This is a story I wrote some time ago. It deals with a minor character from the series 'Gundam Wing', an OZ pilot by the name of Walker, who was responsible for Zechs getting the mighty Tallgeese. He died shortly after. I liked the character because he was very well-written, even though he was only around for a single episode. Here goes...
Walker
Part 1
My name is Walker. My first name is Sean, but those close to me call me by my last name. I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the year AC 167. My father was a computer programmer for the Earth Sphere Alliance; my mother was a doctor. They're both dead now, killed in a plane crash the year before I graduated from the Lake Victoria Academy. I graduated with honors, first in my class and fifth in the entire history of the Academy. They'd always told me that I'd made them proud, and I'm sure that they would have been ecstatic if they had been alive then.
I'm a mobile suit pilot. I always wanted to be ever since I saw them taking off from Wheeler AFB when was little. I would stand behind the runway's fence, watch a huge Aries take a stance at one end of the concrete, run forward, jump, and never hit the ground. Aries can tuck their legs in for flight mode; it's what they're built for. I could hear the deafening roar of the engines as they powered up and feel the intense wind as they blasted off on a mission. My high place at the Academy assured me that not only would I get an Aries, but command a group of them someday.
Shortly after graduation, before my first posting, I met a Lieutenant named Zechs Marquise and his Lieutenant J.G. Otto. I found Zechs a very intriguing officer, partly because he was first in the Academy's history, and partly because of his proposal. I'd barely even heard of the Specials-or rather, OZ-at the time of graduation. However, I found myself quite interested when he said, "We want you to become a member of our group." I accepted, and was sent to retrain under Instructor Noin, second in Victoria's history. Heh, I sometimes joke around, saying I've still got the bruises.
I thought standard training was tough, but Noin gave a whole new meaning to the phrase, "no pain, no gain." We were awakened by drill instructors heaving a trash can down the hall. The jarheads would be all over us; "on your face, down-up-down-up-down-up, you keep pumpin' 'em out until I get tired!" We had reveille at 0500, PT (Physical Training), or a pleasant, eight-mile run at 0505.
The smell of disinfectant became hardwired into our brains. We learned how to use a chisel to scrape years of accumulated crud off a wall so the next guy could slap on a quarter-inch-thick splash of anti-corrosion paint. We spent months wrestling the damn floor buffer up and down corridors, already dog-tired from hours of PT, obstacle courses on foot and in training suits, combat training, small-arms, mindless instructions on how to break down and reassemble a rifle while blindfolded, lectures on battle tactics...hours that always seemed to add up to twenty-six or twenty-eight per day. I noticed Otto watching my class, and especially me. When I asked Instructor Noin about it, I was rebuked with every cadet's least favorite word in the dictionary: "classified."
That was when a miracle happened. We were to go out on a training mission, a real training mission, no safety net this time. The top four of us joined Noin in five Aries: real Aries, no more training suits, oo-rah! Our mission was to destroy six remote-controlled Leo suits in a false city. The mission began smoothly, with us working together and destroying five of the Leos. Noin sat back and let me pretty much take control of the group. That was when it happened. The last remote Leo took off, flying away at top speed. Without waiting for orders, Cadet Nechayev beside me raised his missile launcher and fired, taking out the Leo's engines. However, there would be no celebration. "Oh no!" Noin yelled. "Look out, it's going to hit the research station!" Indeed, the Leo was out of control, falling towards a building containing thirty-five civilians. There was no way to stop it...or was there? Without thinking, I threw my Aries' machine gun to the ground, pumped the engines to full throttle, tucked in the legs, and flew on an intercept course. Unable to actually grab the falling Leo, I simply had my Aries slam into it. The collision knocked out the engine in the right shoulder, and my Aries joined the Leo in a free fall. However, the kinetic energy built up in my suit had knocked the Leo clear of the research building. It crashed into an open plain, while I landed somewhat more gracefully several yards away.
Gundam Wing: Walker
Moderator: LadyTevar
Gundam Wing: Walker
JADAFETWA
Walker
Part 2
The top brass said I was a hero, and I was awarded a Medal of Commendation. Shortly after that, I graduated from the Specials training and was sent out to my first assignment at one of the oldest and most prestigious bases in Alliance history: Fort Tier in Florida. It was there that I saw it. The prototype Leo: Tallgeese. I thought I had known power in an Aries, but the huge Tallgeese overshadowed any mobile suit I'd ever seen. Why, I wondered, had the Alliance ever allowed the Tallgeese to be decommissioned? I soon found out: no one had been able to control the powerful suit. The last tester had gotten the thing decapitated.
I soon established myself as a leader in the ranks. The other guys and I quickly started to get along, flying Aries in exercises and on patrols. One of the favorite things at the base was to approach the runway as close to the water as possible. An Aries doing so would throw up a huge spray of foam, landing in a spectacular rainbow homecoming.
.......................
Now, it's AC 95, and I've risen to command a small unit of Aries. On the downside, five super-suits from the colonies have landed. These so-called gundams are trashing any attack force that tries to confront them. A lot of good soldiers have died, including a certain Pfc. Nechayev. He had tried to face down the gundam that carries two wickedly curved blades. The bastard sliced him up like a tin can. However, maybe we'll stop these gundams yet. I've found a pilot that might be able to handle Tallgeese. It's Lieutenant Zechs himself. As of now, he's the only person who's gone head-to-head with a gundam and survived.
He asks me what this giant white suit is. I tell him it was a prototype, far more dangerous than the scaled down Leos we use now. I take his hand in mine and wish him good luck. "Walker, I thank you for this gift," he says. "Maybe now we can even the playing field."
"I'm just returning a gift you gave me when you invited me into the Specials," I reply. Suddenly, the base alarm goes off. A gundam has engaged the Alliance defenders, and the Specials are being called in. It's the red gundam, the one designated 03.
"Good luck," Zechs says quickly, as I run off towards my Aries. Jumping into the cockpit, I order my teammates to power up. Lifting off, we tuck in our legs and speed off towards the full-scale battle raging right in the base.
"All right guys," I call out. "I want Hearth and Vasquez to the right, Rodriquez and Dalley to the left. Circle out and surround this guy." Several "yes sirs" are followed by my squad spreading out. Upon reaching the battle, we lower our Aries until we are hovering just above the ground. "Don't start shooting yet, let's see if we can take the gundam intact." Six of us begin to circle counterclockwise while the gundam tries to track us all simultaneously. It points the massive machine gun on its left arm at Vasquez. The barrel spins, but no bullets. The pilot dumps the gun and opens a panel in the suit's chest, revealing two more machine guns. They too, rotate, but fire nothing.
"Look!" Dalley says. "He's out of bullets!" The gundam raises its right arm, and with a wicked click, a large blade snaps into place.
"Don't do anything stupid!" I warn my subordinate, but Dalley doesn't listen.
"I'll teach you to mess with the Specials!" he yells, and his Aries charges forward.
"You fool!" I say. The gundam waits until the last second, then sidesteps to the left and swings its knife. Unbelievably, he cuts Dalley's suit in half!
"No, Dally!" Vickers cries out. He, too, charges forward. His gun is held out for maximum potential.
"Stop it!" I can't believe this. I thought I was running a trained squad, but everyone is running on impulse and charging like a bunch of idiots. Vickers' Aries rises into the air, making it a much harder target for the gundam.
"Death comes pretty fast," I hear the gundam's pilot say calmly. "Surprise, surprise." Just as Vickers reaches the gundam, a laser hits him from behind! The beam tunnels through the suit's back and out its forehead. The Aries explodes as the rest of us spin towards the beam's source.
"Oh my God!" I hear Mickel say. My mouth goes dry and I swallow nervously as I see what attacked Vickers. It"s a company of mobile suits, thirty to forty at least. I think I recognize them as customized Maganacs, the Middle East's Leo competitor.
"Watch out!" I yell as all of them begin firing. "Break up! Forget 03, concentrate on these guys!" Even as I rap out these orders, five of my men are hit. The rest of us open fire with chainguns and missiles, but these bastards have good shields, and only two or three go down. Although we try our damnedest, I know the situation is hopeless. They outnumber and outgun us several times. Then, just when I think things can't possibly get any worse, it steps out from the ranks. The leader of the Maganac group is Gundam 04, the one that killed Nechayev and his entire desert unit.
By now, only my Aries is left; my squad has been wiped out. The new gundam raises an arm, and the Maganacs cease fire. This pilot is making my defeat his personal business, I realize. The gundam draws its main weapons, the pair of curved blades. It then sets them onto its left arm, forming an immense pincer weapon. Holding its arm out, the gundam thrusts into the air. I see this and quickly reverse my own thrust, backing farther up into the air, firing all the while. Suddenly, like a premonition, I see my destiny. I will die, my Aries crushed between those two huge blades. Even so, I continue to fight the gundam as I shout my final words of defiance: "COME GET ME, YOU MONSTER!"
The End
Part 2
The top brass said I was a hero, and I was awarded a Medal of Commendation. Shortly after that, I graduated from the Specials training and was sent out to my first assignment at one of the oldest and most prestigious bases in Alliance history: Fort Tier in Florida. It was there that I saw it. The prototype Leo: Tallgeese. I thought I had known power in an Aries, but the huge Tallgeese overshadowed any mobile suit I'd ever seen. Why, I wondered, had the Alliance ever allowed the Tallgeese to be decommissioned? I soon found out: no one had been able to control the powerful suit. The last tester had gotten the thing decapitated.
I soon established myself as a leader in the ranks. The other guys and I quickly started to get along, flying Aries in exercises and on patrols. One of the favorite things at the base was to approach the runway as close to the water as possible. An Aries doing so would throw up a huge spray of foam, landing in a spectacular rainbow homecoming.
.......................
Now, it's AC 95, and I've risen to command a small unit of Aries. On the downside, five super-suits from the colonies have landed. These so-called gundams are trashing any attack force that tries to confront them. A lot of good soldiers have died, including a certain Pfc. Nechayev. He had tried to face down the gundam that carries two wickedly curved blades. The bastard sliced him up like a tin can. However, maybe we'll stop these gundams yet. I've found a pilot that might be able to handle Tallgeese. It's Lieutenant Zechs himself. As of now, he's the only person who's gone head-to-head with a gundam and survived.
He asks me what this giant white suit is. I tell him it was a prototype, far more dangerous than the scaled down Leos we use now. I take his hand in mine and wish him good luck. "Walker, I thank you for this gift," he says. "Maybe now we can even the playing field."
"I'm just returning a gift you gave me when you invited me into the Specials," I reply. Suddenly, the base alarm goes off. A gundam has engaged the Alliance defenders, and the Specials are being called in. It's the red gundam, the one designated 03.
"Good luck," Zechs says quickly, as I run off towards my Aries. Jumping into the cockpit, I order my teammates to power up. Lifting off, we tuck in our legs and speed off towards the full-scale battle raging right in the base.
"All right guys," I call out. "I want Hearth and Vasquez to the right, Rodriquez and Dalley to the left. Circle out and surround this guy." Several "yes sirs" are followed by my squad spreading out. Upon reaching the battle, we lower our Aries until we are hovering just above the ground. "Don't start shooting yet, let's see if we can take the gundam intact." Six of us begin to circle counterclockwise while the gundam tries to track us all simultaneously. It points the massive machine gun on its left arm at Vasquez. The barrel spins, but no bullets. The pilot dumps the gun and opens a panel in the suit's chest, revealing two more machine guns. They too, rotate, but fire nothing.
"Look!" Dalley says. "He's out of bullets!" The gundam raises its right arm, and with a wicked click, a large blade snaps into place.
"Don't do anything stupid!" I warn my subordinate, but Dalley doesn't listen.
"I'll teach you to mess with the Specials!" he yells, and his Aries charges forward.
"You fool!" I say. The gundam waits until the last second, then sidesteps to the left and swings its knife. Unbelievably, he cuts Dalley's suit in half!
"No, Dally!" Vickers cries out. He, too, charges forward. His gun is held out for maximum potential.
"Stop it!" I can't believe this. I thought I was running a trained squad, but everyone is running on impulse and charging like a bunch of idiots. Vickers' Aries rises into the air, making it a much harder target for the gundam.
"Death comes pretty fast," I hear the gundam's pilot say calmly. "Surprise, surprise." Just as Vickers reaches the gundam, a laser hits him from behind! The beam tunnels through the suit's back and out its forehead. The Aries explodes as the rest of us spin towards the beam's source.
"Oh my God!" I hear Mickel say. My mouth goes dry and I swallow nervously as I see what attacked Vickers. It"s a company of mobile suits, thirty to forty at least. I think I recognize them as customized Maganacs, the Middle East's Leo competitor.
"Watch out!" I yell as all of them begin firing. "Break up! Forget 03, concentrate on these guys!" Even as I rap out these orders, five of my men are hit. The rest of us open fire with chainguns and missiles, but these bastards have good shields, and only two or three go down. Although we try our damnedest, I know the situation is hopeless. They outnumber and outgun us several times. Then, just when I think things can't possibly get any worse, it steps out from the ranks. The leader of the Maganac group is Gundam 04, the one that killed Nechayev and his entire desert unit.
By now, only my Aries is left; my squad has been wiped out. The new gundam raises an arm, and the Maganacs cease fire. This pilot is making my defeat his personal business, I realize. The gundam draws its main weapons, the pair of curved blades. It then sets them onto its left arm, forming an immense pincer weapon. Holding its arm out, the gundam thrusts into the air. I see this and quickly reverse my own thrust, backing farther up into the air, firing all the while. Suddenly, like a premonition, I see my destiny. I will die, my Aries crushed between those two huge blades. Even so, I continue to fight the gundam as I shout my final words of defiance: "COME GET ME, YOU MONSTER!"
The End
JADAFETWA
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Kelly Antilles
- Sith Acolyte
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