Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ Mobile Suit Gundam: Short Stories ❯ Loum ( Chapter 1 )

I don't like this ship. The quarters are cramped, the food tastes like ass and the people are rude. When I first boarded the Kanon I knew that this ship would be the death of me. The Salamis-class cruisers were built not for comfort but for military efficiency. The ship's design is essentially a floating coffin. One small explosion anywhere on the ship could mean instant death. Being sucked out into space isn't how I envisaged my end. I always imagined that I would die in bed, surrounded by family. Having the blood boiled out of my eyes makes, well, my blood boil. I guess one can't have everything he wants.

I can see explosions in the distance behind the remained of Side 5. Probably the rest of the seventh expeditionary fleet getting wiped out by that thing. How could the Intelligence Agency not have known that Zeon bastards had those giants? The Kanon and the rest of the seventh fleet had been outfitted for anti-ship not anti-air. I even complained to the logistics division at Luna II that we needed to load more anti-air ammunition but they just laughed at me and just loaded more ship-to-ship missiles and mega-particle cannon cartridges. Guess being an executive officer for a ship that isn't a squadron lead means that your opinions don't mean squat. I suppose that none of that really matters now. The bridge is mostly destroyed and everything is dark. Nothing has moved since one of those green robots fired it's bazooka into the Kanon's midriff. I think the pressure explosion that ripped open the bridge door was caused by a ruptured mega-particle cartridge.

Huh, there goes another one of Zeon's monsters. It's fast for its size. Oh, and there goes a few Toriares fighters after it. Damn this crack in my helmet. I wish I could take it off to see what is going on outside. But the vacuum will kill me. I have three more minutes of oxygen left according to the meter. It would have lasted longer but the crack in my helmet is causing the my air to leak out. That's right, it's my air. The air is my final possession and I would kill anyone who would take it from me.

I grew up in the industrial district of Side 1. I never had much and if I wanted anything, I would have taken it from them. Being a delinquent and dropping out of high didn't help me. Eventually I was caught and jailed for petty theft and sentenced for three years in jail. Funnily enough, in the first month, a Federation recruiter found me and offered me the naval academy. You see, I'm not dumb. Rather, my test scores were in the top tenth percentile. I was like the Captain Kirk of the colonies. The academy was the best thing that happened to me. Naval tactics intrigued me and I engrossed myself in space combat. Being a petty thug out on the street slipped into my past and I climbed up the rank ladder. However, my lone-wolf ways and aggressive manners stayed with me. I was assigned from ship to ship, but I never bonded with any of the crew. They said it was because they felt that I was going to be their superior sometime in the future but I knew that they were scared of me. I boarded the Kanon a week ago as its new XO, replacing the old XO after he suffered a sudden case of alcohol related death. I wanted this ship to be different to my previous postings; I wanted to get to know the people on this ship of death but none of that really matters now. They're most probably dead.

I can feel the air inside my helmet getting thinner and my breathing is getting shallower. I knew that this ship was probably going to be the death of me and I was right. I was wrong during the early stages of my life and after I joined the academy I realised that I was getting things right more and more. I began hating being right again and again. You could say that I began hating myself in the process. I'm going to die while hating myself.

I can see one of the remaining monitors showing the Kanon's current trajectory would sling it straight into the moon. But in another minute or so I'll be unconscious and after that I'll be dead. I'm going to be haunting this ship with the rest of crewmates. Guess I'll be getting to know the crew after all…