(Not necessary to read to understand the full story)
3rd person POV:
On the United Space, Research And Peace Union Headquarters residing in the earth orbiting city call New Terra, a representative of the United Nations of Space gave the leaders of the U.S.R.A.P.U a mission.
Representative: As you might already know, some kind of meteor was ejected out of the sun.
Representative: We have no clue what it is, just that it's strong enough to withstand heat from the sun.
Representative: You already have your mission. We simply ask that you keep any information about it a secret to the public for now.
A high-ranking officer then spoke.
(Captain: Jacklin Trudian)
Jacklin: Understood. But would this secrecy have anything to do with the rising riots happing around the system?
Representative:... Simply do your job.
The call ends. With not much choice, the Captain got to work planning the research expedition to the sun-launched meteor dubbed Helios.
In her quarters on the research voyager ship, the S.S Dawn. She planned everything.
(S.S Dawn)
(Knock, knock,)
Jacklin: Come in...
She says whilst looking through several files. A blond woman in a leather jacket then enters.
This woman was the youngest person in the U.S.R.A.P.U to become the first mate.
(First Mate: Cynthia Foxtrot)
Cynthia:(salutes) Captain.
Jacklin: What can I help you with, Cynthia?
Cynthia: I... would like to make a recommendation.
Jacklin:?
Curious, the captain puts away her tablet containing all her files to listen to her second in command.
Jacklin: Well then, let's hear it. Who is the prodigy of the academy recommending?
The first mate sends a file to her Captain.
Jacklin: "Yn Direx"?
Cynthia: Yes. He was a first-year the academy forced under my wing.
Jacklin: That you grew to like?
Cynthia: Let's just say, he got my respect.
Jacklin: Hmm... It says here he failed to get his Gear piloting license.
Cynthia: Irrelevant, I would like you to allow him to come on board as a deckhand, not a pilot.
Cynthia: If money is an issue, make it an internship.
Jacklin: Why did he fail to get a Gear license?
Cynthia: Yn's not the type to be cool and collective like they want pilots to be.
Jacklin: And why should I let him on my ship?
Cynthia: Like I said he's not cool or collective, but he is passionate.
Cynthia: Given him a job, and he will give it his all.
Cynthia: Not wanting to deal with him, I told him on the first day we met to do 500000 pushups at once then I would talk to him.
Cynthia: Later that night I got a call, telling me to come to the academy and tell him to stop doing push-ups in the classroom.
Cynthia: The idiot took what I said as a challenge to earn my respect.
Jacklin:... I'm not entirely convinced, but I trust you. I'll give him an internship but you'll be responsible for him.
Cynthia: Understood. Thank you, Captain.
Leaving, Cynthia went to tell Yn the news as the captain continued with her work.
(Days later)
Preparing for his job on the S.S Dawn and research expedition to Helios, a young man stared at the spacecraft.
(Yn Direx)
Yn:...
Yn:(chuckles)
Yn:(smiles) Oh~ I'm getting excited just looking at this ship.
Yn: My great space adventure starts today!
Getting onto the ship, Yn was handed a uniform and was immediately put to work as the S.S Dawn took off to the strange meteor from the sun Helios.
The work given to him wasn't exactly what he wanted, but it was a start.
Cleaning up, and assisting others with maintenance and repairs was a start for Yn. He might be the lowest of the low when it came to the food chain but he would surely rise to the top one day.
After a few days of doing his work quite well, Yn was able to see a few Gear plots get into their gears have a little game to practice their capabilities.
They would get rid of the gravity in the hanger and flick a ball at each other.
Yn:?
Cynthia: You're wondering what they're doing?
Said the first mate as she floated up to Yn, grabbing a railing to stay put and speak with him.
Yn:!
Yn: Oh hey, Cyn- I mean...
Yn:(salutes) Oh hey, Cynthia?
Cynthia: At ease, Yn, we're not at the Academy or the military, you don't have to salute me.
Yn: Well you look like someone who I should be saluting.
Cynthia: I'll take that as a compliment.
Yn: Anyway, what are they doing?
Cynthia: As you know Gears use something called the link system to wirelessly connect the pilots to their Gears.
Yn: Yeah, it's to help with their reaction time and such.
Cynthia: Precisely.
Yn: So the game they're playing has something to do with the link system?
Cynthia: A pilot needs to regularly use the link system to keep their mind in shape.
Cynthia: The human mind is not really made for wireless data transfer, so it doesn't take long for a brain to get rusty and affect performance.
Yn: Oh, so it's like the machines in the academy.
Cynthia: Yeah. But those are too expensive to put on a ship like this one where its use would barely exist.
Cynthia: So pilots need to get creative.
Yn: Hmm... I wonder if they would let me play too.
Cynthia: Don't get your hopes up. These guys aren't the best crowd if they don't like you.
Cynthia: Besides, you don't have a license, and I doubt any of them would like to take responsibility for you.
Yn: Well thanks for reminding me about my lack of license... Do you want to cut me and rub salt in that wound too?
Cynthia: I prefer lemon juice.
She floats away.
Yn: You would...
On her way back to the bridge, Cynthia remembered she was supposed to tell Yn to go on break.
Going all the way back to the gear hanger, Cynthia found Yn punching and kicking the ball back to the gear pilots in their gears in zero gravity.
He had found himself a way to train and play along even though the gear pilots themselves were just screwing with the boy.
Cynthia:(mind) If the gravity turned on, he'd fall and probably break a leg or worse...
Cynthia:(mind) This guy...
Getting him to stop, Cynthia dragged him to the cafeteria where they ate together.
(A few days later)
It was time...they had arrived at the meteor which was twice the size of the S.S Dawn.
Captain Trudian piloted her great vessel close to Helios and expertly landed on top of it.
Drones and Gears were then sent to explore the meteor, check its conditions, and deem whether or not it was safe.
It all seemed relatively normal until the captain received reports of some type of cave on the meteor.
Jacklin: A cave? You would think being in the sun would at least melt any crevices shut.
Cynthia: Should we investigate?
Jacklin: Yes.
There was no point in ignoring it, Jacklin then had Cynthia go and investigate it with a team consisting of a few Gear pilots and their gears along with a few deckhands to help gather samples. Yn was one of those deckhands.
The deckhands and Cynthia were carried to the cave on the shoulders of the Gears.
Yn: Wow, it's hot here...
Cynthia: What were you expecting? This meteor flew out of the sun.
Yn: I know, but that's not what I meant. It's hot but why hasn't it cooled down? It's still glowing with heat.
Cynthia: Hmm... You have a point there. We're in the vacuum of space yet this hunk of metal hasn't cooled off after being left alone for a few days.
Cynthia:(mind) Our calculation said that it would have cooled down by now but it hasn't...
Cynthia:(mind) Something's keeping the meteor warm, but what?
Arriving at the "cave" which was really a hole going diagonally down, the group entered it to see what was inside.
Going deeper into the cave, everyone began feeling this intense heat.
Cynthia: Ugh... Whatever is down there must be the source of the meteors heat.
Pilot:(coms) At the rate the heat is rising, we're going to have to turn back. Our Gears aren't meant to handle these kinds of temperatures.
Cynthia:... Fine, let's turn back for now.
Yn: What? I can keep going.
Cynthia: Yn-
Yn: I can do it on my own if you want.
He leaps off the Gear and floats down the cave.
Cynthia: Tch, damn it... Never mind, we're going as down as we can. Yn ger back here!
Not listening, Yn goes further down the cave, ahead of everyone.
As he looks at the walls of the cave, he notices how it looked like something shot out from whatever is at the end of the cave.
Yn could only guess some kind of laser, perhaps that's what caused Helios to fly out of the sun?
He didn't know, all he could do is continuing onwards, despite the heat that was increasing.
Powering further down, Yn eventually entered an opening despite the others who had already begun to retreat.
The heat began dying down as Yn found something strange which he didn't expect.
In the opening, encased in stone was Gear.
(Unknown Helios Gear)
Yn: A Gear? Why is one here...?
Through the camera on his helmet, the Captain was able to see the Gear.
Jacklin:(coms) Good work, Direx.
The others of his group then arrived and together they began inspecting the Gear.
Jacklin:(coms) Cynthia, what have we found?
Cynthia: I don't know. The damn scanner says it at least 100 years old but look at it.
Yn: Its design is nothing like what you would see a hundred years ago.
Cynthia: Exactly. Its design is more similar to modern-day Gears.
Jacklin:(coms) A Gear in a meteor that flew out of the sun... I'm more concerned with why is a gear here than how it looks.
Jacklin:(coms) Is it operational?
Yn: Uhhh...(inspects gear)
Cynthia: We're working on that...
Yn: Hmm...
(Punch)
Cynthia: Did you seriously punch it?
Yn: You have an any better idea?
Cynthia: Yes. Don't punch the giant robot.
(Kick)
Cynthia: Okay, you did that to piss me off-
(Shhhhhhh)
Everyone:!?
Steam began escaping from the gear, as the middle section of its chest opened up, revealing the entrance to the cockpit.
Without hesitation, they rushed up to the entrance to the cockpit and looked inside to see an empty room.
There were no buttons, no levers, no pedals, or anything in between. It was just an empty space.
Cynthia: What the...?
Yn: Maybe it's an incomplete Gear?
Cynthia: Or, it's completely reliant on the link system...?
Pilot: Maybe it follows the movement of its Pilot?
Cynthia: Not the best design choice...
Pilot: Let me try and see if I can get this thing running.
Cynthia: Be careful.
Pilot: Of course.
Entering the cockpit, the entrance shuts, making everyone jump back.
Silence then overtook the group before the entrance to the cockpit reopened.
Red mist floated out of the cockpit as everyone looked inside to find the pilot that went in was now gone.
Everyone:!?
Pilot 2: Where did he go?
Pilot 3: Gerry?
Two more pilots enter the cockpit which such behind them. A few moments pass before it re-opens whilst red steam came out of it.
Those two pilots that went to investigate instead, were now gone as well.
Cynthia: Okay, no one else is entering the Gear! Understood!?
Everyone: Yes, ma'am!
Putting two and two together, it seemed the three pilots that entered the Gear were now dead.
Without getting inside the Gear, what remained of the group lifted this mysterious Gear out of the cave, where they then brought it back to the S.S Dawn, where it was loaded into the second hanger bay, separate from the one which held the other Gears.
Now secured to a wall, with three walkway bridges going across it like horizontal prison bars, they began examining the Gear.
A few days later, Captain Trudian and her first mate were on a balcony in hanger bay 2, discussing the gear as Yn helped one of the engineers examine it by giving them the tools they requested.
Jacklin: So what do we know about it?
Cynthia: Not much. The substance it's encased in, is making it difficult to see the inner workings of it.
Cynthia: They have to shove their faces and cameras against it to get blurry images.
Cynthia: We might be able to get a better idea if we went inside, but no one is willing.
Cynthia: Drones also disappear once inside.
Cynthia: And searching for Gear models came up empty as well. No known Gears match its design.
Jacklin: So what's covering the gear?
Cynthia: I don't know that either, just that it's the same material as the meteor.
Cynthia: And before you ask, we don't know what the metal is. It seems to be carbon-based, we need more time to figure that out.
Jacklin:(sigh)...
Jacklin: Prepare the Dawn to leave. If possible, we'll tow Helios back.
Cynthia: Roger.
With the expedition done, the crew of the S.S Dawn began heading back towards Earth with Helios.
The trip was uneventful, but halfway there.
Yn: Zzzzz...
(Explosion in the distance)
(Ship rumbling)
(Alarms blaring)
Yn:?!
Waking up, Yn heard the captain's voice on the intercoms.
Jacklin:(intercom) Battle stations! Immediately! We're being attacked!
Yn: What!?
Jacklin:(intercom) This is not a drill! Repeat! This is not a drill-
(Explosion in the distance)
Putting on his clothes, Yn rushed out of his room just as the gravity was turned off on the ship.
Yn:(mind) Who the hell would attack a U.S.R.A.P.U vessel?!
On the way to the stairs, Yn noticed people in black space suits with guns. They were obviously not apart of the Dawn's crew.
Shooting at Yn, they attempt to kill him, but he manages to get inside the staircase before they do.
Locking it, Yn quickly made his way to the upper floors when he saw smoke coming from the lower floors.
Yn: I wanted a space adventure, but this isn't what I expected... On my first trip.
Yn tried to find a way to his station but checking the damage report of the ship on his watch, he found his station to be blown to bits.
Yn: Glad I wasn't there...
Eventually, he arrived on the floor where the bridge resided. He decided to go there, to see how he could be of help.
Seeing a few people trying to break into the bridge, Yn knew he couldn't run.
Yn:(mind) Looks like I get to beat up some pirates!
In the bridge itself, the captain and her mates prepared to attack the assailants who were attempting to break in, but when they heard several loud knocks against the door, they checked the camera to see Yn had knocked out the attackers.
Yn:(coms) Can I come in? My station has a large hole in it.
Allowing him entry, Yn gets into the bridge before they close the door behind him.
Yn: So, what's going on!?
Cynthia: We're being attacked.
Yn: By who?
Cynthia: No idea. All we know is that there is a lot of them.
Cynthia: They have a warship, a small army of Gears, and they have invaded our ship, killing everyone on sight.
(Kaboom)
Second mate: Hanger bay 1 just suffered a large beam attack. Our remaining gears are destroyed.
Jacklin: Tch... Where is my backup!?
Third mate: There's no one! I'm getting no response.
Jacklin: Great, they're jamming us!
Yn: What do they want?
Jacklin: The meteor and the Gear.
Jacklin: They've already hooked it to their vessel and they're currently learning the price of entering the gear.
Pilot:(coms) GHAAA!
Third mate: Another Gear down!
Yn: What do we do?
Jacklin: Hope for a miracle, because no matter what we do, we are doomed if no one saves us.
Yn:...
Yn: What if we... What if we gave them what they wanted in the most extreme way?
Jacklin:?
Yn: We take the Gear and use it to fight back.
Cynthia: But we can't pilot it.
Yn: There has to be a way to pilot it. Otherwise, what's the point of making a Gear you can't pilot?
Cynthia: Still we don't know, how.
Yn: We can at least try!
Jacklin: Go ahead.
Cynthia: Captain?
Jacklin: He is of no use to me. If he wishes to try to pilot that machine, then let him.
Jacklin: All we can do is hope that his death is painless.
Yn: With what you just said... I'm now really motivated to prove you wrong!
Jacklin: Heh...Prove me wrong and I'll marry you.
Yn: Sorry, but I'm not interested in old women that give up so easily. I'll take you making me an ace pilot instead.
With that said, Yn runs out of the bridge, Cynthia unable to stop him, nor follow.
Cynthia: Tch...
Cynthia:(mind) You're going to get yourself killed, idiot... But at this rate...all I can ask is that you don't suffer...
Making his way to Hanger Bay 2 with some trial and error, Yn was now behind a corner, staring at a few of the invaders that were trying to pilot the gear.
Seeing the cockpit open, letting red steam leak out of it, Yn couldn't help but stair.
Yn:(mind)... Who cares if this might not work!?
Yn:(mind) I already said I'd do it, so all there is left to do is see it through to the end!
Seeing the emergency intercom speaker on the wall, he opened it and began shouting through the intercom system.
Yn:(intercom) HEY CYNTHIA! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, OPEN HANGER BAY 2, NOW!!
With that said, he makes a break for the Gear as all the invaders look confused.
As he got closer to the gear, the invaders noticed him, but he was unfazed, leaping towards the gear, the invaders began to aim their weapons at him until the hanger bay doors opened.
Air began escaping the bay, sucking everyone out of the hangar bay, whilst Yn held on to the gear.
Yn: Thanks, Cynthia!
Climbing into the cockpit which closes behind him, Yn began looking around to see how to activate it.
The cockpit began heating up exponentially.
Yn: Ugh... Is this what you did to everyone else?
Yn: Well I don't care! I need to use you!
Yn: So turn on, damn it!
His clothes began smoking from the heat.
Yn: Cook me all you want, I ain't giving up! Activate!
Yn: Do you know how many people got hurt-no...killed because of your rusty ass!?
He began feeling the effects of heatstroke but fought against it with pure will.
Yn:(panting)
Yn: You don't seem to get it...(panting)
Yn: I have so much more I can do. So many I can help...
Yn: So I can't let you kill me, yet!
Yn: WAKE UP!!!
(Punch)
He punches the floor.
Yn:... Tch!
Yn: Is this some sort of test of endurance? WELL BERING IT ON RUSTBUCKET!! TURN THE HEAT TO MAX ALREADY, I'M FALLING ASLEEP, HERE!
The heat continues to increase as Yn begins screaming with rage.
Yn: RAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Outside the Gear, the people on the bridge assumed he died and watched how enemy gears began entering the hanger bay to retrieve that Gear.
An enemy Gear reaches out to grab the Helios gear, until...
(Crack)
Enemy pilot: Huh-
The material covering the Gear begins cracking with light emitting out of the cracks.
This confused the enemy Gears while giving hope to the survivors on the bridge.
(KABOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM)
Hanger bay 2 was then completely engulfed in fire. The number of flames coming out from there that escaped out of the hanger door was enough to push the S.S Dawn in a certain direction.
A hole was then ripped open to the outside by giant flaming hands.
With another explosion of flames going off, a blinding light escaped the ship.
All eyes were on that light, which died down to reveal the Helios Gear.
(Solar Gear: Solas)
(Solas Theme)
Yn floated in the cockpit breathing heavily with the walls now showing the outside.
Solas moved exactly how he did in the cockpit, which would make hard light walls of what was around Solas to Yn's scale.
He noticed this when he looked back at the S.S Dawn.
Yn:(chuckles)... This isn't like any Gear the academy tried to train me to pilot. But whatever.
He then noticed Gears flying his way.
Just by thinking and leaning forward, Yn flew towards the Gears. With incredible speed, he arrived in front of one and punched it.
As Solas's fist punched through the head of the gear, disabling it, Yn could feel the imapct of the punch through his fist.
It didn't hurt but it did feel like he hit a solid object.
Yn: Rad...
Looking towards another Gear that was shooting at him, which Yn felt, Solas leaped towards that gear, and with a burning fist punched a hole through it.
Solas then began jetting across the battlefield, leaving behind a trail of fire.
Passing the enemy gears, Yn would punch through them with such force they were ripped to shreds.
The enemy battleship began firing at Yn, who took evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit.
Yn:(mind) This feels so unreal! It's like I am the Gear! Or... We're one?
Yn: I don't have time to think, I need to act with everything I've got!
Yn: Gear- No, I need to call you something.
A holographic image then popped up and showed "Solar Gear: Solas".
Yn: Solas? Alright.
Yn: Solas! Give me everything you've got!
Flying above the warship, Yn shouted to the enemy, as flames engulfed Solas.
Yn:(coms) My soul, it's burning to defeat you!
Yn:(coms) So with this awesome power that roars for me to claim victory, I shall end this!!!
Solas began flying towards the warship. Once close, he flipped and was now heading straight towards it to kick it.
Yn:(coms) Take this!!
Yn:(coms) SUNSET OVERDRIVE!!!
(Finishing move: Sunset Overdrive)
With a leg surrounded in fire, Solas flew through the warship with ease, but the Solar Gear didn't stop there, it continued on to the meteor Helios and shattered it as the Warship exploded.
(Kabooom)
Yn:(panting)....(tired laughter)
Yn: I like you Solas... You're pretty rad.
Flying in front of the S.S Dawn's bridge, Yn waved at the survivors as the remaining enemy Gears that survived ran away.
(A few days later)
A masked person observed footage of Solas's awakening.
???: Hmm... This Gear... It's similar to mine...
???: This might be a problem if I don't get it on my side.
???: Of course, the only thing that might be able to stop me would be the sun to my moon.
End of pilot chapter. What do you think?