Gundam 00: Phoenix
Ressurection of Beginning
AD 2312 Middle East, September 1, Azadistan Border
The fast airborne mobile armour continued to cause havoc on Rising Phoenix forces as it once more pulled up after strafing an artillery piece– vital for the Rising Phoenix's objective in the region.
Several missiles then trailed after the machine from SAM sites situated several kilometres away from the battlefield forcing the mobile armour to take evasive action and deploying chaff to avoid the missiles on the machine's tail giving Rising Phoenix forces more time to reposition while the machine was distracted.
While the fighting occurred in the air, Viper and his spotter scrambled to get the coordinates of the last four towers dialled in another artillery strike, but unfortunately where they were happened to be a small warzone with Federation infantry exchanging fire Rising Phoenix troops in a small run down town.
The two men were laying low in an old collapsed cellar, having just given the coordinates to the remaining artillery pieces and now were holding up in cover for the rest of the fight.
"Jesus, that's four out of six artillery pieces, we lose any more and we won't have the fire power to finish this off at long-range," Josh noted in annoyance as the howling of an artillery shell filled the air before one of the GN Dispersal Towers exploded in a fiery column. "Just where are those reinforcements we're waiting on?"
"Don't know." Viper then pulled the trigger taking down a Federation soldier with a single shot to the head. "But they better get here fast before that mobile armour gets a bright idea of coming here," Viper then replied before firing his rifle again.
The howls of another volley of artillery shells then came whistling passed them towards the horizon giving off a distant explosion in the background.
"That's two more towers to go, keep the artillery coming Delta-Six," Josh then said through the radio hastily. "The sooner this is over the sooner we can hide from that thing and let these so-called 'reinforcements' handle it."
"Roger that, continuing with the bombardment on designated positions," came a professional response back through the radio.
An exhaust trail from one of the buildings then struck a nearby building sending bits of stone showering Federation troops that was meant for a Federation APC which was laying down suppressive fire with its main cannon and machine guns.
"Shit, how could they miss that!" Viper exclaimed, viewing the fighting from his vantage point before squeezing the trigger, killing an Federation soldier with an AT weapon that was marked for one of their Viper tanks.
"Heads up Alpha-One, that machine is heading your way with several GN-Xs, ETA less than thirty seconds!" came an explicit shout through the radio.
His partner scowled in frustration. "This just keeps getting better and better," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes before grabbing his rifle.
Viper and his spotter didn't bother moving from their location in the building. Staying down here was at least safer than going outside and exposing themselves to the deadly fire of Federation troops and now possibly a mobile armour in their area.
A soldier then suddenly dived into their position, one of theirs.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Viper shouted over the dins of war to the man who readjusted his helmet while his spotter lowered his rifle away from the man.
"Our left flank just collapsed!" the man told him. "You better pull out of this position before those Feddies get here!" the man quickly warned them.
"Jesus, they've broken through already?" Josh said in amazement and shock.
The soldier then left their position leaving Viper and his spotter hastily packing with the ground rumbling beneath them fore-warning them of an approaching armoured vehicle with the clacking of boots signalling the sound of Rising Phoenix soldiers falling back from the Federation's approach.
With their gear stored the two men immediately ran out of their cover, falling back from the approaching Federation forces behind them.
To the unaided eye, in the skies above the ever expanding battlefield, one would see a relatively clear blue sky, but faintly up in there air were extremely thin exhaust trails that were so minuscule that they often disappeared before ever being noticed allowing six aircraft to enter the battlefield without being noticed.
From the cockpit in one of the planes, Willard surveyed the battlefield from his Ace Phantom. Though the Rising Artillery had now stopped with the final tower being shattered with one final salvo, it didn't change the fact more Federation forces were entering the area to counter-act the threat and the Rising Phoenix ground forces would need support against any bogeys in the air.
"Big Bird," Willard then began to the crew of a large transport plane, "Prepare to release package after we strike the targets. Once that's done you are clear to release and return to base."
"Roger that Death Wing One, we are disengaging locks onboard and preparing to open bay doors," the transport plane's captain replied back.
Willard then got in contact with his squadron of four. "Alright boys, time to test out the Ace Phantom's combat systems, drop stealth systems and prepare to engage," Willard order as his squadron rolled into position to strike the enemy down below.
Descending down, Willard's HUD began to lock onto one of the GN-X IIIs that was firing several particle beams from its GN Lance at a Viper Tank which was backing up, attempting to use the buildings as cover against the brilliant and deadly orange particle beams, only for it and its cover to be obliterated.
"Let's see how this new bird works," Willard muttered enthusiastically as he dropped his fighters stealth systems and diverted all power towards the engines and weapon systems.
Upon dropping his cloak the GN-X spun around to see who had just appeared out of the blue only to come under attack by two eighty-millimetre rapid fire railguns mounted on the nose of the new Ace Phantom.
The rounds, although small and seemingly underpowered in this new era, ripped several holes in the GN-X's solar reactor causing it to fall out of the sky after several small explosions occurred in the chest region of the machine which ripped it apart.
Willard grinned at the effectiveness of the railguns which had punched through the GN-X. "Looks like the coating on the rounds actually work," he stated.
Around him GN-Xs were being shot down out of the skies by the surprise attack before the remaining units began to return fire, showering the air with particle fire forcing all the Ace Phantoms to back off; yet, despite being considerably bulkier then the original and a bigger target, the Phantom manoeuvred and sped as if it were even lighter than its predecessor.
"Now Big Bird, release package!" Willard ordered while his squadron regrouped high up in the air.
"Understood, releasing package."
As if appearing out of thin air, a mobile suit began to descend lifelessly down from the heavens before its solar reactor activated and then the machine, with a flashing glow from its eyes, kicked into life as it went into an upright position with its solar reactor radiating light blue GN Particles.
The dark grey machine with a trim of dark yellow and red entered a combat stance as it drew a blade which extended from within its small shield before racing off towards the mobile armour that had lost some of its support.
The pilot's image then came up on screen revealing an older Flint from behind his helmet visor. "Willard, keep those GN-Xs off me, I'll handle the new machine and see how the Pegasus performs."
"That's the plan," Willard replied back in acknowledgment as he signalled his squad to perform another attack run on the GN-Xs to cover their new, valuable asset.
The pilot of the mobile armour looked up at the new enemy machine before setting a direct course at the enemy.
"So it's a Gundam, never thought I'd face one so fast, this was just suppose to be a field test," the female pilot said to herself before smiling. "Then let's play Gundam."
The mobile armour immediately began to fire its two particle cannons at the Pegasus only for the grey Gundam to evade it and continue its charge which nearly bisected the mobile armour in half if it weren't for a quick turn in the remaining seconds.
"So you want to play up close and personal?" The pilot smirked as the mobile armour closed in on the Pegasus which kept up its pursuit.
The Pegasus gripped its blade with two hands ready for the counter-charge as a GN Field formed around the front of the Gundam. "Think you're smart trying to close in with the Pegasus, then you'll be mistaken!" Flint said upon the sight of the mobile armour closing in.
Two particles beams ripped through the air as the mobile armour fired its cannons off which were deflected off the field, only pushing the Pegasus back slightly which caused the Pegasus to charge as it brought its sword down on the mobile armour– only for the machine to rapidly transform into a mobile suit and sprayed particle fire from two GN Vulcans mounted on the machine's arms as it back flipped over the Pegasus.
Flint grunted as the shots hit the Pegasus hard, but failed to get through the armour, before he drove the machine out of point-blank range with a hidden beam saber located in the shield and then quickly fired with a GN Carbine that was also mounted in the shield.
The machine gracefully side-stepped the particle beams causing Flint to narrow his eyes. "You just won't take a hit will you?" Flint stared at the machine whose eyes were glowing orange right at his machine. "So the Federation has finally gotten around to making machines that can match ours," he then murmured.
The mobile suit infront of him had features extremely similar to a Gundam with two glowing eyes and a unique head with a crest that differentiated itself from a GN-X or Ahead. Then there were the weapons which included its two wrist mounted Vulcans, and a elongated blade mounted on its right wrist. Still, it looked under equipped compared to most other Gundams. Speed would mean nothing if it couldn't fight back effectively in mobile suit form.
With a burst of speed, the Pegasus then lunged at the mobile suit hoping it could land a hit and bring the machine down with one fell swoop, but the enemy dodged him like it was nothing before spraying out dozens of particle beams into the Pegasus' back again.
"You'll need to do alot better then that if you want to hit me," the pilot mocked with a laugh before the mobile suit transformed back into its mobile armour form and soared after Pegasus.
Whoever this pilot is, they're good, Flint thought to himself with the Pegasus Gundam turning around to respond to the approaching mobile armour.
The mobile armour fired forcing Flint to dodged before he then closed in on the mobile armour, quickly accelerating towards the mobile armour that was now attempting to break away from its run.
With a swipe of the Pegasus' blade, the mobile armour made a hard turn right, but it did not get away unscathed as part of the mobile armour's right wing was sheared off and sent plummeting towards the ground causing the mobile armour to temporarily lose control and nearly fall out of the sky.
The pilot grunted as she regained control of her machine. "Damn it, I got careless," she murmured before taking a look the remaining GN-Xs in the air, which were putting up a strong resistance against the new fighters as they were no longer had the element of surprise, and then at her opponent. "Looks like we can still play for a little while longer," she said before the mobile armour rocketed towards the Pegasus and transformed into its mobile suit mode.
Particle beams showered the Pegasus as the machine circled around Flint's machine causing the Pegasus to fire its light particle beams at the mobile suit in rapid succession, trying to score at least a single hit on the fast machine.
"It's like an annoying gnat that just can't be swatted," Flint stated with a growl, rhythmically pressing the trigger. "Just stop moving for a second you bastard and let me shoot ya down."
In frustration, after several more shots, the Pegasus Gundam ceased its ranged attack as it then lunged at the mobile suit.
Flint ending up missing as he was forced to block the machine's blade at the last second with his own as it attempted to slash him in the back which resulted in part of the Pegasus' right shoulder pad being slashed off; the machine having somersaulted just before he could strike and now had put him on the defensive.
The machine's GN Drive and thrusters then began to work together at full power with enough force that the Pegasus began to be pushed back down to earth by its opponent at a rapid pace.
Flint scowled at this; there was no way he was going to lose, especially not on the first day of the Pegasus' first sortie. He didn't want to have to use up most of his particle supply, but something had to be done.
"Trans-Am!" he shouted as the computer picked up his voice and the Trans-Am system went alive causing the Pegasus to glow a radiant bluish red as the GN Drive now was working at maximum capacity and all stored particles were being released from storage.
Within moments of its activation the exact opposite was happening as the mobile suit began to be pushed back rapidly by the Pegasus towards the sky.
"So they do have that system I've heard about, Celestial Being must of given them that," the pilot growled before she let out a gasp, noticing that her machine's blade was actually cracking beneath the full force of this Gundam. "He's actually going to break the Serene's sword!" she said in disbelief. "Just how much stronger does that system make him?"
Immediately the mobile suit attempted to break away from the Gundam as it skirted to the side with quick slash from its blade to give it a moment of breathing room and then quickly transformed to get away within a split second of each action happening.
The Pegasus, however, ended up taking out a large chunk of the mobile armour's left wing just as it flew off behind it sending it careening out of control forcing it to transform back into mobile suit mode to avoid falling out of the sky.
Upon seeing what had just happened to her mobile suit the pilot decided it was time to pull out of the combat zone; the Earth Sphere Federation could not afford to lose a machine like this in its first sortie.
Earth's Orbital Ring, September 1, Ptolemaios II
Tieria pondered how the A-Laws managed to find their exact location while everyone was discussing what had just happened on the Ptolemaios' bridge. Unless the A-Laws had developed some kind of advanced sensor he doubted their arrival was mere coincidence, they were just far too organized to be passing by.
Somebody had given their location away but who could it be? Was it one of their backers like Wang Liu Mei, or was it an inside job by either one of them or the Rising Phoenix? There was also Lyle Dylandy who had just come aboard, but he didn't even know the location of the Ptolemaios until the fighting had actually begun. There were just so many suspects that could be a traitor whether it be their own or another.
"Tieria is something wrong?" Ian asked causing Tieria to look up.
"I'm just wondering how the A-Laws managed to find our location, it was no coincidence they found us. Somebody leaked our location to the enemy, it's the only explanation," he replied back to Ian.
Ian nodded his head sharing his concern. "If someone is spying on us and giving out information to the Federation we'll need to be vigilant; we can't afford this happening for too long or we'll never be able to stop the A-Laws."
"Well who do you think it could be, if we're looking for a mole we're going to have to start with everyone back at the base. I know everyone here can be trusted and that kid Saji can only access the database, but he's unable to forward anything," Lasse then stated. "You think it may be members from the Rising Phoenix?" he then added.
"Could be, I know Wesker would never intentionally betray us, but I'm not so sure about some of his own people; however, it could also be some of the backers we have left. For all we know one of them could be giving out valuable information. The fact many of the observers have been killed over the past four years leads to this theory also being acceptable."
Lasse gave Tieria a serious look. "But if there truly is a mole we'll have to root them out before we get too far ahead or the A-Laws will be all over us before we know it." His tone of voice told everyone that they should start looking for the possible now rather than later.
Feldt then turned to them as her console beeped. "I'm getting an video feed from Rising Phoenix Middle Eastern Command on a secure channel. It looks like they found something interesting." Feldt then brought the broadcast on the main screen.
The image of a dark blue Gundam appeared on screen before transforming into a mobile armour and then engaging the Pegasus before transforming once more until the Pegasus activated its Tran-Am sequence forcing the new model to retreat from the combat zone with the rest of the Federation forces.
"Hmm, so it looks like the Federation has finally gone along with building machines that can match our own in single combat, interesting," Ian said as he examined the footage carefully as it repeated itself.
"Strange, it's working with the regular military and not with the A-Laws. This will work well for us as the Federation military is mainly a defense force at the moment while the A-Laws does the dirty work." Tieria then took a slight pause before continuing, everyone carefully tuning in to what he had to say. "I cannot say the same thing for the Rising Phoenix, they'll be the ones on the offensive trying to go into Federation held territory to get at A-Laws assets so it means they'll be taking the brunt of the force and that in turn, could affect us."
"We just have to trust that they can hold the Federation military down for us to complete our missions so we can get rid of A-Laws. They're sacrificing alot by drawing the Federation's main attention," Ian then stated plainly while he readjusted his glasses. "And it puts much less work on us since the A-Laws is considerably smaller then the Federation."
"Are we're even strong enough to fight the A-Laws?" Feldt then asked in her quiet, unsure voice. "Mrs. Sumeragi may not even rejoin Celestial Being and without her tactical forecast we may not even get far. There's also Lockon's brother, he's–"
"Different?" Tieria then cut in with Feldt nodding her head.
"Did Setsuna have the right idea of recruiting Lockon's brother? The guy, I would say, is a complete amateur and in these times we can't afford mistakes. Even if his technical scores are high it won't mean anything if he's never been on a real battlefield," Lasse then added his opinion into the conversation.
"We should at least give him a chance, maybe he'll surprise us, Setsuna wouldn't pick him if he couldn't do anything, surely he's better then we expect," Mileina then added her voice in the conversation in a positive tone.
Tieria looked over at Mileina and then turned back to the screen. "I just hope so because soon we'll be taking on the A-Laws and against them we cannot afford mistakes or the we'll will suffer greatly for it," he then said seriously with the rest nodding in agreement.
Middle East, September 2, Federation Base Vigilance
Federation mobile suits came in and out of the base, lifting off from one of the many hangers to perform their assigned patrol duty while repairs went on for the machines that had been damaged in the previous day.
Many of the damaged machines were GN-Xs that had been shot down over the region by the new Ace Phantoms, but fortunately many of the pilots were still around to witness the ongoing repairs to their machines, eager to head back out and find the ones who were responsible for shooting them down.
The Serene Gundam, which had also been in battle yesterday, was also still undergoing repairs; mobile suits being the high-maintenance machines they were not known for being quick to get back into battle even with an expert repair crew.
"You sure you didn't intentionally get the Serene busted up?" one of the mechanics asked a young woman with dyed purple hair wrapped into a ponytail who was analyzing the machine's systems with a laptop while standing on top of the Serene's mobile armour form. "Just fixing the cracks in the sword takes several hours and replacements aren't easy to come by. "
The woman shook her head and sighed. "I know, but that machine has that special system just like those Celestial Being Gundams have. Completely caught me by surprise just when I had the upper hand." The woman then frowned. "I would've won if it were a fair fight," she then said bitterly.
The mechanic groaned upon hearing those words. "Both Celestial Being and the Rising Phoenix aren't known for fighting fair so expect to be surprised a lot. We don't want to have to fix this machine up on every sortie it goes on."
"Ya, gotcha," the woman replied, waving the man off, not concerned about anything that may or may not happen on the battlefield.
An officer then came near the Serene, her hand elegantly gracing over its repaired wings before she looked up.
"So, Corporal Erica Sierra, how do you like your machine?" the female officer asked. "Does it suit a soldier like you?"
The purple-haired woman looked down at the officer. "Sure does, performs much better than anything else I've flown. It almost took down a Gundam if it were just a fair fight. I can assure you I'll get it next time." The young woman smiled and her voice filled with confidence as if she was perfectly sure that she would beat the machine next time it appeared.
"Don't push yourself too hard Corporal," the officer cautioned. "There's a reason you're sent with teammates to support you, use them when you need to. Even you have your limits"
Erica shrugged. "Doesn't exactly help when the team supporting me got blasted out of the sky leaving me alone against the Gundam. I can't rely on a team because I may not even have one if I get into another fight," she said back. "I can't exactly babysit others out there."
"I'm just saying." The officer then turned to the mechanic underneath the Serene who was replacing several components. "How long until we can get this Serene back into the air?"
The mechanic wiped his forehead. "About two hours. The sword just needs to be repaired and she'll be good to go."
"Good, everything will be in order when the Wild Bear arrives," the woman stated causing the other two to looked surprised.
"The Wild Bear of Russia is coming here?" Erica gasped in surprise. "Isn't he, like, the top commander of the HRL before it was integrated into the Federation?"
"He is, and probably one of the most respected as well. He'll find good use of your abilities when he takes–"
"Command of the situation?" a voice then finished causing the three to look in shock and disbelief.
The man who had spoken those words was the man who they had just been talking about, Sergei Smirnov, the Wild Bear of Russia.
Immediately the three then saluted the Colonel who signalled them to be at ease.
"We didn't expect you to arrive so soon, sir," the officer said. "They said you would within the next two hours."
"I came earlier than expected due to the urgency of the Rising Phoenix being in the area. I also had to see this new machine for myself before we begin operations in the next few hours," Sergei then turned to the pilot. "You're Corporal Sierra, am I right?"
"That's me, sir," the young woman said with a nod.
"I've read your file and from what I hear you're a super soldier. Tell me is that true and how did you end up in the Federation Military?" Sergei asked curiously. "Just a simple answer will do."
"That's true and I signed up because I owe the Federation for stopping the super soldier program in the Mediterranean three years ago which was a joint project by the Uni–"
Sergei raised his hand for her to stop. "I just said a simple answer, corporal, no need to go into detail. I just needed your reasoning, everything else I know about."
An officer then came up to the Colonel. "Colonel Smirnov, Colonel Stuart would like to see you in the command center so he can shift total control of the base and its personnel to you."
Sergei nodded his head. "Very well then, tell your Colonel I'll be along shortly."
"Yes, sir." The officer then left them.
Sergei then turned to Erica. "I expect nothing but your best when we go out there. You're previous acts in the last battle were impressive, despite the defeat, don't disappoint me or your comrades, corporal, I expect great things from you for service in the Federation Military."
Everyone then saluted before Colonel Sergei then went off to assume control of the base.
"You just got a compliment from Colonel Smirnov," the female officer said in amazement.
Erica seemed in shock from the comment before she quickly came back to her senses. "I guess I definitely can't fail now, not with the Wild Bear of Russia looking over my back."
The female officer then departed leaving the Erica and their mechanic to get back to work on the Serene.
Moralia, September 2
Wesker sat down in his car seat while he examined data he had just recently received from the recent battle that had happened in the Middle East.
On his laptop he saw images of the Federations new model mobile suit– or Gundam some would call it– just giving the Pegasus Gundam an utter beating until it activated Tran-Am allowing the Pegasus to outperform its foe and forcing it and the Federation mobile suits to pull back along with their ground forces so they could regroup.
He would need not just Flint out there if he wanted his own Gundams to last against both the Federation and A-Laws in the long run.
The problem, however, would be getting his two original pilots to join. From what he had seen and heard in this day both were busy with their ordinary lives and may not be able to rejoin or not even want to after four long years of relative peace.
If they did not join he would have to find suitable candidates from his given list. If it came to that he hoped he only had to pick one as both Nena and Flint would be much more familiar and comfortable with their former teammates.
Looking outside of his car window he saw both Helana and Daveral conversing with each other in a small cafe, most likely catching up with one another.
Taking a quick glance to see no other cars were coming his way, Wesker then opened his car door and walked towards the cafe and then opened the door causing a light bell to chime.
He was greeted by one of the cashiers and he returned the greeting in kind before he headed over to the where the two were located.
Helana looked at him in surprise with Daveral turning around wondering what had caught her attention and he put on the same exact face upon seeing him.
"So how have you two been over the years?" Wesker asked courteously.
"W-Wesker," Helana stuttered unable to figure out what to say still looking at him in surprise.
"Fine, I guess, until you showed up. Does this mean what I think it means?" Daveral then asked as he then gave Wesker a questioning look.
Wesker nodded his head which caused Daveral to get up as well as Helana and all three of them left the cafe and entered into Wesker's car.
After a few moments Wesker then spoke up. "Sorry I had to break up the reunion, but I had to ask to both of you in private. Security Agency is everywhere these days which makes talk nearly impossible in public." Wesker then paused glancing out the window out of caution. "Do either of you want to rejoin the Rising Phoenix? It's a simple yes or no question and I'll respect you decision either way," he quickly said.
Both Daveral and Helana pondered over the question until Daveral then spoke up after several moments of relative silence.
"I did say I would come back when asked, though there's a project that needs to be finished unless someone's going to cover for me," Daveral answered. "If it's for a good cause I'm in, deadlines or not, and it'll be good to see the other after all these years. I just need to find a way to make sure I don't get fired or I'll have to find another job, probably something less prestigious."
Wesker nodded his head. "I'll see if I can get something done for you to make sure none of that happens." After speaking to Daveral his glance went over to Helana from the rear-view mirror who was looking down, pondering what was the right choice.
After awhile Helana looked up at Wesker. "I don't think I can do it. I mean it's been four years and I just can't leave my family now, not after what they've been through. I'm just tired of struggling in my life and it's only recently that I can actually enjoy it, I don't want to throw it away," she said decisively with Wesker also giving her a nod. "Sorry if you wanted me to rejoin, but I just can't do it."
Wesker only gave a shrug and gave her respectful look. "Your life is yours not mine I have no right over it. I'm simply asking not ordering."
He left everything at that as he let the two leave the vehicle and when they had left he pressed a button changing the small monitor to show the list of candidates. The decision needed to be swift for everything to work out as planned.
Author Notes: Not very interesting at the moment and probably messing with S2 cannon, but I don't really care because I have said that I would be changing things up in S2 so I don't have a complete carbon copy of the story with only different and new characters. Things are going to change so don't expect Allelujah getting out of prison exactly the same he did in the original series. Also I'm terrible at chapter titles if there's too little combat going on.