A-laws will be the ones to finally put an end to all of them," he said with a smirk.
The Rising Phoenix had been quiet over the past four years, but recently they've become much more active as if something had stirred a hornets' nest within the Rising Phoenix.
The thought to as to why the Rising Phoenix may be active once more disappeared from the man's mind as he continued after the three remaining Aces that continued to run away.
The chase did not last long for the remaining Aces; however, the Aheads promptly cutting each of them down, managing to overtake the aging fighters in raw speed, something even the GN-X III had trouble doing.
"Sir, new signature, it's an Arizona-class carrier. This must of been where their fighters came from." An update came in along with images of the carrier which had been repainted in a black paint, likely for minimal camouflage in the background.
"Let's finish their carrier off and then we can all go home," the leader ordered in an enthusiastic tone.
"Yes, sir!" all of the team replied.
The squadron of mobile suits immediately assaulted the carrier and within seconds the carrier became perforated with blast holes before it went down in a massive explosion while the mobile suits left the area to return home.
Lagrange 3, August 31, Ptolemaios II
Wesker rubbed his head and sighed at the recent failure of an incompetent commander who decided to stage a suicide attack on A-Laws forces. Just what the hell was the man thinking when he launched that assault? People just seemed more on edge with the recent creation of A-Laws which did not help the fact with how things in the Middle East were going.
Support had been so great for aid in the Middle East, Wesker could only comply to the demands of hundreds of Rising Phoenix member to intervene. He, however disappointed them by sending out only a very small force. It had caused many outcries, but he stood by his decision. The less fighting in the Middle East that took place the more time they would have to prepare for the true battle against the A-Laws to end their atrocities and he would have to remind them of that and have men that were with him four years ago watch the ranks within the Rising Phoenix that had grown quickly within the creation of the Federation. He could not tolerate incompetence and emotions to start tearing apart his own faction when they were not even ready to go.
They just weren't ready yet to fight back on even footing with A-Laws; the Phoenix itself was undergoing massive reconstruction to become a worthy vessel capable of rivalling Celestial Being's Ptolemaios II. In this new age with GN Drives now being widespread, they would need to adapt and rebuild their current arsenal to match their current foes.
"Another tragic loss of life, all for very little gain. Don't they know we can't afford loses?" Wesker murmured to himself before turning to see Tieria going down the hallway dressed in his pilot suit. "So I guess you're heading out to Proud see if Setsuna will be there?" Wesker asked still looking down, while Tieria who passed by him.
"I am," Tieria responded plainly. "We need to find him, he's our only chance at finding Exia, but even then the Twin Drive System might not work. Still it will mean we'll have Setsuna back to say the very least."
Wesker then looked up at Tieria. "If you're heading out there, take Nena with you. The Vier just recently came out and I bet she would like to see how it truly functions on the battlefield," he told Tieria who turned around to face him.
"That won't really be necessary, I doubt the A-Laws are going to be deploying anything more than a small team of mobile suits. Katharon is only sending a single vessel, something that only would attract a patrol ship," Tieria explained, confident he did not need any help.
"Just take her with you, from what informants tell me, those new Aheads the A-Laws just rolled out can prove to be a formidable opponent and there's more of them then you. You know Celestial Being can't take chances in losing both equipment and personnel, especially with most of the observers dead," Wesker responded, insisting that Nena had to go with him.
Tieria gave a slight nod knowing there, was no time for arguments; the Rising Phoenix had already exposed itself once again in recent weeks and it wouldn't change anything if the Federation saw another Gundam at proud. They would already begin to slowly mobilize their entire force upon seeing any Gundam and be put on alert.
Tieria then went down the hallway down towards the hanger to activate Seravee.
Upon Tieria disappearing from sight Wesker headed towards the Ptolemy's bridge.
Lagrange 3, August 31, Space Colony Proud
Pushing against the massive cart, Saji struggled just to keep himself on his feet, let alone pushing a massive cart.
Work in high gravity without any heavy equipment or mechanical aid could be classified as a crime against humanity if it weren't for the fact the security forces had forced him and his co-workers into this situation.
Just why was he taken in as a prisoner in the first place without being able to explain anything like many of the others here? They didn't even get any of the freedoms of rights or speech that the Federation was suppose to offer to its citizens.
"Hey, are you a member of Katharon?" Saji heard the man beside him say.
Saji shoved the cart with a groan as he turned his head. "I've got nothing to do with them," he replied back in exhaustion.
"Just happened to get caught in between?" the man said with a smirk. "Still, things could be worse a whole lot worse."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Saji asked, too tired to try and comprehend what the man meant.
"You'll find out soon enough," the man replied with a grin as if he knew rescue would be coming soon to save them.
The heavy clanking of boots against the floor then came towards them. "You two, stop chatting and get back to work!" one of the nearby overseers shouted in a threatening tone, brandishing the stun baton, his face cold casting a menacing glare.
Saji growled as he kept pushing the cart down along the rails towards its destination. Just what kind of world was he living in? The Earth Federation was created to unite the world and protect it against things that threatened stability such as Celestial Being and Katharon, but why did it do things like this? Did someone have control of the Federation and they were using it to using it to control people like a totalitarian state?
Still, as long as he was alive then he would keep living no matter what happened or what was going to. He needed to survive until one day, he saw Louise up here in space. He had promised her that much four years ago and he wasn't going to break that promise if he could help it. Just seeing her face again would be a pleasant, welcoming sight after all these years ever since the incident and hopefully she would be at least somewhat happy even after all she has been through. However, if she still suffered from the tragic event then he would still stick with her until the end no matter what and he would support her if she needed it.
Continuing to push the cart with the others, he kept pushing until a rumbling throughout the colony caught everyone's attention including the overseers before the shouts and threats forced them all back to work leaving everyone to think what it was while they worked.
Was that a piece of debris that just hit us? Saji wondered before he suddenly lost balance as the entire section they were in rumbled again causing the carts to tip over and slam onto the floor with a crash."The gravity," Saji noted as he felt his body no longer being pulled towards ground like a brick.
The man beside him gave a wide grin. "Our comrades are here!" he said. "Now let's get out of here."
Whether this man's comrades were anti-government forces or not, Saji knew he had to get out of here, staying was not an option for anyone working down here. If the Security Agency arrested him once then he wouldn't doubt that they would do it again and they may even stick him in a different position that could be worse than even this.
Running, Saji followed where the masses were going to reach the refineries' exit and get out of this place before any Federation or Security forces came here to find out what was going on.
His eyes glanced around the refinery, the entire place had entered into chaos with resetting of the gravity. People were running everywhere while the few overseers that were around were powerless to stop them, their suits proving to be far too bulky and difficult to move in at their current gravity level. Some of them were even on the ground, their suits damaged by falling mineral rocks from the carts leaving them utterly immobile and helpless.
I just need to get out of here and everything will be alright, Saji thought to himself until he heard a hail of heavy gunfire coming from ahead of him.
To his horror, there were several of bodies already laying on the ground while survivors ran away screaming for their lives before what had been killing them came into full-view of Saji. It was an Automaton.
The large four legged mechanical creature rolled on its wheels after the runners while another one appeared behind it heading in his direction.
Immediately Saji began running in the opposite direction, but upon glancing over his shoulder he could see the Automaton quickly catching up to him and had its under body machine guns rotate to face him.
The guns fired with their distinct bark causing Saji to duck behind one of the fallen carts to see the man who had previously been beside him when they were pushing the cart there.
Before either him or the man could say a word, the brutal sound of the machine gun went off again before the gurgled cries of one of the prisoners could be heard and when the shooting had subsided the punctured body fell forward onto the floor with a thud with the blood beginning to pool.
The man beside him gritted his teeth as he looked out from behind the cart and then at one of the exit ways that lead out of the refinery.
To Saji's surprise, the man ran out from behind cover towards the exit way as fast as he possibly could to avoid the Automaton–it wasn't enough. The roar of the Automaton's machine gun went alive once again; the man who had previously been beside him being cut to ribbons with the body spinning for a moment before it finally fell onto the floor with sickening splat.
The march of the Automaton then broke the momentary silence after the machine guns had stopped firing and it was coming closer.
Saji eyes widened in horror as the Automaton's steps became louder and its shadow began to creep over to the side of the cart before he squeezed them shut at the impending doom.
Several gunshots then rung through the air with the ricochet of metal which stopped the Automaton's march and caused it to turn to see who its attack was.
"Get back!" Saji then heard a young man call out which cause Saji to move away at the request before an explosion sent him to the floor.
Saji remained on the floor for a few seconds before he heard footsteps causing him to open his eyes to see an open hand there to help him get up.
"Are you alright?"
Saji took the man's hand "I'm grateful," Saji said in a slightly rejoiced tone to his rescuer upon getting back up who was clad in a black flight suit. Saji then let out a small gasp as he saw the man's face. "I don't believe it, could you be, Setsuna F. Seiei?"
"And you're Saji Crossroad?" the man replied, slightly startled.
Before Saji could say another word he heard something slam onto the metallic refinery floor and in an instant Saji found himself being dragged by Setsuna to the exit before he could react leaving him to wonder just why was Setsuna here?
Nena carefully glanced over the controls of the new Vier which had just been rolled out of production while her Haro sat in its slot monitoring the systems of the new machine. The cockpit ended up being more in line with the Celestial Being designs with less view of the battlefield which Nena sort of hated, but there would be no point in trying to change it, redesigning would take far too long.
The greyish black Vier, surpassed its predecessor, the Drei in every singles aspect. The Vier could actually hold its own reasonably well with its weaponry which included a medium-powered GN Rifle, missiles hidden in the shooulder pods with the Vier having two of these, but the most impressive things was the improvement of the pack the Drei used for its stealth field. It had several unique abilities that did not revolve around GN Particles all instead relying completley on high-end electronics.
"Looks like the A-Laws have already reached the colony," she heard Tieria say to her. "Still no sign of Setsuna, yet."
"He has to be here," Nena replied. "There's nowhere else he would show up and he's always been obsessed with injustices. I know firsthand."
Tieria gave a very weak chuckle beneath his breath. "That you do."
Closing in on the colony, Nena saw the Federation's secure channel appear on one of the available lines, but was locked. It was time to test out the Vier's new systems which Ian and Rising Phoenix engineers had spent so much on trying to perfect.
"Hopefully they won't notice this," Nena murmured to herself as a keyboard came down and series of code came onto a separate, holographic screen.
Her eyes skimmed through the screen until she finally managed to hack into the channel, giving her full control over whether she wanted to tune in to the Federation forces or just jam the signal and block out all communications on that line.
"Enemy reinforcements!" she heard a deep male say over the comm. to his allies completely unaware that she was listening in.
Nena then contacted Tieria. "I've got control over their communications, it looks like A-Laws has company," she told him.
"If it's not Katharon then it has to be him. We better hurry up and get over there, I doubt the Exia can hold up to new generation of mobile suits." Tieria replied back to her. "Keep listening in on their comm. chatter, it may confirm it is him."
"Roger that." Nena nodded at Tieria before looking at her Haro. "Haro get the
"Captain that silhouette," someone then spoke up over the Federation line.
"Ya and those GN Particles." A slight pause then came before she heard the pilot speak up again. The number of Automatons in there, it's decreasing!" she then heard.
"Captain above us!" the other pilot then shouted before he let out cry of surprise.
Looking ahead at the colony she now saw the trace lines of particle beams flying through space off in the distance and one of the colours was the sparkling, pink hue that Celestial Being used for its beam weapons. That had to mean Setsuna was there and he would need help at this rate.
"Nena, you head on ahead, I'll back you up from a distance with Seravee," Tieria told her with Nena instantly obliging to Tieria's orders as her Vier raced towards Proud at full speed.
The battle came into clear view and immediately Nena could see three A-Law mobile suits, two of them, one Ahead and one GN-X II engaging a badly damaged Exia, strangely one of them wasn't even moving and just simply stayed where it was in space. Just why would an mobile suit simply stay there when the fighting was taking place nearby?
Whatever that GN-X was up to didn't matter, it meant that it would be one less enemy to deal with while she handled the other two with Tieria's help.
As she closed in she saw the GN-X turn in her direction. "Captain, new hostile approaching, it's a Rising Phoenix Gundam!"
"So they've decided to stop hiding like Celestial Being and truly show themselves," the captain said just as his Ahead prepared to finish off the Exia with its beam saber.
Immediately she fired the Vier's GN Rifle causing the Ahead to cease its attack to evade before a two particle burst came behind her and forced the two mobile suits to dodge the high-powered shots.
The Vier then began to move in closer towards the Exia to make sure it would be protected until that mobile suit which had been relatively inactive charged her, its lance's tip up.
The pilot then spoke. "You're like that Gundam...You're like that one who took everything away!" she heard a female voice scream at her.
In her head, Nena thought she recognized that voice from somewhere, a voice she had heard long ago but she did not have time to fully remember as she activated the Vier's particle dispersion system to defend herself.
The two pods the Vier shifted to the front side of the mobile suit and created a GN Field facing the GN-X which blocked the GN-X's particle beams before Nena lowered her defense and fired the Vier's rifle off.
"Beginning firewall bypass, beginning firewall bypass," she heard her Haro say to her as she fought.
Nena gave a quick nod of approval to her Haro. "Keep working on it Haro, once you're in give me control of their systems."
"Roger, roger."
The Vier then raised its forward facing GN Field as the Ahead open fired with its rifle.
"Don't think you Gundam will have it easy like you did four years ago!" Nena heard the team leader shout out. "The world doesn't sit still for groups like you to recover!"
The Seravee, however, fired again causing all three mobile suit to disperse and then regroup; however, that GN-X that was the first to attack her moved closer towards her, unlike its allies which had moved away, closer to colony.
"Warrant Officer Halevy, return back into formation immediately, we're withdrawing!"
The GN-X did not respond back; instead, it moved to engage the Vier, firing wildly with its GN Lance which Nena promptly dodged.
"System hack complete, system hack complete," her Haro announced causing Nena to immediately bring up the GN-X III's functions onto a holographic screen.
Upon taking control she gave a smirk before she began to mess up the GN-X's optical systems and power down the GN Drive systems causing the GN-X to loss functionality and lay floating around in space. She could do worse, but she decided against detonating the GN Drive, she wasn't ruthless and she had changed over the past years. She would kill if she had to, but now was not the time.
Immediately, the Ahead and GN-X came up to their comrade and use the opportunity to take the disabled GN-Xs back to base while laying down covering fire and evading particle blast from the Seravee Gundam which ended upon them leaving the combat zone making both Nena and Tieria to head over to the Exia Gundam to see if it was still intact.
"Nena you take a sweep around the area and make sure the area is secure once it's clear head to these coordinates in the colony," Tieria ordered which Nena complied to.
"I wonder if Setsuna will accept the fact I'm with Celestial Being now?" she said to herself as her Vier made a sweep of the colony.
"You'll find out, you'll find out," her Haro said.
Nena smiled. "And that we will Haro, once we're done here."
"It's been four years and there's something very different about you," Tieria said to Setsuna, looking at the boy who was now a young man.
"On the other hand you haven't changed one bit. You look exactly the same," Setsuna responded in his usual near emotionless voice.
Tieria gave a weak chuckle. "I get that alot."
"So does this Gundam belong to Celestial Being? Setsuna then asked staring at the Seravee which loomed over both men.
"Naturally," Tieria replied simply before both men heard a machine touch down onto the metallic floor nearby.
Setsuna took a good look at the black Gundam before turning to Tieria. "Does that machine also belong to Celestial Being or is it part of the Rising Phoenix?"
"At the moment it's currently ours although officially it's part of the Rising Phoenix's Gundam force," Tieria said, now facing the Vier.
Setsuna eyes glanced between the Gundam and Tieria. "Does that mean the Rising Phoenix is working in conjunction with Celestial Being?"
"For a while we have been and they have proven extremely helpful in helping Celestial Being recover and they're the ones who can operate for us while we remained hidden until now," Tieria said to Setsuna before the Vier's cockpit then opened.
"Who is the pilot of that machine anyways?" Setsuna asked curiously.
"Nena Trinity," Tieria said back, waiting for Setsuna's response, but nothing showed causing him to carry on. "She's been a tremendous help over the past few years, and she's changed much over the years."
"Is she using Gundams what they are meant for?" Setsuna asked with a slight bitterness in those words, referring to the Trinity's actions during their armed interventions.
Tieria gave a simple nod before Nena Trinity joined into the group, taking her helmet off, waving her long red hair.
Nena then took a look at Setsuna and gave a soft smile. "It's been awhile Setsuna, I never did get the chance to thank you for saving me four years ago, even if it wasn't your intentions in the first place."
Setsuna glanced over at Nena with their peculiar stare. "So you're a Gundam Meister, even after all these years. I thought you would have just stopped after what had happened to you," he said.
"Well everything got just a little bit complicated on the way to that; for the better I suppose." Nena then crossed her arms and cocked her head to the left. "It's allowed me to grow up from that little girl I once was and realize what is what in the world."
"Setsuna F. Seiei!" Suddenly came a shout.
Everyone turned to see a man dressed in a labourer's outfit emerge from one of the halls and come towards them.
"Have you always been the pilot of that Gundam?"
"Saji Crossroads," Setsuna said the man's name in his usual slow and emotionless tone.
"Answer me!"
"Yes," Setsuna said simply after a moment of silence.
"That means you were involved five years ago and responsible for everything that's happened. Alot of people died who didn't have to," the man said to him before his eyes change from rage into sadness. "Because of you guys the person I loved was injured and her parents and relatives were killed and then all I had left was my sister, but you took her too when she was investigating Celestial Being."
Nena raised up upon hearing about the man losing his lover who also lost their relatives which Tieria took notice of.
"All relatives and her parents killed?" Nena murmured softly to herself. "Could it mean he knows that girl I saw in Spain?"
There was silence throughout the hanger before Saji's anger returned. "Say something!" he shouted at Setsuna.
Setsuna did not budge even an inch upon those word causing Saji to rush towards Setsuna before grabbing his pistol and then pointed it at Setsuna.
"Give them back, give them back to me!" Saji screamed, his hands trembling, but the pistol was level with Setsuna's head.
Just about it seemed like Saji would press the trigger, Nena ran up to the man gave a hard punch at the man's face knocking him down and causing the pistol to drop on the floor surprising Setsuna slightly, but Tieria was completely unfazed as if he knew it would happen.
Nena shook her hand after the punch. "We don't have time for this, I want to hear what he has to say after we get out of here," Nena said with the others agreeing before she looked at the man. "So are we actually taking him with us?"
"If we leave him here he'll surely either be arrested or killed. Bring him with us," Setsuna said to the her before turning to Saji. "Whether you like it or not you're coming with us. A-Laws will have you marked; it won't be safe to head back to any Federation run area for awhile."
Saji gave a weak growl before giving a weak nod showing that he would be coming with them.
"You seem quite interested in this man, may I ask exactly why?" Tieria asked Nena while Saji decided to go with them.
"I think he knows that girl I saw in Spain four years ago. If I had hurt him because of what I done to her then I want to know for sure, and maybe make things up," Nena replied back to Tieria with a whisper before they made their way back to the Gundams to return to the Ptolemaios.
Lagrange 3, August 31, Ptolemaios II
The entire crew of the Ptolemy glanced over images of what had happened in the colony and during the small skirmish that had taken place outside.
"I must say, the Vier and its systems are quite impressive, being able to shut down a mobile suit during combat at a considerable distance and it's offensive and defensive capabilities are a rather large improvement from the Drei. At this rate I'll owe Celestial Being several life-times of favours." Wesker stated to Ian.
"Well it was thanks to your engineers that most of its functions worked, I simply came up with a few concepts that your boys added on to with something completely unique. I thought an electronic warfare Gundam had no role given the improvement in firewalls and system security, but I'm surprised by the results. It's hacking systems being able to breach a mobile suit's systems in a relative quick amount of time is impressive," Ian replied back honestly.
"Mr. Wesker, Mr. Ian, we're getting the video footage of what happened inside the Proud Colony from Nena, you may want to see this," Fedlt said to them uneasily.
Ian turned to his daughter. "Mileina, if you can't handle it you're free to leave the room and I don't want to see you in tears, ever," Ian said, referring to the last atrocity they had seen the A-Laws had committed with Mileina in the room.
"I'll be okay dad," Mileina said as she swallowed her pride.
The rather calm mood disappeared as everyone in the bridge stared in disbelief at the sight of the prisoners being mowed down in quick succession by Automatons.
The sight of the Automatons cutting people down with their machine guns made Wesker sick. It was like other human beings were animals to the A-Laws and that they had nothing to protect them.
"Shut it off," Wesker said which Fedlt did approvingly. "I'm starting to think the world may have been better if both Celestial Being and the Rising Phoenix hadn't tried to change the world. The fact the Earth Federation has aspects of a totalitarian regime makes the world we had before better. At least people had rights."
Ian nodded his head before giving a stern look towards Wesker. "I'm not one to ask for violence, but I think it's time that your group started doing more in the world, especially since Celestial Being just showed itself. As long as the fighting is against the A-Laws then I'll go along with it."
Wesker pondered over the request for a moment reflecting over what the A-Laws had done and what they were going to do and what exposing more of his own forces would do in the process. The process was difficult but his response was swift upon seeing the dead on Proud enter his mind.
"I'll make it happen, but don't expect much soon. Troops and equipment are difficult to move with all the Federation forces everywhere and the Security Agency doesn't make things easier. At the moment we'll have to rely on the Gundams as our main fighting strength," Wesker announced to Ian and the rest of the crew.
"Wesker, are you going to get your team back together since you have two Gundams just sitting in storage. At the moment you only have Nena and Flint is down on Earth with the Middle Eastern branch." Lasse then asked Wesker, breaking his silence.
Wesker shrugged. "Maybe or maybe not, just depends if they want to return. Daveral said he would, but he could change his mind while Helana I'm not sure about, but I've got a list of possible replacement candidates should they decide to not return. Before I ask them, however, there's an old friend I have to see, personally. Is that alright with all of you?"
"You do what you need to do, Wesker. We won't be doing much either until we test the Double-O's Twin Drive Systems with Exia's solar reactor," Ian said to him in an understanding response.
"I better be on my way then best not to keep all of you waiting." Wesker took his sunglasses out of his pocket. "We'll meet again soon before anything truly happens, I can assure all of you on that." He then left the bridge in preparations for departure and preparing what would happen in the future.
Author Notes:The Vier I based on several ideas that have been going through my head and to make it unique. I've never seen an electronic warfare Gundam and thought it would fit with Nena as the Drei which she used was also a support Gundam so essentially, it's a improvement of the Drei. Also I won't be revealing the other three Rising Phoenix Gundams just yet, they'll have their place, but they won't be coming together in the next three chapters or so. Anyways please read and review and please point out any mistakes I may have made so I can correct them. I've watched the first episode of S2 Gundam 00 and I still can't tell if Setsuna's Gundam is OO or 00.