[FFML] Mobile Suit Gundam Storm, ch.8

[Andrew Dynon]

Alfred Castella sat on a leather chair in the large, darkened room.  The
room functioned as his house's information nexus - normally, feeds from
newsnets all across Earth and inhabited space would be showing on the
screens here, but at the moment, most of them were displaying footage from
the area of Moresby Station, streaming from the Commonwealth and Lunapact's
monitoring.  Naturally, these were not intended for civilian viewing, but
for the head of a major technology firm such as Castella Industries, that
barely registered as a concern.

 

As he waited for the battle to start, the sound of an old-style doorbell
rang out from one of the speakers. 

 

"Father, it's me." The sound of his daughter's voice came over the speaker.
"I realise you're busy at the moment, but I believe this is actually
something you might wish me to join you for."

 

"Then you may enter, Victoria."

 

Victoria entered the room, and sat down in another chair alongside her
father.  Her long tresses were black, today, and wrapped into a tight braid,
lending her countenance a gravity that her usual lighter colors, such as
blonde or pink, did not express so well.

 

"Hoping to see the results of one of your projects, father?" she smiled.

 

"I always try to keep up to date on my technology's field performance."

 

"But you have a particular piece of technology in mind here, don't you?"
Victoria asked, winking.  "Two of them, in fact.  Not exclusively yours, but
they're valuable enough for you to bury your ego and work with people whom
you would normally consider your rivals."

 

"Father, I shall say this:  As your daughter - by upbringing, although not
by birth - and as a Superior Human designed to be one of the leaders of the
evolved humanity, I wish to be a member of your inner circle."

 

                "Then, Victoria, welcome to the Forge."  Alfred Castella
allowed a slight smile to appear on his lips.  His daughter was finally
ready to embrace her destiny.

 

*****

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM STORM

A Fanfic by Andrew Dynon

Based on Mobile Suit Gundam by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yadate

 

Chapter 8: Promises in the Dark

*****

 

-Athene-

 

                The emotions that filled my mind as I ran through the
pre-flight checks were different than I had experienced before facing
Pallas.  Normally, I could calmly focus on the mission objectives.  Any
enemies I faced were targets or complications, to be dealt with in the most
efficient manner possible.  Even in the last battle, I hadn't known it was
Pallas in the Sirius' cockpit until I had engaged her.  Knowing that it
would happen beforehand threw everything out of kilter for me.

 

                On one hand, an awful feeling of wrongness weighed on my
mind.  The bond I shared with Pallas and Ares had been closer than those
with any of my other siblings had been, and the prospect of engaging her in
deadly battle was like ripping out my own heart.  And yet, we had always
been driven to prove ourselves against each other.  As a supersoldier, the
adrenaline rush that accompanied combat excited me, and Pallas was the
ultimate opponent, the one I would be forced to push myself to the limit to
defeat.  There was a side of me that anticipated, even craved that
sensation, and from what Pallas had said to me, a side of her that felt the
same way.  I clasped my hands to the sides of my head, struggling to clear
my thoughts and regain my focus.

 

                Athene, brainwave patterns indicate confusion and stress.
Metis told me.    

 

                "I'll be okay in a moment, Metis."

 

                Remember, mission objective is to ensure the Gallipoli's
safety until it is past the Lunapact attack vector.  Metis said.  Engaging
the Sirius is not a mission priority.

 

                "Thanks.  I'll focus on the task at hand."  The sense of
relief that the reminder brought was tempered by shame that I needed to be
reminded about our primary objective.  It was still likely that Pallas would
try to engage me, but perhaps it would be possible to talk to her, figure
out why she was doing this.  If we could both keep our desire for combat
under control. 

 

                Let's complete the mission together, my pilot.  Metis said,
her synthesised voice warm.

 

                "Roger that, Metis.  Athene Gold, Gale Gundam, launching!"

 

                "We're gonna hit 'em hard right at the start, people!"
Captain Monash ordered.  "Gundam flight, spearhead formation!"  McDermott,
Yamada and I took positions ahead of the Gallipoli, covered by the main
cannons.  Our MS were linked into the ship's computer system, ensuring that
we were not in front of the cannons when they fired.

 

                Pallas' now-familiar Sirius was there at the head of the
Lunapact attack, and as I expected, shifted its vector, looking to engage
me.

 

*****

Pallas

 

                Given our relative vectors, we would only have a short
window in which we could take down the enemy ship, so we needed to make the
most of that timeframe.  Still, it would be enough.  As we approached on our
intercept course, the enemy Gundams launched, flying ahead of the Gallipolli
to counterattack, and I manuvered toward Athene's Gundam, firing a volley of
white-hot energy blasts.  Athene managed to dodge aside, and close in on me,
the Gundam's beam rifle brought to bear but not yet firing.

 

                Inside my mind, things that were not quite words and not
quite images formed.

 

                Enemy.  Engage.  Dominate.  Destroy.  Another set of drives
struggled against the first set.  Sibling.  Ally.  Assist.  Protect.  I
focused on the first set of urges.  We were part of LunaPact.  Athene was
Commonwealth.  As a supersoldier, it was my duty to fight her. 

 

                "Pallas, I know you're feeling the urge to fight me."
Athene's voice came over the comms.  "Please, try and resist it."

 

                "Why should I?" I retorted.  "You're with the enemy,
remember?"  I closed in, activating the Sirius' double-bladed saber.  Athene
drew her beam saber as well, and we circled each other, just out of striking
range.  Like the last time we had fought, it seemed as though my senses and
reactions were sharper than ever.  Furthermore, I felt her emotional state,
primed for combat, just like myself.  The urge bubbled just beneath the
surface, and a few pricks would cause it to burst forth.  

 

                "You're feeling exactly the same way as me." I told her.
"You want to fight as badly as I do.  That's who we are.  Why be ashamed of
it?"  I sensed her searching for an answer, trying to fight the urge to do
battle.

 

                "After all, you always said that Ares and I were the best
challenges you were ever given.  Come on, let's experience that feeling
again."

 

                "No.  Pallas, this is wrong!"

 

                "What's wrong is that you're with the Commonwealth!  You
betrayed us all!"



"That's not true!" Athene screamed, her anger ripping a hole in the block
her mind had set up.  With that, the urge for battle that Athene had always
felt burst loose, and her Gundam thrust towards me, beam saber at the ready.

 

*****

 

                Alan McDermott listened to the pair's conversation over the
comms.

 

                "Ensign Gold, don't let her psych you out!  If that happens,
she's got you halfway beaten already!"  No reply came.  "Dammit, I don't
know if she even heard me.  Yamada, stick close to the ship!"  The Flame
Gundam laid down a burst of automatic fire from the Gallipoli's port bow,
attempting to deny the LunaPact mobile suits the chance to approach from
that angle. 

 

                "Gotcha, sir!"  A missile barrage from the lightning did the
same for the starboard side.  Between the two of them, three Regs were
blasted into space debris, and several more forced backward, but the pair of
white Denebs continued to approach.

                

                "Oh, boy." Shane sighed.  "You know how in all those mecha
shows the hero team all get personal enemies to fight one-on-one?  Well,
looks like we're getting our own personal nemeses to go with Athene's."

 

*****

 

                "Paul, I'll take the blue Gundam, you take the red one!"
Nicole Perez said.  Her Deneb circled around to Shane's left, trying to
expose the Lightning Gundam's flank and rear, Matthews fired a swarm of
countermissiles to block a barrage from the Flame Gundam, moving in to close
the distance and engage McDermott in melee.  

 

                "Okay, let's see what you're made of, Gundam." She said to
herself as she manuvered, looking for a clear shot on the blue Gundam.  Just
at the point where she had almost drawn a bead on it, it unleashed a burst
of shots from its own beam rifle.

 

                "Looks like I've got my own personal nemesis!" A voice came
over an open channel - it had to be the blue Gundam's pilot.  "Tell me - are
you blonde?  And do you wear a mask?"

 

                "What the-NO!"  Perez unleashed a burst of fire from her own
beam rifle, but the Gundam evaded the shots, zipping towards her as it drew
its beam saber.

 

                "So is that you're not blonde, or you don't wear a mask?
'cause if it's either one of those, it's still okay."

 

                "Neither!  And what's that got to do with anything?"  [i]He
sounds like some little twerp of a kid.  Well, he'll shut the hell up when
he gets a beam saber to the face.[/i]  She made a swing, but the Gundam
pilot parried, and for a moment the two MS were locked nearly faceplate to
faceplate.

 

                "Geez, some people have no respect for the classics.  But
hey, it looks like we're in supporting roles for our teammates over there,
anyway."

 

                "What the hell are you talking about?"  Perez made another
thrust, but the blue Gundam parried again and thrust away, behind her MS.
She spun her Deneb about, trying to spot where he had gone.

 

                "Oh, just a TV show I used to watch when I was a kid.
"Gunboy" or something.  Don't worry about it."

 

                Spotting the flare of the Gundam's thrusters, Perez turned
to pursue it.  Was this kid naturally talented at pissing people off, or did
he have to practice?

 

*****

 

                Victoria looked at the monitors, focusing on the clash
between the Gundam and Sirius, as they wove complex manuver patterns around
each other.

 

                "Father, if I am to be a part of this Forge organisation,
the first thing I need to know is what its purposes are."

 

                "The purpose of Forge is to move humanity beyond its current
limitations.  Since leaving the Earth failed to induce the evolutionary leap
some theorized it would, its founders concluded that we should not wait for
nature to take its - purely theoretical - course, and should spur the next
stage of humanity ourselves.  The supersoldiers you are watching battle each
other are the fruits of those efforts, like you, Victoria."

 

                "I am not the same as them, though.  Where they were
designed for combat potential, I was designed as a leader.  My enhancements
and education were geared to making me beautiful, charismatic, and
intelligent, so that I could easily make people follow me.  And that is why
I was raised as your own daughter."  

 

                "Of course.  I would accept only  the best as my child."

 

                "I'll always remember that, father."  Victoria smiled
sweetly.  "But I should like to move on to the matter at hand.  Can you
explain to me the intent behind giving each side in this conflict one of the
Gold generation supersoldiers, and arranging for them to battle each other?"

 

                "The aim of this experiment is to confirm what the
scientists who worked on this project call the "resonance phenomenon".
Simply put, it seems that when two or more supersoldiers are in close
proximity to one another, they may be able to push themselves beyond their
normal abilities.  There was some indication of this in training exercises,
but the only way to confirm it would be to analyse a real combat system."

 

                "And you determined that having them fight one another would
be the best way to replicate the effect."

 

                "It's not something that an ordinary opponent could bring
out in them.  But preliminary data from their first battle speaks for
itself.  For example, their reaction speed peaked at almost three times
faster than under lab conditions."

 

                "But the strange thing is that they both seem convinced
about which side they were raised to fight for."

 

                "Of course.  Our organisation has friends in high places
among both sides, after all.  They were raised in a base which could have
belonged to either.  Rather than creating a whole new set of memories, it's
far more efficient and effective to simply fill in the blanks."

 

                Victoria kept her voice level.  "I see, father.  I shall
observe the battle with you.  Although surely you hope neither of your
precious investments is irreversibly damaged?"

 

                "If we can confirm the resonance phenomenon, the risk is
worth it.  And if worst comes to worst, we have their genomes on file."

 

*****

 

                "Crossing main Lunapact vector now, captain!" Helmsman
Ricardo Singh reported.

 

                "Divert power away from the main cannons.  Use it for
verniers, port and starboard batteries and CIDS." Captain Monash ordered.
"ETA until we're clear of their attack vector?"

 

                "Approximately eight minutes, ma'am."

 

                "Pilots, move to guard the flanks and rear of the ship."

 

                "This is Flame Gundam.  Order acknowledged."

 

                "Lightning Gundam, order acknowledged."

 

                "Gale Gundam, do you copy?"

 

                No response.

 

                "Gale Gundam, orders are to move to defend the ship's sides
and rear.  Do you copy?"

 

*****

  

                Shane fired a volley of missiles at Perez's Deneb, intended
more as a distraction as he manuvered into position defending the ship's
flank than to damage her.  The Lightning's sensors indicated that the Gale
was still online and active, but Athene wasn't responding to communications.

 

                "Dammit, Athene, break off and get back here!" Shane said,
speaking more to himself than to her.

 

                "She must be too wrapped up in the fight to listen to
orders." McDermott said.  

 

                "We can't just leave her here!"

 

"I can go after her, but that'll leave you to defend the ship alone,
Yamada."

 

"I can handle it, sir."

 

"You'd better, because if you get killed I'm going to go to the afterlife
and kick your arse as soon as I'm done kicking Gold's.  Captain, permission
to follow and retrieve the Gale?"

 

"Permission granted, Lieutenant."

 

Laying down a barrage of covering fire in the direction of the Lunapact
forces, the Flame Gundam sped off in the direction of the battle between the
Gale Gundam and the Sirius.  For his part, Shane tried to assess the
situation.  A shift to defensive tactics would boost his own chances of
survival, but eschewing all offense would leave his enemies free to ignore
him and strafe the Gallipoli.  Well, being ridiculously overconfident in the
face of superior enemies was what he was best at, right?

 

"Hey, you two!  Looks like my friends have decided you're not worth their
time!  What do you say to a threesome?"  Oh god, if those are my last words,
I'm gonna end up the next viral vid sensation, aren't I?

 

*****

 

Athene

 

As I battled Pallas, I was aware of the friendly and enemy forces, but not
concerned by them - it was as if the rush of facing an opponent as skilled
as myself caused everything else to fade into the background, as once more,
our mobile suits danced around each other, around our saber slashes and
rifle shots, and around stray fire from elsewhere, revelling in the
unleashing of our potential.  The other voices I could hear on the comms
barely registered with me - the only thing that mattered to me was defeating
Pallas, and the only thing that mattered to her was beating me.

 

On the fringes of my senses, I noticed the approaching Flame Gundam,
registering it as an ally, and paid it no mind, as Pallas and I once again
hovered just out of beam saber strike range, scanning each other for any
momentary lapse in our defences.  The voice on the comms was present in the
back of my mind, but I paid it no heed.

 

.until I noticed that my ally had launched a volley of missiles directly at
us.  I pulled back, out of the path of the attack, as did Pallas, and the
missile volley passed harmlessly between us, but my shock at being attacked
by my ally had shaken me out of the mental zone I was in.

 

"Ensign Gold, get back to the ship NOW!  THAT'S AN ORDER!"

 

"Y-yes, sir!"

 

As I pulled away, I saw Pallas' Sirius doing the same.

 

*****

 

As I disembarked from the Gundam, I saw McDermott turn and head straight for
me, and got the my gut was hit by a sinking sensation that only an angry CO
could produce.   

 

"Ensign Gold, would you mind explaining to me exactly what the hell happened
out there?"

 

"I'm not exactly sure, sir."

 

"Well, from my perspective, it looked as though you got yourself so wrapped
up in fighting the Sirius' pilot that the captain's orders, and mine,
weren't even registering with you!"

 

"I'm sorry, sir."

 

"I'M NOT FINISHED!  As a result of that, I was forced to go after you,
leaving Yamada to defend the vessel alone, resulting in both him and the
Gallipoli being endangered!  So now tell me, what the hell happened?"

 

"Because I ignored orders, I endangered my squadron mate and the vessel,
sir."

 

"Gold, I'm aware that something seems to come over you when you fight that
other supersoldier.  Under normal circumstances, you'd never ignore orders
the way you did.  But however good you are, I'm not willing to have a
soldier who can't be relied upon by her squadron mates."

 

He drew a deep breath, hesitating just a little before he pronounced his
next sentence.

 

"Ensign Gold, until you are able to work properly within a team, you are
banned from engaging in combat operations."

 

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