Chapter 46
Rey Za Burrel was slowly making his way back, to the room, he shared with Shinn.
It was pretty early in the morning, which could clearly be seeing by all of the morning mist outside the Minerva, as the slowly raising sun warmed up the cold earth, yet again.
And even true it was a pretty sight to be seen, Rey didn't really pay all that much attention to it. He was far more occupied trying to figure out, what more he could do to help Shinn, out with the blond woman.
It had only been about ten minutes or so since he woke up, where the very first thing he had noticed was that the report Shinn had 'borrowed' was laying on the desk beside the sleeping teenage, who apparently at one point doing the night had fallen asleep, in that chair.
And seeing as the reports had been so neatly placed on the desk. It could only mean that the teen had been spending a lot of time in that chair, thinking long and hard about what exactly he was suppose to do with that girl.
But even true he might not have made up his mind about it yet, Rey was pretty sure he knew where this was going, it wasn't really hard to figure out, that the only way the girl was going to survive, was by delivering her back to the Earth Forces.
Not really something he wanted to do. But if it was the only way to make absolutely certain that Shinn, would remain a loyal part of Zaft. Then he had no other choice then to help him out.
He had already brought the stolen report back to where they belonged in the med-bay.
Keeping an eye on Shinn and making sure that he was completely loyal, was after all one of the more important missions Gilbert had given him, when he was assigned to the Minerva, which was why he was pretty sure that the Chairman would approve of what he needed to do.
'I better hurry up, if we have to make a move today, it would definitely be best to do it while everybody else is still asleep' he thought determined, then began walking even faster, truly pleased to noticed that most of the other crew members, was still fast asleep.
It wasn't much later before he arrived at his destination, where he instantly reached out and got the door open. Once in there, he noticed that Shinn was still fast asleep in his chair.
But knowing that what little time they had was quite value. He didn't waste any of it as he stepped over next to the boy. "Shinn wake up! We have to talk about what we are going to do about that girl. If you really want to help her, it has to be done now, while the hangar is still mostly empty, if we do not get down there before all of the mechanics gets there, then there is no way you will be able to get her inside the Core Splendor!" He said loudly.
Then gave Shinn's resting place a hard kick, which almost send the dark haired teenage trembling to the floor, and he was only able to regain his balance, by grasping on to the table.
And after using a few minor seconds, to make absolutely certain that he and the chair wouldn't end up falling to the floor. He slowly lifted his tired gaze and looked up at his friend.
"I...I have no idea about what you are talking about Rey" the boy said, he seriously did not want to get his best friend and roommate involved in what he was planing on doing today.
And as much as he would truly like to find another solution, he just couldn't think of anything else, that could somehow save Stella's life, other then letting those stupid Earth Forces bastards have her back.
Not really something he was overly pleased about, it was after all those people who had been the cause of her pain in the first place.
He would frankly much rather go to their base, to show them a thing or two about what he thought, about their totally inhuman ways of treating Stella and all of those other Extendeds they had, it could not only be her that was suffering in this cruel manner.
Yet before he could disappear completely in to those dark murderous thoughts. He received a hard smack right at the back at his head, which immediately made him send Rey a deep displeased glare.
But just when he was about to ask what the heck that was for, his fellow pilot began talking to him in a low yet serious tone.
"Stop playing dumb you idiot, it's not like it's overly hard figuring out what you are up to. But what I really want to know is how exactly you are planing on getting the hangar door open, from inside the Core Splendor? Like it or not Shinn, you are going to need my help in this. So lets stop wasting anymore time discoursing this and get this crazy mission started!" He said loudly, while giving the boy a look at made it pretty clear that he wasn't going to change his mind about helping out.
Seeing what kind of expression Rey had on his face at the moment, was just about all that was needed to make Shinn realize that it was pretty much pointless arguing with him about this.
And knowing that he slowly shook his head while letting out a soft sigh. "So what exactly are suggesting we do Rey, I was just planing on getting her once I was sure that the doc and the nurse wasn't around. I frankly don't want to knock out more people then absolute necessary. I kinda doubt that the captain will be overly pleased, with what we are about to do" Shinn said, still somewhat unsure what punishment the two of them would get from this.
Hearing that the teenage wasn't overly keen on beating up his own fellow soldiers, made the blond man smile slightly.
"Well if that's really what you are worried about Shinn then now would definitely be the best time to smuggle her down to the hangar. Most of the crew is after all still fast asleep in their rooms, but you know just as well as me, that Aves likes to start early when there is a lot to do around the ship" Rey said, honestly wondering if the chief engineer was already down in the hangar.
Thinking briefly about that Shinn nodded slowly in understanding. It was no secret around the ship that Aves followed the old saying early to bed and early to rise.
So he could get as much work done as possible, there had actually been a few crew members, who had would complain about how much noise, the mechanics would make down in the hangar, in the early morning hours, when everybody else was still fast asleep.
Which meant that if he followed his usual schedule, he should already be down there right now. "Ok I get what you are saying Rey, we should hurry up and get going before Aves starts working on something that wakes up the entire ship" he said.
While wondering just how they could possibly get Stella off the ship. If every single crew member was down in the hangar, yelling at the mechanic for being disturbed in their sleep.
"Glad to see that we agree Shinn, you go get the girl while I'll take care of things down in the hangar. I'll make certain that hangar door is open, when you are ready to head out. And do be careful with her, we don't want her to get in an even worth condition, before we can bring her home" the blond teen said, while seriously hoping that he would not have to knock out to many mechanics.
Nodding a single time in agreement to that, Shinn got up from the seat where he immediately stretch both of his arms and back, in an attempt to get rid of some of the painful soreness he had gotten from spending the entire night in that chair.
"Ok Rey that does sound somewhat reasonable, even true being with the Earth Alliance is not what I would call home. But I guess that we don't have much choice in the matter, I just have to make certain that she stays alive through all of this!" The boy said determined.
And with that the two of them quickly made their way over to the door, each of them thinking hard, about what they where about to do.
Yet once they got out in to the halls, Shinn once more began talking to his friend. "I'll see you when I get back Rey, and thank you for everything" the dark haired kid said, in a grateful tone.
Smiling a brief second or two, at that before he got a much more serious look on his face. "Don't mention it, I'm just doing what I believe is right. I honestly dislike the idea of watching a person die without at least trying to do something to help out. But do promise me that you will be careful when dealing with the Earth Forces, they have shown more then a few times now, that they are willing to do just about anything to win this war!" He said.
Knowing that if Shinn did not come back from this, they would have to find another way to get rid of Kira Yamato, which could postpone the Ultimate Coordinator's death quite a bit, and that was not something Rey liked.
Not really having a whole lot of trouble, understanding what Rey meant by that.
It wasn't really all that hard to tell that the Earth Forces actions had been overly brutal since the start of the war. First they had stolen the three gundams from Armory One, then they had fired nuclear missiles only a day after declaring war.
In the young man's eyes, each and every one of them was either crazy or on the edge of being it.
And he frankly doubt quite a bit that there would ever come a point in time, where he could actually tell somebody that he understood some of the more insane things, the Earth Alliance did.
So while trying to figure out how crazy the Earth Forces was on a scale of one to ten, he turned and gave his blond friend a short yet firm nod. "Count on me Rey, I'll be sure to keep my eyes open around those bastards. But I really hope that I can avoid combat as long as I have Stella inside the cockpit. I can always beat the crap out of them once she is safe!" The boy said a bit louder then he had originally indented.
Taking a small glance back at him Rey told him one last thing before they went of in two different directions. "Just remember Shinn that if you do end up fighting them, there is no backup from the Minerva, which means that if you do run out of power there is no Deuterion beam to recharge the Impulse" he softly told the boy, before he continued onward towards the hangar.
Looking a bit after him, Shinn of course knew, that he was right about this.
If he could avoid fighting with anybody while this so called rescue mission was underway, then that would most definitely be the best choice under the circumstance. It wasn't like he could actually handle, a whole base full of enemies all on his own.
And with that decision made, he swiftly turned around on one foot, then hurried began making his way towards the place, where the medbay was located on the grey Zaft space ship.
Sincerely hoping that he would not have to hurt the doc or the nurse too badly, they where after all a part of the Minerva's crew. Even true he did blame them quite a bit for not being able to do anything to help out Stella.
If they had just been able to carry out their jobs, like they where suppose to.
Then none of this would have been necessary. So it was to say it honestly their fault, that he was forced to do this.
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It wasn't all that many minutes later when Shinn arrived at the medbay, where he instantly took a quick look around to make certain that there was nobody else there.
Fortunately much to his big relief, the only other person currently present in there, was the one he wanted to help out so badly. "Hmm it seems like this is going to be much easier then I thought" he mumbled softly under his breath, while he stepped over to the bed.
Where he looked down at the unbelievable pale girl, but just as he was about to reach down and pick her up, she turned her head a bit to the side and looked straight at him.
"Shin...n...you here to visit...so early?" She weakly asked him, sounding very much like she had trouble breathing even with the oxygen mask strapped over her nose and mouth.
Yet before he could give her some kind of reply, she slowly closed her eyes and once more lost consciousness, leaving Shinn to stand there watching her, as she got a somewhat pained expression on her face.
Which made it completely clear, that she was feeling even worth now, then the last time he visit her five hours ago, where he had 'borrowed' the medical report about her condition.
And even true she had a some point doing her stay on the ship regained her memories about him.
She still seemed highly confused about where she knew him from in the first place, which she had shown quite clearly by obviously, believing that the two of them was on the same side in the war.
There had even been a time where she had gone so far as to ask him, where Neo was and if it was all right if she talked a bit with him. And when he had told her that Neo wasn't there, she almost had another one of her panic attacks, which he had only been able to prevent by telling her that Neo was out on a long mission and that he would be back later.
Yet when she had woken up the second time that day, she had shown no signs of even remembering asking about that damn Neo bastard, she had pretty much been telling him the whole time, just how happy she was that she wasn't alone in there and that he was there with her.
And as pleasant as that conversation had been. She had no memory about it the next day, it was almost like she had next to no idea about anything that was going on around her, even if it was happening just beside her bed.
And just realizing that, was more then enough to make the deep dislike he felt towards the Earth Forces and that Neo bastard grow even larger. "Damn it all, I would most rather go there to tear that damn purple Windam apart, then turn that Neo guy in to a pancake" he whispered softly to himself, while dreaming a moment or two about what it would be like, to stomp the very life out of that stupid bastard.
He did however not get long to think about that, before Stella's soft weak voice interrupted his thought. "Shinn...Shinn...is Neo here?...I really want to see him and talk with...him" she said, while trying to look around the room to find the mask man.
Not overly pleased with the idea that she cared so much about one of the very people who actually had done this to her, the teenage slowly reached down and softly caressed her right cheek a couple of seconds.
"He is not here Stella, but I'll bring you to him so you can return back to the energetic girl you are suppose to be" he promised her reluctantly, while he carefully picked her and the cover up from the bed.
And when he was totally sure that he wouldn't drop her, he turned around and walked slowly over towards the exit of the room.
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At the same time down in the hangar, Rey looked down at Yolant who was laying unconscious by his feet.
"I'm sorry about this my friend" he said, then took a swift look around the hangar to make sure that there was nobody around, that had seen what he had just done to one of their own.
But as far as he could tell Yolant and himself where the only people down there right now. So after taking one last look at the young mechanic, he turned around and hurried made his way over to the emergency controls to the hangar door. Normally it would be Meyrin's job to open and close the hangar, but it could be done from down here too, incase they needed to evacuate the Minerva.
Yet before the blond man could get very far, a loud voice could heard shouting out through the hangar. "Yolant, what in Zaft's name happened to you?!" Aves deeply concerned voice, asked while he reach down to check if the boy had a pulse.
But as he was doing that he did not notice Rey tiptoeing slowly towards him from behind. "Ohh thank God he still has a pulse, but I wonder happe..." that was just about all he got out, before Rey slammed his right hand in to the side of his neck.
And as the chief engineer fell to the floor beside the other mechanic, Rey softly whispered out yet another small apology. Then rushed off full speed in the direction of the control panel, deeply hoping that nobody else would show up before he could get the hangar open.
He might be quite good at hand to hand combat, but there was simply no way, he could beat up the entire technical staff if they where all trying to restrain him. And if they did start a fight down there. It was highly unlikely that the rest of the ship's crew would stay silent. And he was already expecting a great deal of trouble, when he started messing around, with the hangar controls.
Yet he could always worry about that once he was sure that Shinn was safely away, after that he was planing on surrendering with out a fuss and go voluntarily down to the brig, and stay there without any kind of complain.
But as he was wonder racket this would make around the ship, he reached his destination and looked down at the great many buttons in front of him. But even true it did look kinda complicated, it wasn't really all that hard to figure out.
It was after all made so every crew member on the ship, could use it incase of an emergency.
"Hm all right then lets get this show on the road, I just hope that Shinn is ready in the Core Splendor, for once I do this every single alarm on the ship will start ringing like never before" he mumbled quietly while he started working on the controls.
Which meant that it only took a few brief moments before the hangar door began sliding open and all the alarms started howling loudly out through the ship, informing just about everybody on board, that something out of order was happening.
"There he goes! Now I just need to send him a little something, he can use to defend himself with, before I get company!" the blond man said.
Knowing that according standard producer, that it would only be a matter of a few minutes, before the hangar would be fill with heavy armed soldiers. That was more then ready to deal with whatever was going on down there.
And just as he activated the system to send out the more vital parts of the Impulse and the Force Silhouette. The door to the hangar flew open and in rushed a bunch of soldiers, that was each armed with a machine rifle.
But just happy to know that Shinn had gotten away. The blond pilot turned around and slowly looked each of them over, while he raised both of his arms up over his head, to show them that he wasn't going to resist.
And that of course meant, that it did not take very long before his hands was handcuffed securely behind his back, only to be roughly lead out of the hangar a second later by four of the black clad men, while the rest stayed behind to tend to Yolant and Aves.
Something which he was actually a bit happy about, seeing as he had not wanted to hurt any of the mechanics in the first place.
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At the same time up on the bridge.
Talia stepped inside and was just about to ask what was going on, when she noticed the Impulse up on the main screen.
And seeing as they where not under attack, the gundam had no real reason to be out there. "Meyrin establish a link with the Impulse immediately!" The woman order loudly, already planing on giving Shinn quite the earful for this.
Yet the red haired girl's response did not please her at all. "I already tried getting in contact with him captain. But from what I can tell from here he is jamming pretty much every single one of our signals Ma'am, so it's impossible to get in contact with him!" Meyrin said, while her hands flew as fast as possible over the many buttons in front of her.
Hearing that Talia again looked up at the Impulse just as it turned around and took of full speed in a southeast direction, and realizing that it wouldn't take long before the boy and the gundam was completely out of sight.
The woman had to make an extremely difficult choice in the matter of a few seconds. Should she order the crew to try and shoot him down or should she just let him leave the area.
"Damn that boy, get the Tristan ready and aim for the Silhouette pack. If we destroy that we should be able to prevent him from leaving!" The totally pissed of officer order in a cranky tone.
But before they could get even one shoot of the leader of the squadron that had been send to the hangar appeared on one of the smaller monitors. "I'm really sorry to disturb you captain, but I have a small message from Za Burrel. He says that Asuka will return here when he is done with his errand, it's up to you Ma'am if you believe that or not" the man said, then disappeared again.
Thinking briefly about what in the world could be so damn important that Shinn was willing to take it this far, yet it soon came to her that there was properly only one thing on the entire ship that could make the boy do this.
"Hurry get somebody down to the medbay and check-up on the Gaia's pilot!" She order loudly, even true she was almost totally sure that the girl was gone too along with the foolish boy and the gundam.
And once she again turned her attention back towards the main screen.
She instantly noticed that the Impulse gundam was nothing more then a tiny spot in the far distance. Which meant that there was just no way they could stop him from leaving now.
"That boy is in serious trouble once he gets back here!" The woman muttered angrily, then turned and hurried left the bridge.
Shinn might be gone for now. But Rey was still here, and he was definitely going to give her an explanation for this whole affair, that much was certain.
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Meanwhile in the Impulse.
Shinn slowly moved his left hand away from the controls, then reached down and gently brush back a few strands of her blond hair, while studying her lovely yet pale face.
"Now we just need to find that Earth Forces carrier or find somebody that can point us in the direction of that Neo bastard" he explained to the beautiful girl that was resting so calmly on his lap.
Just as he increase the gundam's speed, seriously hoping that they would be able to find that guy before the mobile suit ran out of power. Yet just as long as he didn't use any of the more draining weapons like the beam saber or rifle, then he sure that everything would be just find. And if he was just a bit lucky then he might be able to avoid getting spotted by any enemy units.
He frankly didn't want to waste any of the gundam's power by fighting a whole bunch of unnecessary battles. "Damn it, I really wish I knew where to start looking for that damn carrier, this is almost like looking for a needle in a haystack!" He growled unhappily.
But even true finding such a small object seemed somewhat impossible, Shinn was completely determined to find that stupid needle no matter what it took. Even if he actually had to search through one Earth Forces base after another.
Yet before he resort to something so utterly drastic, it was properly wise to take a look around Crete for that carrier. He was pretty certain that if he found that piece of crap, he would find that Neo guy too.
He did however not get very far before the alarm began sounding through the cockpit. "Ahhh man what now?" He asked, then saw about four Windams and a weird looking blue mobile armor coming steadily towards him.
"What the hell is that machine?" He asked.
While at the same time looking down at the controls to see if the Impulse's computer had anything about the strange armor. And it only took a few seconds before he knew the name of the mobile armor.
"Raider Full Spec, I did not think I would run in to something like that!" The boy said, while trying to determined what kind of weapons that thing had, unfortunately it was kinda hard to tell from this distances.
Yet one thing that was completely obvious was that the five machines was planing on fighting him. But just as he took aim and was about to open fire on the closed Windam, somebody began talking to him over the radio in a loud highly demanding tone.
"Attention Zaft pilot, stop your approach at once, then maybe we will let you live!" The obvious leader of the bunch said.
Which was enough to make the four morons follows behind him let out a few minor laughs, which made it pretty clear that they where planing on killing him no matter what he did.
So not wanting to waste anymore time on these guys then he had to, Shinn immediately gave them a response. "Hah yeah right! Like bunch of worthless idiots could ever beat me. Why don't you go back home and hide under your beds fools!" The dark haired boy said, then swiftly took aim and fired a single well place shot directly in to the cockpit of one of the Windams.
Seeing their friend getting killed like that the four other pilots instantly started firing at the Impulse. "You just don't know who it is you are messing with you tiny snotty brat!" The leader yelled, then fired a couple of missiles after him.
But before any of the warheads could get anywhere near the Impulse, Shinn used the machine guns in the chest to shoot them down, then hurried throw himself to the side and fired the beam in to the side of another one of the Windams.
"I honestly don't give a rat's ass about who I'm messing with. Each and every one of you is as pathetic as one can be!" Shinn tolled them, while quickly maneuvering the gundam up over the next few beams that was heading for him, while at the same time flying full speed directly towards the very machine that was responsible for the attack.
And just when it fired a few more beams, he rolled a single time around himself then hammered the right foot straight in to the left side of the Windam's head. Sending the white Earth Forces machine falling backwards down towards the deep blue sea, but just when it seemed like the mobile suit was going to hit the water, the pissed of boy fired both the machine guns down at it, making it blow up a half meter above the ocean.
Once that was over and done with, he slowly turned and looked back at the last two mobile suits. "Now then, why don't you fools get lost and save all of us a whole load full of trouble?" Shinn asked, while carefully studying the blue gundam, trying to figure out what kind of weapons it carried.
"There is no way I'll ever admit defeat to a Coordinator, you are going to die by my hands you bastard!" The piloted inside the Raider Full Spec shouted as a loud as he possible could, then rush full speed forward where it instantly began firing it's many machine guns.
Quickly evading away from the attacks, Shinn fired a few shoots back at the other gundam, while yelling out a few more words to the Blue Cosmos supporter.
"Well if that's how you feel then it's you funeral!" He yelled back, then took a short glance down, at Stella that fortunately was still out, even with everything that was going on around her.
And once he was sure that she was all right. He once more fired a few beams after the blue war machine, that evade his attacks by transforming over in to it's mobile armor mode.
"You will never win Coordinator!" The man shouted, as he once more began shooting after the Zaft gundam.
Not that Shinn had much trouble getting past the attacks and firing a couple of beams back after the extremely fast mobile armor.
"Ahhhh shut up already, why don't you just go to hell and tell Muruta Azrael what a loser he is!" Shinn yelled, back seriously starting to hate this guy, especially when he heard his next words.
"Don't you dare talk about Lord Azrael like that, he was a truly great man, that was trying to make the world right. By destroying all of you damn Coordinators!" The Raider Full Spec pilot yelled, not even close to realize how dangerous this subject was.
Shinn might be blaming Cagalli Yula Athha and her father for his families death.
But that definitely did not mean, that he didn't blame the Earth Alliance and Muruta Azrael for invading Orb in the first place.
And just hearing this guy praise the dead terrorist leader like this, was more then enough to make Shinn's blood boil. "You frankly should consider getting your empty head examined by a professional. It's obvious that there is something wrong up there!" The angry teenage told the man, while destroying the last of the Windams with a combined attack from the machine guns and the rifle.
After that he took another look down at Stella, where he noticed that she looked slightly more pale now then before. Which meant that he really had to cut this battle short, even true he honestly wanted to teach this bastard the biggest lesson in history.
But it was much more important that he made sure that Stella was all right. If she went and died on him, while he was busy fighting this shortsighted fool, there was just no way he would ever be able to forgive himself.
And with that in mind he hurried took aim and fired a couple of beams straight towards the Raider Full Spec, which hurried roll over the attacks then once more fired it's many machines guns after him.
Yet as they where dog fighting like that, Shinn came to the realization that this battle could drag on for quite a long time. Simply because the other mobile suit was that much faster then the Impulse.
"Damn it, I have to find away to slow him down and quickly" he muttered, while using the shield to counter to other mobile suit's massive attack, then watched just as the other machine transformed once again, which made him realize that the Raider Full Spec did have one pretty obvious weakness.
If he could somehow destroy the Guul like thing it was riding on. It should be impossible for the blue highly irritating gundam to remain airborne and keep up with him and the Impulse.
But knowing the weakness and actually destroying it was two completely different things. So he decided that the best thing for him to do right now was to try and get this guy to make some kind of mistake he could use to take out the 'Guul' or whatever it was call.
And with that in mind.
His huge determination to beat this guy, made him go over in to seed mode, where he hurried took aim and fired two shots down after the blue mobile suit, that easily avoided them, by flying down underneath the beams.
"Why don't you just surrender Coordinator, if you do that, your death will be quick and painless!" The man promised, even true it was pretty clear that he was lying through his teeth right now.
Not that Shinn cared much about that at the moment, the only thing he wanted to do was to send this crackpot down to his mentor in hell. "Yawn, so tired and bored over here, almost ready to go to sleep!" Shinn said.
Seriously hoping that this would be enough to provoke the guy in to making a mistake. And fortunately the guy was so pissed off right now, that he wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around him.
"How dare you speak to me like that!?" The man yelled, obviously deeply displeased about what Shinn had just said to him, and to add just a bit more fuel to the fire Shinn let out a loud snoring sound.
Which immediately made the Blue Cosmos supporter charge forward as fast as possible, all of the Raider Full Spec's weapons blazing as the completely hysterical fool started shooting at him.
Yet before any of the attacks could hit the Impulse, Shinn reduced the Strike-like gundam's speed.
So he literally dropped down underneath, the Earth Forces mobile suit.
Where he immediately fired three beams directly up in to the 'Guul' making it blow up, and sending the sad remains of the Raider Full Spec crashing violently in to the sea.
Now with the left leg gone, and with the right one heavily damage by the assault. "Now, rot in hell you bastard!" He said, then started firing one beam after another at the Raider Full Spec, making absolutely certain that the guy had no time to say anything else to him.
And once he witnessed the blue mobile suit blow up, he hurried turned around and continued onwards towards Crete.
To be continued.
Just so we are clear guys I do not know if the Raider Full Spec is really a gundam or not. But in this story, it is.
It's been awhile since I have done this. But I would like to thank you all for reading and reviewing. Please do not forget review this chapter, once you are done reading it.
Now I'll see all of you next year. Have a merry christmas and happy new year.