Gundam : Remnant

by Twisted Fate MK 2

(Crossover - FF lacks a Generic Gundam option (Test Fic)) Centuries ago, a great battle took place far above Remnant. One its people still do not understand. However, the ruins which fell across its surface revolutionized the war against the Grimm in the same way Aura once did. Now, centuries later, Jaune finds a legendary machine amidst the ruins. One he must use to survive.

2. Chapter 2

XxX-XxX-XxX

Official Supporters:

Obsessive Readers, Laurel

Compulsive Reader, The Impossible Muffin

Commissioner, Gib, Death Daddy, Le Spork, Polemoduke

If you want to be on the Supporter list, PM me for details or join our private server for details. Hope you enjoy reading my stories, please leave me a comment to let me know if you did, or where I can improve. Link here, where able to be seen : /2UZncAm

Second link here, remove ( and ) and it SHOULD work : D(i) (slash)kfhkfUb

Beta(s) :

XxX-XxX-XxX

Requested By :

Polemoduke

XxX-XxX-XxX

General-In-Chief and Captain Ironwood's heavy, metal-based boots echoed every step on the grated metal floor of his commandship, the Heracles. His white coat hung open across his chest, sweeping behind him as he marched the halls with his hands clasped behind his waist. Officers, guards, staff and even servile drones saw him and recognized the purpose he moved with, standing to the side even in the wider main thoroughfares where there was plenty of physical space. No one, it seemed, wanted to even hazard being in his way right now.

He understood why perfectly…

"Gundam…"

It had been a long, long time since the Kingdoms found a new Star-Age Mobile Suit, much less a Gundam. And in that time, their technology had stagnated in a lot of ways. Weapons especially, but everything had ground to a halt. But the Grimm had not, changing as they always did. Even without what he knew, he was well aware Atlas - and the world - needed more. Needed better. Finding it had just always been hard to manage. And now, he had one in one of his maintenance bays…

One that wouldn't so much as power on.

He punched his access code into the keypad beside the door and stepped through into one of the private viewing booths that overlooked the maintenance bay. It was small, only ten feet or so in diameter with another like it to either side, but they had what they needed. A few seats, a window, and a status monitor terminal in the corner that he punched a command into to overlay data from the Mobile Suit below, where a team of engineers were repairing its damaged segments, taking surface and deep scans, and…

Trying to get it to turn on.

The computer highlighted the angled chest the engineers were looking at with a simple command, and offered him a variety of readouts that confirmed what he'd been told. The armor was standard, if high quality, titanium alloy with a shock-absorption layer of gel between it and the rest of the structure. But, under that, there was a sort of… Sensor network that his engineers hadn't been able to identify which, when tagged, spanned the entirety of the machine, coiling around its structure and power systems like veins.

Or… "A neurological system?"

"It's possible, Sir." He nearly started at the voice but only sighed instead as he turned to where the ever-silent, ever busy, Specialist Soleil was sitting at one end of the couch and working at her Scroll. "Without access to its controls and direct-response system, however, we can't be certain. Further, I don't know why a Gundam would want some kind of… Pseudo-nervous system."

"Responsiveness, maybe?"

"You can accomplish that without feeling the pain of the machine, which scans predict is exactly what this matrix would do." She pursed her lips, straightening her beret as she stood and smoothed her blue navy dress. "Whatever their aims in designing this, I cannot be sure. None of us can be sure, without the data in the internal systems."

"Which require it being online…"

"We've recharged the unit fully and run a systems check on its energy dispersion systems." Ciel shrugged, more focused on her work, for once, than common decorum. Which told Ironwood that this particular project had all of her considerable attention. "All green. But none of our pilots can interface with what appears to be a tandem-headset and computer system. Likely manufactured to manage the pseudo-neural network very specifically."

"And that network…"

"Seems to have another component." She nodded, "Sitting in our medical ward, outbound light observation dorms."

"Of course it has to be a Valean." Ironwood sighed, "Because it couldn't be easy, eh?"

"At least he's competent." Ciel pointed out quietly, the least bit of… Interest in the base of her voice, "He eliminated a White Fang combatant on his own, in melee. And with very little power. He's also the one that signalled us in spite of network breaches through a destructive yet rather cunning method."

"Still." He sighed, "Valeans… Too individualistic for their own good. This won't end well."

"Maybe, maybe not." Ciel shrugged, "Shall I attempt to get the Gundam active again?"

"No." Ironwood sighed, turning to leave, "I'll see if we can get the young man to get in the pilot's seat. And… We'll go from there."

"Yes, Admiral."

XxX-XxX-XxX

Jaune rolled over on the stiff bed and sighed, curling his arms around his head against the light coming in through the dorm window.

The room was fairly small, and mostly barren. Just a work desk next to a set of drawers by the door, and his cot directly opposite the drawers. The steel floor had a thin rug over it, but that was all the room had in the way of decorations. No pictures, or displays, or bookshelves. No curtains on the window. And the blankets were just thin wool, with Atlas' spear and gears emblazoned on the front, surrounded by bronze laurels. Lights were ensconced into the corners and the roof, and over the door to help people looking through the closed viewport see the bed without needing to come in.

It felt like a prison, all sterile and grey and monitored…

And that felt about right to him.

He was just about to drift off to sleep, back to the bad dreams and cold sweats, when a heavy knock on the door jerked him awake. He rolled over and sat up and straightened the sterile white shirt and pants he'd been given. He waits for… Whoever it is to come in but, after a few moments, they just knock again. Louder this time, so much so that the sound almost… Echoes, in the relatively empty space.

Tentatively, he calls out, "Uh… Come in?"

The door opens a moment later and a tall, powerfully built man steps in. He's taller than Jaune, with a thick white coat studded with brass buttons. A pocket has a single clip sticking out, and the tip of a plastic card he assumed was an ID card. His hair was cut short and black, and streaked in a grey that almost matched the pants he wore. And the metal studs around his eye, and the little plate behind it on the side of his head. With each step, his heavy, black leather boots seemed to thunder against the floor as the man crossed the room. Something in the back of his mind recognized him, but…

He couldn't place him.

But, instead of stopping beside him, the man went to the little window and peered through it, leaning his forearm along the top frame and resting his forehead against it. After a moment, he murmured, "Looks like rain in the next few days…"

"Uh…" He blinked, "Does it?"

"It does." The tall man sighed, straightening and turning to him, explaining as he made his way back around to stand next to where Jaune sat. "If you take the time, you can learn to pick out the different variants of clouds. More of the heavy, rain-carrying ones indicates rain. The more built up, the likelier and sooner."

"I see…" It was basic weather forecasting, he knew, but decades out of fashion. Wrinkling his eyebrows, he asked, "Doesn't everyone use radar monitoring for that nowadays, though?"

"Yes, but what do we do when that radar system is jammed?" The man asked, raising the un-augmented eyebrow and smiling. It wasn't a happy smile, though. Instead it was thin, almost unhappy in some odd, distant way he couldn't quite place. When Jaune didn't respond, he said, "We use our skill and our cunning, and we find our own way. Such skills are useful even in the face of technology because technology can fail us, or be turned against us."

"I-I know…"

"I know you do." The man nodded, "You demonstrated exactly what I describe when you sabotaged your own systems to use the failure to call for help. It was an excellent display of skill and quick thinking. The kind I'd expect from my own soldiers."

"Your own…" Suddenly, the recognition he'd felt earlier fell into place and he straightened, putting the pieces together. A private medical room, plus them being in the sky and the symbol on his blanket meant an Atlesian warship - and there was only one Atlesian officer he knew of at all, even if it was only just enough to barely recognize him. And that was, "Y-You're General Ironwood."

"Indeed." General Ironwood smiled, "And I dare to assume that one of Vale's outer colonies didn't exactly keep up to date tabs on Atlas' business…"

"Not really, no."

"And that makes it all the more clever for you to figure out who I am without any hard evidence." He smiled, fishing the card out of his pocket and repinning it on the top with the metal clip, so that Jaune could see it. "A simple test, of course… And not all that difficult, once you leave this room. But it is enough to at least suggest that your performance in the field was no mere fluke."

"My… Performance?" He blinked, "You mean the monitor-relay overload?"

"That," Ironwood nodded, "and not only recovering a Starborn Mobile Suit, but using it to defeat a known White Fang combatant."

"A-Ah…" His stomach churned painfully, "Right. That."

"I recognize soldier's guilt when I see it." The man rumbled lowly, taking a step closer and kneeling so that their eyes were level. Reaching out, he laid a heavy hand on Jaune's shoulder and smiled gently, "Every single person, soldier or not, feels like you when they take their first life. And when they lose their first comrade, their first friend, too."

"They do…?"

"They do." Ironwood affirmed, smiling gently, if stiffly. Like he wasn't used to it, entirely. Standing, he straightened his coat and went on, "Take solace in that what you sought to defend survived. Ansel, and those who live within it, was saved by your actions. That should bring some manner of comfort, in time."

"Yeah…" Jaune agreed, if only so he could keep the hope the man offered. "I-In time."

"For now, focus on the next steps of your life. That way, time may pass, and healing may come." Ironwood finished, clasping his hands behind his waist and asking, "First of all, have you any idea what, precisely, you recovered down there?"

"A… Mobile suit. I found it in an old, fallen carrier-segment, a decent ways away from the old salvage sites and buried underground." He remembered that, at least. The panic of the Grimm made everything around it fuzzy and confused, and the chaos of everything after was more or less one big blur. But that much he remembered. In spite of himself, he chuckled under his breath and murmured, "I was… Kinda hoping the salvage rights would pay for what I broke."

"Pay for- Ah, right." Ironwood smiled again, this time a bit more warmly. And in a bit more of a genuine way, he felt like, shaking his head and sighing. "You don't need to worry about that. The Heracles has seen fit to replace and modernize the entire system, along with a basic VI interface for added security."

"VI…?"

"A very, very, very basic computer personality designed to help run the system." Ironwood explained, "Consider it our way of aiding our friends here, in Vale."

"I… That's amazing!" He smiled, excitement running through him at the prospect of getting to work with new, modern hard-and-software instead of the older systems he and his colleagues had spent so much time jury-rigging to keep running properly. "Gods, I-I don't even- It's been years since we had new installs. Hell, the software readout systems were older than I was when I started, and the relay networks were awful in bad weather-"

"Such is the nature of time," Ironwood cut him off gently, "that technology ages and is surpassed. What we're putting in is hardly cutting edge, however. So it will lag behind in the coming years."

"Yeah." He shrugged, "But it'll be better, and those years will be great. I can't wait to- Do you have technical manuals? I'd love to start studying the new gear!"

"That is… Something we can discuss later, once more pressing matters are dealt with." Ironwood frowned, clearing his throat and going on coolly, "My survey teams are cataloguing what was found in the site you discovered, and will conclude by morning. There will be a fee attached to that, but Vale is already inquiring about a purchase. If you like, I can have a representative handle it for you, or with you, in the coming weeks."

"Weeks…?" His brow furrowed, "But- Won't you be gone by then?"

"We plan to be, yes."

"Then how can we go over anything?" He asked, "I'll… Be home."

"On that," Ironwood sighed, "we need to have a… Conversation. Once which returns to what, exactly, you found."

"Why…?" He murmured, "I need to get back to my family. They have to be worried-"

"Your family has been informed, of course, that you are recovering well." Ironwood assured him, stepping back and turning, gesturing at the sealed door. "However, what you found makes swiftness… Something of a factor."

"How…?" Jaune asked, reaching up to scratch at an itch under the bandaging around his neck.

"You found a Gundam, young man." Ironwood answered simply, "And one that we can't seem to get online."

"What?" He grunted, confused, "Why not? It worked fine for me."

"We aren't sure." Ironwood shrugged, "My technical officer will break down the details for you in the maintenance bay. From there, we will discuss… Next steps, depending on the outcomes of a few tests. Rest assured, however, that this is all in the better interests of not just yourself and your family, but humanity is a whole."

"Humanity…" Jaune blinked, feeling the weight of the words like he had when he'd become a systems technician for the Militia. Only now, it had even more weight, somehow, coming from the General's mouth. Standing, Jaune nodded and chuckled nervously, "I-I guess I'll do what I can."

"That," Ironwood smiled, "is all I ask."

XxX-XxX-XxX

"As you can see, we've replaced both energy fillers in the back of the torsos with fresh ones, fully charged, and run a standard Starborn systems analysis package, as we do with every recovered Starborn Mobile Suit." The short, dark-skinned woman said as she watched engineers working on the Gundam down in the bay below, leaving Jaune to sit on a stool a few feet back and read through the folder she'd shove into his hands the moment he said 'hello'. "Systems diagnostics read everything as above board, and both energy fillers passed preliminary testing before and after they were put in and subsequently taken out for second checks. From what we can gather, Gundam : CM simply refuses to activate for anyone who gets into the pilot's seat."

"Uh, well…" Jaune grimaced, aware of the man standing beside the door behind him. "You have to put the helmet on. I'm, uh, guessing you did that?"

"Of course we did." The woman scoffed, "We are not morons. We did so after thoroughly testing its integrity and safety."

Somehow, that sounded like an insult in there somewhere…

But Jaune let it go, frowning and asking as he skimmed to see if he was already holding the answer, "How's the handshake signal from the headset to the rest of the unit?"

"Handshake signal is fine." She answered, pausing for a heartbeat to flick him a look and then resuming her pacing. "According to test runs with no less than five of our pilots, and myself, the handshake signals between the basic autonomic computer response systems integral to the micro-neural processors that run the Gundam all registered the activation commands, and other signals, and responded."

"They responded…?"

"Yes." She nodded, "With an unknown error code, in Starborn sigils, and then ceasing the activation process."

"That… Shouldn't be possible." Jaune blinked, recalling Militia lessons he'd had before he became a technician and, as best he could, paraphrasing, "The MPs autonomic systems are just that- Autonomic. They shouldn't be able to refuse."

"And yet," General Ironwood rumbled from the door, "Crocea Mors' is."

"How…?" Jaune murmured, setting the folder aside and standing to pace over to the window and look down at the machine below, with engineers crawling over it, working at terminals arrayed around it with long cables running to its joints, head, and into its cockpit.

Some of it he could identify, such as the systems relay monitor running into the side of its head. And the autonomic response tester with thin cables there, too, as well as running into the cockpit, shoulders and hips. Some of the others were obvious, like the guys with terminals taking readings from the partially disassembled hands which he was sure were maintenance officers studying them and working on repairing whatever time - and, well, Jaune - had broken. But plenty of them he didn't understand at all, drawbacks of being a systems relay technician for the Militia rather than…

Well, rather than a Mobile Suit pilot or MS-Engineer.

"And why," he muttered, transfixed on the work below by some odd draw he couldn't place, scratching at his bandages, "does my neck itch so damn bad…"

"The neural implants which were embedded in the base of your skull and which have, while you were sleeping, continued their process of weaving their micro-filaments into your spinal column and up into your brain stem."

"I…" He blinked and turned, "I'm sorry, I have what in my what?!"

"You aren't aware, then?" Ironwood asked. When Jaune shook his head, running his fingers along his neck, Ironwood gave the young woman a nod and grunted, "Ciel, the passive-radiology scans?"

"Radiology…?"

"We didn't, and don't, know what the implants are made of." Ciel explained sharply, "As such, more direct-radiation, such as an MRI or X-Ray scan, were ruled out due to potential hazards."

"I-I see…" If the materials used for it were any of a number of metals, even gentle, metal-specific MRI readers could pull at them. And if they were in his spine… Well, even a gentle tug wasn't something he looked forward to. And a powerful X-Ray machine could scramble sensors, too, if they were unprotected. Which, again, connected to his brain… "Oh, this is just spectacular. Just the god damn best…"

"Language."

"Valean."

"That is not-"

"Ciel." The General sighed, "It's fine. He's not being held to our decorum standards."

"...Very well." She sighed, handing him a small packet of see-through film pieces. "Here."

The pages were three sets of three images. One was thermal, one was electrical, and the last was a passive-scan kind of like what the Militia's MS units had mounted to look for metal in the woods. Overlaid, they were of his head from the right, left, and straight on. And, in each set, he could see the tiniest bit of metal detected at the base of his skull, right where they'd said. Two little nodes, with thin lines of electricity that ran through it and along the base of the inside of his skull to his brain stem before they vanished into the normal electricals of his actual brain and similarly for his spine.

"By the stars…"

"Quite likely literally." Ciel noted, earning a glare from him and a sigh from the General.

"Officer Soleil…" Ironwood groaned, "Please. Be patient."

"I am always patient, General." She quipped, "Whenever I'm conscious, at least. You know that."

"Fair enough." Ironwood sighed, pushing off the door and smiling as reassuringly as Jaune had ever seen a man his size be able to do. "Whatever these implants are, whatever they technically do… I believe that they're related to the issues we've had operating that Gundam."

"I…" Jaune blinked, thinking the idea through and murmuring, "After I put it on…"

"Yes?"

"Down in the hole, when I put it on, I-I thought I felt, like… A pinch." He explained quietly, "I couldn't- The screen in the cockpit, I couldn't understand it. But after that, it was all in Valean. I, uh, didn't have time to think about it. But if it's plugged into my brain…"

"It may have been modifying what you were seeing by altering stimulus signals, or providing them itself." Soleil filled, "Which means it's a fully integrating neural system. If that's the case, then it may be more than the helmet that is required to pilot Crocea Mors…"

"It may be you." Ironwood frowned, "In which case, one of the few Gundams still even capable of being used… Is one that only you can pilot."

Jaune blinked as what that meant sank in, then slowly walked over to his stool, sat down, and sighed, "Well… Shit."

XxX-XxX-XxX

Feddie Fan (Guest) :

I dunno why, but Federal designs just gel better with me, lol. Zakus and the more out there designs are cool, mind - but I prefer more humanoid robots.

Kamen rider Sentry :

I have elements from both that will feature in this, albeit not always on Crocea Mors, but I dunno what a 'power bond' is. I haven't seen ALL Gundam, alas.

Someonecall4mre :

As this doesn't draw on ALL elements from any particular Gundam, I sought a generic 'Gundam' category. I found none. Thus, I didn't designate it as a crossover. Since none of the Gundam fields would be correct.

Thic Jiggles :

It's very similar to the RX and Zeta both, albeit closer to the latter, but with a bit more of a waspish shape ala Witch from Mercury's Gundam. It also has modular boosters as described in places neither model does, and wields a different weapon. But, as a base, both are good ones to start with.

Augustus Arc :

If you're referring to 'Reign of Steel' by MahinaFable, that actually served as a decent amount of inspiration for this. I intend to get EXTREMELY technical with some elements of design, here, and MahinaFable's work gave me the confidence to do so since people enjoyed it.

Bear in mind I will fuck up my technicals sometimes, my dumb human brain being what it is, but it's fun, lol.

Kilo 8 :

Just don't expect ANY of the mysteries of the stars to get answers for… Well, quite some time, lmao. That said, I do already have EXACTLY what happened already written, lol. Suffer~