Mobile Suit Royal Gundam Pt. 11

****

Echo thought about meeting Bernkastel face to face but decided against it, better to wait until they got to Earth, safely behind the walls of the Chief of State. She hated playing this way but Bernkastel was now cornered with nothing to lose. "Enough Mr. Ashby! Take off that helmet and face me!" Lorenzo had said. "So you remember, huh?" "Yes and I told Bernkastel, Adriana and Alexander about the scandal!" There was a chance Bernkastel knew who she really was and considering what a bitch she had been, her "comrades" wouldn't hesitate to turn on her. The Vice Chief thought she was familiar.

****

Private Angle enters the captain's quarters.

"What can I do you for?"

"Sir, I was hoping I could help out here."

"That won't be necessary, you're our guest here. You've fought hard."

"I don't see it that way, Sir. Please I want to contribute, at least let me clean while I'm on here."

"Sigh, fine, we'll be on Earth soon so you can clean until then."

"Yes Sir, thank you, Sir."

"Don't overdo it, if I were you I would be trying to get as much R&R as possible."

"Yes Sir, it's just that I lost people I cared about on Earth when they first came down during New Years, I was full of sloth then."

"Is that why your voice is like that?"

"Yes this whole thing changed me."

"We will avenge them." He hands him a custodian key card. "Don't lose it, dismissed!"

Private Angle salutes and Captain Amoco salutes back.

Once he was out, Überstein was happy even though there was no expression. He now had access without being suspicious.

He starts with the bathrooms, for a moment he thinks of Bernkastel cleaning the bathrooms of the enemy ship and even though his face was expressionless he couldn't help feel warmth knowing that he was doing the same job.

He makes his way to the locker rooms and surveys the area. He notices a couple of spare space suits and other clothing, some clean and some dirty. The plan was slowly coming together.

****

MS Chief Engineer Roth was viewing the battle data again, he had to make the Hospitaller stronger or perhaps come up with a stronger mobile armor. His door opens and Secretary Blanch enters with breakfast. "Here you go, Sir." He nods and and begins eating. "Um Sir?"

"Yes?"

"We'll be reaching Earth soon, don't you want to see Wheat before the end?"

"They'll be plenty of time for that once we reach Earth, right now I have to concentrate on one failure not two."

"Yes Sir."

****

Überstein was making his way to the security office, this would be the difficult part. He suddenly sees danger approaching. He quickly puts on a face mask, goggles, lowers his cap, grabs the cleaning spray, paper towels, turns his back towards the danger, crotches down and pretends to clean. He was silent and made no moment save the motion of his hand. He hears the heavy footsteps approaching, and despite his expressionless face, he was beyond nervous. Out of the corner of his right eye he watches the heavy footsteps move on without stopping. "I really don't have much time left." He waits a few more seconds before deciding to get up and make his way to the hanger.

As he left, Agent Orange stops and looks back at the custodian leaving. "Nah it couldn't have been." She resumes walking.

****

Vice Chief Bonaparte had entered the security room to see how Bernkastel was doing and is irked upon seeing her sleeping peacefully. "Does betrayal mean nothing to you?!" He inadvertently glances at the next camera, notices Agent Orange walking and silently gasps. He remembers and heads to the door. He opens it to find Private Angle about to knock. He nods at the custodian in reply as he salutes him.

There were only three security guards present. Überstein politely nods to them as he enters. In his hands were a towel, a spray bottle and a trash bag, as the three men were paying him no mind he removes a hidden pistol with a suppressor and guns them down.

He locks the door and begins working on the security system. There was only a half an hour left. He quickly heads to sick bay.

"Hey slow down!" A staff officer yells.

"Sorry, I heard there was a spill in sick bay."

He reaches Bernkastel's room, wakes and uncuffs her. "I got a mechanic outfit and a normal suit. Hurry."

Überstein turns his head to allow her to change but she yelps. "I need some help, please." Überstein gulps and proceeds to help get the hospital gown off her. She had on a matching purple laced bra and thong underwear. He quickly hands her the top but realizes that he still had to help. She raises her hands and he puts the shirt over her and takes care not to touch her breasts while lowering it down. Sweat was now popping out as he was doing best not to think of her in such a way but his cock was already stirring. He now had to help put on the pants. "Her legs are soft and warm as I imagine," he thought as his hands made contact. A second a later he was relieved when she took over. Last thing was the hat which he places down on her soft blue black hair.

They make their way to the nurse's station where Überstein distracts the clerk while Bernkastel slips out.

****

While Überstein was in the security room Vice Chief Bonaparte had caught up with Agent Orange.

"Yes?" She asks flatly without a salute.

"Agent Orange no, Marius Wing!"

"Excuse me?!"

"You can't fool me anymore!"

"Um you've lost your mind. Marius is a man, an old man."

"That's what I thought too but a friend of mine once told me 'things are not always what they seem' the morning that Bernkastel was set to go into space for the first time, Marius escaped from our prison around 4am and at 6am the first person who entered Grail Military HQ was a blonde woman and it just so happens that Marius, George Marius Ashby had a daughter named Emily who was also a blonde."

"Oh just because I have blonde hair you wanna single me out?!"

"That's not all," he gives her the short version of the Ashby Mobile Scandal. "When he reappeared, he had an orange Hunter Zaku, orange armor with black gloves, boots and a helmet and you have similar items not to mention you haven't been exactly respectful towards me!"

"Wow and here I thought you were an asshole politician trying to hit on me."

The Vice Chief was stunned.

"I know your type, thinking you can use your influence to get into the pants of any woman! But now that I've rebuffed your advances you decided to paint me as the ultimate villain? A woman who disguises herself as a man that was confirmed dead and if however unlikely is still alive would be old as dirt?"

"I...I."

"While your circumstantial evidence does hold water its ultimately not enough. I've been trained as a lone wolf so it's difficult for me to work as a team player but I am learning."

"I, I I'm sorry."

"I'll do better as a team player." It seems that I've underestimated this man, it's a good thing I didn't see Bernkastel after all.

****

Bernkastel and Überstein reached the MS hanger. They casually walk towards the Royal Gundam and then float to it and she opens the chest. Überstein ponders where he was going to sit for the Royal Gundam was a one seater and there was barely any standing room.

"Looks like I'll be sitting in your lap," Bernkastel announces.

"What?"

"Yes I'm the only one who can operate Royal so I'm going to need clear vision." He nods and sits first and gulps again as Bernkastel sits her sexy body on him. "Seat belt please." He nods and they buckle up. "This is actually not too bad. Überstein you good?"

"Affirmative." Focus, focus on the mission!

"Good, ah Royal I'm back." She turns on the power and it wasn't long before the white monoeye comes on, BWAA!

A second later the Gundam starts moving. The staff were flabbergasted. "Impossible!" "Who's piloting it?!"

The Royal Gundam pulls out her beam saber and thrusts it into the wall.

****

The alarm starts wailing. "We have a full breach in the port side hanger bay!" Petty Officer Montgomery reports.

"Captain, we got a report from the hanger bay saying that the Gundam is loose!" Chief Petty Officer Socrates says.

"What?!"

****

"The Gundam?! But that's impossible unless...." The Vice Chief calls sick bay.

Agent Orange heads to the MS hanger. "That custodian, there's no doubt in my mind!" She thought.

****

After creating a makeshift door, the Royal Gundam puts up the beam saber and pulls out the heat hammer and bashes the door down and leaps into the cold vacuum of space.

****

"I'm sorry but we had no choice but to seal off the hanger," an engineer says.

"Damn it!" Commander Barcelona screams.

"My Gundam!" Spacemen Gal sobs and falls to her knees. Sean and Galen try to comfort her but she pushes them away, "Don't touch me!"

"I don't understand how this could have happened! Wheat is the only one who can operate it and is handcuffed to her bed!" Commander Balrog says.

"I'm afraid not, the nurses confirmed that she's gone," Vice Chief Bonaparte explains.

"But how?"

"Marius," Agent Orange guesses.

They all gaze at her perplexed but it was the only logical explanation.

"This worked out better than I expected but I didn't think of all people he would be the one to do it," she thought and runs off to the fighter hanger.

"Captain, have our Celestial Bodyguards dispatch whatever that's available to recapture the Royal Gundam!" Vice Chief Bonaparte radios. "All of you head to the fighter hanger!"

"Yes Sir!" They answer in unison.

****

The Royal Gundam only had her normal speed for the boosters were damaged. "Damn it!" Überstein murmurs. The enemy was right on their heels and what's worse is that it was a three day ride back to Luna, the longest three days of their lives. Their only hope is that their comrades won but even that still presented a problem, they would be cut off by the retreating enemy forces. Or if Zoya lost they would still be cut off by enemy forces leaving the battle so fresh forces could join. "Um Bernkastel if you wish to display some Newtype powers like teleportation or launch some sort of combustion that won't harm us that time is now."

Bernkastel squeezes the joint sticks and closes her eyes. "Think of Luna, think of Luna and go!" There's an explosion and Bernkastel opens her eyes. "Are we at Luna?"

"Negative."

"Then I got nothing."

"Turn us around."

"What?!"

"They have us outnumbered but there's still a chance that we can outfight them."

"What do you propose?"

"Aside from your beam saber and heat hammer what other weapons you got left?"

"Vulcan guns in both chest and head, not much though, my long knife, mines and grenades."

"Ok, target the engines of the Sepulchre."

"Roger!" The Sepulchre fires its 50 cal machine guns but Royal dodges them with ease. "Uh-oh, enemy mobile suits incoming!" She gets behind the Sepulchre and places mines on the engines. A Teutonic comes in from behind and shoots at her with its vulcans but she quickly pulls out her heat hammer and slams it.

A few minutes later the Sepulchre's engines are blown.

"Their concern should be the safety of their Vice Chief," Überstein explains.

Bernkastel nods.

****

"Port side engines completely damage Sir," Petty Officer Montgomery reports.

"Same for the starboard side," Petty Officer Decker adds.

"Shit, reentry is impossible now," Commander Tuesday growls.

"Mr. Socrates, get in contact with Grail Headquarters and tell them we're high priority!"

"Yes Captain!"

****

Agent Orange enters the fighter hanger, she was pondering what craft she should use, the Pterodactyl was faster but the Pteranodon had more weapons, "Which one?" She notices a completely different model. "What is that?"

"That's the Pterosaur Interceptor, a secret new model," a familiar voice explains. "Faster than the other two, its purpose is for long reconnaissance and capturing."

"Vice Chief, you're flying too?!"

"Yes, I'm going to teach my ex a lesson she'll never forget! The Pterosaur Interceptor is also a two seater so you'll ride with me, as an apology for earlier."

"Fine but only on the condition that I do the fighting."

"Agreed." They hop inside.

"Wow this is nice."

"Thank you, this will most likely be used as my secondary personal craft to get home since the Sepulchre is disabled."

"What do you mean?"

"The Pterosaur Interceptor is capable of atmospheric reentry."

"Ah!"

When the light was green the Pterosaur Interceptor launches into outer space.

****

The Royal Gundam kicks a Templar and bashes another Teutonic. "Alright who's next!?" Bernkastel yells.

"They clearly want to keep us alive, otherwise they would have shot us down by now."

"Yes you're right, they're using bullets and melee weapons and keep aiming for my arms and legs." Suddenly the alert goes off. "Missiles!" She activates the canceler and the missiles are deactivated. Fighters, bombers and a different model appear. "They have us surrounded!"

"Bernkastel surrender the Gundam, it's mine!" Spacemen Gal radios.

"Gal go sit down somewhere!"

"Damn that canceler!" Commander Balrog growls.

"What do we do, Sir?" Commander Barcelona asks.

"Bernkastel please surrender, don't make this any harder than it needs to be!" Vice Chief Alexander radios.

"Fuck you, asshole!" She dives.

Balrog and Barcelona fire a volley of missiles but she uses the canceler again. "After her!" Gal barks.

"Wait don't get too close or you'll be caught in the Earth Sphere's gravity!"

"Damn what now?" Ensign Galen ponders.

"Shut up I'm thinking!" Spacemen Gal snaps.

"Ha, if we maintain this distance they can't get us and looks like the Teutonics can't handle reentry either," Bernkastel laughs.

"Yeah but we can't hold out like this forever and they've probably already sent for reinforcements," Überstein says.

"I'm going to try flying straight while maintaining this distance."

"Teutonics, use your beam rifle to distract her, Templars maintain your distance but keep her in your sight. Okay Agent Orange I'm counting on you."

"You got it just leave it to me!"

"What about the rest of us?" Spacemen Gal asks.

"Do as the Templars do."

"Roger, make sure you post guards around her room."

"Oh don't you worry Gal, don't you worry."

The Teutonics fire their beam rifles thus preventing the Royal Gundam from flying away.

"Good, keep it up, almost in range," Agent Orange says.

The Royal Gundam dodges the beams and goes up. "Oh no you don't!" Spacemen Gal dumps some mines.

"Shit!" Bernkastel screams and dives.

The green crosshairs turn red and Agent Orange fires a net at the Royal Gundam before it had a chance to respond. "Commencing electromagnetic pulse."

"Something's wrong, the system is shutting down!" Bernkastel screams.

"I got her!"

"Hurry and pull her in!"

Agent Orange slowly pulls up the cable but then stops and stares at the Royal Gundam for a minute. She lowers the cable at great speed and releases the net.

"Agent Orange what are you doing!?"

She fires four missiles which hits the Royal Gundam and sends hurling into Earth's atmosphere.

"What have you done?!" Vice Chief Bonaparte screams.

"I've taken care of the problem!" Farewell Bimbo! She smiles evilly.

****

"Shit, shit, shit!" Bernkastel screams.

"This is it, I know that you and I haven't exactly spoken to each other in a long time but I...."

"Oh Royal please come back on!" She starts beating on the controls. The cockpit went from black to completely red and smoke started to appear.

"It's useless," Überstein panted. "We're about to be cooked alive." Suddenly fire appear and Überstein leaps up. "Ahhhhhh."

Bernkastel was struggling trying to the seatbelt off. She screams in pain and hits the burning controls. "AHHHHHHHHHH! ROYAL!"

The white monoeye comes back on and there was a blinking blue light and liquid nitrogen is unleashed.

"All cooler units activated!" She sits down on Überstein who was barely conscious and presses the breaks. "We're gonna be ok, Überstein."

"Great just great!"

"It was better than having Bernkastel escape again. She's dead now!"

"I wish I could believe that."

"What do you mean?!"

"Unlike other mobile suits The Royal Gundam is capable of surviving reentry."

"WHAT?!"

"Yes but we lacked the expense necessary so we only use it for our Celestial ships."

"But, but I hit her with an EMP net!"

"You underestimate the Royal Gundam!"

"You're being overly dramatic, Sir!" She looks at the radar screen and sees the IFF red signal which was the Royal Gundam falling fast and smiles but then she sees it slowing down. "FUCK!" She just given the Bimbo more luck! She starts moving towards the Earth's atmosphere.

"What are you doing?"

"Going after her! You said the Pterosaur Interceptor is capable of atmosphere reentry!"

"Yes but we don't even know where she'll land, we need to strategize before rushing in."

She ignores him and goes closer.

"Grail Leader you're inching closer to the Earth, it's dangerous for you to go alone, pull back immediately," Chief Petty Officer Socrates radios.

"We're heading back, that's an order!"

She puts the interceptor on autopilot, turns off the radio, unholsters her stun gun, shoots him and takes his gun.

****

"Sir the Pterosaur Interceptor has entered Earth's atmosphere," Petty Officer Montgomery reports.

"Confirmed, the ship no longer appears on our radar, we're getting interference," Petty Officer Decker adds.

"What?!"

"Captain, the Chief is on line 1," Chief Petty Officer Socrates reports.

Captain Amoco: "Hello Ma'am."

Chief Kits: "I hear that the Royal Gundam has escaped."

Captain Amoco: "That's correct, Ma'am. It has entered the Earth and Agent Orange and the Vice Chief are in pursuit."

Chief Kits: "What?!"

Captain Amoco: "Yes Ma'am, sorry Ma'am. "The Lighting Baron is requesting permission to go down there."

Chief Kits: "Permission denied, Agent Orange is a professional, leave it to her. Reinforcements will arrive shortly and when they do you will dock to the Lighting Baron and bring the silver suitcase here."

Captain Amoco: "Yes Ma'am."

Once the screen disappears Spacemen Kircheis turns to him, "Are we really going to abandon the Vice Chief?"

"Spacemen!" Commander Tuesday exclaims.

"It's ok Commander. And no we're not abandoning him, he knew exactly what he was getting himself into. Besides, you heard the Chief, Agent Orange will handle it. Recall all fighters and mobile suits."

****

"This is it Überstein," Bernkastel says and she eases on the brakes. Suddenly the backpack goes out. "Oh fuck this is going to be a hard landing!"

It felt like a second as the shock balloons deploy.

A few minutes later Bernkastel lifts up her head. She checks herself, nothing was broken but the adrenaline had passed so she was sore again, first Luna and now Earth. "Überstein? Überstein, you still alive?"

"Yeah," he groans and coughs.

Bernkastel looks at the camera, it wasn't even dawn yet and she sees nothing but desert and ruin. "Well this definitely isn't the Earth Republic." She checks the system and tries the radio. "Ensign Bernkastel Wheat, Royal Gundam to Zoya Remnant, can anyone hear me? This is Ensign Bernkastel Wheat, Royal Gundam to Zoya Remnant, can anyone hear me?" There was nothing.

"Even if the radio was working the Minovsky particles are too thick."

She reaches for the glove compartment and pulls out a CBRN (Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) mobile device. "I'll be right back." She opens the cockpit chest, activates the cable, puts her right foot on the peddle and lowers it until she reaches the sandy surface. She starts scanning and twenty minutes later she returns and shakes her head.

****

The Pterosaur Interceptor emerges from the clouds and she gets a view of the landscape. "You bitch," he groans.