Patriot-112: Hey everyone! Here I am along with the others with a brand new chapter of SEEDs of Change! And here with me are the friends who helped made the impossible, possible.
117Jorn: SIEG ZEON!
DragonKnightRyu: HEY! No stealing Mu's lines! Only Mu la Flaga can steal Mu la Flaga's lines!
Titanic X: Anyway, stay tuned, peeps, because things are really heating up this time!
Ron the True Fan: And now for a rage moment from yours truly. Never piss me off.
Takeshi Yamato: And I get to Cleave more enemies, and make progress on another front, too! :D
Patriot-112: So, everybody sit back, and enjoy the Show!
Disclaimer: None of us own Gundam SEED, Sunrise owns it. Now you lawyers get out of here before I unleash Ron on ya!
*Lawyers run away in terror, as Ron preps his Armsel Striker*
Chapter 6: Across the Sea
May 25th, 2014 AD/ CE 71
San Francisco
Smoke plumes were coming from various areas of the largest port city on the west coast, due to the recent battle. On the streets, multiple groups of U.S. military vehicles were sweeping the area for any E.A. forces that were hiding.
While OMNI Enforcer casualties were high, allied forces were only slightly lower by knowledge of the city, the surprise attack from the Canadian fleet and the fleet from Pearl Harbor blasting their way through San Francisco Bay. Despite this, the Americans had lost 8 ships, including one of their prized Ticonderoga-class cruisers, at least 19 armored vehicles and five Mobile Suits were destroyed while 3 Abrams were disabled and eleven captured Daggers were knocked out of action.
And now, in the San Francisco City Hall, the leaders of the Allied Coalition were meeting to discuss what to do now.
"We lost a lot of men, but we managed to retake San Francisco," General Toolan said. "All things considered, it could have been a lot worse, and casualties would likely have been higher if the Canadian's hadn't of shown up. We've managed to capture and salvage multiple E.A. Mobile Weapons and ships, which should give us a bit of an advantage later on." He then sighed. "However… to be brutally honest, while the city's capture has been one hell of a boost of morale, we can't hold our position here when the E.A, tries to mount up a larger counter-attack… at least not for long."
"Then what are we suppose to do, sir?" asked a Marine Colonel, as another, an Army counterpart, gave his own opinion.
"Our forces in the southern states clearly said they would send help! If we can just hold on to to San Francisco for just a few weeks, maybe-"
"Then maybe you'll all die," Tom announced as he stepped into the room in full BDU with the markings of a Captain on his shoulder. "Sitting and hoping will not allow the people under your protection to survive, you need to, at the very least, get the civilians to a safer area away from the front lines."
"That is something we agree with," Toolan said, nodding. "Which brings me up to our next topic… I just received word that Seattle has fallen, the E.A. have taken over." There were several murmurs following that announcement. "However… thankfully, most of the military and many civilians managed to escape. They said they used ships from Puget Sound to gather as many refugees, military personnel and supplies they could. They got the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, Independence, Ranger and Constellation working, and using them to house most of them. Their heading south our way as we speak… hopefully they can help us getting our batch out of here and over to Hawaii."
"If I may interrupt, sir," said D.J. as the entire group centered on him. "But I believe Jordan here has a better plan than just staying in Hawaii."
The General looked at Jordan, who nodded.
"Alright, son," the General said. "Where do you suppose we go?"
"The Orb Union," Jordan said. "Most of you don't know, but it apparently is a small chain of islands in the pacific, not to far from Australia and New Zealand. The nation is neutral in the conflict between ZAFT and the E.A, so at the very least the Refugee's would be safe there."
"That's fine, but I doubt they can take everyone," Toolan said, and Jordan smirked.
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong," he said. "Orb has something else that can help us quite a bit… a Mass Driver. "
The Military officers were confused about that, until a Major, wearing an Air Force uniform elaborated.
"Basically, it's a launch railway for ships. NASA had many designs for something similar, but… unfortunately…"
"Let me guess? Obama funding cuts?" asked the Army Colonel and the Major nodded.
"That aside, the Mass Driver is the key to making sure the civilians remain safe," Jordan said. "According to reports, in Lagrange Point 4 there are numerous space colonies that have been abandoned since the war began. The Earth Forces have no presence in that area of space, so it would be perfect for the civilians as long as we can refurbish the colonies to suit our needs."
"Plus, ORB may possibly be sympathetic to our plight," Tom informed. "I was authorized to see if it was possible to trade with ORB for space capable crafts if possible, so, I wouldn't mind escorting you guys there with your normal forces."
"Exactly," Jordan said. "I believe our best bet is to meet with the Seattle forces who are retreating, and then we evacuate everyone we can from San Francisco before the E.A. show up again. We stop at Hawaii to resupply what we need, and then make the journey to Orb. If we can convince the Archangel to help us, then it's all the better."
"Sounds good…" Jessica said. "But I still hate the idea of leaving countless others to die. Even if I don't like it, I'll back you guys up any way I can."
"Sometimes, sacrifices must be made for others to live," Tom commented with a heavy sigh. "That is what war is."
Jessica didn't like the sound of that, but for now she had to accept that.
"It'll be alright, X," said D.J.. "Someday, when we have enough strength, we'll come back."
"I hope so. Because I wanna give those BC bastards a punch to the head so bad!" she muttered. "And not just in the metaphorical sense, either… You know what I mean." Her eyes said it all.
"We will come back… someday," Jordan said. "But right now, we have preparations to do. We need to get the people ready to bug out of here when the Seattle Fleet shows up, then we are loading up every last boat we have here and heading to Hawaii."
"Then, it's settled. I know the rest of you are hesitant to leave our home, but right now, we need to survive in order to live and fight another day," said Toolan, and the other Military officers all nodded solemnly. "This meeting is dismissed…"
With that the whole group left the meeting room of the City Hall.
Two Hours Later
Camp, just near San Francisco Bay
Ron took a moment to admire the weapon now sitting in his lap. The revolver-type shotgun was barely a foot and a half long, although if the stock was unfolded, it would be longer. The weapon in question was the Protecta Striker. Technically, it was the Armsel Protecta, as it had the auto-ejection mechanism and the double-action firing system, but Ron had first been introduced to the weapon in Resident Evil 4, and he fell in love with the damn thing. It was even better in real life.
Of course, Ron had taken a few more weapons from the SFPD, including a Beretta Model 92FS handgun (to replace that godforsaken Browning HP) and, to his surprise, a Zastava M93 Black Arrow. It was the Serbian Mauser action counterpart to the Barrett M82, chambered in the same caliber: .50 Caliber Browning Machine Gun. He had also been mentally working on the cockpit design for the Late-UC type cockpits, something the others would appreciate, and was busy fitting a holographic sight to the Striker at that moment in time.
'It appears the US military has finally gotten their heads out of their asses and accepted that North America is lost. About time they got their asses handed to them.' Sure, he respected their military power, but he had no love for the US government (and, to a point, its' military administration) and that insufferable American pride of theirs really needed to take a hit for them to accept that they were not, and never would be, the dominating force on Earth. The people he had no issue with as long as they weren't going 'America is best' and generally being stupid.
"Knock knock," Tom called out as he entered in. "Better pack up, the American brass has decided to get off its ass and get moving."
Ron chucked as he slung the canvas bookbag over his shoulder before picking up the Protecta and the Black Arrow as he stood up. "Took them long enough to figure out that the continent is lost. It's about time that those retards got their heads out of their asses."
Tom nodded in agreement. "We're heading to ORB, the yanks are going to try and see if they can ship the refugees to some of the abandoned colonies in L4," he informed. "I'm going to see if I can get my hands on an ORB spaceship of some kind so that we can begin space operations, hell, we're not even looking for a warship, just something to carry a troop of soldiers and the Wrath at the very least."
"We know what clusterfuck's coming next. Stupid question, but I need some help with a name."
Tom rose an eyebrow. "With what?" he asked.
"I just need a deity that represents fire. Have something inside my head, but I'll need the Morgenrote facilities to do the job."
"Hmm," Tom hummed in thought for a moment. "Surtr? The Norse bringer of the Apocalypse?"
"That's deadly enough. I'd better drag my shit back onto the Archangel and see if they fixed my Dagger yet. Good thing you hacked it off at the shoulder: makes it easier to repair that way." Ron slung the Black Arrow onto his back as they exited the tent.
"Sorry again about that," Tom said with a slight grin. "So, what kind of plans do you have for this Dagger?"
"One word: Jegan. The Dagger is a lot like the RGM-89, so I might be able to more or less turn the damn thing into one with enough work. First thing I'm replacing is the cockpit: the knuckledraggers on the Archangel said they'd work on it when I gave them the basic plans. Want one?"
Tom grinned. "Hell the fuck yeah," he informed. "Feels way too cramped in these CE cockpits," he informed. "'Sides, I wanted to talk with this 'Ultimate Coordinator', see what he's like in person rather than in show…"
"You'll be disappointed: he's exactly the same. The only reason I'm going along with them is to make sure OMNI Enforcer loses more than equipment fighting the Archangel. Coward has the most powerful Valentine War-era MS and he disables the suits while leaving the pilots alive. Clearly, he's too stupid to go 'shit, I left them alive; they'll be back as soon as they get their MSs repaired'."
"Well, I don't think he's necessarily a coward for staying true to his ideals, no matter how flawed they are," Tom commented. "Plus, he's not above killing those who need to be put down, hell, he was close to killing Yzak in the series if you take a careful look at it, then there's Rau, Stella, he had been gunning to kill Shinn towards the end of the fight, although in my opinion he should have from the very beginning."
"To make sure your enemy does not become a threat in the future, kill him in his crib. That's the basic rule I've been following since this shitstorm began. If I run into that cloned asshole while he's in a CGUE, I will kill him and be done with it. Screw epic final battles: practicality wins over everything."
"Not saying it doesn't, but remember, he doesn't think like us and we don't think like him," Tom commented. "Plus, there is the fact that I think he has a form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, think about it, the shit the kid has been through? Even for the supposedly 'Ultimate Coordinator' that was a lot of mental trauma and the human brain could only take so much before it… well… shuts down, and his limiting of his killing instinct was his way of dealing with that PTSD."
"Well, that means my work's cut out for me. The Archangel's going to have a nasty rep by the end of the war. They have an MS that disables every MS they run into, but that's not the one they need to worry about." He smirked briefly. "They'll be more worried about the Dagger that finishes the job, screaming for their blood at the top of his lungs. Besides, I kinda stole the moniker of Crimson Fucker from Alucard, so I've got to keep up with the killing sprees."
Tom snorted, not in the least bothered by his friend's admittance about his plans to essentially become a mass murderer. "Well, someone needs to get their hands dirty," he commented. "I'll see what I can do about the kid psychologically, there's no telling what this dimensional shift could do to his psyche with the horrors being unleashed, don't need him snapping on us and becoming useless…"
"If no one bothered to tell him that soldiers expect to die, please do so. It's not murder: it's assisted suicide. Pick up a gun and put on the uniform and that is want you should be ready for, ne?"
Tom snorted. "I've taken on harder challenges when it comes to making soldiers out of civilians," he informed. "Just need to remind him of what he wishes to protect…"
Ron then surprised Tom with his rather creepy talent, perfectly mimicking the voice of Kate Higgins, the English voice actor for Retsu Unohana for the anime adaptation of Bleach. "That should not be too difficult, should it, Captain?"
Tom stared at Ron with a dropped jaw for a few seconds. "What in the flying fuck was that?" he asked unbelievingly.
Ron smiled at that. "If there is a voice, no matter how old, no matter how young, no matter which gender it is, I can do it perfectly. Been able to for years: just need a few minutes of listening to do it." He practically eye smiled before continuing in Tom's voice. "Comes in handy when you want to spook the fuck out of people."
Tom stared at Ron for a few moments, a contemplative expression on his face. "That… I can use that," he informed, a glint forming in his eye. "Dear god I can use that… one of my soldiers is capable of hacking into the enemies comm frequency… if you can do the voices of the OMNI Enforcer officers, or better yet, Murata Azrael or even the president of the Earth Alliance… Ron, are you sure you don't want to join my squad, 'cause god fucking dammit I'd be willing to give you the Wrath if that's what it took…"
Ron shook his head. "There is only one Mobile Suit I want, and the Cosmic Era does not have it. Unless you can pull the MSN-06S Sinanju out of your ass, I'll be sticking with the Archangel. But…"
"But?" Tom prompted, his mind running a mile a minute about the possibilities of somehow constructing a Sinanju.
"I can make OMNI Enforcer divert supplies and weapons to you using my rather evil talent. I have a proposal: I'll join the Canadian military as their attache to the Archangel and the Orb Union. They've got better equipment than we do, and I don't think your carrier's exactly unknown to the Alliance now: they'll work on ways to keep you out. Orb's kinda known for making better shit than the rest of the world: the GAT-X series shows that."
"Done," Tom informed without hesitation. "Welcome to the Canadian Army, Lieutenant Pinkerton."
Ron quickly saluted Tom. "Well, hate to just run off, but my boat's going to be running off without me unless I get all my shit aboard her. Before I go, though, were there any other refugee convoys that made it from North Bay before OMNI Enforcer clamped down on the whole place?" Ron wasn't getting his hopes up, but he DID want to make sure.
Tom nodded. "There was, we have them a part of a refugee convoy, keeping them moving so that they're not found easily," he informed. "About… 1000 civvies in total from that area made it, anyone you're looking for in it? I can place a call if you need."
Ron shook his head. "Just check for two names: Wendy and Karen Schreck. I didn't see their bodies, so they might be alive." He scowled. "On the other hand, they could've been trapped and burned alive just like the rest of my family. Fuckers burned the city to the ground."
"I'll place some calls," Tom promised. "Go catch your boat, I'll probably see you on the Archangel to explain your new position to Captain Ramius."
Ron started running, heading where the UH-1Y Venom that would take him and a few others to the Archangel was waiting.
Several Days later
With the final approval from the local commanders, the U.S. military realized it was best to leave. U.S. troops scavenged for every last bit of supplies they could scavenge from the nearby E.A. bases they had captured, including Mobile Suits and their parts among other things. Meanwhile the civilians were loaded up onto any vessel with enough room, as well as any boat that could be found in the harbor. Also, many transport aircraft and civilian liners like C-17's, 747's and such were also loaded up, all to make the journey to Hawaii, at least anyone who couldn't fit on the super-carrier plane Ron had captured.
Among the sea going ships that were commandeered, were the World War 2 Liberty ship, the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien, which was quickly refitted, and brought up to modern standards, like a more advanced radar and sonar array. It also had its 3 and 5 inch guns replaced with guns they managed to salvage from the ships that were sunk during the battle.
The New Dawn was also towing a ship none really expected: the practically ancient Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary, recently freed from her rocky prison by the Canadians from Los Angeles. This was a greater boost to the carrying capacity of the ad hoc fleet, as the military ships were starting to get a little crowded.
Also, among the other ships were the old WW2 Submarine USS Pampanito, and the Former Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine, the Scorpion. Together the two could do only carry at least two dozen people each, and worst news was that they couldn't fire any torpedoes because either the tubes were deactivated, or the torpedoes that the subs used, just didn't exist anymore.
Watching over the massive convoy was the Archangel, whose two NJC-equipped Mobile Suits kept the nuclear powered ships in the fleet moving by virtue of range. The only reason the Nimitz and any other nuclear ships weren't shut down during the battle and the cruise over was because there weren't any N-Jammers in range of their reactors, since there were little to no Jammers in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the U.S Mainland. Now, things would change.
"Why am I getting reminded of the Dunkirk evacuation?" Jordan said, as the Schwarze Calamity stood next to Patriot's Dagger on the shore, watching as the massive fleet of ships moved around and out of the bay. "I know we can't stay… but I just hate leaving like this…"
Ron's face appeared on an auxiliary screen. "Perhaps you forgot the second part of Dunkirk: the Allies came back to France," he said. "Doubt we'll get to that point anytime soon, though. Besides, our priority is to protect the convoy, not pine over the loss of your country. We have work to do."
"I know…" Jordan said with a sigh. "It still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth… but you're right. Once the ships are out to sea and the aircraft are away, we make a bee-line towards Hawaii, and then… on to Orb."
"And once we get to Orb, Linda and I want to have a chat with Erica Simmons at Morgenroete," Takeshi remarked, another screen popping up. "Need to have them make me a proper Zankantou, and maybe see if they have any MS better than a Dagger that I can use."
"Speaking of Morgenroete, my nasty plan is ready for construction, but I can't do it on the Archangel," Ron mentioned. "Takeshi, I want you and your Mobile Suit's ass on the Archangel as soon as possible: I've got a gift for you."
Takeshi blinked, but nodded. "…Okay…" he remarked, confused, but curious. "Heading over there now."
Jordan sighed, as he continued to look outside, or more specifically, he began to look up into the sky.
"So… what are you gonna do?" D.J. asked, his face appearing in another screen. "When we get to space?"
Jordan was silent for a moment, as if choosing his words. "In space… we prepare, and start over," he said, with a small smirk. "I have… big plans once we get into space… I can only hope that everything goes the way I think it will."
D.J. was a little concerned at that. "You planning on building your own version of Zeon or something?" he asked, "Cause if you are, do us all a favor and don't go Gihren Zabi in the process!"
"I am far from an idiot like Gihren was, or the rest of the Zabi family." Jordan responded, "Let alone Patrick Zala, Durandal, or Rau. I admit, America is my home… but our future lies in space. Always has, and always will. If we don't leave earth, we will only make things worse on the planet - especially since now the world has to deal with the combined population of two planets."
D.J just sighed. "Just don't go mad with power," he said, and Jordan smirked a bit.
"Of course I'll go mad with power! Ever tried going mad without power?" he said. "It's boring! No one listens to ya!"
He could hear his online friend sigh at that. "Oh man… WHY THOU HAVE FORSAKEN ME!?" he shouted, causing Jordan to laugh.
Meanwhile - With Jessica
Jessica snorted as she leaned against the Archangel's interior observation deck wall.. She gazed back at the ruins of San Francisco, her eyes narrowed. "I just hope we can reclaim America from those bastards who rule it from the shadows…" she muttered. "This is going too far… Especially considering what they do to the next generation…"
"I agree with that, but there's not much we can do at the moment."
Jessica turned to face Miriallia as she came into the room. "Oh, hey," she said. She turned back to the ruins of the city. "Just this whole thing is beginning to upset me… Especially since I saw what they were doing first hand as we passed by a lab…"
She gritted her teeth. "No kid should be mentally broken and reprogrammed into a weapon of war! That's just totally sick!"
Miriallia nodded. "There's probably going to be more of them down the road. Hate to say it, but it's almost useless to brood about it. Just focus on the present right now."
"I know. And I will. But… just thinking about that makes me want to kill so many of those fucktards!" Jessica said. Then she sighed. "But for now… you're right. Best to focus on the present."
The other girl smiled. "Then you'd better get down to the hangar. Your crazy Canadian friend is up to something with the Daggers we managed to recover, and since your Abrams are almost useless in the water, I'd get a Mobile Suit while you can."
"Only question is… what kind can I get? I mean, I need something better than a Dagger," Jessica said as she turned and headed for the door.
Archangel Hangar
Takeshi hopped down from the zipline to the hangar floor. "OK, Ron, what is it?" he asked, turning to the Canadian. "What do you have for me?"
"Tanner! Unleash the God of War!" Takeshi did not see it coming as something hit him in the back of the head at relatively high speed, knocking him on the deck. "HA! Didn't see it coming!"
Takeshi groaned. "What the hell was that for!?" he asked, even as the… soccer ball? …hit the deck in front of him as he got back to his feet.
"One, that your cockpit sucks," Ron replied, "and two, that you need to watch your back. Follow me: I got something for you."
Takeshi sighed, even as he walked after Ron. "I get that the cockpit sucks," he remarked. "I'm hopeful I can eventually get a UC-Style Cockpit or perhaps one like that of the DGG-XAM1, but I'll need to train how to use a sword on foot for that one."
"How fitting! Over the last couple of days, me and the knuckledraggers were working on something." He led Takeshi to an unused berth in the hangar, where a large metal ball was sitting. "It ain't perfect, but it'll save your ass." He walked over to a computer and pressed a few keys before a four foot section of the sphere lifted into the air, much like a cockpit hatch. "Get in. The seat's big enough."
Takeshi nodded, then stepped into it. Looking on the inside, the panels did look to be in a pattern similar to a soccer ball. He sat in the seat, and true to Ron's comment, Takeshi fit rather nicely in the seat.
"Closing the hatch," Ron remarked. The panel that covered the hatch entrance moved back into place, and the screens turned on, giving Takeshi a nearly perfect 360 degree view.
"Huh…" Takeshi remarked. "Nice… Well, that at least covers the cockpit issue - All we need now is a DML System or MTS System, and sword training for me, then I'll really be in business."
"Don't expect a damned miracle from me," Ron remarked. "I do practical, and that cockpit is the apex of that. All debts repaid now, so get the hell out of that thing so I can remove the cockpit from your Dagger and fit this thing into it."
"Gotcha," Takeshi said, shutting down the cockpit and opening the hatch again. He stepped out of the cockpit, nodded at Ron, then paused. "Oh, when you get a chance, you might want to look up Sanger Zonvolt or Zengar Zombolt - two different names, but the same person, and one of the most Badass characters ever. Also the original Sword That Cleaves Evil." He then headed out of the Hangar, intending to meet Linda so they could get back to designing his Zankantou.
Ron shook his head, scoffing. "I already did," he remarked. "If I was armed, I'd blow my fucking head off because of the sheer stupidity I watched." Sure, it was flashy, but Ron did not do flashy. He did quick, efficient, and effective. That was anything but.
Takeshi simply shook his head as he walked out the door to the Hangar, passing by Jessica and Miriallia as he entered the corridors of the Archangel.
"Hey, Takeshi. What's going on?" Jessica asked.
"Oh, Ron built a new cockpit for me, and now I need to go chat with Linda about designing my Zankantou," Takeshi replied. "Talk to you later, Jessica."
The young woman blinked, but said nothing as he walked past.
She then turned to face Ron. "Hey, you got any Daggers I can use?" she asked.
Ron shrugged as he helped the knuckledraggers secure the cockpit and disconnect the power lines going to the unit. "Kinda busy right now: I've got to get this fucking thing installed in Takeshi's MS before he leaves and I've got to put the final touches on the second prototype. Dagger 6 is down there: it's yours if you want the damn thing."
"Clear the deck, mobile suit incoming!" One of the crewmen shouted over the intercom shortly before the Wrath set down in the hanger.
"Great, the last person I wanted to see right now. I don't even have unit three ready."
"Hey Ron, need any help?" Tom shouted out over the noise as he docked the Wrath. "I had a free moment so thought I'd give you a hand!"
"I'm going to need your help removing the cockpit from Takeshi's Dagger! I'm replacing it with this thing!" The loader moved toward the Dagger in question, with the deckhands making sure the one and a half ton ball didn't fall off.
"Sure thing!" Tom shouted out as he literally jumped from the cockpit and rolled on impact with the ground. "God I'm awesome," spotting Jessica out of the corner of his eye he called out. "Titanic! You free for a minute?"
"I'll be right there Ron!"
Jessica ran over. "What's going on?" she asked.
"Just wanted to apologise for the other night," Tom informed with a bit of a sheepish look. "I snapped at you out of frustration with the situation, sorry."
"Well, thanks. And… I'm glad you apologized," Jessica said. "To be honest, even I was frustrated. But…" Her voice trailed off a bit.
Tom raised an eyebrow. "What's up?" he asked. "That but led somewhere."
"Nothing," she said. "I guess we both were. And second… I guess you and I both have the same feelings regarding the next generation, right?"
Tom closed his eyes with a sigh. "I may not have kids of my own… but it does not mean that I do not think of the possibility, I don't want them living in fear every day," he informed, his eyes opening to show them dulled from their usual luster and razor sharp. "To ensure that, I'd become a demon if necessary."
"Same here. Well… I'd do whatever it took, even blowing up the bastards with a nuke if needed…" Jessica said softly. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a photo. "I… My family had some friends who had a young child… They were nearly killed and their son abducted for future use as an Extended. I… I promised them I'd save him…" She turned the photo to show the image to Tom. "This is them." The image showed a tall man with his hair cut really short and a smaller, more petite woman standing side by side under a tree and a young child held between them. She pointed at the child. "That's their son… the one abducted and held as a future weapon of war."
Tom frowned as he looked the photo over, studying the boy before bringing out a smartphone and snapped a picture. "I'll circulate the image with the Canadian forces," he informed. "After all, over 5,000 eyes are better than just a few, right?"
Jessica smiled. "Thanks. But he was abducted. And… I appreciate the help though." Then her eyes became serious. "But those bastards will not get away with this. And as soon as I get a more appropriate machine, I'm gonna hunt them down."
Tom nodded, patting her on the shoulder. "Just give a call when you're ready to make the extraction," he informed as he began to head over to Ron. "The CSTG was made for suicide missions after all."
Jessica grinned. "I will."
"If you two are done, get your asses over here! I'd like to get this thing installed before the end of the day!" They had been talking for 7 minutes and lost track of the time.
"Sorry!" Jessica called.
"Ah, quit your whining!" Tom shouted at Ron as he tossed off his camo jacket so that he was in an army fatigue shirt. "Where we at?"
"We need to get the cockpit out of Takeshi's Dagger and get this thing-" Ron knocked his fist against the metal ball. "-inside to replace it. We can handle the microcamera installation once that's done, but I need that POS cockpit out of there first. Get up there and get that thing loose while I get this thing up there to take its place."
"Got it," Tom confirmed as he leapt up onto the machine. "Pass me some pliers and wire clippers!"
Murdoch handed aforementioned tools over to Tom while Ron ran toward his Dagger, which would lift the cockpit out and hold the replacement prior to installation.
Tom quickly worked his way around the cockpit, clipping the hardwired wires connecting the cockpit to the frame and removed any of the power lines connected to it. "Lift 'er up a bit Ron!" Tom shouted as he moved clear a bit. "Can't reach the ones in the back!" The massive hand of the Dagger began to gently lift the boxy cockpit up so Tom could get at the connectors. "Damn near ready to pull the damn thing out at this point, Ryu, so either get those things loose or I'm pulling this fucker out!"
"Chill, Ron, chill!" Tom shouted out in return as he quickly worked his way through the wires. "I'd rather not get electrocuted with the wiring, you ass! You're clear!"
Ron pulled the yoke back, removing the cockpit from the Dagger at long last. "Hard part's over: time for the fun part!" He placed the cockpit onto the deck and moved the Dagger's hands over the ball. "Get clear, Ryu: we'll handle the rest from here!"
"Yeah, gonna say hell the fuck no!" Tom denied. "If I'm getting one of those things shoved into the Wrath I am going to know how they're installed, you ass, I'm the one who does the maintenance of the unit!"
Ron shrugged, honestly not caring. "Fine by me." The Dagger moved the cockpit close to the other unit, but the cockpit was 4 feet wider than the opening. "This is going to require some work, but I'm getting this fucking thing installed." He glanced at the deck for a moment. "Chief, can you get that armor out of the way? These things need to be taken apart for major overhauls, so it's got to be possible."
"We'll get it done! Move that thing back a little!"
"Pass me some wrenches!" Ryu shouted out to a deckhand. "Let's get this chest piece removed first!"
One of the petty officers passed up a set, and Ron's Dagger placed the replacement cockpit back on the loader to help remove the chest armor with the help of an overhead crane. It took roughly half an hour to get the procedure done, but it was more than worth it.
"We're going to have to rearrange the chest frame, it looks like!" Tom informed from within the cavity where the cockpit used to be. "My recommendation is to honeycomb the chest frame in two segments and place the cockpit in before the second piece!"
"That'll do till we reach Hawaii: we'll need larger equipment to make this less of an ad hoc mod and more natural. Either way, we're nearly done: just need to get the damn thing in place and all the electrical shit connected before replacing the armor. Chief, you get the honeycombing started while I go get units two and three ready!"
"Got it!" Murdoch shouted as Tom climbed out.
"Goddamn this is a fun challenge, limited supplies and limited time," Tom commented with a grin. "Let's get to work!"
With Takeshi
Takeshi entered the Archangel's Cafeteria/Lounge, and spotted Linda at a table. After getting a meal for himself, he went over and sat next to her. "Hey there, Linda," he said.
Linda glanced up, and smiled. "Hey Takeshi!" she said. "What's up?"
"Well, Ron put together a Panoramic Cockpit which he's now installing in my Dagger," Takeshi replied. "That at least takes care of any blind spots in the cockpit - hoping we can get the DML or MTS Systems figured out and operational fairly soon… though I'll definitely need sword training once that's done." He smiled. "How about you?" he asked her. "Any ideas for my Zankantou? Also, how're you handling all this?"
"That sounds cool," Linda said. "And… hmm… well I can't really think of anything aside from something like, giving it heat blade tech or something like that… and as for all this," She glanced around, making sure no one was listening. "I'm on the frakking Archangel, this is one of the most surreal things I've ever done in my life!"
"Agreed on the surreal part," Takeshi remarked. "Never thought I'd be here, doing this… and for the Zankantou, do you think adding thrusters to one side of the blade might work, like the Type-0 Zankantou? I eventually would like to have one like the Dygenguard's, with a blade that can change its shape, but I doubt that even the Cosmic Era has that level of tech just yet."
"Hmm… " Linda 'hmmed' as she thought about that "I think the thrusters could be doable if they can be made small enough… though you're right about the Dygenguard, I doubt CE has that technology… yet at least."
"Yeah," Takeshi replied. After a moment, he looked at Linda. "Linda… I'd like to thank you for being there for me," he said. "I… I still miss my parents, but being with you, I… I think I've been able to move on more easily than I would have otherwise."
Linda blinked in surprise at Takeshi's statement, and after a moment of silence she smiled. "It's… alright, Takeshi…" she said. "Truth be told… it's the same with me… with my family… with them gone now I… I don't have anyone else left, I just… didn't know what to do now with them gone, but… but since I met you… helping you and your friends have given me a purpose again."
Takeshi nodded. "I see…" he said. "Well, I promise to be there for you no matter what, Linda… you're a good friend… though, I'd like to try being… more than friends… if you'd be alright with that…"
Linda looked at Takeshi, her eyes widening slightly at Takeshi's statement. Yet… she didn't feel awkward or anything. In fact… after what he said, she felt a strange… fluttering feeling in her heart. She admitted that Takeshi was rather handsome, and he was also very skilled in Mobile Suits, among other things…
"I…" she said, trying to find words to respond to Takeshi, "I would… actually… like that..."
Takeshi blinked in surprise at that, "R-Really?" he asked, a bit of shock present.
"Well… yeah..." Linda said, as she smiled a bit. "I mean… you are pretty attractive and… you've always been very nice to me Takeshi… not only that but you're strong, and not selfish, like a lot of other guys I knew… so… if you do want to… see if there's any chemistry between us..."
Takeshi smiled. "I do," he said. "You're beautiful, smart, fun to talk to, and… I… I just feel drawn to you, Linda. I would like to give us a try…" He began leaning towards her, eyes going half-lidded as his lips approached hers…
...and Linda leaned forward as well, her eyes mimicking Takeshi's as their lips met together in a soft kiss. For the first few moments, they both relished in this new feeling, as they felt no repulsion in it. And moments later, the kiss became more passionate, and heated.
Eventually, though, they had to come up for air. "Th… that was…" Takeshi began, trying to find words to describe just how good that had felt.
"Y-Yeah…" Linda said, blushing several shades of red. "I… I uhh… t-think there has to be some chemistry if it felt that good…"
"Yeah…" Takeshi replied, blushing about as hard as Linda. "Umm… once we both get… some time to rest… do you think we could… meet in my quarters and…?"
Linda's blush appeared to triple in intensity, as she hastily nodded. "S-s-sure..." she said. "S-sounds great…"
Takeshi smiled nervously. "I guess it's a date, then," he said, before the nervousness faded a bit as he turned to his food. "Now, we should probably eat before we get back to work - we'll likely need a full stomach, whatever happens."
"Y-yeah, right," Linda said, nodding as her blush lessened as her own nervousness lessened, and her focus returned to the food.
Two Days Later - Outside San Francisco
"Well… here we go…" Jordan said, as he sat in the Schwarze Calamity, standing on the flight deck of the U.S.S Nimitz. Already the U.S Fleet was moving out, and following them was the entire fleet of ships from small speedboats and sailboats to older ships, cruise ships, hastily restored museum ships, tug boats and more. Jordan had just about given up trying to count how many ships he saw at sea.
He had to chuckle as this reminded him a bit of Battlestar Galactica, with the exception that not all of the U.S. Navy's strength was at the bottom of the ocean. He then turned his head and saw D.J.'s Dagger, with it's new head, which was a spare Astray head he pilfered from the Archangel's MS Hangar, and set about repainting it in his colors.
'Certainly makes it look more Gundam-like.' He thought, as he looked closer to the center of the large fleet - where the Archangel herself had been positioned, right alongside the Missouri and Iowa, along with carriers of the fleet. Looking further into the distance with the Gundam's cameras, he could make out the ships coming in from Washington State, consisting of similar numbers of sailboats and ships. He could make out the figures of the four repurposed carriers as well, in the center of the fleet.
'Hmm… we don't have enough planes for the Kitty Hawk or the others to be useful…' he thought. 'I wonder… it's gonna be a long trip, maybe turn the flight decks into farms or something?' He thought about it for a second, 'Well, Ron wouldn't like it… maybe we could use 'em like Rivet City from Fallout 3?'
"Hey Jorn!" he heard D.J. shout to him through the comm, breaking him from his thoughts. "I hope I'm not distracting you from any plan making or something."
"Huh?" Jordan asked, "Oh, just… thinking of ways we could use our new Carriers… we don't have enough aircraft to use them for their intended purpose after all… You think we could use them to make some kind of farms on the flight decks? Gonna be a long trip, after all, and with all these ships… then again we could also use them as mobile cities… in Fallout 3 there was a city made from a Carrier called Rivet City… Not sure if Ron'd agree with it…"
It was quiet for a moment until he heard D.J.'s voice. "Well, I'm not sure on the Carrier Farm idea, and even though I don't know about Rivet City, I think it will be a good idea," he said. "Also, our first stop along the way is Hawaii, so we can try to pick up any supplies there and then continue on to Orb. That is… if we don't run into any OMNI Enforcer Fleets, which is highly unlikely."
Jordan nodded. "Yeah, most of the E.A. Forces are focused either in the Atlantic, or in Asia," he said. "But I do not want to tempt Murphy with our chances here… I just want everyone to get to Hawaii and Orb in one piece."
D.J. remained silent at that, as the fleet continued toward their destination.
However, as they were moving away, they didn't notice the periscope that was watching the large gathering of ships.
Archangel mess
If there was anything a crew needed, it was food. Rations could only get you so far before you had a mutiny on your hands. Ron knew this, and once he was done work on the third soccer ball cockpit, as the crew were calling his proto-late-UC type cockpits, he decided to start cooking for the crew, who rightly deserved a semi-homecooked meal. Say what you will about him, (rude, an asshole, all sorts of unflattering names, ect) but Ronald Pinkerton was a damn good cook. As such, his spicy beef and broccoli stir fry was meeting with the same general comment. That being 'it's good!'.
"Give the Canadian credit, he's a damn fine cook," Jordan said, as he like many others sat in the Archangel's Mess Hall as they ate the meal Ron had developed for the day.
"That's for sure," Takeshi remarked, chowing down on some Mashed Potatoes - he was a pickier eater than most. "Looking forward to seeing if he can duplicate KFC Chicken, or even improve it!"
"Is that a challenge I hear?" As if out of nowhere, Ron had appeared wearing an apron and a rather tall chef's hat. "It's a good thing you're not bitching about the potatoes. I was a VERY busy man. Enjoy, boys: I've got a stew to finish prepping before tonight."
"Gotcha," Takeshi remarked. "And yeah, Mashed Potatoes are one of my favorite things to eat, and you make really good ones. Also, not necessarily a challenge, but KFC Chicken - Extra Crispy - is my favorite way of having Chicken - and given that I don't know how many KFCs managed to survive the merging of worlds and resulting chaos, or if any exist in the Cosmic Era…"
"Prepare to lose thy tongue, Takeshi, because when I make something, I make it HOT. I've got a stew to finish up. Enjoy." Ron walked off, ducking before he entered the galley as the hat added an extra foot and a half to his already tall frame.
Takeshi shook his head. "Good food, but still one of the craziest guys I've ever met," he muttered under his breath. He then turned to Linda, who was seated next to him. "How's your food, Linda?"
"It's great!" she said as she dug in. "I mean, I've had good food before, but ho-ly crap Ron's good!"
"Agreed," Takeshi replied. "Definitely looking forward to seeing some of what he comes up with." He then leaned closer and whispered into her ear, "Sorry we haven't had a chance to meet in my room over the past couple of days - Been needing to spend a lot of time on patrol." He blushed a bit as he continued, "But, I should have a few hours free this evening, if you'd like to… hang out."
Linda almost choked on her last bite, before she gulped at that. "Y-Yeah, sounds great!" she said, a bit of red dusting her cheeks.
Takeshi smiled, finishing off the last of his potatoes. "Great," he said. "I need to get back on standby, but I'll see you then!"
Jordan seemed to glance between Linda and Takeshi for a moment, before he sighed slightly, as he went back to his food.
"Penny for your thoughts, Jorn?" said D.J. as he ate a double cheeseburger with bacon.
"It's nothing, Patriot," Jordan said, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it..."
D.J. frowned a bit, not buying that for one second, and he had a good idea what, since he caught Takeshi and Linda practically eye raping each other.
"Bull... you're bummed because you don't have a love interest like Takeshi does," he said, causing Jordan to blush and snapped his head toward him.
"I'm not bummed by it, D.J.," he said, "I wouldn't mind having a love interest, but I know the odds of having one successfully are slim to none… especially now that we are in the…" he glanced around, making sure no one from the C.E timeline were present "…are in a Gundam universe."
"What does that gotta do-" D.J began, and Jordan raised his finger.
"1. Amuro Ray and Lalah Sun and Chan." He began, counting his fingers off as he went. "2. Kamille Bidan and Four. 3. Almost every pairing from Gundam AGE, and 4. Kira and Flay, or Shinn and Stella. Do I need to go on? If I get some kind of pairing, I might as well be wearing a damn Red shirt from Star Trek."
D.J. thought about that. "Y-eah, I get your point... " he said and went back to eating his food, before he turned back to him again. "But still Jorn, don't count yourself out yet."
Jorn gave him a deadpan look. "And you?" he said. "Still planning on going after the Sakura Burst?"
After he said that, D.J. began to choke on his burger.
"…*cough, cough*…W… What!?" he asked, making Jordan smirk.
"Come on, I know you like her from the series," he said. "Trying to go for a Shiro/Aina thing, eh?"
D.J. gaped before he moved his food out of the way and slammed his head on the table.
"…Fuck." he groaned out, causing Jordan to laugh again.
Meanwhile…
Under the ocean.
Unknown to anyone in the fleet, just below sea level, a single ZAFT Vosgulov-class Submarine was keeping a steady pace with the refugee/American/Canadian fleet, staying outside of SONAR, while staying close enough to observe the fleet.
Observing through the Periscope, was a man wearing the white ZAFT Commander uniform, with long blond hair, and the rest of his face being obscured by a mask.
"They are still continuing their course…" Rau Le Creuset mused aloud, "Towards the Hawaiian Islands..."
The sub's captain scoffed as he looked at the refugee fleet. "Will you look at those things? They're using Iowa-Class battleships," he said. "One of our GINNs could sink those ships, let alone this submarine."
Rau stopping peering through the scope to look at the man. "You have a point, Captain, but they don't have much of a choice," he said. "Besides, what you should be more afraid of are the guns. One shot will sink this ship as though it were a tin can."
He then peered through the scope again, as he viewed what had been the bane of his existence as an officer in ZAFT since Heliopolis: The 'Legged Ship', the LCAM-X01A Archangel. "And with the Legged Ship escorting them, it makes them all the more dangerous..."
The captain was a little unnerved at that. "So… do we attempt to destroy it?" he asked.
Rau shook his head at that. "No, our orders from the Chairman are to observe and help the Rebel Fleet. Believe me, I would want nothing more than to finally remove that ship… but orders are orders…" His eyes narrowed behind the mask. "Though I admit, even I am curious as to exactly where these rebels came from… or where they got all of this equipment…"
"SONAR Contact!" One of the ensigns shouted, "We have an Atlantic Federation Submarine on SONAR!"
"Well, that didn't take them long," said Rau, and turned to the captain. "I believe it's time we… assist our new friends in getting to Hawaii, don't you agree?"
The Captain nodded "Right," he said, "If there is an AF Sub nearby, chances are an Alliance Fleet isn't too far behind either."
Rau agreed to that, as he continued to look at the fleet through the periscope.
"Also, have my DINN ready for sortie," he said. "I think they are going to need all the help they can get…"
Meanwhile - Onboard the Archangel
Most of the others were just beginning to finish their meals, however suddenly the all too familiar sound of Klaxon alarms sounded across the ship, as well as the fleet. "All hands, Battlestations! All hands, Battlestations! Alliance Fleet detected!"
"Goddamn Murphy's Law!" Jordan shouted as he bolted out of his seat, and shot towards the hangar.
"Dammit! It never ends!" D.J. said as he ran alongside Jordan. "Over half an hour after we leave and a fucking A.F. Fleet is after us!"
"No use complaining about it!" Jordan said, "We just gotta deal with it! Above all else, we keep the civilian ships safe!"
"No need to tell me twice!" said D.J. as they arrived in the hangar and went to their Mobile Suits, D.J. into his, now newly named, Astray Dagger, and Jorn boarding the Schwarze Calamity.
Once he was secured in the cockpit, Jordan immediately began the start-up sequence "Mir, what numbers are we looking at?" He asked.
"We're still not sure, but we are picking up two Spengler-class Carriers, eight Des Moines-class Cruisers, and twelve Fraser-class Frigates." Mir said on the Comm, "Though we think there might also be a Sub, so expect Aquatic-based MS to show up as well, keep your eyes peeled!"
"Copy that, Mir," said D.J., as the Astray Dagger began to move toward the starboard catapult. "Entering starboard catapult now, Jorn you take the portside."
"Done and done," Jordan said, as the Schwarze Calamity moved to the portside catapult. "Mir, I need the Aile Calamity pack, but I also need the Anti-Ship swords from the Sword Pack."
"You got it!" Mir said, as the Schwarze Calamity was loaded up as he requested.
"As for me, Mir, I'll have the Aile Striker, with the shoulder gatling unit from the Launcher Pack," said D.J.
"Ask and you shall receive!" Mir complied.
"Thanks Mir!" Jordan shouted as his gear was attached. "Jordan Tackett, Schwarze Calamity Gundam, Let's Rock and Roll!" And with that he shot out of the catapult, and into the skies.
Following behind him was D.J.'s own Astray Dagger, and they turned and headed into the direction of the Atlantic Federation Fleet. Coming up after them was all the other Mobile Suits that they captured that were capable of flight, many painted so there won't be a friendly fire incident. Those which could fly took to the skies, while those who could not stuck to the decks of the Carriers and other ships which could support their weight.
"I got eyes on the A.F. Fleet," Jordan said. "Lot of ships out there…"
"Focus on your job, not on the numbers, Jorn!" One of the few exceptions to the rule of 'no flight, no movement' was Ron's Dagger, which still had the hastily made surfboard-esque shield. "We have a job to do, and unless you want to go back to the Archangel, you're going to do it! Tanner, turret two on Iowa's still out: you're acting replacement! Dylan, re equip with an Aile Pack, grab a shield and follow me!"
Takeshi's Dagger was next to launch, still using a combination of the Sword and Aile Strikers. He drew his Schwert Gewehr, and launched himself at the enemy fleet.
"Well, looks like we got a Canadian version of Patton on our hands." said D.J., seeing the Tactical Strategist within the... psychotic Canadian.
"HEY BASTARDS! LEAVE THIS FLEET ALONE!" a female voice called over the comm.
A Strike Dagger equipped with an Aile Striker pack blasted past them, its eyes flashing as the pilot drew out a pair of beam sabers and cut into a few other units, leaving them to fall into the ocean. The Dagger was hastily painted in navy camouflage, an indicator that it was on their side. But only one person was crazy enough to do what she just did next.
The pilot plunged downward, cutting a Dagger in half and kicking the two halves towards an EA ship. The first half hit the bridge and exploded while the second half fell into the water and exploded as well, tearing open a hole in the waterline. The ship was doomed.
She spun her machine, the rage pouring through her veins as she screamed out, her drive to defend her friends coming to the forefront of her mind. "THIS FLEET WILL BE LEFT ALONE!" Jessica roared.
"CHESTOOOOOOOOOOO!" Takeshi called out as he Cleaved through another EA Ship, bisecting it from the top of the Command Tower all the way down to the waterline. An EA Strike Dagger tried to come up behind him, but it, too, was Cleaved.
As the battle began, Jorn began to fly close to the water level, as he eyed both the fleet and the water. 'Where are you...' he thought, 'Mir said there might be a… aha!' With the Schwarze's sensors, he picked up what appeared to be a periscope poking from the top of the water.
"Ron, I've got eyes on the Feddie sub!" Jordan shouted. "Going after it before it can shoot any torps! Sending coordinates now!"
"Copy - FUCK!"Ron shouted. "Launcher Dagger bearing down on Iowa!" On one of the destroyers' forepeaks, a Launcher Dagger leveled its Agni at the Iowa, preparing to sink the battleship.
Ron, located behind the E.A vessel acted quickly, firing at the destroyer's ass and port side, making the OMNI Enforcer vessel dip aft and port just as the Dagger fired. "Iowa, you've got a-" He began to say, but Ron never finished as the shot connected with Iowa's superstructure, vaporizing the top 60 feet of the ship, including the main bridge. Iowa was now a rogue, as she had no way to control her steering.
"New Dawn, Nutcase Lead: get the Queen Mary away from that fucking battleship before it rams her!" he shouted. Thankfully the orders were carried out quickly, as the Queen Mary slowed down to avoid hitting the Iowa.
While the remaining crew of the Iowa tried to regain control of the ship through the back-up bridge, the main guns of the vessel were still active as the forward most cannons turned and fired at the OMNI vessel on which the Dagger still stood. The shots hit the ship, but the Dagger jumped away, preparing for another shot…
…only for a beam boomerang to slice its Agni in half, destroying its main weapon. A second boomerang then sliced the entire machine in half. The boomerangs returning to the machine who sent them - the Schwarze Calamity.
"They ain't gonna sink our battleships, no way!" Jordan shouted. "Someone cover Iowa as she gets her shit together! I'm going under to kill me a sub!"
"I got it!" Jessica said. She blasted past, her beam sabers glowing. "NO ONE FROM THE ATLANTIC FEDERATION IS GONNA HARM THESE PEOPLE!" She blasted over to where a group of Daggers was hovering and cut through them like a tornado. "And that means any people! Especially CHILDREN!"
"ITTOU! RYOUDAN!" Takeshi called out as he Cleaved through a carrier, apparently hitting something vital, managing to boost clear just before the carrier went up.
The Nimitz had launched some of her F/A-18D Hornets to provide support to the allied fleet, but the fighter pilots (operated by VMFA-225 Vikings) had clearly forgotten the cardinal rule of anti-MS warfare. Against Mobile Suits, all were but chaff. One of the few Aile Daggers (which was copying Ron's stunt of surfing) fired her 40mm CIWS cannons at one of the fighter/attackers, peppering it with holes.
The Marine would have the last laugh, however, as the aging fighter/attacker, which was now on fire, managed to bank toward the Dagger and ram the damn thing, hitting it directly where the cockpit was, killing both the OMNI Enforcer pilot and the two Marines in the Hornet.
Meanwhile, Jordan had submerged underwater, as he moved the Schwarze Calamity through the water hunting the enemy Submarine. "Come out, come out, wherever you are…" he muttered.
Suddenly his sensors went off, as the machine stopped abruptly. He darted around, and saw a GAT-706S Deep Forbidden, who had grabbed his left leg with its pincers. It moved its Trident to stab the Calamity-type machine, but Jordan grabbed the trident as well. He then went for one of his Anti-Ship swords, and to the shock of the enemy pilot, the beams of the blade ignited underwater.
'I love modding my Gundam.' Jordan thought with a smirk as he sliced the aquatic machine in half. 'Now, where is that… bingo!' With both the sensors and the upgraded camera of the Calamity, he spotted the distant image of an E.A. Submarine - he could also see several Deep Forbiddens being launched from the ship, preparing to attack.
"Not today assholes!" Jordan shouted, as he sped towards the enemy Submarine. The E.A Forbidden machines turned and moved to intercept the Gundam-type, firing their Torpedoes at the machine. But Jordan dived deeper as they overshot, before he sped to the closest Forbidden and sliced it in half. The next one moved in with its trident, but he kicked it and flung one of his swords at the machine, impaling it.
Withdrawing the sword, he then sped towards the enemy sub, and with two movements he stabbed the E.A sub deep, and began to carve the enemy ship inside out. The submarine exploded, and on the surface there was a large explosion of water, signalling its destruction.
Jordan smirked. "Bingo," he said. "Enemy sub destroyed! There may be a few Deep Forbiddens down here though! Could use a little help hunting them down before I surface!"
"I'm a little hung up at the moment!" shouted D.J. "Rena's back, and boy is she PISSED!"
Jordan's smirk simply widened. "Ah, having some girlfriend trouble up there?" he asked with a small chuckle as he hunted down the last few Deep Forbiddens.
"Up yours ya damn Shisno!" he shouted and Jordan blinked at that.
"A what?" he asked in confusion. "The fuck is a Shisno?"
"Something that has to do with RvB- OH SHIT! Can't talk anymore, gotta go!" D.J. said and cut the link heading back to his battle with Rena.
Meanwhile - Tanner's Dagger
The Iowa might've been under control, but she was still on fire: the fuel stores did leak, and the fire control teams were having difficulty controlling the blaze. Tanner would have helped shove water onto the fire if it wouldn't make matters worse.
'Ron is going to kill me.' He thought to himself. While he was rather vocal about the Iowa's uselessness, it spoke more for his dislike of the US Navy's policies. They were, quote, 'fucking retards'. The Iowas COULD have a role if the Navy spent the time to properly refit the damn things with modern targeting systems, a magazine-based firing system like the Desert Eagle's and a nuclear reactor to replace the oil-based engines to make if more environmentally friendly.
But the US Navy, due to budget cuts, incompetence, and just lack of wanting to do the job properly, let the ships rot. Iowa's now-gone superstructure spoke volumes about that. But thankfully, even though she had taken one hell of a hit, she was still firing her shells at the incoming EA Fleet, and several other Mobile Suits and ships were making sure she wouldn't get hit again. Several Tug boats and fire boats among the fleet had moved up and begun assisting in removing the fires on the ship.
Of course one of the main reasons the EA wasn't trying to attack the Iowa again was probably because the Freedom was hovering over it, spamming all of its weapons at the incoming EA forces, with waves of plasma and beam energy disabling Daggers left and right.
Meanwhile - with Takeshi
Takeshi Cleaved another Strike Dagger, bisecting it cleanly, before looking for a new target.
He'd been busily Cleaving machine after machine, and had even Cleaved several of the ships, using the fact that they were busy with other targets to avoid being targeted himself. Though now, it seemed almost like the field was thinning.
Suddenly there was an explosion erupting from the water, which was soon followed by the Schwarze Calamity as it soared back into the air "Alright, that's the last of those Deep Forbiddens, I think!" Jordan announced. "Now, on to the rest of you EA Bastards!"
"About time you came back, man!" said D.J. over the comm. "This little Sakura is now really ticked!"
He turned and saw D.J.'s Astray Dagger fighting against a blue colored Sword Calamity.
"You need a hand, D.J.?" Takeshi asked.
"Nah, not at the moment, only when I'm in a real jif!" said D.J., as he dodged one of the Sword Calamity's swipes. "Just try to deal with the rest of the E.A. fleet!"
"Gotcha," Takeshi replied, turning to look at the remaining EA ships. There weren't too many left, but still a decent number. "Alright, time for some more Cleaving!"
Meanwhile - Bridge of the U.S.S. Nimitz
"Sir! We have more bandits inbound, thirty-five degrees starboard aft!" said one of the bridge crew of the de facto flagship of the refugee fleet. "IFF identifies them as F-7 Spearheads! They're on an attack run!"
"Take them out!" The captain shouted, as the Nimitz's CIWS turrets and missiles activated, opening fire on the Spearheads. While the CIWS managed to score a few hits and downed a few, most of the bandits began to fly in low, preparing to open fire with their payload…
…only for several shots from above to gun each of the Spearheads quickly.
"What the - where did those-" The Captain began, as he looked up, and his eyes widened as he saw six mobile suits soaring in from above, four of them being a purple color while the leading one was pure white, and the last one very similar to the Wraith, opening fire on any EA aircraft still in the air.
Their arrival did not go unnoticed, as Jordan glanced up in surprise. "ZAFT?" he asked, "What the hell are they doing here?"
"I think they're here to help," Takeshi said. "Not that I mind one bit."
Jordan glanced back at the ZAFT machines, however he immediately focused on the white DiNN… and his eyes widened as he groaned. "Oh, fuck…" he muttered, "Guys… the lead machine… it's White."
Takeshi sighed. "Oh, great, Old Mask Face," he remarked. "What the hell is that Phantom of the Opera Reject doing here?"
"I don't know…" Jordan muttered, his eyes narrowed, "But, oddly enough he's helping us… My only guess is that ZAFT wants to find out more about our forces." He then spotted the Duel, which was using a Guul to gun down E.A Mobile Suits and ships. "And Yzak's here as well…"
"He dies and he dies NOW!" Ron's Dagger shot toward the DINNs, piloted by one very, VERY angry Canadian. "Tanner, target the white MS with the monoeye! KILL HIM!"
"No, you fucking asshole!" Jordan shouted, as he slammed the Calamity into Ron's Dagger, "You kill him, we change the timeline, and possibly lose an alliance with ZAFT!"
"To hell with the timeline: this universe isn't even supposed to exist!" Ron shouted. "It's an aberration, a twisted mockery of the prime timeline and the SEED timeline! That means I can do whatever the fuck I want!"
"NO YOU CAN'T!" Jordan shouted back. "We lose ZAFT's support, and we might NEVER take back our homes! You want to kill Rau so much, then you gotta fucking WAIT like the rest of us! This universe may not be supposed to exist, but it does! Mucked up timeline or not, it's all we've fucking got! Besides… I call dibs on the fucker - if anyone's gonna kill him, it WILL be me when the time comes!"
"Then you better kill him before he gets the fucking Providence!" Ron shouted. "That will not stop me from trying to kill Joule! Fucker killed at least 80 civvies with that shuttle, and he's going to pay for that NOW!"
"RON, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Jordan shouted. "YZAK DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THEY WERE CIVILIANS! You think he would've attacked if he knew? You know how much it eats at him in Destiny after he finds out? And the same fucking rule applies where you attack him, we lose our alliance with ZAFT! So if you can't fucking handle it, then get back on the Archangel and WAIT!"
Ron did not listen, activating one of the forearm mounted beam sabers and tried to disable the Calamity so he could attack the ZAFT Mobile Suits.
Unfortunately, Ron had forgotten that - while he had upgraded it somewhat - the 105 Dagger was a standard Mass Produced M.S, while the Schwarze Calamity was a state-of-the-art prototype Gundam. When he attacked, Jordan simply ducked and used his Beam Sabers to slice the arms off of the 105 Dagger, and then delivered a very strong punch to the area where the cockpit was - the kinetic force rattling the inside, and causing Ron to hit his head on the controls, knocking him out.
"Goddammit, Ron…" Jordan muttered, as he carried his Dagger back to the Archangel. "Attention all units: The new machines are of ZAFT Origin, they are friendly! Do not engage! Repeat: Do not engage the ZAFT units!"
"Roger that!" Takeshi replied, though as he returned to his Ship Cleaving, he opened a more private link with the Schwarze Calamity. "Jorn, I think I have a bit of an idea… it'll change the timeline, yes, but hopefully for the better, and might also derail one of Old Mask Face's plans in the process."
"As long as it doesn't jeopardize our alliance with ZAFT, fine," Jordan said, as he groaned. "Goddammit, if Ron can't cool off, I might have to get him in the brig… at least until Rau and Yzak leave…"
"Don't worry," Takeshi replied. "This one's a bit more subtle. If Rau and Yzak are here, you probably know who else is on their carrier, right? A certain redhead Rau picked up from JOSH-A?"
Jordan thought about it for a moment, before he blinked. "Flay Allster…" he thought. "Yeah, you're right… she should still be on that sub… the Battle for Orb hasn't happened yet, and she was onboard when Rau was observing it… But how do we get her off without it looking suspicious?"
"After this battle, we ask to meet them on their ship, rather than one of ours," Takeshi replied. "Then, our 'delegation' basically distracts everyone on the ship while one individual finds Rau's quarters, the likely place he's stashed Flay, and smuggles her back to one of the Mobile Suits we use to ferry the delegates, and hides her in the cockpit."
Jordan rose an eyebrow at that. "And what happens when Rau discovers she's missing?" he asked. "The first place he'd look is our ships…"
"We'd likely need to fit her with a disguise, or have her hidden in the cockpits of MS on patrol all the time, so he can't physically locate her…" Takeshi mused. "All I know is, we get her out of there, Rau loses his easiest avenue of getting the EA the N-Jammer Canceller data."
He thought about it for a moment, and realized that Takeshi did have a point. "Alright, we'll give it a shot," he said. "But we tread lightly, Taka - we need an alliance with ZAFT, we can't jeopardize it or we're basically screwed. If we're lucky, though… we could somehow negotiate her return to the Archangel… "
"Right," Takeshi replied. "Of course, for that, we'd need him to admit that Flay is on board, or have someone from the Archangel discover her. Not the easiest of things to do… We'll go with diplomacy at first, but I'm keeping the covert option on the table in case we don't get an opportunity to use diplomacy to get her out of there."
"Sounds fair," Jordan said, as he landed Ron's machine on the deck of the Archangel, as the tech crews moved quickly to get Ron out. "Once you check Ron over, confine him to his quarters until he calms the hell down!" He said to the workers, before he turned around and launched back into the air, to help mopping up the remaining AF forces.
Meanwhile, with D.J.
"SON OF A BITCH!" D.J. shouted as he blocked the Sword Calamity's sword strike with his shield. "Damn, I'm gonna kill whoever gave Rena her damn S-Calamity! Fighting this thing is different than fighting a Buster Dagger!"
The Sword Calamity then kicked D.J's Dagger, forcing him back a bit, before she tossed a beam boomerang towards him, forcing him to duck under the attack. However then the Boomerang spun back, and he had to dart upwards… right back into Rena as she punched the Dagger back down.
"Omph! Fucking bitch!" he shouted as he glared at the Sword Calamity, until his eyes widened as he saw the center of the Calamity type's chest glowing. "Oh shit..."
Patriot acted as quickly as he could, as he dived down, narrowly avoiding being blasted to oblivion by the 580mm "Scylla" Multi-Phase Energy Cannon. Rena prepared to deliver another blow to the Dagger, however a series of beams fired at her caused her to weave away. She turned, and watched as the Schwarze Calamity dived down towards them.
"Hey Patriot! Looks like you can use a hand!" Jordan said on the Comm.
Patriot gave a sigh at that. "It's okay, but that was close, though," he said, and turned back to the Close-Combat variant of the Calamity. "And I very much appreciate it. You go high and I go low?"
"Roger that!"Jordan said, as he flew upward, while Patriot moved in from below. Jordan struck first, as he cleaved his Swords forward, however Rena twirled and avoided the strike as he overshot. But before she could even try to target the Schwarze Calamity, Patriot was next to attack with his beam saber, but she backed off. Unfortunately however, she had charged up her Scylla once more, and fired off a shot. But she was unable to get a good shot, and only managed to score a hit against the Astray Dagger's left arm, blowing it off.
"OH COME ON!" D.J. yelled as his Astray Dagger's arm explode. "I JUST FIXED THIS!"
And then, without knowing it, a brown SEED exploded in front of his eyes, and they became dilated. He then drew the right side beam saber, and went after Rena. She prepared to simply swat him away, but D.J dived below her and then shoulder-slammed the Calamity, and then using his still functioning arm to slice off one of her right arm while she was dazed by the impact. However he did not stop there as he then delivered several kicks into her machine's midsection around the cockpit.
The impacts from the kicks rattled the cockpit, causing Rena to slam her head hard against the side, knocking her out instantly. The Sword Calamity began to fall, which then snapped D.J. out of his berserker state.
"W-Wha...?" he said, but then saw Rena's Gundam falling toward the ocean. "Oh shit!" He sped forward, and reached out with his still functioning arm, and grabbed the Sword Calamity by the wrist of its left arm. However due to the weight, all he was able to do was slow its descent… until Jordan came along and grabbed the Calamity as well.
"Well, congratulations Patriot! You defeated your girlfriend!" Jordan announced cheerfully.
D.J. didn't say anything, but he only rubbed his temples as he felt a headache assault him.
'What the hell happened? I don't even remember doing this to her machine.' he thought, but then shook his head as he looked at Jordan's Schwarze Calamity.
"Let's get her back to the Archangel," he said, and the two machines headed back to the Archangel with their extra passenger.
Meanwhile - With Canadian STG aboard the New Dawn
Ryu sighed as he tapped a finger on his console. "Sir, why have we not launched yet," one of the soldiers asked from his GiNN. "They need our help."
"Not yet boys, the product of a good attack is waiting for a good time to strike, don't worry, we'll get out there soon," Tom assured them before switching comm channels. "Archangel CIC this is Captain Johnston, can you get me a link to the Freedom?"
Miriallia's face appeared on an auxiliary screen, having heard his request. "Archangel here, Captain: what do you need?"
"I need to have a word with Kira Yamato," he informed. "Need his assistance with a small matter concerning the battle."
Mir got to work. "Hang on a moment, Captain: Kira's a bit…" Two OMNI Enforcer Daggers lost their legs and fell into the water, one with the pilot screaming. "Busy."
"I can wait a few moments," Ryu informed before shouting out to a few of the deck hands. "Bring up the special surprise we found, boys, and load up the Sword Striker pack!"
The brown haired pilot of the Freedom (and eventual pilot of the Strike Freedom in the prime SEED timeline) appeared on another monitor. "Captain Johnson? What is it?"
"I need you over at the New Dawn, kid," Ryu informed. "We're going to cut down the EA numbers quite a bit, and by that, I'm guessing more than half of their remaining numbers."
Kira blinked in confusion, not understanding where Tom was going with this. "…Ok, but the Iowa's taken heavy damage and I don't think Tanner can hold off the Spearheads for long: his machine's not fit for the job."
"I'm sending over my men to the Iowa now kid," Tom informed, giving the signal for his men to launch. "But I need you over here on the New Dawn, something only you can do right now kid."
The Freedom turned toward the ex-OMNI Enforcer carrier and sped toward it as Canadian-operated GINNs and Daggers made their way to the stricken battleship.
As the Freedom landed on the deck, the Wrath was raised up from within it's carrier, loaded with the Sword Strike, and carrying, of all things, a Mobile Suit Positron Cannon on it's shoulder. "I just need you to stand the Freedom next to me, kid," Ryu informed as the Wrath knelt down, aiming the cannon. "CIC should be warning our forces to clear a path now, but I need to be within your unit's NJC's radius in order to fire this thing."
THAT was something Kira wasn't liking. He didn't want to kill anyone today, even indirectly. But they were down two ships (the Iowa was almost defenseless and one of the Burkes had been hit by an Agni blast meant for the Missouri) and they had lost five Mobile suits. Either he did this and the Alliance forces ran or everyone on those ships was going to die. "…Alright, Captain."
"Kid, I know you don't like killing," Tom informed as the Freedom stepped up next to the Wrath, the cannon beginning to charge with it's Ultracompact Nuclear Reactor attachment. "But there are going to be times, when you have no choice but to kill someone or someone you love will be killed, or they will go on to kill others, this is one of those times…"
Kira still didn't like the sound of that, but knew that Tom was right as he, though reluctantly, stood the Freedom next to the Wrath, with said suit now prepping the mini positron cannon.
"'Sides kid," Ryu announced as the cannon finished charging. "There is one thing that will never change…" he locked on to the center of the EA fleet even as the allied forces moved out of the way. "Bitches, will always love cannons." With that announcement, he pulled the trigger, launching the blast that actually shoved his unit back and almost pushed him over were it not for the Freedom supporting it.
The beam lanced forward at high speed, and the E.A. Captains attempted to move out of the way only for the blast to hit four ships, and hit the center of the formation, which was the enemy Spengler.
As the position explosion rocked the enemy fleet Ryu let out a sigh as he dropped the Cannon. "Target hit," he announced. "It'd take to long for the cannon to cool down for another shot, let's get this done."
"Captain, this is the CIC! New contacts approaching from the Northwest!" said one of the operators in the Dawn's CIC.
"New contacts?" Tom asked, biting back a curse. "Who are they?"
"Hang on a second, I need to-" however, whatever the ensign was about to say was cut off as a swarm of missiles struck five Spearheads, causing them to explode, or crash into the ocean.
Coming after the explosion, was a flight of five fighter jets that caused Ryu to blink as he recognized the models.
"Flanker-D's?" Tom questioned. "What in the hell?"
"We got a message from the new contacts... They're Russians!" the surprised voice of the operator said. "They said they're from the Russian Federation Navy's Pacific Fleet base at Vladivostok!"
"Holy mother of god," Ryu breathed out. "Those fucking Ruskies certainly do have some good timing, don't they?"
"Hang a moment, sir… they say they have… HOLY SHIT, they have two Spengler-class Carriers!"
With Russian Fleet
The Red Navy might not have been at her strongest since the Fall of the Soviet Union, but Mother Russia still produced some of the finest men Earth had to offer. However, fine men could not prevent them from losing most of the mainland to the European and Arctic Command branches of OMNI Enforcer, explaining why a pair of Red Army T-72 and T-90 tanks were on the deck of the Slava-Class cruiser protecting the now-Russian aircraft/Mobile Suit carrier RFS Fleet Admiral of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vasilyevich Masorin. With the loss of most of their bases, what was left of Naval Command transferred some of the Su-33 (NATO codename 'Flanker-D') fighters to the captured carriers while the Admiral Flota Sovetskovo Soyuza Kuznetsov took as many MiG-29K (NATO codename 'Fulcrum-D') multirole fighters as she could carry before leaving port.
Her Spengler-class sister, the RFS Fleet Admiral of the Russian Federation Vladimir Sergeyevich Vysotskiy, was lagging behind slightly, protected by battle-worn (and battle-damaged) Udaloy and Sovremenny-class destroyers, four and one of each respectively.
Along with the fleet were numerous support vessels, half of the fleet's subs, and civilian cruise liners, cargo ships, and fishing trawlers.
On the bridge of the flagship, the Commanding Officer of the Pacific Fleet, Fleet Admiral Sergei Iosifovich Avakyants, gazed at the battle in front of him.
"It looks like the Americans have made some friends…" he mused out loud.
"Admiral, the Alliance fleet is taking heavy damage from the American Mobile Suits, but they have lost two ships and one of their heavy surface vessels has taken severe damage to her superstructure."
"So you're telling me that the Americans will win the battle, but they will lose more of their ships before they do."
"'Da, Admiral."
Sergei might've let the Americans take the blows in earlier times, but not now: not with the Alliance summarily kicking their collective asses.
"Tell our fighters to begin attack runs on the Alliance warships and try to shoot down those Spearheads: they owe us for Archangelsk."
Meanwhile - Archangel Hangar
In the hangar of the Archangel, D.J.'s Astray Dagger, and Jordan's Schwarze Calamity were carrying the stricken Sword Calamity into the hangar, before laying the Mobile Suit on its back, and the Astray Dagger's cockpit hatch opening and said pilot disembarking. Jordan saw this and shook his head bemusedly.
'Well, we got his girlfriend,' he thought. 'Let's just hope we can turn her away from the Earth Alliance.'
"Patriot, I'm heading back out," Jordan announced to his friend on the comm. "Good luck with ya girlfriend!" And with that he quickly took back off into the sky.
D.J.'s face was red with embarrassment, as he heard that, and attempted to shout back at him, but saw that Jordan was already taking back off.
"Son of a bitch…" he groaned before turning back and climbing on the Sword Calamity as soon as he touched the ground. He reached the cockpit hatch in no time, and looked for the emergency release button to open the hatch.
"Where the hell is - ah! There you are!" he said and pressed the button the hatch opened. Remembering how Ed got shot, he took off his helmet and saw a Marine coming toward him and asked for his rifle, which the Marine acknowledged and handed the M16A4 rifle to him. He then placed the helmet on the muzzle of the assault weapon and slowly moved it over the open cockpit. Seeing that Rena hadn't shot at it, he then carefully looked into the cockpit and saw that Rena was knocked out cold, and he could see a small trail of blood going down the left side of her face.
Seeing she was neutralized, he made his way into the Gundam Type, and proceeded to unfasten the female E.A. ace from the restraints of her cockpit chair, and carefully removed her helmet, revealing her raven black hair, which was in its high ponytail. He blanched a bit when he saw the gash where the blood came from, and then proceeded to lift her unconscious form out of the seat.
"We're gonna need a medic here!" D.J announced, as he pulled her out of the cockpit. "She took one hell of a blow to the head."
He then proceeded to come down from the Sword Calamity as a Corpsman came up and examined her head. "It's not bad, but it will be if we don't get it checked out," he said, and D.J. nodded.
"Then we better get a move on to sick bay." he said and they took off to the sick bay.
Meanwhile, Jordan rose back into the air, but he blinked as he noticed that now there were more aircraft in the air, and additional ships approaching. He got a good look at the aircraft, and his eyes widened a bit as he saw they were Sukhoi's. "Well, I'll be…" he muttered with a smirk. "The Russians are here!"
He also noticed the canards on the forward part of the plane just below the cockpit, and he realized that these were not just normal Flankers, but Su-33 Flanker-D's.
The Russian fighters fired off two of their Archers at one of the Spearheads, the advanced (for the 21st Century, at least) missiles easily keeping up with the OMNI Enforcer fighters trying to avoid them. One hit the cockpit of the trailing craft, killing the pilot and sending the plane crashing toward the allied fleet, side scraping the HMCS Vancouver and tearing a hole 30 feet long on her port side. The second missile hit the lead craft's engines, sending the fighter into an uncontrolled Dutch Roll toward the Missouri. Unlike her unlucky elder sister, the younger Iowa-Class warship's Phalanx CIWS system was still working, and once the ship had turned hard enough to port, the turrets unleashed hundreds of 20mm cannon rounds into the fighter, causing it to explode. The only damage it took was light shrapnel, which could easily be fixed.
As the Missouri survived her near close-call, another flight of four Flanker-Ds headed on a attack run toward a Des Moines-class Cruiser. When they were in range of the E.A. warship they unleashed their payload, Kh-41 Moskit anti-ship missiles, two for each plane. The Alliance Cruiser used its own CIWS turrets, but due to the distance they were only able to take out two of the missiles, as the remaining six slammed into the side of the cruiser, causing a massive explosion, blowing six gaping holes at the water level, as the ship began to list heavily to its starboard side.
"Alright, let's finish these bastards off!" Jordan shouted, as he cleaved another Strike Dagger in half. "Keep the heat on e'm!"
Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the Wrath using the Panzer Aisen rocket anchor to pull himself to an OMNI ship where he proceeded to cut the bridge and bow off before repeating the maneuver onto another ship. "They make this way to easy!" Tom shouted out.
"CHESTOOOOOOOOOO!" Takeshi called out as he Cleaved another Destroyer. "Yeah, definitely too easy," he remarked. "I'd ask for a challenge, but that'd invoke Murphy."
Tom landed on one of the remaining Carriers where a pair of Sword Striker Dagger's were waiting. "Well now, you boys feeling lucky!?" he shouted out in challenge as he charged. "Bring it on!"
Jordan simply smirked as he moved onto his next target, "Let's get this over with!" he shouted as he dived down into the battlezone once again.
It took approximately an hour and thirty minutes until finally, the remnants of the E.A. Fleet, at least 6 ships, sent to stop them turned tail back to their base. The refugee fleet then continued on its original course to Hawaii, along with the new arrivals from the Russian Pacific Fleet.
"Well, that's that for the EA fleet," Takeshi remarked, before his machine turned to look at the ZAFT MS. "Now we need to deal with Old Mask Face. Jorn, it's your show now - and remember, we need to get invited to his ship if we're going to deal with that issue."
Jordan nodded. "Got it," he said, as he sighed. "Well… guess its time to introduce ourselves." He then activated the comm with the ZAFT machines. "This is pilot Jordan Tackett to ZAFT forces, on behalf of everyone here, we thank you for your assistance in dealing with the E.A taskforce."
There was a short pause on the comm, before the response came - coming from an all-too familiar voice causing Jordan to cringe slightly. "This is Commander Rau Le Creuset, leader of the Le Creuset team of ZAFT," the infamous masked man said, "It was our pleasure… after all, the enemy of our enemy is our friend."
"Indeed," Jordan said. "My superiors will likely wish to meet with you… there is probably a lot we need to talk about."
"I can understand that," Rau said, "I would prefer we meet on my vessel, but if your superiors insist we may meet on one of your vessels - even if it is the legged ship."
'Bingo.' Jordan thought with a smirk, "I believe we can meet on your vessel, Commander Le Creuset." He said, "We need to show we can trust one another after all, don't we?"
"Indeed, your E.T.A.?"
Meanwhile, in the Archangel Sickbay
D.J. was standing over the bed, looking at the currently still out cold Rena, who now had a bandage around her head, and her pilot suit was removed. Her hair was now out of it's high ponytail and was down past her shoulders.
He sighed a bit as he remembered back to when after the E.A. ace blasted her Astray Dagger's arm off, he just suddenly became much faster, both mentally, and physically, that it was all just a blur. Now that the situation had calmed down, he was able to think about what happened.
'Just what the hell happened to me?' he asked himself, 'I remember getting angry about my Mobile Suit getting damaged... again. But then...'
His face scrunched in frustration as he massaged his temples, feeling way too old for his age. His thoughts were later interrupted as he heard soft groaning coming from the bed he was standing next to.
"Ugh... Wha? Where am I?"
D.J glanced at her, and sighed "You're currently in the Archangel's medbay," he said, causing Rena to freeze for a moment, as her eyes opened back up as she glanced at D.J, and then the room around her.
D.J. was confused as he watched her look around the room, and he noticed the look in her eyes was not that of a ruthless Ace Pilot of the Earth Alliance, but someone, while still holding experience, was much different. Rena then looked back at him.
"Can you… tell me who I am?" she said and it caused D.J.'s eyes to widen a bit in confusion and surprise.
"E... Excuse me?"
"I… I can't remember… who I am…" Rena said, shaking her head slightly "I just… I can't remember… almost anything really…"
D.J.'s eyes were now wide in shock before he sighed. "Well shit... looks like that blow to the head gave you amnesia. My bad by the way." he said, and Rena looked at him with a confused look.
"Your bad?" she said, as D.J. pulled up a chair and placed it next to the bed and sat down in it. "Why would you say that?"
"Cause, I sorta did that to you after you blasted my Mobile Suit's arm off, and as a result I got pissed, and in a blind fury dealt some serious damage to your Mobile Suit, delivering a few kicks to the torso which caused you to hit your head," he said, honestly, as Rena placed her hand on the bandages of her head.
"Oh… so… you did this?" she asked, and D.J sighed but nodded. "Are we… enemies or something?"
"You and me as of now? I'm not sure... but our two respective sides are most definitely are," he then gave her a serious look. "Tell me, do you remember being in the Earth Alliance Forces? Or you being a Mobile Suit pilot instructor or an Ace?" he asked and he saw Rena close her eyes again to think on his words.
"I… I remember a little bit…" she said. "I mean… I remember how to pilot an M.S, and some missions… I think…" She shook her head. "But… other than that… nothing…"
D.J. nodded at that. "It's okay, you don't need to try to remember everything," he said as he leaned forward. "But, can you at least remember your name?"
He watched as the E.A. Ace blinked before looking down and thinking a bit before her eyes widen slightly.
"Rena… Rena Imelia is my name." she said, and D.J. nodded at that, a satisfied look on his face. "That's good to hear, Rena. My name is Drew Joseph Cobb, but, you can call D.J., or Patriot, if you want to."
Rena blinked and raised an eyebrow.
"Patriot?" she asked, and the fanfic writer chuckled.
"It's a long story," he answered. "I'll tell you when we're not in any life or death situations."
"Alright… so… where does this leave me?" Rena asked. "I mean… until I get my memories back? Are we still enemies or…?"
"For right now, just rest and don't worry about it," D.J. said, causing Rena to look at him in shock. "Until you get your old memories back, make new ones. As for the 'still enemies' part, that remains to be seen."
Rena was again surprised by this, as she looked into D.J.'s brown eyes.
"As of right now, I see you not as an enemy, but as a person that just needs the right guidance," he said and stood up, before placing a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder. "Also, I'd kill myself if I just walked up and placed a bullet in your head for something your side did against mine. The ones responsible for this shit are the ones in power, particularly, the assholes known as Blue Cosmos, and the shithead radicals in ZAFT. Soldiers are victims of incomponent governments, Rena, remember that."
With that he removed his hand from her shoulder and began to walk out of the medbay, before he heard Rena speak again.
"Wait! Will I see you again?" she asked, causing D.J. to be surprised by this, but he turned his head to her and gave a small smile.
"Of course. After all, I can't leave a cute vixen like yourself alone in this medbay for too long, could I?" he said a little jokingly, causing Rena to blush a little bit at the 'cute vixen' part.
Several hours later
Once the battle had ended, the allied fleet began rescue operations to find any pilots who survived the battle, as well as any E.A. forces to be captured as well. Fire crews were taking care of any fires on damaged ships like the Iowa, and any damage that could be repaired was being done.
At the same time, Jordan was in the Schwarze Calamity, along with Ryu and Takeshi in their respective machines, as they were now approaching the ZAFT Vosgulov-class Submarine 'Cousteau'. They were chosen by the rest of the fleet to act as their representatives to ZAFT due to their… special knowledge on ZAFT's inner workings.
"Well… this should be interesting," Ryu informed with a small sigh. "So, bets on if Yzak blows a gasket anyone?"
"Sucker's bet, and you know it," Takeshi remarked. "I know he mellowed out sometime between the First and Second Bloody Valentine Wars, but he will always be that arrogant hothead. If he was female, he'd likely be a Type-A Tsundere!"
Jordan sighed as the three machines each entered the hangar tubes normally used to house the DiNN's, which were made available for them to use to board the Submarine. "Just try to avoid getting him angry, alright?" He said, "We need to keep this simple. We speak with Rau and the crew, we find out where Flay is, get her off the ship, and get out hopefully with an alliance with ZAFT."
"Hey, so long as they don't start anything I am under orders to not start anything myself," Ryu informed. "Plus, considering how often Rau had Flay moving around the ship, it shouldn't be too hard to find her, just need to convince him to let her go… that will be a challenge."
"Hopefully, we can reason with him… somewhat…" Jordan said. "Technically, he has no reason to hold her prisoner. She has nothing of value aside from being the daughter of a dead official from the E.A. Plus with the Archangel here, we can reason with him saying her friends on the Archangel are worried… if we have to we can pull some B.S. about Sai still being her Fiance. All else fails… we do Takeshi's plan."
"Cut everything to shreds?" Ryu asked rhetorically. "All the while quoting some crazy ass shit?"
Jordan rolled his eyes. "We try to smuggle her out somehow," he said, "Sneak her in one of our cockpits before we leave… we pull this off, and Rau won't be able to give Azy his NJC specs as easily."
"I'll see if I can slip away at some point then," Tom informed. "I think I might have an… acquired ZAFT uniform in here."
Jordan blinked at that. "Wait… where the hell did you get a ZAFT uniform from?" He asked. "Wait… nevermind, I don't wanna know… let's just get this meeting started."
With that said, the three disembarked their suits - being sure to turn on their security measures to avoid anyone looking around in them. Jordan opened the cockpit, and stepped off onto the Catwalk where a ZAFT guard awaited him. He nodded at the guard, before he glanced down the catwalk as Ryu and Takeshi disembarked their machines, before his eyes focused on the masked man himself, who stood at the end of the walk, with Yzak on his right flank and -
Jordan blinked a bit, as he saw a woman standing next to Rau's left, wearing the green ZAFT cadet uniform with long red hair and greyish eyes… 'Holy crap, it's Flay!' he thought. 'Well, that's convenient… weird how she looks older in person though...'
Pushing that fact aside for the moment, and making sure his surprise was well hidden, he focused on the objective at hand as he walked down the catwalk, along with Takeshi and Ryu to meet them.
"That was easy to find her," Tom muttered under his breath. "Here's hoping its that easy to get her out of here."
Jordan nodded slightly, before they approached the three of them. "I am going to make a guess and say you are Commander Le Creuset?" He asked.
The masked man smirked a bit, and nodded. "Indeed I am," he said. "And you must be Jordan Tackett… welcome to the Cousteau." He gestured to Yzak. "This is Yzak Joule, my current second-in-command," and then he gestured to Flay. "And this is my… aide, Flay Allster."
Jordan nodded in greeting. "Pleasure," he said. "Though we might as well get down to business here… I assume you have somewhere we can talk?"
"Of course," Rau said nodding, "We have a meeting room onboard… please, follow me." He then turned around, along with Flay and Yzak as they walked towards the exit of the hangar, while their three guests followed close behind them.
As they walked, Takeshi remarked, "You know, Miss Allster, I can't help but feel that I've seen you somewhere before…"
Flay blinked a bit, as she glanced at Takeshi. "Really? I… doubt we've met before…" she said.
Jordan, seeing where Takeshi was going, played along as he blinked and looked at her. "Hey… you wouldn't happen to know anyone named Sai Argyle or Miriallia Haw, would you?" he asked.
Flay's eyes widened in surprise at that.
"Y… You know my friends?" she said, her voice showing her shock.
"Yeah, we met them all on the Archangel," Jordan said with a smile. "They were all worried that you were caught in the CYCLOPS explosion at JOSH-A… they're gonna be relieved to find out you're still alive. Though… what are you doing on a ZAFT ship?"
"I was at JOSH-A myself," Rau said. "I infiltrated the base, and I ran into her. I had captured her, and brought her to my ship… and considering what happened after I left, it was a good thing too."
"Indeed," Tom agreed, his eyes narrowing slightly as he studied the masked man. "Well, her fiance would certainly be glad to have her back…"
"Ah, well that brings forth a problem," Rau said. "You see, miss Allster here is under my care at the moment…"
"Well, she obviously isn't your prisoner if you are allowing her to wear a uniform and walk around the ship," Jordan said. "And considering she's not an officer of the E.A., and since the Archangel is no longer part of the Earth Alliance, there really is no reason why she can't leave and rejoin her friends. They would all love to see her, knowing she's alright. "
Rau silently cursed in his head, as he realized he had been backed into a bit of a corner. If he withheld Flay, it would draw suspicion that he did not want in order to continue his plans. It was a setback, but just a minor one. He could easily continue his plans without Flay, it was merely a minor delay.
He shrugged. "I suppose you are correct," he said, drawing some surprise from the others. "Very well. Miss Allster may join you back to the Archangel when you leave, if she wishes to leave with you."
Jordan smiled at that. "Good. Her friends will be amazed to see her," he said, while mentally cheering that his plan worked before they entered the meeting room. "But that aside, I believe we have much more to discuss…"
Meanwhile - Back on the Archangel
"Ow." Let it be said that it took a LOT to keep Ronald Pinkerton down.
"How do you feel, Mr. Pinkerton?" The Archangel's doctor asked, as the 22 year old man looked at the doctor and blinked in confusion.
"All I remember is something involving death and blinding pain," he said. "I didn't have pocky last night, did I?"
"No… you didn't," the doctor informed with an amused smile. "You got knocked out in your mobile suit in the battle."
"What battle?" Ron asked in confusion. "The last thing I remember clearly is working on unit two. Never mind, I'll find out later."
The doctor sighed. "Just take it easy will you?" he asked. "I'd rather not have two amnesiac patients to deal with."
"Two?" He asked in confusion, "Who the fuck-" Ron then spotted the only other occupant in the room. He might not've seen too much of her, but he would be the biggest idiot in the history of idiots not to recognize Rena Imelia, OMNI Enforcer's infamous Sakura Burst. "Aww, fuck. Why did it have to be HER?"
"Lieutenant Pinkerton, please be aware that Miss Imelia is currently unable to remember anything," the doctor informed sternly. "So please, be aware of that when interacting with her."
That also begged the question of HOW Ron knew about her. From what the crew knew of him, he didn't bother reading intelligence reports and spent as little time watching the news as possible, preferring his rather sizable collection of books. That meant, logically, he wouldn't know who Rena was. So HOW did he know?
"I'm going to go to the hanger." Ron said as he got up, "If we were in a fight, I need to check my machine."
"Please don't strain yourself Lieutenant," the doctor called after him. "I don't want to see you in here for at least a week!"
Ron gave the doctor a look that was only supposed to belong to a certain female doctor, along with the voice belonging to said doctor. "I give no promises, and you cannot order me around."
At that, the doctor was rather disturbed, not knowing he could do THAT.
"…Whatever you say Lieutenant…" he said, his voice holding a tint of wariness, "…If you'll excuse me, I have to check on my other patients, including Miss Imelia."
With that the doctor went off to check his other patients, while Ron smirked at his victory.
"Works every time." Seriously, he could earn money as a voice actor with that voice of his.
Meanwhile on the Cousteau
As the group made their way to the meeting room, Jordan suddenly felt a dark chill go down his spine, and it wasn't coming from Rau. 'I think Ron's awake…' he thought, 'Oh boy, let's hope he doesn't go ape-shit against ZAFT...'
"A merge of worlds?" Rau asked. "That's what you are suggesting?"
"It's the only possibility that makes sense," Takeshi said. "Think about it: We are using 21st Century ships and technology, there are governments which - according to you - were defunct over a century ago, entire villages, buildings and people appearing out of nowhere… and above all else, most from where I'm from had never even heard of Coordinators, or the PLANT's, or the Earth Alliance. And why it seemed to you that we were attacking everywhere at once."
"Plus, there is one thing we all have in common," Jordan said. "That flash of light… we all experienced it, and it was what began this whole mess."
"Basically as one of my subordinates put it, a big mess and a massive fuck you to physics as we know it," Tom inputted. "He tried explaining it to me, but I only got about half of it."
Rau seemed to think about it for a moment. "As much as I would like to disagree with such a theory… you have a point," he said, shaking his head. "Though it may be more… difficult to convince the Supreme Council of this."
Tom coughed slightly. "Have they seen what's been going on here?" he asked. "All they gotta do is look at the television broadcasts or even tap into the local internet and it would become quickly obvious that this is a major bucket of crazy."
"They do realize its crazy down here on Earth," Rau said. "But even ZAFT is confused as to what is going on only on earth and why it is not happening anywhere in space. It's just that I doubt anyone in the PLANTs would have assumed that this was all caused by something as… radical as a merge between two worlds."
"The reports we get, as few as they are, point the source as something that happened in Afghanistan," Tom inputted, pulling out a smartphone to scroll the report. "All we managed to uncover was that is was a secret US Military project, other than that, nothing, it was wrapped tighter than Lady Gaga in latex."
"I did not need that imagery, Tom…" Jordan groaned out. "Figures the U.S Government had something to do with this mess…"
"I see…" Rau muttered. "I will have to ask for ZAFT to scout the area, and see if they can find out what is going on… though I suppose that is something for a later time. Since I believe we have something more pressing to deal with… this… 'Alliance' you desire with ZAFT."
"The enemy of my enemy, is my friend," Jordan said. "The Earth Alliance is your enemy, and it's also the enemy for pretty much every nation from our universe. Just look on the news, and you will see the damage we've already done to the E.A. across the world divided. But if we work together - with the support of ZAFT, the Earth Alliance won't be able to fight off such an assault. One of their top advantages through this 'Bloody Valentine War' of yours is their numerical superiority, which kept the war as a stalemate until they gained Mobile Suits. But now, things have changed… drastically."
"As for myself, I am currently speaking on behalf of the Canadian Government, while my friend is a bit… idealistic, he does have a point," Tom informed, ignoring the look Jordan sent towards him. "With ZAFTs and the PLANTs assistance, we could make OMNI's life very difficult and take some of the pressure off of you, but… it goes without saying, we'd need some things in return from you."
"We have the numbers, but we lack technologically, as you can tell," Jordan said nodding, "We've made some strides with what we've captured from the E.A. in previous engagements, but we need more than a few captured Mobile Suits and ships. ZAFT has that technology, and we have the numbers to put it to good use. From what I understand, ZAFT suffered heavily from the CYCLOPS at JOSH-A. And now that the E.A. has mobile suits, you need something to even out the playing field."
"It would definitely be beneficial to both of us," Takeshi remarked. "We gain your technology, which will help against the E.A., and you get the assistance of our numbers, which will even the odds against them."
Rau seemed to consider that for a moment. "I would have to bring this up to the Supreme Council in the homeland," he said. "This is a choice for them… but considering our current… predicament, it's possible they could accept."
Jordan nodded at that, knowing that despite the current… tensions between Naturals and Coordinators, they were at least willing, strong emphasis on 'least willing', to help those who were anti-E.A./Blue Cosmos. "I hope they do," he said. "If we're going to pose a threat to the E.A., we all need to work together on this."
Rau nodded. "I will need some time to think about this, and inform the Council," he said, and Jordan nodded in understanding.
"Take your time," he said.
Rau said that it would take some time to get in contact with the Council, and suggested they returned to their ships. One by one, the three machines launched from the ZAFT Submarine, and in Jordan's cockpit, he had an additional passenger with him in the back - Flay Allster.
'Well, that was easier than I thought it would,' he thought to himself. 'We saved Flay, we got a potential ZAFT alliance rolling… I'd say today was pretty productive.'
As the three mobile suits returned to the Archangel, he saw the Russian Fleet moving into formation with the rest of the ships. He was impressed that they managed to capture TWO Spengler-class Carriers, and was curious to know what they have, aside from the Flanker-Ds.
"Mister Tackett, this is Archangel…" came Miriallia's voice.
"Go ahead Mir." Jordan said.
"We just received a message from General Toolan, he wants you to head to the Russian Flagship." Mir said.
Jordan nodded. "Copy that," he said, "I'll be over there in a minute, gotta drop someone off on the Archangel first."
"Who?" came the confused response from the female CIC operator, as Jordan grinned.
"Someone you and your friends are familiar with," he said as he began to land on the former Earth Alliance ship.
"And here ya go, Miss Allster," Jordan said, as the cockpit opened up, and he raised his machine's arm up towards the opening. "Hope it wasn't too uncomfortable back there."
"It's alright," Flay said as she smiled, walking towards the hand. "And… thank you!"
"You're welcome!" Jordan said, as he lowered the hand back down to the deck, as Flay stepped off. The Schwarze Calamity then moved alongside the Archangel and carefully lowered it's hand toward the ship. As the hand was close to the ship, Flay immediately jumped onto the deck.
With that done, Jordan closed the cockpit as he turned around, and took back off into the air, and made his way towards one of the Russian-controlled carriers. However as he approached, he noticed what appeared to be mobile suits standing on the carrier as well. While he expected the Russians to have captured a few MS after gaining a carrier, what really surprised him were that they were not Strike Daggers or 105s, but they were actually Hyperion G's!
"Ho-Ly shit! How the hell did they get those!?" he said, more to himself than anyone. Then his comm beeped, alerting him to someone contacting him. He hit the receiver "Jordan here." He said.
"This is the XO of the Russian Carrier Admiral Masorin," A man with a deep Russian accent spoke. "You are to land on our vessel, your General Toolan is waiting for you."
Jordan nodded. "Copy that, moving to land now," he said, as he maneuvered the Calamity to land on the Russian carrier. He settled next to two of the Hyperion G's and opened his cockpit as he looked at the Eurasian Federation's own Mobile Suits.
"I was NOT expecting these things to be here. What are the odds?" he said and grabbed the descent cable and was lowered to the deck where he saw the General, alongside a man in a black Russian Fleet Admiral's uniform, only not wearing the visor cap.
"General, sir," Jordan said, with a short salute to the man, who returned it. "Reporting as requested."
"Mister Tackett, this is Fleet Admiral Sergei Iosifovich Avakyants, CO of the Russian Federation Navy Pacific Fleet. Or… what's left of it." he said, as the Admiral nodded.
"Privetstviya, comrade Tackett," the Admiral said, "General Toolan has told me you can help us with our O.S. problem."
Jordan smiled and nodded. "Ah, so you haven't gotten a working Natural-Friendly O.S.?" He asked. "Don't worry, I can fix that. I've got a copy on my machine, I'll have to modify it to operate on your machines, but it shouldn't take to long to modify and install."
The Admiral nodded in thanks.
"Spasibo, we'd greatly appreciate it." the Russian said, and Jordan nodded as he looked at the Hyperion G's. A grin formed on his face as he looked at the legacy of the Hyperion Gundam Units, and he immediately knew that the odds on the home team have gone up, yet again.
Patriot-112: And done! Another chapter finished!
Titanic X: So, we're really about to kick things off. So far though we have to get back to Hawaii, which will hopefully be next chapter.
Ron the True Fan: Time for major upgrades to our MSs, as well. That's right, people: 360-degree screens for the 'hero' units.
117Jorn: Huzza! :D
Takeshi Yamato: Very nice! Just hope we can get something like the Dynamic Motion Link or Mobile Trace Systems soon. :D
Patriot-112: So until next time, folks!
Everyone: LATER!