MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM
IMPERIUM

Created by:
Dilis, Miriya, Teira, and Yo-wan

Written by:
Miriya

Edited by:
Teira

Special thanks to our test readers:
Q, Rosy, and Liz

Based on and inspired by "Mobile Suit Gundam" created by:
Yoshiyuki Tomino

Foreword:

Mobile Suit Gundam: Imperium is a work of fanfiction produced by a team of highly opinionated and visionary individuals. After many hours of research and debate on philosophy, mythology, and politics we have confidently crafted a story which we believe raises interesting points and issues for discussion about the real world and the people living within it.

The world of the Imperium is one of harsh strife. Humanity has expanded from Earth and colonised the entire solar system. We now find ourselves in a time of great turmoil as the Seat of the Imperium, Earth, seems to be losing its iron grip on the rest of the colonised worlds as they begin to rise up in opposition to their imperialistic rule.

Imperium is a story designed to make you, as its reader, think and consider very carefully the lengths you'd go to for what you believe is right. It is set to challenge your morals and your intellect. We hope you will analyse each scene with the precision we took in crafting them. There is a lot here for anyone who can find it. And we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it.

Disclaimer:

This story is rated M because it is intended for mature readers.

Mobile Suit Gundam and all associated content is property of their respective owners.

This story takes place in an original setting created in collaboration by the persons listed above. All original content, characters, locations, ships, mobile suits, etc, unless otherwise stated, belong to us.

The Gundam featured on the cover is the ZGMF-X71T Arch Destiny Gundam created by WackyModder84, and drawn by Naharl Shiinen. This mobile suit is featured in our story as the G-X-10 Gundam Hecate and slightly modified to fit the setting since this isn't Gundam SEED. We are using it because it is awesome and because it has inspired much of the mobile suit technology featured in this story, so it deserves a place in it, and recognition.

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." -John F. Kennedy

Prologue

Somewhere in deep space between Earth and Venus a mobile suit's rifle was pointed at the bridge of the commercial cargo vessel while it was being ordered to stop. The pilot considered the vessel carefully, calculatingly, it posed no threat whatsoever. The solution would be as simple as the pilot could make it, a display of overwhelming force which would terrorize the crew into total submission.

As emerald eyes narrowed in the thin slit of a visor, target tracking designations were being placed upon each crew member who could be seen on the display. Looking, waiting, and hoping for any hint of anything which would offer just half an excuse to pull the trigger. Lips curved into a small smile which vanished as quickly as it appeared. Finally another finger reached for another button on the hand controls and pressed down.

With a cold, monotonous, and authoritative tone of voice the pilot began to address the crew over the radio, "This is Dame Alexis Lockheart. In the name of His Highness Prince Leon Fortier, I command you to surrender and prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply, I will destroy you."

At the same time, aboard the ship in question the Captain stood up and glared fearfully at the mobile suit which had its large caliber rifle pointed at his bridge. He looked to his first officer and pointed back at the door leading off the bridge. "You know what to do. We'll stall as long as we can!"

The man looked fearfully at his captain, then quickly nodded. The Captain made a show of barking orders to the rest of his bridge crew before picking up a phone from his command console to address the mobile suit pilot before him.

"Your Ladyship. I am the Captain of this vessel. We will surrender and comply. But please be aware that we are carrying vital cargo to help alleviate a Humanitarian crisis on-"

He was cut off by the loud noise of a mobile suit's fist slamming the top of the bridge. A moment later the loudspeakers on the bridge came alive with her voice once again. "Don't take me for a fool," said said calmly.

With that, she drew back the arm of her mobile suit and prepared to ram her fist through the window of the bridge. Her eyes scanned the display and zoomed in towards the Captain's face as his officers started fleeing for the exit in what she knew would be a vain attempt to prolong their insignificant lives.

"Alexis! Stop it at once!" Came a loud command over her radio that stopped the mobile suit's fist a mere meter from impact. "I want as much of the crew alive as possible for questioning, do you understand?"

Alexis sat back in her seat as the Prince's voice filled her ears. "Yes Your Highness. As you wish."

BC-11
I.S.S. Scorpio
Zodiac Class Battlecruiser
Crew Compliment: 800

The Zodiac class battlecruiser represents the pinnacle of Terran engineering and the military might of the Earth Sphere's Imperium. Each is capable of supporting a full mobile suit battalion.

Armed with 6 massive railgun turrets and dozens of close in weapon systems for support. They also carry a classified number of nuclear missiles.

Prince Leon set down the reports he was reading over from the investigation of the cargo ship they had seized. It wasn't so much the new evidence they had gathered. But rather the complete lack of it which troubled his thoughts. The ship's computers had been wiped clean. Hard drives self destructed. There was also the suicide of several of the passengers and officers. That was what troubled him the most. Whatever they were protecting was big.

"Shall I begin interrogating the people we have in custody?" Alexis asked him flatly.

Leon took a deep breath and sighed, "I don't think that would be wise."

"Interrogations might reveal an important clue to something else. We should at least try," replied Alexis.

Leon looked up across his desk at the young woman before him. She glared at him with those cold emerald eyes and he had no idea what she was thinking, or what she might do if she didn't feel like she was going to get her way.

She was a young woman in her early twenties. Her royal golden hair flowed freely down to her lower back and over her shoulders. She had a slender athletic build which made her look very much like the elegant women one might expect to find at court rather than here aboard one of the Imperium's twelve largest warships.

Looking into her eyes, the young Prince had to keep reminding himself who he was dealing with here. Her beautiful looks were a carefully crafted and well maintained facade. She was quite possibly the single most dangerous person he had ever known.

"You misunderstand. I do want them interrogated. But I don't want you to handle it personally. You may oversee the interrogations if you wish. But you are not to lay a hand on any of the prisoners," Leon said sternly.

"This is about what happened before isn't it? Why do you think I care what your brothers have to say about our methods? They work. Until they do something of significance in their pointless lives they're in no position to judge me." She stated coldly, "Or you," she added almost as an afterthought.

Leon took a nervous breath, the cold tone she took with him was sending chills through his body, "I'm sorry, I have to say no. The last thing I need is another incident going on the record. My siblings don't need anymore ammunition to take to my father about us. You don't want that either. Correct?"

"No, Your Highness. I don't want that. I will obey," she said while exiting the room.

Striding confidently through the interior of the ship were two silver haired knights, a man and a young woman. The man's sleek mane reached his well defined cheekbones and framed his face, the young woman's hair flowed elegantly behind her like a cape reaching down to her knees. They shared gleaming amethyst eyes and a fair skin complexion; while he towered above her by a full head and shoulders.

The interior of the Scorpio was brightly lit and sterile. Paint was applied meticulously and with immaculate attention to detail. Everything from the floor signage, to the bulkheads themselves was lovingly coated. The pride and joy that workers put into every detail of the ship they built radiated from each brush stroke, as well as the sweat and enterprise becoming evident within the care and maintenance of every nook and cranny of the vessel by its crew.

The young woman started speaking to break the silence between them as they moved through the ship, "I ran into Alexis in the locker room earlier… That girl has issues. She walks into a room and there's this sudden chill, and everyone just can't seem to get out fast enough. I even see it in the mess hall, there's like at least five meters between her and anyone else. What is up with that?"

"It's because she's a psychopath," he answered nonchalantly, "It's an actual phenomenon around people like her. Some kind of primal instinct. Interestingly, women seem to sense it more often than men do. Make of that what you will."

"If that's true and not you just not liking her. How did she even get here?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, "She's a Knight of the North Star. We don't get to question it. Psychotic or not. She's a skilled pilot. If we respect nothing else about her, respect that at least."

"I don't get it. Why did the Prince have to pick this ship? As if we didn't have enough problems before His Highness and his attack dog came aboard!"

Dilis Vex looked down at his younger sister Jaden with a scrutinizing gaze that had her recoil her head and raise her eyebrows curiously. "What's that look for big bro?"

"I simply find it amazing that you would be the one to complain about 'all the problems' we have aboard this ship without taking a moment to give yourself any credit for the number of them which you yourself have caused or inspired," he said to her in a deadpan tone.

"I'm just humble like that!" she answered cheerfully.

Dilis instantly slapped his palm to his face with a loud groan. "You're a Knight… When are you going to ever start acting like it?"

With that said, Dilis began walking briskly down the hall of the ship in a vain attempt to leave his younger sister behind. Unfortunately for him, she was quick on her feet and managed to catch up and match his stride. Wearing a joyful expression she looked up at her older brother and started speaking in her brightest, most cheery tone of voice, "What's bugging ya? You're being an even bigger stick in the mud than usual. At this point I'd have to call you a 'log' in the mud!"

"Mostly things you don't need to be concerned with. Except my burning desire to see you take your position here more seriously. If you have nothing to do I'll be happy to give you something to do. Something which you probably won't like. And if you bitch and moan too much about it, I'll give you something else to do you'll like even less. So I suggest you go and at least try to look busy!"

Jaden started laughing hysterically at Dilis, "Ah ha ha! So a Prince takes over your command and now all you can do is boss around your little sister? Oh how the mighty have fallen!"

"That's it!" he yelled as he stopped dead in his tracks and turned to fully face her. "You're going to mop up the flight deck! Get to it!"

"Yes My Lord!" she said while coming to attention and giving him a knightly salute with a fist over her heart. "Which flight deck shall I mop up? Port or starboard?" she asked cheerfully.

"Both. And if I hear a single complaint, or of a single incident, you're going EVA to pick micrometeorites out of the hull!"

"Understood! I'm sure you'll get everything worked out."

Dilis maintained his stiff and rigid posture as he walked into the brig. His head proud and high as he confidently approached the source of one of his three largest frustrations in life. The first of which was his younger sister. The second being the 'attack dog' of the third problem. Dilis stood beside the blonde woman and folded his arms across his chest. Cleansing his visage of all emotion to project the most authoritative aura he could muster. Alexis didn't even acknowledge his presence, but he wasn't putting on the show for her benefit. It was mostly to emphasise to his subordinates in the brig who their true commander is.

The Knight-Commander then turned his attention to the prison cell ahead of them, inside the small rectangular room was one of the marines staring down a crew member of the cargo vessel they intercepted. The young man was sweating bullets and his shirt was completely soaked. His hair was wet and spiky, as if he'd just emerged from the shower.

"Tell me about your passengers. You must know something about them!" the marine demanded in a forceful tone that left no doubt about how razor thin his patience was.

"I said I don't know anything alright! Those guys they kept to themselves. They didn't talk to any of the crew! And we didn't want to talk to any of them! Those guys were fucking creepy!"

"That's the second time you've said that. Tell me, how exactly were they creepy? Be specific!"

"Look, it's just a stupid rumor, but one crew member jumped ship at the Warsaw colony. Before he left, he said he saw one of them summon a fuckin' demon! He said they were devil worshipers and that we'd all be doomed if we kept them aboard. Well, here we are in the custody of the fucking Imperium, so maybe he was right?"

"What do you mean they summoned a demon?"

"Just that. He was shaking and hysterical. He started crossing himself and praying. Then the Chief Engineer smacked him across the face, that got him to his senses long enough to tell us what he saw and then he started freaking out again."

"Was there anything odd about your passengers that you personally saw?"

"That I personally saw? I don't know... Let me think."

"Think hard. Anything could be important. Anything abnormal. Any little thing could give us a clue about what made your crew mate freak out about them."

"There were a couple things. They all wore these necklaces. Had some coins on them, sort of like dog tags. But not. I heard someone say that those guys took off the coins and put 'em in their mouths before they offed themselves. I don't know if that's significant."

"It might be. Next question. Why did your Captain order that the ship's computers destroyed?"

"I don't know man! I'm just an apprentice engineer! I was just doing a trip on that ship for a mother fucking college credit! I just wanted to mind my own damn business, do my job, and go back to school!"

Dilis walked up to the brig and tapped on the bars to get their attention. "Hey. Those passengers of yours. Did you ever hear them speak?"

"Uhh, yeah? They talked to each other a lot during chow time. Why?" the young man asked in response.

"What language did they speak?"

"I honest to god have no idea. I ain't never heard it before."

"Thanks. Marine. Ask the rest of the crew about the language they spoke. See if anyone remembers any words or anything else useful about it."

Alexis looked at Dilis with her blank eyes when he turned to face her. "What's the significance of this?"

"If you knew anything, the coins were the give away. In ancient Greece, it was customary to give coins to the dead so they could pay for passage to the afterlife. There's only one place where this practice was revived. Do you know where that is?"

Alexis simply continued to stare blankly at him causing Dilis to sigh. "They were Plutons. If you want to find out more, start there."

"Plutons… Interesting. I'll report this to His Highness. We'll decide our next course of action," she replied coldly while turning and walking away without another word.

Dilis followed her with his annoyed eyes, "Yeah… You're welcome..."