Gundam 00: Phoenix
Reason Not to Fight
Europe, September 4, Spain, Rising Phoenix European Headquarters
Wesker slowly paced back and forth around the hanger floor listening in on a phone call he had just received.
With simple nods and the occasional hum of acknowledgment, Wesker took in the news of what had just happened. This was a terrible event which would set things back considerably, but was not to be unexpected; the Federation was bound to comb the entire region for them until they found their base of operations–this just made the plan have to move forward, much quicker then he had hoped for.
Wesker then gave another nod before replying, "For now take account of your supplies and men so we know what is needed and then get back to me, understood?" he said to the Rising Phoenix commander over the phone.
"Understood, sir," the command responded back tiredly before he hung up.
In an instant, Wesker flipped the phone shut and placed it in his pocket before he turned to Daveral who was leaning against the wall reading a manual that held the information about the machine he would be receiving.
"Daveral," he then said as he began to walk towards a sealed door, gesturing for Daveral to follow.
Taking a glance over his shoulder, Wesker saw Daveral continuing to read the manual as he followed, somehow managing to avoid the people and equipment being shuffled around the base.
Wesker closed in on a small control panel which hooked up to the wall right beside a massive bay door that towered over everyone, clearly designed to hold mobile suits.
Daveral soon caught up and then finally shut the manual and looked at Wesker.
"So, I guess this is the big unveiling?" he asked as his eyes shifted to the massive door infront of him.
Wesker nodded his head. "Indeed, it is time for the big unveiling." Wesker then pressed several buttons on the control panel causing the door to slowly open with a thunderous rumble.
The door slowly slide open with Wesker taking a couple step back to also take a good look at the Gundam behind the door.
The door slid open and within moments, a massive Gundam was now seen looming over nearly everything in the base's hanger.
The dark green Gundam with two blue strips going across its large shoulder pads, legs and arms caused Daveral to look up in awe and silence at the machine that would be his. The Gundam with its four horned head crest and dark blue sapphire-like eyes gave the machine a look as if it were a guardian.
"So this is what the Phalanx looks like." Daveral then walked forward for a closer inspection.
The Gundam looked heavily armoured, though it was not as bulky as the original Lancaster that was its predecessor nor did it look as slow due to the smaller thrusters attached to its legs and shoulder pads. On the back of the machine a weapon system lay just right above the GN Drive.
The system contained two massive rectangular railguns which were folded up behind the machine. Strangely enough, the machine also had two large shields mounted on each shoulder that looked like they could fold forward and protect the machine.
"I can see why it's called Phalanx just because of the shields," Daveral commented, still looking up at the machine. "Looks like it can fly alot faster than the Lancaster ever could, too."
"Numerous improvements were made. You can owe Celestial Being many of the new improvements the Phalanx has over the Lancaster," Wesker replied back. "So what do you think?" he then asked wanting Daveral's opinion.
Daveral patted the leg of the machine. "So far, I'm impressed," he then turned to Wesker. "I'll have to actually try it out before I can form any solid opinions, though."
Wesker nodded his head. "Understandable, though you'll probably being using the machine quite soon with what's happening around the world, mainly the Middle East. Feel free to use the simulation to brush up on your skills, I've doubt they've remained the same over the past four years."
"Nope, they haven't," Daveral responded with a sigh as the Gundam's cockpit opened and a line began descending down.
As Daveral entered the Gundam, someone then came up to Wesker's side and whispered into his ear. "Sir, we need you at the other side of the facility. There are some things the project director needs to discuss something with you, mainly about the Phoenix."
With a nod Wesker followed the man who led him to the other side of the Rising Phoenix base to see how the new vessel was coming along which would be one the key pieces for the plan to succeed.
Gulf of Oman, September 4, Ptolemaios II
Four GN-Xs lead by a customized Ahead smashed their way through a small formation of Katharon Flags that were attempting to hold them off with their outdated weapons as other members of their group began pulling back.
Linear rounds and particle beams whipped through the air from both sides, flying in all directions indiscriminately with missiles occasionally being launced and shot down.
Two Flags fired at the single Ahead in the A-Laws' mobile suit squadron only for one of them to be cut down in an instant by a particle beam. The other mobile suit then fell apart into two with a flash of light, sliced in half a moment later by the Ahead's beam saber.
Inside the Ahead, Graham Aker could only give a slight feeling of disgust of what he was doing to the Flag squadron out here just over the ocean. He had betrayed the Flag at long last having finally parted ways with his beloved machine at long last after all these years leaving behind both the memories of his old team and painful scares that came with those memories.
Moving back to the battle, Graham watched one of his teammates shoot down a Flag with its GN Lance before moving onto the next target.
"Must be hard being a member of Katharon, they couldn't run away even if they wanted to," Graham heard that GN-X pilot say, grimly.
Graham gave an understanding hum before saying, "No kidding and they're not even a challenge when cornered." His Ahead then tore through another nearby Flag by slicing off its head and gave a quick slash which severed the machine into two. "Alright, boys, lets finish this up and head home."
The remaining Flags did not flee despite their only were three machines remaining out of seven that challenged Graham's squadron. This wouldn't take less than a couple of seconds, especially with the Ahead at the front of the final assault to finish off the foe.
Closing in on the Flags, Graham readied himself to finish off these anti-government forces.
Unexpectedly, a bright pink particle beam came from behind him forcing him and his men to dodge and in the distance, there was a green mobile suit skimming over the water firing its sniper rifle at them in quick succession.
A smirk then appeared on Graham's face. "So you finally show yourself to me after all these years, Gundams." His machine then raced towards the Gundam having signalled for two of his men to finish the Flags off and the rest to follow. "This time you won't just be facing me or my brothers-in-arms alone," he then said, narrowing his eyes, the smirk still remaining.
"Captain!" a cry then came out from one of his team members. "Enemy machine coming out from the water; it's–" The pilot didn't finish as his GN-X was forced to evade to massive particle beams which scattered Graham's formation.
The Seravee Gundam then blasted out through the surface of the ocean followed by the 00 which used the moment of confusion to close in onto one of Graham's teammates.
The 00 raised its blade for the killing blow on one of the GN-Xs that was closest to it and brought it down.
In response, the GN-X countered with its own beam saber before the rest of the mobile suits moved in to support with the two that had been dealing with the Flags now closing in from the rear to help.
"Captain, if it's alright, we'll deal with the one trying to snipe us!" one of his team member said to him as particle beams from the Cheridium forced part of the squadron to evade.
Graham nodded his head. "You've got it Julius." He then turned his attention to the machine that was powered by two GN Drives which had overpowered the GN-X and had sliced it into two causing the red machine to explode.
"You Gundams are going to pay for that!" Graham roared in anger upon seeing the GN-X being cut down due to the delay. "That's the last member of my team you'll ever cut down!" His Ahead then brought one of its beam sabers down on the 00.
The 00 evaded and closed in on Graham's right flank attempting to finish him while he was vulnerable.
In an instant, Graham's Ahead then turned around, igniting the second beam saber and then slammed two blades against the 00's.
Sparks flew as both Graham and his opponent tried to push each other back and get the upper hand before Graham managed to push his foe away before kicking the Gundam in the head sending it back even further and temporarily incapacitating it for the moment allowing him to close in without resistance.
I wonder if the pilot of that machine is the same boy I fought five years ago, Graham then wondered while closing in on his foe. His foes' fighting moves, from what he had just seen, were nearly an exact match to the Exia's.
He then set the comm. channel to a open frequency and spoke. "May I ask," he began his Ahead's saber collided with the 00's blade. "Are you that boy I fought four years ago?" he then finished as the 00, with a quick manoeuvre, pushed Graham's Ahead away with a sweep of its blade
"So you're still alive, after what happened," the pilot responded in slight surprise, his voice an exact match of who Graham was expecting.
The 00 fired several particle beams at Graham forcing Graham to raise the Ahead's shield to defend against a couple of the beams which were too quick to dodge at close-range.
"I could say the exact same thing," Graham then replied. "After all these years it seems like fate would deny any sense of peace I would get. Looks like I'll have to avenge Howard and Daryl again!" Graham eyes widened in excitement as his Ahead stormed in, having closed the distance enough to attempt a cross-chop with the two beam sabers.
The 00's Drives then shifted to the front and propelled the 00 back, away from the Ahead causing Graham to miss and instantly the 00 moved in to strike.
"Why are you with A-Laws?" he then heard the pilot roar. "If you're a soldier why do you do things like murder innocent people?"
Graham's face then curled into a frown upon hearing those words. "I have my reasons!" he said back in annoyance. "Besides I'm no mass murderer, you're the ones claiming that name!"
The 00's blade then slammed down from above into both of the Ahead's beam sabers and pushed down against the Ahead.
Fell right into it, Graham smirked as the Ahead did a cross-slice. The two beam sabers passed by each other and focused at one point on the sword before then severing the top of the 00's blade.
His Ahead then spun to the side of the 00 and readied to lay down the killing blow with one of his beam sabers.
A warning signal then went off causing Graham to lose focus for a split second and to evade. Several blue particle beams came flying out from under the water and soon after, a greyish black Gundam emerged from the ocean with a massive surge of water.
Graham then scowled at this sight and then gave a reluctant sigh. "Another Gundam, this is getting out of hand. I'm not getting my people killed in a pointless fight like this." Graham then flipped back to the regular comm. channel and got in touch with his comrades. "Everyone pull back, they're simply too much for us here."
"But, sir, what about our reputation as Flag Fighters?" he then heard a cry of resistance to his order. "Our comrades deserve to be avenged after all these years!"
Graham nearly cringed at hearing those words, looking down at his controls before back up; after all these years he had waited for this moment it looked like he had to wait longer."We'll get back at them Flag Fighters, but if we all die here we'll be dishonouring their memory!"
A reluctant, "Yes, sir," then came over the channel as Graham watched the Gundams quickly disappear in the distance.
One day they would get a worthy vengeance for the fallen Flag Fighters, but this day would not be it.
Setsuna looked back at the Ahead that flew away from the combat zone along with its squad members that disappeared into the horizon.
To think, after all these years someone like him would join A-Laws. It made Setsuna wonder if it was out of vengeance for his fallen comrades or was it something more? Could there be another reason to why this man would take such a dark path in life to join such an organization?
"Setsuna," he then heard from Nena, "looks like you got beat up there. Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, though the 00 did take some damage," Setsuna replied back to her.
The Ptolemy's silhouette then appeared beneath the water before it cut through the surface of the ocean and appeared, opening its dorsal mobile suit containers for the Gundams to return to.
Heading back to the Ptolemy, Setsuna saw two Flags and less than a handful of Hellions appear on his sensors causing him to turn around to see why the mobile suits were approaching.
Though they did not seem openly hostile he readied himself in case of anything they might do.
The mobile suits continued to come closer, this time flashing several lights from their machines signalling them their intentions.
"They want to meet us and see the Princess of Azadistan, Marina Ismail," he read from what the signal was telling him. "How do they know we have the princess?" he then murmured. Were they also going to save the princess during that prison break or had someone told them?
However, he then remembered that Lyle Dylandy, Lockon Stratos, was in fact a member of Katharon as a spy so it was only natural as to why Katharon knew they were here which was likely why A-Laws was all the way out here.
"Well, looks we made it time to see that not all of them have been wiped out," Lyle then said over the channel. "We should go meet with them, I'm pretty sure they're grateful for us bailing them out."
"You sound like you were expecting them to be in the area," Tieria then said in a serious tone. "May I ask as to why?" Tieria sounded as he needed less of an answer and more of just a response.
"I may or may not have made a few calls," Lyle replied in an honest tone. "We can talk more about this after we meet with them."
Setsuna nodded his head. "We'll head down, Nena, Tieria you head back to the Ptolemy and tell the princess to join us," he told both of them.
"Roger that," both of them answered as both the 00 and Cheridium went to meet with Katharon.
Europe, September 4, Spain, Rising Phoenix European Headquarters
The dock where the Phoenix lay was completely silent aside from the footsteps coming from Wesker as he examined the ship from above on the catwalk overhead.
The ship barely held any distinction to the original Phoenix which was originally a bulky, large ship that could carry a small army. In its place was a streamlined, smaller warship that looked less like a carrier and more like some kind of futuristic space cruising vessel with massive wings elegantly coming out of the hull.
Infront of Wesker was the project director, an extremely cheerful man likely because his masterpiece was nearing its completion.
"As you can see, Wesker, the Phoenix has undergone a complete makeover. You can't even make the connection if you had its previous form beside it," the director pointed out proudly. "Sure she's not the same Phoenix people once knew but this will make an even larger name for itself."
"I'm going to guess much of the Phoenix's previous bulk was reused into rebuilding her into this form, am I right?" Wesker then asked with the man nodding his head.
"It's exactly what we did. The previous Phoenix had plenty of spare parts that could be used once we took her apart. Also stopped us from going bankrupt trying to get the materials for a completely new ship and the Gundams that you wanted and then developing them." The director then leaned against the railing. "When she's finished she'll be the most powerful warship in existence, not even Celestial Being's Ptolemaios II will be able to compete with her in terms of armour and firepower." The man then frowned. "Sadly, it came at the cost of limiting crew comforts and room for either mobile suits or aircraft. She is a true warship now, not a cross between civilian and military sector."
Wesker crossed his arms. "How many aircraft can this thing hold?" he asked curiously wanting to know details.
"Its two hangers that can hold either seven fighters or two mobile suits in each unless they're AEU or Union machines," the director instantly replied back, now no longer leaning against the railing and continuing down the catwalk with Wesker following the man.
Upon reaching the end of the catwalk, the director pressed several buttons on a keypad which opened the door toward the elevator. "We just need abit more time to work the bugs out of the ship's systems and finish with the weapon systems and she'll be ready for field testing," the director then said to him as both of them boared the elevator.
"What kind of bugs are we talking about?" Wesker then asked again."Anything major?"
"No," the director replied, "nothing major. The targeting software is still being worked on as we speak while rerouting of critical systems in case of emergencies is still going over trial-and-error to get it right."
Wesker nodded his head, glad at the progress made before he said, "What is your estimate until the Phoenix is once again worthy to take back into the air with a fight in it?"
The director stopped for a second, remembering everything that still needed to be done with his finger before replying with, "Another month or so for the basics. I'm sorry if you want the ship to be ready now, but the Gundams did delay the project by a far margin."
"I guess basics is just the necessities of this warship?" Wesker then asked.
The director nodded his head. "Armour, weapons and systems would all be good, but anything advance such as the onboard manufacturing capabilities, detachable weapon pods, recreations rooms and other things that are not nearly as important to a warship would still need time to be worked on."
"All I needed to know," Wesker said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened revealing the passage that connected them to the ship.
Walking forward, Wesker went in to have a closer look at the ship in detail.
Middle East, September 4, Azadistan Border
Near silence had fallen on the outpost as people waited to see if anyone else made it back. Personnel who were keeping track of everything were the only ones making any sort of noise with their typing on a PDA or a pencil scribbling on paper.
Many soldiers had a look of defeat on their face with a couple staring at the horizon not knowing what to do now.
More people then came out of the exit tunnel in silence as the wounded were taken for treatment at one of the hastily erected medical stations.
His eyes watching the people enter from the tunnels, Viper could only feel a bit grateful that a few more of them just made it back. This cancel out the fact their base was a total lose and there situation was just an utter disaster, but at least more good people managed to survive and the more people who made the better the mood would be.
Viper's eyes then wandered to see their commander speaking in a very low tone to several of the people who were giving him their findings on who and what they had left.
By the defeated look on the commander's face that had fallen on so many soldiers, things were definitely not turning out for the better.
With a weak nod the commander then had everyone dismissed.
As one of the commander's people came by Viper stopped him and then pointed to the clipboard he was caring.
Knowingly, the man gave him the clipboard and Viper then let him continue on as he brought the clipboard up to his face so he could read the report.
Just upon a glance Viper found out how bad the situation really was. They had lost over eighty percent of their heavy equipment, eighty-eight percent of their supplies and over sixty-percent of their troops to either enemy fire or more likely, capture.
Putting the clipboard down Viper rubbed his face with the palm of his hand before he gave a sigh.
Their situation was hopeless with these losses. Even with reinforcements there was no way they could continue on with their operations with this small outpost unless they wanted to launch a daring raid and steal one of Federation bases in the region as a staging area. The best they could do was likely to pull out of the region unless fortune somehow favoured them and provided a sense of hope to push onward.
That would mean, however, abandoning the Middle East and leaving Katharon out here alone and they wouldn't last long with the Federation's focus likely being shifted to routing them out of the entire Middle East. The Rising Phoenix here was just too powerless; it barely even had enough power to fight off a company, much less an entire regiment led by the Wild Bear of Russia.
His idea he held during the retreat held no weight anymore. You could not live to fight another day if the fighting cannot even be fulfilled and instead they hid in fear from the enemy..
Slumping back against the wall like so many other Viper took another sigh and stared up at the ceiling. He never felt so crushed and the feeling of hopelessness of the situation loomed over him and the rest of the Rising Phoenix stationed here.
It would take a miracle for the situation in the Middle East to change not just for the area but for them as well for they were nearly nothing more than ash.
Middle East, September 4, Azadistan Coast
Setsuna looked over at the member of Katharon standing infront of him. He noticed that none of them seemed suspicious of him and in fact most of them had smiles and were commenting on Celestial Being's timely arrival and directing those comments at him and Lyle.
The comments continued by the dozens with Lyle doing most of the talking back to the Katharon members; Setsuna kept his eyes on the shuttle that had been deployed slowly touched down onto the rocky ground before shutting off its engines and the ramp folding down.
Slowly, Princess Marina Ismail came down the steps and from some the members of Katharon came several comments, grateful she was alive and well and now with them.
Then, from the crowd, a woman wearing a black shirt and khaki military pants emerged and instantly it caused a look of surprise from Marina who had just reached the ground.
"Shirin," Marina began. "So this is where you were after you left, with Katharon. I should have guessed as much, after all these years" she then said in a saddened voice.
"It may seem wrong to fight back, but at the moment this is one of the few things that may one day make the Federation listen." Shirin then turned to the Gundam Meisters. "We're all very grateful that you had rescued the Princess. She may be the only one who may be able to bring order back to Azadistan. Ever since she was imprisoned the situation in our country has only worsened."
Setsuna, looking through his tinted helmet turned to Shirin. "How bad has the situation, may I ask?"
Shirin turned to him with a serious look. "The country is at the brink civil war. The extremist taking of the advantage of the situation and many have flocked to them despite their words holding little, if any, truth behind them."
"And no one has attempted to stop it?" Lyle then asked, curiously.
The brunette could only shake her head. "The military is splitting and the police are powerless to stop the extremist when parts of the military support them. We would intervene and try to defuse the crisis but we're simply spread out too thin, we don't have the resources and if we do, it'll give the Federation an excuse to enter Azadistan and they'll likely annex the country. Something we've been trying to stop and avoid."
"We have to go back," Marina then shot out, her arms shaking. "We have to try and end this before this utterly destroys our country, Shirin. If the Federation don't destroy it the civil war that comes surely will."
"It's too dangerous, Marina. You coming back to the country would give the Federation an excuse to enter, you're still wanted. There would also be many out to get you once you return. The extremist will not take well of your return nor will they respect it."
In his head, Setsuna knew if the civil war happened Azadistan would never be the same again, there would be far too much resentment between the two main factions. It needed to end before it could start, but Gundams or Katharon moving in would draw far too much attention. There had to be another way.
Setsuna then raised his hand stepping between the two. "Celestial Being and Katharon won't be able to help the situation if what you say is true," he said to Shirin. "There may be a way to end the conflict before it happens in a more subtle way. Though, I'm not the one you should ask of this."
"We should speak more of this, if you're willing to follow us back to our base," Shirin then said to both Lyle and him. "If you decide to follow or leave, we'll leave the Princess in your care for the moment."
"Shirin–" Marina tried to argue only for Shirin to shake her head.
"This country will need you as long as possible, you can't go risking yourself. With Celestial Being you stand a better chance of surviving," Shirin told the Princess with an unshakable demeanour showing that she was going to stick by the decision.
"Setsuna, we need you back onboard," then came through Setsuna's helmet from Feldt.
"Roger that," Setsuna replied back through his helmet before turning back to the members of Katharon. "We'll decide on our course of action, in the mean time you should leave before A-Laws returns in force."
A member of Katharon then walked up to him with a hard disk in his hands. "If you come looking you'll know where we are."
Setsuna nodded his head before he signalled for Lyle to return to his Gundam and Marina to head back to the shuttle as Katharon prepared to return back to their base.
Author Notes: Sorry about the longer then usual delay and lower quantity and quality. I've been busy these past few weeks and only had a few days where I actually had time to get to work on this.