Gundam Wing: Oz.

Top Gun.

By The Kushrenada Society author Pellaeon.

PG for violence, otherwise mostly clean. Some gaps in timeline and MS continuity. Otherwise, highly held in TKS’s eyes.

Flight Officer Raymond Troy, codenamed "Shadow" by his Mobile Suit wing unit, looked at the port monitor of his Aries and smiled as his wingman, Flight Officer Elliot "Duke" Virgil, straightened his flight path to close up the formation between him and the rest of the squadron.

"Shadow, close it up. You and Duke are too far out," he heard over the comm, the voice of the squadron leader, Commander Michael "Ghost" Bradford, reverberating with its strong even tones.

"Copy that, Ghost. Pull it up, Duke." Troy pulled his Aries up and to starboard, his wingman pulling the same maneuver as they slipped back into the squadron formation.

As his cold green eyes tracked over the field of stars on his viewscreen, Troy let his lips purse for a moment. Only four hours earlier did Commander Bradford receive news and orders about Zechs Merquise’s, now Milliardo Peacecraft’s, defection to the colony rebel force known as the White Fang. A pity, to be sure. The man’s declaration of war on the Sovereign Nation of Earth did not make things any less complicated, certainly, and the 182nd Specials Aries Squadron had been instructed to patrol a small portion of space between Earth and the moon, to make sure no enemy troops could launch a premature strike at the Earth, or the lunar base. Not that there should be any. The sector the 182nd was patrolling was on the line-of-sight vector between the small blue world below and the moon. If mobile dolls did show up, reinforcements would come quickly, and the enemy would’ve had to break through the other squadrons to reach this point, and with as many that were between the colonies and the 182nd’s sector, they would have already been destroyed by then.

Again, Troy’s comm crackled. "Arm missiles and weapons, boys. I’ve just gotten word that a group of Virgo and Taurus mobile dolls have broken through the other squadrons from the direction of the L3 colony, along the Aries Corridor. They are hostile. We are free to engage them once they enter our sector and terminate them," Ghost said, his leader-like tone edged with a bit of fear. Ghost was a combat veteran. He had seen battles before, seen men older than him being shot to pieces by mobile dolls, Gundams, and even by the Rohmefeller Foundation pilots. He knew what combat was, and even the densest individual could hear that in his voice. Troy could nearly smell Ghost’s fear through the comm channel. Fear was good. It kept the body alive and alert. If the pilots were afraid, they would be less likely to get themselves killed.

"As ordered, Ghost," he heard Duke say, then Troy, once again under the guise of Shadow as he was under all combat situations, began arming his heavy weaponry.

"All pilots, report in, wingman order," he heard Ghost say.

"Fury, standing by."

"Ace, boards are clear."

"Mole, two green and topped off."

"Vampire, standing by."

"Nightmare, standing by."

"Warrior, standing by."

"Crash, lock and load."

"Tiger, ready to dance."

"Lightning, standing by."

"Duke, standing by."

Shadow smiled, as Duke’s response struck a mental chord which reminded him to sound off. "Shadow, in the green."

Ghost’s voice came through again. "All units, follow my lead. Attack pattern Delta, go now. Regroup on vector two-three-four-four-one."

"Copy that, Ghost...Ace and Mole, in formation, standing by."

"Nightmare and Vampire, in formation."

"Lightning and Tiger, we’re in formation."

As the calls of "in the formation" sounded, Shadow and Duke nearly simultaneously edged their controls to bring both Aries up and over to the heading Ghost had given, then slipped into formation behind and above Nightmare and Warrior. "Shadow and Duke, in formation."

"Ghost and Fury, in formation."

"Crash and Warrior, in formation, standing by."

"Good. Arm your weapons, aim high. Lets hope the enemy has gone through enough of our people to get cocky," Ghost said, letting a sigh filter through the comm.

Shadow checked his sensor board. "Ghost, I see no contacts yet. Not on the board, no visual, nothing."

"Steady, Shadow. The leader of the 197th Squadron in sector Alpha Nine called in heads up before he engaged the enemy."

Shadow’s eyes widened. Alpha Nine was the sector adjacent to that the 182nd was patrolling, sector Alpha Seven. If the 197th leader had called in "heads up" for them, then seemingly, the man must’ve known that his squadron would have failed to stop them. Meaning this things are serious and not just a few lost Mobile Dolls buzzing our forces, he thought as he wet his lips, his eyes narrowing as he waited for the contacts to begin appearing on his forward screen. Also, if we get wiped out, White Fang will have a small strike dent in our lines to be able to make runs on the moon base and even Earth. This is a real deal, a major strike.

He looked over at Duke and switched to a more secure frequency. "Duke, this is a big project the bogies launched."

Duke’s voice was solemn. "No kidding. I guess this is going to make us heroes."

Shadow shivered in his chair. "Or corpses."

"There you go again, being pessimistic."

He chuckled solemnly. "Copy that, Duke. Just worry about the fact that we’re the squadron these guys had to run into, you copy?"

"Shadow, we’re gonna live through this, okay?"

Shadow closed his eyes and thought of his young wife back home, Alexandria Troy. She was still waiting for him, wasn’t she? Of course she was, she had been since Troy had left his small home in Northern Italy to help Treize Kushrenada overthrow the dead husk of the Earth Sphere Alliance. Troy had been an Aries pilot since the beginning, doing anything from making passes at the Gundams on Treize’s private battleship when they assaulted it to small patrol missions like this one. And apparently, this small patrol mission was about to turn ugly.

"Shadow?"

Troy opened his eyes, once again in his cockpit as the pilot known as Shadow. "Sorry about that, Duke. What’s going on?"

"We have visuals. Twelve Taurus Mobile Dolls, seventeen Virgo Dolls."

Shadow’s eyes again grew wide, then switched to the squadron frequency as his sensors began picking up the signatures of the mobile dolls. He heard Ghost giving orders throughout the squadron. "---ampire, take Ace, Mole, and Crash in to begin making runs on the Taurus dolls and pull them away from the Virgo dolls so Duke, Fury, Shadow and I can make the first run on the Virgos, draw them out from the vector they’re on, get them a little lost. Tiger, you and the rest of the squadron will mop up what Vampire and his flight wedge through. We want to pull the Taurus’s away, then nuke them, in which the Virgo dolls will lose their cover force and hopefully spook, got it? We mix it up with the Virgos and create a lot of targets out there. Try and avoid the Taurus dolls if you can, since we don’t have beam weapons, and they’ll probably have beam sabers. Call for help when you need it, and let’s slag them."

Shadow looked down at the small picture of his wife he had taped to his upper right monitor, then took it down, gave it a quick kiss, then returned it to its perch and settled back in his couch, pulling his flight goggles down and over his eyes as the acid taste of fear began burning in his throat and guts. Swallowing, he looked down at his board and sighed as the distance to target began scrolling down. Locking his missile control onto one of the Virgos, he prayed his missiles would scramble as he tapped the command in, in other words, juke along its flight path before hitting the doll so it could not escape, but even if the missiles did not scramble, they could still pass through the planet defensor shield if the doll did not dodge, and it would have been better if Shadow’s request had gone through and the 182nd was equipped with homing missiles. "Shadow has a firing solution, set missiles to scramble before hitting targets. On my mark, boys."

He narrowed his eyes as the range closed to 600 kilometers...then 500km...then 400km...then down to 293km as the mobile dolls goosed their throttles up and began speeding in toward the 182nd. "Three...two...one...launch now," Shadow gave his mark, letting loose two missiles of his own as Vampire, Tiger and their flights juked up and away from the main flight and began to speed in toward the Taurus dolls, their weapons spraying lethal fire over the enemy suits. Six other missiles from Ghost, Duke and Fury jetted out on white fire, trailing towards a Mobile doll in the inner flight of the formation. Five deviated from their course as the Virgo raised its planet defensors, but the sixth must have jammed, since it impacted on the doll’s planet defensor shield and exploded brilliantly. The surviving missiles slammed full into the starboard wing of the formation, crippling Virgos that failed to raise their defensors, those crippled suits then detonating as the warheads went off on the projectiles. Shadow’s eyes widened. Oh man, these Virgos are different. Planet Defensors can’t stop missiles or bullets. Must be a prototype group, specially outfitted for this mission.

The other members of the 182nd bored in at the Taurus flight, cutting through the Mobile dolls and shredding their black armor plating before the space mobile suits detonated. The Taurus dolls began returning fire, not in tandem with each other, suggesting that these dolls were being controlled remotely by a human rather than being fully automated.

Shadow lifted the rifle in the his Aries’ grip, then goosed his throttle as Ghost did so, burning through the Virgo formation like a hot knife through butter. The Virgos had their defensors raised now, and let loose with their oversized beam cannons, shooting at the Aries suits. Their shots were hasty and easily avoided, giving more credit to the theory that these Mobile Dolls were not automated. Shadow edged his Aries out of the way of an incoming Virgo blast, then followed Ghost as the older pilot began leading Virgos away from their original vector.

"Ghost, these Mobile Dolls aren’t automated, nor do our solid weapons have any effect," he said sharply, sideslipping another blast as the Virgos came on in hot pursuit.

Ghost’s voice had developed an edge, but lacked none of its earlier vehemence and the small trickle of fear. "I copy, Shadow. They aren’t automated indeed. However, fact remains, we can’t hit these guys yet. These guys must have their Defensor harmonics tuned for solid weaponry, meaning they’ll be susceptible to beam weapons. It’s never been done before, but it’d work. We were asked to watch for this. The enemy was specifically gunning for the Aries Corridor."

Shadow nodded, an icy lump of dread forming in his stomach. In every patrol mission, there was a constant formation of Aries squadrons along a line of sectors. Leos surrounded the Corridor, and the Aries were trained ready to expect enemies to try to punch through the Aries Corridor as part of OZ Specials training. Peacecraft’s tactic also meant that the White Fang was not above espionage. The plans for any mission were classified, so no enemy could pull the OZ formation from them. If the White Fang had managed to fly directly down the Aries Corridor, it meant there were spies in the tactical division of OZ.

"No excuses, though. I have an idea. Shift to vector M178, keep those Virgos on your tail," Ghost finished, rolling to avoid another Virgo shot.

"I copy, Ghost, but that’d lead us towards Vampire and the Taurus’s," he protested.

Ghost snorted. "Humor me, Shadow."

"As ordered, Ghost."

Dodging another blast, Shadow rolled and dove, locking onto the vector Ghost had given, heading back towards the Taurus dogfighting. A close shot from one of the Virgos shook his Mobile Suit, but he resisted the urge to roll again, rather sideslipping to port, still heading on the vector. Duke pulled up on his wing and rolled to avoid a burst of fire, then flashed across Shadow’s flightpath and momentarily blinding the pilot. When his vision cleared, he saw a Taurus at his twelve o’ clock lifting its beam cannon to take a shot at him, then reflexively brought his own rifle up and began loosing rounds into the mobile doll. The rounds slammed into the Taurus’s torso and head, shattering its optic sensor and shredding its armor. Something exploded in the chest section and the whole Mobile Doll disintegrated in a yellow fireball.

"Nice shot, Shadow," he heard Duke say.

"Thanks for the setup, buddy," Shadow smiled, then maneuvered to find Ghost. The veteran’s Aries flashed through the dogfight with a pair of Virgos hot on his tail. He had his Mobile Suit dancing up and down and side to side, letting their beam blasts miss wide.

"All units," Ghost said, the trail of fear in his voice now gone. "We have a Space Leo squadron coming up. They’ll be here in five minutes. We have to hold these Virgos for as long as we can, since the Leos have beam sabers. New tactic, start running in and out between the Taurus dolls, get the Virgos to follow you, and I mean skim real close to the Taurus’s. Get it to the point where the Virgos following you hit the Taurus’s, maybe destroy both. Down to wings now, since flights would be too easy to target. How many of us are left?"

"Ten, sir," Vampire spoke up. "We lost Mole and Warrior."

Shadow looked at his sensor board. Sure enough, the signatures for Ace and Warrior were gone, but so were seven Taurus signatures and four Virgos.

He smiled as Duke let loose with his jets, and Shadow chopped his own throttle forward to match his wingman’s speed. "I have your wing, Duke. Take lead."

"Copy that, Shadow. Hang on, little buddy, we are going to do some flyin’," the American pilot replied, heading in at a small cluster of Virgos.

Shadow looked at the screen. "Up and over?"

He could see Duke grinning. "Up and through. I want to impale these damn bastards. Go through the middle of the cluster, then follow my lead. Most of all, don’t get yourself killed. I don’t want to be the one to tell Alexandria."

"Copy that, Duke. Wisdom before beauty."

Duke laughed, then dove in at the cluster. There appeared to be four Virgo mobile dolls huddled together, their beam cannons outward as they took shots at Aries that tried to pester them into following in the tactic Ghost had described. They seemed so concerned about the Aries that had been covering Duke and his approach that Shadow doubted that they had even seen their closing in, then smiled at that prospect and switched over to missiles.

"Duke, use your missiles. They haven’t seen us yet, and their defensors are outward, meaning we have a donut to shoot at. Launch when you’re close, got it?"

"Copy that, Shadow. I have a lock. Prepare to launch, little buddy...three, two, one, now."

Shadow let loose three missiles in perfect unison with Duke’s trio, the missiles speeding in at their targets. Duke’s volley shattered the head of his Virgo and the Mobile Doll exploded, Shadow’s performing a similar act with his target as the other two Mobile Dolls drew away from the explosions and looked upward. Duke and Shadow flashed through behind the Virgos, then pulled up and flashed right before the one closest. It staggered back as if startled, then it and its wingmate loosed their jets and came on in pursuit of the two Aries, their beam cannons spitting fire.

Shadow laughed with the sheer giddiness of Duke maneuver, then yelled back at the Virgos in Italian. "Come and get us, you little demons!"

"Woah, chill out, Shadow! We’re not out of this yet," Duke yelled as his Aries was buffeted by near misses as he and Shadow began weaving an intricate path of loops, twists, turns, braids between the two flightpaths, then slammed their suits and their pursuits into a high-g turn that took them directly into a Taurus flightpath. The Taurus tried to stop, but inertia gave it a disadvantage and the two Aries dove into a straight dive as the Virgos slammed full into the helpless Mobile doll and all three exploded.

Duke laughed triumphantly and pulled his Aries into a roll before settling back on Shadow’s wing. Shadow looked down at his sensor board. It appeared that another six Virgo dolls had fallen, while the Taurus number was down to a single doll. However, this battle was far from over as he saw the numbers the 182nd had lost. Another four of the Aries pilots, Nightmare, Crash, Lightning and Tiger had been shot down, and all except Duke and he had tailing mobile dolls.

Turning his Aries to find Ghost, he saw the elder pilot pulling out of a loop with two Virgos on his tail, blasting at him with their oversized cannons. Ghost sideslipped to starboard to avoid another blast, but the dolls adjusted easily and leveled the vector before Ghost with fire. Ghost had no way to avoid, and plunged directly into the wall of blasts as two punctured his legs and another sheared both of them off. The leader of the 182nd squadron tumbled through the void, trying to tuck what was left of his Mobile Suit into a ball to present a smaller target.

Shadow banked to starboard, then ruddered around to port to take him back around towards Ghost, then loosed his throttle and jetted in at Ghost.

"Shadow here, Ghost is in trouble. I’m going in."

He heard Vampire protest. "Shadow, you can’t! He’s got two Virgos on him, we can’t get over in time to overwhelm them!"

"Vampire, I have to. The five minutes for the Space Leos to get here is up. They’re either late or not coming. Someone’s got to go in."

Vampire remained silent for a second. "Okay. Take Duke and Fury with you."

"Copy that. Hang on, Ghost, we’re coming in."

"Negative, Shadow, that is a negative, I’ve got two Virgos on me. You’d never get out in time."

"Sorry, Ghost. Repeat, we are inbound, stand by."

"Negative, Shadow, I’ve got enemies on me, dammit! I am ordering you to stop your run!"

"Sorry. We are inbound, Ghost, stand by."

Ghost growled, then said nothing more, killing his comm connection.

Shadow saw Duke and Fury pull up on either wing, their rifles ready, then smiled and keyed his comm. "Okay, gentlemen, let’s hope we can bait these bastards out, or at least get Ghost out of there. Duke, you and me are going to dive between those Virgos, then pull up and see if you can get them to chase you. Fury, when we pull them away, I want you to go in and grab Ghost and pull him out. We’ll keep the Virgos off you, got it?"

"Right with you, boss," Fury responded.

"Shadow, at these speeds, are we going to be able to pull out in time?" Duke asked, shifting the rifle in his hands briefly.

"Just like back at Victoria Base and the Great Rift Valley, buddy," Shadow responded evenly, them dove in at the Virgos.

The mobile dolls were letting their beam cannons recharge for a moment, standing over Ghost’s damaged Aries as if gloating that they had felled the warrior. Ghost was barely moving, his rifle already gone as he had let it go when hit. With the debris in the area, again, that Shadow would have been surprised if they had even seen them. Then those hopes were crushed as both Virgos turned and leveled their cannons at them, one triggering a blast that totally engulfed Fury and destroyed the pilot and Aries in a matter of microseconds, the pilot’s scream dying with him.

"Holy..." he heard Duke say as he and Shadow split and rolled to avoid fire.

"Keep it together, Duke! Same plan! Get them to chase you, buddy," Shadow said evenly, hoping he sounded like a leader.

Duke goosed his throttle again, opening his jets wide and increasing his speed as the two Virgos came in pursuit again, following Duke while Shadow dropped back behind the two Virgos.

Can’t shoot these bastards, let’s fuck with their heads a bit, Shadow though, inverting his Aries and matching speed with the Virgos, picking up fast on them.

"Shadow, man, get these dolls off me! I can’t hold them," Duke yelled, dodging like a small insect along the bright light of the Virgo shots.

Pushing forward on the direction sticks of his Aries, Shadow dove, then yanked his sticks up, still at full throttle, zipping up directly in front of the Virgos, then pulling a loop around them, smiling as he manipulated the free left hand of his Aries to shoot the Mobile Dolls the middle finger.

He could hear Duke laughing as Shadow jetted up and away before the startled dolls could react, letting his wingman slip away. Unfortunately, instead of dividing up to take Duke and himself on one-on-one, both jetted up into Shadow’s exhaust and began following him in, their beam cannons belching fire.

Crap, Shadow thought as he began dodging blasts. I anticipated these two to divide up, take each of us.

Then it occurred to him that these dolls were not automated, as he noticed before, and with humans at the remote controls, predictability was not the betrayer of the enemy.

A sense of impending dread pounded him as he jerked his Aries to the right, and a saffron Virgo blast sailed past him, shaving inches of titanium off his left foot. He blinked at the fact that he had become so careless, then pulled a port loop, climbing to avoid the oncoming blasts. He got no sensation as the Virgo’s shot sliced through his starboard shoulder engine, vaporizing it instantly as the other’s shot slammed into his right leg, spinning him as the Aries shook and vibrated, warning buzzers and red lights flashing through his cockpit.

He slammed his helmet on the vidscreen, and lost consciousness as the screen shattered, sending little shards of glass through the cockpit. When his vision cleared, he saw light gathering in a Virgo’s beam cannon at his direct twelve ‘o clock. Closing his eyes, waiting for the fire of death to pierce his cockpit, then opened his eyes and looked up at his picture of his wife.

"I’m not afraid anymore, Alexandria...I’m not afraid," he whispered, then shut his eyes again as he saw the Virgo’s cannon blossom in a blinding light as the doll fired at maximum firepower. He thought he could feel the heat of the blast as he felt a sudden g-force pressing on him, throwing him to the left as his eyes popped open in surprise.

Looking at his port monitor, his mouth literally dropped open as a blue and white mobile suit with the face of a Gundam stared back at him. A smaller rectangle opened on the screen, revealing the face of the man he had least expected to see: Supreme Commander Treize Kushrenada.

"Are you okay, pilot?" Treize asked, holding Shadow’s Aries as he jetted away from the Virgos.

He nodded. "Yes, sir, I’m okay, although my Aries is pretty shot up."

Treize nodded solemnly. "Offhand, I’d say you’re out of this fight now."

Shadow wet his lips. "Sir, you were with the..."

The OZ Supreme Commander and Sovereign of the Earth Nation smiled. "Tallgeese II is a new model of Mobile Suit. I had wanted to test it out, and if that meant waiting for Milliardo to strike at the Aries Corridor here, then so be it. I would have preferred to fly with the Aries themselves, but I was talked into flying with the 217th Space Leos. That is the squadron that’s saving yours."

Shadow looked confused. "Sir, I don’t understand, how could you know about the Aries Corridor? We only figured it out..."

"That’s the reason why, pilot," Treize said simply.

Shadow blinked slightly, and opened his mouth to say that he didn’t understand, then the thoughts collided in his brain. He knew the White Fang would be coming down the Aries Corridor, and he was flying with the Leos. Meaning he was waiting for the White Fang to come. They must’ve caught the spy within the tactical group, and allowed it to go forth to destroy a good number of Mobile Dolls and root out the better pilots of the squadrons for our coming attack on Libra, which is going to have to take place. Also, it gave the White Fang a look at Tallgeese II, letting them know we have a new weapon now. He smiled, nodding to Treize’s image as a smile spread across the general’s face. "I’ll take your wing anytime, General."

"I’ll remember that, pilot. I don’t believe I caught your name?"

Shadow straightened in his chair. "Shadow, Flight Officer Raymond Troy, sir."

"Well then, Officer Troy," Treize said quietly. "The 217th is taking care of the Virgos. We were advised that these have their harmonics tuned to block solid weaponry, courtesy of your squadron leader."

Shadow’s eyes widened again. So that’s why Ghost was letting those Virgos we pulled off him stand there. He was radioing back to Treize and the 217th, telling them to bring beam weapons.

He nodded to his superior officer. "Understood sir," Shadow said, a smile crawling across his face. "Shoot ‘em down for me, sir. You’re Top Gun in my squadron any day."

END.

EPILOGUE.

Commander Milliardo Peacecraft of the White Fang took off his headset, looking at the static scream across his vidscreen. So it was true. Treize has constructed a second Tallgeese, equal to Milliardo’s old one. Standing from his chair, he closed his icy blue eyes, and could still see the terrible visage of the Mobile Suit as it arced its crimson beam saber at his remote Mobile Doll before Milliardo’s remote transmission died. Treize was a great pilot and a terrible enemy. However, Milliardo knew that if Treize wanted the peace he knew the older man wanted, he would come for Milliardo on Libra.

Sighing, the commander clasped his hands behind his back, looking at the small blue cancer looming before Libra. Earth. It has spawned its course, given life to the most hideous of wars, and now its age was over. He smiled. Treize would come to stop him, that much was obvious. He wanted to be a martyr, so be it, Milliardo would help him reach that end. It would not help. Earth was the disease of the old Alliance, it had to be cured by Libra’s horrific beam cannon. Even then, he simply wished that Noin would have come with him. She was incredible in battle, and one of the closest friends Milliardo could’ve ever had. He had lost it all in this war that Treize had formulated, and even before that when the Alliance had assassinated his family.

Treize was the same way as the Alliance, in Milliardo’s eyes.

He would continue to fester like an infection unless Earth and its homicidal residents, the soldiers and madmen spawned from that world, were permanently ended.

Milliardo smiled, to banish some of his fear and guilt. He had plans to make, especially since his Aries Corridor Project had been crushed a little early. He had found Tallgeese, as he expected, and piloted by Treize. An offensive was brewing on his part then, especially since he had began upping production on his resource satellites. He was creating Mobile Suits to bring up against Milliardo’s Epyon and Virgo Mobile dolls, courtesy of Dorothy’s now-gone Rohmefeller connections, which had allowed her access to Tubarov’s mobile doll plans. Turning to his subordinate with white hair and blue vest, he nodded, and the man hurried off the begin asking the techs to be keeping Epyon tuned for battle.

Treize would come. He would come for the good of peace.

But if he died...it would be one less gun firing, at the very least.