Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny/Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED Destiny: Owaru Day by Day
By: Ominae
Rating: T
NOTE:
Last time I checked around, Gundam SEED is under the copyright of Mitsuo Fukuda, Bandai and Sunrise. All other characters from other medias are under the copyright of their respective creators/companies. The only thing I can mess around is Richard "Rick" Yamato Chung and his Equatorial Union Guards comrades.
Summary:
The surviving remnants of Section 9 have plotted a journey to escape from Orban waters alongside the Minerva. But with potential unknowns nearby, it would make their escape a bit more complicated. Can the joint Section 9-Minerva group survive and live for another day? Stay tune to this chapter for the conclusion of Owaru Day by Day.
Chapter 4: Last Stand
Mobile Suit Hangar, S9S ArchAngel
"We're already 50 kilometers away from the Orb mainland and its 2 in the morning?"
Rick had stared at his wristwatch hidden on his left arm, still wearing the Section 9 ninja suit. After they had been submerged for a short time underwater with Odin, the two ships of the anti-terrorist unit had began preparations to meet up with the Minerva, which had earlier retreated from Orb after Chance had warned Talia of an imminent attack on their ship. He had been in the hangar for most of the evening and early morning to configure his machine, called the Gundam Dynarios.
"Yo!" Rick greeted Sai, who was in the area.
"We're about to meet up with the Minerva right now." said Sai, fixing his glasses.
"Aren't we on a bigger risk here?" Rick asked. "I mean we could get attacked by OMNI on all sides."
"You're right." Sai shrugged his shoulders. "Our they could just probably would want to wait until morning to catch us off our guard."
"I'm gonna get me some sleep first." Rick waved him off. "The enemy hasn't attacked us yet and I can use the rest I need..."
Bridge, S9S ArchAngel
"Call the captain! Seems like we got some company!" yelled Dalida, who was in the CIC seat. Present in the bridge of the ArchAngel were Lacus and Mir, as well as Andy and Jackie. The two men were the pilots of the ship, donned in Orb Army uniforms.
"On it." Mir went to make contact with Murrue from her station.
"What is it?" Murrue came inside the bridge after hearing Mir's announcement on the ship's P.A. system, rubbing her left eye, who was also in her Orb Army uniform with the rank pins indicating that she was a Lieutenant Commander. Already morning? I guess times does fly by. Right after we make contact with the Minerva...
"We've made contact with an OMNI fleet, ma'am." reported Dalida, who studied the radar display. "Several ships. I'm reporting a mixture of Arkansa and Des Moines-class cruisers with some Fraser-class ones surrounding our ship, Odin and Minerva. And wait a second-!"
"Is there something else?" Murrue asked, feeling a bit anxious.
"I've got readings of a new aircraft carrier ship! They're identified as Spengler-class ships!"
Murrue faced Mir. "Inform the Odin and the Minerva about the situation at once."
"They know about the situation. I believe they're trying to scramble the pilots as well."
"Very well." Murrue nodded. "Get all available pilots to scramble at once."
Mobile Suit Hangar, S9S ArchAngel
"Kuso!" Rick dashed in the ArchAngel's mobile suit hangar, wearing his green and blue Equatorial Union Army pilot suit with helmet already worn. "Just when I was enjoying my sleep..."
"Hey!" Rick turned around to see Dearka was up and running in a Section 9 gray and white suit beside him.
"You're not wearing your..."
"Nah!" Dearka shook his head. "Left it when I had some time off."
"You guys are here..."
Rick and Dearka saw that Kira, Athrun and Jean were all ready in their respective pilot suits, next to the Freedom and Justice.
"You two got here first?" asked Rick.
"That's right." Kira replied. "We got the message from Murrue that we need to move out."
"You heard the lady." Rick grinned, entering the Dynario's cockpit in its mobile armor mode. "Let's move out."
I'm surprised to notice that the ArchAngel has space for a mobile suit in its mobile armor mode. It reminds me of the Murasames that Orb has...
Rick had booted up the Dynario's OS after Kojiro had instructed the maintenance team to load up a metal box on top of the Dynarios and a rifle on the Dynario's right wing.
"All right. Dynarios looks okay."
"Rick." Mir's face came on the front screen of the Dynario's cockpit. "You okay in there?"
"Just booted the Dynarios. I should be ready to go in a minute or so."
Murrue's face then came up next to Mir's onscreen. "Rick. The Minerva and Odin have already launched their mobile suit forces. Battle's already started."
"How are you guys holding?"
"Fine so far. We're firing several barrages at the destroyers and cruisers to hold off their firing."
"Right." Rick nodded.
"Be careful out there, all right." Murrue eyed Rick sadly. "Last thing I want to hear is you doing a near fatal stunt like Ken did during the war 2 years ago..."
"A hehehe..." Rick couldn't help, but chuckle. Mataku! This brings back some memories...
"Dynarios." Mir called up Rick's attention, her face still on the cockpit's front screen. "You're cleared for launch."
Rick gripped the Dynario's control stick as the sign on the ArchAngel's port linear catapult indicated that it was clear for him to launch. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have control." He then began to accelerate the Dynarios out of the catapult, which was a bit illuminated by the rising sun.
"Dynarios! Rick Chung, beginning operation."
Bridge, AFS Oakland
Inside the bridge of one of the many Spengler-class aircraft carriers sent to intercept the Minerva, its captain was a bit surprised to see the ArchAngel and Odin fighting alongside ZAFT's newest mobile assault ship.
"I'm quite surprised to see that Section 9's fighting out there." said the AFS Oakland's commanding officer, who had the rank of Rear Admiral. "I guess information from Lord Djibril was correct after all."
"Sir!" An officer with the rank of Lieutenant came up to the Rear Admiral and saluted him. "We've received a encrypted message from the Dominion."
"And?" The Rear Admiral raised his left eyebrow.
"They said The bird has landed safely. Its hatchlings are waiting to fly out in a few minutes."
"Interesting." The Rear Admiral grinned. "Fine. Let me know when their forces are ready to launch."
"Sir!"
"For now, deploy all the Windams we have and tell the maintenance teams to make sure that they have their Jet Strikers Packs mounted."
"Understood, sir!" The Lieutenant hastily left the bridge while the Rear Admiral consulted with the other officers on the current situation.
Airspace above North Pacific Ocean, somewhere near Orb waters
"Looks like our situation's not good." Rick muttered, still piloting the Dynarios in its mobile armor mode, which he dubbed as Waverider. Several Section 9 Murasames from the Odin and ArchAngel had been launched out to support the two ships against the incoming Windams deployed by the OMNI expeditionary force.
"Take this!" Rick snarled, launching the missiles from the VLS box mounted on top of his Dynarios, striking down several Windams and a couple of Arkansas-class cruisers after their bridges were destroyed by the missiles. Eyeing the battle, he saw Mu's Strike Gundam in its Aile mode with Ken's Preybird fighting alongside Kira's Freedom and Athrun's Justice in taking out the Windams that were trying to attack the ArchAngel and Odin. As for the Minerva, Rick eyed Lunamaria in her custom Gunner ZAKU Warrior and Rey's custom Blaze ZAKU Phantom on top of the Minerva's linear catapults. Lunamaria fired her M1500 "Orthros" high-energy long-range beam cannon at the enemy ships that were away from the Minerva, ArchAngel and Odin with Rey armed with the MMI-M633 beam assault rifle as he faced off a few Windams that tried to dive in to attack the Minerva.
"What the?" Rick saw Millenia's Strike Noir flying fast by his suit, taking down two Windam with a single slash attack from her MR-Q10 "Fragarach" 3 beam blade, who later stabbed a Windam that tried to sneak up behind her.
"Jean!" Rick patched up a general Section 9 frequency. "Can you hear me, over?"
"Loud and clear, Rick." Rick glanced on his left to see Jean's white-colored Murasame in its mobile armor. "You got something in mind?"
"Give me covering fire." Rick began to disengage the VLS box. "I'll give those guys a present from yours truly."
"Roger that." Jean replied. As Jean used suppressive beam fire on the Windams and ships below, Rick detached the VLS box mounted on top of Dynarios in a matter of seconds. The box fell down towards the blue sea, until the VLS box crashed into the bridge of a Des Moines-class cruiser. A few minutes after impact, the VLS box inside the smashed bridge exploded, which took out the ship.
"Yes!" Rick pumped his fist in the air. "Justice is done!" Dive bombing towards two Fraser-class ships, he fired the Type 73 sniper rifle mounted on the Waverider's right wing, taking them out of commission.
"Hey!" Ken's face came up into screen. "You done there on the ships?"
"Yeah. I just released the VLS box from Dynarios and activated a self-destruct program. What's up?"
"I just spotted the Dominion around the corner."
"The Dominion?" Rick gasped. So they came to Orb territory after all. But how? "All right, I understand. But I thought you guys took care of it a few years ago."
"Worry about it later. Right now, Shinn needs a bit of help. Looks like Dominion had just released its new toys on us."
"On it!"
Rick boosted the Dynarios' verniers as he made his way to assist Shinn, in his Impulse Gundam with the Force Silhouette mounted on its back.
"Damn you!" Shinn had engaged the GAT-X508 Zeta, clashing against each other with beam sabers. Mu, Athrun and Kira engaged the GAT-X506 Sigma and GAT-X507 Nova respectively. Mu and Kira took on Nova with Athrun facing off against the Sigma, all of them with beam sabers for close combat. Dearka, in his old modified Buster Gundam, providing medium-range artillery support with his combined 350mm gun launcher and 94mm high-energy rifle against both Sigma and Nova. Andy had charged into the fray with his gold-painted Murasame, providing fire support against the Dominion in its mobile armor mode.
"Impressive, you ZAFTie." grinned Commander Hamilton, commanding the Zeta against Shinn's Force Impulse Gundam. "Let's see how long you stand."
"Why you!" Shinn dashed back from Hamilton's Zeta and was about to execute a beam swipe when Rick's Dynarios, in Waverider mode, zoomed pass him and rammed down the Zeta by striking its cockpit.
"What the..." gritted Hamilton, surprised at the sudden attack on him. "hell is that?!"
"Got you!" Rick smirked, changing the Dynarios from mobile armor to mobile suit form after establishing communications with the unknown mobile suit. "So you're the Zeta mobile suit that I've heard about..."
"About time too." Hamilton chuckle. "Either my hearing needs to be checked right or you're the war hero that OMNI's been talking about for the last two years. Staff Sergeant Richard Yamato Chung."
"I've heard about you Hamilton." Rick got the Type 73 sniper rifle mounted on the Dynarios' right shoulder and fired several beam shots at the Zeta. "Supposedly you were a veteran of the First Bloody Valentine..."
"And I'm quite honored to meet a veteran of the Equatorial Union Civil War..." replied Hamilton sarcastically, dodging most of his shots and turned into its mobile armor mode, firing beam shots at him.
"HA! Missed me!" Rick instantly turned Dynarios into its Waverider mode after replacing the Type 73 sniper rifle and chased Hamilton all around, similar to dogfights conducted by fighter jets from the late 20th and early 21st centuries of old.
"Come and get me!" Hamilton did a double barrel roll, avoiding all the beam shots meant for him.
"P-ta!" cursed the Equatorial Union native. "This guy's good!"
Bridge, AFS Oakland
"This is too much for us..." mumbled the Rear Admiral. Most of our ships are being taken off by those mobile suits from the Minerva and Section 9. I have to act fast. He then issued an order to his subordinates. "Launch the Zamza-Zah now!"
"Understood." One of the bridge's helmsmen went to communicate with the maintenance crew on the aircraft carrier's hangar. "All maintenance personnel! Make preparations to launch the Zamza-Zah!"
Hangar, AFS Oakland
"All right you two! Remember your positions!" The first pilot was seated on the rear seat, controlling the crab-like mobile armor's mobility. The two pilots controlled the Zamza-Zah's weapon systems, not to mention that rumors abounded from the ranks of OMNI that a special kind of shield had been developed for its exclusive use.
"Sir!" The first gunner reported. "We've been given the go ahead to launch!" The Zamza-Zah was being brought up onto the flight deck before being cleared for launching.
"Okay!" The pilot nodded. "Zamza-Zah, launching!"
Airspace above North Pacific Ocean, somewhere near Orb waters
"Athrun, go!" Mu had been busy playing target for the Dominion by flying around, which fired its CIWS guns at him. Kira had used the Freedom's M100 "Balaena" and MMI-M15 "Xiphias" cannons against the Dominion's weapon systems to assist Mu by damaging the ship's port Lohengrin cannon when it tried to have it activated.
"Here goes!" Athrun in the Justice had fired several shots from the MA-M20 "Lupus" beam rifle to damage some of the Dominion's CIWS guns and missile launcher ports. I thought the Dominion was taken out?
"Wait a minute!" Mu saw that a Windam was able to be launched from the starboard linear catapult before he and Athrun fired their beam rifles on the catapult, severely damaging it. "Damn! We're too late. Better warn Ken about this."
"What the?" Kira spotted Orb ships deploying Murasames in support of the OMNI force. "Murasames! And they're coming straight for us!" Kira charged at them, slashing their mobile armor wings with his MA-M01 "Lacerta" beam saber with Athrun firing beam shot from his "Lupus" to disable several more. "Mu! Tell Ken about the Orb Murasames too!"
Bridge, ZMS Minerva
"Captain!" Bart Heim, Minerva's CIC officer reported to his superior. "I've detected an enemy mobile armor launched from the OMNI fleet!"
"Can it be identified?" Arthur Trine, the executive officer of Minerva, had asked.
"I'm afraid not sir." Bart typed up several commands on his console. "I-I can't! It's an unknown! There's no information on it!"
Talia was quick to judge their situation. "Which means that OMNI must have created it recently." She then faced Chen Jian Yee, Minerva's weapon systems officer. "Any damage to our weapons?"
"None ma'am." Chen shook his hand. "Our weapons are still intact thanks to assistance from Section 9." Talia saw on the screen in front of her to see the ArchAngel launched its Helldart SAM missiles at the Windams flying above after they fired the ship's Gottfried Mk.71 cannons while being covered by Odin's own beam cannons, wiping out a quarter of the OMNI fleet sent to stop them and damaging the Dominion's right Gottfried cannon after Athrun and Mu distracted the OMNI-manned assault ship by firing their beam weapons at the ship's linear catapults. So far, the Minerva had contributed by utilizing its Tristan cannons and missile launchers to assist Section 9 forces in decimating their enemy. Now it was the time to use the Tannhäuser after she had used it to destroy rock fragments of the former Junius 7 space colony from hitting the Earth.
"Captain." Arthur spoke to Talia. "With Section 9 keeping the other ArchAngel-class ship as well as the other OMNI ships busy, we should try and take out that incoming mobile armor." Talia then nodded, agreeing with his observation.
"Good idea." She then gave an order to Chen. "Chen, prepare to activate the Tannhäuser at once."
"Aye captain." Chen answered, typing commands in his seat. "Now activating the Tannhäuser."
Near Tristan cannons, ZMS Minerva
"I..." Lunamaria, still on her custom Gunner ZAKU Warrior, fired her Orthros cannon against incoming Windams from the sky and from mid-air. "am getting..." A shot from her beam cannon penetrated a Windam by its cockpit and scored another when the beam shot took care of the Windam's head area. "sick..." Seeing another Windam fly on top of her, she aimed her Orthros at it. "of facing..." She then squeezed her fingers to fire off another shot from her cannon. "these damn mobile suits!"
"Keep your cool." Rey advised, who had his custom Blaze ZAKU Phantom fire off a volley of AGM138 "Firebee" missiles from its Blaze Wizard Pack, killing off some Windams and disabling a few that tried to attack him. "Your anger will hinder your concentration."
"Right." Lunamaria replied. "I almost forgot about that."
"Besides," Rey advised his friend."you can worry about that part later on." The blonde-haired ZAFT Red soldier fired his beam assault rifle against a Windam that was a few meters near him when it was flying on top of the Minerva by shooting its cockpit.
Cockpit, YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah
"Sir!" The second gunner reported to the pilot. "A large amount of energy is coming straight at us! It's a positron beam shot!"
"Ready the shield!" yelled the pilot. "We'll show those bastards from the Minerva that we're ready for their little high and mighty toy!"
"Yes, sir!"
Inputting the commands and pressing some buttons on the Zamza-Zah's console, a positron deflector shield was being formed around the mobile armor using positron energy to envelope it before the Tannhäuser reached it. The positron beam shot and the positron deflector began to clash against each other, with the energy of the deflector gradually winning against the positron shot before being shoved back towards the rear of the fleet, its positron deflector eliminating the positron shot from existence.
Bridge, S9S ArchAngel
"I don't believe it." Murrue and the rest of the bridge crew had seen the might of the Zamza-Zah's positron beam reflector. She then made contact with Ken's Preybird, already clashing with several Windams launched from the Dominion with beam saber at hand. "Ken. Did you see that?"
"Yeah, I did." Ken nodded. "Seems like the Earth Alliance was able to have the technological capacity to do a positron beam deflector. Means bad news for us in the long run."
"I saw the Minerva getting some small hits from the Windams firing their ASMs at them."
"Okay. We better double our efforts to..."
Murrue was suddenly taken aback when she saw Ken's startled face. "Damn! Got word that another mobile suit took off from the Dominion! It's a Windam! And it's heading straight for..."
"Straight for who?"
"Straight to Rick."
Airspace above North Pacific Ocean, somewhere near Orb waters
"Shinn!" Rick saw that Shinn had his Force Impulse face off against the Zamza-Zah, with the ArchAngel and Odin already starting to suffer minor damage to the ship.
"What the?" Rick something hit his Dynarios from behind. "Can't make a move."
"Are ye surprised to see me, boy?" The Equatorial Union Guardsman knew who the voice was.
"So you must Aiken O' Rourke. Ex-Delta Force commando." Rick tried to get loose as O' Rourke's Windam grappled with his rear, holdings his arms. "The Seirans and their Blue Cosmos benefactors must have hired you."
"Aye!" chuckled O' Rourke. He saw that Mu, Jean and Kira tried to reach for Rick, but another small group of Windams blocked their way.
"Let go of me, you damn bastard!" Rick, in his quest to get himself free, saw that Shinn was having trouble of his own when the Force Impulse's right foot was caught by the Zamza-Zah's left claw with ships of the Orb Navy firing cannon shots near the Minerva, ArchAngel and Odin, its color being grey as an indication of spent energy on the mobile suit. In front of him, a Windam drew out its beam saber was about to slice him into half.
"You'll pay for this!!" Memories of Rick having his family killed in Orb while on vacation and his near fatal death experiences fighting Neo in the Equatorial Union had made two black seeds appear on the pupils of his eyes.
"Eiya!" Rick had shoved O' Rourke's Windam back by elbowing his right side before drawing out his beam saber to face off against the incoming Windam and stabbed its cockpit before kicking him down towards an incoming Arkansas-class cruiser, which smashed its bridge and exploded, taking out the cruiser and its entire crew with it.
Rick then boosted his Dynarios to charge towards O' Rourke's Windam. "You're mine, you money-sucking PMC!"
"Son of a..." O' Rourke saw that he was taken by Rick's sudden aggression in his Dynarios when it fully charged at him. The ex-Delta Force operative tried to get his beam saber ready, but was faced with the barrel of the Type 73 sniper rifle aimed at the Windam's torso section in an instant. Damn! Must be a Coordinator to pull off that stunt!
"Shi-ne!" The said weapon had been fired; several beam shots penetrated the torso with one killing O' Rourke in his seat. With the deed done, Rick transformed the Dynarios to Waverider mode, flying near the ArchAngel and Odin, the latter firing its beam cannons against several Arkansas and Des Moines-class cruisers, sinking most of them after the beam shots penetrating their hulls.
"Shinn!" Rick charged to assist Shinn is destroying the Zamza-Zah, seeing that the Force Impulse had its color back again while in the process of driving his beam saber further inside the Zamza-Zah. Must be with the Deuterion beam technology that we found out before we sniffed around Armory One. "I'll handle the rest! Go get yourself some help!"
"R-right!" The ex-Orb national and ZAFT Red soldier replied. "Just cover me!" Rick yelled as he brought his beam saber into the Zamza-Zah and grunted, using the Dynario's force to drive the green beam blade inside before he decided to do a vertically-driven slash. It then caused a surge inside the mobile armor and its electronics began to break down, giving Rick enough time to change into mobile armor and fly away from it before the Zamza-Zah exploded for good.
Shinn, meanwhile, flew towards the Minerva and disengaged his Leg Flyer and its Force Silhouette Flyer before he was notified by Meyrin that the Sword Silhouette and Leg Flyers were being deployed. Rick helped himself by turning the Dynarios into Waverider and fired at every enemy ship bridge that he sees before shooting their hulls.
Bridge, AFS Oakland
"Admiral!" yelled the sonar crew member of the Spengler-class AFS Oakland. "That mobile suit's destroyed our Zamza-Zah!"
"What?" The Rear Admiral had been taken aback. "How can this be?"
"The Belfast, Seattle, Vancouver, Richmond and the Ahern have been taken out by the ZAFT mobile suit! I've gotten confirmation that the transformable mobile suit has sunken the Clinton, Reagan, Edmonton, Manchester and the Schwarzkopf were taken out as well..."
The Rear Admiral gritted his teeth. The Vancouver, Schwarzkopf, Manchester and the Clinton were Spengler-class ships carrying Windams. He was surprised to see the Dynarios and Sword Impulse Gundam working together to clear the area of ships, with the latter wielding its MMI-710 "Excalibur" anti-ship sword to slash through entire ships, taken them out while the Dynarios used its metallic fists in the style of Jachin Due veteran and ex-Orb Army officer Barry Ho in facing the remaining Windams in hand-to-hand combat before using his beam saber to disable them and kick them to the bridges of the surviving Arkansas, Des Moines and Fraser-class ships before taking out its Type 73 sniper rifle and shoot at them from a distance.
Cockpit, MVF-M22C Dynarios
"Hmph." Rick smirked, still under the influence of the SEED, grabbed from above his head a sniper rifle-like module consisting of a trigger group, a sniper rifle-like body and a buttstock attached to its rear. "This should be the end for you."
After he brought down the module to his height, a retractable sight appeared from its left side, which enabled Rick's left eye to use it to focus his sights. He then began to fire on the remaining OMNI ships that were in front of him before sensing some of the Orb Murasames that were trying to attack him from behind.
"I can sense you stupid fools coming." grinned Rick, focusing the sniper rifle module's sight on the Murasames, firing beam shots into them which destroyed most of the incoming Orb Army mobile suits.
Outside, the V-fin of Dynarios was brought down for its sniper scope to be in operation with its atmospheric thrusters used to keep it flying. Shinn, also under the SEED, guarded the Dynarios from being attacked by slashing either Windam or OMNI navy ship that tried to bring its guns on it before striking the remaning Spengler-class ship.
Bridge, AFS Oakland
"It's...it's coming for us!" The sonar operator yellled when the Sword Impulse had raised its Excalibur anti-ship sword to strike at it with the Dynarios getting ready to fire its sniper rifle at them. In unison, the Excalibur and Type 73 were in the motion of destroying the AFS Oakland with the former already slicing under the bridge while the beam shots from the Type 73 penetrated the hull, reaching into the hangar.
"Nooo!!!" yelled the Rear Admiral as the last Spengler-class ship exploded after Shinn retreated.
Bridge, AFS Dominion
"This is bad..." gritted Rear Admiral Sierra Novak under her teeth, seeing that most of the ships in the mostly Atlantic Federation-controlled OMNI expeditionary force was defeated by the combined teamwork of Section 9 and the Minerva. "What's the status of Commander Hamilton and the others?"
"They're still out there, Admiral." replied the CIC officer.
"And our weapons?"
"Our port Gottfried cannon's destroyed with some of our Helldart missile ports damaged. Lohengrin cannon on the starboard's taken out, with our port linear catapult destroyed and starboard one damaged. The latter can still be serviced in a matter of minutes."
With most of the expeditionary force done for, I have no choice but to retreat. We'll let them savor their victory for another day...
"Give the order for Hamilton and the others to come back. We're leaving."
"Yes, ma'am." Moments later, signal flares were deployed on top of the Dominion, alerting Hamilton in the Zeta on the situation.
"Admiral." The CIC officer reported back. "I've gotten the Zeta, Nova and Sigma on. They should be back in about 3 minutes."
"Right." The Rear Admiral sighed before she ordered, "After they've docked inside, retreat back into Orb soil."
"Understood."
Port, ZAFT Carpentaria Base, Australia, Oceanic Union
"So this is Carpentaria. Sugoi na..."
ZAFT maintenance technicians had begun work on fixing the Minerva's damage and assisting Section 9 technicians in repairing damages incurred on the ArchAngel and Odin. Wearing his standard Section 9 uniform, Rick waited for Ken as he spoke to the officer representing ZAFT Carpentaria alongside Talia and Arthur representing the Minerva with Murrue nearby. He was too busy enjoying the scenery that he failed to notice someone was calling for his attention.
"Rick." Murrue had seen that Rick was spaced out, eyeing the Minerva.
"Ah, sorry." Rick saw the Murrue was directly near his face. "I was eyeing the Minerva. Am I being called?"
"The base representative wants to meet you." Murrue escorted her ex-student/Equatorial Union neighbor to meet up with the representative. "He was finishing his talk with Ken regarding our situation."
"So this is the guy that you were talking about?" The ZAFT Black officer saw Rick with Murrue as he spoke to Ken, who was in his "Major" disguise as he wore his gas mask to hide his identity. Talia and Arthur were nearby, standing next to the "Major".
"I'm Captain Richard Yamato Chung." Rick gave a snappy salute. "Section 9. I'm with the Equatorial Union Guards during the Equatorial Union Civil War."
"So you're the Rick Chung that I heard from rumors." The ZAFT Black officers and some of the ZAFT Green soldiers saluted Rick. "I'm quite honored to meet you. I volunteered during the civil war myself alongside some of the base's personnel."
"Nice to meet you." Rick shook hands with the ZAFT Black officers and with some of the ZAFT Greens. "I'm quite surprised to see some of the civil war volunteers were from this area."
"Think nothing of it."
"So are we done for now?" The Major asked the ZAFT Black officer that he spoke to.
"Yes, of course." replied the officer, who nodded. "As soon as our technicians are done with assisted repairs, I'll inform the base's command center of your departure."
"Thanks." The Major shook his hand. "That's greatly appreciated."
As the Major and the others were leaving towards to their ships, Talia quickly jumped into the situation and spoke to Rick, "Can I speak with you?"
"It's alright." The Major replied. "The repairs aren't going to be done for a few more minutes."
"Okay." Rick nodded.
"So what happens now?" Talia walked with Rick to the direction where the Minerva is docked. Arthur was currently back in the ship to supervise overall repairs on the Minerva.
"Since Section 9 was thrown off in Orb," Rick replied. "we'd be better off hiding in a neutral nation that supports Section 9."
"Like the Equatorial Union?" Talia asked.
"Yeah."
"I see." Talia mumbled.
"Wha?" Rick was a bit confused. "Something wrong?"
"Nothing." Talia shook her hand. "Just that I'm surprised that you're in Section 9."
"Don't mind about it." Rick chuckled.
"So I guess this means we may not see each other again." Talia began.
"Who knows." Rick shrugged. "We may see each other as allies or..." The black-haired Section 9 halted a bit before he said, "enemies."
"I was hoping for the former though." voiced the brown-haired ZAFT White officer.
"Understood." Rick brought his right hand out. "Captain."
"I'm glad to hear that." Talia smiled and shook his hand. I'm glad to hear it indeed. But I wonder how things will be if we have to be enemies?
Bridge, S9S Odin
"We've docked in at last." sighed Jason, after the ArchAngel and Odin had departed for one of Section 9's bases. In this case, it was in the Equatorial Union, though they only stopped for resupplying operations in a Section 9 supply base in eastern Papua New Guinea.
"I had to admit that it was a good idea for us to have a secret base in the Equatorial." commented Rau. "I wonder who did it anyway?"
"I did." Ken walked inside Odin's bridge with Mu in tow.
"That was something." Leanne said from her CIC seat. "Did you really thought about having a base in the Philippines?"
"Not really." Ken shook his head. "I'll have to give credit to..."
Bridge, S9S ArchAngel
"...me actually." Rick said, being called up to the bridge as the two Section 9 ships were about to dock into a Section 9 base built in the province of Cavite in the nation formerly called the Philippines before its integration into the EU. "When he was busy making plans for the formation of Section 9, I suggested to him that we have a base in the EU. It would logically be safer since it's near Orb." The Archangel and Odin had been submerged underwater before further entering EU waters.
Murrue smiled, "I'm sure Ken appreciated that comment."
"I've got a message from the Equatorial Union base." Mir said, checking her headset. "We've been authorized to enter EU waters to get to our base."
"Do you know if the EU joined up with the WSTO, Mir?"
"I've gotten reports that they did, though the President and the Defense Secretary still support Section 9."
"Great." Murrue sighed. "We can relax now."
"You could say that..." Andy chuckled. "We've got a breather for now."
"HALT!" The voice of a Section 9 controller appeared on the ArchAngel's communications console. "To unidentified ships, stop where you are or we will open fire..."
"Give me that." Rick got the headset from Mir and spoke to its mouthpiece. "This is Captain Richard Yamato Chung, Section 9. I'm requesting authorization to enter Philippine base. Orb HQ has been destroyed under Omega Contingency."
"Roger that, sir. Gates will be opened in a minutes."
"Thank you."
Docks, Equatorial Union Section 9 Base, Cavite, Philippines, Equatorial Union
"Home sweet home." Rick had been the first to disembark from the ArchAngel via port bridge. "Though it wasn't exactly the way I wanted this to end."
"Good thing the President and the Defense Secretary still support Section 9 despite them agreeing to the WSTO." Andy said, walking with Rick on the port bridge. "Otherwiese, we'd be in big trouble."
"I know."
"Hey you two." Tom had been waiting for the two on the docks. "Just got work that Hamid, Tim and Avir made it safely."
"That's great."
"Here." Tom handed Rick the Manila Times broadsheet tucked under his right arm. "Just got this from our analysts. Thought this could be interesting."
Taking the broadsheet, Rick and Andy saw on the frontpage Unato Seiran shaking hands with the Atlantic Federation ambassador with Yuna standing nearby. The frontpage had the headline.
"ORB GOVERNMENT FORMALLY JOINS WORLD SECURITY TREATY ORGANIZATION."
"AFRICAN COMMUNITY AND OCEANIC UNION REFUSES TO ACKNOWLEDGE WSTO TREATY."
"Looks like some people are going to have a temper about this." Rick muttered.
"I agree." Andy commented on the headlines. "I'm afraid our little Major's going to have a major temper on this..."
THE END... for now.
PS - With that, my time for Owaru Day by Day is officially over. Right now, I'm doing a Full Metal Panic! story called Overwatch. It's basically an AU of 1st season and I'm prepared to chuck some canon scenes out to the searing fire for one reason or another. I'll be doing that 'til next year. However, updates will surely be slow since I have to attend to essay and term papers very, very soon and since I transferred to University, I'll have to make sure that I've done them okay without any trouble, meaning I don't get Fs or else. As usual, let me know if it was okay or not.
Hopefully, I could sneak in a few more chapters before 2007 ends. For the while, I hope the Dynarios is quite interesting. It's a mix of the Kyrios and Dynames from Gundam 00. Soon after that, I'll decide on my still unnamed Gundam SEED AU story consisting of characters from CE/UC/AC maybe...
Almost forgot to put in the meanings:
Kuso - Damn
Mataku - Unbelivable
Shi-ne - Die
Sugoi na - Impressive
Puta - F#ck