SD Gundam Fan Fiction ❯ Gundam Force Saga ❯ The Driving Force ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 1: The Driving Force

Disclaimer: The usual. Why did MM.org eat my tabs? :< I want my tabs back..

"Hoo, Hazel? Can you hear me?"

There was auditory input; a voice, his processors clarified. A voice meant someone speaking, and he could understand the speech. The statement was a request; politeness dictated that he respond.

"Yes," Hazel said after a short pause.

The voice whooped in glee. "I'm glad! Welcome to the world of the living!"

Suddenly, visual input came in. Pre-existing knowledge informed him he was in a room, 90% probability that it was a laboratory, and a human was here. His mind made observations and correlations swiftly, and with the aid of his database, soon identified the human as Kao Lyn, Super Dimensional Guard robotocist extraordinaire.

"Everything working all right?" Kao Lyn asked a minute after he'd activated Hazel's optics.

"Yes," Hazel said, quicker this time.

"Good, very good!" the scientist cartwheeled and turned to a screen that happened to be nearby, checking its readouts. He hmmed and waved distractedly, leaving Hazel to observe in curiosity. Kao Lyn burst out suddenly, "Everything is normal!" and whooped.

When the Gundamusai had appeared in the Zakorellos' homeworld, they found themselves in a vast wasteland of stone and sheer metal. The only other thing within sensor range was a small base that Bandoleer identified as Dark Axis, and Captain, Zero, Bakunetsumaru, Shute and the Princess went to check it out.

The base was on the small side and almost entirely empty, and it did not take long before they ran into a robot almost certainly of the Dark Axis, and took him into custody.

...Not that he seemed at all adverse to the idea of coming back with them. He introduced himself as Rake Rosette, field commander of the local Dark Axis branch, and asked them where they were from, as they were obviously not from this planet. His friendly, open manner thew the explorers for a loop, and they opted to wait until returning to the Gundamusai before conducting any serious questioning.

Chief Haro was just as puzzled as the rest of them when the group returned. An empty base in the middle of a wasteland, cheerily manned by a single robot claiming to be the area's field commander, yet who also acted like he appreciated the S.D.G.'s presence? It was all very odd, and he was sure there was more to the story than this. For now, however, Rake would bunk with Bandoleer Bizack (who looked quite pleased to finally have some familiar company), and they would try to get more answers out of him later.

Over the next few days, as the S.D.G. searched for signs of life, the new Gundam was trained. General orientation, and some skills such as combat technique, were better learned rather than pre-programmed; indeed, some things couldn't be effectively pre-programmed at all. All appeared optimal, except for the Soul Drive's minimal output. He was told that his Soul Drive was an experimental construct, and based on what was known about it, no one knew when it would fully activate.

By now, Hazel had reached a break in his training and was free to explore the Gundamusai by himself. As he was already familiar with most parts of the vessel, he sought out the sections he hadn't seen yet.

He rounded a corner and abruptly found himself face-to-face with a robot he hadn't yet met. His mind processed the robot's appearance and came up with a likely identity, but the other spoke before he could.

"Wha.. Hey, you're that new Gundam!"

Hazel paused a moment, processing, then replied, "Affirmative. I am Hazel."

"Wow, aren't you a conversational master." The robot eyed him. "Well, you haven't blown up yet, I'll have to hand that to the Neotopian scientists."

"What?"

"..Nevermind. What're you going to be doing?"

"It is temporarily classified, and you lack the required clearance."

"A master of conversation and personable."

Hazel tilted his head to one side. "You are formerly of the Dark Axis, correct?"

"Tch. Duh. I'm Rake Rosette."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Rake Rosette," Hazel said politely.

Rake twitched and eyed him again. "You need to work on your conversational skills. And just call me Rake, all right?"

Hazel blinked. "I do? Alright."

"Oy, Rake, there you are," another Dark Axis robot had arrived. He eyed first Rake, then Hazel. "Making friends, eh?"

"Right, right. Hey, this is Hazel, that new Gundam." Rake guestured to Hazel, who nodded. "And this is Bandoleer Bizack."

"Ah. Hello."

Bandoleer leaned close to Hazel, giving him a look-over. "So you're their experiment in Soul Drives, eh?.. Not so impressive, but then again, you're still standing here. So they must have done something right."

Hazel gazed back blankly, unsure what to say, until his internal radio beeped, calling him to the bridge. "I must go; I am expected elsewhere."

"Totally needs conversing lessons," Rake muttered.

"Have fun, noob," Bandoleer said only somewhat unkindly.

And Hazel walked off.

The Soul Drive in Captain Gundam was not Neotopian-built; it had fallen into their hands, nearly literally, when a dimensional portal opened outside the city of Neotopia and deposited a pair of fighting robots. Unable to establish communication and lacking a sufficient combat force, the Neotopians deployed their police to fence in the fighters, but the battle was soon over anyway. The victor stood tall and faced the uncertain officers, and told them their world had been marked for invasion by the Dark Axis. If they were to have any chance of victory, they would need to build a robot using the Soul Drive -- and he held out a faintly glowing sphere for one of the officer GMs to take.

He then collapsed, dead.

Thus was formed the R&D group -- founding members including Kao Lyn and Bell Wood -- that would become the Super Dimensional Guard.

A few years after the first incident, the Winged Knight Zero first appeared in Neotopia. His arrival was detected by the S.D.G.'s then-primitive instruments, and they made brief contact before the Lacroan Knight vanished into hiding.

Zero's arrival reinforced the immediacy of the Dark Axis' threat; the S.D.G.'s efforts doubled and their luck held out. Construction was slow due to the experimental and unknown nature of much of what they were doing, but Captain Gundam was ready by the time the first wave of attacks had come. The rest, as they say, is history.

The ultimate origin of the Soul Drive was still unknown, beyond that a few Dark Axis robots had them as well. The S.D.G.'s excursions into the depths of the multiverse had not yet turned up another world that had the Soul Drive, and few of the former Dark Axis officers seemed interested in it, much less knew anything useful about it.

By building a copy of the Soul Drive, Kao Lyn hoped to understand by doing; but even then he was not sure if it was a perfect copy. He was at least sure that it wouldn't randomly destruct -- an issue with some of the earlier tests, before they'd gotten to the step of actually giving the test-Soul Drives to robots -- so it was safe to be around, but he just didn't know how it would activate. The best he could hope was for Hazel find his own trigger, as Shute was Captain's.

"What are they?" The first thing Hazel heard as he stepped onto the bridge was Bakunetsumaru, sounding slightly worried.

"Sensors indicate they're robots, but beyond that I can't tell..." RAIMI, A.I. navigator of the Gundamusai, said uncertainly.

"The Dark Axis?" Haro asked.

"I can't tell," RAIMI repeated.

Haro hmmed.

"Chief Haro," Hazel cut in, "Hazel Gundam reporting in."

Haro turned to him. "Ah, good, welcome. Everyone, this is Hazel Gundam."

Hazel nodded to the room. "Hello, everyone."

"Hazel!" Shute ran up to the Gundam and looked him up and down. "Welcome to the Gundam Force!" He stuck his hand out for a handshake, and was delighted when Hazel raised his own hand and shook. Shute grinned foolishly and Hazel looked slightly puzzled, but smiled anyway.

"Thank you. You are Shute, correct?"

Shute laughed. "You talk just like Captain did when I first met him."

Hazel blinked. "So I'm told."

"Welcome to the Gundam Force." Captain smiled.

"Thank you," Hazel said again.

"They're moving," Juli said suddenly, and everyone's attention was drawn to the screens. They saw a large grid showing a simplified version of the surrounding terrain, plus a pack of six yellow dots that were slowly moving toward the Gundamusai.

"How long before they reach us, RAIMI?" asked Captain.

RAIMI hmmed. "At their present speed and course, it will take six hours."

Haro clapped his hands together. "All right, everyone. Assuming they maintain their speed and course, we'll have company in six hours. We don't know if they're friend or foe, and they may consider us enemies, so we need to be ready for a possible fight."

Captain saluted. "Understood, Chief." He turned around, facing the rest of the team, and told them that they would be on-call, but otherwise free for the next five-point-five hours. He turned to Hazel, paused, and turned back to Haro.

Hazel immediately understood what Captain was uncertain about, and addressed Haro first. "Chief Haro, what are my orders?"

Haro considered a moment before replying. "You are not experienced enough to go into battle yet, so I want you to stay inside the Gundamusai. If we do get into a fight and the ship is damaged, I want you to help anyone who might have gotten caught in it."

"Yessir."

Hazel backtracked to the corridor where he met the two former-Axis robots. He wished to inform them of the current situation, but first he needed to find them. A quick check of the 'Musai's layout showed that the corridor was not far from their quarters, however, and he soon reached it. He knocked on the door and heard a muffled "Who's there?" from inside.

"Hazel," said Hazel.

"Oh, hey Hazel! What's shakin'?" The voice said. The door opened, revealing Rake Rosette standing immediately behind it. Bandoleer was further in the room, his attention on something else.

"Shakin'?.." Hazel echoed in slight confusion, but moved on without waiting for clarification to the reason he came. "Sensors indicate that a group of six robots is moving toward the Gundamusai, and if they hold their present speed and course they will be here in six hours. Their intentions are uncertain. I felt I should tell the two of you in case you did not know." He stopped to observe Rake's reaction.

It was not at all what he had calculated to be likely. He seemed to fluctuate between surprise and fear for several moments before settling on plain nervousness. "I-I see..." He glanced at Hazel and looked away quickly. "Do you know what robots they are?" he asked, speaking carefully.

Hazel paused, filing Rake's unexpected reaction away for later processing. "We do not. They're still outside of range of the sensors that could tell us that."

Rake still looked distinctly unsettled, and Hazel had to ask. "What is troubling you, Rake?"

"Nothing," the Axis robot said quickly, adopting a direct tone and expression.

Hazel paused again, uncertain what to say. Rake stared at him as if daring him to call his bluff, but looked away after a few seconds. The Gundam began to feel ill at ease. "Do you know who those robots might be?"

Rake was silent, and Hazel could not read him. Finally, he said, "Probably not."

Hazel felt a twinge of frustration. Would he not give a straight answer? "But you could help identify them?"

"I suppose..." Rake said reluctantly. He glanced to his roommate, who was eavesdropping while trying to look like he wasn't. "Bandoleer, you should come with me."

"Eh? Oh, why not," the other Axis officer shrugged and came over to the doorway. He wasn't adverse to a little walk.

The three of them set off to the bridge, Hazel in the lead.

Not a minute later, the hull beneath him was torn apart, the unmistakable heat of beam weaponry blasting past. Debris and robots crashed onto the rockland below.

Hazel was the first one up, shoving pieces of scrapped hull aside. He could hear the Gundamusai's alarms, both over his internal radio and emanating from the gaping hole in the ship above him, and he recalled his orders. "Rake, Bandoleer! Are you all right?"

A metallic snarl sounded behind him and he turned around, only to find himself face-to-face with a robot whose like he had never seen before. Quadroped and vaguely animal-formed, its monoeye glared at the Gundam and both barrels of its large back-mounted beam cannons were pointed right at him. But before it could take any action, Rake resurfaced with a loud crash, and it turned both its eye and its cannons to him.

Rake stared at the robot, who was equally silent, for a second. He then screamed and fired up his leg-jets, rising from the rubble with Bandoleer clutched in his talonesque feet. The unknown robot snarled again, backing up to adjust the angle of its cannons, Hazel seemingly forgotten.

Rake jetted upward blindly, and did not see the cannonfire that struck him from behind. Smoke obscured the former Axis robots, and Hazel cried out. They fell out of the smoke cloud, crashing back to the ground, and Hazel ran to them past the enemy robot, which shifted aside suddenly as if it had totally forgotten that the Gundam had been present.

"Rake! Bandoleer!" Hazel called out, just before reaching them.

"Nng.." Bandoleer got up, brushing some of the dust off his armor, and looked first at the Gundam. "Hazel--" and trailed off, noticing the angry quadroped pointing large guns at him. "N-nevermind..."

Hazel stood in front of him, facing the nearer quadroped -- he could not find the one that had shot Rake in the seconds he had to act. "I do not know your motives, but please, desist in your attack!"

The quadroped robot stared at him, its ear-spikes twitching. It suddenly moved aside, revealing another of its type, and a larger orange quadroped robot behind it that approached them.

The orange robot spoke. "We will destroy the Dark Axis and those who stand with them. Move aside now, or die."

Hazel stood his ground. "They are no longer with the Dark Axis! We, the Gundam Force, defeated them, and those who wanted to change their ways and start anew were allowed to join us!"

Beyond the quadropeds, he could hear the rest of the Force yelling, but he kept the majority of his attention on the glowering robots before him.

The orange robot was silent a minute, and the others arrived. It looked at them as they approached, not showing any emotion, and turned back to Hazel. "The Dark Axis came to us, promising to aid us in our war..." it growled. "Oh, they helped us. Until the edge of victory, when they swept down and attacked us all, stealing our comrades and enemies alike. YOU--" it took a step forward "--are using their ship, are protecting THEIR members. You may as well be Dark Axis, for all I care."

Shute sputtered. "We did defeat the Dark Axis! They invaded us, too, and we fought back!"

The robot regarded the human with implied skepticism.

"Believe what you will, but he speaks the truth!" said Bakunetsumaru.

"Indeed, the Dark Axis is no more," added Zero.

The robot hissed softly. "And how do we know you are not the next wave of conquerers? You are powerful enough if you did defeat the Dark Axis." It paused. "It does not matter. We will have our revenge." The two other quadropeds levelled their cannons at the two former Axis officers.

"Don't," said Hazel.

"Do not protect them," the orange robot said. "They will turn on you in the end."

"They won't," said Hazel.

The orange robot was silent.

"They are my friends, so I will protect them," Hazel added.

Everyone looked at Hazel with surprise. For the S.D.G, this Gundam, barely four days old, had decided that the two Dark Axis officers were his friends, and already he would do anything to protect them. For the assailants, this robot had clearly been deluded by their trickery.

"You are naive," the orange robot said.

"Perhaps," Hazel said, "But I do not believe that these two will betray us."

Bandoleer Bizack had been silent through the whole exchange so far, keeping as low a profile as he could. He definitely thought Hazel's trust was entirely undeserved and misplaced, but he was equally glad that the Gundam was stalling impending laser death. He glanced down at Rake, who had not yet moved since being shot down, and nudged him with a foot and a whisper. "Oy, Rake. Wake up." No response. He kicked the unconscious robot lightly. "Oy."

"Please, let these two go." Hazel said.

"You do not understand how it is to lose everything to betrayal."

Bandoleer stopped, unable to contain himself any longer. He turned to the orange robot. "Maybe not to betrayal, but I do know what it's like to lose it all in war." He stared at the quadropeds, his optic glowing with fierce emotion. "You and your stupid suffered-more-than-thou attitude, you're not the only ones who've lost, you know! The Dark Axis used a LOT of worlds, and in the end WE were the ones used and destroyed! I don't have anything more than you do!"

The assailants shifted and hissed angrily, and Bandoleer heard their cannons power-up. He looked down at the still-unconscious Rake, recalling their first conversation alone. They had caught each other up on what had happened after the S.D.G. had stolen the Zakorello Gate and effectively shut down Dark Axis transportation and communication; Rake had been stunned by the news of the Dark Axis' defeat but had agreed with Bandoleer in one thing...

"Both of you, no, all of you! You have things in common -- pride in yourself, a name that you defend, and comrades." Hazel's protest was tinged with desperation, but he persevered. "Embrace what you have in common! What is the purpose of revenge if you fight for it until you have lost everything else of value?"

The battlefield fell silent, except for the distant wail of the 'Musai's klaxons.

Zero broke the silence. "He is right.. Fixating so on a single goal can only lead to self-destruction." He shook his head, remembering Deathscythe.

The orange robot looked between Hazel, the rest of the Gundam Force, and settled its monoeyed stare on Bandoleer, who had gone back to trying to wake up Rake. "A truce, then. We will negotiate."

The Gundamusai floated overhead as the S.D.G. and the guerrilla force talked. Bandoleer and Rake were in the ship, Rake being looked over in the repair lab. The assailants would not permit the former-Axis officers to be present, and the two could use the repairs anyway.

The unit's leader, the orange robot, referred to himself only as LaGowe, and he was the one who told their story. Their world had been in the grasp of a terrible civil war ("Like Ark," Bakunetsumaru noted.) when the Dark Axis had arrived. Eager for an edge in the near-even conflict, LaGowe's faction gladly accepted an alliance, and their combined might drove their enemies to the brink of defeat.

It was not until their enemy's last stand that the Dark Axis showed its true colors, striking at both sides and carrying away any robot they could catch. The combatants were exhausted and the traitorous attack severely demoralized LaGowe's side. Those with the presence of mind to realize what had happened turned away from their long-time enemies and fired upon their former allies. Their strength was far greater than that of the Dark Axis, and they drove the pirates away quickly, but in the end their losses were devastating.

LaGowe and his unit of eight BuCue (Baku was momentarily confused by the near-identical pronunciation) followed the retreating Dark Axis forces back to their ship. LaGowe was not about to lose track of his quarry, and the unit boarded the ship, intending to take their revenge... But instead the ship cruised through a portal and into interdimensional space. The robots stayed low and hidden, unsure what was happening.

When the Musai arrived on the other side, LaGowe wasted no time; they did not know where they were, but their mission still stood and soon the Musai was in flames. The Dark Axis had greater forces on this world, though, and the unit retreated in favor of getting injured as little as possible until they knew how to get home.

They spent their time in guerrilla warfare, striking the Dark Axis whenever they had the chance. They were remarkably self-sufficient, and they interacted with the locals as little as possible. ("So there are local inhabitants," Captain noted.) Some time ago, the Dark Axis had pulled out almost entirely from this world; the LaGowe's unit had been caught offguard and did not have time to follow them. Angry at having lost their prey, they turned on the guardposts left behind, mercilessly stalking the robots manning them until there was only one left... The field commander, Rake Rosette.

Shute winced. Hazel looked away from LaGowe, who in turn stared at the Gundam expressionlessly.

"We had nearly finished our business here when you interfered." LaGowe concluded. Hazel looked back up, but said nothing.

Instead, Captain spoke. "Do you know how to return to your own world?"

"We do not. We intended to commandeer the ship and return that way."

"I see..."

"How did you sneak up on us like that?" Shute asked worriedly. "Our sensors said you were far away..."

One of the BuCue hissed amusedly. "This planet is riddled with tunnels. Many of them are shielded from external sensors."

"Oh," Shute said, wide-eyed.

Bakunetsumaru hmmed. "Have you had any news of what has become of your homeland?"

Several of the BuCue shifted, and one implied distinct uneasiness. LaGowe glanced at them and said, "We have not."

Baku and Zero sympathized; they were no strangers to how the robots must have felt. They related their own stories, from their history to the Gundam Force, to the defeat of the Dark Axis by their hands. LaGowe and the BuCue listened intently without interruption, and when they had finished, the BuCue looked expectantly at LaGowe.

The unit commander considered what he had learned. If they spoke the truth, they would make valuable allies in aiding his unit to return home, and in reconstructing the world once they got there. He would not trust them even as far as he could throw them, he assured himself; so could he safely take advantage of their assests without placing his unit or world in greater danger?

It was already clear that any alliance would have to be paid with the two Dark Axis officers. If they allied, he could not exact revenge against the two. If he did destroy them, these Gundams would probably not offer their help.

So the question was, which was more important to him, revenge for his planet, or aid for his planet?...

On the Gundamusai, Rake Rosette had finally roused. It was likely that it was only his uncommonly thick armor had saved him from worse, and Kao Lyn told him as much. Rake checked himself over, absorbed in his thoughts and largely ignoring Bandoleer, who had snapped back to pretending he didn't particularly care if Rake was in one piece or not. He knew about the negotiations occuring below, and quietly feared its outcome.

Kao Lyn suddenly loomed over Rake, startling him out of his melancholic thoughts. The scientist was smiling broadly, and said cheerfully, "Hoo, don't worry. The Gundam Force has talked its way out of tougher situations than this one~" and bounced away.

Rake watched the human and his antics for a moment before replying. "You don't know that LaGowe and his cronies like I do..." He shifted position a bit, eyeing the floor. "They won't stop until they've destroyed every Dark Axis robot there is." He pushed off of the table, landing on the floor and immediately leaning back against the table for support. "Ow. Slaggit."

Kao Lyn tsked. "Aiyaa, I didn't say you could move yet..." In a flash, he was by Rake's side. "And you need more faith in your new allies. I heard that Hazel held the attackers off long enough for the rest of the Gundam Force to convince them to negotiate. Hmm," the scientist poked Rake, who hissed softly and flinched away. "Ah, you'll be all right in time. Don't get into any fights for a while, eh?"

Rake pulled away. The squishy scientist's kindness was clashing with his fear in a way that was making him feel ill; he didn't think he could take much more of this. "Yeah, okay," he said without feeling.

"Oy, scientist, don't smother him," Bandoleer cut in.

Kao Lyn waved a hand dismissively but did not press the point, instead turning to a computer console and working on something there.

Rake glanced at Bandoleer, relieved. He supposed he would just have to wait for the results there. Maybe Bandoleer would help him escape if it turned unfavorable.

...Maybe.

Man, Rake hated waiting.

A/Ness. That took like... two months to write. D:

Poor Rake.

How is it? I've never written anything close to the scope I have in mind for this; prepare yourselves, this is going to be a long story. :3 I hope you like it, though, 'cause I do~