Gundam 00S: Star Struck Episode Ten: Clare

Chapter 20: Clare
Dom suddenly pulled out his gun, removing the safety immediately. “What the hell?!” Shouted Strafe as chaos broke out. Ransac and Longshot had immediately dove on top of Dom, pinning him to the ground while forcing the gun out of his hands. Dom struggled to break free, nearly succeeding, but was overpowered as Strafe joined the struggle. “ENOUGH!” Boomed Daryl. The command in his voice was strong enough that everyone froze where they were. “You will explain yourself later, Dom. If you pull another stunt like that you can enjoy a long time in the brig, is that understood?” “Yes, sir.” Growled Dom. He slowly stood up and handed his gun to Strafe. “My, my, is the crew always like this?” Asked someone behind Daryl. Ransac looked around and get a better view of who was talking. It was a girl, from the looks of it she was about 17 of age. She wore long black hair that fell down to her shoulders. Despite the tone of surprise in her voice, her eyes were watching Dom almost interestedly. For some reason, she made Ransac uneasy. “No, they do not, and I assure you it will not happen again.” Answered Daryl. Dom grunted something under his breath but didn‘t make any move. “Sir, who is this?” Asked Strafe. As he spoke, he rubbed a bruise Dom had left him on his cheek when he had struggled. “This, is Clare Bombardi, she’ll be piloting the 5th Agas mobile suit.” Bombardi? So she was related to Dom in some way. In only a few minutes she has gone from strange to mysterious. I better keep an eye on her. Thought Ransac. With a start he realized Strafe was watching him through the corner of his eye. They were thinking on the same line. “I’m honored to assist Celestial Being in any way I can.” Said Clare. She gave a slight bow as she spoke. “I would like it if you got to know your fellow comrades better. Feel free to ask any questions. And you, Dom, come with me.” Added Daryl with a tone that brooked no argument. Dom reluctantly followed Daryl as Longshot led them away. “Why would Dom freak out like that? He’s never been that worked up.” Whispered Syrene. “I don’t know, we’ll have to ask him later.” Replied Ransac. They turned forward as they entered a large room decorated with a couch and a large table. A few engineers on break were floating around and chatting. Longshot lead them to the couch. Everyone took they’re seats. Clare pulled a chair in front of everyone. To Ransac, it was one of the most uncomfortable moments of his life. “So, you’ll be piloting the 5th Agas, quite a challenge.” Said Strafe. “I’ve been trained to handle all type of mobile suits, it won’t be a problem with me.” Said Clare. “Still, our job isn’t easy. We’re constantly facing skilled opponents, our enemy has been able to catch us off guard before now.” “I assure you, I can handle things just fine.” As she spoke, Ransac detected a slight tone of superiority. Apparently he wasn’t the only one to have noticed. Everyone gave a slight indication as she spoke. “How did you get recruit into Star Strike? That must’ve been something.” Asked Ransac. “Veda scouted me. It saw I was sympathetic to Celestial Being’s views and recruited me. My previous training with mobile suits only helped the decision.” Veda? That’s impossible. Something’s not right here. Veda shouldn’t even be aware of our existence. “Well, welcome to the team, if you’d be open to it, I’d like to see you try out the simulator later.” Said Strafe. “That’ll be alright, I’ll just need to settle things with my new pilots suit.” Ransac turned his head as he saw Daryl and Dom enter the room. Dom looked like he had swallowed something highly unpleasant but didn’t say a word as he approached them. “I must be going to the bridge. Let me know if there is any trouble.” Announced Daryl. He kept a close eye on Dom as he spoke. Satisfied, he floated out of the room. “I think we’d all get some rest.” Said Strafe. “I agree.” Said Longshot. Without another word he left the room. “I need you three to come with me, I think there’s something off with the Agas and the Gundam.” Said Syrene. “Alright, lead the way.” Said Ransac. Before he could follow he was stopped by Clare. Without warning she suddenly kissed him full on the lips, catching him completely off guard. “Cute.” Whispered Clare as he pulled away. Without another word she floated off. Highly confused, Ransac turned back to the group. Dom looked completely outraged. Strafe watched Clare as she left. It was Syrene who surprised him the most. She had a look on her face that surpassed even Dom. It was an ugly expression and it shook him. Without a word he rejoined the group. “I don’t trust her.” Snapped Syrene. “Nor do I. Dom, you’ll have to tell us everything you can.” Replied Strafe. “One second.” Suddenly Dom punched Ransac right in the face. The blow was like a solid brick. “What the hell?!” Demanded Ransac. “It was for your own good. Don’t be getting any thoughts.” “I’m having a few right now!” With that he almost leapt at Dom. He was stopped in his tracks by Strafe. “That is enough! Dom! That was uncalled for. And Ransac, control yourself!” He demanded. Without warning the fight seemed to leave Dom entirely. He looked exhausted. “Sorry, but you can’t trust her.” He said in a voice that sounded just as tired as he looked. “I think that’s been established already. Now tell us your side of the story.” Snapped Strafe. Dom sighed. “You know what happened afterwards. Remember how I arrived at Africa Base? She’s the reason.” Strafe’s eyebrows lowered into a furrow. “What do you mean?” “When I left the Union, I only told one person where I was going. She was my cousin and the closest to me in the family. I told her she could find me there if she needed me. But instead she alerted the military.” As he spoke Dom seemed to work himself up again. Strafe nodded. “And so they tracked you down in your craft, and shot you down when you refused to surrender.” “I was nearly killed. If it wasn’t for you I would be dead.” “Why would she try to have you killed?” Asked Ransac. His former anger now turning into curiosity. In response, Dom became uncomfortable. “Because she was next in line to inherit the family fortune.” He explained. “My family was very wealthy. Without any siblings, Clare was the obvious choice should something happen to me. “Have you ever considered that perhaps there was more to the story and simple betrayal? Are you certain is was her?” Asked Strafe. Dom’s face clouded with uncertainty. “I’ve never thought about it that way.” He mumbled. Strafe stopped them in front of an elevator. “Our roles as Gundam Meisters puts us in a position to view the world from different points of view. And that can help you outside of battle as well. Now, I am going to bed. If you wish to speak about this later I will listen to what you have to say. I suggest we all get some rest. We’re not going to be on standby forever.” With that Strafe entered the elevator. “He’s right, we’re going to need our rest.” Said Ransac before he left for his own room.

Chapter 21: Taklamakan Desert
All Gundam Meisters report to the viewing room immediately. Daryl’s tone brooked no argument. Within minutes they had all assembled in front of the viewing room. “What do you think this is about?” Asked Dom. “We’ll find out once we get in there.” Said Longshot as he slid is cardkey into the slot. The door immediately slid open. “Excellent, look here.” Said Daryl. His attention was focused on the screen below them. The image was that of a desert. “Is it the Sahara?” Asked Dom. “No, that’s the Taklamakan Desert.” Answered Strafe. As he spoke his eyes narrowed. “Correct, and there’s a reason why I’ve gathered you all here.” “That being?” Asked Clare. Dom became uncomfortable when she spoke. It was obvious Strafe’s words were still in his head. Surprisingly, Syrene, who had joined the group as they had headed for the viewing room, displayed no emotion whatsoever. “Would it be having something to do with the joint military exercise?” Offered Longshot. This caught their attention. Such a thing was unheard of. “Indeed it does. The world blocks have united their military strength for this one massive training exercise.” As he spoke he looked expectantly at the group. Ransac quickly caught onto what he was saying. “It’s a trap for Celestial Being. Despite their claims of an exercise, this is one big operation to capture for defeat the Gundams. But this is a pretty obvious tactic, what makes them think Celestial Being will intervene?” “And there’s the thing. We’ve discovered a terrorist group is planning to target the old nuclear storage facilities in the desert. Normally this is a top secret facility.” “The blocks leaked the information so Celestial Being would be forced to head there.” Said Strafe. “Hold on, the world blocks actually invited a terrorist attack?” Demanded Dom. “Remember, to most of the world Celestial Being is considered another terrorist organization. To the blocks this is merely using one group to draw out another more valuable prize.” Explained Strafe. “So what are our orders? Are we going to assist them?” Asked Ransac. “For now, we are merely observing. Should matters decline that far, we will do our best to intervene on behalf of Celestial Being. The destruction or capture of the Gundams must be prevented at all costs.” Answered Daryl. “Sir, if we intervene, how do we return to space? I don’t like having to rely on the orbital elevator, nor the fact that we’d be leaving The Traveller practically defenseless.” Asked Strafe. “We’ve upgraded the Assault Containers to be capable of atmospheric entry and exit. And this ship is never defenseless, we have countermeasures against an attack.” Explained Daryl. “I’m heading to the hanger.” Said Ransac. If they were going to be called out on duty he wanted to be prepared. “I’ll inform our engineers to prepare to deploy the mobile suits.” Said Syrene. She followed Ransac out. “Do you really think it’ll come to exposing us to Celestial Being?” She asked once they were a good distance from the viewing room. “I hope not, but they’re facing a pretty big military force, and they’re bound to have a strategy in mind.” Replied Ransac. Syrene sighed. “I guess this was in Veda’s predictions as well.” The two arrived at the hanger to see it was already a flurry of action. Roy and Bill were barking orders to the other engineers who struggled to keep up. “Guess everyone already knows.” Said Ransac. “Guess so, well that makes my job a little easier.” Syrene sighed as she left to join the engineers. Before she had moved, she seemed to struggle with something. Before Ransac could ask what was wrong she seemed to recover. Thinking it was merely the stress of her position as chief engineer, he thought nothing more of it. Instead he climbed into the Rush Gundam. “Hey, wake up in there. They’ve started.” Said Dom, banging against the outer shell of the cockpit as he spoke. Ransac jumped, unaware that he had even fallen asleep. He flipped a switch and the cockpit opened up. “Daryl’s had it patched into the Gundam and our Agas.” He added. Ransac turned to his screen to see Gundam Exia dispatch two Flags, followed closely by Gundam Virtue. Virtue suddenly released a massive particle beam, creating a large trench where the beam had traveled. In the distance he could make out Gundams Dynames and Kyrios diving into the trench. “Looks like Sumeragi already had a tactical forecast.” Said Ransac. As a Gundam Meister they had been trained to identify certain characteristics of different tactics. This seemed to combine boldness with finesse, a common trait of Sumeragi. “Get comfortable, this is bound to go on for a few hours.” Said Dom before moving to his own mobile suit. It turned out he was correct, the battle stretched over 15 hours of fighting. Based on the tide of the battle, the Gundam Meisters, despite being relatively unscathed, were wearing out from the never ending assault. “They can’t last much longer, we need to launch now!” Said Ransac. He was already preparing the Gundam for launch. “Hold on there, Ransac! If we intervene now we’ll only get caught up in the fighting. At this rate we’d most likely be captured or killed. Warned Strafe. As he spoke Ransac watched as Gundam Virtue was surrounded and trapped within an energy field. “They’ve already captured one Gundam!” He replied as he continued. '''Gundam Meisters, launch! Begin immediate Atmospheric Entry and prepare to perform an Armed Intervention! '''The hanger exploded into action as the catwalks were hastily removed so the mobile suits could load onto the catapult deck. “We’re moving to slow! Ransac, Rush Gundam! Launching!” Without loading onto the Catapult Deck he exploded out of The Traveller at high speeds. For a moment the zero gravity nearly caused him to crash into the ship. At the last second he managed to correct himself. “That was dangerous!” Said Strafe. “I’m sorry, but we need to move now!” With that he shot towards the Earth, already prepping the Gundam for atmospheric entry. “Exia’s pilot is dying.” Said Dom. Ransac looked at the view screen to see Exia enveloped in a plasma field being generated by an Agrissa. Without warning a particle beam exploded against the Agrissa, forcing the pilot to disengage from the support craft as it was destroyed. The pilot was forced to retreat as more beam fire was fired at him. The beams themselves stopped everyone cold in their tracks. They were red.