[FFML] Mobile Suit Gundam Storm, ch. 7

[Andrew Dynon]

[Author's notes: Okay, I'm trying adjusting my writing style with this
chapter.  I'll use first-person for Athene and Pallas, but scenes not
featuring them will be third-person.  Let me know if this is better, worse,
or indifferent.  Also, it's been a while since I posted the last chapter
(especially considering it's not that long) - I had a bit of a crisis of
confidence after the C&C I received last time, which I know wasn't the
intent.]

 

 

 

Victoria Castella, the heir apparent to Castella Intustries looked for all
the world as though she were perfectly calm and relaxed as she sat under a
willow tree in the garden, her pink tresses fluttering in the wind, looking
through the data files on her handheld computer.  The serene, nonchalant
image was one she practiced constantly, to be able to project no matter what
her true emotions were, and by now any apparent slip was more likely than
not intentional.  

 

In the case of the footage and analysis from the battle at L4 she had
siphoned off the company's servers without her father's permission, though,
Victoria had great difficulty in maintaining that serene air.  If LunaPact
also had a supersoldier, and moreover, one who not only appeared to be
working for them willingly, but knew Athene personally, then it meant the
simple scenario of the supersoldiers being created to fight for the
Commonwealth was incorrect.  She knew that Castella Industries was involved
with the project, alongside Rhea Bioengineering, but what was providing them
to both sides supposed to achieve?  Surely, not even the heads of two of the
largest conglomerates in all of inhabited space could not expect to escape
punishment for such duplicity.  And by now, surely the top brass was aware
of the situation.  Unless.

                

*****

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM STORM

 

A Fanfic by Andrew Dynon

 

Based on Mobile Suit Gundam by Yoshiyuki Tomino

 

Chapter 7: Trust You 

***** 

 

Athene

 

                I slowly opened my eyes, shaking my head to try and remove
the feeling of grogginess - it took me a few moments to realise that I was
in sickbay, rather than in my regular bunk.  I rolled onto my other side, to
see Khadija attending to a figure a couple of beds away - the lights were
dimmed at the moment, so I was unable to make out the details.  The clock
read 0100 GMT, meaning I had been asleep for nine hours.  I couldn't
remember ever having slept that long before - back in training, ten minutes'
worth of oversleeping would have earned me a lecture from an instructor and
several demerit points.

 

                "Good morning, sleeping beauty." Khadija said, although
seeing her first thing when I woke up made me feel anything but good, and I
suspected the feeling was mutual.  I also found being compared to some
fairytale princess who just lay in a castle until the prince came and saved
her mildly insulting.

 

                "Good morning."  I said, reaching for the light switch.
"So, what's the analysis?"

 

                "Just exhaustion, and a mild concussion from when your
Mobile Suit was hit.  You're free to leave any time."

 

                "Good to know."  I got out of the bed, and prepared to
leave, but then noticed that the other figure in sickbay had the remains of
a grey and black LunaPact spacesuit sitting beside her bed.  "What is that?"

 

                Khadija's expression hardened, the hijab she wore seemingly
serving to emphasise the anger on her face, and took off the blanket she had
over her, showing me the charred stumps of her legs.  "That, Ensign Athene
Gold, is the result of your "efficient, practical" style of Mobile Suit
combat.  Actually, she's the one who got lucky, by which I mean there was
still enough of her left to rescue."

 

                "We have medical facilities in the brig in case we have to
take injured POWs on board.  She should be placed there.

 

                "I'm not gonna throw that poor woman in a cell like that!
What kind of a security risk is she gonna pose with no legs?"

 

                "Regulations state."

 

                "Don't give me that crap!  Anyway, does seeing that help you
get what you're doing to people?"

 

                "It's nothing new to me."

 

                "Nothing new?"

 

                "As soon as we began training, we were shown footage of
injuries, blood, and people in pain, which continued for the entirety of our
time at Sparta Base.  Our training also included vivisection of animals, and
dissection of human cadavers.  The objective of these exercises was to help
us maintain our composure when we saw blood and gore on thebattlefield."

 

                "So in other words, they got you so desensitised that you
just keep on killing no matter what you see.  On top of that, you
deliberately set out to kill other pilots, despite the fact that your
abilities are so far ahead of them that it's completely unnecessary!"
Khadija said.  She turned away from me, her voice beginning to break.  "As I
said, you're released.  Now get the hell out of here, and be thankful that
woman's still unconscious."

 

                I turned and left.  Not like I wanted to be around her
anyway.

 

*****

 

                Shane and Alan leaned back on the wall of the hangar
walkway, watching as the repair crew carried out work on the Gale Gundam.
Looking at the gash down the front of the Gale's torso, it seemed surprising
that Athene had gotten away without a strike to the cockpit or reactor.  If
she - or anyone else - took a hit like that again, he didn't like the odds
of them being so lucky.  

 

                "I can't imagine how she must be feeling right now."  Shane
said.  "I mean, going into battle's one thing, but knowing there's someone
you grew up with on the other side?  I'm trying to imagine how I'd feel if I
had to fight one of my friends from home."

 

                "It's more than that.  She calls them her siblings, doesn't
she?"

 

                "You're right.  I've got a younger brother, and for fourteen
years he made it his life's work to irritate the shit out of me, until I
signed up, but. if I think about him getting hurt, it would rip my heart
out."

 

                "Exactly.  But I won't lie.  What worries me most about the
situation is, what if it comes down to Pallas or us?  Who's she going to
side with?"   

 

                "Us!" Shane blurted out.

 

                "Are you sure about that?" Alan asked.

 

                "I just. don't think she'd betray us!" Shane protested.  "I
mean, she's so straightforward, and it doesn't seem to be in her nature,
and. we've become friends!"

 

                Alan sighed.  "You know what you sound like?  Like someone
who's falling in love.  Look, you saw how she's. different.  Knowing that,
I'd say you'd be well advised to put her out of your mind.  Focus your
attention on somebody who's actually available."

 

                "Okay, I admit it.  I find her attractive!" Shane replied.
"I've had a girlfriend - and a boyfriend - before, so I at least know that
much.  And yeah, I know she's never gonna feel the same way towards me.
Just my luck - I have twice the options of most people, and I still end up
falling for a person who isn't the least bit interested in me.  But I."

 

                "That's enough.  Okay, we'll trust her." Alan said, holding
his hand up.  It was what he wanted to do anyway.  "Tell you the truth,
having her fight her sibling doesn't sit well with me, either."

 

                "Don't you think she could try and get through to her,
somehow?  I mean, if she's with Lunapact, that means she's been brainwashed
or something, right?"  

 

                "Still buying into our side's propaganda about Lunapact
brainwashing people, Shane?  I thought you knew better by now."

 

                "Well, there's something fishy, with that Pallas girl
turning up on the other side!"

 

                "So you think it's gonna be like one of those anime you
watch?  You just keep repeating somebody's name enough times and it ends up
magically restoring their memory?"

 

                "Well, no, but."

 

                "Besides, Pallas seemed convinced that they were meant to be
fighting for LunaPact all along, just as much as Athene thought she was
meant to fight for the Commonwealth.  If there is brainwashing involved,
it's just as likely that it was Athene who's had her memories altered."

 

                "Then how come LunaPact isn't deploying more." Shane trailed
off.  "And neither are we.  You're right, this stuff doesn't add up.  But
what I do know is, whatever's happening, Athene's my fellow soldier, and my
friend.  And I want to help her in any way I can."

 

*****

 

Pallas

 

"You wished to speak with me, sir?"

 

The person I was speaking to, Major James Symonds, was a large, black man
who was commander of the LunaPact Assault Cruiser Weber's squadron of Mobile
Suits.  He drove the troops under him hard, but not as hard as the
instructors back at Sparta Base.

 

"Yes.  I've seen the reports of your last engagement.  Your fellow trainee
was fighting on the other side."

 

"That's correct, sir."

 

"In your own words, how did you feel when you were engaging her?  If you
were to be on the same battlefield as her again, how do you believe you
would react?"

 

"Honestly, sir. I was surprised at first, but as the battle went on, it felt
as if... as if this was what we should be doing.  The rush I feel when I
engage in combat was even more intense.  I want to engage her again, to
prove to her that I'm better."  I omitted the feeling of wrongness that lay
submerged within that intensity like a bad taste. 

 

"So you will be able to fire at her?"

 

"No question of that, sir.  In fact, I look forward to it."  I smiled.
"Besides, I don't think anyone on this ship will contest that I'm the best
pilot you have.  You wouldn't handicap yourself by keeping me on the
sidelines.  Especially not when there's someone almost as good as me on the
other side."

 

"I know you're an extremely skilled pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade Pallas
Gold."  Symonds said.  "However, you are also arrogant and like to show off.
Your wingmen Perez and Matthews are similar - I put you in the same wing
because it's easier to keep an eye on you together than apart.  I know that
attitude might be part of the package for you, and hasn't come back to bite
you in the ass yet, but if you keep it up, it's just a matter of time.  Keep
that in mind."

 

"Yes, sir."  Dumbass.  I'm not showing off, I just know how good I am.  It's
not my fault none of you can pull the kind of manoeuvres I can. 

 

"We expect the Commonwealth convoy to attempt to regroup at space station
Moresby.  They should arrive in sixty hours.  We're on a vector that will
allow us to intercept them in forty, so be ready. Dismissed."

 

I had been lectured before, by both Symonds and the instructors at Sparta
base about showing off, but I didn't care.  The whole point of my existence
was to be better than ordinary humans.  Senses, reaction speed, physical
strength, endurance, pain resistance and those years of training - that was
what they were all about.  And out of all the supersoldier candidates, I was
number one.  As long as people knew that, I didn't mind following their
orders.

 

And then there was someone like Athene, to whom being number one was not as
important as being with her siblings.  Not that I wouldn't like to be with
her.

 

*****

 

Ten Years Ago

 

                Athene and I crouched in the trench, mud up to our
eight-year-old knees, looking through rolls of razor wire towards the red
flag on the hill that was our mission objective.  Out of our entire team, we
were the only two who had made it this far.  The good news was that Ares'
side was down to him and Artemis.

 

                "Think we can make it?" I asked.

 

                "Sure we can." Athene replied.  "You're thirty metres from
the number one ranking, Pallas."

 

                "Sounds good to me." I grinned.

 

                "I'll play decoy.  You go take the fort."  Athene circled
around to the right, tossing a smoke grenade as  she jumped out of the
trench.  I waited a few seconds before running in the other direction,
hearing bursts of automatic paintball fire behind me.  

 

                Halfway up the hill, I took cover in a shallow foxhole,
trying to ensure my opponents - no, my enemy, that was what the instructors
always told us to consider them - hadn't seen me yet.  At that moment, I
heard a scream, and looked out of the foxhole to see Athene tumbling back
down the hill, her leg entangled in a coil of razor wire that tore through
her fatigues and into her skin.  She crashed back into the trench, lying
face down, her knee twisted at an odd angle.

 

                All thoughts of my objective and the number one ranking
vanished from my mind in an instant.  Athene could be seriously hurt.  If
she was unconscious, face down in the mud, she could suffocate.  I ran back
down the hill, diving into the trench.  Landing belly-first in the mud, I
picked myself up, ran to her, and rolled her over.  I didn't even notice the
paintball that hit me in the spine.

 

*****

 

                "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING?"  The instructor, his face
red with anger, swing his beefy hand with as much force as he could muster,
striking my face with enough force to knock me off my feet.

 

                "Athene seemed to be-"  I was interrupted by another slap,
just as hard as the first one.

 

                "1F01, what is a supersoldier's protocol regarding mission
objectives?"

 

                "A supersoldier's top priority is to achieve the mission
objective, sir!  To this end, we must be prepared to sacrifice the lives of
our fellow soldiers, or even ourselves, sir!"

 

                "And did your actions in that exercise reflect that, 1F01?"

 

                "No, sir!"

 

                "Seems to me like you don't have that drilled into your head
yet.  You will receive twenty strokes of the cane, and sleep deprivation for
a week!"

 

                "Acknowledged, sir."  I still didn't know how severe
Athene's injuries were, but I never felt any regret, and bore the canings
and lack of rest without complaint.  The fact of the matter was that Athene
had needed my help, and even if I were dead, if Athene needed my help, I
would come back for her.  Because I was sure that she would do the same for
me.

 

*****

 

Athene

 

                I stood on the gantry next to Yamada and McDermott, looking
over the welding job on the front of the Gale Gundam.  The patch-up job
meant that a strip of bare metal ran down the Gundam's torso like a scar,
and while the MS was still combat-capable, I felt relieved that we were
heading for the space station Moresby for a more thorough repair job.
Moresby was a large station built around an asteroid that had been relocated
to geosynchronous high earth orbit, that served as one of the Commonwealth's
major military bases.  The design was similar to that of Sparta Base, with
its dull-grey structures jutting out of the huge chunk of brown rock, and
indeed it did serve partially as a training facility for Commonwealth forces
being trained in space warfare.  Come to think of it, LunaPact's stations
were a similar design, too.

 

                "That big scar kinda ruins the Gundam's whole image, don't
you reckon?" Shane asked.

 

                I just shrugged my shoulders.  "I don't care about things
like that."

 

                "I mean, an enemy pilot sees that, he's not gonna be
freaking out because he thinks the machine's invincible."

 

                "Anyone who's a challenge to me isn't gonna freak out like
that, anyway.  Pallas certainly didn't." 

 

                "Yeah, about that. you still have no idea why you're with
the Commonwealth and she's with LunaPact?"  McDermott asked.

 

                "No, I have no idea why she went over.  I clearly remember
us training to be the Commonwealth's supersoldiers."

 

                McDermott looked at me, scrutinizing my expression.  Did he
doubt my memory?  But then, Pallas said we had always been with LunaPact.
Clearly, her memories had been messed with.

 

                At that point, the alert siren went off.

 

                "LunaPact vessels detected on intercept vector."

 

                "That's what we were on standby for."  Shane said.  "Well,
it's not like they're going to send the same people after us.  Let's blast
through them and get to Moresby."

 

                "Remember, our priority in this situation is to defend the
ship.  Don't get yourselves too far away." McDermott warned.

 

                We ran through checkups and launched, matching speed with
the Gallipoli and the other ships in our convoy as we awaited the enemy.
Before us, flights of Regulus and Deneb MS launched, spreading out to
intercept our forces.  Coming straight at our own vessel was the
now-familiar shape of the Sirius, flanked by its two Deneb escorts.
McDermott sighed.

 

                "Shane, you know what they say about tempting fate?"

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.chez-vrolet.net/pipermail/ffml/attachments/20110703/29607cf6/attachment.htm>