New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam

Your own tale of two mecha.
Locked
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam

Okay, I haven't written the first chapter of this yet; however, I did write the story background for my own Gundam story.

Plot: In the 2728th year of the current calendar, or otherwise the Eternal Calendar’s Era of Sovereignty (ECES) 55, the line between conflict and war is about to be crossed. Between the cradle of life that is Earth and the vast Asteroid Belt, a power struggle is brewing between the Martian Federation of Zamria and the Dominion of Pure Earth, through the reemergence of humanoid combat machinery known as Mobile Suits. Both sides may have commenced their projects simultaneously; however, the Dominion was the first to successfully mass produce their Suits. As Zamria secretly transports its prototype unit, its carrier is assaulted by squadron of unidentified fighters with an uncanny human resemblance. The freighter self destructs, but in the ensuing chaos, launches its cargo at a random vector where it finds itself within the grasp of the antiwar colony of Tripoli, at arms length of innocent civilians.

Within neutral airspace, five friends, among them the devout, impulsive, Sato Ailrua, reel in an unusual package labeled “VX-124.” In doing so, there colony is infiltrated by a search party from the Dominion hunting down this new technology. A squadron of humanoid fighters soon breaks through the docking bays and prepares to initiate bombing raids. Realizing that what they found outside was a new type of weapon, as sort of fighter trio, the five friends climb aboard to fight off the scout team. In doing so, they have just awakened the age old tradition of Mobile Suit combat. To make matters worse, Sato and the others are discovered by the Federation as they hesitantly push back the invaders. The choices soon limit themselves to two: Zamria or Earth, false freedom or conscious enslavement, sin of pride or sin of avarice.

Praying that somehow a third option would appear, an all out battle between both fleets erupts. While at the mercy of the Federation, Sato and the others take advantage of the situation and steal a Zamrian assault carrier Zephyr, along with several hostages, military secrets, and of course, the Mobile Suit carrying the legendary name Gundam. During the ensuing chaos, an escape soon appears through the watchful eye of Maverick. The stolen vessel Zephyr is escorted from the clash by the most beautiful and mysterious Reina Mass to the even more enigmatic “Saegauk Nebula” of the asteroid belt. This hidden outpost at first takes the form of an escape from the seemingly hollow war. However, in truth this remote region of space is the element that has dictated the actions of the Dominion. As this becomes apparent, Sato becomes Reina’s protégée in order to make contact the war’s catalyst, the organization of Koskai before billions lose their lives in meaningless conflict. And at the center, the two of them must discover the intentions and destiny of this secret society’s heir, Kavik Ryx.

This is just a rough overview, though I do intend on finishing the first chapter in a couple of weeks.
User avatar
ShadowCell
Moderator
Posts: 4716
Joined: Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:59 pm
Location: California
Contact:

Although this sounds pretty derivative of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, I'll just add this:

I have rarely seen any good come from a fanfic in which a major character is named after the author.
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

Actually the author is named after the character. I started writing the story about a year and a half ago, back when I was using the internet nickname Zyxro until about September.
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

Okay, I'm almost done writing the first three chapters, they should be done by next Sunday. These three unfortunately are quite derivative of the original and the story does not take shape as it's own till after them. Anyway, I guess I'll just lay down a bit of character background, some MS names, and the titles for chapters 1-13. Quick thing, as I'm writing this, my name is not Kavik Ryx.

Sato Ailrua: Highly religious and idealistic, he lives believing that his choices come straight from the will of god. This often leads to confrontation and alienation, especially among his friends. Sato steals Gundam Unit γ believing it to be the catalyst of his destiny, and goes on to witness a gross personification of self-righteous arrogance that he sees in himself.

Katherine (Reina) Mass: Being no older than 20, Reina is a leading member of the search group Maverick. Sato is mesmerized by her duel projection as a maternal and paternal figure simultaneously, resulting in her becoming his unquestionable mentor. She fights to contact the Organization Koskai to bring forth a world unflustered by violence and political corruption. (Though I may change her last name)

Lucette Audey: Sato’s clumsy girlfriend. Her ditsy personality has resulted in others treating her with little respect. She often cries herself to sleep wanting to be seen as more than a pretty face. Deep down, she knows that Sato thinks lower of her than anyone else; however, does not have the strength to tell him, that is, until she develops a fixation over Kavik Ryx.

Terra Malian: A girl with a pure soul from the nation of Koskai. Abandoned at a young age, she has a need for clinging on to someone, or something. After meeting Kavik Ryx, she acts almost as his puppy dog. As Sato attempts to pull her away from Ryx, Terra tries to convince Kavik to put down the sword. She is sickened by even the thought of harming others for any reason.

Kavik Ryx: Raised under the his home’s former leader, Kavik is a reflection of his organization’s values and his master’s intentions. Excluding Sato, everyone sees Kavik as kind and considerate. His past is undisclosed; however, much can be inferred by his frequent synaptic breakdowns and a striking resemblance to the childless founder of his home, Kavik Koskai. (Note, he's the original KR, not me)

Hugh Livingston: A genetically modified human who shows blatant prejudice toward the “unrefined.” He tags around Sato mainly due to his rivalry and respect for Naomi.

Naomi Wolf: A loudmouth girl with equal skill as a dancer and as a swashbuckler. A longtime friend of Sato, she vigilantly watches out for him because of his naïve personality.

Spencer Wolf: He can easily be described as the milquetoast, loyal, mechanically adept, brother of Naomi and Sato’s close friend. More often than not, these qualities backfire in his face.

Haro: Sato’s softball sized robot companion. Its personality is a polar opposite to that of its designer Spencer, who claims that he got the blueprint from a 22nd century technical manual.

MS
VX-124(Gamma) Tertiary Gundam
VGM-24 GMF
TMS-02 Tizaka
RMS-04 R DIO+
MXF-03 Maxt Fighter
KOMS-02 Biahacca
KOMS-01 Gel Dorva

Chapters
1. Gundam 124
2. Cosmic Tango
3. The State of Interplanetary Affairs
4. Down the Rabbit Hole
5. An Angel Called Maverick
6. Reina’s Dream
7. The Hunter’s Trap
8. Releasing of the West Winds
9. By the Throat
10. The 7th School
11. The Man of Koskai
12. Fiends of the Wasteland
13. Sato of the Wind
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

Okay, chapter one complete. Just keep in mind that I'm trying to write this in novel form, so it's pretty long. Also, there may be a lot of grammar errors.

New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam
Contact #1 Gundam 124

Only an hour into its deployment, the prototype assault carrier Zephyr faced much distress. The project it was constructed under was confidential to the fullest degree; however, the ship had yet to contact its even more secret cargo. It would have stayed that way until their rendezvous; however, they did not expect for such a covert project to be discovered. As it was, this is the transmission they encountered. “Attention any Zamrian ship in this sector, this is the heavy carrier Ovai. We have been assaulted by undefined fighters, supposedly the new Dominion weapon. θ style artillery have no affect, if they get any closer…” The message faded away for about thirty seconds and continued with the message, “sector 244, repeat we are going to self destruct the Ovai and… engage!” Immediately the message ceased. Naturally the Zephyr responded and scouted the location stated; however, this is currently of little consequence since the contents of the carrier would first fall in the hands of unsuspecting youths.

* * *

“Haaaaaroooo!” yelled the handheld robot as it was thrown like a baseball by its owner, the young, ambitious Sato Ailrua. His attitude could easily be described as he used a robot toy as a baseball, not just his in your face personality that goes against the social curve, but also his need to need to advertise it. His goal was to throw off his longtime acquaintance Naomi Wolf. If Haro was thrown at him, he would just run, unfortunately, he forgot that Naomi is the most headstrong person he knew. Instead of hesitation from a seven pound screaming object, her reaction was quite the opposite with poor Haro flying across the park.

“Damn, Haro’s such a crybaby. I don’t think I’ll have any need to run that fast”

“I wouldn’t bet on it, Hugh show your wife up! Oh, whoops.”

This is a remark that Sato would regret not just because it it gave put his team at risk, but it also awakened a classic rant of the bigoted, supremacist Hugh Livingston. “Hey I offended. You expect me to have that inferior life form be my mate. Those who are naturally superior do not court those who are not naturally superior. Her potential has been met, but mine is virtually limitless.” This was not uncommon of Hugh, considering he and his parents were the only ones outside of the colonies of Jupiter who was genetically enhanced. Such hubris was only natural as he never had a chance to be challenged. This, however, did not matter to anyone right now, as his speech was not only irritating, but it also distracted him from Haro crashing on his head. With a straight face as if this just didn’t happen, he picked up the robot toy as if nothing happened and flung it high speed toward second base.

While she was, safe at first, Naomi was compelled to show up her rival, Hugh. The time it would take for Haro to reach second and how long it would take her to get from first to second was astonishingly. Thus the fate of she would make it was in the hands of her younger brother, Spencer. Catching the ball, for him, was not as much the problem for him as the courage to catch the ball head on. And if Spencer feared anything, it was taking things head on. As the crying ball approached, as everyone knew, he would duck. It was only by luck that he pulled his hand back and caught it. And then came the bickering.

“Pack your bags ‘cause your most diffidently out!” began Sato with to soon be a fruitless argument.”

Then came Naomi, “Nuh uh. Your just a soar loser. I am safe and you know it.”

“Hey you know your out. I know it, Spencer knows it.” He turned his head toward Spencer, lowered his voice and asked, “You do know it, right?” Sato knew that if he could get to Spencer before his sister did, it would solve everything, or at least he thought it would.

For the next few seconds, all Spencer could do to stall for time was mumbling, “um, um uh.” On one hand, he and Sato were as close as friends could be, and was the utmost loyal to him. On the other, blood is thicker than water. To make matters worse, he had entirely no idea.

“Make up your mind Spence, he may be your best friend, but he’s also an immature liar. You know I’m safe.

Just to get this argument over with, he quietly said, “Well, actually, I am pretty sure that Naomi reached base just before I caught Haro.” He just wanted to go home now to tune up his little companion. He couldn’t bear watching it roll in pain in his mitt.

Unfortunately, the worst was about to come when Hugh walked in from the out field pretending that his head was not in throbbing pain. Instinctively, everyone else playing ran off as to not deal with the upcoming escalation of the feud. In his very stilted, smug way of speaking, he began, “Oh, Spencer, you know that you are just protecting your pitiful sister. You know that she would have no chance against me and Sato. And unlike you, my eyes were open. Clearly you caught it first. Even from that distance I could distinguish what was transpiring perfectly. Now, are you going to be a good little boy, or are you…”

“Oh would you shut up,” interjected Sato. Despite both being on the same team, pride often overrules friendship. “We can get an answer without you pestering everyone. You’re just making this harder.”

“Maybe if you were more forceful, I wouldn’t have to pick up the slack.”

Voices only rose from here, “Slack!? You’re just putting more pressure on Spencer. If you want to help, then piss off!”

“Why, you have no right to order me around, you pathetic… peasant. I should strike you down right now”

"Bring it on.”

“Oh it’s on.”

“That’s it!” shouted a voice from behind the diamond’s bleachers. Looking over, everyone saw Sato’s girlfriend. “Naomi was out, she was out five minutes ago. She was out the moment she reached second base. For god’s sake, she was most definitely out.”

“Thank you Lucette,” Sato commended.

Then came Hugh, “See, even she knows it, and look who said it,”

“Oh really,” conjectured Naomi, “Fine Lucette, what did you see?”

“Um, oh, eh, let’s see, I think, no that wasn’t it, uh maybe…”

“I thought so.”

“Hey everyone,” Spencer interrupted, “Is it just me, or has everyone left already?”

“’Kay then,” Naomi sighed, let’s just head home,” an so another day in the life had convened for these five.

* * *

Sato started walking home consoling the little robot toy in his pocket in his hand, asking himself whether he should have walked home with someone. This was all he was considering as there was not much to think about in his life. His parents were missionaries who devoted their time helping countries stay out of political conflicts. They often were not home, but that didn’t bother him. From birth to age 12, he often found himself moving from place to place never making a deep connection to anywhere. Only for about the past four years had he ever lived in a single location for so long. Tripoli colony, where he lived, was close enough to enough neutral nations for his parents deciding to settle for a while. However, times were changing, there would be a place of unrest, his family would have to move, and Sato would once again have to accept what is beyond the isolated world his lives in.

Sato, wait up,” cried a voice from behind him.

“Lucette? What is it?”

“What, is there any reason why I can’t walk home with you? Is there?” she finished hyperventilating as she caught up.

“Na, there’s nothing wrong with it, just that it seems rater counterintuitive considering your house is in the other direction.”

“Ah, so it is,” she said cheerfully. “Well I don’t think my parents will mind. Which reminds me, you’re parents are coming home tomorrow afternoon right?”

“Yeah,” he sighed.

“Sato, I can tell something’s wrong. So are you really not happy to see them after two whole weeks?

“It’s not that. But I don’t think you’ll be able to understand.”

“Oh Sato, you’re so cute when you’re trying to be condescending.”

“And you’re cute just being naïve.” He stopped in the road for a minute. “Not that I’m not happy, but, just, when they come home, I’m sure something will happen. I won’t be able to live my life anymore. I’ll have to leave. My life will have to change again, and it will again. I’ll have to leave someone, and I have know idea who it will be next. Were getting kinda far, you should probably head home know.” He then kissed her on the cheek and ran toward his house. “Good night.”

“Oh Sato,” Lucette said to herself, “It’s not always necessary hide yourself in such a small world.”

* * *

The Dominion of Pure Earth, it is more of a military organization rather than a legitimate governmental system. Rather than being under a unified flag or following the same political system, nations identify with the Dominion simply through the knowledge that they are being watched. Many officers would take periodic checks over colonial space, and among them is Commander Gorr Targ. Significantly older than every on his ship the Wullop, he had no tolerance for reckless action and insubordination. And of course, he would never keep it a secret how much his was annoyed by his crew.

“Sir,” addressed one of Gorr Targ’s staff, “we have received priority one orders from Luna Axis. We are to scout neutral territory along the Zamrian border for any battle damaged cargo haulers.”

“Mister Schwartz,” responded the commander, “I take it that Admiral Qu a least some details as to this mission’s purpose. Though it’s probably that there was some sort of couch for his office.”

“He had a feeling you’d say that, so he sent you this message as well, ‘You probably forgot that I’m your superior, no worries, just remember that you’re job security is equal to you’re loyalty.’”

“Okay than it is the Admiral’s authentic orders. Now, relate to me the severity of the situation.”

“Well, according to the report, during our first attempt at capture, an auto destruction of the carrier resulted in the destruction of three Tizakas instantly. Based on such a defensive level, a Lei Fong vessel with a full cache of Mobile Units is vital, and of course we are the closest to the predicted vector.”

“Mister Schwartz, you’ve studied history, could you please explain what makes the Tizaka’s build so effective?”

“Well, it’s pretty standard from a mechanical standpoint, but historically, the bucket head properly represents the faceless obedient soldier. If anything, the design is kind of an insult if you think about it.”

“And we have 12 of them on board.”

“Yes, along with my Mk II and you’re Ogough, this will be fun.”

“Yes maybe, but you’re not going to be part of it. Just select five soldiers to run stealth operations around colonies, and make sure you’re choices are the epitome of bucket heads. The last thing I need right now is a ship of hotshots.”

* * *

In his bed, Sato just laid for hours in deep thought. Everything was running through his head, though was kept recurring was a prayer, Mother in Heaven, nurturing presence, I heed the knowledge, where does my future lie? I ask of you, please show me a sign. From there he started talking to himself on this subject. It’s not that I hate what my parents do, I love them and I think I would do the same in their situation; however, this has never answered what I want out of life, a sign that I may have a true destiny. Granted, in of itself, this pondering about the future is of no great significance. As Sato did it, odds are million, or even billions of others have done the same. The only thing that makes this specific one stand out is the phone call that he was about to receive.

“Hi Sato,” the answering machine started, “Naomi here. Sorry for calling so late but, well Hugh had to be himself and challenged me to a fencing match in zero G. Well I beat his ass, though that’s beside the point. Anywho, as he was wallowing in pain, he spotted something rather peculiar. We’ve tried to real it in, but two Mobile Pods can only do so much. Fly out and give us a hand and get over quick, thank you.”

“My God, what have those two gotten into this time,” Sato mumbled under his breath as he put on his jacket and pushed over his bangs. Knowing Naomi and Hugh, he was certain that they weren’t going anywhere. “Please God, for once let them find something relevant.” This had been a normal occurrence, so just in case it was some disappointment, he decided to call Spencer to real his sister back home.

“Hey, Spence, if you’re parents were wondering, I’ve found you’re sister. Meet me at the docking bays in 15 minutes. Apparently she and her life mate found some ‘glorious treasure’ again.”

Between grumbling and it being 12 o’clock, Sato was paying absolutely no attention to the road. After only about ten seconds of running, he noticed a body in front of him, and of course being focused on his friends’ idiocy, he failed to realize that he was about to run into her. Sato carelessly crossed paths and inevitably collided at full force, not even attempting to slow down. It took a moment for his head to clear, but when he could finally look over, he yelled out, “Lucette! What are you still doing here? Heck, it’s already midnight and you haven’t gotten home yet?”

“Uh, yeah I guess so,” she said still regaining consciousness. “I guess I got lost and ended up here. It was already nine when I gave up, so I decided just to wait here.” It was a lie; however, he had no idea and just took it for his girlfriend being a total ditz. “So, what are you doing out here so late?”

“The odd couple is at it again. I’m picking them up. Hey while your out here, just come along, I’ll take you home afterwards.”

Sato and Lucette drove down to the colony’s far side of the colony. He was lucky to have gotten his license, because from the looks of things, Spencer had biked all the way. Though how he made it so fast, is a mystery by any standards. “Okay…, so…, you say that…Sis…and…”

“Yes Spencer; Naomi and Hugh were being, well you know, and they now think that they’ve stuck gold or something.”

“Hey…, which reminds me…, did you… bring Haro along?”

“Yes, yes, he’s alright, just bit shaken up.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the little softball of a robot. Don’t worry; I know how much this little guy means to you. Though I’m still suspicious about the story of his creation.”

“I think it’s kinda anachronistic actually,” Lucette said at random.

“Wait, what are you saying?”

“I don’t know, it just seemed like a good thing to say I guess, he he.”

“Hey… this reminds me… shouldn’t we be getting my sister?”

The three had rented an EVA Mobile Pod, and launched off into the cold depths of space. The search for the two other MPs took about nine or ten minutes, with mixed results. Being at the controls, Sato was too uneasy to notice where he even was. Behind him, the other two were cramped in an area normally designated for carrying oxygen tanks and supplies. For Spencer, his reaction was intense space sickness and succumbing to g forces. Lucette gazed out waving her hands as if she wanted to fly out and go for a swim. Though, when they finally reached the other two, they noticed them excavating some meteoroid. “This is it?” Sato yelled over the intercom. “This is why you called me all the way out here, for some piece of rock?”

“And, uh, besides…mom and dad have ur, been worried sick.”

Naomi’s response to that was, “Well then just tell them I’ve been out drinking or something. At least then I have an excuse.’

Hugh linked up as well and continued backing up their reasoning. “Hey, even your parents should be able to understand the value of what has made impact with this meteoroid.” He pointed one of his grappler claws toward a crater revealing some sort of cargo container. “You’ll see the best part when you look at its insignia.” Sato moved his Pod over and noticed a symbol. It was a crescent that had other ones spawning off from it. It was the Zamrian Flag. “It must have been ejected. If not for this collision, it would have probably reached the border in a couple of weeks. 17.6 days to be exact.”

Sato was unimpressed. He could really give less about Zamrian garbage. Which compelled him to ask, “So then by all means, what’s inside and why should we be taking it?”

“The reason is that we don’t know what it contains. Naomi, show what happens.” Her MP extended one of its arms over to drill open the container, however, with no results. “That stuff is forced sabira alloy. Unless we can weld our way in, that thing is staying closed.”

“Long story short Sato, we need help reeling it in, in or use a KM torch on it. The heat should rip the plating right off. So grab an end and pull it out.”

* * *

Gorr Targ had searched fruitlessly for the Federation capsule. It had been six hours and there was still an entire border to patrol. “One ship, one border. For such an important mission in the Admiral’s eyes, he could at least have sent us some support. Swartz,” he looked over at his aide, “how long should it take to search every square inch of this sector?”

“Including colonies and debris fields, 27 day, though we could lessen the stain by sending the Tizakas on scouting missions, and if I recall correctly, one lieutenant Bruno is in transit for assistance.”

“Well a Mobile Armor would be useful right now. Send Kruger over to assist him. And you said something about debris clusters.”

“Yes, at Lagrange points, there is a considerable build up of passing by space junk, are you suggesting…”

“Yes, if it hasn’t ended up in one already, then it’s as good as in Zamria’s hands right now. We’ll take each on one by one. Set up a five man scout team, we should be able to reach one within ten minutes given full power to the engines.”

“I will make arrangements, but sir, if I may, I would like to be on the team. We have a prototype version of the MK II onboard as well.”

“No offense Mr. Swartz, but the moment you start acting like a pilot, I’ve lost all respect for you. I need experienced officers, not brash hotshots.”

“I’ll keep that in mind sir.”

CPO Cal Swartz had gone down to flight deck to brief the mission team, with very specific orders. “Okay men, as you embark remember that you are flying under the Commander. This means one thing more than anything else; you are to disregard everything that Admiral Vongossar Qu has said. Not every moment is an opportunity for conquests. Also, keep in mind that these L points are also the homes to colonies as well, meaning that your munitions are off limits except when absolutely necessary. The last thing that people need is another reason to label the Dominion as a cesspool of mobsters and thugs.”

Swartz couldn’t put his finger on it, but he did not the pilots on board the Wullop, let alone his five choices. While he was a self taught and independently certified pilot, his younger comrades were the product of Earth’s training. Being born on the planet surface, the military provided an escape from his financial and social situation. However, he was suspicious of everybody else, especially when considering the propaganda they spoke. Airmen O’Malley, Gunnison, Kamiya, Solo, and Perez; to Cal, they were all tools. Though perhaps it was a sign that his commander’s values were rubbing off on him.

* * *

Once inside the debris cluster, two of the five pilots armed their launcher systems. “Solo, this is O’Malley, explain yourself.”

The airman replied, “It occurred to Kamiya and I that if there are inhabitants in here that they may have gotten their hands on the prize. If so, let’s take the initiative”

“He’s right,” intruded Perez. “Remember Zum and Gram, they fired the first shots during the siege of Juno. Now, they’re both war heroes.”

“Well if none of you have a problem, then Gunnison start up you’re targeting computer. For all we know, some of that locals noticed it as well.”

“Sir,” Gunnison responded, “detecting heat sources at point 15,-27,4. All three appear to be mining.”

“Well, even if it’s not our orders, there must be something of value here, and if not, still, score one for the Dominion. And lets not forget…”

Then in unison all five pilots exclaimed, “For those who hold power, deserve power.”

* * *

Removing the capsule was far from easier, and it was made worse by Hugh’s nitpicking. “Don’t dig so close to the armor, you’ll wear out the blades. Keep you’re arms at 40 degrees, you need your center of gravity.”

“Hey Hugh,” Sato inquired, “are you even authorized to handle a beam torch? ‘Cause that would be much easier than digging it out.”

“Well it so happens that I don’t.”

“Then this entire thing is a complete waste of time then. And I doubt that anyone is just going to cut this thing out for us”

“Not quite, we’ve broken the surface, and now the rocks are beginning to loosen. It should only take another two hours to get it out, and let me worry about getting a torch.”

“Two hours, if that’s the case, I’m just going to hightail back.” Then both Sato’s and Naomi’s units turned around to head back to Tripoli.

“C’mon, am I the only one here who has any stamina.”

“Hey, getting home at 3 in the morning is something that I can’t explain to mom and dad,” responded Naomi. “And anyways, your parents and probably just as worried sick.”

“Hey, they would understand and, wait a minute, I think I just saw something fly by.”

The others tried to ignore him; however, after getting about two kilometers from the meteor, they noticed something unusual as well. They were too dark to make out. Its shape was also unusual, if they hadn’t known any better, the assumption would have been that it was a space fighter. Unfortunately, that exactly what it turned out to be.

“There,” shouted Perez on his flight path, “I’m detecting, two, no with make that three LLTR-06 class Worker Units. One of them seems to be in a mining operation. Gunnison should have a clear lock in 30 seconds, for all we know, they found it.”

Granted, even with Hugh’s calculation, in truth it would have maybe
taken another eight days to dig out and reel in the capsule, giving the Wullop ample time to locate the Zamrian escape pod. It just so happened that they got lucky. Now, closing in on the friends, Gunnison was giving himself justification for an attack. In his head he thought, There is a chance that these miners have found the object, but if they don’t, they must have a good reason for being out here, perhaps valuable material. Even if, this place is so close to Zamria that it would make an excellent outpost. Now, with the idea of attacking civilians rationalized, he fired a grenade toward the closest MP.

“What the!” Sato shouted out as a piece of metal hurled toward him. He attempted to avoid it, but not before it hit one of the arms, blasting a good portion of the hull right off. He looked up to notice the mysterious image again, which was now getting larger and larger.

“Sato, there’s another one,” cried Lucette as a second explosive was fired. In panic, he flung the remaining claw in futility to push it away. It hit the machines arm luckily; however, the explosion propelled them right into a rock. Even worse, the think plate of armor that had kept them alive twice had now been pulverized, leaving the near exposed.

“Damn,” Gunnison cried out. “I’ve lost my clear shot. All arms, I’m heading in.”

“What now, what now,” whimpered Lucette.

“Hold on, our normal suits should hold and they have a built in thrusters on the back. Just head out and take him with you.” Him in this case referring to Spencer, who was frozen in the fetal position.

“But what about you?”

“This thing still works. I might be able to use it to throw off whatever that thing is. You just look for Naomi and Hugh.” And before Lucette had time to respond, he was off. The problem was that a half destroyed Mobile Pod is hardly what one would call a smooth flight. Lacking arms meant lacking balance, and Sato ended up swaying back and forth with very little control.

Gunnison moved forward, in an attempt to shoot down Sato, which became even harder between his target’s erratic moving, and the interference caused by millions of subatomic particles that build up in Lagrange points. Even though he could turn the barrels for his two machine guns, he had trouble calibrating for error. Sato was able enter a heavier field of junk, keeping him safe for maybe a minute or so. “Why you, this time…”

“Gunnison, cease you’re pursuit, we’ve found Zamria’s toy.” Kamiya and the others had been relaying that message for a few minutes now. But only this one reached him. “Right now I’m in hot pursuit of another MP and this one can actually pilot. O’Malley is hightailing another one, and Perez has gone to notify the commander.”

“What about Solo?”

“He’s there right now trying to slice it open, but it’s forced sabira. It needs more than…” The transmission broke of there.”

“Damn, that guy better be here when I come back.” Gunnison suddenly put his Tizaka fighter to a dead stop. Sato got close, curious about his actions. What he witnessed was the fighter’s arms being released to revealing itself to also have arms. The fighter had turned out to be a Mobile Armor. Swinging them, he turned the nose to face the meteoroid.

This is when it occurred to Sato, “Oh god, Hugh’s over there.” Then on impulse, he drove his MP to collide with Gunnison. Just before the fighter took off, the clumsy vehicle crashed into him, and stayed there during the flight. Even in a seat, constructed to combat g forces, Sato had the feeling that his bones were trying to escape his body. As for Gunnison, this hitchhiker turned out to be quite a pain. Once again, he released the arms in order to pry it off. But all he managed to do was slow himself down. Even so, they were reaching the meteoroid fast, and by default, the capsule as well. In this case, there was one thing left to do.

Sato had one working thruster left, and within a moment’s notice, he turned it on. The two vessels spun out of control. These unbearable forces pushed Sato right out of the cockpit. As for Gunnison, his luck was far worse. Before he could even realize it, he Tizaka crashed right into the capsule’s shell, exploding on impact.

Sato finally regained consciousness after about a minute, still in one piece, still with Haro attached to his normal suit, though in throbbing pain. It even hurt for him to open his eyes, but as he opened them, he saw the results of the collision. A huge portion of the meteor had been blown off. He could also see the remains of his MP and the ripped apart hull of the Tizaka. He looked around reverently for Hugh’s but with no luck. Since there was no debris, he could only hope that he escaped.

After another 30 seconds, the intense pain and turned into overall numbness. If not for Haro’s eyes blinking incessantly, it felt like a good time to take a nap. However, the little robot was persistent and began shaking to get Sato’s attention. “What?” he mumbled in a groggy tone. To shut him up, he slowly turned his head to see what his spherical companion was going crazy about. “The direction was where the meteor was, and to Sato’s surprised, “The capsule, it’s, it’s open.” Without thinking, he positioned his body to propel himself towards it.

Just about when he got to the container, Solo’s Tizaka, which was also brushed aside from the blast, had been racing back. Locking on to Sato as he stepped foot onto the meteor, he told himself, “You, you must be the bastard who killed Gunnison.” His shots missed, but they caused tremors that forced Sato to fall to the ground.

Getting back on his feet, Sato looked over and witnessed the Tizaka entering its Mobile Armor mode. The time it spend slashing through the debris gave Sato enough to engage his normal suit’s verniers in order to leap into the container. He tripped up in mid-flight, causing him to fall face first into the capsule. But as he got up again, he took witness of what has caused this entire mess. “It, it can’t be,” he told himself. “If this is what I think, then, a Mobile Suit.” Sato just stood there in a daze. “All of this, for a Mobile Suit? Seems like a waste, unless, unless it’s a weapon!” At this moment the Tizaka had come in contact as well. Sato looked back, and witnessed it happen. The Moblie Armor entered another transformation. Legs were released from the back, and its camera slid to the front of the unit. And after a quick pull back it revealed its monstrous appearance. “My dear god, another one?” The machine swung the blades on its arms, extending his arm our to crush Sato. All he could do while leaving the prize intact. Sato, jumped behind a protrusion on the torso, in an attempt to hide. That’s when he noticed odd flashing coming from Haro’s eyes. “Haro, what ever it is this is no time to be going crazy.”

The little ball began to compute something at high speeds, “Haro, haro, haro, haro haro haro. Ha ro. Ga N Da M.”

“Haro, whatever you’re trying to say, we’re in a vacuum. I can’t here you.” The robots eyes turned black; however, at that instant, the Suit’s cockpit opened. Wait, did you just…” This was not the time to think, as the Tizaka’s arms grabbed the MS and attempted to pull it out. At this moment, Sato’s brain switched off. It was no longer time to make judgment. Rather, his human survival instinct turned on and he made a jump for the cockpit.

“Tell Gunnison hi, when get to hell!” Solo cried out, ready to crush Sato with his fist. Landing into the MS, his brain was still on autopilot. As for Haro, his eyes started flashing again, and in an instant, the hatch closed and the Suit’s controls suddenly became functional.

Now, safely grounded in the unit’s linear seat, the panoramic viewer active, Sato took notice to the cockpit’s main display reading out, “VX-124 Gamma, all systems green, engaging ignition.” In front of him, Sato noticed the Tizaka becoming more belligerent, firing from its machine guns, which upon contact, were in fact ionized pellets. Inside the suit, he could notice power surges occurring, as well as a flashing indicator, which read, “Ballistic Weaponry. Initiate Electronic Armor.” And with one flick of a switch, all of Solo’s rounds just bounced off.

“Motion controlled handgrips, vernier jets, auto balancer, this cannot to much different from an MP.” As his opposition swung his arm down, he pulled his own up, defecting the blow. “Now let’s see what these controls do.” The first couple of times, all he managed to do was open and clench his fist, then spin his wrist around, and with his third try, fired his own Suit’s ion pellets.

“Well you’re not the only one with a trick up his sleeve.” Now Solo’s unit was deflecting his enemy’s rounds.”

Realizing that two could play at that game, it was time for some unorthodox maneuvers. “In that case, let’s see what else I’ve got.” His next instinct was to push down on one of his foot peddles, effectively kicking Solo right in the torso. With his enemy pushed back, Sato now had the opportunity to fly out. And with a bit of thrust from the verniers and a recalibration of the balancer, his suit had not only exited the container, but was in an upright position. Effectively prepared for combat.

In his second wind, Solo had gotten up and in a berserk rage, charged toward the Zamrian MS. “Weapons, weapons, I need a weapon.” This mindset seemed contradictory to Sato’s values; however, as long as his survival instinct had dominance, pacifism was the least of his worries. Pressing another random control on the grips, he pulled his arm back to reveal a beam torch, or more like a beam sabre, and as he pulled it forward, one of the Tizaka’s arms was ripped right off. Still in rage, Solo was still not thinking clear, and before he could react, the sabre cut right through the torso. His Mobile Suit had been destroyed. This is when it happened, Sato’s conscious self had regained controlled, and that’s when it occurred to him. “I, just killed. It couldn’t be. Did I, kill a man?”

* * *

On board the Wullp, Gorr Targ had received verification of their objective’s location from airman Perez. “If so, Mr. Swartz, you’re Tizaka has KM rifles if I am not mistaken?”

“Commander,” interrupted one of the ship’s operators, “we have received a distress call from Mister Solo. The message is unclear; however, I am able to make out the terms ‘Mobile,’ ‘Enemy,’ ‘Combat,’ and ‘Attack.’ I am unsure, but this sounds like they encountered a Mobile Suit out there.”

“Perez, what did you do out there?” Gorr Targ’s rage was visible.

“We encountered three Mobile Pods and perused them. They must have been able to fight back and…”

“I thought I gave you strict orders to not engage in battle. Am I right?”

“Uh, correct Commander.”

He sighed in disappointment then responded, “Return to you’re Tizaka. This time you’ll be under my command.” He then turned his head towards Cal. “Mr. Swartz, is the OMS-03 Ogough in good order yet.”

“Affirmative Sir.”

“I’m going to address this issue personally. You have the conn.”

“But Sir, weren’t you about to give me the order to…”

“As of right now, I need my most experienced officer in charge. It’s not that I doubt your abilities as a pilot, it’s your negotiation skills.”

* * *

Things had calmed down for Sato; however, he had a lot on his mind. Even in self-defense, he couldn’t justify his own actions. Even worse, he had no idea whether his friends were safe or not, let alone still alive. The only thing he could do was pray. “Hugh, Naomi, Spencer…Lucette.”

The alarm had gone off. He had been lashed out of his thought and noticed that the sensors detected four high-energy heat sources on an intercept course. On his view screen, four Mobile Suits were approaching. Three of them were obviously Tizaka’s, but there was a fourth mounted on top of the central one. To his surprise, this one had a much more human stance, was much sleeker, much more upright, and much taller. This was Gorr Targ, he was prepared to deal with the situation personally. In response, Sato’s reentered his primal self. He pulled out his beam sabre again, but then snapped out of it when he noticed the enemy launching several white signal flares. The enemy wished to talk.

Sato was aware of this. He knew that a fight would be the last intention of both parties. He was aware that this entire mess could be cleaned up through discussion and fair reasoning. It was so obvious that he should was safe for now; however, at that very moment, Sato was more afraid than ever before in his entire life.
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

Kay, I've finished, Chapter 2. And yes I get it, it's long. Also, I would appreciate some feedback if anyone is actually willing to. I am a sucker for it, and personally, I want to try improving as a writer, and would like to know what I'm doing good or bad personally.

New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam
Contact #2 Cosmic Tango

So there he was, Sato Ailrua, piloting the mobile suit codenamed VX-124γ, face to face with the Ogough, belonging to the man who ordered the attack on his friends, Gorr Targ. After shooting down two of his men, it was no coincidence that he decided to take matters into his own hands. Of course he could have engaged the 124 with his entire squadron at full force, but instead, he opened a COM channel and chose to speak with his enemy. “Attention Native pilot, I apologize for the actions of my team. I in no way ordered them to put the any lives in danger unless it was absolutely necessary. That aside, you must understand that you are possession of a Zamrian weapon, and with that, you must understand its importance in what is most likely to erupt into a full scale war. Once the Federation discovers its whereabouts, they’ll stop at nothing to get it back. As for Earth, I’ve been kind to you; however, if you do not hand it over to me, I will not be able to guarantee your safety.”

Sato, with the same smug look he always has, chose to respond with the message, “Ah, some civility on the battlefield. Either way, I may have no idea what I want to do with this prize. But the last thing I want to do is place it in you or the Dominion’s grubby little hands.”

“You don’t necessarily have to relinquish it, I could pull some strings,” the lieutenant said impulsively.
“What are you getting at?”

“You are certainly talented, as a pilot I mean. You could easily join the Earth Forces as its exclusive pilot, just heed my offer.” Oddly enough, for the Earth, who tended to act in devious ways, this was sincere. Though, this would only make matters worse for Targ.

“An officer you say?” began Ailrua, “That would work except you got the wrong guy; when you put it that way ‘Scum of the Earth’, I’m keeping it for myself.”

“What!?” exclaimed Gorr Targ aiming his ion charges at the 124.

“The only thing I hate more than the Dominion of Pure Earth is its military, so there you have it, no deal!”

This response was followed by a taunt with the finger, which finally pushed the patient lieutenant over the edge. “Why you disrespectful little…” After a couple of seconds to relieve his anger, he continued, “That’s aside, if you are going to be so defiant, just be thankful that it is me who will kill you and not someone less humane like Vongossar Qu.” As he said this, he pulled out his close range weapons, an –charged saber and a +charged grappler.

“Oh crap.” This was all Sato could say before the Ogough leaped off its Tizaka toward the Zamrian MS.

A beam saber was pulled from the backpack and was positioned to parry. Sato may have easily taken out a few rookies, but was hopeless against a seasoned veteran. Too self conscious and inattentive, he tripped on his surroundings. When he lunged forward, he didn’t realize a pieces of debris flying by, and hit off balance each time. During on of these instances, Gorr Targ took the chance to stab the cockpit and it was just lucky that Sato could manage using the jets to push the suit back. However, in a panic, he did not notice the grappling hook propelled toward his Suit.

Trapped by the ion whip’s claw, power started draining from the mobile suit rapidly. Ailrua would have no chance to break free. Confident in victory, Gorr Targ exclaimed to his men, who he had ordered not to move, “Go in for the kill boys, but keep the suit in tact, if he will not pilot it for Earth, I will.”

Struggling to escape the barrage of fighters, Sato was just about ready to surrender. His last bet was to try every last control in hopes that one could set him free. And as luck would have it, one of the foot peddles activated a special type of vernier jet; or in this case, a pair of heavy magnetic coils. The repulsive force they emitted had been capable of driving back the grappler. Even more amazing, when Sato placed 124 into reverse, they turned as well and directed their energy to further push the Suit.
Unfortunately, he still had two issues to deal with. He was still at risk from incoming debris, and three Tizakas were hunting him down. The good thing about the coils was that a small amount of energy in the back of them was still there to push away any annoyances. It may have slowed him down, but at least it was manageable now. This, on the other hand could not be said about being chased like a wild animal. For this, he needed to fight them back personally. Rummaging through the controls on the grips, once again, one of them revealed a beam weapon, which could save his ass. This time, a rifle popped out of his right leg. Sato was no good shot, but after several random firings, he managed to steer two of them off course, and blast off the arm/wing of another. Right now, this was his best chance of survival.

* * *

Sato may have gotten himself into a bad situation; however Naomi and Hugh got mixed up in the issue as well. Right after, Sato got shot down for the first time, she was compelled to follow. Unfortunately for her, Kamiya had followed Gunnison and targeted her. Seeing what just happened to her friend, she started to turn back in order to warn Hugh. Her skills as a pilot were comparatively better than the other four, which made it somewhat easier to avoid getting hit by the Tizaka. Getting back to her little treasure, Naomi was in contact range. “Hugh, stop digging right now, something’s coming!”

“The Hell!” Confused, Naomi pushed him behind the meteoroid, to hide from the incoming craft. “Well if you’re here, where’s the crazy zealot, you’re stupid brother, and the clueless princess?” This is when Kamiya had caught up to them.

“There you go,” he said to himself. But before he could target, his eyes were distracted by the Zamrian capsule. “Pay dirt.” He then opened a channel to O’Malley to give an thumbs up. “This is Pincer 3 reporting to Pincer 1. I’ve located the prize. Oh yeah, and a couple of renegades as well.”

“Perfect,” O’Malley responded on the other end. “If we can pull this off, we are sure to get the Zum treatment. Pincer 4, follow, me; Pincer, 3, standby.”

With Kamiya not paying attention for a while, the two had taken the time to slip past. Naomi, concerned for her brother led the way in the direction that Sato was spinning on. It wouldn’t take much time to catch up to them, and after updating his squadron leader, the hunt was on once again. The two could only go so far before Kamiya got into attack range. To make matters worse, the last message he was given had compelled O’Malley to aid in the attack.

With two Tizakas approaching from opposite directions, Naomi and Hugh were forced to split up. She was able to remain or cause, while he was maneuvered away, all while trying to remain safe in the debris cluster. Kamiya was getting closer to Naomi with each passing second, and soon enough random pieces of garbage would no longer provide any protection at all. She was reaching where Sato had potentially crashed, and decided it was a good time to stop her stalker right in his tracks. Moving over to the side, she flung her MP’s arms around to push back the junk at the end of the belt. With him incapacitated for a couple of seconds. She exited from directly in front of her only to reenter after Kamiya passed by. With him properly distracted, she exited from what she perceived as below.
This small diversion gave her the chance to find where Sato had crashed. The meteor was covered in the remains of a Mobile Pod, which made her assume the worst. But then she found two people hiding in a small crater. She approached the and asked, “Spence, Lucette, what are you doing here? Where’s Sato?”

“He left us here. He said to look for you but we though it was safer to…”
“Whatever your reasons,” Naomi interrupted, “just get in now.” She had opened the hatch two jumped into the cockpit, once again cramped in the back. Everything had to be done within seconds, since Kamiya had caught his second wind, only having to turn one more corner to get a clear shot. “Oh sh.” And now the chase was on again, and Naomi had to flee deeper into the belt.

Making a runaway though a buildup of garbage does for a good quick save, though rarely ever provides significant cover overall. “Damn, my hands are full. Spence, see what you can do with the COM equipment.”

“Uh, right.”

“Hey, can I be of help right now too?” Lucette asked.

Naomi froze up at this question. Both her and Hugh saw Lucette as a clumsy ditz and would never in a million years trust her with anything. Spencer believed this as well but would never admit to this. Sato, her boyfriend, was sympathetic and cared for her, but also had very little respect for her. Finding the words to respond with, Naomi said, “You know what girl, just look pretty and don’t mess anything up.” This sort comment came up often in day-to-day life, and even as she was in a life and death situation, it affected her all the same. Her personality type could only be described in one word, blond. She lacked balance, was merely average in school, and had no common sense. Beyond that, she was quite beautiful and thus was treated as if she could be nothing more than a cheerleader. No one knew this but every night, she went to bed crying and praying for one thing, to be treated as a human being with feelings and ambitions and not some object for the pleasure of men and the comic relief of women.

“Sis,” Spencer blurted, “I’ve got a clear channel at a high intensity 997 kilohertz. It should be pretty uncreative and It should be high enough not to mislaid in the wash.”

“Good, I just hope Hugh picks it up.”

* * *

It was a good thing for Hugh that Jovian genetic techniques had given him a natural predisposition to pretty much everything. Which was especially good, because while he was no great pilot, his ability to adapt in the debris field greatly surpassed that of O’Malley. Using this to his advantage, Hugh made every attempt possible to trap the incoming Tizaka. Though in the end, an MP had no chance of outdoing the stare of the art MS. While all he could do was play cat and mouse at the moment, it did give him enough time to receive a faint signal on the 997 megahertz channel as he was searching for Naomi’s signal. He then gave the same message back at the same frequency. Both of their radar systems were giving vague and unclear results; however, with all of the EM interference caused by debris and KM particles, a weak transmission was tolerable at the very least.

Naomi had reached Hugh’s general location; however, with so much radar inaccuracy, finding each other was a maddening experience. And with O’Malley in the picture and Kamiya on his way, things could only get more confusing. Luckily for them, neither of the Tizaka pilots had any idea that they were about to encounter two MPs. Each time O’Malley caught one in his crosshairs, it went into hiding only to be replaced by another one. This happened several times more until both were in his range. However…

From one side came Naomi, yelling, “Hugh.”

Next was Hugh saying with a sigh of relief, “Finally.” As the two approached each other, O’Malley showed up right in the middle. Though, with no one having any time to stop, the two drove right into him, hurling the Tizaka onto a large platform in the scrap heap.

“O’Malley, what the?” Kamiya couldn’t believe his eyes as he watched his comrade fall to his death. “You’re gonna pay for that!”

With Kamiya storming in in a fiery rage, Naomi told herself, “That’s it, I’ve had enough of this son of a bitch.”

“You idiot,” Hugh cried out, “Do you want to get killed or something?” He took his claw and stabbed it right into her unit in order to push it away. Then, as Sato did to Gunnison he charged right into Kamiya, but not before ejecting himself and propelling toward his ally’s damaged machine. The MP exploded right in Kamiya’s face. Lucky for him though, he came out of this not dead. Even so, his Suit was severely damaged and the rational thing to do, even for the irrational, was to high tail the hell out of there. As for Hugh and the others, they all found themselves on a one-way course to where O’Malley crash, except alive. Getting closer, they were able to make out what they were going to crash on, a falling apart, derelict carrier.

* * *

The chase could not go on forever. Sooner or later Sato’s MS would overheat, the Tizakas would catch up, or he would end up colliding with a meteor. Whatever the situation, an even more imperative issue was approaching. At his current speed, he was about to reach the end of the Lagrange Point. So if the Dominion didn’t take him out, the cosmic rays would. Having no focus, his thoughts steered toward his friends. Spence, you’re a smart guy, you should know what to do. The two of you, with any luck you haven’t killed each other. And Lucette, please tell me you’re not stuck in a crater, and it you have, let it lead to some lost ship or sewer system. Sorry if that sounds a little weird, but hey, dumb luck is better than not luck at all. He knew from experience that stuff like that has happened to her in the past.

Even so, Sato felt embarrassed about thinking that way. He took it as a personality quirk that she had, but it normally just ended with her being laughed at. This would be followed by the odd couple mocking her and then having to play the role of knight. Though as his mind went on even more tangents, out of nowhere, he thought, well actually that is not a bad idea, not bad at all. Within a kilometer’s reach of the Lagrange Point’s end, Sato put his Suit to a full stop.

“Bingo,” Perez said to himself as he sped up. “This is for Solo and Gunnison you green bastard.” Immediately, Sato retaliated by reengaging his engines, and charged right toward Perez. The two units collided at full force, though in the end, the 124’s momentum overpowered the Tizaka. Holding on tightly, Sato used his enemy’s Mobile Suit as a shield, ramming into the second one as well. As this happened, Sato had no idea he had just killed Perez. Though after this, he put himself in reverse, took out his beam sabre, and sliced of a few appendages. The explosions caused, allowed for a cover as he escaped along the L Point’s border. By the time Gorr Targ had made it, things had died down. However, the Zamrian Suit was nowhere in site. For all he knew, it had been destroyed.

The Commander grunted in disappointment. He had lost his target, which made his victory feel incredibly hollow. Most officers would have hightailed back to base to be debriefed; however, his tradition was always to evaluate his mission to the nth degree. Odds are he didn’t survive; however, if it turned out that the explosion was nothing more that an elaborate ruse to scare him off, it would open the door for his own personal victory. “Damn!” Gorr Targ Exclaimed as his target escaped into the vast abyss of space. “Swartz, lieutenant j.g. Cal Swartz, report in. Tell Petty Officer Kruger to fly over to the Takin. Also, get the medical staff ready to treat two injured me, and prepare that new weapon of yours. Oh yeah, and remind me never to expect that hotshots will follow orders; that includes you.” He said this not because of some discontent he had with youth, it was more of the result of 20 years of dealing with incompetence and insubordination. At a point, it is only natural that one cannot put up with people anymore.

“Commander Gorr Targ, Commander Gorr Targ.” The injured Kamiya had transmitted.

“Kamiya, what happened, where’s O’Malley?”

“O’Malley’s dead, or at least I think he is. I saw his Suit go down, but I have not heard from him since.”

“Who, or what was responsible?”

“It was a pair of Mobile Pods. They safely made it down from the looks of it.”

“Did his Suit destruct?”

“Wha?”

“Am I speaking a foreign language or something? I asked if his Suit is still in tact.”

“One more thing, where did this happen?”

“Uh, uh, I can’t remember!” Kamiya had chocked under all of this pressure “I, I think it was a few kilometers near some derelict freighter. This is a junkyard after all. Does any of this really matter?”

“Of course it does! However, even if we don’t know where exactly, this does open another window. I may be possible to smoke the enemy out. Kamiya,” Gorr Targ continued speaking in his cold manner, “Notify Swartz on the status my mission status and that he should prepare my Lei Fong to set course to Luna Axis, and to call in two more Tizakas along with Bruno and his Takin. We’re going in heavy duty.”

* * *

“Now what?” Spencer inquired.

“We all cram ourselves into that one broken MP and see if it gets us back home, what do we need to do,” condescendingly replied Hugh. “I wonder what happened to that Mobile Armor that crashed with us.”

“I think it landed in the other hanger.” Naomi answered.

“Which should be, that way.” Hugh pointed toward a hatch toward the left.
T
he beauty of walking through an abandoned ship is that the doors just slid open. The problem was that like any other abandoned thing, there was some creepy vibe that encompassed it. “Let’s get out of here, I don’t like this one bit,” Lucette whimpered.

“Oh get over yourself,” Hugh smirked. “Only little kids believe in ghost stories.” It took a couple of minutes, but it was still there. The Tizaka was there, still in good order. “Hey, I think it’s functional. With any luck, the impact should have forced open the cockpit.” He slid open the MA and from it, a body fell out.

“Yeeehh!” Lucette screamed in terror when she saw O’Malley’s cold dead corpse fly around the hanger.

“What’s here problem? It’s just a dead body.”

“Hugh, just because personally be void of any emotions, the rest of us have certain feelings about dead people.”

“Well, I say you repress those fears, they just get in the way. Well, as long as we’re not going anywhere for a while, might as well check this machine out. Hey, its computer is working. I wonder if I can get this thing to work.”

“Spence, if it would help, why not check out its computer. You’ve been silent pretty much since we got here.”

“You sure, a man died in that thing.”

“Oh grow a pair. You want to get out of here as much of any of us.”

“Fine Sis.” Spencer went up to the cockpit cautiously and started reading the mission log. “Let’s see who this guy was. This Armor, coded as a Tizaka was assigned to Airman O’Malley from the Earth Dominion? At least I think that’s what it’s saying. The message log reads ‘Pincer 2 and Pincer 3 perusing unidentified targets. Pincer 4 observing Zamrian capsule. Mission Objective: retrieve at any cost.’ It then goes on to describe an unidentified Mobile Suit? Believed to have been taken from target capsule by who is presumed to be,” he had to pause for a minute, “‘pilot of civilian craft shot down by Pincer 2.”

“It’s Sato isn’t it,” Naomi reacted.

“Gotta be. He’s the only other one out here.”

Hugh jumped down from the downed Tizaka and responded, “Well it better be him, cause if not, we’re as good as dead.”

“I thought you were certain that you could fix it.”

“First off, I never said that, and that aside, the engines are blown so MA is most definitely grounded.”

Things were relatively uneventful for a short while. However, then came the tremors and blasting off of fixtures. The four of them looked outside of the hanger door to, only to see several explosions, as well as something approaching in the distance.

* * *

Gorr Targ had returned, this time with his last three functional Tizakas and the grandiose Mobile Armor, the Takin. On the surface, this long range weapon resembled a brick with what appeared to be crab arms below it. While its appearance was quite non threatening, its arms were capable of obliterating matter with the use of low energy antimatter KM particles codenamed θ. Anyone with a brain was smart enough steer clear of these at any cost. There is very little more painful than one’s atoms vaporizing from the inside out. As the MA was blasting apart random pieces of junk, it’s gunman Lieutenant Bruno inquired, “Commander, if I may ask, where are you going with this? This attack on debris seems like kind of a roundabout way of going about things.”

“I understand that this may be a little odd at first however, considering that these other people are most likely affiliated with that young man, we may be able to use them as bait.”

“Go on”

“Considering the Takin’s firepower, it is an unlikely situation that it would be used to destroy pieces of rock and abandoned ship hulls. The boy’s assumption will undoubtedly be that we are zeroing in on something. Fearing that it is his colleagues whom which we have found, he will make himself visible in order to protect them. Being focused on that fact will be enough of a distraction for us to have the upper hand.”
“Well in that case, why do we have to be specific if he thinks we’re doing that anyway?”

“For contingency purposes. If we can put him in a position to see who is at risk, there is no way that he will be in the mindset to fight back. The odds are in our favor for the pilots of those two MPs being within the vicinity of O’Malley’s crash site.”

“Makes sense, unless there is something still active in that derelict, or the pilot we’re attempting to lure is a total psychopath.”

“Maybe so, but we’ll address those possibilities later.” Fortunate to Gorr Targ, neither of those contingencies were an issue. So in a matter of minutes, they could see the green flashes from the 124’s magnetic coils getting brighter.

* * *

For the past hour, Sato had been gliding around the L Point’s border seeking out his friends. The Tizaka shell had made a good shield against being seen and cosmic rays. However, it was still tough for him to accept that the pilot had likely died during all of this. This whole experience had made him sick to his stomach. Even so, his mind was bent on locating the others, and after searching totally clueless, he noticed the blinding flash from the q particle cannon. Just like Gorr Targ had predicted, Sato’s natural response was to investigate fearing for the safety of his friends.

Sato had made contact with the three Tizakas in MA mode, the Ogough, and on of the Dominions gargantuan Takin. His Suit was capable of dealing with this assault. However, he himself lacked the control to land a shot during such a risky operation, nor the focus. Also, Sato overlooked the fact that the Takin was also equipped for short range defense with a number of Mega Particle cannons on its hull and that the Ogough stood directly on top of it. Only narrowly evading a number of shots, he had no choice but to high tail back. Unfortunately, while the gigantic Armor stood still, the suits remained hot on his tail.

“Good job,” Targ told his wingmen as he glided toward the young pilots, “but remember, we are here to capture it if possible. Bruno, always make sure to stay a few degrees off of them.”

Lieutenant Bruno, while not as much as Gorr Targ, was an experienced veteran of combat with a record of shooting down 52 vessels in his eighteen years of service. However, since he had spent his entire career as a long range gunner, he panicked in this the situation of being in a vulnerable position. To make matters worse, Targ made the mistake of letting a mobile suit pilot function as the copilot. Only in the past few months had Mobile Suits been reintroduced into combat, meaning that they appealed to many younger pilots such as Kruger, who had delusions of invincibility. Even after witnessing many of his friends get shot down at the hands of the enemy, his youth got in the way of reason. This made him the more experienced pilot by default, and thus able to persuade the nervous Bruno of targeting directly at the MS with the help of some simple wisdom his received during flight school, “When the enemy is in your face, shoot to kill.”

* * *

Watching Sato struggling from afar, Lucette was compelled to jump would towards him, though was grabbed by Naomi and Hugh. “What the hell is you’re problem, do you want to get killed or are you just stupid.”
“Hey, you’re just as stupid. If it weren’t for you’re rage, we wouldn’t be stranded here.”

“Of course,” Naomi responded. “You know what, this never would have happened if you just let me kill the bastard.”

“You know he would have taken you out anyway.”

“Well if you think about it, it was your idea.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly Lucette attempted to intervene before a fight ensued, “Both of you shut up! This is not why we’re here, this is not the problem.”
“What, you’re sad ‘cause your boyfriend is getting the beating of his life.”
“Hey I have to admit that ‘mademoiselle’ has a point. This is neither the time nor place to try to kill each other.”

“Oh I get it, you two are feeling pity for the well known…”

As he was saying this, a sort of synchrony occurred, causing the three others to blurt out, “Shut up Hugh. I say we make it forbidden for him to talk until we leave. All in favor?”

“Wait, you know what, the two of you continue your bickering.”

“Wait, you spend so much time and energy shutting me and him up. I do what I can to back you up on this, and now you’re endorsing me talking? Have you just given up on life, or were you just hit on the head?”

“Hey, if you want to survive, listen to me you pretentious bitch!”
“What!?”

“Trust me here, just go with what I say. I’m as confused as you are, why I know this.”

“That’s all well in good,” Spencer started with a confused look on his face, “but what about me?”

“Just give me all the technical data you can infer from this battle.”

“Okay then, but what’s this going to accomplish.”

“Something’s occurred to me, I can’t tell what it is but it’s big.”

Naomi was plain confused, not only was she being encouraged to fight, but Lucette was acting stranger than usual. “Whatever this something is makes no sense, besides, he’s over there and we’re over here.”

“Even if,” Hugh butted in, “He’s doing so bad out there, I don’t think it would help. I guess all those years of avoiding violence has caught up to him.”

“Yeah, and has he ever heard of multitasking? Any way, what’s even weirder is how incessant his is right now on actually fighting back. What gives?”

“I don’t get it, but hey if this is just suicide, at least it’s glorifying.”

* * *

Finally the 124 took a U-turn from fleeing to engaging directly toward the Takin. It was fast enough to pass by the suits, but not to evade the θ particle cannon. But something peculiar happened, the particles just bounced off of the now combined Mobile Suit, long enough for it to get out of the way. “Oh dear Mother of God; that thing is equipped with θ randomizers, just like our Suits. Bruno, Kruger, get out of here, it’s invulnerable!” Gorr Targ had then jumped off of the Takin to maneuver himself out of harm’s way.

Having been within an arm’s reach of death, Sato’s mind was about to break down. But this exactly when something else happened, as a familiar voice told him, Don’t worry, calm yourself. Just let my thoughts be your thoughts, and your actions be my actions. Despite how corny this thought was, his mind had cleared, and was now ready to take on the Dominion.

Rushing toward the Takin without any hesitation, Sato managed to avoid the Mega Particle Cannons and shoot them down, while keeping balanced. However, as he took out the beam sabre to slice up the θ Cannons, it occurred to him that he no idea what he was doing, it was just happening automatically. It was odd, but Ailrua felt like he lost control of his body as he trashed the Mobile Armor. If what just transpired was as simple as that, it would have been one thing, but that was not the case. They way the Suit was evading shots was more like a dance than a maneuver. Every movement fed into the next one, none of them broken by the need to shoot down the launchers. More amazing, however, was the modesty of each move and attack. Shot from the rifle were accurate, yet positioned as not to damage the MA hull, and movements were carried out in such a way that they did not interfere with the necessity of attacking.

Witnessing his comrade’s weapon go down, the disgruntled lieutenant thought to himself, this is not natural. “You two, return to the Wullup, I go rescue Bruno and Kruger.” After ordering his two remaining pilots to return to his Lei Fong, he turned his attention to his adversary through another attempted negotiation, “Attention pilot, or perhaps pilots, this is the last time I’ll speak to you before I refuse to guarantee your safety. I am sure that you will be just as hesitant to give this weapon up to Zamria, so I am willing to report that it was destroyed so long as I can rescue my men.”

As he was listening to this offer, something else struck Sato from the back of his head and the side of his eye, which was brought up by a some sort of voice in his head crying out, Sato it’s a trap. Immediately, he turned around and shot down the nearly destroyed Takin in back of him as it attempted to use on of its remaining Mega Particle Cannons on it. Immediately Gorr Targ leaped up and sprung out its ion grappler at his enemy. As the Ogough charged in at unbelievable speeds, Sato made every attempt he could to gun down the Suit with his Vulcans, while still having to stay away from his quick opponent. Still witnessing the battle from afar, Lucette yelled out, “Sato, fire 90° in front of him!”

Confused of why she would cry that out through the vacuum of space, Spencer grabbed on to he shoulder in order to ask her, “How will that work, were in space? And you’re COM can’t go that far.”

“Oh you’ll know, you’ll know.”

To Spencer’s surprise, Sato did make the targeting adjustments and successfully hit Gorr Targ in the leg. Once he hit, he asked himself how did I know where to shoot?

Gorr Targ stood up soon after crashing to the ground, threw down his weapons, and once again made contact with the young pilots. “Fine, you win, keep your Mobile Suit. I get it. I lost. You’ve won.” The way he pronounced this was rather unusual of his. Rather than being in a cool yet powerful demeanor, it was desperate and somewhat sad. Next up he sent a transmission to his ship. “Swartz, send in a Tizaka to pick me, Bruno, and Kruger up. If anyone asks, the target was destroyed.

Given the message to retreat, the Takin operators abandoned their Mobile Armor to rendezvous with the Ogough. However, before they could reach him, out of nowhere, a beam stuck the two, vaporizing them in an instant. In an instant, everyone on the battlefield exclaimed, “What the Crap!” Next, a shot from a mortar launcher shot off an arm of the damaged Ogough. If it were not for a Tizaka rushing in at top speeds to retrieve Targ, he would have been finished.

With the Dominion soldiers escaping by the skin of their teeth, the assailant finally made his appearance. It was a Mobile Suit. It resembled the unit Sato was in, but simpler, less detailed, and with a cannon on its right shoulder. It also had a visor instead of eyes for a camera, and its color scheme was dark blue as opposed to green. “This is ensign Akim Faiz Ghadir of the Zamrian warship, Zephyr. We demand that you hand over the Tertiary Gundam to us immediately.”

“Gundam, what are you, talking about?”

“You are in custody of top secret technology. For all intents and purposes, I have the right to use full force to take it from you.”

Pulling out his beam sabre, Sato told Akim, “Make me.”

The Mobile Suit that approached his launched out a signal flare and soon after, what appeared to be a small warship with teeth on its bow appeared from the horizon. Making itself in full sight, it shot out a sort of magnetic pulse from behind one of its teeth, rendering, the weapon now known as the Gundam, properly disabled.”

“Sato!” Lucette cried out, flying towards the Gundam.

“Stay right where you are. I’m afraid you’ve seen too much. You are to come with us for the sake of national security.”

* * *

So there they were; Sato Ailrua, Lucette Audey, Hugh Livingston, Naomi Wolf, and Spencer Wolf, prisoners onboard the assault carrier Zephyr, away from home and to the Neutral Zone border. Soon they would be at the mercy, of the Martian Federation of Zamria.
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

Okay, chapter 3 is done. Beyond this, I want to try and having one chapter a week if possible. I hope that whoever is reading this, if anyone at all, is enjoying it, and don't worry, they story is about to start taking its own direction. Disclaimer, the two people talking at the end are not aliens, even if I accidentally made them out to be.

New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam
Contact #3 The State of Interplanetary Affairs

Luna-Axis, consisting of the Moon and the near earth asteroid Eros (which had been placed into the planet’s orbit from behind the moon, held the second largest base of the Earth Dominion Forces) the largest being in
Earth’s upper atmosphere. While the two satellites were loyal members and of the same nation, the difference in treatment they were given was significant. The Moon often was put under martial law and was subject to frequent economic and social breakdowns. The government, which has always functioned as a monarchy, was nothing more than a puppet to the Dominion, which pushed disgruntled citizens to take matters into their own hands. On the other hand, Axis was consciously supportive of Earth, and even requested membership without any threats or pressure. Because of this, they were granted autonomous function and great support. Even when it was not necessary, the government modeled its constitution after the Dominion, and gave large portions of its land to support the Earth Forces. Nine days ago, the Dominion’s main fleet had taken off from there. This fleet was where the Wullop was in transit to, in order to relay their findings to the immensely powerful Admiral Vongossar Qu. It was a custom of Qu to debrief his top soldiers in an extravagant banquet; however, this time he would have to review Lieutenant Commander Gorr Targ’s mission, from the infirmary.

“My god,” began the admiral’s personal doctor Manuel Sanchez, “It appears that all of the muscles in your right leg have been disintegrated, while leaving the nerve endings intact! This is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen, sorry. I have overviewed your medical record, and, time to welcome your third mechanical replacement.”

“Can’t you just give me some drugs and surgery? I much prefer cell and tissue repair to prosthetics.”

“Normally, that would be an option, but due to the unique case in your leg and your age, it would take months to work around your hyperactive nerves without causing severe shock. The amount of anesthetic it would take to nullify them would most likely kill you. It would be faster to encase it in a robotic shell.”

“I’ll just take the time off, I have enough sick days, an I’m sure I deserve a vacation.”

“Maybe so, but this is a direct order from Vongossar Qu. You should be thankful that he assigned me to work on your leg. It’s a sign of good faith”

“Okay, where is he, I need to speak to him immediately!’

“Well you’re in luck, he’s here right now.”

Admiral Vongossar Qu marched into the infirmary in an overpowering, yet calm, manner. He was 6’4”, had long gray hair, stood naturally upright, and wore a sort of covering between his eyes that resembled a headdress. He was most definitely old, even believed to be 100; however, his physique resembled that of a 30-year-old man. “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the honorable Commander Gorr Targ,” he said in a sarcastic tone as he entered sickbay.

“Ah, of here is the exalted Admiral Vongossar Qu.” The two of them shared a mutual discontent with each other, thinking the other as a pompous phony. Despite this, they coexisted in a symbiotic business-like relationship of work and pay.

“I received your combat report from Chief Petty Officer Swartz, and I must admit that I am quite intrigued.”

“Which part, the Zamerian weapon, or the children who showed me and my men up?”

“Officially, the suit is what is most interesting. Though off the record, my fascination is with the pilots. So how many were them, and how old were they?”

“Well, there were at least thee of them, hands down; however, there may have been another one, possibly two others. There age was anywhere between 15 and 18. It’s interesting, but what does it have to do with anything?”

“Oh everything. Do you think it’s natural for teenagers, with no mobile suit experience, with no knowledge of such technologies, could take down well-trained pilots? Let alone that one boy to be able to pilot with such grace as he was doing it before they could talk.” As he finished asking in a calm demeanor, he paused waiting for a response. Once Gorr Targ made a stutter, Qu came back at him yelling, “Well the answer is obviously that it isn’t”

A chill consumed the room for some time. The amount of power and hatred in everything Vongossar Qu says has been able to freeze even the strongest of souls. No dialogue would be able to continue until he felt like speaking again. “Well, now I’m sure you wish to know why I am overly interested in a bunch of little brats fighting off your team, when obviously your pilots were inexperienced and impatient, and the existence of child soldiers is always a possibility. I take it that you are also guessing that perhaps Tripoli Colony is a top secret combat military facility and uses pacifism as a shield.”

“Well yes, but how did you…?”
“
Shh,” Qu interjected, “I can see the fear in your eyes. Now, to explain my interest, what do you know about a man named Kavik Koskai?”

“What everyone knows, a famous historian and author. He had a knack for looking at myths as historical events. And his book ‘On Angel Wings,‘ is a personal favorite of mine. He had this really interesting saying if I remember, ‘Fiction is just the dysfunction of nonfiction, and nonfiction is just plain dysfunction.’”

“Yes, yes, his way of looking at humanity was truly unique. However, what they put into history books in the Dominion is greatly skewed. I think you’re trustworthy enough to know the unholy secrets that he uncovered. There is enough time to tell you the basics as they prep your leg. But first, I need to know how much you know of the Saegauk Asteroids, and the concept I believe is now referred to as a Contact.”

* * *

The Zephyr stands out among warships. Rather than taking advantage of the vastness of space for maximum size, it was rather small, sleek, and sneaky in terms of size, style, and performance. Its front was fitted with two rounded yet sharp protrusions that resembled teeth. Behind them was a pair of EM pulse emitters that doubled as airlocks for its docking bays. The fuselage had almost a cloak shape appearance, which concealed the combat bridge. Encompassing the engines at the vessel’s stern were extensions that had a claw like resemblance. This assault carrier was constructed as it was because its purpose was to lie in the shadows during combat. It could conveniently do this as it had several more emitters all over that could make it invulnerable to sensors and difficult to visually detect. The Zephyr had the aura of a wild beast stocking its prey by day and devouring it by night.

On the warship’s bridge sat its highly irritable commander, Captain Jack Stone, observing the current crew on duty. He looked over to who appeared to be the most qualified officer on board and stared pestering her. “Mam, Mam!

The junior officer spun around quickly to report, “Sir, yes Sir,” in a nervous tone.

“First off, state your name, rank, job, and how long you’ve been in the force.”

“Well,” the simple look on Stone’s face was enough to lock her legs. “Lt. Alice Kirasaki of the 51st Operations Division reporting. I have been in service for six and a half years Sir. My current orders have been to observe the functionality and competence of this ship’s junior grade crew.

“So you’re a babysitter, that’s better than nothing. But please answer me this,” he said in an increasingly angry voice, “Why is that an excuse for my bridge overrun by a bunch of children!?”

Lt. Kirasaki may have been in the forces for almost seven years; however, she always remained unprepared for the frightening shout that the captain made. “Um, mm, oh yeah, they this shift has been specifically chosen for training of our younger officers.” If she was not on duty, she would have most definitely hyperventilated.

“My lord, this is an insult. What do the brass think I am, what this vessel is?” While this was being mumbled, it was intelligible enough for the crew to make out. “Okay, all of you, state your name, rank, position, and time on the active roster.”

The first to stand up was a timid girl, around the same age as the children captured during the retrieval of the Gundam. “I, uh, uhm, uh, Crewman Tamara Lynn of the Navi-vi-gational and Propulsion Section. This is my, m m m, second week in service.”

“God, this is embarrassing, fine, you two back there. State your name, rank, age, and why you deserve to be on my bridge.”

Behind the captain’s chair, were the operators seats had been placed, stood a tall and skinny officer with a face that had obviously been scarred by blemishes. “Ensign Vann Gretz, age 19, graduated as saledictorian of my graduating class, and I’m sorry, I cannot change my face, but I’m even more sorry about that thing you call your mouth” he finished with a sarcastic tone to his voice.

“Crewman Jinto Kanta thsir,” the second operator began with a speech impediment. “Age thsixcheen, Thish ish my schecond week on duty thsir.”

“Stop right their boy. Hmm, so I have a weepy kid at the helm, damn, what is this world coming to.” As usual, he began what he said quietly, sometimes under his breath, then finished terrifyingly loud. “That’s irritating enough as it is, but what is most annoying is that the ships systems are in the hands of flip, slurring, operators who are young enough to still have acne!”

“With all do respect Captain, the soldiers on the duty roster may be young, but each of them graduated from the academy, or passed training, with high honors. There age should not be a problem.”

“Lieutenant, you may have no problem with it, and I get that a nanny may play by different rules than the parents. However, in my house, playtime is over at five! So why don’t you send the kiddies upstairs, tuck them in, and the them that it’s bedtime!”
The young soldiers had only been on duty for less than a half hour, but they already despised their commander. They all felt lucky that his job as captain was currently only temporary, and pending as his certified position. They only hoped that this was the only shift they would ever have to deal with him. Unfortunately, the three trainees were official members of the Zephyr, and would be stuck with Stone if he was offered full command.

“Well I’m off to mourn,” the captain began, “Take over lieutenant. Make sure that everyone shares their toys and play away from the expensive vase. Oh yeah, get some tissues for the girl, speech lessons for the boy, and zit cream along for that man child over there along with a good slapping.”

* * *

The brig of the Zephyr was rather small by any standards. It covered about the same amount of area as a small bathroom. While well lit, an eerie sound consumed the cramped room. The three by three cell, was a pain to be in for a single person. However, with five irritable teenagers in the same one, it could only be described as shocking ordeal. The first hour they spent were spent in silence. Despite some fidgeting, everyone remained relatively calm, until…

“I can’t take this any more!” Naomi shouted. “My legs hurt and my back is starting to give in. I can feel my bones adjusting in awkward ways. Hasn’t Zamria ever heard of treatment of prisoners, or even the idea of space?
Sato replied, “Hey you should know as well as I do that Zamria is not known for fair treatment for prisoners. You know the stories of people just vanishing without a trace. God help us.” After this, he remained silent, and made an attempt to meditate.

“You know, watching you pray for divine intervention is kind of sad. I hadn’t seen your precious god get us out of our other mess.” Naomi often felt embarrassed that her good friend still held onto the idea of heavenly power and miracles, especially in a time where such beliefs were tossed aside. “You know, unless your almighty Lord releases the door, incapacitates the guards and the crew, leaves a vessel for us to conveniently steal, and offers us an escape route that will not kill us, we’re pretty much stuck here. If that all happens, give him my regards.”


“Shcina, a feminine form actually.”
“Well how was I supposed to know that? Technically? You talk if god as if it was a science.”

“Hey Sato,” Lucette interrupted before Sato could respond, “Why don’t you tell the others what you dug up on the Mobile Suit you were using.”

“I guess I could, but there was only so much I could dig up when…”

“Aw common.” Sato just could not say no to the puppy dog eyes, which he could accept was a good thing in this case. All eyes on Sato now, he could explain the data he read, while it was still fresh in his head. “Okay, Haro had uploaded most of the data into his processor, though there is a bit that I remember. Now where to start? Ah, there I go. Its weapons and armor are based around both ionized metal and KM beams, making it exceptionally powerful. However, two parts of it get me. One, I am completely lost on those verniers on the back. Second, I’m not sure how know how, but apparently there is something in the engine that allows for a stable antimatter catalytic reaction.”

“So that’s why we survived getting shot by that Mobile Armor,” Spencer replied.

“Exactly, though there is still one things that still gets me, it’s name. The name that that soldier referred to it as, he called it a Gundam.”
From what I saw of it, there are some visual similarities. But you absolutely positive about that?”

“Yes, that Mobile Suit, a design straight out of the history books. Hm, Gundam, that seems kinda pretentious don’t you think.”

“More like pompous douche bags maybe,” interjected Naomi. “Or at least I think.” With an embarrassed expression he began to chuckle.

“Hey Sis, how much do you actually know about the Gundam?”

“Just the namesake really. I’ve always found Mobile Suits to be kinda dry and boring.”

“Then maybe I should explain to you,” Hugh replied. “About 600 years ago when Space Colonization was in its infancy, great deals of political and social unrest consumed…”

“Hey, I didn’t ask for a history lesson or anything, and I know my history well enough. It’s just a big bowl of who gives a flying.”
Soon after this conversation, a soldier knocked obnoxiously on the brig door. “Attention detainees, we are approaching the Zamrian border. As of now you fall under the category of terrorists. In order to clear this issue up, the captain wishes to speak with the of the Gundam upon contact.” He repeated this with no variation, and while his speech was clear and coherent, something about it was grating and aggravating.
After the command was repeated for the fifth time, Sato stood up and yelled out, “Fine it’s me! And for the love of God, shut up!” The door opened up to reveal a rather non-threatening looking junior officer. He may have been older than the five friends; however, he appeared to be a several inches shorter than Sato. If it weren’t for his gun, he would look no more menacing than a fifth grader. Though this did not stop any of them from laughing their asses off. “Okay, this is gold. You’re just oh too cute. Right now I think I’m more afraid of Lucette than you.”

“Quiet you. It appears right now that I’m the only one with a gun right now, so unless you want to spend the rest of your life bored and unsatisfied, if you catch my drift. Follow me to the captain’s ready room.”
“Fine, I’ll go, just don’t work up a tantrum” he then felt the gun rub up against him. “Okay, okay, I’ll shut up.”

* * *

Established 55 years ago, the Zamrian Federation was the largest and farthest out nation that rose from the fall of the old International Earth Sphere Alliance. Realizing the salutary neglect from Earth, hundreds of colony clusters that spanned from Mars to the very edge of the Asteroid belt had joined in union in order to assert their independence. The result had been the rise of autonomous colony states throughout the inner solar system; however, this also led to Earth falling into chaos, giving rise to the Dominion. The animosity between these countries has also been the catalyst for a deadly balance of power, which has forced thousands of smaller states to pick sides in an unsettling cold war. Few colonies, such as Tripoli had managed to avoid associating themselves with either of the superpowers. Though in the end, it is those who are neutral, which instigate full-scale conflict. Unfortunately for Sato, he had no idea what would come of his final decision. Though no one expects to know anyway.

Captain Stone had been in the middle of a conversation with Lt. Kirasaki over the intercraft. “So is the, admiral’s shuttle safely aboard the Zephyr?”

“Affirmative Captain. With no complications during the procedure.”

“And which of your little brats was the operator on this situation? Whoever it was, give them a commendation for not screwing up.”

“Actually sir, I took charge during the docking sequence.”

“Even better. Now, if you may, get a real crew on the bridge. As long as Admiral Bennington is on board, I think it’s best that she stays alive. Keep your post at the conn. I’ve a matter of national security to address.”

“Yes captain.” The com-link ceased from there. Right afterward, Sato was escorted in at gunpoint.”

“Ah, so this is the boy who managed to get hold of the Gundam.” The captain’s tone unnaturally shifted from gruff to inviting “Please sit down child. You are dismissed Ensign Ghadir.”

“With pleasure Sir.”

Sato could not stop mumbling as he began to seat himself. “Ghadir, Ghadir, where did I hear that name before.”

“Mister, if you may please…”

“Hold on skipper, this will bug me until I figure it out. Ghadir, Ensign Ghad…That’s it! They pilot who tried to shoot me down. I can’t believe it was that guy. So you were saying.”

“Well, I wish to inquire you’re name young man.”

“I see know reason for you to know.”

“It will make this whole meeting go by much easier.”

“It could, but it would be easier to hightail back and send me and my friends back home, wouldn’t it?”

“Ah that naivety, so refreshing. But seriously though, I’m not playing games.” Sato just starred over with a blank face. “Then how about this, tell me you’re name or a jail cell will be your home for the rest of your life.”

“And how am I supposed to know that true?”

“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be living on a native colony, would you? For all intents and purposes, Zamria is not some demon to feared, we are not the Dominion.”

“If you are trying to recruit me, then the answer is no.”

“The brass may be considering it. However.” The captain stood up, turned around and started staring towards space. “The idea sickens me.”

“What?”

“Children are the last ones who should be on the battlefield. Your job is to learn, to scrape your knees, and to live ignoring the hell you may live in. While I’m not above the idea of you signing up for the academy; as of now, I believe you lack the maturity to fight.”

“I understand where you’re coming from and what you’re getting at, but with all do respect, I’m sure that you are belittling my inelegance.”

“Why not at all.”

“And now you’re patronizing me. Well shove a sock in it. I know when I’m being insulted and I definitely can see that high horse you are riding on.”

Not used to being told this by someone he could not “correct,” all Captain Stone could say was, “Such big words coming from such a small child.” This just made Sato want to deck the Captain in the face. Fighting back the urge, the tension was eased when the intercraft chimed.

“Captain Stone, Admiral Bennington is on her way down to your office.”

“Good job Lieutenant Kirasaki.”

“You’re welcome, I guess.”

Seconds later, the door opened and Vice Admiral Bonita Bennington walked in. She was tall and very broad shouldered, which made her give off an overbearing presence, especially since her personality was demanding as well. She had no tolerance for discomfort and would force push her subordinates to their limits. The advantage to all of that was that she left anywhere she went several times more productive. Because of this, she had been given the position of overseeing all Zamrian operations around the outer border, a tough job considering how close it was to the unusual Saegauk Asteroids.

“Captain Stone, I presume that this is the young man in possession of the Gundam?”

“One of them; however, this one is rather stubborn, and I am yet to learn his name. I could bring in another one if that would…”

“There will be no need.” She sat down next to the Captain and the interrogation process commenced. “Young lad, may I inquire as to how you came upon that Mobile Suit?”

Sato replied, “It was just there, nothing to it. How should I know, I’m not the one who threw it away.”

“Well, then do you know why it was flying though space?”

“I know the Dominion was after it.”

“And are you aware of Earth’s need for it?”

“Same as yours I guess. You’re in need of some powerful weapons in the quest of domination.”

“You assume too much from Zamria. We’re not out her for conquest, but to defend all that is sacred. The Dominion invaded you’re homeland, potentially endangered millions, threatened you and your friends. This time they may have retreated, but one day, they will by no doubt return. And it’s not your one colony. There are thousands more homes they could invade, billions of more lives to endanger. You know as well as anyone else this is unacceptable, that’s why you fought them, that’s why you hate them, that’s why you know they must be stopped.”

Sato’s arm began to shake, his eyes began to water, and his forehead was sweating like crazy. This was Admiral Bennington’s command tactic. She would induce the idea of fear into others, then to incite an emotion such a self preservation, or in Sato’s case justice, in order to create blind loyalty. “Skipper, Admiral, I am certain in what I’m going to say, actually I’ve never been this certain before. No.”

“What, are you really so self centered that you’ll put your own pride before the freedom and well being of others?”

“Uh, uh, don’t try to guilt me into joining you. You speak of freedom and putting a stop to oppression, but then what. What’s stopping you from being corrupt, how do I know you’re not the same? Did you ever even consider that maybe I want nothing to do with the Federation?”

Stone looked up at Bennington, “If I may?” he inquired. “He turned his head over to Sato and said, “Now, boy, I have already told you my discomfort with children in the military; however, that does not mean that I believe that you should not trust us. Time and time again, the Zamrian army has liberated many states from militates dictum. We have supported countless colonies in resistance, ones like yours that don’t wish to be imposed on by cruel governments. So, there is no reason why you should be suspicious of our motives.”

From there, the content look on Sato’s face had become even more so as he made his own point. “Yes, your track record does give reasons for you to be trustworthy; however, you have yet to put me in a position for me to personally trust you. The Gundam is yours, so by all means take it. But right now, all I want to do is go home and see my parents. I take it my friends feel the same way.”

With this, Sato entered a state of silence, which gave the two officers to talk amongst themselves, “In that case,” started Admiral Bennington, “get an escort to send him over to send the young man over to the detentions center at O-9. If everything has been timed accordingly, we should be docking there any minute now.”

“Very well then admiral. I take it you are ready for the Zephyr’s full sanction?”

“Sooner rather than later captain.”

“If so,” Stone once again contacted Lieutenant Kirasaki, “Mam?”

“Yes Captain.”

“Send a security guard over to here to transfer the detainee.”

“That may be difficult as now the security staff is either watching
over the docking procedure, guarding the admiral’s shuttle, or remaining vigilant in case of any Dominion sneaking up on us. The ship is pretty understaffed right now.”

“Then send a junior officer over, at least one of them should have security clearance. And even they should be able to beat down a civilian if it comes to that.”

“Well, Ensign Gretz is qualified for low priority measures such as this. Shall I send him over?”

“Well have you corrected him yet?”

“Affirmative,” she lied.

“Very well, have him report to my office immediately.”

“Affirmative. And may I also request that the time spent in dock to be used for training and station overview?”

“Fine, do whatever you want. Stone out.”

A minute of awkward silence had passed until Vann Gretz had entered. “Hey captain my captain, where’s the delinquent I’m supposed to pickup.”

“Right over there.” He said this pointing right at Sato as if he didn’t exist.

“Kay then.” He grabbed Ailrua by the arm and told his captain, “Bye.” After making his way into the ship corridors, he asked him, “So uh, what’s your name?”

“Is this on record?”

“Nope.”

“Sato Ailrua, my name is Sato Ailrua.”

“And how the hell did you get here?”

“I picked a fight with the Dominion after they tried to kill me.”

“And now what?”

Sato groaned first and answered, “I really want to get home. I just want to forget any of this ever happened and just wake up in my bed. There is no way I didn’t kill anyone out there. If I truly did, then god so help me. I don’t know how you’ll ever be so forgiving to that.”

Vann laughed right after Sato finished his venting. “You know what, I like you, which reminds me, I gotta stop off at my quarters before I transport you over.” He had made a small detour to his room, opened his refrigerator, and pulled out a brown paper bag. “Can’t head over without this can I?” Sato looked confused, but went on with it.

A good ten minutes passed, between the Zephyr docking at outpost O-9 and for the two reaching the detention center. “Once there, Vann told Sato, “Okay then, meal service is probably in about five hours. It sucks, get used to it. Which reminds me.” He threw the bag over to Sato, who looked in to notice a loaf of bread. “That should keep you and your friends satisfied. Take a bite now, c’mon.”

Sato bit off the top of it, though in the center, hit his teeth on something hard. Looking at what his tried to eat, he vaguely noticed the barrel of an AAR ion cannon and a key card. He made sure not to say anything, but when he turned around, Vann had made his escape. He knew this was some sort of sign of good faith, and as the doors to the brig shut, he knew what he was going to.

* * *

Back on the Wullop, Gorr Targ was recovering from surgery. He hated his replacement and wanted to rip it right off. However, this was neither the time nor the place. Instead he distracted himself by looking up at his MS compliment has the hanger was being loaded. His Ogough and Swartz’s test type Tizaka Mk. II (TMS-05) had just been returned after a routine diagnostic. Now the new units were on their way. Along with some replacement Tizakas were the Dominions new mass produced unit, the RMS-04 R DIO+. To the commander, the Suit was a familiar site. In his early days, he had piloted the older models such as the DIO. Looking at it was nostalgic indeed, though frightening, because this time, it was not the Alliance who had given it to him, it was the Dominion.

Sneaking up behind him, Admiral Qu had approached the Commander, “ah, so they give you memories as well. I remember piloting these too years back. It really tells you, warfare has caught up to modern technology.”

“With all do respect, they are quite scarring.” He looked up at the heavily armored machine. “I remember going out into battle, watching my friends die, killing hundreds, in weapons just like these. Now you expect me to command more young men to do just the same. This thing is a monument to human stupidity.”

“Quite the opposite. I expect these new R DIOs to be a testament to humanity’s ability to rise out of history and create the future. Don’t you remember what I told you on board the Grand Cross?”

“Yes, in great detail to. However, everything you said about Koskai, LEGRETZ, the M Report, the Gateway, the Pulse, and this great empire you speak of, feels so anachronistic, like a page out of the Medieval period 1,500 years ago. A Crusade, a quest for the Holy Land. With a tale like that, I expect that these Mobile Suits are you Knight’s Templar.”

“I admire your admiration of pre-industrial history.” Gorr Targ knew it. It was one of the reasons he was on such good terms with Swartz. “Even so, what I have told you is all fact. If on the surface it appears farfetched, just remember that nothing occurs in a vacuum. This is all what led up to the events of today, and I hope it will do you good as the director of the fourth fleet.”

“What?”

“Oh, maybe I should have told you earlier, I am in need of a new flag officer, and so far, you are on my short list. If your performance in the up coming battle pleases me, the position shall be yours.”

“And let me guess, pleasing you is like pleasing the gods. A goat, a couple of chickens, a tithing of my grain crop, and my first-born son should suffice?”

“Oh, oh, you really think I’m not being sincere. I’m not going to ask for a bunch of things you can’t offer, rather, just come back with your ship intact, with the mission successful, and with yourself alive. And just to show that I’m being sincere, if you do not make the cut, I’ll just give the rank to Captain Butstill.”

“But he’s fraud, and a notorious sycophant.”

“Exactly, if you cannot outdo him, then it’s his. Think of it this way. Do you really trust the Dominion forces in his hands?” And with that statement, he was off.

* * *

A powder keg had been building up. Now, with Zamria assembling their first Mobile Suit forces, the Dominion on its way for a preemptive strike, and the five friends discussing an escape plan, it was about to go off. As this powder keg was a moment’s notice away from igniting, off in a dark room, one man and one woman were in discussion over the outcome of the upcoming battle. “Madam Captain, are you certain about this?”

The young woman was observing the monitor below her feet when she responded, “Yes chairman. Ever since Maverick was established, you knew something like this was going to happen.”

“You’re right, this is a day I have awaited for years.”

She looked over at him and said, “You’ve always told me why we’re out here, and that we would take action the last possible moment.”

“Exactly. I remember when I was much younger than you; I met him face to face. Even then, I realized what harm he could accomplish. That’s the moment when this organization was founded. I only wish we could have accomplished out other goal first.”

“Making contact, I wish I was able to have fulfilled that myself. But back to reality, perhaps the only way we can accomplish it is by finally making ourselves visible to the Gaean System.”

“Though need not forget that we are a small group. Unless you are also thinking about finding the source of that transmission…”

“So it occurred to you too then. Well, it’s you’re call sensei.”

“Then it’s time. After all these years, I just hope, all these years of hiding, of planning, of searching, of toiling, of spying. I hope Reina, that in the end, all of this was worth it.”
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

Chapter 4 done. Still waiting for a thumbs up or down. And pardon the suggestive moment near the middle. I just resist.

New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam
Contact #4 Down the Rabbit Hole

Vongossar Qu’s main fleet was a mere two hours away from O-9. In that time, several MS squadrons were practicing entering and terminating formations. This included R DIO+ teams loading and aiming their warhead launchers in record time and Chief Swartz finally taking the Tizaka Mk. II for a test drive. The performance amazed him. “Damn, this is better than I expected. The turning is near perfect, the control is so responsive, and its transformation capabilities are top notch. Overall this is one smooth ride. It’s hard to believe that something this good is so close to full blown mass production.” His flight team, which included the surviving Kamiya, was more experienced than the previous unit. Cal just hoped that they wouldn’t get too cocky piloting in the same battle as venerated PO Jimatya Zum. He could only hope.

As for Commander Gorr Targ, the advent of battle was bitter more than anything. If worst came to worst, this attack would give Zamria an opening to declare war on Earth. This was troubling enough as it is, but even more so as he looked out into space. Next to his vessel was the Gadwalk class dreadnaught, Grand Cross. It made him nauseous to know that next to him was the man who started a dark era of militarism.

* * *

Currently at O-9, the closest outpost to the Saegauk Asteroids, there had been some rumors of incoming Dominion forces. Sensors had picked up numerous large-scale objects approaching; however, heavy concentration of KM pollution made this difficult to verify. The amount of tension varied from place to place, though was high at the docking bays, where Petty Officer Patrick O’Brien was performing a routine diagnostics on the Zephyr’s MS compliment. “Mr. O’Brien,” called his superior Lieutenant J.P. Decker. “Your findings.”

“All systems green Sir. All four Suits are combat ready. Shall I have them transferred over?”

“Send the Gun Modes over right now, but I’d like to run further tests on the Gundam. If I may ask your professional opinion?”

“Well the Gun Mode F is a really simplistic, yet elegant Suit. I can see why they are the slated to be Zamria’s mainstay. As for the Gundam, I can tell you that it’s interesting. Due to its complexity, I doubt it will ever make it past pre-production; however, I am more concerned about its conflicting systems.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well based on the data I got on the Primary and Secondary Gundams, while they are too high maintenance, they are not necessarily that difficult to repair or upgrade. The Tertiary Gundam, on the other hand has so many experimental systems that their conflicting purposes puts a limit on its combat capability. If damaged or outmatched, the requirements to get everything into order would be astronomical. I think I have found some ways to work out the kinks, and given a month or so I sure I would be able to…”

“And I’m sure that the designers have already considered it. Now, if you are done here, the Zephyr’s engines need to be examined, and I’d rather one of my men do the job. If that thing goes, it will take lord knows how many with it.”

“I know what you’re getting at. Personally, I’m surprised the Pulse System hasn’t had a core meltdown yet.”

* * *

The Luna Axis was approaching O-9 fast. Within visual range, Zamrian forces had been mobilized, in anticipation. On the Dominion’s side, 20 R DIO+, lead by CPO Jimatya Zum, were obtaining targets for their warheads. Cal Swartz in the Mk. II laid silent in a hoard of 50 Tizakas and two Ogoughs. Gorr Targ waited in fear; Vongossar Qu, in anticipation. With them a moment’s notice away, Admiral Bennington decided to get this over quickly using O-9’s heavy theta particle cannon. A hoard of 73 MS came charging towards a stream of antimatter. Bennington was rather surprised that they would do something so stupid. However, at a second glance, she noticed a shield surrounding them. “Sweet mother of mercy,” she said to herself. “How the hell can they have randomizers too?” Without realizing it, she had fallen into their trap. The defense against the cannon allowed all of the Suits and vessels to scatter. Also, with so much energy used up, the R DIO team was given an opening for a preemptive strike, blasting the theta weapon to kingdom come.

The Zamrian outpost was nowhere close to being prepared for this battle. It had been years since Mobile Suits were effective combat tools. So the bases defenses were certainly lacking in close range defense. One Tizaka would fly in to distract turrets, followed by a second on coming in to take them out. The R DIOs were worse. While occasionally, a KM battery would successfully pierce right through the bucket headed fighters, their heavy assault counterparts were equipped with elaborate armor capable of not only deflecting ballistic ammo, but absorbing beam blasts as well. Along with their twin beam rifles, they were a menace to be reckoned with.

* * *

O-9 had entered combat level 3. All power and personnel was transferred for defense and everyone, even detainees, were authorized to be wearing a normal suit. For O-9’s staff, fighting off the Dominion was nothing less than a pain. For others, it provided a convenient opportunity to escape. As stealthily as possible, the five friends had been planning out how to escape using the gun and key card. Over the past few hours, they had been quietly discussing all worst-case scenarios. For all they knew, a firing squad could have been at their doorsteps. This made it much easier when a junior officer carrying five normal suits entered. “Listen up,” he said officially, “This base is at security level 3. In case of hull breach, all persons are mandated to wear some for of environmental uniform.” As the soldier placed down the normal suits, the paper bag on the ground. “Identify this,” he demanded.

“Oh, that over there. Some nice soldier gave us some bread,” Naomi replied with an unnatural grimace on her face.

“Well, I’m going to have to confiscate it for security purposes.” Before taking it, he opened the bag up, only to be startled by an annoying little ball.

“Haro, Haro,” it repeated on and on until Hugh pulled the cannon from under his shirt and knocked the guy out cold. The little robot then jumped out and landed right into Spencer’s hand.

“This is going better than I expected,” Hugh said to the group. “It would be a waste of time to put on these suits so let’s just…Lucette, I said we have no time.”

Paused in the middle of putting it on she stated, “But the officer said that we need to…”

“That’s just military procedure. This outpost was built into an asteroid, so there is no way that the Dominion is going to blow a hole into it.”

“But what if…”

“Let’s just go! We’re wasting valuable time.” Hugh then looked over at Sato, who then in response grabbed Lucette by the arm. With her secured to him, they made their escape.

With the station in the chaos of battle, the crew was too focused on base defenses to even notice the escapees running through the corridors. When someone did realize something fishy, it did not take much time for Hugh to stun them. Being noticed actually turned out to be advantages, because it put a gun in Sato and Naomi’s hands. Looting the attackers also meant getting their hands on identification and clearance cards. Each one was given right to Spencer to determine their use. “Hey,” he started while panting out of exhaustion, “this one, is a technician’s, key, for the, Zephyr.”

“Hey Spencer, that would be good to know, if you could tell us where the Zephyr is.”

“What, do, you have, a plan? ‘Cause all I need is a computer terminal, to pinpoint it.”

“To answer your question, yet, I do have a plan. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m getting sick of these Zamrian lowlifes. With a ship like that, we should be able to ease our way past a firefight. And hey, a top secret warship always makes for a nice bargaining token.” Just then an engineer looked in surprised at the hallway’s crossroads, and simultaneously, Naomi and Hugh shocked him into dreamland.
Spencer looked down at the unconscious Zamrian, spotting a portable computer interface in his hand. “I can’t tell you how convenient this is. This appears to be a mission log for the Gundam; or more like a systems checklist.”

“Well does it have a map on it?” Hugh insistently asked.

“Give me one minute.” Using the codes he received from the cards, he was able to locate just about everything in O-9’s mainframe like it was magic or something. “Bingo. It’s not too far from a nearby cargo hold. It should be a doozey to get on from there.

“Hey Spencer,” Sato started, “did the panel have any data on the whereabouts of the Gundam?”

“Sure, from the way this guy was going, you go straight for three blocks, then you make two lefts ahead followed by making a right. Wait, why do you even need to know. Are you intending to.”

“Yep. I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

Naomi remarked, “Well I’m not in the mood to do anything about it, so off you go.” She waved her hand and ran off along with the other two guys.” Lucette, on the other hand, latched onto Sato.

“Lucette, shouldn’t you be going too.”

“I’d rather stay, you know to help.”

“I think I’ll much better on my own right now.”

“Really, I know I can be of help to you, just give me a chance and…”

“If anything happens, I’m wouldn’t be able to protect you. You’d me much safer tagging along with the others.” And with that statement, he ran off like a deer.

Naomi yelled to her, “Hey princess, over this way,” before joining up with them.

At fist, following the map was straightforward. The only hindrance was the occasional soldier. Most of them were knocked out if Hugh rammed into them. In one instance, they faced some difficulty when they a security guard close was on their tail and armed with a wide-angle cannon. This guy was too alert and too fast to just shoot at. Their opportunity to blow him off came at an intersection, in which Spencer ran off to the left, ducked, and waited for his sister to come up from behind. Out of all the soldiers, he probable received the worst punishment as Naomi slid from behind, kicked him in the groin followed by the gut, and then trip him. At least with everyone else, it was over before they knew it.

It didn’t take long to reach the loading dock; however, since the Zephyr was linked to this area, an actual security force overviewed it. Hugh snuck his head in to take noticed of the guard tower on the second floor. “Aish. Spencer, is there any link between here and the watch post?”

“Sure, the entry way is accessible by means of a lift we just passed, but the guards will probably be prepared for us before we enter.”

Finding a solution, Hugh looked over at the others, finally laying his eyes on Lucette, “Yes, what is it?”


“Do you want to be of any assistance right now?”
“Oh yes, yes.”

“Good, then take off your clothes.”

“Huh?”

“What!” Naomi screamed, “Are you serious? What!”

Still looking over at Lucette he replied, “Hey you can still keep your panties and heels on. Just go out there and strip.” He then turned his head over and continued talking, “As for you, I’d ask you to do it as well, but we both know that it would kill your brother if he accidentally saw you out there.”

“Who cares why her, but what’s going on in your perverted mind that would make you say such a thing in the first place?”

“Simple, you just answered it.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not sure if your overly simplified brain could handle it, but here it goes. Soldier or not, men are natural born sex mongers. Both the men in the cargo bay and the ones at the watch room will be paying too much attention to her breasts to even notice me and your brother shooting them up. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, when we give the signal, you beat the asses of they guys in there while they are feeling up the pretty lady.”

Lucette found this very degrading, but in her mind, being of any help was better than having to always be protected, even if it meant that a bunch of men would be staring at her exposed chest. She decided just to get this over with as if it were a band-aid, so she removed her dress and clumsily ran into the loading area. None of the Zamrian soldiers had any idea what she was doing there, but they didn’t mind. Heck, the security personal was spending their time zeroing in on her that they failed to realize the opening door behind them. Then with a few shots, they were all downed.

Hugh and Spencer then went up to the controls to activate the intercraft. The ping sound it made acted as an attack order. Naomi charged into the cargo hold to go and rescue Lucette. The two guys were then supposed to head back down, though were paying more attention to the girls.

“Damn, Lucette has one fine body.”

“Well yes, but, didn’t choosing her seem a little inappropriate?

“Seriously Spencer, why would it be inappropriate?”

“She’s fifteen.”
“Oh, so you’re saying that sending your sister out instead would have been more appropriate. Damn, if she went out instead…that’s just nice. Though you know, in a way, you suggesting her to do the job, that’s kind of sick.”

“That’s not what I’m refereeing to, but, anyway, I think we should head back down now.

Staring at the monitors, he responded, “Just one second…Okay now we can go.”

The Zephyr was still in docking bays, and now the four of them were getting ready to break in. This may not have been the best time with Lucette still traumatized; Naomi furious; Spencer, under a metaphorical rain cloud; and Hugh in a state of euphoria. Though in this situation, all of this had to be put backseat, as now, they were getting out of this forsaken place.

* * *

Things were getting worse within Zamrian airspace. 40 percent of their defenses were gone and Earth’s losses were a mere six. The only survival plan at this point was to defend with the GMFs. Stone and Bennington both agreed that revealing the mass-produced Gun Mode would be preemptive and unwise. Unfortunately, they had very few options left. 35 Mobile Suits, all of them identical to the one Akim piloted, emerged from the outposts docking bays, in position for a counterattack. They were not necessarily more powerful; however, their pilots did have a better knowledge of the base to outmaneuver the enemy. For the most part, they would shoot at Tizakas from behind rocks, much like guerrilla warfare. This did not stop them from flying above, but their semiautomatic beam gun and quick loading mortar launcher easily blasted right through the hull. At the beginning, this worked, evening out the playing field to 34 against 58. Unfortunately, the Dominion pilots were not so stupid as to not adapt.

As of yet, none of the R DIOs were destroyed, and weren’t going to anytime soon. The thinness of their armor blocked everything the desperate Gun Modes hit them with. Only a few shots took care of Zamria’s trump card, and things were becoming more and more desperate. All they could do was fly to the left, fly to the right, anything to avoid two blasts from two high intensity beam cannons. And if those didn’t get them, the front end of a Tizaka did. Occasionally, a GMF pilot had some luck. With some sneaky maneuvering, one of them managed reach point blank and impale one of those assault Suits with a beam sabre. Though of course, the time it took to do that gave another one the time for revenge. Zamria eventually got luckier, finally doing away with three R DIO+. Interestingly enough, so far all both Ogoughs remained stationed near their respective vessel and all Swartz had been fighting so far were static targets. Though with 65 percent of the turrets destroyed, the three of them finally switched their priority to fight alongside their fellow comrades.

* * *

Captain Stone was ever so enraged, observing the battle from Bennington’s command center. “For goodness sake Admiral, this is an embarrassment. I should at least be on the Zephyr right now. And is there any competent pilot for the Gundam?”

“By all means Captain, move out. As for the Gundam, it would be a waste to reveal it so soon.”

“They already know of its existence, and I bet that they came here because of it.”

“Even so, we have no idea how powerful the enemy is. Though that should not stop you from heading out in your own vessel.”

“Point taken.” Next up, he opened communication with the hanger deck.

“Yes sir?” Lieutenant Decker asked.

“Is the Zephyr prepped for takeoff yet?”

“Captain, Stone,” he responded very perplexed. “I thought you were on board the Zephyr already.”


“What are you talking about, I’m in the Admirals office as of now.”
“Well, it’s just that it took off like five minutes ago.”

“What!?”

“Mr. Decker,” Bennington intervened, “Who ordered the departure from O-9?”

“No one actually, I just received a message from someone who called himself, Commander Livingston. I had assumed that he was the Captain’s aide or something.”

“Then who is onboard right now?”

“One of my men, and the active duty roster stated the 4th shift crew.”

“Damn kids!” Stone yelled. “Decker, are there anymore Gun Modes docked?”

“Three more currently on standby.”

“Prep on for me and the other two for escorts. I’ll take back the Zephyr even if I have to plow right through it.”

“Aye Sir.” The channel had ceased.

“Captain, do you know the first thing about Mobile Suit operation?”

“That’s why I’m taking two other pilots with me.”

“With all do respect, MS are expensive tools, I cannot just waste one on some as inexperienced as you are.”

“Court Martial me afterwards if you need to. But this has just gotten personal.”

* * *

It had taken a while, but Sato finally found the docking bay where the Gundam had been stationed. Most of the technicians were preoccupied with the Gun Modes, leaving only a couple of engineers to evaluate the VX-124. One was stress testing its weaker points, and the other, being Decker, was tweaking the controls. Something in his head told him to take it, but he couldn’t tell why. This doesn’t seem right actually. Last time it may have been okay, but now, it’s stealing. God give me a sign. Please let me know what you wish. Overall, he was pretty much meditating. But meditation was all that it took for him to take impulsive action.
With an empty mind, he took out the ion cannon he picked up earlier, and fired it at the outside mechanic. The shock jolted him, which made him fling off his blast helmet. Sato the lunged towards the Gundam, though first halted when the helmet slid painfully onto his forehead. No one noticed him at first, and when they finally did, it was Decker realizing that there was a trespasser in his face. “What the?” he gasped. “Who are you and where is your clearance?”

In hesitation he took out the ion cannon again and responded, “This should be all the identification I need.” He pointed it at Decker and gave him a light zap. Not strong enough to cause injury, but enough to disorient him long enough for Sato to have gotten in back of him and say, “Forgive me for this,” as he shoved him out of the cockpit, grabbed the ignition switch, and put the Gundam into full drive. Now all eyes were on Ailrua as he made his way to the hanger area. All of the technicians flew over to blast open the hatch. But alas, they were not able to stop their country’s near perfect weapon. Sato was off, and there was noting they could do about it.

* * *

Unfortunately for Captain Stone, this happened just minutes before he arrived. He looked down to notice that the GMFs had not even been armed. “The hell? Mr. Decker, I expected you to be ready by now. By the way, why does everyone look so disoriented?”

“Gundamjack,” Decker replied.

“What’s that supposed to mean? Are you telling me that someone stole the VX-124? Isn’t supposed to be on round the clock observation?”

“Well, yes, but you insisted that we devote our energy to loading your MS, that we didn’t have enough immediate manpower to hold off the thief.”

“Well then who stole it?”

“It was someone I’ve never seen before. Some boy with an the bangs of a very effeminate haircut and a gray turtleneck.”

“That boy again! Stop what you’re doing and get the GMF on to the launch deck. I don’t care if it’s prepped or not.”

* * *

When Stone finally took off it became apparent that his piloting skills were beyond unacceptable. Even taking off took the support of his two wingmen. Finally in airspace, he noticed that Sato hadn’t gotten too far. His ability was amateurish at best, and only had the Gundam’s speed and shielding to his advantage.

From Sato’s perspective, the three perusing Mobile Suits were far less important than the two Tizakas approaching from in front; one of them, Cal’s Mk. II. Swartz had assumed that the Gundam and the GMFs were all together, which meant that he had his wingman take out the grunts fist. The Zamrian escorts were obliged to combat the Dominion enemies first, which put them out of the picture. Sato kept thinking that he had not time for this. So he continued rendezvousing with the Zephyr.

The disgruntled Stone was the only one to remain on the Gundam’s tail. That is until Swartz decided to get on the hunt. The Zephyr was nearing, and the Captain was in a state of relief. So focused on his ship, he did not even see that he was now the Tizaka’s target, and got shot right into the carrier. Surviving in fact. Cal was still on target and able to become Sato’s highest priority. In an instant, he put the Gundam into a U turn and hit the Tizaka with his EM coils, resulted in both of them to lose control and fly off in random directions.

* * *

Captain Stone regained consciousness shortly after his Gun Mode was stabbed by one of the Zephyr’s teeth. He had told himself, “I can’t believe they couldn’t get me just a little closer. Wait…” He looked behind him to see the Mk. II spiraling toward him, but before he could abandon his Suit, the Tizaka crashed head on. He was blown right into the docking bays with the enemy swirling there as well.

Landing face first into the hanger, he had achieved his goal of reaching the Zephyr even if he had to plow through. Unfortunately, the impact also happened to kill him. Worse, Swartz had crushed the Captain right before stopping. “Yich,” he thought. “I just hope this thing is stain resistant.” Cal came out of this uninjured, with only a slightly damaged unit. Without even trying, he had become the first Dominion soldier to actually get into one of Zamria’s new weapons.

* * *

Sato may have gotten by Stone and Swartz with little effort; however, this debacle also got him deeper into O-9 airspace, and farther from the Zephyr. Compared to the low visibility of the Gun Modes, the Gundam stood out to the point of being an eye sore. With everyone after him on thing was on his mind, and that was to run like hell. Some of the remaining Tizakas chased him though were ultimately preoccupied with the GMFs. Most of the R DIO pilots gave up on him quickly when they realized that they couldn’t keep up. Only two managed to keep on his tail. They were Jimatya Zum and Kamiya, who sought revenge for the rest of his squadron.

Shielded or not, beam cannons and missiles still pack quite a punch. While the Tertiary Gundam only sustained a little damage, the impact caused Sato to lose control. Often, the two were able to get in his face, attempting to slice him in two. He found himself having to take out and randomly flail his beam sabre in order to shake them off. At s point, they pulled off the attack. Sato assumed they ceased the attack and decided to continue his lookout for his friends’ loot. He pulled back for a short while when his CMD displayed five incoming enemies. They had called support beforehand. He had been lured into a trap. Alongside Kamiya and Zum, the two Ogoughs had shown up along with a third. It was Gorr Targ, and he was ready to finish the deed.

A chaotic chase ensued. One Ogough came up from directly below, the second one along with Jimatya on one side, and Gorr Targ and Kamiya from the other. Flying directly up, Sato had no idea that he was nearing the Saegauk Border. Going much farther would tare him apart. The enemy from behind had latched on to him, giving on opportunity for the rest of the team to take the kill. It took all of the rockets, verniers, and magnetic pulses to free him. The Gundam would have then been in the presence of one duo or the other, and it was the Commander’s that he neared.
He may got out of the grappler’s hold, but just then out of nowhere, as stream of light fell from apparently nowhere, incinerating the Ogough and creating some sort of erratic field between both sides of the battleground. While goings on near the Saegauk Asteroids had been known to harbor some pretty interesting stuff, this had been a first. On one side of the barrier, Zum and the surviving Ogough had no choice but to hightail back.

* * *

Gorr Targ and Kamiya were the only ones to have survived entering the Saegauk Border. Their whereabouts were unknown to them, but that did not stop them from fighting.

In order to prevent another explosion, Sato ceased using the back coils or vernier jets. Moving on inertia alone, he stood no chance against the Commander. Not focusing on whether he triggered another outburst, Gorr Targ latched onto Sato with the ion grappler followed by entangling him in its cord. “Sorry kid,” the Commander transmitted to him, “Just keep in mind that this is a lot less personal than you probably think.” He then called over to Kamiya. “If you would do the honors?”

“Sir,” Kamiya replied in distress. “I think something’s behind me. It’s grabbing on. I can’t sake it. Ahh.” Gorr Targ was stunned by what he saw as the SOS message rolled. Two massive claws latched onto the R DIO+, drilling into the hull. The poor bastard never had a chance. Within seconds, the arms serrated penetrated the cockpit, ripping him to shreds.

Sato was shocked. Gorr Targ was disgusted. They both were speechless. There was no denying what just happened. The two claws had then removed themselves from the MS with trace amounts of human flesh still on them. The arms had then pushed its victim out of the way to reveal a very compact, drill nosed, Mobile Armor. It had a sort of resemblance to a shark. In fact, it did so much that it frightened Gorr Targ to propel himself farther into the anomaly.

Still unsure of what would something going off again, Ailrua struggled in vain to escape the ion grappler. Gorr Targ had finally made the decision to dispatch this irritation. Pulling out an experimental plasmite sabre, he was going eat away at the Gundam’s armor, until he burned Sato to a crisp.
In this moment of hopeless, Sato noticed that a message was being relayed from where the MA had been. A woman’s voice had started saying, “Listen, you’re going to have to fight back.”

“Tough words,” Sato replied. “Why should I trust you?”

“I just saved your life didn’t I?”

“Yes maybe, but that proves nothing.”

“If you need some proof, I’m just warning you not to activate your pulse coils on your back. This includes you getting blown up. I’m sure you’ve seen the results.”

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“Then this should clear things up, the one reason I helped you back there is because I wanted to. Keep that in mind Sato Ailrua.”

He didn’t know whether it was gratitude, or the fact that some strange woman knows his name, or that two plates of Sabira had melted with only three more to go, but he did trust her words. As the next one was vaporized away, the Commander restated his last words. “On your trip to the afterlife, remember that this is purely business.” With these words, Sato engaged all of his vernier jets, broke out, and grabbed the sword-wielding arm. In a moment of surprise, Gorr Targ could not react then to Ailrua taking a beam sabre and slicing off his leg. “Are you serious!” he yelled out in distress.

“Cease your attack,” Ailrua stated. “You’ll kill us both if you don’t.”

“Even so, this would be the way I’d want to go out.”

“Listen to me. I don’t want to have to kill you. If you stop fighting, we may both survive.” This did not stop the Commander, still making every attempt to land the finishing blow.

This is when the mysterious voice called again. “Sato, I know you are in distress, I know that it pains you to even think about this. But you’re going to have to make a thought decision. In order to survive, you’re going to have to kill him.”

“But…”

“I know it’s painful, I know you may regret it for the rest of your life. But this is what need to do, what you know you must do.”

Putting his sabre into position, Sato opened a message to all channels. “If so, then forgive me mister for fighting back, forgive me miss being in this position, and if you can ever, forgive me god for the unspeakable act I’m about to commit.”

Sato drove the beam sabre up the Ogough’s now stump of a leg. In his final thoughts, Gorr Targ could only tell himself one thing. The one who follows a madman must be an idiot. Then I guess I’m the idiot. And with that, in one painless moment, no glory, no blood, no suffering, he was dead. Commander Gorr Targ had fallen.

* * *

Of course he was safe, of course he killed before, of course he had no choice, but this time, it was different. This time, Sato was in full control of his actions. Unlike past experiences when his survival instinct took over, he did this on his own thoughts. As painful as it was, his friends were still nowhere in site, his parents must be worried sick, the Federation must have put up a bounty already. And to top it all off, his whereabouts were nowhere on the map. As far as he was concerned, he was lost.
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

After a few weeks of procrastinating, I finally got around to writing chapter 5.

New Mobile Crossroads Frontier Gundam
Contact #5 An Angel Called Maverick

Sato, along with the pilot of the Mobile Armor, had spent nearly an hour in dead silence ever since entering the asteroids. The tension finally broke when the anonymous woman reopened the COM line. “My ship should be here in a couple of minutes, and from the sound of things, so should yours.”

“Wait my ship? Do you mean…” he looked around and there it was, the Zephyr giving a boarding signal to the Gundam. “I can’t believe they actually pulled it off.”

“May I request to come on board?”

“Well could you please explain to me what’s going on first?”

“I’ll tell you once we are docked. I have a proposal to offer and I’d rather do it face to face.” Sato was fully aware that wherever he was, he had no idea how to get out. He felt he had no choice but to agree and they then set course for on of the hanger bays. Inside the Zephyr, the MA landed with ease, while Sato could only manage to do it down on his hands and feet. He opened the cockpit hatch and fell right down onto the floor. Gravity or no gravity, it didn’t appear to make a difference.

Looking over at the unknown unit, it opened up from the top, where the mysterious woman would then jump out of. She walked over to him, removing her helmet. As he face was revealed, Sato was mesmerized. Her face was one of someone no older than 20 and was complimented by her long, strawberry blond hair. He gazed at her tall slender body, which gave off a radiance of youth and strength. And yet, in her presence, Sato felt like he was face to face with an old soul. The feely was beyond captivating. Her first words settled this, getting right down to business,

“Sato Ailrua, I presume.”

“Uh, uh, yes. And you would be?”

“Katherine Mass, Maverick council member and pilot of the Maxt Fighter.” She pointed over to identify her MA.

“Katherine, that’s a beautiful name. Um, uh…”

“You know, you’re kinda cute when you’re nervous. Well if you can’t talk to me right now, could you find a way to contact the bridge?”

“Uh, sure.” He ran over and jumped into his Mobile Suit looking for the COM switch. He clicked the link to the bridge to see Spencer’s face on one of his monitors.

“Sato! You made it. I can’t believe it’s you.”

“Well you let me and the Maxt Fighter in so you couldn’t have been that surprised.”

“Actually, the computer did that automatically. We were fearing a boarding or something.”

“Eh, it’s nothing to worry about. Just me and some lady who came aboard.”

“Is she hot?”

“Whoa, I always thought computer geeks didn’t care for women. And besides, she looks much too old for you. Know what, forget about it. Expect me and her at the bridge in a few.”

“Roger.”

“Well, shall we be on our way?” inquired Katherine.

“Uh, yeah,” nervously replied Sato. “The layout said to go down three corridors to deck three, then take a lift to the command center.”

He leaped forward in order to guide her, but was blocked by her hand responding, “No need, I’ll lead the way. A construction this simple shouldn’t pose any difficulty.”

As they started walking, Sato had the need to ask something. “Um, Ms. Mass…”

“Katherine will do fine for now.”

“Okay then. I was kind of wondering. What exactly were you doing at the Saegauk border? Also, what is this Maverick you brought up earlier?”

“I would rather tell you after I make contact with the 7 Delta.”

“The what?”

“My ship. If I’m right, it’s what helped the Zephyr get here.”

“Then this had to have been planned.”

“What makes you say that?”

Sato stopped for a moment before answering. “Well for one your timing way a little more than convenient. Secondly, there is the simple fact that you’re here. Not to mention how you know my name. This all makes no sense.”

“I already told you, I’ll explain everything once I give confirmation to the 7 Delta.”

“However, for some reason I’ve trusted you up to this point. I don’t know who you are or why you’re here. For all I know, I could have trusted Zamrian or the Dominion just as much. God, I feel like a hypocrite. You asked me to trust you. But how can I? How?”
Katherine’s face took melancholic expression. That is until… “Sato! Behind you!”

Sato turned around in surprise, but couldn’t dodge what, or in this case, who was approaching. In a split second, a man came up from behind, grabbed Sato, and put a knife towards his throat. Katherine drew an ion cannon, but not before the assailant had time to speak. “Okay then, I didn’t want to do this, but this was one hell of an opportunity. Now take me to the bridge missy or I cut this boy’s throat.”

Sato looked up to notice a Dominion uniform and cried out, “Let me go you scum of the Earth bastard!”

“Seriously I’m hurt.” He placed the blade right up to the skin when re readdressed Katherine, “So what will it be, will you take me there or should I just get it over with?”

“Eh, do what you want; I don’t care.”

“What!?” Ailrua screamed.

“Wait, you really would rather…”

“Hey I was just using him to get onto the ship. I would have used his body too if I felt like it. It’s just that, you wouldn’t get that far yourself.” The Earth soldier was perplexed. “This is a five megawatt ion cannon. It has enough juice to fry your brain and still be able to take out a walrus.”

“Maybe, but I doubt you’ll have a chance to even shoot before I gut the kid.”

“Eh, you’re right.” She released the grip, but quickly tapped a button on the back before one of her hands off.

“Kay that’s it. Time to get this over with.” Suddenly, a dizziness came upon him. “You know what, I think I’m gonna wait.” With that said he released Sato, got down on his knees, and vomited all over the floor.

“You bitch!” Sato yelled as he caught his breath. “You were actually gonna let the him off me.”

“Sorry about that, but hey, you lived.”

“By luck. For all you know I could have been dead by now!”

“Na he wouldn’t have done it.”

“What makes you think that? He is a professional soldier after all.”
Katherine giggled and said to Sato, “You’re so simple, it’s cute. Now let’s get this guy up to the bridge I think he’s suffered enough.”
Sato looked down at him and asked, “So, what did you do to him?”

“High intensity microwave laser. Causes headache, nausea, incontinence, among other things.”

“You know considering the first three things, among others seems like a bit much.”

“Point taken.”

“Though how come we have to take him.”

“It would be inhumane not to. Also, he’ll probably be more aggressive if we didn’t help.”

“You know you’re really good at mind control.”

“Well I try my best.” The two laughed for a moment then picked up the Dominion officer. Finally they could get to the command center.

* * *

The three had reached the bridge. Sato first made notice of two familiar soldiers onboard. There was Ensign Ghadir passed out on the floor and Ensign Gretz manning on operations panel. Sato took surprise towards a pair of officers who appeared to be no older than him. One a girl at the helm, and a boy at the second operations terminal. The last of the Zamrian personnel, who had to be the oldest around, was next to Akim and at gunpoint. And as luck would have it, it was Naomi holding the cannon. “Well I’ll be damned,” Sato told himself quietly. He quickly rose his voice and exclaimed, “You guys actually made it.”

“Holy crap! Sato! I can’t believe you actually pulled it off. I mean…” As Naomi was ranting, her hostage turned around to strike her just before Hugh grabbed her by the throat and elbowed her to the ground.

“Hugh! I don’t know how you managed to do it. But however, you’re a genius.”

“Well what can I say? I’m the embodiment of perfection.”
Sato kind of regretted giving his friend an opening. So he just waited for someone else to respond. And that’s when Luctette lunged towards him, crying, “Sato!” She embraced him tightly. So tightly in fact, that he dropped the sick Earth soldier onto Katherine. “I was so worried. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. And then they, and then they.”

“Don’t worry. I’m here now. Whatever happened, it’s over.” The two of them just held each other, that is, until Lucette was put off when she noticed the smirk or Katherine’s face.

“Uh Sato, who is she?”

“Oh yeah, uh, this is Katherine Mass. She saved me from the Dominion Mobile Suits among other things.

“Other thing?”

“By that,” Interjected the young woman, “he means exploiting him during a hostage situation with this guy,” referring to the officer on her back. She placed him down and formally addressed the bridge “Everyone, I am Katherine Mass. Pilot of the Maxt Fighter and acting captain of the 7 Delta. I wish to contact my ship, after which, I have a proposal to offer.”

“Eh, do what you want, the COM panel is over there.” Hugh replied.

“Really? I was actually expecting some opposition considering how you commandeered this vessel.”

“No worries,” responded someone from the communications station. “After all,” he continued spinning his chair, “your ship is what made our escape possible.” It was Spencer.

“Hey Spence.”

“Why are you so suppressed? You already knew I was up here.”

“Yeah, but knowing and seeing are completely different.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Katherine walked over to his terminal looking down at the controls. “Ms.” Spencer stood up and spun the seat for he to sit.”

“Why thank you Spencer,” Katherine told him very politely. She sat down, tweaked a few panels, and shifted her attention to the craft link. “7 Delta come in. I repeat 7 Delta come in.”

“7 Delta reporting. Is that you Reina?”

“Yep. Mission accomplished. Navigate over to the White Whale then set in a course to Maverick.”

“Roger that.”

As Katherine continued relaying data to her ship, Sato took the time to ask the others how they commandeered the Zephyr. Hugh started right from where Sato split from the team. He could see Lucette shiver when her being exposed was brought up. He then focused on taking over the Zamrian warship. “Surprisingly enough, there was essentially no one onboard. According to one of the operators, the crew on the active roster right now is 16, mainly consisting of rookies. In all honesty, all that it took to access this command center was to stun some random engineer and take his master key. Funny thing is that taking the bridge was near effortless. The first thing that happened was that shorty over there pulled out a cannon and started asking questions. This was followed by our good friend Vann jumping down from his post and drawing his gun. Turns out that his target was him and not us.” Sato looked over and smiled at the hygienically challenged solider, who gave him the victory sign. “So now he’s out like a light and then we all take the lady over their hostage. For some reason the two of them had no qualms with taking our orders. Kids huh?” Sato was not impressed with that statement. “Well then we head out and run into some odd ship which starts defending us. Naturally we needed an escape, and the vessel provided some route. In fact, it was that Ms. Mass who encouraged us to do so. One thing lead to another, and now we’re in the abyss and we haven’t heard from that other ship since.”

“You know what,” Sato responded, “It all made sense, but it was just boring by the way you said it. Talk like a human being once and a while, it really helps. Anyway, I think she’s almost done over there.”
Katherine stood up and turned towards everyone again. She was ready for her proposal. “The 7 Delta should arrive soon, though I guess there is a bit I need to clear up first. As I have stated I am Katherine Mass, chief tactical strategist for the DSSD Maverick. We’re a Lagrange based survey group whose primary mission has been observing phenomenon within the Saegauk Nebula, the very area of space we recently entered. Now I know this seems kind of odd for an exploratory crew from an isolated nation to go about and steal a Federation warship and Gundam; however, I would like to make something clear. My organization is expecting to get involved in the inevitable conflict as we predict it will be affecting us soon. Now I’m sure you’re all pretty much confused right now, so I’ll open the floor to any questions you may have.”

Hugh was the first to ask something, “Then what are you asking for from us?”

“Preferably the ship and it’s Mobile Suit cache; however, a helping hand never hurt anyone.”

“Then you can take us home right?” inquired Naomi.”

“As of right now, no. I can’t afford having my group’s location to be compromised. I hope this doesn’t turn out to be an inconvenience for anyone.”

Vann was the next to speak. “ Hey, as you all know, I’m probably the most uppity about this. I never quite got why I joined the Zamrian Military. And hey, I’m under no obligation out here.”

"Well before anyone here counts their chickens, there is one more thing I would like to show you all. If you see it, it may be a while till they can go back. Until things clear up, you all may as well do something. And if you just feel lazy, I’m not forcing anything but for no one to leave yet. Does anyone here have any objections to an extended holiday?”

Everyone was a little confused by what she said. According to her, they might as well be prisoners or something. The bridge was silent for a few moments unit someone replied, “I do.” That answer came from Sato.

“Huh?”

“When I came out here, when I followed you, I was with the intention of getting home. Out in space when I killed that soldier, when we got through that hostage situation, I endured it all because I thought you could help me. You asked me to trust you, and throw this curve ball at us. All I want right now is to go home, be with my parents, and I can’t be the only one on board who feels that way!” That being said, it didn’t take long for Spencer and Naomi to be overcome with grief, just thinking about how worried their mom and dad must be right now. Even Hugh was a little on edge by that statement. Lucette was actually scared and started tugging on Sato’s arm. Katherine stood speechless. She actually had no way of responding to this.

“There is one other matter to be settled,” called out a voice from the front of the command center. The woman who said this stood up and continued,

“What you have all committed have been acts of treason and acts of terrorism.”

“Hey Lt. Kirasaki,” shouted Vann. “How’s it hanging?”

“Shut up.” Alice then turned her head over to Katherine in anger. “And you. What you are speaking is nonsense. As it stands you have no right to take the Zephyr or the Gundam. In the middle of a conflict, you conveniently waltz in and assist in the capturing of Zamrian property. That aside, if you are some survey group, what position are you in to call any shots in international affairs?”

“Lieutenant Kirasaki,” Katherine responded, “This is not a simple as you’re making it.”

“You’re meddling in the affairs of my nation, committed acts of war, and have taken me and my crew hostage. That is simple enough for me.”

“Listen, I didn’t wish for anything to be so complicated, but with the escalating conflict and the recent explosion of Mobile Suits, there was no choice but to take aggressive action. I originally wanted to work things out peacefully with Zamria before other things got in the way.”

“Reasons, reasons, reasons. The results are the same and that’s what matters.”

“You know what? I couldn’t give a damn about Zamria! In the end, all you’re doing is making the Earth Dominion more powerful and more corrupt.”

“What!?”

“A system like that of Earth needs some sort of incentive or threat in order to maintain the status quo. As long as Zamria remains belligerent, there will be no question as to growing militarism or loss of freedoms.”

“Are you saying that we should just lay on our backs and welcome tyranny?”

“Not at all. However, any sort of overtly aggressive action could result in a perpetual bloodbath. Not even war, just a massacre. Even turning this ship around could cause billions to suffer. If you don’t believe me then consider where we are right now! At the very least the Saegauk Asteroid belt is the most concentrated source of Sabira. If this place is revealed, so is a goldmine of resources. The fighting will expand, people will have to give up so much to conquer the frontier, and most of all there could be enough warships and MS to make the entire Gaean system a battlefield. I don’t want any of that to happen, and I will do all in my power to make sure it never happens.”

“Such idealism, such conviction, such lies!” In a fit of rage, Kirasaki decked Naomi in the face, stole her gun and shot Hugh. Those two may have had quick reflexes, but were not in the right frame of mind to react. Trigger happy, she knocked out Vann and Spencer simultaneously, followed up by firing at Katherine. She could dodge the ion spark by hiding being the operator seats; however was worried about Sato and Lucette. The two of them were wide open and didn’t have much chance or capability of dodging. Seeing that, she leaped forward to shield them from the next shot. The round hit, and Katherine dropped to the ground.

“Katherine!” Sato cried out.

“Is it, over?” whimpered Lucette.

The two of them were scared; however, this is when Sato noticed something peculiar. From what he could see from a burn mark under Katherine’s cuffs, that she was only hit in the leg. His eyes moved up to her face where he noticed a sinister grimace. In an impulse of confidence Ailrua stood up with his hands behind his head and said, “We surrender.”

“I must say that that’s hard to believe.”

“I assure you. You have my word as a gentleman. When you get back to Zamria, just make sure that my friends are safe. I will do no harm. If you need more assurance, I will gladly let myself over as a prisoner just for assurance.”

“Fine then. Come over here and make sure your head is always right up against this gun barrel.” Sato walked over without hesitation and sat himself down next to Kirasaki. Satisfied, she turned her attention to the junior operator. “Mister Kanta, track our course and try finding a lock on the nearest Federation signal.”

“Yesth mam.”

Turning her head towards the front, she addressed the navigator,

“Tammy.”

“Uh, yes mam?”

“I want you to backtrack our way out of here. Do you thing you’re up to it?”

“Well actually, um ah, I don’t really know they way I took. It just happened you know. I’m real sorry that I can’t…” Her eyes started watering up.

“Don’t worry so much.” Alice started comforting Tammy. “Just stay brave and do your best. Don’t forget that Kanta and I are her to help.” This moment gave Crewman Lynn a confidence boost; however, it also put Kirasaki off guard long enough for Katherine to get over and put a gun to her head.

“I apologies for this, but I can’t let you return to Zamria now.”

“Well in that case.” She pulled the gun away from Sato, turned around and kicked her advisory. In that moment, both of them were at point blank from each other. “Now it’s up to who can pull the trigger first.”

“Feel free to, but keep in mind that if worst come to worst, the 7 Delta will be her momentarily to commandeer the Zephyr.”

“I can organize the ship’s crew before then. As for you, all I have to do is kill you.”

“Fine, then do it.”

“What?”

“I sure you’re not so dense that you would disregard everything I told you out of spite. Which reminds me that you should know that even if you ward off my ship, without a proper guide, it could take months, even years to exit the Saegauk Nebula.” Kirasaki began to shiver. “By the time you would escape, everything I said would have been confirmed. Your knowledge and your survival would guarantee everything I told you could happen. Only that time, both sides could be so far into the arms race that the worst of possibilities could happen.”

“No, no, it’s not true. I’m not going to let myself be trapped here. Not by you, not by anyone.”

“I know it’s painful, I know you may question yourself night and day. But this is what you need to do, what you know you must do.” Alice’s eyes watered up, her head was soaked with sweat, her heart beating fast. Deep down she knew everything Katherine said was correct. Her logic was flawless. Even so, she desperately wanted to turn back, she hated the possibility of becoming a prisoner. It was painful being defeated so effortlessly. Disgraced and conflicted, she fell to the floor and started crying. “I’m sorry, I’m really sorry that this is the way things have to be right now.” And with that remark Katherine walked off.

“You bitch!” Sato yelled out. “Those are almost the same words you used on me.”

“Well if it works it works.”

“Well from your last couple of crisis situations I thought you were some sort of genius psychologist.”

“I’m a social scientist, not a personal one, so I understand when certain phrases will work.” She paused for a minute. “Though I would like to talk to you personally on my ship, you know outside of the chaos. You okay with that?”

“Kay.”

* * *

The 7 Delta arrived soon after. Kirasaki sat moping in her quarters. Sato’s friends, Vann, and Akim were sent over to the vessel’s sickbay. With the exception of Tammy and Jinto, the rest of the Zephyr’s crew was taking the time to do nothing. As for Sato and Katherine, they looked out into space from her ship’s observation deck.

“Um, Ms. Mass?”

“Please, you don’t have to be so formal.”

“Them um, Katherine…”

“You know what, just call me Reina. I’d rather we talk on the same level than you trying to look smaller.”

“Okay I’ll try, Miss uh Reina.”

“Well it’s a start. Anyway, what were you going to ask me?”

“Actually, everything. The Dominion and Federation aside, why are you here, on this ship, taking me somewhere I don’t know?”

“I take it that you’ve accepted that I can’t take you back, at least not yet.”

“Yes. When destiny intervenes in one’s life, it is there choice to whether they face it head on or run away.”

“So that’s the kind of person you are. Well, let’s see, where do I start? Have you ever heard of LEGRETZ?”

“Beyond it’s name, I know nothing of it.”

“It was this secretive organization that was established within the Sovereignty of First Lagrange.”

“Mercury?”

“Exactly. Years ago they sent an interplanetary transport vessel known as Rosebud to explore the Saegauk Asteroids, mainly to identify the cause of the unusual special phenomenon.”

“What did they discover?”

“That’s classified, even to me. What I do know is that LAGRETZ was dissatisfied with their findings and even threatened the crew with death if they revealed their information to the public. Naturally, this caused a change of heart for Rosebud. Unanimously, the team decided to continue their research, only this time as the private survey group named Maverick. That was over 35 years ago.”

“Then that means that…”

“Yes, 20 years ago I became the first child to be born on Maverick. And now, I am a high-ranking member. Out here I grew up in a close group learning things that most people will never know about. In essence, I was raised as the spitting image of Maverick. In a sense, I am its child.”

“So then, what does this mean about you, and why you are here?”

“I am here, to find the crossroads of history.”

“The crossroads of what?”

“Whatever happened here was so amazing that it has drawn the interest of many powerful groups. LAGRETZ is just one. The Earth Dominion has knowledge of this place as well, and perhaps more dire intentions. And get this. You know those pulse coils on the Gundam and the Zephyr.” Sato nodded his head. “Well, LAGRETZ has had the technology for at least 40 years and we are currently using it right now. Not only that, but we have found similar devices here that have been dated back 200 years or so. Believe it or not, we found you when you first activated them.”

“Wait a minute, this is all becoming a little too much. And if you have the technology, why did you even need to steal from Zamria?”

“To ensure that the Dominion didn’t get their hands on it. I wish I could tell you more; however, I am obligated to keep silent about certain things.” Sato was entranced by this woman’s determination. He felt that she could actually move him with her own thoughts. He felt humbled in Reina’s presence and knew he wanted to learn more. It pained him to think in such a way, but he was finally content with his present situation. That’s when Reina continued. “Sato, look straight ahead.” The view was astonishing. Gasses swirled around the asteroids, rocks glowed unusual colors, and behind it all was a massive ship the size of a small colony. Sato was in awe stricken. He was overcome and finally froze as Reina said, “This is it; this is Maverick. My home.”
CHASER
Posts: 612
Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 6:11 am

Although it is interesting, it's gotten somewhat hard to follow the story. A lot of it happens in the dialogue-heavy parts where it gets hard to tell who is saying what, and no character so far seems to have a way of talking that's distinct compared to the others. The part taking place on the bridge confused me completely like that, since some characters seem to materialise out of nowhere (at least the way I read it).

On a different note, how can Lucette really be considered Sato's 'girlfriend' when it's apparent that no-one seems to care at all about her? Not that it's a bad thing story-wise, since it could lead to some odd development seeing how desperate she is to be one of the group, but it makes me wonder how she can have that status.
HellCat wrote:
ShadowCell wrote:I'm skipping this one if it's in suppository form, though. Like, I like Gundam, but not that friggin' much.
They decided against that because most Gundam fans already have something up their butt.
User avatar
Kavik Ryx
Posts: 1784
Joined: Sun Sep 23, 2007 1:28 pm
Location: Expatriating in Tel Aviv
Contact:

CHASER wrote:Although it is interesting, it's gotten somewhat hard to follow the story. A lot of it happens in the dialogue-heavy parts where it gets hard to tell who is saying what, and no character so far seems to have a way of talking that's distinct compared to the others. The part taking place on the bridge confused me completely like that, since some characters seem to materialise out of nowhere (at least the way I read it).

On a different note, how can Lucette really be considered Sato's 'girlfriend' when it's apparent that no-one seems to care at all about her? Not that it's a bad thing story-wise, since it could lead to some odd development seeing how desperate she is to be one of the group, but it makes me wonder how she can have that status.
Thanks for the feedback CHASER, I feel much better knowing that someone is actually taking time to read despite how verbose my writing is. On that note, yes, I do realize that my writing is often obscure and hard to follow. It's a problem I have, and has been acknowledged by most people I know. I've been working at it over the years, but it's most definitely a work in progress.

About Sato and Lucette, while he doesn't really respect her, he is one to show kindness, and yes it was an intention of mine to have her be in a position where she is compelled to change to fit in, and ultimately drift away from Sato. However, that is a different part of the story that starts rolling after the introduction of a character whose name I should probably change, or at least alter. Once again, thanks for the feedback.
Locked