MOBILE SUIT
GUNDAM H. Z.
Episode 8: Preparation for Bloodshed
(Doctor T sits typing at a console in the repair bay with a cup of steaming coffe at his side, he picks it up and takes a sip and continues typing.)
Doctor T: Never appeciated a cup of coffe like now…
(Doctor T yawns and looks into the repair area, Heavy Zero sits there with some mechanical stuff on the other arm, the shield on the left arm has been removed and some electronics are being rigged there, numerous plates of armor are missing, apparently removed to get to certain areas. The head is also half bare mechanicals and also being modified. Kert walks in.)
Doctor T: Kert, you should get some rest. (yawns again.)
Kert: Speak for yourself, you’ve been up all night working on that modification blueprint, Drake wouldn’t make his men work this late.
Doctor T: I know, but I can’t help but feel I need to get this thing done as quickly as I can, something, I don’t know what, but something damned unpleasant is going on in space, or rather it is brewing.
Kert: I know, I have that same feeling.
Doctor T: Worse yet, I’m afraid Drake’s equipment isn’t sophisticated enough to complete the upgrade, besides we are all but out of gundanium, we can’t even refit the Leo’s yet, not to mention upgrade the remaining Leos into Leo II’s.
Kert: Doesn’t surprise me, I was using the bare minimum of gundanium on my gundam to preserve the supply for repairs. But that didn’t seem to do much…
(Doctor T brushes his beard, absorbed in thought.)
DoctorT: Winner…
Kert: What?
DoctorT: Winner! Quatre Rebarba Winner!
Kert: Wasn’t he the pilot of Sandrock?
DoctorT: Yes, and heir to a great fortune! He’s now a major driving force in the colonies progress. Also a firm supporter of peace, I’m sure that once he hears our cause he will be glad to give us a hand!
Kert: So your plan is to get help from Quatre Winner?
DoctorT: Yes, and besides, the repair hangars in space have the most sophisticated equipment available!
Kert: How are we going to get the gundanium?
DoctorT: Easy, Gundanium can only be forged in 0 gravity, space basically.
Kert: Hmm, I didn’t know that.
DoctorT: Naturally, we were supposed to repair your gundam in the first place, your decision to break off from us was a good move but you lacked a bit of training for going out on your own.
Kert: I made it didn’t I?
DoctorT: Not by pure chance either, I see you didn’t need most the training in the first place, now go to bed, I’ll propose my plan to Drake in the morning. I’ll finish up here first.
Kert: You’re going to bed too, that’s the whole reason I came up here in the first place.
DoctorT: If you insist.
(Kert helps DoctorT up and they walk out of the control room.)
(Colony L2, somewhere in a city section of the colony, people are walking about going through their daily routines. Two shadowy looking people in trenchcoats walk along, one of them is plague, he rips down a wanted paper with his picture on it as he walks by.)
Plague: Seems they are getting desperate to get me. (looks at the the paper.) They’re offering $900,000 to anyone who can get their hands on me, what crude tactics, don’t they know that Kertani Williams kid is the only one who stands a chance against me.
Trenchcoat: No one will stand a chance against us when our plans are set into motion.
Plague: I thought no one stood a chance against me till that kid showed up, don’t be so sure our plan is foolproof, where are you keeping the gundam?
Trenchcoat(Motions towards and old repair shop.): There.
Plague: Kind of small don’t you think?
Trenchcoat: Don’t judge a book by it’s cover…
(They both walk into the building, there is no furniture, just walls and windows.)
Plague: I’m on the first chapter and I’m still not impressed.
(Trenchcoat pulls out a remote control device, points it at a section of flooring and pushes a button, the floor panel opens with a quiet hiss, Trenchcoat leads Plague into it and they descend down a steel spiral staircase. At the bottom, they walk onto a platform with a button on the wall beside it overlooking a medium sized repair bay with a half constructed gundam in one of the holders with men working on it, Trenchcoat pushes a button and the platform they are on starts to lower.)
Plague: Hmm, impressive, one question though, how were you able to hide this from the UESA?
Trenchcoat: it was built by the former Earth Sphere Alliance as a secret repair bay before OZ took over, UESA simply never found it, it occupies a bit of the hangar bays that were abandoned and never taken out, we were lucky we found it when we did.
Plague: I see, so how is construction proceeding?
(The platform hits bottom and they both step off before is starts heading back up again.)
Trenchcoat: It’s about 78% complete, its operational but its fighting abilities are extremely limited, I wouldn’t recommend using till at least 85%.
Plague: Good, how long till then?
Trenchcoat: about 2 days.
Plague: And the production of the new Virgo Zetas?
Trenchcoat: We’ve started production, they should all be complete in about 3 days.
Plague: Three days until we start then…that’s acceptable, I’ll be in my quarters if you need me.
(Plague walks off towards a door.)
(The control room of Drake’s facility, he is looking over some plans from DoctorT.)
Drake: Hmm, well you’re right about the equipment, this stuff is a bit too advanced for our gear.
DoctorT: And we’ll never get the upgrade finished without more gundanium.
Kert: Then it’s final, we move out.
Drake: Hang on a sec, your gundam thus far is not even operational.
DoctorT: But we have the eight LeoII suits.
Drake: True, those have twice the fighting ability of the original Leo. Kert was good in making the blueprints for us.
DoctorT: He was. I never thought he could design a mobile suit with that ability for mass production, it seems he knows a few things we never taught him about.
Kert: That aside how will we transport my gundam and the rest of the suits.
Drake: Well the most obvious solution is a truck, for your gundam that is, we don’t have enough trucks to transport all the rest, we were after all only equipped to defend these facilities, not to carry out long range battles.
Kert: We could ask the UESA for assistance.
DoctorT: I don’t think so
(DoctorT looks grim.)
DoctorT: I was at a meeting of this matter.
(flashback.)
President: The board recognizes Relena Peacecraft, representative of the Sanc kingdom.
Relena: I can’t believe you did something like this without my consent!
President: It was for the good of the people miss Peacecraft.
Relena: But don’t you see, it’s us fighting he wants! Why try to counter him by giving into his demands?!
Tyler: I object!
President: The board recognizes Tyler Maddison, representative of the USA
Tyler: Miss Peacecraft, I don’t mean to be blunt but what your proposing is that we sit back and let him destroy us all!
Relena: That is not what I meant at all I was simply asking you to try and envision what this action may cause!
Tyler: If you are so damned concerned about this then I pass a motion to the board to destroy all aspects of Project Savior that would become a threat to peace after it’s purpose is completed!
DoctorT: I object!!!
President: The board recognizes DoctorT, head researcher of Project Savior.
DoctorT: I can’t believe you would sink as low as that! Don’t you realize that in destroying all threats to peace as you yourselves perceive would mean destroying Kertani Williams!
Tyler: I am perfectly aware of that!!! He is a soldier, and the lives of soldiers are perfectly disposable!
Relena: How could you say such a thing!!! Any life, even that of a soldier is precious! We must do anything we can to preserve human life, not use it as a common commodity!
DoctorT: I agree, that would be like killing off all your soldiers after the mission is over to maintain peace!
President: Order! No matter the objections the motion is on the table and the board shall proceed to vote on this matter. Cast your votes now!
(All the voting lights of the board light up.)
President: By unanimous decision of the board, Kertani Williams and the gundam class mobile suit Heavy Zero will both be destroyed after this mission is over.
(Back to the present.)
DoctorT: Relena later apologized for bringing up the subject which eventually led to that decision, she is one of the major world powers, but that power against the UESA board of military is nothing.
Kert: So now I have no allies but you two and Drake’s men…
Drake: It seems that way, I can’t believe they would do such a thing!!!
DoctorT: It seems they did not learn from OZ’s mistakes. Worse yet, since Plague abandoned his original suit the fools no longer think him a problem and have started hunting for you Kert. I took an early retirement from my work, if they find out I’m involved in this they will kill me too.
Kert: We can only hope that the Winner family will help our cause.
Drake: We have about 15 trucks, that’ll be 4 for the Leo IIs and 10 will be used to transport the gundanium armored original Leos that are in best condition, the rest of them will be stripped of their gundanium and disassembled for spare parts, which we’ll transport on the remaining truck.
Kert: What about transport? I’m sure we’ll have to steal something.
Drake: Well the nearest Airbase is too heavily defended to make it with our options
Kert: What about Zero?
DoctorT: The gundam is not yet operational, and won’t be so for another 5 days. But I believe I have the answer to your question, my crew included military staff, and they each believed in the importance of this project and wouldn’t want to see it snuffed out like this.
Kert: Sounds like a start.
(A street in the colonies, Tyler Maddison is walking along the street when his political piece of handiwork comes up on one of the huge screens above the street. He smiles.)
Tyler: If that doesn’t do the job we will have to resort to our backup plans, Plague has been serving his purpose rather nicely…
(Tyler walks into the building and goes down into the hangar, after getting off the lift he looks around, then motions for trenchcoat.)
Trenchcoat: Yes Tyler?
Tyler: Where’s Plague?
Trenchcoat: In his quarters asleep.
Tyler: Good, how is construction coming?
Trenchcoat: 83% sir.
Tyler: Keep it up, I want it done by the time Plague’s new gundam is finished, or else all our planning is gone to waste.
Trenchcoat: Yes sir.
(outside Drake’s repair facility, they are getting ready to leave under escort of DoctorT’s soldiers.)
David: Hey Drake! We’re ready to go!
Drake: I’m coming!
(Drake runs up and hops into the cockpit of one of the LeoIIs on a truckbed.)
Kert: You really think it’s necessary to stay in your mobile suits Drake?
Drake: Maybe, maybe not, at least we’ll be ready if anything comes.
DoctorT: Right, let’s go.
(The truck caravan takes off down the road.)
(end symbols.)