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Silent Requiem

By Nightmaresama, wing_zero_25@hotmail.com
 

Chapter 8: Solomon Fanale



This is the best Gundam fanfic you will ever read. (Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com)


Nightmare's Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam or any of the other numerous anime series mentioned in this work-and there are a bunch! Gundam W, 08th MS, Evangelion, Gundam 0083, Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040, Outlaw Star, even Tenchi Universe; anything and anyone is fair game. I'm just a really big fan of anime with a lot of free time on my hands to be working on this thing since late 2001! So please, don't sue me! This is one of the best things I've ever written-I think-and I hope that no nit-picky person tries to take it from me!

Anavel Gato was still scouring the area for signs of his unit, when suddenly, his sensors picked up what seemed to be a titanic clash between a Feddie GM, and a Gelgoog Marine. The two units were engaged in one of the most spectacular displays of swordsmanship Gato could recall seeing in a very long time. As he let out his breath in a long, low whistle, it was then that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Gelgoog was-could be-none other than his CO, Commander O'Rielly.

He sped off to see if he could be of any assistance to her.


The Zeek struggled under Sanders' hold, squirming to try and reach any of its weapons systems. He held it tight, though, not allowing its arms to move an inch, but he began to wonder how long he could keep it this way. With all the action, he'd yet to reset his Mass-Balancer and the GM was drifting about at crazy angles making his stomach heave. To make matters worse, he glanced down at his HUD, he realised that he was running dangerously low on propellant; soon his systems would shut down and he'd be a sitting duck.

Just then, in a burst of static, the Zeon pilot opened up a channel to him. She was beautiful, for a Zeon woman, albeit a bit sweaty and bleeding from a huge gash on her forehead. "Let…me…go" she said in a low, dangerous tone.

`The Black Lotus!' he realised why the battle had been so difficult. Still, he wasn't used to tete-a-tete's with people who were intent on trying to kill him, no matter who they were. "I can't do that."

"Look you…" The Gelgoog grabbed at the GMs arms, struggling to break free. "Let go of me now! You cannot hold me for much longer anyway, can you? You are running low on fuel and still have not reset your balancer. I can tell these things. I on the other hand have a practically full tank and several rounds left in my rifle."

"You're bluffing."

"Am I?"

Sanders knew she was not, and pretty soon, he would indeed have to let go. Still, he still had rounds left in his head-mounted vulcans-perhaps he could still deal some damage before she broke free.

"I would not waste my ammo like that, if I were you. You know your vulcans will not do enough damage to stop me, so why even try?"

"How did you…?"

"I know many things, Terry Sanders, and I know you cannot hold out much longer." Cirrus said in total seriousness that belied her internal surprise. These Newtype powers she possessed were phenomenal and they were still just developing.

The ship was right there in front of her; what could she do? That same smug little bastard Vincent was obviously still at the helm. Any other real commander would be fighting on the front lines, yet Vince remained here in the back cowering like the weak dog he was.

There was only one option left to her, and she took it. `Soon, my darling, we will be together again,' she thought to herself as she fired up her thrusters one last time.

"What are you doing?" Sanders called out to her.

"I am Commander Cirrus Hikari O'Rielly; Defected Core Fighter pilot for the Federated Union of Earth and commander of the elite Blood Drakes Squadron of the Independent Duchy of Zeon. I fight for neither side now, but out of personal vendetta that must be followed through." The Gelgoog and attached GM picked up speed as they drew ever closer to the battleship.

"Why are you doing this?" Sanders demanded.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light, and he witnessed a heart-wrenching scene. He saw the events of that day back in January as clearly as if he had been there himself. He saw the beam tear through the fighter, heard the explosion, and felt the grief all as Cirrus had from the bridge of the same battleship they were closing in on now. It was then that he realized that she was a Newtype and was projecting the images across the void between them so that he would understand the reasoning behind her actions.


Further away, onboard the bridge of Yagami, Captain Langley was hit by the same images and collapsed in his chair, wheezing in agony.

"So, this is really how you felt then, eh Cirrus?" he finally managed under his breath.

"Captain, sir, are you all right?" one of the crew members-whom he could not tell-had rushed to his side. "Call the medic!"

"No!" Langley shook off the officer's grip and forced himself to stand. "Everyone," he began in his booming Austrian voice, "you must get to the evacuation pods. I repeat; get off this ship! Don't argue with me, do it now!"

The helmsman hit the emergency switch and immediately the bridge and the rest of the ship became a pandemonium of escaping soldiers and flashing red lights.

As the sirens blared and everyone else rushed for safety, Langley walked forward to the window and continued his vigil of the curtain-call of both his and Cirrus' lives.


Sanders tried to stop the advance, but by then it was already too late. The two mobile suits were moving too fast, the ship, too near. The only thing left for him to do was to let go-just as she predicted he would-and watch.

Suddenly, the ship began radiating thousands of little white lights. "Escape pods," the two combatants noticed simultaneously.

"Perhaps, Vince," Cirrus thought, her suit still ripping through space towards the bridge of the cruiser, "You were not as totally cold-hearted as I believed you to be."

"Cirrus, stop!" Sanders called out, "You don't have to do this! Don't kill yourself!"

A flood of emotions swelled over her, "I have been dead for some time now," she said with a melancholy smile of acceptance, "I am only completing what started back then. Good-bye, Terry, you are an excellent soldier. And don't worry about Shiro, I believe he's just fine."

"What?" Sanders was shocked to hear mention of the Commander he so admired. "Wait, Cirrus, what does that mean?"

"Good-bye," she whispered, her voice barely intelligible from the static of the ship's Minovsky field. "Good-bye…"


The approaching MS was growing larger by the second, filling the window before him. Still, Langley did not shy away. He'd been running for so long, he had to stay and finish this once and for all.

"Cirrus," he said, placing a hand on the armourglass that separated the two of them, "I am sorry about Brian, although I know you do not believe me. Indeed, he was my friend too-a very close friend I might add. I am not, however, sorry for falling in love with you, nor will I even pretend to be. You changed something inside of me, Cirrus; you brought out the very best in me, as well as the very worst. Never was I happier than in the moments I spent holding your hand or listening to you sing, and conversely, never was I more distraught, enraged, and embittered, than when I saw you sharing those bonds with Brian.

"I know I am not perfect, Cirrus. I am but a man, fallible and jealous. I wanted to be with you more than anything in the world, but when I could not…I…I…if I could not be happy, then I felt as though no one had the right to be. Foolish, eh Beautiful?"

Langley removed his hand and gave a regal salute.

"As much as I hated him, as much as I hated myself, I never once, ever stopped caring about you, and I hope that you can find it within you to forgive me, someday. Cirrus Hikari O'Rielly, I salute you and accept my fate. May God have mercy upon the three of us."


"Brian and Vince," Cirrus thought as she closed her eyes and smiled. "It has been far too long…"

There was a small initial explosion as the two objects collided. The bridge was instantly destroyed as was Cirrus' mobile suit, but it was the later blast, the one of the whole ship being ripped apart that really made the magnitude of her sacrifice hit home.

Seconds later, as the light from the explosions was dying out, Gato's Gelgoog arrived at the scene. He was stunned into silence as he saw what had happened; all he was able to do was stare blankly forward at his viewscreen at the point where his commander had been last. Every one of his compatriots had died in the battle today, and Cirrus, the one person he knew that would survive to fight with him again in spite of it all, she had joined them too.

Sanders was equally shocked. The irony of what had happened, her drive to settle the score, her sacrifice…it was all almost too much to handle.

"Why?" Gato demanded of the vacuum. "Why do all of us end up dying like this? Isn't our cause just? Our struggle noble? And why am I left behind?"

He turned on the GM, his eyes ablaze and his spirit aflame. "If they all died, then I have no choice but to join them."

The Gelgoog threw itself at the GM, but Sanders was in no condition to fight back for very long, having exhausted his suit in the previous battle. Also, he still had to find Trowa.

"Oh no you don't, you mother fucking son of a bitch! You're not leaving without fighting me. You'll have to kill me just like you did Cirrus, you bastard!" The Zeon suit opened up a round of its assault rifle as the GM tried in vain to flee.

"Whoa now, buddy! You got some nerve picking on an beat up old suit like that!"

"Trowa!" relief washed over Sanders as his compatriot and two other Fed suits showed up just in time.

"No thanks necessary, commander; I'm just doin' my job. But hey, you'd better haul ass out of here. They're gonna use the solar ray to vaporize the fortress!"

"What?"

Karen and Duo were squaring off against the Zeek, but they were both having difficulty containing him.

"Cut the chatter Barton, we've gotta go, now!" Duo yelled back at the other two pilots.

"Roger that."

Yet as the units were pulling out, the lone Zeon warrior followed in hot pursuit taking pot-shots at the fleeing Feds.

"Shit, doesn't this guy know when to quit?" Duo demanded. Then, over the radio, "I hope you guys know where we're going. Between the Zeeks mobile armour, our own solar ray, and this freak that's tailin' us, I'd like to have some idea here!"

Karen was feeling the same sense of urgency too. That and the fact that the damn marine type kept following them, increasing the pressure…

"All right you bastard! You still wanna fight, huh? Then, here I come!"

"Don't do it Karen!" Sanders called out to her as she broke formation and headed back to face him down.

"Yeah, you're headed back into the blast zone for the Solar Ray!" Trowa called after her.

"About time one of you cowards decided to fight," Gato growled.

The two units exchanged blasts from their rifles as the manoeuvred around to try and pick the other one off. As on would take a shot, the other would pull a thrust in the opposite direction and avoid the blast.

"Commander, come on! There's no time for this!" Duo pleaded with her. Then he turned to Sanders and Trowa. "It's not looking like she's gonna listen. You two go on ahead and meet us at point 35, 16. It's in the back of our line, so resistance should be minimal. We're gonna escape to Yagami."

"Scratch that order, soldier." Sanders said in a calm manner. "Your cruiser was just destroyed in a kamikaze run."

"What? Are you serious?" Duo demanded over the radio. The magnitude of what he had just learned hit him like a freight train. All those people on board-all his friends on board-had just vanished forever. All the mechanics, the captain, everybody…gone. And just because he and the rest of the 107th had wasted so much time trying to take out that mobile armour!

"Were there any survivors?" he asked, hopefully.

"I saw escape pods; I think most of the crew managed to escape," Sanders replied. He continued over the broadband, "We'll rendezvous at the medical vessel, Valkyrie at 2055. That's where one of our comrades is and most likely where your man has been taken also."

"Okay…" Duo still sounded slightly rattled, but nevertheless took off to help Karen.


"This guy is really good!" Karen was thinking as she dodged another round from the enemy's rifle. "I don't know how much longer I can keep up these acrobatics. If we were back on ground, though…"

Suddenly a massive wave of nausea swept over her and she froze at the controls. The whole cockpit seemed to be spinning around and around. She became totally disoriented. Which way was up? Where was that stupid Zeek bastard hiding?

Gato noticed that the GM had stopped fighting back and had doubled-over on itself in almost a fetal position. He smiled grimly. "Now you Feds are gonna pay for what happened to the Commander!"

He unsheathed his beam sabre and charged the crippled GM in an effort to finish it off in one blow. Suddenly, just as he was preparing to strike, another Fed suit appeared before him and the two locked blades.

"Move it Karen!"

It was Duo's voice over the radio. Why was he yelling at her? Instinctively she grabbed for the "barf bag" below her chair and let loose again; and two more times after that.

Yet as she looked up, she noticed the timer she'd set up on the HUD of the GM. The timer that was counting down the minutes until the Solar Ray was fired. The timer that now read 00:00:15.

"Holy shit! Only fifteen seconds? Duo come on!"

"Bout time you started listening to someone other than yourself, commander," came the response, thick with insubordination. It really didn't matter though, and the two of them took off at incredible speed, pushing the thrusters way past red-line.


"Where do you think your going? Come back and finish this you cowards!" Gato yelled in vain after the retreating Feds.

Deep inside, however, he knew it was hopeless. He'd lost everything in one battle; his unit, his commander, the fortress, and now, even his customized mobile suit was a wreck. It was all over.

The words "Total Defeat" played with his mind as the blinding light suddenly filled the cockpit interior.

Should he dodge the pure solar energy he knew was only seconds away from his location? Did he really care if he survived?

Just then, as if caused by the intensity of the Solar Blast, he thought he saw the silhouette of Cirrus, sitting with her legs crossed on his HUD". "Major?" he asked tentatively.

Time seemed to slow as he began talking with her.

She nodded and smiled. It was funny, but he couldn't remember ever seeing her smile when she was alive; it made her look only that much more radiant.

"Anavel, what are you doing?" she asked him, plaintively.

"I have nothing left to fight for. You and everybody else are dead and the base is only seconds away from being destroyed. Why should I bother to go on?"

"That is ridiculous!" she laughed, "there is always something left to fight for. Even when you are at `Total Defeat'. I was a Newtype and I still have a great deal of my powers left. I see great things ahead for you. Do not qive up now! Your side still needs you. In the days and years ahead, Zeon will need champions like you to finish the battle and guarantee colonial independence."

"Really?"

"Yep! Now, hurry. You only have a few seconds until the blast hits you and you are unable to continue the fight. Approximately two clicks from your starboard side, there is a Musai Battleship called the Doroai. Go to it quickly."

She winked as her form began to fade. "And don't forget me! You can bet I won't forget you and what a gentleman you were. Sieg Zeon!"

He saluted as he fired up his thrusters. "Sieg Zeon, Major O'Rielly, and may you rest in peace!"


---Report---

The Solar energy reflected and focused from the powerful Solar Ray was far more than enough to totally wipe out the remainder of Solomon's defenses. A second wave of mobile suits was dispatched to finally capture it and secure it as a new Federation stronghold, dubbed Conpey Island.

The Big Zam was destroyed by the co-operative efforts of Core Fighter pilot, Lt. J.G. Slegger Law (KIA), and Gundam Pilot, Amuro Ray. The toll it took on the Federation's Armada before it was finally wiped out was truly impressive, though. Losses included nine capital ships, seven frigates, five companies of GMs, and the life of Lt. Slegger Law.

Also note that the work of two Zeon Gelgoog Marine-types was almost equally impressive. Major Cirrus O'Rielly (KIA) accumulated seventeen kills and destroyed one Federation Magellan-class Battle ship, Yagami. This act, thanks to early evacuation procedures resulted in only one casualty, Captain Vincent Langley. Cirrus' partner-in-arms, and subordinate, Captain Anavel Gato (promoted to Lieutenant Commander), meanwhile, was able to score twenty-eight kills and destroy three capital ships and two salamis-class battleships single handily (casualties were total on all ships). He was received by cheering throngs aboard the Zeon Assault Weapons Carrier Doroai by his new nom d'guerre, the Nightmare of Solomon…


" Situations like this are not uncommon in Mobile Suit Gundam; Newtypes always have powers like this. Go figure.


Silent Requiem
This fanfic is complete.
 


Tim Seltzer's page www.seltzerbooks.com/timseltzer.html


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