Disclaimer: I dont own Gundam
I do own Lord Tyrant
Welcome to another chapter of Destiny or Liberty! Today we take a break from action, but the action will kick off next chapter. We introduce more machines and the Sensou flight suit, I'm not sure how to describe it but what I will say is that the design is based on the main characters flight suit from Macross Frontier, havent actually seen an episode but I do like the way it looks
Gundam Seed Destiny or Liberty
Chapter 4: Masks
The Minerva, designed to become the best and most powerful warship in the ZAFT fleet, and a second Archangel. Equipped with numerous weapons and a bridge that protected itself by lowering itself into a section of the ship. Including in its design was a positron cannon and three catapults as well as numerous armaments including the Tristan dual beam cannons and Isolde 42cm triple cannons and a large collection of CIWS. Branden had whistled at the ships design before he had entered the hanger. Kojiro's Kenshin Gundam was already stored next to one of the Zaku's.
"Rookies!" Noah said as he looked at the damaged Zaku's.
"Says the guy whose squad got ass kicked by one mobile suit" Joe said, standing with his arms crossed between Noah and Linda.
"Hey we're out of practice that's all, those Sensou guys have been fighting terrorists and pirates so of course they'll be a little better than us, but just you wait after a few weeks we'll be back in tip top condition" Noah explained.
Vincent held onto the Jegan's line as it lowered him to the ground. Kojiro and Branden saluted him whilst Flay smiled.
"Next time Vincent I want you to wear a space suit, I've had the mechanics bring some Sensou suits along with the Jegan's Stark components" Flay explained.
"You know I hate carrying those missile launchers around" Vincent groaned as the four of them walked away from their machines.
"Chairwoman Alster, Commander Rach, I'm Rey Za Burrel, I'll be your guide here on the Normandy, the Chairman would like to speak with you and the Orb Representatives at your earliest convenience" Rey explained, saluting the guests.
Vincent and the Gundam pilots returned the salute while Flay bowed her head. They were about to walk into the elevator when they heard numerous whispers amongst the crew. Turning around, the five of them and everyone else in the hanger took notice of the Orange machine taking a place beside the Guaiz's. Its armour returned to its dull grey colour as the cockpit opened. Some of the soldiers kept their hands to their guns as the pilot stepped out. Shinn removed his helmet and looked at the masked pilot floating towards the ground. He was wearing a red suit with silver padding across the chest, knees and arms. What caught everyone's attention was the silver aerodynamic mask covering his head. He casually walked forward, giving a lazy two-fingered salute to the rookie pilots.
"Silver Mask" Shinn said, narrowing his eyes as he remembered the first version of the Aero Gundam.
"Yo…I believe I've got an appointment with a doctor" Silver Mask said, stopping beside Vincent.
Vincent looked at the man for a moment. He carried himself so casually; he couldn't remember where he had seen that before. Silver Mask's head twitched before he swung it around.
"OI! DON'T TOUCH DUSK AERO!" he yelled, his voice echoing through the hanger.
Youlan and Vino backed away from the machine with their hands up. Noah laughed while Joe stroked his head trying to keep himself from chuckling. The group walked into the elevator and travelled to the upper levels of the ship. Silver Mask was the first to step out, walking ahead of Rey.
"Nice place, beats a little room in the trenches…ah the wonders of the cosmic era" Silver Mask muttered.
"Silver Mask, if you'd like to follow me" Rey said.
"How many crewmen do you have on this ship?" Vincent asked.
"It's nowhere near filled to capacity, we were expecting those four prototypes the Chaos, Gaia, Abyss and the Mercy"
"That and the Strike rip off, I saw its blue chest armour" Branden said.
"The Impulse is currently the Minerva's most advanced mobile suit"
"What about the pilot?" Kojiro asked.
"Shinn is…difficult, but he wasn't given a red coat for nothing" Rey smirked. "If you'd just like to follow me to Captain Gladys's office"
Vincent looked at the walls of the ship; they were certainly lighter than what he was used to in the alliance. Even in Sensou they didn't incorporate comfort into their plans. He peeked his head into one of the recreational rooms, or rather a lounge, with a space side view and some vending machines and actual comfy chairs.
'Actually I'll need to see whether they're comfy chairs later' Vincent thought.
The group of pilots stopped at Talia Gladys's office. Vincent adjusted the collar of his jacket while. When they walked into the office they widened their eyes.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Branden yelled.
Bogey One, or the Girty Lue already had a head star from the Minerva. But their pilots were far from ready. Most of the Extended were flawed, both Stark and Lucifer knew that. They were the perfect Extended, without flaws in their design and created with complete free will. The other Extended pilots had no idea what they were getting into or doing, but above all those they were flawed. Neo Raonoke would look at the four children sleeping in their chambers with hesitance. Sting, Auel, Stella and Lynn were known as Third Generation extended, the augmentations were through drugs and manipulations of their brain waves. While the first generation extended known, as "the druggies" were better fighters they were uncontrollable and their fighting time was reduced by the withdrawal phase of the drugs they took. But that wasn't a problem with the four new extended.
"Auel had used Stella's block word on her today" Neo said.
"I see, we'll erase that little incident" One of the scientists said.
"Idiots!" Stark muttered.
"Is there a problem Stark?" Neo asked.
Stark didn't wear an alliance uniform, unlike the other five extended. He wore more casual clothing that included a black motor jacket and jeans. Lucifer wore a sleeveless trench coat and long gloves across his arms. His black hair lung loosely over his eyes while Stark had brown hair, shaved short around the sides and back.
"Block words, at any moment they could go crazy and be useless to you, whoever created them was an idiot, the same applies to Darcel" Lucifer explained.
As they spoke, Darcel Archer was leaning against the wall of his room. Sweat dripped off of his pale blonde hair. He slammed his fists against the wall as he began to go through the withdrawal symptoms of his drugs. One of the scientists sat outside his room, looking over the inhaler they used to apply his drugs. Darcel's had more modifications than the other extended, but at the cost of his sanity. He still followed orders but to Neo he was a ticking time bomb ready to explode. Lucifer and Stark just regarded him with disdain.
"I do hope everyone feels better and can soon join me in the mess, it gets lonely in there" Jone said, casually leaning against the wall as he watched the scientists work over the four younger teenagers.
"You are an imperfect Extended, don't make the mistake of thinking you are our equal" Stark growled.
"Everyone's imperfect, your arrogance is a common example" Jone grinned.
He was still wearing his business suit and kept his smile fixed as Stark growled.
"That's enough all of you!" A sharp voice said from the doorway.
The scientists trembled when they heard the voice. He was using a synthesizer but he was still an intimidating man because of who he represented.
"General Tyrant!" Lucifer said, saluting the man.
He wore an armoured green flight suit and a helmet that had a green visor revealing his eyes. The plate across his mouth had the Kanji symbol for Tyrant and blinked as he spoke.
"Our mission was a success, even with the Minerva pursuing we have still succeeded" Tyrant said, crossing his arms as he looked down at the four children.
"The death of several of my men can hardly be considered a victory general" Neo said.
"Your men are fools who got into this mission without knowing its exact purpose, and thus they died worthless deaths and their families will be told a filthy lie of how they died in an accident or heroically against pirates, if it were up to me Roanoke I would have had just my men and the Extended on this mission but your benefactor disagrees" Tyrant explained.
"Your men have yet to reveal themselves and you didn't provide us with any assistance at the Armoury"
"True in both cases, but now you will depend on us for your survival, we will do as we have been ordered to do and ensure you live to step on Earth" Tyrant said as he walked out of the room.
The scientists were terrified of that man, but Neo was made of sterner stuff. Stark and Lucifer didn't show it but they too were scared of that man. Jone however was probably the only Extended that dropped his guard around Tyrant. Neo didn't know what bothered him more, the possibility that Jone was so confident in his ability to kill or that he really was as carefree as he made himself out to be.
Back on the Minerva, Branden stood glaring at not just Cagalli Yula Athha but Zack Tempest.
"Yo Branden, Kojiro how are you?" Zack asked.
"Don't you "hi how are you" me turncoat" Branden said.
"Zack merely resigned from his position in Sensou Branden, he cant be considered a turncoat" Kojiro said.
"Don't sugar coat it he left us just as we were about to start making a difference in the world"
"Yeah, Sensou really makes a difference" Cagalli said, crossing her arms.
Durandal coughed, drawing everyone's attention to him.
"It's clear that there is bad blood between everyone here, will this be a problem for Captain Gladys and her crew?" Durandal asked.
"No Chairman it wont be, Zack Tempest was formerly of Sensou and he was a valuable soldier, but we respected his decision to form Raven's nest and we continue to support his path…so long as he doesn't monger war" Vincent explained.
"You should worry more about your own organisation" Cagalli said.
Remain perfectly calm Vincent; you should never strike a lady, no matter how badly they piss you off!
While the new arrivals talked with the captain, the Minerva's official crew spoke of the day's events or recovered from the shock of the attack. Nia sat in the mess hall, awaiting the repairs of her Zaku and considering ways she could improve if she ever faced that mobile armour again. Shinn had changed back into his red and black ZAFT uniform and was in the hanger with Lunamaria, looking over their machines.
"Hey Luna, whose the Zaku belong to?" Shinn asked.
"Oh someone from Orb came on with the representative Athha, he called himself Alex, but I think he might be Athrun" Luna said, smiling like a school girl. "Athrun Zala, I heard her call him that when a stray attack hit the ship"
'Great going Cagalli' Noah thought, crossing his arms at the scene.
"And those other units, the Jegan of Sensou" Shinn said, sipping his drink.
"More like the butcher of Sensou" Vino cut in, tapping on a pad he then passed to one of the other mechanics.
"Yeah, I heard he…"
"NONE OF YOU WERE THERE!" A voice yelled from the Jegan.
A small group of Sensou mechanics had been moved onto the Minerva, and one of them noticed the conversation the ZAFT workers were having. He wore the standard yellow overalls of Sensou maintenance crewmembers, his greasy brown hair hanging over his brown eyes. A few of his friends had stopped their work on the Jegan and floated to his side.
"You weren't there to see the two months that our Commander spent in his room and the five months of reckless test fighting and suicide missions he took part in, you weren't there to see the hundreds of letters people sent him thanking him for avenging their loved ones and helping to protect them" The mechanic explained.
Shinn and Lunamaria floated away from the scene as the mechanics continued to argue. Joe shook his head as he walked towards the scene.
"THAT'S ENOUGH ALL OF YOU!" He yelled. "You get back to work and I don't want to hear another peep from any of you is that clear?"
The Sensou and ZAFT crewmembers gave one another a final glare before they went back to work. Shinn and Lunamaria floated into the elevator.
"Hold it!" Noah said as he and Linda rushed into the elevator.
There was an awkward silence as the elevator moved towards the upper decks. Shinn and Luna weren't really sure how they should act in front of their captain's sister. Luckily they reached their floor before a conversation could be struck. They quickly floated down the corridor, meeting Rey at the entrance to the mess hall.
"Rey is it true the leader of Sensou is on this ship?" Lunamaria asked.
"Yes!" was Rey's simply response.
"It's strange that I never heard of him until he formed Sensou, but apparently he was in the Earth Alliance up until the end of the war" Luna said.
"He didn't have a spectacular reputation, in fact most people wondered why he was put in charge of Sensou" Shinn said.
"I heard a rumour that he was close to the renegade Earth Alliance soldier Gekido Jaeger"
"But what he did a year ago, it wasn't right!"
"That's your opinion of it Shinn, but the chairman seems to like him, maybe its because of his ability to make such a choice" Rey said.
Vincent sneezed, temporarily halting Durandal's speech.
"As I was saying, I apologise for the current situation, but I'm afraid our priority must be taking back those stolen machines" Durandal said.
"Sensou is happy to assist in any way possible, we have some ships in the area prepared to follow the signal of the tracker Captain Lynx placed on the ship" Flay explained.
"We're happy to have the extra help, our pilot roster is excessively low at the moment and most of our pilots are fresh out of the academy" Talia cut in.
"Ravens nest is also happy to help" Zack added.
"Chairman Durandal, I have no problem staying on the ship for a while, we cant allow another war to be born from the actions of these terrorists" Cagalli said.
"They can't be terrorists!" Vincent said, causing both Kojiro and Branden to nod.
"What makes you say that?" Durandal asked.
"It had to have been an inside job, so naturally it had to be someone who could afford to pay an insider a substantial reward, and also the machines we were dealing with had to have come from someone with the funds to build them and that stealth ship, that was a mirage colloid stealth system, the pilots were professionals and not just thugs using custom painted mobile suits, I'm thinking either a Earth Alliance senator or the Alliance as a whole" Vincent explained.
"You mean someone in the alliance would be willing to start another war?" Cagalli asked.
"Of course, not a lot of politicians agreed with the temporary alliance against Uragiri, classified or not Uragiri was the Alliance pigs greatest ally, my work in the Alliance black ops taught me that much" Branden said.
"But she's dead now right?" Zack asked, looking at Vincent.
"I struck the cockpit, and the nuclear explosion from her N-Jammer would have finished the job, there's no possible way she could be alive" Vincent said.
"We can find out who it is once we've recaptured the stolen machines, for now pursuing bogey one is the priority, I can have one of my staff guide you to your rooms, the Minerva isn't filled to capacity so we still have a lot of rooms available" Talia explained.
"Thank you" Athrun said as the group left the office.
Cagalli rubbed the bandage on her head while Athrun grabbed her arm. In truth he really wanted her to get away so that she wouldn't start an argument with Vincent. But it turns out that she wasn't the one he should be worried about.
"Vincent" Zack said, placing a hand on Vincent's shoulder. "I hope there's no bad blood between us, I wanted you to know that I don't actually have an opinion of what you did a year ago, that was just before I was leaving and I wasn't there myself so I shouldn't really form an opinion of what you were forced to do…but I will tell you that even though it might not have been right what you did saved lives" Zack explained.
Vincent lowered his head, smiling as he shook Vincent's hand.
"Thanks and I'm glad you got your business off to a good start, just make sure you don't cross the line" Vincent said.
Zack chuckled, patting Vincent's back.
"No sweat there, Uncle Fury would kill me if I did anyway" Zack laughed.
"Plus its easy not to cross the lines you've set Vincent" Cagalli said smugly.
Athrun sighed, floating with Cagalli down the hallway. Vincent again lowered his head, squeezing his hand into a fist.
"Typical of her huh, judging people from her high horse" Branden said.
"Well she wouldn't be the Cagalli we all love if she wasn't" Zack grinned.
"Doesn't necessarily mean that she's right" Silver Mask muttered.
He crossed his arms, floating down the hallway past Noah and Linda. Noah widened his eyes for a moment as Silver Mask bought his hand up in the standard ZAFT style salute. Then the masked man chuckled, switching it to a two-fingered salute as he steered down the left corridor. Noah smirked as he came face to face with Talia Gladys. He looked to Linda, frowning and twisting his smile as Linda kept on her neutral tone.
"Captain Gladys" Linda said with a salute.
"Lieutenant Gladys" Talia saluted back at her younger sister.
When she dropped her salute Talia smiled gently, but Linda didn't react to it. Noah looked between the two of them and sighed as Linda floated on ahead.
"Well thanks for letting us join the party Captain, I'll set myself up in a room, Daigoji's also on the ship, I'll be on the bridge shortly…and I'll catch up with you later Commander Rach!" Noah said, looking over his shoulder as he floated past Vincent's group.
For a moment the Sensou and Ravens nest crew waited before a few more crewmembers came.
"Hello!" A red hair girl said, saluting the group.
'Ah the bridge bunny' Branden thought, looking over the girl.
She had red hair tied up into two pigtails while she wore the standard green ZAFT uniform. Beside her was Rey Za Burrel; Zack narrowed his eyes at the young man, trusting his Newtype instinct to stay away from him. But when Zack looked at the red/violet haired red coat he couldn't help but whistle.
"Wow, ZAFT's certainly improved their taste in pilots" Zack grinned, putting a hand to his chin as he looked at Lunamaria's customised skirt.
"I'm Lunamaria Hawke, I'll be showing your crew around the ship Mr Tempest" The girl said, smiling as she offered a friendly salute.
"Maybe you'd like it to be just the two of you Zack" Mayura said, elbowing Zack's chest.
"Tempting…but I'd rather have another two hot ladies guiding me" Zack chuckled.
"And who are they?" Kojiro asked.
Branden and Flay sighed while Zack glared at the Orb pilot. Kojiro's problem was that he didn't really change his facial expression when he joked. In fact people rarely knew when he was joking.
"I'm Meyrin Hawke, Mr Sasaki, Mr Kamal if you'd like to follow me I can take you to your room" the red haired girl said.
"Commander Rach, Chairwoman Alster I can take you to your rooms" Rey said.
While the guests were shown around the ship, Shinn Asuka took a moment to rest in the mess hall. He leant against one of the chairs, sighing at the day's events. The other crewmembers then whispered amongst themselves as one of the latest new additions to the crew floated into the room. Silver Mask looked around the room, his eye flashing as he chuckled at peoples reactions to him.
"So you're the one who was chosen to pilot the Impulse" Silver Mask said, crossing his arms as he looked down at Shinn.
Shinn opened his eyes, narrowing them at Silver Mask.
"Your Silver Mask, you joined in the defence of Orb and left with a few other Orb soldiers for space" Shinn said.
"Maybe, maybe I was never there, what I find surprising is that every Gundam pilot is a child" Silver Mask said.
"If they're skilled who cares about their age?"
"So if a Fourteen year old proved to be affective in mobile suit combat your saying you would use them"
"What…no of course not, using a child like that is"
"A child fighting, unless they really know what they're getting into, unless they are willing to die than no one under eighteen should be willing to fight, and the people in power shouldn't be willing to use those people" Silver Mask explained, crossing his arms as he leant against the wall.
"I chose to be here" Shinn said.
"Maybe you chose to be in the military but did you choose the battles you fight, did you choose personally to be stationed on the Minerva piloting the most advanced mobile suit in ZAFT?" Silver Mask.
"No but I trust the Chairman's judgement, what about you, why are you here?"
"Because I chose to be, in the end we choose"
"And I've made my choice!"
Silver Mask stroked his chin as he looked at Shinn, the glow in his eye fading as he nodded his head.
"Hmmm, perhaps your right, only time will tell whether you've made the right choice" Silver Mask said as he walked out of the room.
Vincent looked at his room, he had actually requested a smaller room than an officers quarters. He refused to put himself in a position of better comfort than ordinary soldiers. Flay was the one who attended charity balls and grand openings. But Vincent was a soldier, just a simple soldier. He placed Gekido's journal on the bedside table and looked over the case that had been Flay had bought on. Branden and Kojiro also had similar cases, with their flight suits in them. Most pilot suits in Sensou wore grey suits with red across the chest and some parts of the helmet, along with a purple glass plate to cover the face. Kojiro however wore a black suit with a blue faceplate. Vincent wore the standard red and grey Sensou flight suit with the purple visor while Branden had the blue glass visor.
'Never thought I'd find myself on the ship of an enemy, part of me still thinks of the old EA and ZAFT hate, likewise I'm sure Branden's having an even more difficult time' Vincent thought.
The door opened and Flay peeked her head into the room.
"Vincent, Chairman Durandal has requested that we meet him for a tour of the ship, he's about to go into the hanger with Cagalli and Alex" Flay explained.
"I'm coming Flay" Vincent said.
The two of them floated towards the elevator where Durandal was waiting with Rey, Cagalli and Athrun. While they travelled towards the hanger, the other new arrivals settled into their rooms. Branden jumped onto his bed while Kojiro took out his flight suit.
"We should be ready for sortie" he said.
"Just enjoy the short break Kojiro" Branden groaned.
Zack placed a framed photo on his bedside table. It showed him standing with some of his friends from Jupiter. He smiled at the memory while in their rooms Mayura and Anna settled into their beds. Across from them, Silver Mask locked his door and turned off the lights. He reached for his helmet, pulling it off and placing it on his desk.
'Hmmm, shower now or later' he wondered.
Vincent widened his eyes in astonishment as he stepped into the hanger. The sight of the Zaku's was one he had never grown tired of. In fact he knew in time the Zaku's would become as iconic as the Sensou GM's. Durandal took note of Vincent's wondered and began his tour.
"The ZGMF 1000, your probably familiar with it as the Zaku, at present it's the main mobile suit of ZAFT" Durandal began. "A recent prototype is the Kampfer, though remarkable its operation time is significantly lower than the Zaku, but its superior the Efreet Nacht will be a significant improvement once it is completed" He explained.
"Joe Daigoji is those machines isn't he?" Vincent asked.
"Yes, he's proved to be a valuable instructor in the post war Plants, he's kept his unit in top condition through constant training, I've heard that your friend Gekido Jaeger had something to do with that" Durandal said, smiling as he looked at Cagalli.
"Gekido, he even inspired people in ZAFT?" Cagalli asked.
"Yes, I didn't approve of the decision to classify his actions, in fact I somewhat respect him myself, but I digress, onto the Impulse, with its unique launch system and perhaps the most distinctive feature of the Minerva, you must have seen it in action at the armoury"
"Yes!" Athrun said rather hesitantly.
"From what our engineers tell me this is supposed to be a completely new mobile suit system with remarkable efficiency" Durandal said, turning back to the machines as he spoke. "Though I'll be the first to admit I'm no expert on the technical details"
Cagalli looked at the machines, sighing and partially ignoring Durandal's praise.
"I take it you don't much care for it do you princess?" Durandal asked.
"Well you seem happy with it Mr Chairman" She said.
"Happy isn't the word I would use, my feelings stem from the thought of how hard everyone's had to work, to come far from so much chaos and gain such strength"
"Such strength…you said that strength would always be necessary because there would always be conflict Mr chairman" Cagalli said, the disdain evident to those who knew her.
'Here we go' Flay sighed.
"Yes, I did say that!"
"Then how can you just rationalise everything that has happened, because of your new mobile suits your nation has suffered an appalling amount of damage" Cagalli explained.
"Representative" Athrun said.
When someone besides me goes on a tirade they always get it thrown back in their faces. Well not Lacus and Kira but I could certainly come up with a pessimistic response to their "everyone has the same dream" logic!
"Are you saying that its wrong for nations to improve their defence networks?" Vincent asked, narrowing his eyes at Cagalli.
"And that we shouldn't seek strength?" Durandal noted.
"Why would you need it in the first place? Especially at this time!"
As Cagalli spoke, a young pilot growled as he listened to her judge a matter she couldn't understand. She was definitely an Athha.
"We vowed not to repeat the atrocities of the past, we were committed to following a path we could walk on together"
"That's true, ah but princess…"
"Making excuses has always been a specialty of the Athha's hasn't it?"
Everyone stopped what they were doing, shocked by the sudden outburst of the young black haired pilot. He turned his head, his furious red eyes glaring at Cagalli. She widened her eyes, remembering someone's similar eyes two years ago.
Gekido squeezed his fists together and growled in anger. He grabbed Cagalli by the collar of shirt and lifted her above the sand. Despite his morals, Gekido raised his fist, threatening to punch the girl. Victor put his hand on Gekido's shoulder.
"Don't bother with her Gekido, she's just a silly girl who doesn't understand war, not like you and I do!" he said calmly.
Gekido dropped his fist but still held onto Cagalli. He looked deep into her eyes and Cagalli was slightly intimidated by the way he was looking at her, almost sizing her up for her coffin.
"Your eyes, they're the eyes of someone whose lived a sheltered and pampered existence, your not with these people, and you cant possibly begin to understand war and suffering, and neither can these people!" Gekido said dropping Cagalli to the ground. Before he left he turned his head and said one last thing "Don't forget to apologise to Kira…Princess!"
Vincent narrowed his eyes for a moment before backing away in shock. He'd seen this boy before, somewhere along time ago.
"Shinn!" Rey said, floating towards the pilot.
Shinn ignored his friend's call and simply floated away.
"I'm sorry chairman, he will be disciplined for his actions" Rey said.
"My apologies princess, that you pilot is an immigrant from Orb"
The rest of what Durandal said was but a blur for Vincent as he rubbed his eye. His lip quivered and his hand shook.
Vincent walked through the forests of Onogoro, occasionally looking up to make sure the battle between the Freedom and the Extended wasn't getting too close to him. The Strike Dagger looked downwards and its pilot gasped as he saw a family of four running through the forest. He grinded his teeth together at the luggage they were carrying. Then he widened his eyes as the Freedom and the Raider flew over them. A moment passed and Vincent watch the family try to leave, but the little girl struggled under her father's grip, before her brother jumped down a hill.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOING? STOP FOR SOMEONE NOT SOMETHING!" Vincent yelled as he broke the Strike Dagger off into a run.
The Freedom went into its long-range mode and fired all of its guns just as the Calamity fired its cannons. Everything happened so fast for Vincent, he slammed his shield down on the ground in front of the three potential victims. The Red and white beam slammed into Vincent's shield, melting it to the Dagger's arm. Vincent grinded his teeth together, praying for the shield to hold for just a while longer. Thankfully for them, the shield did hold and they would walk away from this battle alive. Or that was at least what Vincent thought. A beam suddenly cut his Strike Dagger's left arm off and Vincent watched in horror as the arm dropped towards the three civilians. Vincent widened his eyes, and then dropped his head in shame; the crushed remains of the three civilians would haunt his memories forever. His shame turned to anger as he looked upwards to see the Devine Gundam. It had its rifle out and Vincent knew above all else that that machine was responsible.
"Vincent!" Flay said, shaking Vincent's shoulders.
"Oh…I'm sorry Flay what is it?" Vincent asked.
"Everyone's getting ready for battle, they've just found Bogey one!" she said.
"All right, I'll get ready!" He said.
Vincent rushed to his room to retrieve his flight suit, noting that Branden and Kojiro were ready with their suits on. Joe zipped up his white Commander's uniform while Shinn and Rey put on theirs. Rey's was a customised white and purple suit. In the girl's locker room, Luna, Anna and Linda put on their suits. Just then, Talia's face appeared on the screens of the communication consoles.
"Commander's Daigoji and Bagal, I'm giving command of the mobile suit forces to Commander Rach, you'll follow his commands in this battle" Talia explained.
"What, but the kids an Earthborn" Noah said.
"But in a post war era he's got the mot experience in fighting" Joe said.
"So have Kojiro and Branden and they aren't being put in charge"
The door suddenly slid open and Vincent stepped into the room.
"Everyone report to your machines and be ready to launch, Bogey one is going through the Debris field, Branden and Kojiro will stay behind as reinforcements in case we need it, Noah, Linda, Mayura and Rey will stay to protect the Minerva if need be, I will pursue Bogey One with the Impulse, the two Zaku's, Joe, Zack and the Guaiz's" Vincent explained, putting on his helmet.
The other pilots nodded their heads and put on their helmets. Silver Mask floated into the hanger, and into his own machine as the Minerva crew went through their launch preparations. Meyrin Hawke spoke over the intercom, speaking commands and warnings to the rest of the crew.
"Preparing core splendor for launch, blast pack selected, moving core splendor to launch catapult, Daigoji unit Efreet Nacht, preparing to attach custom sword wizard, attaching Gunner wizard to Zaku Warrior Lunamaria unit, Nia unit standby with Slash wizard, moving Jegan to secondary catapult" Meyrin explained.
"Stark components are fastened on Commander, be sure to detach the missile launchers if things get too fast for you" One of the mechanics said.
Vincent nodded his head, allowing the arms of the hanger to move his Jegan to the catapult. On the central catapult, the Impulse was preparing for launch while the Efreet Nacht launched out of the third catapult, followed by the two Zaku Warriors.
"Vincent Rach, Stark Jegan launching!" Vincent declared.
"Shinn Asuka, core splendor launching" Shinn said
Shinn remained calm as he launched, each piece of the Impulse gradually slammed together. The blast pack slammed into the back, turning the Impulse's chest armour into a black and green colour. Vincent flew out of the Minerva, the Jegan bearing extra layer of armour on its chest, back, legs and head along with missile launchers on its shoulders.
"Now preparing to launch Neo Raptor units!"
"Zack are you sure we can depend on Commander Rach?" Anna asked, sliding her faceplate down.
"For now, but he proves to be incompetent then we'll probably have to renegotiate our contract" Zack said.
Zack's Neo Raptor shouldered a huge sniper rifle while Anna carried the regular rifle. They too remained silent as they launched and immediately switched to their mobile armour modes.
"Okay toots put me onto the catapult now!" Silver Mask said.
Meyrin blushed, swearing that she saw the man's glowing eyewink at her. She gave the commands and the crew operating the mechanical arms moved the Dusk Aero Gundam to one of the catapults. Athrun, Cagalli and Flay sat in the Minerva's bridge. They were quite shocked by the bridge lowering system, though they were at least glad to have the extra protection, even in the darkness. Durandal was sat beside Talia and took a vocal interest in the coming battle.
"Bogey One, we call it that but I wonder what its real name is, its true name!" Durandal said, catching Athrun's attention.
Silver Mask clicked a few buttons on his console, going through his Gundams activation process.
"Lets do this partner!" He said.
"A name reflects its owners nature, but what if the name is really a fake?" Durandal asked, turning his chair slightly to look over at Athrun. "Is something goes by a false name would it mean that thing is fake? False by nature, is that what it would mean Alex, or is it Athrun Zala!"
"Silver Mask, Dusk Aero is ready, HERE WE GO!" The masked man yelled before his orange machine flew from the ship.
A false name, a false nature…perhaps if someone went by a false name then they have false intentions…or maybe they're trying to hide from what they know they can't escape from! Food for thought Athrun, food for thought!
Next Chapter 5: Mongers!
Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, next will be heavy action and gunfire, along with the introduction of some new custom machines