KnightOfZaku: Who said Dr. Moses would live to develop it lmao?
Dragonngo: Don't worry, their conflict will get plenty of screentime. However, I can't just ignore how Amuro is going to murder his parents.
Music:
1. OxT - Union
"If you are…I'm sorry…for everything."
As Yuki smiled at him, he felt everything fade, as a sudden warmth came over him, coming from his right hand.
His eyes briefly flashed a deep gold color as he opened them. Beside him, a woman that seemed vaguely familiar to him was clutching his hand in shock.
"You're…Monique Cadillac." He recognized her.
"C-Commander!" She saluted.
"Thank you for coming out here." He smiled,
"I just heard about your condition and came to check on you while I was delivering parts for your Nezak…it was nothing really. Think of it as a 'Thank You' for what you did for us at Loum."
Ryan nodded, before clutching his head.
"Are…you alright?"
"How long have I even been out?" Ryan asked,
Monique looked up thoughtfully, "I'd say…three or so days?"
"Three days?!" Ryan said in shock, and Monique nodded.
Suddenly, before they could continue, Alma came in, and gasped in happiness at seeing Ryan up.
"Ryan-chan!" She tackled him in a hug, and Ryan gasped,
"Barely…breathing!" He choked out, and Alma released him.
"You're awake!" She said cheerfully.
"Woah, the guys awake?" Gaia poked his head in, followed by Mash and Ortega.
"It suddenly feels a lot more crowded here." Ryan joked mirthlessly, then his tone turned serious. "What happened?"
The Quad-Stars and Alma froze, before Gaia inhaled.
"You - I mean - the BETA System lost control…it went wild, attacking any Newtypes it could sense, which - in this case - was virtually everyone fighting."
Ryan paled, the last thing he remembered before…what happened previously, was hearing Newtype Detected…eliminating.
"I see." Ryan clutched his sheets,
"It's not your fault. If anything, it's him."
"Who?"
Gaia stepped forward to explain, "Dr. Moses. He got the hell out of dodge before the Kycilia Agency could get to him and make the bastard answer some questions."
"I see…" Ryan nodded,
"Something feels different about you." Gaia noted, "You feel more calm, collected."
"Do I?" Ryan asked smoothly.
"Yeah." Gaia nodded, "Definitely."
Ryan didn't react, merely sliding out of bed.
"Woah…should you be up this early?" Alma asked.
"I feel fine…great in fact." 'Too great…' He thought to himself. After all he had seen…he looked up at the Quad-Stars, could he save them?
No, he would save them. Starting here and now. He would save everyone, otherwise he'd never forgive himself.
Ryan slid on his uniform and proceeded to head to the first place he knew. The briefing room.
He opened the door, much to the shock of the Corps members inside.
"-as I was saying, Char will be commanding the mission-" Kycilia gasped from the screen. "Commander? I thought you were comatose."
"It'll take a lot more than that to render me out of action, Lady Kycilia." Ryan bowed, "But with all due respect, please proceed."
Kycilia nodded, "We've received word that an Earth Federation fleet is on it's way to Riah to extract the defector Chlust Moses. Moses has stolen data from virtually every department in the Institute. Including research about the creation of artificial Newtypes and Newtype weaponry. This data can not make it into the hands of the Federation. If it does, we may as well be on the road to losing the war."
Marion looked down, her guilt permeating the room.
"Your mission is to eliminate Moses and the enemy fleet. There will be no recovery for him, and the EXAM data will be completely scrapped." Kycilia said, "Commander Sahalin, until we can ascertain your health, Lt. Commander Aznable will be taking over."
Ryan nodded, "Understood."
"Another thing, the Federation Forces fleet is known to be the same one that has been engaging our forces in Side 4. Meaning it's all too likely that the new Gundam types will be present." Kycilia told them, "Dismissed."
As the 300th Newtype saluted Kycilia and prepared to sortie, Marion approached Ryan anxiously, and tugged on his sleeve.
"Can I…talk to you?" She asked, "Alone. Please."
"So, what is it?" Ryan asked calmly.
Marion turned to him, and suddenly hugged him.
"I…I'm so sorry!" She cried out, "It was my responsibility to test things like the EXAM and BETA systems. If I hadn't left…you wouldn't have gotten hurt!"
Ryan looked at the girl, and patted her head. "If you had remained to test the BETA system, who would've gotten hurt?"
"..." Marion didn't answer,
"You would've." Ryan answered for her, "I'd rather that I get hurt, than you get hurt. I made the choice to carry the BETA system into battle. And I paid for it, and one person is enough for all of us."
Marion sniffled and nodded, "But still…"
"No." Ryan shook his head, "No buts. And I have a question for you." Ryan looked her in the eyes, "I want you to tell me you can go out there, and you will kill the sonuvabitch responsible."
"Kill…Dr. Moses?"
"Yes." Ryan nodded, "I need to know you can aim down the sights of a rifle, and pull the trigger in his face."
Marion looked into Ryan's eyes, they seemed to be asking her so many questions at once. Could she be trusted with the lives of her brothers and sisters? Would she break down at the thought of killing the man who'd raised her?
"I…I don't know." Marion looked up at him, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Well, it's best if you find out." Ryan said, "Come on, we need to sortie."
"This way Dr. Moses. We've already taken down the assassins along the route."
"Thank you. It's high time someone realized the dangers of Zeon's research here."
Fahid rolled his eyes, for the entire time he'd been escorting the Zeon defector, he'd done nothing but spout jargon about the evils of Newtypes, the Flanagan Institute, and Zeon Deikun's ideology.
The agents led Dr. Moses into the car, which took off at max speed as two of the agents inside pulled out their guns.
"Once we head to the space port, we'll be clear of the Kycilia Agency." Fahid explained
"I swear, do they think we're some kind of taxi service? I didn't sign up to be ferrying Zeonic paperpushers." Io complained,
"Stuff a sock in it." Rose was tired of Io's bitching, and tossed a screwdriver that was lying around.
The Moore Brotherhood was enroute to the Riah border, where they were designated to pick up the Zeon researcher. For the mission, the Moore Brotherhood was taking their full force, seven Salamis Class cruisers and three Magellan Class battleships, along with ten Lepanto Class Missile Frigates, the Beehive and a few other Colombus Class. However, their total force numbered barely 100 fighters and two Gundam type mobile suits. This statistic was worrying, even if they were solely coming against the new Zeon fleet they encountered, they were woefully underprepared.
And something else bothered her. The Black Knight's newtype presence was disturbingly familiar, as if she'd felt it somewhere before, but where? She couldn't possibly know who he was, could she?
She shook her head, it was time to focus on the task at hand, not random hunches.
Claudia suddenly floated up to her cockpit, "Hey, Rose."
"'Sup Claudia." Rose nodded to her friend.
"Can I talk to you?" Claudia asked, and Rose smiled, pulling the girl into the cockpit.
"Alright, shoot." Rose smiled.
"I've been thinking about what you said…you know, about getting transfered, and how you need to be able to sacrifice people."
Rose nodded, and Claudia continued. "I'm not sure…if I'll be able to do it." Claudia said, "Sacrifice people just like that."
"That's what everyone says. But you won't know till you try." Rose said, "Or at least, that is what I would say, if I wasn't as new to this as you."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, I was promoted right before I joined the Brotherhood. Essentially, I've been pulling all my advice out of my ass." Rose gave her a sheepish smile, with Claudia looking at her with a dumbfounded look.
"...you're horrible."
"Yeah, I know." Rose shrugged, and suddenly, the ship was rocked with an explosion.
"Glancing hit on a Colombus Class ship!" The radarman for the Kongo shouted.
"Adjust the angle left 3° degrees!" The gunnery officer replied.
In the hangar, the 300th Newtype Squadron prepared to sortie with Char at the head.
"Listen up. The enemy here are the Ghosts of Moore. Don't be fooled by their outdated equipment, these pilots are skilled."
"Copy, Lieutenant Commander!" The pilots replied.
"We've spotted a cargo ship that matches the description of the one Dr. Moses escaped on." Seven - now both their chief mechanic and acting Operator - told them. "Do your best!"
"Don't worry Seven! We'll be back in a flash!" Alma said cheerily. "Alma Stirner, High Mobility Zaku, Launching!"
"Ryan Sahalin, High Mobility Zaku, launching."
"Don't overdo it." Char stated to Ryan.
"Copy." Ryan replied,
Ryan launched from the Kongo in a black Zaku, and pushed his thrusters to the maximum, diving straight at the oncoming swarm of fighters…
"I-Incoming mobile suit!" Kanken warned as his scanner began beeping rapidly.
Rose, who just launched, looked at her own scanner. 'It's fast…' She extended a work arm, and opened fire. Firing a trio of beams, she expected it to explode.
Instead, it hardly changed course, only barely activating it's verniers to skim past the beams.
"What the…'' Rose slightly lowered her work arm in surprise, only for it to suddenly accelerate and draw its heat hawk.
'It's not the Nezak…' Ryan thought to himself as he skimmed by the beams. Fighting felt…different to him now. Things that would normally throw him off like beam shots were barely fazing him.
Quickly tapping a console nearby, he deactivated the limiters on his mobile suit, pushing it to the maximum. He proceeded to draw his beam saber and rush a Saberfish.
As he approached, he slowed down and extended his Zaku's legs in a kicking position, the Saberfish had no time to react as Ryan came down from above and crushed it's cockpit. Kicking off as it exploded, Ryan accelerated again, his monoeye searching for the target.
'There!' Ryan spotted it through a ghostly red vision in the corner of his eye. Turning his Zaku, he launched himself towards it and drew his bazooka,
'This is for Marion and all the other people you were planning to hurt!' He took aim at the ship…
Suddenly, his eyes flash gold as a vision played before his eyes of his arms being taken off by a beam shot, immediately, he dropped the bazooka right as a beam passed right where his Zaku's hands had been moments before, the bazooka expanded and exploded as Ryan turned to see the Golden Gundam closing in on him in fighter form.
'Damn it!' He thought with slight irritation, drawing his Heat Hawk, he charged at the Gundam and threw it, forcing it to bank off. He then grabbed his machine gun and layed down a blanket of bullet fire, keeping it at range.
Rose banked as she dodged the bullets from the Zaku. 'He's faster than before! And his presence…it's changed!' She rapidly turned and swiveled to dodge the bullets.
"A little help here!" Rose called as Ryan proceeded to chase behind her, all while firing his machine gun.
"Keh, I got you!" Io dashed in front of Ryan, and he immediately slowed down to clash with the Prototype Gundam. Ryan, however, was much faster. Rather than firing on Io, he chose to bash the Gundam's head with the butt of the machine gun.
Io gasped as he was jostled around, this provided an opening for Ryan to kick him in the side, sending the Gundam flying.
"Woah…" Gaia breathed, "He just took down that Gundam!"
"It's not out yet!" Alma drew her panzerschreck as Io recovered and drew his beam saber.
Right as Io was about to rush Ryan, Alma intervened, slamming her Heat Hawk down at him, he barely had time to block with his saber. She then shot backward before firing off two shots with her panzerschreck.
Io barely had time to block with his shield. "You again!?" He cried out over the comms, "You're starting to get annoying you little bitch!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" Alma snarked back,
"Hang on professor, it seems like our pickup forces are being engaged."
"Damn it! It's those Newtypes again!" Moses complained,
Rose transformed and ducked behind a Salamis Class, only to have to quickly jet to the side to avoid a hail of bullets that ripped through the cruiser.
Rose briefly got the drop on Ryan, boosting upward, she fired her missiles down on him, but he easily maneuvered through the hail of fire, and fired up at her, forcing her to weave through the bullets. Rose transformed into fighter mode and extended her beam saber, preparing to catch him in a slash, however, Ryan drew his heat hawk, and the two clashed, the power of their strokes creating sparks of electricity.
"Go!" Rose shouted and suddenly fired a burst of missiles fired from her left wing pod, however, Ryan only jetted backwards to dodge the missiles, easily weaving between them before firing his machine gun.
Rose weaved in between the bullets, leaving a golden streak of light behind her, and Ryan followed, ensuing a chase of black and gold, with flashes of bullets flying between them.
Finally, Rose pulled a drastic turn, pointing her nose directly at Ryan, who immediately knew what her plan was and dashed to the side to avoid a spray of vulcan gun fire.
'He dodged it?!' She rapidly transformed into MS form and turned, but Ryan disappeared.
Suddenly, her newtype instinct came too little too late. Ryan kicked her from behind, sending her crashing into a piece of debris. He then proceeded to stick his rifle straight to the Gundam's head, and pumped bullets into its head.
"It's over!" Ryan shouted as he proceeded to slash the Golden Gundam's head clean off.
However, Rosary had one last ace up her sleeve, at this close range, there would be no dodging the missiles, and so she gripped her joystick, and flipped the missile switch, firing her remaining missiles.
Ryan pulled back and shielded himself, however, he couldn't avoid losing his left arm.
Rose quickly formed her fighter mode, and jetted away, and Ryan pulled back the damaged Zaku. Then it was then Ryan realized:
1. 'The cargo ship!'
"Ryan, pull back." Char ordered,
"Char, Dr. Moses is still out there!" Ryan insisted,
"That's an order, we can't afford to lose you out here!" Char demanded,
Marion watched as Ryan insisted upon going after Dr. Moses.
Suddenly a green light circled around her, as memories flooded her.
Dr. Moses was hunched over a notebook, furiously scribbling notes.
"Doctor?" Marion approached him, and tried to reach out for him, only for her hand to go right through. Realizing this wasn't real, she looked into his notebook, and gasped.
'Newtypes are bound to destroy us one day. My experiments with Marion and the other enemies here prove that…' Marion took notice of the way the word 'enemies' was underlined.
"No! It's a lie! The doctor would never do something like this!" Marion screamed, "Get out of my head!"
Nonetheless, it persisted, more memories rushed at her. Every glare, every fake smile, every two-faced comment he ever made.
Finally, it seemed to settle on one last memory
"Newtypes…are the enemy." Chlust Moses was speaking into a tape. "Marion is merely a means to an end. An unlucky girl on the wrong side of the war."
Marion watched with tears in her eyes. "Is…that all I was to him?"
"I need to know you can aim down the sights of a rifle, and pull the trigger in his face." Ryan's ghostly visage looked over her shoulder.
Marion panted, "Are these…real?" She asked.
"I think you already know the answer." The image replied.
"They can't be…" Marion clutched her arms, "He wouldn't hurt me…"
"Would he?" The image asked, it wasn't in a sneering tone, but a genuine question. It reached out for her, and one scene memory proceeded to flash before her eyes.
"I'm the only one with any right to the EXAM system!" A zeonic pilot in a light purple pilot suit shouted.
"And are you willing to sacrifice Marion's soul for that power?!" Another pilot, a Federation one, shouted back.
They both appeared to be Gundam-Types, similar to the ones they'd fought already.
Marion blinked, a glow seemed to come from their heads, Marion approached it, and suddenly a hand seemed to grab her, and suck her in.
Screaming, she realized that she was somehow inside the Mobile Suit.
"What did you do to me!" She whirled on a girl behind her, and gasped as she realized that…
The girl was her.
"This is our fate." She motioned to the battle about to commence. "Trapped. In a system made by that man." She said bitterly.
"The Doctor…?"
"Don't call him that!" She snapped, "He doesn't deserve it. Not after what he did to me, to us! He trapped our consciousness and soul in the EXAM System, and every time he made a mobile suit with it, we felt ourselves splitting into more and more pieces. Do you know how that feels?" When Marion didn't answer, Future Marion continued.
"It feels like your body is being ripped apart slowly. And it happens perpetually. Meaning you're in constant pain. And the more MS that have EXAM there are, the greater the pain gets." Future Marion explained, "It's living hell. Every. Single. Day."
Marion retreated from her in fear, and Future Marion smiled, "Good. You should be scared."
"How…how do I stop him?" Marion asked at last,
Future Marion smiled warmly, and grasped Marion's chin.
"By killing him." She said, and pushed her out of all the memories.
"Oh…my god." Marion breathed inside her cockpit, she wasn't sure what to think. If everything she saw was real…no, she couldn't doubt it anymore. The Doctor…Chlust Moses wasn't the father she thought he was. She was a tool, the Doctor saw someone he could manipulate, and that person was her.
However, he wouldn't live to make anyone else suffer.
"Ryan…please fall back." Marion came up to him with her Zaku and grabbed his arm, "I'll deal with this."
Ryan sighed, suddenly, a wave of exhaustion came over him. "A-alright…" He said, "I'll trust you."
He turned, and flew back for the Kongo.
Marion drew her ASR-78, 'I'm doing this!' She thought to herself.
1- "Marion, the ship has almost reached the fleet!" Arlette told her, "You need to do this in less than three minutes!"
"That's more than enough time." She said calmly, before pushing her mobile suit to full throttle.
Marion and her mobile suit became nothing but a blue streak as she rushed the enemy lines, her first opponent was an unfortunate Saberfish, she cooly took it out with a single shot before zipping past it.
Actions that'd normally be impossible for her became commonplace. Normally, she'd be washed over with regret at downing a single enemy, now, she barely gave her opponent a second glance as in one fluid motion, she drew her heat hawk, cut a saberfish in half, and sheathed it under shield once again.
"Enemy mobile suit rapidly approaching!" The radarman called anxiously,
"The cargo ship is almost here!" Another man shouted,
"Move the fleet forward! Buy them as much time as possible!" Claudia stood and ordered.
Suddenly, a hail of mixed projectiles and beams flew at Marion, and the cargo ship only slipped further and further away, it was approaching the Beehive now.
"Marion! Pull back, you won't make the shot!" Arlette insisted over the radio,
"Like hell I won't!" Marion snarled.
1- A sudden power touched her mobile suit, the same power that triggered the sequence of memories prior, as the vision of two mobile suits cracked with silver and green respectively flew past her, chasing after a massive mobile armor crossed her vision.
Marion blinked, watching the green streak fly by as she inhaled, warmth filling her very being.
"GO!" She roared as she pulled the trigger right as the cargo ship docked in the hangar bay nearly a quarter kilometer away.
Fahid took Dr. Moses files, which he reluctantly relinquished as Fahid stepped off the ship.
"Closing Bay 4!" A crewmate shouted,
As Fahid floated off the ship, files in hand, he handed them to another crewmate, and turned to look back at the ship.
Right in time for a green colored streak that he realized was a bullet slipped through the closing bay doors and landed a direct hit on the cargo craft.
He barely had time to cover his face as the small craft went up in a spectacular explosion.
Marion panted as her mobile suit drifted backwards.
'Whoever you are…thank you.' Marion looked up to the vaporizing streak, and smiled.
"D-direct hit! Columbus-Class has taken severe damage!" Arlette shouted happily,
At first, nothing happened, and then there was immense cheering over the radio.
"You crazy bitch!" Zero whooped,
"I had faith in our little angel!" Heinrich cheered,
"All forces! Our objective is complete! Fall back!" Char ordered,
Marion pulled up beside Ryan, "Thanks Ryan."
"Don't thank me, you found the strength to do that yourself. And you probably saved many lives in the process." Ryan told her, "Good job." 1x
Excerpt from the S.C 7030 Textbook "From Past to Future - Seven Thousand Years Ago Volume 1: The Universal Century" written by Annabelle Ral Hamon
The brief but decisive battle outside Riah concluded in a strategic Zeon victory. However, despite the death of Dr. Moses, his research and stolen files were nonetheless saved by Agent Fahid. This - in turn - allowed the Earth Federation to develop its own Newtype weaponry. Many famous pilots would undergo their Newtype enhancement and creation programs. Among them being Lilith Aidan, a pilot who would go on to change the course of the Universal Century…
Battle outside Riah
Combatants: The Principality of Zeon
300th Independent Newtype Corps
1 x Gwazine-Class
- 20 x MS-06R-1 High Mobility Type Zaku II
2 x Musai-Class
- 12 x MS-06R-1 High Mobility Type Zaku II
2 x Zanzibar-Class
- 16 x MS-06R-1 High Mobility Type Zaku II
Moore Brotherhood
7 x Salamis Class Light Cruisers
3 x Magellan Class Battleships
3 x Colombus Class
- 80 x FF-3 series Saberfish
- Beehive
• 20 x FF-3 series Saberfish
• 1 x RX-78-1 Prototype Gundam
• 1 x RX-78T-1 Golden Gundam
10 x Lepanto Class
Some weeks later…April 20th
"Her mental health is concerning, but nonetheless, Subject 04 - aptly dubbed Berserker - has proved to be our greatest success yet." Monica Humphrey noted.
"It's a shame. Without Dr. Moses we won't be able to utilize the EXAM as intended, nonetheless, the project is coming along smoothly.
In front of them, a white haired woman was slumped over a chair, various IV drips and bandages attached to her body, scars from stitches were present along her head.
"Zeon…" She muttered, "Death…to Zeon."
Monica smiled, "Yes, you will definitely bring death to Zeon."
A/N: And with that, we have reached the conclusion of Season 1 "Warriors Among The Stars". I wanted to use this Season to simply introduce the conflict of the story, in fact, no Federation MS were even supposed to be introduced during this story, but I soon realized there was literally no way to advance the story without introducing Federation mobile suits.
We also got two major call-forwards in this chapter. I mean they're pretty obvious, one directly teases Season 2, and the other references a story that comes along later in the SC.
As for Chlust Moses death this chapter...I'll be honest, I had no idea what to do with him after this season. I mean, his stolen research literally provide everything the Federation needs about Newtypes, the Federation also has the resources to continue EXAM without him. And without Marion to be sacrificed to EXAM, I wasn't sure who would get trapped in the system. I briefly considered Rose but like...she's literally the protagonist, I can't exactly trap her in a mobile suit.
So he died. Give Marion character development.
KnightOfZaku: Unfortunately we didn't get to see any Io badassery this time. And he won't really reappear in a major capacity until...around season four or five (The equivalent of the last two MSG movies), he'll be referenced, but won't do anything major.