Mobile Suit Gundam; Char's Redemption

Char was relieved to find that his Zaku was still in one piece. The ship shook again as it began to enter the atmosphere.

I have to hurry.

Char ran for it, dodging bits of the ceiling that were falling and making his way over to the mobile suit.

A metal beam almost fell on top of him as he neared the Zaku. He jumped to his right to dodge it, then ran to the Zaku, entering the cockpit and closing the hatch behind him. He began the start up sequence.

Come on, come on...

The suit shook as the engine finally started. Char checked the controls. The Zaku raised it's gun, as he'd ordered. It appeared to be in working order. With that, he began running to the hangar door.

Suddenly, the floor slipped out from under him, and he started falling.

He fired his rockets, and the decent stopped. He grabbed ahold of a beam above him, one of those still standing, and held on. Apparently, the ship had descended far enough that the planet's gravity had taken hold, which accounted for the sudden change. He was tempted just to rip the hangar doors open now and jump out.

The Zaku isn't made for an atmospheric entry, he reminded himself. Poor Crown learned that the hard way. That was another death on Amuro's head, one he intended to collect.

He felt a jab of fear, one he immediately discarded. He'd felt fear before. It had come, unbidden, into every battle he'd fought, into every sticky situation. Having been so close to it so often made it easy to toss aside.

"This is the Red Comet; are there any escape pods out there?" he called over his radio.

No response.

"Say again, this is Char Aznable; have any escape pods left the ship? Is there anyone out there?"

Again, there was no response. However, there was a strange static that ordinarily wasn't there.

"Blast," he muttered angrily.

Suddenly, voices started coming in on the radio, disconnected; "Aznab... read... who... esc... tioned?"

"Char here. Your communication is garbled, repeat your last transmission."

"Char Aznable... read... ou... who are... and what... pods... mentioned?"

"Identify yourself; who is this?"

"O... you to demand... I am?"

That sounded defiant. "This is the Red Comet. Identify yourself; where were you on the ship?" Then it hit him. "What part of Zeon's military did you occupy during the war?"

"What?...What... Zeon... is... questri... who... you?"

That confirmed Chars suspicions; this transmission wasn't coming from an escape pod. It was coming from someone else, someone who had no knowledge of what Zeon was. And that could only mean one thing... intelligent alien life.

Or it could be the Federation pretending...

No. He discarded that before he got far. Something in his mind was telling him that wasn't the answer, and he chided himself. All indications seemed to be that his original hunch was correct.

He also realized that he had been broadcasting on an open channel that anyone could read. He cursed himself for a fool. In Zeon's military, he would never have forgotten something so integral to a good soldier. The brief period of peace must have began the process of forgetfulness.

"Who.. ell are you, an... re you fro...?"

That was clear enough. It also reminded him to switch to a Zeon military channel. "Has anyone gotten to the escape - " He was forced to cut off as the beam he was hanging onto began to give way.

"Captain?"

"Yes?"

"Thank God," the voice on the radio responded. "Our group got to the escape pod just in time... I don't think anyone else made it, though; we haven't been able to raise anyone else."

Char shuddered as a secondary explosion shook the ship. "You're free?"

"Yes sir. Where are you?"

"In my mobile suit."

"In your... Sir, you're not still on that flaming pile of wreckage...!?"

"Right in one."

"You have to get out!"

"My suit isn't built for entering the atmosphere; I'm waiting until the ship's descended far enough to launch."

"With all due respect, captain, you're crazy!"

"So said many Federation pilots, and they're all dead." Char was forced to let go of the beam, and looked toward the front of the ship; that side of the hangar was now facing downward, and was probably safe enough to land on. He proceeded to do so, although the shaking and the rocking almost made him regret his action. "Just tell me when what's left of this rust bucket has fallen far enough for me to make a safe exit."

"Why a mobile suit, sir? Why not  - "

"An escape pod?" Char finished. "We might need the firepower, and I'm not wasting all that time adding an extra supply of fuel. Besides which, be careful what channel you're broadcasting on; there are others listening."

"The Federation - "

"Has no hand in this. It's something new. Keep your guns ready on your aim steady when you land."

"Uh, yes sir."

Char waited. More parts of the rapidly decaying ship started falling around him, and he had to dodge quickly to avoid them; he wanted the Zaku to be in perfect condition, or as near to it as it could be, when he got to the surface.

"Sir, the ship..."

Char didn't hear the rest of it; an awful sound, one of metal tearing, ripped through his ears, and the ship shook, hard. Suddenly, the hangar was field with light. He looked up.

The rear end of the ship - what was now the top - had sheared away; clearly, the forces exerted on the Musai had torn it in two, and now...

Now is the time to make my move. He began moving toward what had been the starboard side of the hangar.

"Captain..."

"I'm going." Char looked over the edge.

A mass of blue met him. For a split second, he thought he must be confused, that he was still in space. Then it registered in his brain that what he was looking at was water. He was about to fall right into the sea.

And the Zaku was never built for underwater operation either. Still, he was past the danger stage, and he could leave without risk to his mobile suit.

"Captain..."

"Going... Now!"

He fired his rockets again, and the Zaku lifted off as though it was brand new. He flew into the sky, clearing the remains of the hangar bay, and watched as the bow section of the Musai fell into the water about a thousand feet below.

A shadow fell over him. He looked up.

The rear half of the ship was coming down... right on top of him!

It's just not my day.

He hit the rockets again, and his suit dived; faster and faster he went, for he knew he had to gain speed, to outpace the doom falling to meet him.

He was perhaps fifty feet from the water when he evened out and heading northward. He looked behind him and heard as well as saw the back half of the cruiser strike the water. Large waves rippled outward from the impact zone, some of them following him. Almost lazily, he flew to a height where the waves couldn't reach him, and watched as they passed by below.

There goes our only known means of leaving this rock, Char thought as he angled northward. A few Zeon refugees and a single mobile suit, against... what? That he didn't know.

He continued flying. So far, he hadn't been shot at or menaced by anything other than rogue asteroids and the wreckage of a dying ship. Not that he wasn't glad for the respite, but the radio had picked up somebody who wasn't from the Republic of Zeon, someone who could speak English... someone he was sure was not human. Furthermore, the voice he'd heard had been defiant and questioning, so he had expected some form of open hostility by now. Surely the falling, burning pieces of wreckage had been noticed on radar, if not by sight. There had to be something...

There. On his radar, a blip suddenly appeared. It was moving toward him; straight for him, in fact.

He raised his gun, ready to fire.

Suddenly, the blip stopped moving.

Hmm? That was odd in and of itself. Missiles didn't just stop in midair...

Then whatever it is, it isn't a missile.

He could see it on his forward camera, a speck, far away in the distance. He increased the magnification. It didn't zoom in as far as he'd thought, but even from here he could see that the thing had wings that were flapping, allowing it to hover in midair. Some form of native life, no doubt.

He increased the magnification even more.

A winged horse came into view. It was hovering there, plainly watching him.

An animal, no doubt, curious to see what's interrupted it's day.

But he cast that theory in the rubbish bin as soon as he got a second look at it. The eyes were too intelligent, and it's movements to concerted, to be just some stray beast. Instead of just taking a glance and then flying away, it continued to monitor his approach.

Then it took a pair of binoculars out of a couple of bags that he'd missed spotting until now, and held them in it's bare hooves, turning them in his direction.

"Definitely more than a brute beast," he muttered to himself.

Char watched as the horse's face suddenly became one of fear, and it flew away from him, back to the north.

There must be land nearby. if I just follow it...

He flew forward a at full speed. Though his quarry had originally fled at surprising speed, he rapidly gained on it; before long, he didn't need to use radar to keep track of it; he could follow it by eyesight alone.

Before long, he saw a landmass begin to rise from the ocean.

I could capture the alien; maybe it will reveal something. Then again, maybe not. Who's to say we speak the same language?

He chose to disregard the horse and headed for the landmass before him. Five minutes later, he touched down on solid ground, some distance inland, away from the beach.

Char allowed himself a minute's rest. Since this venture had begun, several hours ago, he'd been wide awake. Now some of that exhaustion was creeping up on him.

The blip on his radar hadn't gone away. In fact, it had been joined by numerous others. He looked up and a little to the left.

More winged horses were floating some distance away.

He zoomed in the camera. Most of them held a mixture of fear and curiosity on their faces. One held a camera of it's own, of an obsolescent kind seen perhaps a hundred years or so ago on Earth. With it, it took a picture of him, or, rather, his Zaku.

A lesser - or perhaps stupid - pilot might have fired his gun in the air just to watch them scatter. Char didn't do anything other than observe the lifeforms on his cameras for perhaps thirty seconds.

Then, facing forward, he started marching inland.

The horses didn't go away. Char saw another flash from the camera-user. That might get annoying if a threat decided to show up. However, by now he was beginning to suspect that the natives didn't have technology that equaled up to that of humanity in it's current state; if there were to have been a military response of that kind, he would have encountered it by now.

No sooner than he'd finished thinking this when three more horses appeared in the distance. These looked different from the others. For one thing, they were all on the ground. For another, these all had horns on their heads, a fact he verified by zooming his camera in on them

Third, they all bore some sort of armor.

Char could have laughed out loud if his situation hadn't otherwise been so serious. The armor was of a sort born by medieval warriors, of no practical use that he could see. He quickly turned away from them, but then stopped.

Maybe the aliens weren't so keen on being enemies as he'd suspected. That said, it was a good idea to monitor them so he'd have some inkling of what to expect from them.

He focused his cameras on the soldiers, zooming in as far as he could go without, of course, messing up his view of them. Right now, one of them was talking to the others, gesturing at the Zaku with a hoof as he spoke. The one beside him shrugged cautiously, making a stopping motion. The first stomped the ground in what seemed like an expression of frustration, and indeed, his - for Char hazarded a guess that it was male - had eyebrows facing inward with anger. The third horse was simply staying out of the conversation, perhaps hoping his superiors would leave him out of their argument.

Fascinating. As the first human to have glimpses of an alien civilization, he was impressed. Despite their deficiency in technology - if the ancient armor they wore had anything to say about it - they acted much like soldiers in a human military.

The one that seemed to be arguing for a less aggressive course of action noticed that the Zaku's head had turned their way, for he pointed excitedly at the mobile suit. Then, plainly having higher rank than the other two, he made a motion for them both to lower themselves behind a pair of bushes not far from their location.

So they want to keep tabs on me. Not that I blame them.

Some of the flying horses had become bored while he was standing still. They began to fly away northwestward, toward a village he'd noticed a moment before.

As long as the paparazzi is among them, I'm fine with that.

So far, the flying ones hadn't done anything suggesting military importance, and instead behaved like civilians who'd never heard of danger or warfare. Perhaps this was evidence of some sort of caste system.

Ha; I'm a soldier, not a scientist. What would I know about the subject.

When the departing flyers were perhaps a mile or so away, it happened. Something darted out of the woods to Char's right, nearly striking one of the flying horses. He saw the target of the projectile gasp in shock, then it and it's companions began fleeing westward, where a number of tall buildings were visible.

The three soldiers noticed the threat at once. They all lifted spears and charged at the woods, their excitement over his arrival forgotten in the wake of the attack.

Char watched as a number of ropes with stones or iron balls attached to them flew out of the woods and ensnared the horse soldiers; they fell, one after the other.

A group of doglike humanoids left the woods, running toward the village he'd seen.

They were unlike anything he'd seen before. The ran on their hind legs - no, what should have been their hind legs - but they had the faces of dogs, and their paws ended in long nails reminiscent of claws. They carried spears and crossbows, clearly bent on attacking the town he'd seen. The things dragged the three soldiers into the woods, and more of them came out of the forests, a few of them looking his way before one of them, apparently their leader, made a gesture ordering them to continue their attack.

Something about these creatures and their actions made Char's blood boil. The horses had been willing to merely follow him, perhaps to check if he was a threat, but these... dog things had turned up and attacked out of nowhere.

Like the damned Zabis, he thought. That comparison decided his course of action.

He wasn't going to let them just march on the town. He hit his rockets and took off, and he was glad to see looks of surprise and fear on their faces as he did so.

He flew toward the village. He noticed that it had buildings not unlike those of Industrial Age Earth. He gave a mental shrug. The inhabitants were plainly peaceful, perhaps to the point where they hadn't found the need to advance in the field of military science. If that was so, did that mean they were fools who deserved their fate?

"No." Char answered himself out loud. Too many had died in the One Year War who had never deserved their fate, the colonists of Sides 1,2, and 4 uppermost among them.

Odd, I'm not usually this sentimental. While he had cared for the soldiers under his command as much as he could, he knew he wasn't the closest to them. And his "friendship" with Garma made the very idea of affection seem... off. So why was this feeling burning within him, and why now?

Char landed on the eastern road just outside the village. He was aware that many of the townsfolk were coming out to view the spectacle of a mobile suit in their midst; it wasn't like they could miss it, it stood about sixty feet high, after all. He didn't even need the cameras to know; he could feel them with his Newtype powers. He ignored them as best he could and waited for the army of dog monsters to approach the town.

It didn't take long. Several horses, these without either wings or horns, fled from a patch of woods as the monsters advanced. Four of them were caught by the same devices the attackers had used to ensnare the soldiers. A pack of the things emerged from the wood, eager for the spoils, yet with the new titan standing before the town, they were understandably reluctant to advance.

Char switched to his external speakers. "Withdraw from this town and return whatever captives you've taken. Now," he added threateningly.

He didn't expect the dog things to understand him. Why would they, considering they were from different worlds and species? So he was caught off guard when one of the things, getting over it's shock, stepped forward. "Or what?" it called, raising a spear in his direction.

"Or this." Char raised his gun and fired. A beam burst forth from it's end. There was an explosion as the beam struck, vaporizing the dog and the small pack of it's comrades that had surrounded it and making a crater in the ground where they had stood seconds before.

Upon seeing what had become of their leader, the dog pack uttered howls of dismay. They dropped their equipment and ran, some resorting to running on all fours as they did so. Within moments, the place cleared out like magic.

Char could still feel the stares of the town's inhabitants upon him, terror interlacing with relief and curiosity. It was obvious they hadn't expected anything like this.

"Uh... excuse me..."

Char almost started. Then he realized that the voice was coming from behind. He turned around.

The entire town had turned out, and were now watching him. Closest to him was a blue-gray horse, one without horns or wings, one brave enough to have walked to within twenty feet of his machine. As he'd turned, it had backed up a few steps, then stood it's ground.

"Please pardon me for acting so upfront," the horse - a female, he guessed from it's voice - "it, er...what I mean to say is..."

"I'd advise you all to stay inside. There may be more of these things out here," Char said as the horse continued to have trouble speaking, gesturing with the left arm of his Zaku II to the direction the dogs had fled in.

Char hit his rockets and blasted off.

Well, that's one way to make first contact.