[FFML] Mobile Suit Gundam Storm, Ch. 6

[Andrew Dynon]

                "Pallas?"  The pilot of the Sirius fired again, and I jinked
my Gundam to evade the shots, feeling the G-Force as I spun around to try
and tail it.  Surely it couldn't truly be one of my siblings in the new
LunaPact MS?  With the possible exception of Ares, Pallas had been the
sibling that I felt closest to.  We had trained, slept, eaten, trained,
showered, studied, and trained more and more alongside each other.  No
matter how heated our competition for top-ranked candidate was, I felt a
deep bond with her in my heart, and complete trust that she felt the same
way toward me.  So why was this happening?

 

                "Athene?"  I knew her voice the instant I heard it, and any
hope that I may have been mistaken was shot down as cleanly as any sniper
kill.  The feeling of wrongness in my head mutated into a physical, nauseous
feeling in my stomach that I struggled to keep down.  She didn't stop
attacking, though - she never even hesitated, manoeuvring out of my tail
attempt and positioning herself for another pass.

 

                "Athene, why have you joined the Commonwealth forces?"

 

*****

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM STORM

A Fanfic by Andrew Dynon

 

Based on Mobile Suit Gundam by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yadate

 

Chapter 6: Pride

*****

Khadija

 

                After the Gallipoli's complement of military MS had moved
out, I launched in my Lifeguard, following at minimum safe distance.  The
Lifeguard was the Interplanetary Rescue Corps' standard mobile suit, smaller
than a military-grade MS, designed to nimbly navigate around tight spots and
dodge debris which may pose risks during rescue attempts.  It was painted in
the same high-visibility yellow and red as our uniforms, and its equipment
was designed to facilitate its intended purpose of rescuing downed MS and
fighter pilots (the term "downed" is an anachronism in space warfare, but I
digress).  It also carried a supply of oxygen packs, sealing equipment, and
other survival gear.

 

                There was nothing I could do to help the poor Regulus pilots
that were Athene Gold's targets, though.  Whenever she engaged one, she
mercilessly shot at the cockpit, and rarely missed.  The LunaPact pilots
barely managed to scream out something like "It's a Gundam!" before being
vaporised by a rifle shot or beam saber thrust, whereupon there was nothing
that could be done but notify their next-of-kin.  If you're so much better
at fighting than them, why do you need to kill them all, damn it?  Isn't
just disabling their MS as effective a way of removing them from the fight?

 

                One Regulus pilot almost managed to dodge Athene's cockpit
shot.  As the escape pod auto-ejected, I saw that the shot had pierced the
lower section, magnification showing his or her legs missing from the knees
down.  I boosted forward to catch the escape pod, despite the danger of
stray shots from the battle still going on in the area.  With luck, that
pilot could still be alive - but they wouldn't be if I left them exposed to
vacuum for more than a few seconds.

 

                "Khadija, escape pod detected! Help, Khadija!" Haro told me
in case I had missed it.

 

                "I see it, thanks, Haro." I replied.

 

                "Hey, Khadija, watch out there!  You're getting pretty close
to the firefight!" Shane told me.

 

                "I'll be careful."

 

                I set the Lifeguard's lights flashing in the pattern for
"rescue in progress", and caught the holed cockpit in my MS' hands.  First
priority was to try and ensure the pilot didn't die from depressurisation.
The beam gun shot had instantly cauterised what remained of her (being up
close now, I could confirm that the pilot was female) legs.  I administered
sealant spray over the area to keep the normal suit's pressure in.  She
didn't react, but life signs were still registering, thankfully, so she had
most likely passed out from shock.

 

                "You're gonna be okay.  Let's get you out of here."  I told
her.  Even if she couldn't hear me, I hoped I could somehow, God willing,
reach her and give her the strength to survive.  The closest ship was still
the Gallipoli, so I turned back.

 

                "This is Khadija Akram.  I have one casualty, please ready
medbay facilities."  

 

*****

Pallas

 

                The green-and-white Gundam Athene was piloting circled to
the left of my Sirius once again, firing a beam rifle shot that I barely
managed to evade.  My body felt as though it was surging with electricity,
my stomach was twisting itself into knots - this feeling was way better than
practice.  I had never felt more alive, and if I hadn't known it was Athene,
I wouldn't want to stop.  No, scratch that.  Even knowing it was my dear
sibling, part of me didn't want to stop.

 

                "What do you mean?  We trained to be part of the
Commonwealth forces all along!"  

 

                Why would she ever say such a thing?  As I spun the Sirius
around to try and lock in on her tail, I replied.

 

                "No, that's wrong!  We were trained to fight for Lunapact!
Don't you remember?"  What was wrong with her?  Surely she couldn't have
forgotten?

 

                My head told me this was wrong - but my body, my heart
pumping, the electricity flowing through my nervous system, all told me
otherwise.  This was the most exciting feeling I had ever experienced.
According to the instincts I had learned to trust on the battlefield, it was
right for us to fight.

 

                I opened up the thrusters and accelerated in pursuit of the
Gundam.

 

*****

Shane

 

                The Lieutenant and I were involved in our own running battle
with the two Denebs, but even so, we were forced to resist the temptation to
be enthralled by the duel between the Gale and the Sirius.  The two MS
interlaced in an almost hypnotic spiral of motion, switching from defence to
attack and back to defence almost faster than I could follow, all the while
drawing inexorably closer in their passes.

                

                Was this what Athene had been capable of all along?  Her
opponent was keeping up with her, though. almost as if the Sirius' pilot
wasn't normal, either.  I began to wonder of the MS could keep up with their
pilots' attempts to outmanoeuvre one another.

 

                "Yamada, ten o'clock low!"  McDermott's warning snapped me
out just in time for me to catch a shot from one of the Denebs with my
shield.  "Mind on the game, ensign!"

 

                I cursed at myself for getting distracted, and boosted
towards the Deneb to try to engage it in melee, but the Deneb's pilot angled
his MS' thrust to dodge out of the way, and circled around, trying to get on
my tail.  Damn, he was good - guess that's why he's the Sirius' wingman.
And there I go, assuming it's a guy in the cockpit when I should know
better, but no time to contemplate that now.  I can't afford to pay too much
attention to what Athene's doing, either, but I trust her to handle things
by herself.

 

*****

Athene

 

                The second worst thing about the situation was that there
was a part of me that enjoyed fighting Pallas, a part that craved the
challenge of engaging in battle against someone as skilled as myself, even
if she were my sibling.  The worst thing was that it wasn't something small,
hidden deep down under layers of my psyche.  It was right at the forefront
of my mind, a colossal lust for battle that battled against my sense of
reason and my friendship with Pallas, even as we struggled against each
other in physical battle.

 

                "No, this is wrong!  We shouldn't be doing this!"  I
shouted, and might have been saying it to myself as much or more as I was
telling Pallas.  My Gale Gundam and her Sirius circled closer still to each
other, and yet even at such a short range, we still managed to evade each
other's shots.

 

                "Is it really?"  Pallas replied.  "I bet you're feeling as
excited as I am.  Maybe this was what we were meant for all along."  The
Sirius stowed its right-arm beam cannon, drawing its dual-blade saber, its
thrusters adjusting from a the spiral motion of our ever-decreasing circles
to a straight line towards me.  "Now we can find out who really is better!"

 

                "To what end?" I asked.  "Is who's the better fighter all
that matters?  Why would someone create and train us just to fight each
other?  What purpose would it serve?"  I drew my beam saber in the Gundam's
left hand, and prepared to meet the Sirius' charge.  "Metis, melee combat!"

 

                Roger that.  Manoeuvre S-Epsilon.

 

                "Who cares?  If it's our purpose, what do their reasons
matter?"  Our MS clashed, and even though it took place in only a fraction
of a second, I could see it all clearly.  Pallas parried my beam saber
thrust with one end of her weapon, and made a follow-up strike towards my
MS' exposed right side.  I desperately pulled back to avoid being sliced in
half, but the tip of the blade still hit, cutting a gash down from my
Gundam's shoulder - it was all I could do to avoid a cockpit or reactor hit.
My body jolted from the impact, my helmet bouncing off the back wall of the
cockpit, and my vision blurred.

 

                The hit may not have been an instant kill, but it left me
vulnerable.  Pallas drew her blade back, preparing to finish me off by
thrusting it through either the reactor or cockpit, and hesitated for what
was only a second or so, but seemed far longer.

 

                In the instant before she could bring the blade down, a
stream of automatic fire shot by, forcing Pallas to pull back to avoid the
hit.  McDermott's Flame Gundam flew towards us, dodging shots from the Deneb
he had turned his back on as he approached.

 

                "Gold, get out of there!" He yelled.  "Back to the ship!
You too, Yamada!"

 

                I obeyed, and he turned, covering our retreat.   

 

*****

 

                The three of us managed to make it back to the Gallipoli,
but a cloud of gloom seemed to have settled in the cockpit of my damaged
Gundam, made worse by the headache and dizziness I was feeling.  It was the
first time I had taken part in a failed mission - our Gundams' retreat meant
that the Commonwealth forces had no superiority MS to counter the Sirius'
domination of the battlefield - but that was nothing compared to the
knowledge that the Sirius was being piloted by Pallas.  Moreso, there was
that instinctive urge to fight her that I had.  Rather than being something
small and deeply buried within my mind, it was right at the surface, a huge
wave of aggression and joy that threatened to wash over me and drag me away
from my memories, my reason, my love for my siblings, everything that told
me it wasn't right.  Judging by what Pallas had said, she probably felt the
same way - had she given into it?  And if she had, was it possible for her
to come back?  For a long while, I simply sat with the cockpit door open, my
mind seemingly unable to command my body to move.

 

                I'm sorry, Athene. Metis said.

 

                "None of this is your fault, Metis."

                

                Your reaction speeds in this battle exceeded those
previously recorded.  I was unable to perform adjustments to the Gundam's
movements in a timely manner.  I shall attempt to recalibrate the Gale's
configuration in accordance with the new data.

 

                "There was no way you could have known."

 

                I detected a surge in your brainwave and other biometric
measurements as you came into contact with the Sirius.  It is a curious
phenomenon.

 

                "Hey, Athene, you coming out of there?" Yamada asked.  I
didn't respond.  "Well, if you're not, do you mind if I join you in there?"
Without waiting for me to answer, he climbed into the cockpit and put his
hands on my shoulders.

 

                "Athene, I heard your conversation there.  The girl piloting
the Sirius - she's one of your sisters from the supersoldier project, right?
I know that can't be easy, but if there's any way I can help you, I promise
I will."

 

                "There's no way you could now how it felt!" I yelled at him,
a swirling mixture of emotions bursting out of me toward the nearest target.
"The feelings that came over me when I was fighting her!  I was. scared!"

 

                "Hey, being scared of her's nothing to be ashamed of.  Heck,
I still get scared every time I go into combat against ordinary scrubs, let
alone a supersoldier."

 

                "Wasn't afraid of her." I said.  "I was afraid that. I liked
it."  

 

                Yamada unsealed and took off my helmet so that he could look
me in the eye, his expression one of compassion and concern.  "Now that is
scary.  Come on, let's get out of here."

 

                He offered me my hand, but I shook my head and stood up,
walking out onto the gantry, where the gash down my Gundam's torso was
visible.  All of a sudden, the floor seemed to sway and my legs became
unable to support me.  I collapsed against the guardrail, my helmet flying
loose from my hand and drifting into a far corner of the hangar.

 

*****

Pallas

 

                My wingmen, Lieutenants Paul Matthews and Nicole Perez, were
in a good mood as we returned to the ship after the Commonwealth forces'
retreat.

 

                "Ha!  We sure showed those damn Gundams, didn't we, Nicole?"
Matthews said, grinning.

 

                "Yeah, don't get cocky just because you've got a fancy
yellow V-Fin on your forehead!"

 

                "You two shouldn't be getting cocky, either.  We're likely
to be facing them again."

 

                "Geez, lighten up, Pallas!  You kicked that Gundam's butt
out there, why are you trying to pour cold water on it?" Perez asked.  She
then turned to Matthews.  "Come on, let's head to the bar to celebrate."

 

                "You coming too, Pallas?"

 

                "I'll pass.  Alcohol inhibits combat performance."

 

                "Thought not."

 

                "Remember, regulations only allow you to consume two
standard drinks."

 

                "We'll keep it in mind."  Matthews said, and I noted that he
didn't say they'd actually obey the rule.  Well, I didn't really care what
they did anyway.  The pair headed off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

 

                Why would Athene be fighting for the Commonwealth?
Moreover, why did she seem surprised that I was with Lunapact, when we had
been raised from childhood to be soldiers for them?  She must have
remembered.  It didn't matter, I told myself.  No matter how close we may
have been, she was with the enemy, now, and my duty was to destroy her.
Besides, I had always known I was the better supersoldier, but wasn't this
the only way to conclusively prove it.

 

                Still, the feeling I got when I was fighting her was
exhilarating, moreso than anything I'd felt in my life.  I would have been
disappointed if our competition was settled after only one battle, so I felt
glad that she was still alive.

 

                Right now, though, I felt exhausted and my head hurt.  I
decided to go straight to my bunk.

 

*****

Shane

 

                "Will she be okay, doctor?" I asked.

 

                "The only physical injury I can detect is a minor concussion
from when her MS took that hit." Doctor Li replied.  "The exhaustion she's
feeling doesn't seem to be reflected in her biometrics.  My guess is that
it's an after-effect of what she experienced fighting the Sirius, although
it's possible that the concussion she received compounded it."

 

                While I was concerned for her, my real interest lay in the
fact that her fellow trainee just happened to have ended up in the other
side's hot new prototype mecha.  I was sure that it was far from a
coincidence.

 

*****

Earth

 

"Did I not tell you those two would put on a magnificent show?" the pale
young man in the military uniform asked.

 

"To the naked eye, that was most impressive."  The woman said.  "And the
data appears to back our theories up."

 

"It will, of course, require proper analysis to fully confirm." The older
man said.  "But yes, on the surface, this does appear to support the
resonance theory.  When the two of them were fighting one another, each of
them appeared to be enhancing the other's abilities."

 

"And therefore, you may have just witnessed the first manifestation
humanity's future."  The young man said.  "Remember this well, because the
fruits of your efforts are finally showing.  And to you, my beloved
siblings, thank you for that magnificent demonstration.  I shall see at
least one of you again, soon." 

 

 

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