"The shuttle will be docking soon." Lowe can make out the sight of the Re.H.O.M.E through his mobile suit's cameras.
"Thanks, Eight." The Junk Tech relaxed in his cockpit seat and took the time to think over the conversation that he had with Liam earlier that morning.
Flashback
"Lowe, please stop and think about what you're doing!" pleaded Kisato as she held on to Lowe's left hand.
"My mind's already made up, Kisato. I'm going to ask if I can join up with DaCosta's group and help them out with this major problem," replied Lowe in a serious voice, a tone rarely heard from the spunky Junk Tech.
Liam gave a sigh before speaking. "You're being irrational, Lowe."
The Natural male shook Kisato off of him before getting up close in Liam's face. "What the fucking hell is so irrational about using my talents to protect what I believe in?!? You were there when Un No told me that he hoped that my knowledge will protect the things I believe in!! I believe in this peace and I'm pissed that assholes like the Abyss would try and destroy that!! If I continue sitting on my ass like this, then my title as The Sword of the Master has no meaning!! Furthermore, I'll live my life the way I want so for your sake, butt the fuck out!!!" Lowe took a few long breaths to recover from his harsh rant at his friend.
Liam waited until his friend calmed down some. "I'm not telling you to do anything. Feel free to go ahead with your decision to join up with the Three Ship Alliance as a fighter but let me have my say first. Remember the time when we serviced the Three Ship Alliance? You said that we have duties to fulfill as Junk Techs and that we need to do the best we can in any situation. Although you have great talent wielding the Gerbera Straight, you have far stronger talent when it comes to working with machines. I believe that you would be of better use to the Three Ship Alliance as someone who can help them maintain their current technology and possibly improve upon it rather than as another fighter. That would be the best way to fulfill your duty."
Lowe paused as he remembered the words that he had said on that day. Before he could speak again, he heard Eight's voice module speak up. "Incoming message from the Professor! With the reconstruction of Orb going smoothly, she would like to recall all of you back to the ship since there is still much work to be done elsewhere. She has arranged a shuttle craft flight for you and your units at the Giga Float at 1:40 PM. Do not worry about the security of Orb as I've gotten word that Rondo Mina Sahaku will be sending additional units to protect the nation. End message."
Kisato looked at the clock just above the cafeteria door. "We got about three hours before the flight. Let's get a move on!"
End Flashback
"Docking sequence has been completed. Welcome back, guys." The Gundam Astray Red Frame along with Kisato's BuCUE and Liam's Works GINN disembarked from the shuttle and secured themselves in the mobile suit bay. The cockpit hatches opened in each suit for the pilots to exit their units.
"Thanks, Professor. So what's next?" asked Kisato as she got used to feeling weightless in space again.
The Professor's voice came loud and clear through the radio. "George has already set a course for the ship to head back to GENESIS Alpha. There's still a lot of scavenging to be done there. And maybe you can find some extra parts or information on the mobile suit that Lowe found a few months back."
"Acknowledged. We'll meet you on the bridge later after we clean up," stated Liam. He glanced back to address Lowe, who held Eight in his hand. "Will you be alright?"
"Yeah. Sorry for that outburst earlier," murmured the Red Frame pilot.
"It's no big deal. I'm used to your impulsiveness anyways," replied the Coordinator with a small grin. He pushed himself off of his unit to float towards the exit and followed Kisato out of the mobile suit bay.
'Well... if I'm going to fulfill my duty as a Junk Tech, I may as well get working on the mobile suit I found at GENESIS Alpha. Then that would be at least one more unit to help in the fighting. Actually... maybe I should send this to the USSA. Edward could use another mobile suit to fight the Alliance.' Lowe pushed himself off of Red Frame and floated towards a mostly white mobile suit which had a large yellow V-Fin at the top of its head, green optics and a 'face mask' much like the Strike Gundam. The torso of the suit along with some minor spots on the legs were a blue colour. There were two small yellow spots on the blue torso and the red cockpit hatch... was open? Lowe floated over and was surprised to see a person in black typing away at a keyboard. "Canard? What are you doing here?"
The Coordinator looked up and bit his tongue to avoid firing an insult at Lowe. "The Professor sent me down here to cool off from my outburst on that damn hologram of yours. God... who knew that George Glenn would be such an annoying pain in the ass? Anyways, I've been working on retrieving some of the mobile suit data."
"You found something?" asked Lowe, feeling slightly uneasy talking with a man who had fired upon him a few months ago.
"Yeah. The model number is ZGMF - X12 and this thing runs on a ZAFT Mobile Suit OS," replied Canard. "If I recall correctly, ZAFT Experimental Units are designated with an X. So what's so experimental about this unit?"
"I think I got that one covered. The mobile suit's back seems to be designed to accept various packs for different missions. Probably like the legendary Strike Gundam. Considering how that one mobile suit gave ZAFT a lot of grief over the war, it's not surprising to see ZAFT start experimenting with their own multi-mode mobile suits."
'The Strike... Kira Yamato...' Canard felt his right hand start to shake a bit. "Excuse me, Lowe." He pushed the keyboard aside and floated out of the cockpit before pushing off the mobile suit to head outside.
Lowe wondered what was wrong with Canard before he hopped in the cockpit of the suit and looked through the data that the Coordinator had gathered. "It seems that you are far from complete and you don't even have a name. Well, I'll get you fixed up in a jiffy and then I can send you off where you can do some good. And as for a name... how does Gundam Astray Out Frame sound?" As he began to get to work, he never noticed the unit's eyes glow green briefly in approval of the new name.
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(Posted Mon, 21 Nov 2005 01:18)
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