Gundam Wing X: The Groove Army
Episode Two: Escape From Sinope
by Captain Wolf
Sinope was one of the minor moons of Jupiter, and a small
one at
only twelve miles wide, but this lonely rock was once a major base for
the
Gundam Elite before its destruction in AC 296 from unknown causes.
After
this incident, it was abandoned and eventually forgotten by the public
at
large. Several areas of the base were still functioning however and
there
was one working landing facility, Apollo noticed what few indicator
lights
there were as she guided her Serpent into the launch area. A few
minutes
later, Leighton docked, and then finally the dark mobile suit that
saved the
girls from certain death at the hands of the Confeds. The launch bay
was
then repressurized and everyone departed from their vehicles, as they
climbed out of their Serpents, Apollo and Leighton immediately focused
their
attention on their rescuer. From the torso of the suit the pilot
emerged.
He looked much older then the two girls, he sported a mane
of
brown hair that went down to his neck, had an average build, and had an
almost stoic nature about him. Apollo then looked at him more closely
and
suddenly became very astounded by who this pilot was.
"Wolf Maxwell?!" Apollo said as the man approached.
"Yeah," the man replied quietly,"and who might you be?"
Apollo then stood at attention and saluted before responding,"First
Lieutenant Apollo Smile, 348th Mobile Gundam Division, sir!"
"At ease kid," Wolf said gruffly,"so, what brings you two ladies out to
the
middle of nowhere?"
"Well we just escaped from L-10, sir." Apollo explained calmly.
"What?!" Wolf replied,"Yeah right, seriously, where did you two come
from?"
"I'm telling you the truth, sir," Apollo insisted,"my friend here and I
broke out of L-10 and came here, hoping we could find help."
"Ok let me clue you in on some harsh realities," Wolf snapped back,"no
one
"escapes" from L-10, that place is a fortress! No one who tried lived
to
tell the tale!"
"S-s-she's telling you the t-t-truth!" Leighton stammered nervously.
"Yeah right!" Wolf growled, still unconvinced of their claims.
"Well.... how do you explain this?!" Leighton shot back furiously and
walked
up to Wolf, she then held her right arm up to his face and showed him
the
manacle locked firmly on her wrist with a small length of chain hanging
from
it. Wolf stuied Leighton's wrist for a moment and then changed his
expression dramatically.
"Wow!" Wolf said in shock,"These are good prison issue wrist irons.
What
about you Smile, I notice you aren't as lightly decorated as your
friend
here."
"I cut mine loose with this." Apollo explained and showed Wolf the
piece of
metal the stranger on L-10 had given her to free herself, she then
said,"Which reminds me...."
Apollo then went over to Leighton, kneel down to her feet,
and
began work on removing her leg irons which were still clamped to her
ankles.
A few minutes later, Apollo stood up straight and removed the manacle
on her
left wrist. She was about to remove the right one when Leighton stopped
Apollo.
"Leave that one," Leighton said quietly,"I don't want this one taken
off."
"What?! Why?!" Apollo asked.
"Because," Leighton explained sadly,"it wouldn't be right, we escaped
from
that awful place and left so many of those poor people behind to
continue
suffering. Until we find a way to free all those people I want to keep
this
cuff on, ok?"
Apollo stared at Leighton for a moment and then smiled,"I understand,
here,
keep this with you so you can do the honors yourself."
She then handed Leighton the tiny bit of metal, Wolf looked at it very
intently and snatched it from them and began studying it.
"Why are you so fascinated by that?" Leighton asked.
"Do you know what this is?" Wolf asked both, they shook their heads
indicating that hadn't the slightest clue.
"It's Neo Gundanium!" Wolf told them,"How did you get a hold of it?!"
"Neo Gundanium?" Apollo said, confused by Wolf's words, he then
explained
himself.
"It's what my suit is made of, a few years ago some scientists were
developing new alloys to improve on mobile suit armor, they stumbled
across
an alloy that was ten times more durable than Gundanium and nearly as
light
as Lunar Titanium alloy. This base was destroyed before they could
field
test this stuff, even though there was enough of the stuff for several
suits
and one prototype, the first practical application of this new alloy is
my
Gundam."
All three then stared as his suit as Wolf continued,"This is an exact
replica of my grandfather's Deathscythe Hell when it went into action
in AC
196, I came to Sinope hoping I could rebuild my Gundam and found some
research on a project codenamed,"Project Neo," this was the result. My
guess
was it was gonna be the next generation of Gundams to be built, of
course
we'll never know now will we?"
"You mentioned something about a prototype," Apollo spoke up,"you know
if
it's still here?"
"Still here?" Wolf snapped,"I can show it to you! Follow me."
Wolf then took the girls to a storage area near the launch
bay
and then showed them something surrounded by scaffolding that put both
into
shock, it was another Gundam. It stood nearly sixty feet tall and
looked
slightly like Apollo's old Wing Zero Zeta, with a few glaring
differences.
This suit had no shield and looked like it couldn't transform into a
"bird
mode," and instead of the usual vernier thrusters this Gundam was
equipped
with two pairs of giant wings, one pair was distinctly bird-like in
shape
while the other pair looked more angular in appearance.
"This.... is the Wing Zero," Wolf explained,"this is the original
Gundam
mobile suit, all Gundam designs can be traced back to this one. Of
course
this was built using Neo Gundanium alloy and state-of-the-art mobile
suit
technology, but basically this is the one that started it all, it even
has a
"Zero System" installed as well."
"What's a Zero System?" Leighton asked.
"It's a computer unit that linked the pilot's thoughts directly into
the
Gundam itself, sending information directly into the pilot's brain
thereby
increasing battle performance dramatically. Of course only truly
skilled
Gundam pilots of exceptional ability could handle this monster as the
Zero
System had a tendency to drive the pilot insane if used improperly."
"Oh I think I can tame this puppy." Apollo interrupted arrogantly and
walked
over to board the Gundam.
"Better be sure." Wolf said snidely before all three heard a beeping
noise
coming from Wolf's belt, it was a radio that Wolf picked up and then
heard a
voice coming from it.
"Wolf!" The voice said fearfully,"We just picked up a group of ships
headed
this way, comm scans indicate they're from L-10!"
"Damn!" Wolf snapped and spoke into the radio,"Ok, pack up what you
can,
finish downloading all the Project Neo files and make a run for it,
I'll
hold them off as long as I can!"
Wolf then turned to Leighton,"Ok kid, you and Apollo get back to your
Serpents right now!"
As Wolf ran back to the launch bay, Leighton suddenly looked around and
shouted,"Apollo! Apollo where are you?!"
Leighton then heard Wing Zero's engines power up and she
ran
from the chamber, as she was about to return to the launch bay,
Leighton
looked and saw something that caught her interest and ran for it. It
was yet
another Gundam, this one looked very much like Wing Zero but without
the
wings, it instead had a pair of much smaller wings and what looked like
two
huge cannons mounted on the back. Leighton seemed drawn to this suit
and ran
over to board it.
The Confederation's Typhoon-Class warships were a supreme
sight, the ship itself was 1500 feet long and was bristling with
firepower
all along the sides and in front, two huge engines powered the
rectangular-shaped craft. Three of these monsters sped for Sinope soon
after
the Serpent patrol sent from L-10 to capture the two escaped SL's
returned
with tales of some black monster wiping out the other suits and
allowing one
Serpent to flee. The group then separated and surrounded the small moon
and
waited for anything trying to escape. The command ship then deployed a
group
of Serpents in suit mode, and armed to the teeth, and ordered them to
attack
Sinope. They quickly spotted a ship, a small freighter, leave the
surface
and attempt to flee, the Serpents were about to engage the ship when
they
heard a booming voice from somewhere.
"I AM THE GOD OF DEATH!!!! AND YOU WILL NOT APPROACH THAT SHIP!!!!
ATTEMPT
TO ATTACK IT, AND YOU WILL ALL BURN IN HELL!!!!"
The Serpents ignored the warning and attacked the
frieghter, as
they readied their weapons one of their own was sliced in two and the
Serpent exploded, it was Wolf in his Gundam, The Deathscythe Hell. With
beam
scythe in hand, the Deathscythe Hell began slashing away at the
Serpents,
systematically picking them off one by one, while their beam cannons
and
bazooka fire did little, of any, damage to the Gundam. A few moments
later,
the Confederation warship began moving towards the battle and sent out
wave
after wave of additional Serpents to attack the Gundam, Wolf then
realized
that even with this highly advanced suit, he was outmatched,
outnumbered,
and outgunned.
"Surrender now and you will not be harmed!" One of the pilots from the
coming attack group demanded.
Wolf wasted no time in responding,"I'LL NEVER SURRENDER!!!! I'LL DIE
BEFORE
I GIVE IN TO YOU MONSTERS!!!!"
The Deathscythe then charged the attacking Serpents and was about to be
overwhelmed when one of the pilots shouted,"What the hell is that
coming
from the moon?!"
Everyone, including Wolf, looked and spotted two more
Gundams
leave Sinope, one fled to the frieghter while the other speeded for the
battle. It looked wrapped in a veil of huge white feathers, a few
seconds
later, the wings spreaded outwards and revealed the Gundam Wing Zero.
In
each of its hands the Gundam wielded a long and huge laser rifle and
the
aimed the one in its right hand at the group of Serpents. After a
momentary
build up of power, the rifle fired a huge energy beam at the attackers,
roughly eight Serpents were instantly vaporized and several others were
destroyed by the wake of the beam itself. The Wing Zero then eyed the
warship and speeded for it.
Aboard the bridge of the Confed ship, the commanding officer
shouted,"All
weapons! Open fire!"
The ship then fired a series of laser blasts at the
Gundam, the
suit then folded its wings around itself and the blasts bounced
harmlessly
off of them, as they unfolded again the Gundam revealed that it had
brought
the two rifles together to form a double barreled cannon and aimed it
at the
warship. The cannon then fired a gigantic energy blast that streaked
towards
the Confed ship and tore into the port side of the craft, the craft
then
drifted for a moment and then exploded.
Watching what had just happened, The commanding officer
aboard
one of the other ships quickly radioed for help.
"Group Seven to Command! Group Seven to Command! We need assistance!
Command
ship has been destroyed by a mobile suit of unknown origin and
extremely
powerful weaponry! Please advise!"
The ship then transmitted what just happened to the
nearest
command post, the reply was immediate and oddly malevolent.
"Break off and retreat immediately! Repeat, break off and retreat!"
"But Command!" The officer insisted,"It may be powerful but it's still
just
one suit! With enough firepower and support...."
"Break off and retreat! Those are your orders!" Command snapped coldly,
the
two remaining ships then turned around and fled Sinope while the
freighter
continued its flight. The ship slowed down just long enough to allow
all
three Gundams to board it, a few minutes later, the freighter was under
way
again and quickly vanished into the darkness of space.
Confederation Outpost 2716, near L-10 Colony.
BR<>
The commanding officer aboard Outpost 2716 was sitting in
his
ready room as he contacted the Confederation Council on Mars after
seeing
the combat footage of the failed attack on Sinope. On the screen of his
desktop terminal appeared a group of people sitting in a row, the
officer
then reported what happened.
"Council, Neo Wing Zero has appeared, please advise." The officer said.
The Council then whispered among themselves for a moment and one of the
members quickly replied,"We'll handle it, all information on this
matter has
now been deemed classified, Council out."
Within the council chamber, the members then sent a message on a closed
frequency, the member that advised had the outpost commander then
spoke,"Project Neo is in effect, alert The Order to prepare for battle,
the
Gundams have returned."
To be continued....
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