Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Mobile Suit Gundam GGeneration: Dreams ❯ Chapter 12: Knight ( Chapter 12 )

Chapter 12: Knight

 

23:29 20th Apirl CY 089

 

“Is anyone there?”

 

“This is a general SOS.”

 

“I'm moving towards a shoal zone in an escape capsule.”

 

“The hatch to the capsule's been contorted. I can't open it from the inside. I'm trapped.”

 

“I can't tell how far I am from it but at my current speed, I think I might reach it in about a few days.”

 

“I have enough food, water and oxygen to last me for another five days, but I think I might hit something before then.”

 

“If anyone's listening…”

 

-----

 

08:23 21st April CY 089

 

“What's this?” Tyan glanced over what looked like a pilot roster.

 

“Our order and jobs for the next few weeks.” Wiz answered as he dug through his trunk, looking for his piloting suit, “Those are the people assigned to you.”

 

Tyan flipped over the personnel sheets and saw the young faces staring, and smiling, back at him. He knew that the EUF pilots can't just sit around while the York, Southampton and Shanghai were being repaired, but he had never expected to be given pilots to train. Reading through the training schedule he realised that it was all live-actual training, a term for training in the mobile suit or amour that you were assigned to during combat in space.

 

Tyan fell backwards onto his bunk, “Why isn't there simulator training?”

 

“Because all the other pilots are assigned to tactical, simulator and technical.” Sieg walked into the two-man room. He was the only one assigned to private quarters, which made Wiz and Tyan slightly miffed as they share the same rank.

 

“And let me guess,” Tyan sat back up again and threw the papers on to his desk, “We're the only ones experienced enough to provide these kids with the skills they need to fly.”

 

Sieg nodded and patted Wiz on his back as he left for his first session as an instructor. He pulled over the nearest chair and sat down facing Tyan.

 

“Look, I know you had that bad experience back then with your brother and her but you need to put that behind you. If you can lead a squad of Jegans during the battle I think you should have no problems with these guys. Plus, I thought you were over the whole ambush thing.”

 

Tyan looked more despondent when Sieg mentioned the bloody massacre they faced a while back. They still don't know who attacked them and what their motives were but when they had to desert from the EUF, there was no chance for them to investigate this matter further.

 

When Sieg read Tyan's report on one enemy unit's ability to use an afterimage effect, it reminded him of the F91 project that Zeon had been working on during the late days of the One Year War which was taken up again by Nord Industries in Orb when the war ended. Since then, there had been no information about what happened to the project.

 

“Alright,” Tyan stood up, “I'll do it. But don't expect too much. And you better be pulling your weight too!”

 

Sieg smiled at his comrade's change of attitude, “At least you and Wiz got some of the better pilots. I got all the pilots with the lowest simulator scores and need the most training.”

 

Tyan patted Sieg on the back and smiled, “Because our cute captain likes you. You have a crush on her, right?”

 

“WHA?!” Sieg's face became a shade of crimson. He slammed the quarter's door shut and moved towards Tyan menacingly, “Who told you? How did you find out?”

 

Tyan smiled weakly and started backing away from Sieg, “N-n-no one, I j-j-just made that up.”

 

“Is that so?” Sieg kept advancing on his friend, “And what gave you the idea of suddenly coming up with-”

 

Because she's gave you your own room and made you the leader of our squad, you brown noser!

 

“Oh, you did not just think that.” Sieg raised his fist.

 

“Damn you! This is why I hate our Newtype abilities!” Tyan cursed. He was now backed up against the wall and had nowhere to run to.

 

Two AEUG personnel who happened to pass the room at that moment heard a small yelp from it. They looked at each other, shrugged and walked on.

 

-----

 

10:23 21st April CY 089

 

“Is anyone there?”

 

“Please, if anyone is out there, please answer.”

 

“I'm moving dangerously close to a shoal zone.”

 

“This escape capsule won't be able to withstand being hit by a piece of debris.”

 

“Please. I am Ensign Karen Regent of the downed Oz Salamis cruiser Minor.”

 

“It was destroyed by a ZAFT patrol and I think there are other survivors, but I have yet to visually confirm any.”

 

“I don't mind who you are and who you are aligned with. Please, just help me.”

 

“I'm scared.”

 

-----

 

09:02 22nd April CY 089

 

Tyan faced a group of four pilots, each slightly younger than him. Being 28 years old means that you were the perfect age for piloting, and as the adage goes, dying too. One female and three males, all of different national descent. For some strange reason they were standing in height order, which amused him slightly since it was one of the most obvious ways of sucking up.

 

He rubbed his cheek where Sieg had punched him yesterday, had he not escaped quickly, he would not have been inspecting this group of trainees but inspecting the ceiling of the AEUG medical facility.

 

“So you're Alex Acroledosedes, Natalie Berstoka, Mahat Ingles and Peter Amble.” The pilots all gave a prompt `Sir!' when Tyan read out their names, “Alright. From this day forth, whenever you're with me, you will call me Needle one. Amble, Needle two; Berstoka, Needle three; Ingles, Needle four and Acrolede-Acrel-Alex, Needle five.”

 

Alex nodded while the other three pilots grinned at their embarrassed squad leader.

 

Tyan coughed and continued, “Since this is our first outing together, I have no idea about how good you are with your Zeta Plus C1s, apart from your 35 hours in the simulators and 10 hours in live-training, I also have no idea about each of your strengths and weaknesses aside from what is written on the reports. Therefore, this training session will concentrate on your flight techniques only. So when you climb into your C1s, you will find that I have uploaded a map. I want to see how fast you guys take to complete it. Any questions?”

 

Ingles raised his hand, “Um, sir,” he said timidly, “The briefing memo stated that we were to do some high level flight training exercises. Not just an assigned course.”

 

Tyan floated over to Ingles and backhanded him in the face, sending the man into an uncontrollable spin. Alex and Berstoka had to helped him back onto his feet.

 

“If you can't stop yourself from spinning in a weightless environment, how do you expect to go into combat with mobile suits? Mobile suits are extensions of your bodies and if you can't even control your own body in this weightless environment then how do you expect to fare in combat? Now anyone else want to question my methods? Or do you guys want to have more happy time with the back of my hand?”

 

Silence.

 

“Good. Needle two will be in command of the squad during exercises where I am the enemy. Let's get going.”

 

-----

 

10:56 23rd April CY 089

 

“I think I'm definitely getting closer to the shoal zone.”

 

“The debris are moving pretty fast.”

 

“I lost the capsule's propulsion. I think I was hit by something when the Minor exploded and can't manoeuvre.”

 

“I thought I heard some comm. chatter over the static, but I think that's me hallucinating.”

 

“If I'm not, please, answer.”

 

“I don't want to die out here alone.”

 

“Not alone like this.”

 

-----

 

11:02 23rd April CY 089

 

“Needle two, you're too slow around the third pass around the colony.” Tyan lectured angrily. He knew that these pilots had practically no experience but he had expected better. He tapped his foot angrily on the control pedal of his Re-GZ in BWS configuration. Thankfully, the York carried two back-up BWS packs around at all times to replace any lost in combat.

 

He watched the grey Zeta Plus C1s fly circles around the Lohar-1 colony. It's interior was like all the other colonies in the Earth Sphere: lush green patches of grass and trees coupled with grey areas of concrete and metal while dots of blue showed ponds and small lakes. The reflective `wings' of the colony reflected in the precious sunlight that was bounced in by a complicated series of mirrors placed in the shoal zone to imitate the days on Earth.

 

But in the distance was the dark Lohar-2 colony. Even though the colony spun around, creating the centrifuge effect, just like Lohar-1, its interior was dark and somewhat foreboding. No one on Lohar-1 had provided a satisfactory answer for the EUF officers as to why Lohar-2 was abandoned. Siegfried Reinable, appointed to be the official liaison between Captain Matsumoto and EUF officers with the AEUG council, said that the colony had to be abandoned due to G3 gas contamination during the One Year War. The AEUG council thought their equipment was able to clear the toxins but the plan did not work out, so the dead colony remains spinning beside her sparkling sister.

 

Tyan and the others have their doubts about Siegfried's explanation, but were ordered by Captain Matsumoto, Hutter and Nimri to drop the matter. Tyan chuckled at the absurdity of everything he's gone through during the past few weeks: destruction, betrayal and finding a new home. It felt like something only seen in a bad sci-fi television show or a third rate novel.

 

“Alright guys.” Tyan called out, “That's enough. Form up on me.”

 

The grey Zetas split from their circular route around the colony and moved behind the Re-GZ in a V formation.

 

“Good. I can see that you're obviously better than what I gave you credit for. Now let's see how good you guys are at keeping pace. I want you to keep a weapons lock to a variance of point-five for at least five seconds.” He heard groans and complaints that they were never going to catch him. Someone even mentioned that they were hungry.

 

These AEUG pilots lack discipline. He thought.

 

“Alright. Fine. If that's the way you want it, then go home. If you don't even try to catch me, then there's no point in you being pilots.” Tyan said, knowing full well that the four trainees had no choice but to go along with him. The groans stopped and “yes, sir” were heard from each of them.

 

“OK. You each get three minutes to complete the task. I'll treat anyone who manages to get me to lunch.” Shouts of enthusiasm came through Tyan's headset, “Needle two, you're up first. Give me a fifteen-second head start. Remember to keep your eyes on my trail. Ready? GO!”

 

The Re-GZ's verniers came to life and pushed to it into forwards towards the inner edge of the shoal zone. After 15 seconds, Peter Amble's C1 surged forwards after his instructor.

 

Tyan checked his rear camera and saw a small blue light trailing behind him. Even though the Re-GZ was technically a newer unit and had greater acceleration than the Zeta Plus C1, but in a real battle, speed meant nothing.

 

Let's see how Amble can handle sudden turns.

 

Slowing the Re-GZ, Tyan waited for Amble to slowly gain on him. When he saw that Amble was approximately 1km away, Tyan back flipped over the C1 and sped the other way, leaving Amble dumbstruck.

 

The next ten minutes was practically the same with Tyan using the same trick on Amble, Berstoka and Ingles. He had hoped that these pilots were able to develop some kind of countermeasure against his tactics but now all that's left was Acroledosedes. From the files, Alex had the lowest simulator scores out of the whole group.

 

Tyan started off in the same direction, pushing his machine to full thrust towards the inner edge of the shoal zone with Acroledosedes' C1 in pursuit. But this time, instead of a back flip, Tyan moved into the shoal zone, expecting Acroledosedes to follow where outside of the debris field and wait for him to come out. But to his surprise, Acroledosedes followed him in. Despite his scores, Tyan found that Acroledosedes' C1 manoeuvred through the field with ease, just like him.

 

Must have some sort of Newtype ability to pilot through this shit like that. Tyan thought as he dodged another chunk of metal, or what looked like metal since many pieces of debris in the Lohar shoal zone were dummy balloons made to look like debris. They are armed with sensitive bombs that were set to explode whenever something came into contact with them.

 

“Needle five, you're gonna have to do better than that if you want to catch me!” Tyan said as he begun to plunge in and out of the debris.

 

“We'll see.” Acroledosedes replied. He seemed to be able to follow Tyan's actions almost precisely, adjusting his course to avoid stray pieces of debris.

 

“Hah! It's still too early for yo-”

 

“Please help me.”

 

What? Tyan suddenly stopped his Re-GZ outside the shoal zone. Acroledosedes had to apply emergency reverse thrusters just to avoid the suddenly stationary blue mobile armour.

 

“Are you alright, sir?”

 

Tyan didn't hear what Alex said. He was straining his ears to hear the voice again. It couldn't be her. No way.

 

“Sir?”

 

She's dead. She died eight years ago. I saw it. I definitely saw it. That could not be her.

 

“Captain Wang?”

 

She can't be alive. No chance of that. She was incinerated in that inferno. God, why didn't I help her? Why did I send her instead of going myself? Why? She didn't need to be there!

 

“Sir, are you OK?”

 

Oh my God, what have I done? I'm sorry brother. I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. No, you can't go off like that. I know you hate me, but why? Tell me, WHY?!

 

“SIR!”

 

Tyan was shaken loose from his thoughts. Examining his surroundings quickly, he remembered that he was in his Re-GZ and found that his helmet was preventing him from breathing properly. Tearing it off, Tyan gasped at the recycled air in the cockpit. It smelt of sweat drenched socks.

 

“Yeah, I'm OK.” He replied.

 

“Umm, sir?”

 

“What?” It was then Tyan noticed a flashing red light below his arm; Acroledosedes had a positive lock on him.

 

Tyan laughed, “Nicely done.”

 

“Guess you'll be buying me lunch, right, sir?”

 

“Fine, whatever,” Tyan said as he pulled at his sealed collar, putting the voice out of his mind, “But nothing expensive. Alright, Needle Squad, RTB.”

 

-----

 

01:29 24th April CY 089

 

“I think I was hit by something just now.”

 

“My oxygen tank's leaking and it's pushing me towards the shoal zone at a faster rate than before.”

 

“According to my gauge, I have around four hours of oxygen left and plus my eight hour normal suit supply.”

 

-----

 

10:13 24th April CY 089

 

“This will be our last training session for this week until the twenty-ninth. So you guys go get a good rest after this.” Tyan said while checking the weapon control panel. Rather than the normal beam cannons on the wing of the Re-GZ, the mechanics mounted two normal machineguns with short-range communication lasers. The rest of Needle squad's C1s had their normal smart-guns mounted but also equipped with comm. lasers.

 

“Alright. This is not a live-fire exercise, but the if the sensors detect that you have been hit by the communications laser, your C1s will react in such a way as to mimic real battle damage. This includes the shocks of being hit. Don't forget that active sensors have been deactivated and you have limited ammo, just like a real battle with Minovsky particle interference. Any questions?”

 

“No, sir!”

 

Tapping on his control panel, Tyan did the final checks on all systems, “It's going to be four on one and if you are `destroyed', the your mobile suit's hydraulic system will shutdown until I send the signal to reactivate it. Oh, and before I forget, no transforming into mobile suit mode, understood? Let's get going!”

 

He stomped down on the acceleration pedal and the Re-GZ disappeared almost instantly from Needle squad's view.

 

“Where did he go?” Berstoka shouted.

 

“No idea.” Ingles answered, “But from what I saw, he headed towards 023 by 043. Needle two, orders?”

 

Amble sat there silently for a few seconds trying to decide what to do.

 

“Needle squad, standard vertical diamond formation. Heading 023 by 043. We'll wait for him to make the first move.”

 

“Roger!”

 

Without warning, Acroledosedes screamed.

 

“Needle 4, report!”

 

“My left vernier's been hit. Computer's calculated the angle of the attack. He's at 145 by 298!”

 

“How the hell did he get there? Everyone, cover Needle 4!”

 

“He's long gone by now!”

 

“Needle 4, can you continue?”

 

“Roger. Rerouting power from right vernier to compensate.”

 

“Fine. Needle squad, form up on me. Keep your eyes peeled.”

 

“Roger.”

 

-----

 

CY 079

 

Please, Tyan, Li, help me! I can't control it!

 

I'm sorry Delise. There's nothing I can do.

 

Stop joking, Tyan, I know you can do something to help. Tell me how to rewire the circuits or something.

 

Tyan, we got to try something.

 

Li, if there was something we can do then why do you think we're not doing that right now?

 

Tyan, Li, help me!

 

TYAN! HELP HER, DAMN IT!

 

There's nothing I can do.

 

Oh god, I'm approaching the surface. Oh god, Li, Tyan help me! Just do something! Somet-

 

No…No…No…

 

…

 

How dare you. How dare you.

 

I'm sorry Li. There was nothing I could do.

 

Of course not. You loved her but you knew she loved me.

 

What?

 

I know what you are like. You can't stand seeing me and her be happy, so you do the only thing that will satisfy your fed up ego by getting rid of her. If you can't have her then no one will, right?

 

That's preposterous! What the hell are you thinking?

 

No what the hell were you thinking. Forget this. I'm ashamed to be your brother. I feel dirty from just looking at you. From this day on, we don't know each other. You know what, I don't even want to see your face again. And God help me if I do.

 

Li, where are you going? No, don't leave. There was nothing I could do. There was really nothing I could do! Nothing…nothing…

 

Mother, father, I really didn't cause this. You have to believe me! I'll find Li, I promise. No, don't turn your back on me too. I didn't do any of this, I really didn't…It was an accident. There was nothing I could do…nothing…

 

-----

 

10:22 24th April CY 089

 

Tyan made several more hit-and-run attacks on the group before deciding to leave them for a while to allow them time to think of a better strategy.

 

“Man, these kids are no fun.” He muttered to himself. Checking his position according to the two colonies, he realised that he was near the same place where he heard that voice yesterday. Stopping the Re-GZ beside the edge of the shoal zone, he removed his helmet and tilted his head back on the cockpit chair's headrest. He tuned his comm. to all frequencies and just waited. Tyan had no idea what he was listening for but he waited nonetheless.

 

Two minutes passed and nothing but static came through the comm.

 

Must have been my imagination. I need to get more sleep. Tyan put his helmet back on and prepared to take out Needle squad in one go.

 

“Is anyone there?”

 

Tyan jerked his head up. Delise?

 

“Can anyone hear me?”

 

It can't be her.

 

“This is Ensign Karen Regent of the downed Oz Salamis cruiser Minor. I'm nearing the edge of a shoal zone. I only have three hours of oxygen left but I don't think that'll matter since I'll probably be hit by something before then.”

 

Delise…

 

“Please if anyone's out there, just answer me.”

 

Tapping on the comm. controls, Tyan opened a channel to Needle squad.

 

“Terminate exercise. I repeat, terminate the training exercise. Receiving distress call from a downed Oz officer from outside the shoal zone. Needle squad, report back to base.”

 

Flipping another switch, he opened a channel to Lohar-1 control.

 

“Lohar Control, this is Needle One. This is Needle One. Received distress signal from outside the shoal zone. Reported to be Oz officer. Requesting instructions. Subject sounds distressed. Will initiate communications.”

 

A second later, a voice spoke back to Tyan.

 

“Needle One, do not initiate contact with subject. I repeat, do not initiate contact with subject. A squad is being dispatched to your position. ETA two minutes. Remain where you are to continue to receive communications, but do not initiate contact.”

 

Tyan threw off his helmet again and tried to find the frequency that Karen was communicating on. Despite his orders, he was not going to just let her think that she was alone.

 

Come on, just say something. Let the computer get an accurate channel reading.

 

“I think my capsule will enter the shoal zone in less than ten minutes according to my visual observations. If anyone's out there, please, help me. I don't want to die alone out here.”

 

Come on, come on. Got it!

 

Picking up his helmet again, Tyan opened his mouth to say something but hesitated. Could this be a trap to lure out the AEUG?

 

No. Oz wouldn't do this. The Titans, maybe, but not Oz.

 

“Karen?” He said softly, trying not to alarm her.

 

“Hm? Is someone there?”

 

“Yes, I'm here.” Tyan said with enthusiasm, feeling like a knight rescuing a princess.

 

“Hello? I heard you. Please say something else.”

 

“I'm here, Karen. Can you hear me?”

 

“Hello? Hello? I definitely heard you. Please say something else. I know you're there! Please, say something else!”

 

“I'm here! I'm here!” Tyan fumbled with the comm. controls to recheck the frequencies. They matched, but his voice wasn't getting through to her, “Karen, can you hear me? If you can hear me, please give me some kind of sign.”

 

“I can't hear you anymore. Change your frequency to 12.43.224.4. I can't hear you! I can't see you but I think you should be near me. I'm in grid 23 of sector Alpha-Charlie. Please, I need help. Can you hear me? Can you hear me?”

 

”I CAN HEAR YOU. JUST HOLD ON!” Tyan shouted while knowing full well that his communications wasn't getting through to her. Tapping furiously on the internal programming keyboard, Tyan tried to find the cause of the sudden cut in the communications line.

 

Highly concentrated Minovsky particles? He read the report generated on his monitor, That stuff shouldn't exist naturally out here…

 

A bump on the Re-GZ's fuselage made Tyan jump. Three grey Zeta Plus C1s in mobile suit mode surrounded him, each carrying a black box rather than a beam smartgun. One of them had their hand placed on the wing of the Re-GZ.

 

Tyan had seen the Zeta series in mobile suit form once before but he had forgotten how different they looked from the standard Gundam models. Even though the original Zeta was called Zeta Gundam, it had a new transformable frame allowing the mobile suit to fully utilise its speed through a mobile armour mode. Of course this sacrificed a substantial amount of heavy armour around critical parts of the unit, but with almost twice the normal speed and acceleration of a mobile suit and firepower on par with some lower tier mobile armours, a good pilot will dispatch the enemy before they even manage to track the Zeta. The C1s were just mass production models of the original Zeta with lower speed, less firepower and minus a biosensor that was designed to amplify Newtype powers, a much more powerful version of the one installed in the Moebius Zero which only allowed the pilot to control the gunbarrels. Rumours say that the original Zeta Gundam was destroyed in World War III during its test flight, but no one has been able to confirm this.

 

“You won't get through to her, captain.” Tyan recognised the voice as Siegfried, the AUEG officer assigned to liase with the EUF officers, “These boxes contain highly concentrated Minovsky particles that are blocking outgoing communications.”

 

Tyan clenched his fists, “So are we just gonna leave her out there? Just let her be crushed by those rocks?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“That's it?” Tyan put both hands on the Re-GZ's controls, “Just yes? That's a human being out there! We can help her!”

 

“Actually, no we can't.” Siegfried said calmly, “At her current speed, she will enter the outer ring of the shoal zone in approximately ten minutes. If we follow the computer designated route, it will take at least fifteen minutes to get to where she is.”

 

“I can fly through this right now.” Tyan mumbled under his breath.

 

“Captain, you're not thinking rationally. Your Re-GZ, even in mobile suit mode, will not be able to get through the shoal zone. There's nothing we can do.”

 

Tyan gritted his teeth until his gums were bleeding from the pressure. It was the same as last time. There was nothing he could do. He wanted to be a knight in shining armour but instead all he could do is just sit and watch.

 

“I don't care.” He said, wrapping his hands around the controls tightly, “I'm going.”

 

He heard Siegfried sigh.

 

“Norris, Kuroi.” The other 2 C1s pulled out their long beam rifles from their back and aimed them at the Re-GZ.

 

Tyan let out a cold laugh, “So you're going to kill me just to stop me trying to save someone?”

 

“No.” Siegfried's constant monotone voice was seriously annoying Tyan, “Say that in the unlikely event that you do rescue the Oz officer and bring her back to Lohar, she will be a security risk as well as a liability. She can escape at any time and reveal secrets about Lohar to Oz. This is something that the council will not risk.”

 

“What about us? You let us in.” He spat.

 

“Admiral Bell trusted you. Her, on the other hand, we know nothing about. So please, Captain, don't do anything foolish.”

 

Tyan looked around and saw that the Zeta Plus C1s were in position to take him out no matter how he tried to move. Even ejecting the BWS to distract them wouldn't work. Mustering every ounce of his energy, he peeled his fingers away from the controls. Karen's voice was still on the comm.

 

“My position is grid 23 of sector Alpha-Charlie. I don't have long. Please, if you are there, I'm begging you for help.”

 

Tyan curled up into a foetal position in the cockpit, pushing his face into his hands. It was exactly like last time.

 

-----

 

10:31 24th April CY 089

 

“One twenty before entry.” Siegfried's voice seemed to echo around Tyan's cockpit. Karen seemed to have resigned herself to her fate and had fell silent for the past eight minutes. Suddenly her voice came back on the comm.

 

“If you're there, I'm sure you must have your reasons for not communicating with me. I'm sure I sounded like such a coward to you even though Oz officers are supposed to put on a brave face even at the end. I'm not blaming you for not coming to rescue me. I really don't have anyone to blame apart from myself for joining the Oz Spacy. I could have stayed on Earth and raised a family but instead I joined the military, just to spite my family. Great life, eh?”

 

“Well basically, what I want to say is that I enjoyed life even though I'm going out like this. There's so many things I want to do, but I guess these things just happen. If you are still out there, I don't want you to feel guilty about not saying anything. But I want you to do me a favour. Tell my parents that I died when my ship, the Minor, sunk, OK? I don't want them to know that I spent my last moments begging for someone to come and save me. I want them to be proud of me.”

 

“So if you're still listening, yeah. Thanks.”

 

“I think I'm into the shoal zone now. God, there's lots of debris here. Can't see whether one's gonna hit me but you never know. Haha. Well I suppose this is goodbye. Just tell my parents that I died on the Minor. The Minor.”

 

The transmission cut out and was replaced with static. The two Zeta Plus C1s lowered their weapons, transformed into MA mode and flew back towards Lohar-1.

 

Siegfried's C1 tapped Tyan's Re-GZ's wing.

 

“You can stay here for a while. I'll tell control to expect you back later.” He transformed his C1 and followed the other two back to base.

 

Swallowing hard to keep back his tears, Tyan saluted at Karen as he vowed to complete her request.

 

-----

 

14:21 24th April CY 089

 

Wandering down the long corridors of the AEUG barracks, Tyan managed to find his way back to his quarters. At the door, he heard Sieg's voice filter through. It sounded like he was reading out loud again. The habit annoyed Tyan no end, but Sieg's soothing reading voice always made all who listened feel relaxed. Instead of just slamming open the door, as he was originally planning to do, he leaned against the wall and listened.

 

“Newtypes, although advanced, will face trials that Oldtypes do not face. Their greater integration into their surroundings allows them to feel the pain of others while amplifying theirs. The life of Newtypes will most probably be one marred with tragedy, as did all newly evolved life forms on this planet.”

 

“In a sense I am saddened by this and personally wish that I am wrong. But transition between Oldtypes and Newtypes will not be simple. The only way that a Newtype can survive is, to be strong both physically and mentally in order to overcome the difficulties that they face in life such as the hardships of transition. But ultimately, I believe that even though a Newtype will face these problems again and again, the gain from their empathic abilities will greatly outweigh those hardships. To be with other Newtypes and to share in their pain and their happiness openly will make them stronger, if not then at least no weaker than they were.”

 

Even though Tyan had only read Deikun's famous “Mankind's Frontier” once, he always thought Deikun as a fool regarding the notion of Newtypes as the inheritors of the future; Tyan only has to look at himself to prove that theory wrong. He hated being a Newtype. He never wanted to be a Newtype or as Zeon famously proclaimed “the saviours of mankind”. But life is never easy and he supposed that being a Newtype was punishment for his sins.

 

“Are you gonna stand out there all day or are you going to come into your own room?” Sieg said, opening the door.

Smiling, Tyan walked in and fell straight onto his bunk.

 

“You and Wiz have been assigned your own private quarters.” Sieg sat back down by the desk and picked up the tattered brown covered book.

 

“Sieg,” Tyan said drowsily. Sieg acknowledged with an `Hm', “I don't think Siegfried's telling us the truth about Lohar-2.”

 

Sieg gave another `hm'.

 

“It's just a feeling. It makes you wonder whether the AEUG is as great as Admiral Bell makes them out to be.” He flipped over on the bunk to face the wall.

 

`Hm'.

 

“I feel sorry for Karen. She sounded so much like Delise. I just wish I knew whether Li is still alive.”

 

Sieg closed the book with a snap and stood up to leave, “I'll let you rest. There's a senior officer's briefing tomorrow at oh-eight hundred hours. Don't be late.” As he opened the door, he turned back to Tyan, “Just so you know, Wiz said the same thing this morning. And I agree with both of you.”

 

The door clicked shut, leaving Tyan to his thoughts.

 

-----

 

21:43 24th April CY 089

 

Orders were being shouted everywhere on the bridge of the Raw. When you look on the outside, the ship looked no different from the three standard Saradan-Class carriers in Neo Zeon's arsenal. Its distinctive red paint scheme, sleek design and pointed bow had similar designs as the original Gwazine that the Zabis used as their command ships during the One Year War. However, on the inside, the Raw is heavily modified in the sense that its bridge spanned 2 decks, an enlarged mobile suit hangar which could accommodate up to 15-20 mobile suits and increased power output to the standard Saradan-Class. However with this new power meant that the engine size had to be greatly reduced.

 

That didn't matter to Nicholas Fin. As long as the Raw was able to keep up with Project Angel, none of that would mean anything if Project Angel were destroyed as the Raw was acting as its external brain. But chances of that happening now were near to none. If anyone were to attack Project Angel, they would be facing the wrath of half the Neo Zeon fleet. Comprised of 20 Musai Kai-Class light cruisers, 10 Endra-Class cruisers, 5 Gwanban-Class battleships and 2 Saradan-Class carriers, including the Raw, with over 190 mobile suits. The rest of the fleet comprised of mainly Musai Kai-Class and Endras-Class with the remaining Saradan-Class in command, which has another 200 mobile suits, were following the slow moving Axis asteroid. To the casual observer, this number of military hardware is extremely impressive, but considering that during the One Year War, nearly two-thirds of Zeon's total military power left with the resource rich Axis asteroid, their numbers could have been greater.

 

Standing over the targeting control officer, Joseph Fin gave very specific instructions to the female officer, trying to make sure that the area of damage was as large as possible. Adun Weich was on the other side of the bridge speaking with the power regulator overseers.

 

Looking around, Nicholas turned around and walked towards the captain's chair. In it, sat Sophia Cognant. He had always thought that Neo Zeon being lead by a 20-year old was a bad idea, but it didn't matter right now since in the grand scheme of things, it might work to his advantage. Beside her, stood a stern Tai Yang Long, the newly promoted Major who was assigned to be her personal guardian. Since a man of 26 becoming a Major in Zeon military history was practically unheard of, rumours and gossip began to spread around Neo Zeon. Some say that she had fallen for Tai while others say that he's manipulating her. Nicholas knew that the second case wasn't true because he had worked with Tai during the early days of Neo Zeon and found him to be excessively honourable and gentleman like.

 

Falling for someone like him might not be good. Nicholas thought as he approached Sophia.

 

Don't worry brother, we'll figure out something. He heard Joseph's voice in his head.

 

We'll see. He straightened and saluted at the major, “Milady, the Raw and Project Angel will reach the Earth Sphere in three days. And with Axis' current speed, it will enter the Earth Sphere approximately three days after our arrival. I have no doubt that the plan will work.”

 

Sophia smiled at Nicholas' courteous words, “Thank you Nicholas. Please give my thanks to all who made this day possible so soon.”

 

“I will, milady.”

 

“I have a meeting tomorrow with the senior staff on the Jaw,” She stood up and motioned to Tai to follow her, “Goodnight everyone.”

 

Nicholas stood to attention and saluted her while shouting, “Her excellency is leaving the bridge!”

 

The entire bridge crew stopped what they were doing immediately and stood to attention, saluting her while she left.

 

Once the door to the main bridge closed, Sophia heaved a sigh of relief.

 

“You shouldn't show so much of your kind side to the troops, Lady Sophia.” Tai commented.

 

Sophia gave him her usual smile and the two of them grabbed hold of the nearest handle on the wall and floated down the tight corridors of the Raw.

 

After a minute of silence, Tai spoke up, “Lady, may I speak freely?”

 

She turned around and looked at Tai, puzzled. She had always allowed him to speak freely in front of her ever since she promoted him to major and had him become her personal bodyguard, “What is it?”

 

“Well,” He looked around the walls and saw that there were no cameras or listening devices around and planted his feet down on the ground, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

 

Seeing that he stopped, Sophia landed and walked back to him, “About this mission?”

 

“No, about those two. The Fins.”

 

“Is this your personal intuition or your Newtype powers talking?” She asked.

 

Tai looked at her face and realised it was a mistake to have said anything. He dipped his head and tried not to look her in the eye.

 

“No. It's that I fear for your safety, Lady Sophia. Our records say that they were war orphans but there was nothing else on them. Nothing about their biological parents or their past history before the war.” He looked up again and found that she smiling much more radiantly than usual. She took his hands and held them close to her.

 

“Thank you for worrying about me.” Sophia said softly, “But you do not have to worry about those two. I trust them. Like I trust you. Go get some sleep. I know you are tired from taking care of me day in day out. And stop calling me Lady Sophia, just Sophia will do.”

 

“Thank you…Sophia.” Tai said, trying to forget the formalities and his concerns regarding her, but the Fins remained him his mind.