Transformations

Mission

Transformations…

Chapter 14: Mission
 

“All right team, we need to be on alert for any possible traps.” Keith says as they approach the area where the ships were spotted.

“Thanks for that bit insight oh fearless leader.” Lance quips, getting a laugh from Shorty and Hothead.

“Lance, this is serious you know.” Fala says.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. But talk about stating the obvious.” He replies.

“Hey, Chief, I think I see something on radar coming this way. It’s at about nine o’clock.” Shorty says.

“I see it. Be on your guard, but don’t make the first move. Let’s separate a bit. Fala, you come with me. Lance, Shorty, Hothead, you spread out the other way. Let’s try and not be such an easy target.”

“Right.” They reply in unison as they spread out.

They continue towards the enemy ships “So far, so good.” Keith says.

They get almost all the way past the ships when an alert sounds. “What's coming?” Keith says as he scans his equipment.

“Uh, Chief...” Lance says.

“Yeah, I see it. Damn it! How did they come up so fast?!” he dodges as something hits close to where he had just been. “How many are there?” Keith says as he continually dodges attacks and fires back.

“I can’t count them all.” Shorty says. “Should we just start fighting back?”

“Yes. We don’t have much choice.” Keith replies.

“Oh shit!” Lance says.

“What?” the others reply in unison.

“The beastmen…” he stammers. “It looks like they’re combining.”

“What?!” Keith says as he checks his screens. “Well, let’s do the same, team.”

“Right.” They reply and begin the combination process. Soon they are face to face with two large beastmen. Both begin firing at them. They dodge the first attempt, but the second attempt The right leg is hit. “Ahhh!” Fala screams, and fires a missile back.

“Fala! Are you all right?!” Keith asks.

“Yeah, I’m okay. But damn that hurt. Let’s get this over with.” Fala replies.

Keith nods. “Let’s form the sword, team. I’ve had enough of these two.” They form the sword and are quickly attacked by both beastmen; the first one pulling a bladed weapon and striking towards the midsection of GoLion. They block the attack, but do not prevent some damage. After several attacks, they manage to destroy one of the attacking beastmen, cutting it in half, causing an explosion that knocks them back several hundred feet. Before they can get their bearings again, the second beastman grabs them, throwing them through the air. They grab for an arm and mange to piece its’ skin biting down with the lion’s head of green lion, causing the beastman to release its grip. It then starts swinging a whip towards them, latching onto the sword, pulling it from the grasp of GoLion.

“Shit!” Keith says. “Double sword!” Two blades are pulled from the wings of GoLion and attached end to end, and it is thrown like a javelin, cutting the whip and releasing the sword before returning to the wings. GoLion grabs the sword and slashes the other beastman before it has time to attack again. “That was not good, guys. They are stronger than we thought.” Keith states. They turn around, and notice that the bulk of the ships have left and the last few are retreating.

“I think it was just a test, Keith.” Fala says. “I’m not seeing anything on radar now.”

Keith nods. “I don’t see anything either.”

“I think we should go back to Calvary Command for now.” Lance states.

“Yeah, let’s go. Separate first.” Keith says and they separate. They then return to Calvary Command, where the others are waiting.

Keith comes out first, the others following. “Well, we learned that they can combine to make even bigger beastmen.”

“Uglier and more powerful too, it seems.” Hothead adds.

Saber nods. “Yes. We noticed. I think it was a test to see if they could draw us out again.” He turns to Fireball, who is just joining the group after parking his unit. “Did they seem to notice you?”

Fireball shakes his head. “I don’t think they had a clue I was there.”

“Did you learn anything?” Saber asks. Everyone comes closer to hear the conversation.

Fireball nods. “Well, you noticed that they can combine, obviously.” Several heads nod. “Evidently, that weakens the main battleships defenses. From what I could tell using my computer scanners, as soon as they began combining, the ship put up a shield, but had we attacked it, it wouldn’t have held, it seemed to weaken as the beastmen kept fighting. I’m not sure that the big ship that was there is the main ship though.” I was picking up some scrambled signals that went to somewhere closer to Orb. I couldn’t unscramble or listen in though because it would have given me away. I figured that just getting any information I could was more useful than giving away my presence.”

Saber nods. “That is useful information. The beastmen are stronger when they combine, but the price of that strength is a loss of protection for their base ship. That is something we might be able to use as an advantage.” Everyone is silent for several minutes. Commander Eagle pulls up the radars showing the near orbit to Calvary Command. “It appears that the enemy ships have left our region and headed back towards Orb. However, apparently, they aren’t going all the way to Orb. I have contacted Lady Cagalli and Captain Zala of Orb and neither of them have any knowledge of any skirmishes with the ships. Captain Zala says that it is possible that they could be using an abandoned satellite or PLANT as a base. They are looking into that possibility.” Several people nod.

“So what do we do now, Commander?” Colt asks.

“We wait, Mr. Wilcox.”

Colt sighs. “I’d rather go and get them now, while they’re on the run.” He mutters under his breath.

Saber goes and places a hand on his shoulder. “I know you want to see Robin and Josh again, Colt, but rushing off and getting yourself killed won’t make that happen.” Colt looks over to him as if to object. Saber shakes his head. “What if they want us to think they are retreating and we rush in there, only to find out that they had something far more powerful waiting for us?” Colt starts to speak and thinks better of it. Saber nods. “Exactly. They may not be showing their full hand to us. They may want us to think this is the best they have. If we went rushing in now, we very well could all be killed. What good does that do anyone?” A long silence ensues and he continues, “I understand you want this to end. Believe me, I would love to just go in there and kill the witch and all of her soldiers before they knew what hit them, but I know that it won’t be that easy. It’s never as easy as it seems it should be. We need to be methodical; so that we can be sure we get them and come out of this alive ourselves. Rushing in and getting ourselves killed does no one any good.”

Keith steps up, “Saber is right. If we rush in, who knows what surprises this witch is capable of. Not knowing anyone who has previous experience with her, we need to proceed with caution. Our best plan for now is to keep training together, so that we can anticipate one another’s most likely moves, without having to blurt it on the intercoms. We know she can monitor our com links, so we need to be good enough to anticipate one another’s moves or possible moves and be ready to react quickly.”

“Is that even possible?” Colt asks.

“I think so.” Keith replies, eying the several skeptical faces around him.

“It will take a bit of practicing, but it can conceivably be done.” Saber affirms. “We already tend to have similar fighting styles in battle, as you may have noticed.”

“It sounds impossible to me.” Fireball mumbles.

“Yeah,” Hothead agrees.

Saber sighs, looking a bit tired and flustered. “Let me try it this way…I don’t mean we have to know exactly what the other people are doing. I mean we need to be able to make educated guesses. Say we are in the middle of a battle and the GoLion team is at a disadvantage while fighting some beastman, and loses their sword, as happened earlier.” He looks around and notices everyone is listening and following the thought, so he continues. “We are in the midst of our own fight and can’t just go over and kill their beastman and give them their sword back. What could we do?” He asks to the group in general. Several members of the group look around to each other, hoping someone else will answer.

“You could toss us a weapon?” Fala suggests hesitantly.

Saber nods. “That is a possibility. But what weapon should we toss to you?”

Fala thinks for a moment. “It would depend on what you were using yourself, wouldn’t it?”

Several others look between the two, watching the exchange with interest. “Yes, it would vary, depending on what type of mode we were in, if we were separate or combined, and what our current major weapon being used is.” Saber replies.

“Well, from what I’ve seen, your robot mode’s primary weapon is some sort of blaster, so you could possibly toss us your sword,” Fala states.

Saber nods in agreement and Fala continues, “We could also break apart, hoping to confuse the beastman long enough to retrieve the sword ourselves, or use one of our other weapons, as we did today.”

“Precisely,” Saber replies satisfied. “The point is, we need to know what your most likely action would be, so that we don’t accidentally endanger you, or you us.”

Fala nods. “That makes sense. It’s not that we need to literally be practicing this, a lot of this could be computer simulation, that’s your point, right?” She asks.

“Yes. We need to talk out the scenarios, we all need to study the tutorials and become familiar with the weapons we all have, so that we know if someone goes to use a certain weapon, we know just how far to be out of the way. So, a lot of this will be done in a simulated environment, I think there is a way to use the tutorials in the Mobile Suits to create a video type simulation that we can watch on a screen to see what happens when you do certain things. The unfortunate thing is, we don’t know how much time we have to do this. We will need to practice in the suits more at night than in the daytime, so that we aren’t as easily monitored. That means spending the day using simulations and discussions to figure out how we would act under certain types of situations. We should start as soon as possible, though I think resting tonight would be a good idea. People tend to think more clearly when they are well rested.” Several people nod their agreement. “Shall we call it a night then and agree to meet first thing in the morning?”

“I think that is a good plan. I’ll see about getting a room set up for the simulations, so that you may begin in the morning.” Commander Eagle says. Saber nods and Commander Eagle turns and heads out the door.

Over the next several days the groups go over multiple scenarios and watch them play out on the screens before them. Several seem to work, others don’t. They have all decided to take a break and have broken off into groups, each going their own way to get something to eat or rest. Saber is sitting in the commons of their living area when Keith and Fala walk in. He looks up and nods to them in greeting. Keith and Fala come in and sit down across from him. “How are you feeling, Saber?” Fala asks, watching him closely.

Saber shrugs. “I’m still a bit tired, but I am sleeping better than I was. So progress is being made, I suppose.”

“I’m glad of that.” She replies.

Keith looks to Saber a bit nervously. “Fala says that you are good with the computer systems of the suits.” Saber nods, a bit uncertain.

“Do you think you could show me how one of the suits work? I’d let you learn how to fly my Lion as well. I just think it would be beneficial for both of us to be familiar with how both…” He pauses, trying to think of how to continue.

“Yes, I think you’re right. It would be a good idea for you to know the inner workings of at least one Mobile Suit, and I could see the advantages of one of us knowing how to work your Lion in case of an extreme emergency.” Keith nods. “It’s my understanding that your Lion is the most complex of the five.”

“Yes. Because of how it combines with the others, it is a bit more complex. It took a while, but Fala could do it, if absolutely necessary. She has piloted it in the past.” Keith replies.

Saber nods. “From what I can tell, my Mobile Suit seems to be the most complex to operate, although they all have some differences in how they work, depending on the use. I’ll be glad to let you try it out. Shall we try it this evening?”

“I was hoping you would be up to it.” Keith says relaxing a bit.

Saber watches him closely. “You weren’t sure about asking me, were you?”

Keith shakes his head. “I know you have been a bit…stressed, so I wasn’t sure if it was…appropriate for me to ask.”

Saber shakes his head and laughs. “I let Lance in it and you thought you had less of a chance than him?”

Keith laughs, “I didn’t think of it that way.”

Saber chuckles and mutters, “I’ll try and be a bit nicer to you than I was to him. At least you have seen some of the tutorials, a huge advantage over him.”

Fala laughs. “I’m sure watching him was amusing.”

“It was tempting to let him suffer a bit longer. He can be so…” Saber says.

“Brash?” Fala offers.

Saber nods. “Yes, that’s a good word for him. It was fun to see him struggle a bit. Once I talked him through the basic controls, he picked it up quickly, though I don’t think I’d want him using it in a battle situation.”

Keith laughs. “Yeah, he can be a bit…impulsive, and I’m not sure how he’d do in one of those suits in battle.” He shakes his head. “It would have been amusing to see him the first time you let him try the suit though.”

Saber smiles. “It was rather funny. He wasn’t the least bit appreciative when I told him I’d locked him out of the tutorials.”

Fala smiles, “I could only imagine his face.”

Saber looks around the room and stands up. “Shall we go on and let you try out the suit? I think by the time we get out there, it’ll be dark enough. I don’t want to be out too late if I can help it. All of us need to rest while we can.”

Keith and Fala nod in agreement as they stand up.

“Would it be okay if I came along to watch?” Fala asks.

Saber nods. “It would be fine. How would you get there?”

“I could ride in Black Lion, and watch from the ground or just stay in the back of the Lion as you try it out.” She replies.

Saber looks to Keith. “I have no objections. How do you feel about it?”

Keith shrugs. “I’m not sure about her coming along, though it might be good for her to be there to talk you through things if you start to have trouble.” He looks to Fala. “Why not take your Lion?”

“I figured the fewer vehicles we have out the less likely we are to be noticed.” She replies, getting a nod from Keith.

“That makes sense.” Saber says.

Keith nods. “Let’s go and get the Lion and suit and go to the same clearing as before.” Saber and Fala nod, and they go to leave.

A short time later, they land and meet on the ground. Keith steps forward, holding out the key to the Black Lion. “I think you should do fine with it. Just ask Fala if you have questions.”

Saber nods. “I enabled the tutorials for you, though you will mostly use the buttons on the left and the control stick to maneuver.” Keith nods. “It is still in training mode, so you won’t have full access to the weapons. But, I’m letting you have more freedom and information than I did for Lance.”

Keith chuckles. “Thanks. Shall we try this?” Saber nods. “Then let’s go.” Keith goes and gets into the Mobile Suit, as Saber and Fala get into the Lion.

Saber sits down and inserts the key, activating the Lion. He slowly gets the Lion moving and takes to the air. “This isn’t so bad.”

Keith takes to the air at almost the same time. A bit unsteady for a moment, then he seems to catch on quickly. “This seems fairly straightforward, Saber.” Keith says. “How did Lance have trouble with this?” He is now moving around easily.

Saber seems to have grasped the controls for Black Lion and they are facing each other. “Shall we try a few attacks?”

Keith nods. “Sure. I’ll try and not allow you to damage the suit.”

“I’m not worried about that.” Saber says as he fires at Keith. Keith dodges easily and fires back, Saber moving easily out of the way. “Nice shot.” He fires again in rapid succession, Keith managing to dodge all but the last shot; it glances off of him and knocks him back momentarily.

“I thought you said this was complex.” Keith says, still firing and dodging attacks. “It seems pretty logical to me.

Saber watches him on the screen; he sees that he is easily controlling the suit. “Have you gone through any of the tutorials?”

Keith nods. “I skimmed them all.” Saber looks a bit surprised, but nods. “I don’t know why they seemed so freaked out about you doing it. They don’t take long to read.”

Saber chuckles. “That’s what I said, and you heard how they reacted.” They fire at each other a bit more, then decide to land and swap again, after meeting on the ground. Saber hands Keith the key to his Lion and studies him for a minute and nods slightly.

“What?” Keith asks a bit unnerved.

“I think you may be like me, Keith.” Saber replies nonchalantly. .

“What are you talking about?” He asks confused.

“I think you may be what the people on Orb call a ‘coordinator’. Saber replies.

“How? When? I don’t see how that is possible.” He says a bit bewildered.

Fala comes over and places her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s talk about it back at the base, all right?”

Saber nods. “I think that’s a good idea.” He goes and gets into the Mobile Suit.

Keith nods and they return to his Lion and they all take off, landing a short time later in the hangar, where the other suits and vehicles are.

They meet in the hangar area and Saber walks over to Keith. “Would you be averse to having a blood test?”

Keith looks at him skeptically. “A blood test, what for?”

Saber sighs. “To see if my suspicion is correct.” Keith looks at him, not sure what to say. “I think you may be like I am. It only takes a blood test to know for sure.” Keith nods hesitantly and Saber leads them through the maze of hallways towards the medical ward. He stops at one of the offices and knocks.

A young man in a white lab coat opens the door and smiles. “Saber, it’s good to see you again. Are you um, feeling better since I last saw you?”

Saber nods slightly. “Yes, I am a bit more receptive to the, news that you gave me last time we spoke. That’s actually why we’re here.” He nods towards Keith. “I have a feeling that Captain Kogane here may be also be a coordinator.”

Dr. Izumi looks over to Keith, appraising him visually. “Why do you think that is the case, Captain Rider?”

“Well, I let him into my suit, and he was basically able to do the same thing that I did with it.” Dr. Izumi looks a bit surprised. “I suppose you’d call it instinct, but I have a feeling that my instinct is right. Would you mind performing the same blood tests that you did on me?”

Dr. Izumi looks between the three people standing before him and nods towards Fala. “So why is she here?”

“She is with me. I don’t keep things from her.” Keith says somewhat defensively.

Dr. Izumi nods, “Very well, come with me and sit in that chair over there.” he says indicating a chair across the room. Keith does as he’s told. Dr. Izumi turns towards Fala and Saber, “You two wait here.”

They nod and he goes over to Keith and draws the needed blood, then tells him to join the others as they wait for the results. After a while, the doctor comes over to them. “Well, Captain, you seem to be correct.” He says to Saber before turning to face Keith. “The strange thing is I haven’t been able to find out who your parents are.”

“I don’t know who my parents were.” He says quietly. “They were killed shortly after I was born. I was adopted, but that family was killed years ago, before I ended up on Altea.”

Dr. Izumi nods, “Well, it’s not a big problem. It was more idle curiosity on my part. At least you know, and perhaps now you can find a way to use that to your advantage.”

Saber nods. “Thank you, Doctor. As before, please delete all traces of the tests and results. This information doesn’t leave this room.” Dr. Izumi opens his mouth to speak, but Saber cuts him off, “That includes not mentioning this to Commander Eagle. If Captain Kogane chooses to enlighten anyone of this newfound ability, it will be on his terms. Are we clear on this?” Saber says rather forcefully.

Dr. Izumi nods hesitantly. “Yes Sir, I understand fully and will do as you have requested immediately.” He heads off to eradicate the data and the traces of the blood tests.

Saber sighs and turns towards Keith and Fala. “Well, what now? It’s getting late.”

Keith looks up a bit tired, “Could we find somewhere to talk briefly? I have a few, questions for you.”

Saber nods, “Of course, I’m sure they are some of the same questions that I had when I found out.” He leads them back to the common area. “Let’s go into my quarters. It’s a bit tight, but I don’t think anyone will bother us there.” They nod and quietly go through the darkened common area and into his room. He sits in the chair by his desk and indicates for them to sit at the foot of his bed, “Now, what kind of questions do you have?”

Keith takes a deep breath, trying to compose his thoughts. “I’m not even sure what to ask…I guess how did I get this way for starters.”

Saber chuckles. “That seems a fairly easy question; most likely you are a case similar to my own. I was made this way during some fertility treatments my parent’s had done when they were trying to have a family. Evidently it was done without my parent’s knowledge.”

“Another question I have is what about if I want a family, you know later?” Keith asks a bit hesitantly.

“One of the same things I asked.” Saber replies, “According to Dr. Izumi, everything should happen normally. The only difference is that any children you have will be naturally enhanced from your genes. They should be resistant to illness, and have similar abilities as you do. So I suppose it isn’t all bad.” He replies with a chuckle, “Aside from feeling like a lab rat.” He adds dryly.

Fala chuckles and Keith smiles, “Thanks for that lovely analogy,” Keith adds ruefully.

“Well, that’s what I felt like when I found out.” Saber answers honestly.

Keith nods, “I can understand the comparison. That doctor looked rather interested in knowing I was ‘another one’.”

Saber nods. “Apparently, there were a few of us that they ’lost track’ of around the same time. Kira from Orb was also one of those. However, some of us supposedly were created with the parent’s consent.”

“Why would anyone want to have their child altered like that?” Fala wonders aloud.

“Probably to try and create their idea of a ‘perfect child’; I think because of so many people wanting to have such control over the features of their children, they decided to end that program. It was causing too many problems, especially for the kids who didn’t ‘meet’ their parent’s expectations.” Saber says almost bitterly. “That’s what I’ve been able to mull through in our databases on the subject at least.”

“Shouldn’t you have been sleeping?” Fala asks a bit amused.

“I told you, I am sleeping better than I was. I never claimed to be in a normal sleep pattern.” Saber replies innocently.

Keith looks between them a bit confused.

“Saber and I talked a bit about two weeks ago about how everyone was worried about him. I gave him some suggestions on things to try to help him sleep,” Fala clarifies. Keith nods, understanding.

“It has helped, Your Highness. I am up to about four to five hours at night most of the time now. That’s a good deal better than I had been.” Saber says.

Fala nods, “I’m glad of that. I can tell you’re feeling a bit better because of the extra sleep too.” He nods in agreement.

“Speaking of sleep...” Keith says standing up. “We should all try and get some. It’s nearly midnight now.”

Saber looks over to his clock and nods. “Yes. We should. I’ll see you at breakfast?” Fala and Keith both nod. “All right. Well, goodnight to you both.”

“Goodnight.” They reply and head out the door.

Saber closes the door after them and changes before flopping down onto the bed.