//------------------------------// // Chapter 15 // Story: Mobile Suit Gundam: Alicorn // by Alines Reinhard //------------------------------// It was official: the Blue Rock Mine had been taken over by the Equestrian military! The news reporter said on a large projection screen at the mission room. It was a few days after their defeats at the Blue Rock Mine. Some members of the crew are sitting in the mission room, watching the rebroadcast news of the night after the battle. They don’t know why they have to see that, but watching the news that shows their defeats is pure pain to them. “Dang, are they wanting to put some salt in our wounds all over again?” a unicorn pony said in a boring tone “Didn’t this show a few days ago?” Then, the doors open with all of S.M.I.L.E executives walking in. The whole room stops their own activity and stands up, saluting the three mares and Captain Discord. However, they walked in with a sad face, looked down to the floor as if they are embarrassed of their incompetent. “Y’all can go back to sit again…” Discord said. “First, I want to apologize for our great mistake that cost us the Blue Rock Mine and several of our comrades…” Rainbow Dash started the meet with a sad voice “Our wrong prediction about Black Wine and his fleet have led to this humiliated defeat, and we, the executive of S.M.I.L.E, will take full responsibility for this.” She looked at every creature in the room for a couple of seconds, before continuing. “However, that’s not the main reason we are here. What I want to say is recently, we have struck a deal with our friends at Parrot Peak, and they are kind enough to let us use one of their bases, where the Eris 2 Unit is stationed. It is large enough to hold our ship and let us have some maintenance and resupply. However, after that, some of our pilots have to move away for a while to assure safety for them as well as the whole crew. Are you clear?” “Yes, ma’am…” “Okay, then we will arrive at Parrot Nest base in about 5 days from now! I’ll let Lyra and Bonbon explain further about this, especially the preparation procedure.” “Parrot Nest base? Weird name, seriously!” Haystack chuckled when he heard about the base for the first time “Weird name I heard, eh?” Then, the projector turned itself up to reveal a map. Bonbon carries on the meet by introducing the base to every creature. “So this is where we will stay for a handful of time and missions…” she said while pointing a laser pointer on to the screen “Their main landing pad has been enlarged to help our ship to fit in…” The map showed a base with 2 long runways on the far left side of the screen, a large parking area right next to the runways, separated by some taxiways. Separated by 2 other taxiways is a large landing pad where ships can be landed, and, as Bonbon have stated, the landing pad has been enlarged so the Canterlot herself can perfectly land. To the right of the screens are the buildings: air traffic controls, stationed, warehouses and weapon depot,… all was built right next to the main street that connects the base to the rest of Orthinia. And that's not all: when Bonbon moved the map further to the left, she revealed a large port with 6 main piers where large Orthinia’s navy vessels can be anchored, along with several more weapon depots and warehouses. This makes the whole base become a large military complex that could rival even the Torrington Base at the Earthsphere. “Despite its size, we can speculate that this base can be hardly detected at its full scale, due to the fact that it was located inside a cave at the Orthinia mountain. Yes they can see us come into the base, but attacking this place will be a nightmare for the 265, both strategic and logistical. However, since we have sustained a large amount of damages from the last battle, we will have to separate our force: Haystack and Brandon will stay at Captain Celaeno’s airship, Water Vapor will come to the Eagles Scream, while Blue Thunder and Yamina will stationed at the Black Hawk (they’re all disguised military airships, don’t worry). This will help us sneak into kingdoms that block our ships easier: those airships are technically fully legal to enter their air space, or even into Equestria’s airspace!” “But… pardon me, ma’am…” Blue Thunder raised his hooves “…but how about my suit? Can I use another one or… simply how can we fix my Jegan?” Logistics, which includes fixing Blue Thunder’s Jegan is also a very difficult task to fully fill for S.M.I.L.E, since they are the only legitimate supplier for all of their Earthsphere-origin assets. However, Rainbow Dash replied him: “We’re gonna fix it for ya, don’t worry!” she answered like it was based on a concrete fact “Our friends at Orthinia will supply us with some of the stuff they bought from… AE. Yes, I know they are crooks, but sadly they are the best option we have in this trying time. Orthnian’ s military will deliver the supply right to the base, so all we have to worry is to go ahead with our supply plan and the operation ahead!” It was a genuine surprise for the ship to hear what they called “an unbelievable good news”. After all that time they stay at the Canterlot, none of them have the idea that there are another kingdom willing to buy MS, ships and weapons from AE. However, this do lead to some suspicion. “But… Can we trust them? I mean the Orthinians…” a changeling asked. “Hey, I know you are doubting something from us but can you show respect?” an eagle near him replied “There are Orthinians on board too, dude!” “You just made a very contradictory statement, dude!” the changeling replied with a grumpy voice. “And also, do you ever have an experience when your friends buy something from your enemy and then they agree to help us?” “Okay okay, relax, guys!” Rainbow Dash stops them from getting into a fight “We can totally trust them because it is very hard to convince them to help us, and also, we have no other choices. As far as I know they don’t like Black Wine and his cabinet at all, so we can totally trust our bird friend!” … The journey to Parrot Peaks is surprisingly smooth and uneventful. All of what Flash and his ship mates have to do are checking the MS daily, doing guard shifts, fulfilling their ship's military duties and doing what the normal creatures do. The eagle and the changeling that he saw nearly fighting in the mission room have settled the conflict themselves, and Flash even heard that they have been friends, since they didn’t really know each other before that argument. Flash could also say that he has seen some “visit” from Luster and her friends, but since all of them are just identical nightmares that he has seen before, it is unnecessary to tell them again, despite their severe lack of sleep. After about 3 days of constant travel in a route that S.M.I.L.E had chosen to perform some test on the ship's capability before complete refurbishment, they finally arrived at the Parrot Nest base. The first thing that impresses him the most is that everything Bonbon has told is all built in a gigantic cave. Greeting the ship are several other airships that moored at the cave mouth. The height of the cave is enough for the Canterlot to move in without hitting anything, as long as the bridge crew still have their guards up to make sure it is not hitting any of the cave ‘s ceiling. In addition to the natural lights of the sun, the whole cave was lightened up with multiple high energy floodlights, all arranged in a very scientific way to ensure maximum lighting. There are a few smaller caves which Flash speculated that they are the warehouses and depots that the map failed to say: it actually just a ground layout map, not a fully 3D map. The landing pad the Orthinian military arranged for them is the largest landing pad of the base. Next to them are the ramp where some of Orthinian’s aircraft, supplies,… and even some vehicles that carried clothed MS are parked. “Woah! What is this? They want to hold a whole party?” a unicorn mechanic said excitedly “Looks like there is tons of work to do! Hey Gremada, you should see this!” he said while waving at his griffon friend. It is a relief for the Canterlot’s crew, after nearly a month of non stop moving after they leave Zebrat and a defeat at Blue Rock Mine. Rainbow Dash is accurate: the suits will be fixed. … Before going “ashore”, as Lieutenant Haystack said, Flash was ordered to check at his MS once again. The Lieutenant tapped his shoulder when Flash arrived at his damaged mobile suit. “Hey bud… Your suit will have another left arm, don’t worry!” he said whilst looked at the Strike Zeta The mechanic said it just lost the left arm and the shoulder armor is intact. They just need to replace the arm section that are still in that shoulder and give them new arms. Do you know how?” “How, Sir?” “Do you see that one covered mobile suit on the tarmac?” he pointed at the vehicle that carried what he had said “That’s an unfinished Zeta Gundam unit. It didn’t have a name since the Zeta program ended halfway through its construction, so they decided to give it to us for spare parts.” The Zeta Gundam unit that he mentioned is the MSZ-006-4, an unfinished Zeta unit from Anaheim Electronics. The machine is a part of a development of new generation mass production mobile suits that are planned for Earth use only, and they planned to convince the Federation to buy at least a few units once they fully complete. However, Anaheim themselves think it necessary for the Federation to buy such a thing since they themselves saw that the Federation have enough suits that would fulfill the role of their new suit, so after just 3 completed suits and an unfinished unit, they decide to end the project for good. “And you know what? They are basically the same as your Strike Zeta, just without weapons like you. So, just enjoy seeing it help boost your fighting capability!” … The cloth was finally removed to reveal the unfinished MS in it’s full glory. The machine is missing a lot of parts: there is basically no chest armor, no wings and no torso armor. The thermonuclear engines are exposed, but they have been temporarily covered by some armor for safety reasons. The armor that covered the vents on the suit’s face was missing and was also covered with cloth. Other than that, the suit is pretty much usable with enough armor and equipment on. “The cockpit is fully functionable, great!” The hippogriff mechanic named Seashell Blue said to Flash “Your suit is in relatively good condition, so although this thing is exclusively for you, some of this stuff will be used as spare parts for other suits as well. Do you chill with that, Brad?” “Yes, I’m totally fine with that!” the blue-haired humanoid said “If what you said is true, then I’m happy to help our crew to win this war.” It is also notable that S.M.I.L.E have already classified the conflict as an all out war against Chancellor Black Wine and his cabinet. They named it “The War for Harmony”, or “The First Mobile Suit War” for a more neutral name. However, every creature on board the Canterlot agreed that if they just allow Black Wine to do what he wants, the harmony that Princess Twilight and her friends have built will be destroyed. “Okay. You can temporarily leave ‘her’ to me…” Seashell Blue said as he looked at the damage to Strike Zeta “…there will be more than just external damages, but we’ll focus on your left arm first. In the meantime, why don’t you have a short trip to Parrot Peak itself: there is a multi-national festival in the city, “Spirit of Eris Eyes”. I heard they make that name up based on a local legend, I don’t really know. But you can go to that festival with local small public airships: just go straight on Smokey Mountain Street and you’ll arrive there.” “Okay, thanks for the advice!” “Make sure to play some games, mate!” After waving at the blue hippogriff, Flash decided to follow a group of the S.M.I.L.E’s crew as he heard that they also went to the festival.