Disclaimer: YOU KNOW THE DRILL!

U.C 0079

Inside Side 7

Meanwhile, as this happened the battle between the Federation and Zeon forces continued, as the Camel fired another volley of missiles towards the colony. The Federation responded by firing decoys which forced the missiles to lose their lock, but not all of the missiles could be stopped as some got through their defenses, causing small explosions across the spaceport section of the colony, and opening holes releasing more air. However these breaches were quickly sealed up.

Fraw Bow was helping in the evacuation, as she helped a group of children onto the tram which lead into the White Base. "Hang on tight!" She said as the last of them were loaded on. However the sound of explosions and fire was heard as she looked behind her, and saw what almost looked like a wall of fire rapidly approaching. Her eyes widened before she closed her eyes, positioning herself between the blast and the children. But moments before the blast hit, she heard a loud mechanical thud in front of her, causing her to open her eyes, and found a massive robotic hand before her, shielding her from the blast. She looked at the source, and saw a massive humanoid mobile suit standing there. "Fraw Bow! Get onboard!" A familiar voice said, causing Fraw to blink as she looked at the Mobile Suit.

"A-Amuro?" She asked, "I-Is that you inside that Mobile Suit?"

"Yeah, I'll explain later," Amuro said, as he hefted up several barrels in the Gundam's other arm. "Right now, you need to hurry up and get onboard White Base, the colony is losing air!"

Fraw, knowing there will be a better time to ask questions later, nodded as she activated the Tram. "Right!" she said, as she hopped on the tram moments before it took off towards White Base.

Meanwhile, on White Base Ryu Jose entered one of the Gun ports and found the Captain firing the Turret. "Captain!" Ryu said. "I'll take over here, You're needed back on the bridge!"

"You're only a Cadet!" Captain Pablo said. "I need someone who can fire this thing!"

"I can do it sir!" Ryu said confidently. The Captain sighed. "Then get on it." He said as he stood up. Just then, a missile slammed into the turret sending the two flying. Ryu quickly closed the hatch, and turned to face the Captain. "Captain!" he shouted. The Captain had taken the bulk of the blast, and pieces of Shrapnel were stuck inside his suit.

"Are… are you alright, Cadet?" the captain struggled to say, but Ryu nodded before he quickly moved to get the Captain medical attention.

Meanwhile - On board the Camel

"You followed my Orders, and you followed Denim's," Char said to Slender, who had finally returned. "You have nothing to worry about, your discipline is admirable."

"Sir, thank you! I did my best sir!" Slender said, as he saluted.

Char nodded. "Though it is hard to believe the Federation build just one mobile suit described in your report." He said. "And you claim there may be two more?"

"I know that it's hard to believe sir, but I saw them myself!" Slender said. "And there were two more Machines in the base, but whether or not they operated as well as the unit that Gene and Denim battled I can't say."

Char nodded again as he hummed. "Dren, open a secure communications channel, and contact Vice Admiral Dozle." He ordered.

"Sir!" Dren said with a salute as he went to complete his task. Char looked out the window of the Camel, his eyes slightly narrowed behind his mask. 'What is this… unsettling feeling...' he thought, 'I feel as though I am missing something… but what?'

Meanwhile, back on Side 7

"You'll be safe on this ship kids," Fraw Bow said to a collection of civilian children (You know the ones). "So try to stay put, ok?"

The kids all nodded. "Is anyone here?" a voice shouted out. "You! Down there!" Fraw Bow looked up to see a woman with blond hair, and blue eyes up the ladder. "Come with me!" she said to Fraw. "I'm assuming you know how to tie bandages?"

"Uh, sure," Fraw said as she turned to the kids one more time. "Stay here, kids." She said and she followed the woman.

"In there," she said as she pointed inside a room. Fraw nodded and entered. "Oh, we need your help in here!" One of the people inside said, who was tending to a man who she assumed was the Captain due to his uniform.

When Fraw got closer, she gasped at the condition the Captain was in. "We need to seal off his wound and get some stature tape on it," the man said. "R-Right," Fraw said as she started to mend the wound.

"Are you sure… the Zeon ship has stopped firing?" The Captain asked on his phone.

"Yes sir," Came his reply.

"Very… well then." The Captain said. "You… have my permission to return."

That was when Bright entered the room. "Captain, what's wrong-" Bright asked, but then he noticed Captain Pablo's condition.

"Mr. Bright…" The Captain said. "Most of the crew and mechanics were lost in the attack… how are things on your end?"

Bright sighed. "Not good, but it could be worse," he said. "A large majority of our soldiers and Engineers were killed by the two Zeon Zaku's, but a group of engineers survived, lead by lieutenant Akira Alakura, the test pilot of Gundam Unit 3. Aside from them though, only 10 of our men are combat ready."

Pablo nodded at that, glad that one of the pilots was still alive, but a little dismayed that very few were ready for a fight.

"Mr Bright…" the captain said, as said Lieutenant listened. "I want you to get all of the Gundam Components onboard at once."

"Yes sir," Bright said. "Luckily, all three Gundam units survived the attack, however units 1 and 3 are not in operating condition. Akira's men have already gotten them onboard, but thankfully the pilot of unit 2 is already bringing V-Project material onboard as we speak. They are currently bringing in the Guntanks, and Guncannons onboard."

Pablo nodded, glad to hear some more good news. "Do we know who the pilot is?" He asked.

Bright shook his head "We haven't been able to confirm that yet," he said.

"Once they are done, move White Base as far away from side-7 as possible," the captain said, "and set a course for Luna II."

"Sir," Bright said. "But our Navigator was killed in the attack."

"Excuse me," a voice said, and Bright turned to face a young woman with black hair, and eyes. "It's not the same, but I am classified to pilot space cruiser gliders, if it will help."

"And you are?" the Captain asked.

"My name is Mirai Yashima, sir," she replied.

The captain smiled at this. "Ah, yes. The Yashima family."

Meanwhile - aboard the Camel

"We were all set last night to celebrate the success of your mission!" Vice Admiral Dozle complained on the Radio. "But I never would have expected the intended guest of the party would be a no-show!"

"But sir, we managed to uncover the Federation's V-Project," Char said. "Doesn't this interest you?"

"What? The V-Project?" The Admiral asked, intrigued.

"Yes sir, the federation has built four new mobile suits," Char said. "We've also discovered an all new Federation battleship that is battle ready."

Dozle laughed at this. "So the Red Comet strikes again!" he said proudly. "So, what else?"

"As we returned to port, we exhausted our supply of missiles. And we need ammunition."

"You need supplies?" Dozle asked. "Done."

"Thank you sir," Char said. "We will also need three new Zaku's."

"You mean to tell me you lost three Zaku mobile suits?" Dozle asked amazed.

"Yes sir," Char said, "Two of which we lost to just one of the Federation's Mobile Suits, It's unbelievable. And we have reason to believe there may be two more that the feddies haven't deployed yet."

Dozle thought about it for a moment before he nodded. "Alright, you'll get your Zaku's," Dozle said. "But as a precaution I'm sending in some extra manpower for you as well. From his last communication with me, Shin Matsunaga and his ships should be close to your position, I will try and get them to head your way. If there are two more of those machines, I don't want to take any chances. Try to get us as much data on the V-Project as you can, and if possible try to capture one of the Feddies' Mobile Suits."

"Sir!" Char said as he saluted and the Transmission ended. He then faced Dren. "I'm gonna need three Recon scouts right now." Char said.

"Sir? Aren't we going to wait for the supply ship before we attack?" Dren asked.

"In war, you have to be one or two steps ahead of the enemy," Char said with a smirk. "I prefer to be on step six. Slender was able to escape Side 7, so we should be able to do it in reverse."

Meanwhile - On board the Absolution

"Contacts: Zeon's in Normal Suits are taking off from the Camel," Matthews said over the radio, "Looks like Char's beginning his infiltration."

Jordan nodded from the cockpit of his Gouf All Regions Type, which rested on the catapult along with Ryu once again. "That's good," he said. "Once the White Base heads out, we'll launch as well. If we get spotted, the cover story will be that we're mercenaries, I am former Zeon, while Ryu's former Federation."

"How will you explain the fact Ryu's piloting a Gundam?" Ron asked, and Jordan smirked a bit.

"Easy," he said. "Before the V-Project came around, the first Feddie MS was the RRf-06 Zanny, we can just say Ryu's unit is a highly modified version of it using data we 'acquired' from Zeon MS. We'll tell them all of our mobile suits - at least our gundam types - are based off of the Zanny originally. And if anyone asks..." he paused for a moment before he smirked. "We're the Fenrir Mercenary Guild."

"That won't work for most of our Mobile Suits," Ron said. "The Hybrid Destiny and Unicorn Phenex, especially."

"I'm not talking about them," Jordan said. "But it will at least work for our more simple Gundam types, like D.J.'s and the others, at least until we can come up with a more viable excuse, especially for our GN tech."

"We can also not tell them anything," Ron said. "That's a hell of a lot simpler."

"Yeah, but I have a feeling that eventually they will see our top MS," Jordan said, "So we either come up with a damn good excuse - or we tell them the truth, and I ain't planning on telling them the truth anytime soon until we can gain their trust."

Ron shrugged. "Well, that means I'm bridge-bound for a while, unless we can steal a few Zeon MSs," he said. "As you've noticed, I don't like sending anyone out there without an eye in the sky." Ron faced the Hybrid Destiny, then sighed. "If we get into really deep shit, then we launch the best we have. No ifs ands or buts, and no excuses will be given. No one dies until we're supposed to. And I don't plan on dying until I'm in my 90s."

"Right," Takeshi remarked, looking at a Gunpla in his hand. It resembled the Tempest, only the Torso was that of the Strike Gundam, had an Aile Striker mounted to it, and it used a Sword/Rifle from a regular Exia. "Luckily Shion and I discovered that the Replicators can create Gunpla Kits - they're replicated as if they just came out of the box, so some assembly required, but that enabled us to put together the TXG-103 variant of the Tempest. Nowhere near as high-performance as the GN-103, but still good enough to keep pace with the RX-78, and possibly even a baseline Freedom."

"Hey, as long as it can kick ass and take names, that's fine in my book," said D.J. from the cockpit of his borrowed MMS-01 Serpent.

Steven's voice reached out from the comm as well. "You got that one right. Especially with my machine," he said.

"True. Man this Serpent is different from the original model, it actually has beam sabers mounted in the legs! Remind me to thank the person who added these!" the recent owner of the Phenex remarked, glad his Serpent had beam sabers.

"You're welcome!" Leonidas said, in the cockpit of the Tallgeese Spartan. "I thought they needed some more Melee power."

"I'll head back to the bridge," Ron said. "They don't have a tactical operator, so guess who gets that job?" Ron made his way out, not liking this one bit. Without the ability to freely sortie their Mobile Suits, the Absolution would take more of a pounding then anyone would like, extra AA guns and armor or not. After all, all anyone would have to do is look at the Magellan and Birmingham-Classes to know that the ship needed to launch her Mobile Suits, ALL of her Mobile Suits, just to survive. They also needed something like an E-2 Hawkeye to at least extend the sensor range, and they didn't have any EWACS Hizacks, Nemos or Jagans. The best analogue they had was the Hybrid Destiny, and that REALLY didn't count.

Steven's eyes darted about the controls for his machine. Based on what he had heard before climbing into the cockpit, it looked like things were going to get a bit hairy, so he wanted to be as prepared as possible for the coming fight. If he even launched. Still, with his machine's speed, it was a sure bet that they'd need him out there sooner or later.

The only question was when he'd be needed.

Meanwhile - White Base bridge

"What?" Captain Pablo asked, as he was wheeled onto the bridge with help from Bright. "Who's piloting the Gundam?"

"His name is Amuro," Bright said.

"I've never heard of him," Pablo said, and the Ensign shrugged.

"He could be one of the Test Pilots from Side 7," he suggested.

"Use the left panel to contact the Pilots," Pablo said, pointing to a terminal. And Bright moved towards it. "Instruct the pilots to cover white base as we launch."

He then faced Mirai. "So how are the controls, Miss Mirai?" he asked.

"Well, I understand the power systems…" Mirai said. "But I am a bit confused by the power supply."

"We might be able to find trained personnel if we can dig for more survivors in that mess down there," the captain said, but before Mirai could respond, Bright shouted. "What the? Who the hell are you?"

"Bright, what's the problem?" Pablo asked.

"Its a kid!" Bright shouted, "There's a kid in the cockpit of unit 2!"

Pablo blinked in surprise "What… how?" He asked.

"Take a look for yourself!" Bright said as he moved aside, showing the screen which had Amuro on it. "He's no pilot! He's barely a child!"

"How can mere children operate machines that requires split-second reflexes?" the captain asked.

"Well, he's doing it," Mirai said. "So… probably Video Games, sir."

"Do you know him?" the captain asked.

"Well, not personally," Mirai said. "But everyone on side 7 knows that Amuro is some techno-freak."

"You mean to tell me that one boy managed to defeat two Zaku's by himself?" the Captain asked amazed.

"It was the Gundam's abilities that brought them down, not me," Amuro said. "Though… I'd be lying if I said the 400 hours I've played on Steel Battalion haven't helped a bit."

"Why are you operating it though?" Bright demanded.

"The Zeon were attacking, and no one was using this thing," Amuro said. "I had to do something… by the way, I don't know who you are, but your voice sounds familiar. You're the one who ordered me to load the Gundam Materials, right?"

Bright sighed before he turned to the Captain. "I'll remove him, captain," he said. "Lieutenant Alakura should be able to-"

"We don't have time for that," Akira said as she stepped on the bridge. "Sorry I was late, we finally got Unit 1 and 3 onboard, and are working to get them combat ready. I'm sorry, Bright, but we don't have the time to exchange pilots. The Zeon are right on our doorstep, and I'd gamble they won't just leave us be. Time is not on our side right now."

"Lieutenant Akira…" the captain muttered, as the female pilot saluted the superior.

"Sir," she said. "I'm pleased to announce that 23 of the Gundam Engineers have survived the attack, and we are working on getting Unit 3 working again, then we will focus on Unit 1 and the Guncannons."

Meanwhile

Ryu Jose helped up a man from his car. "Come on, buddy," he said. "Just a few more steps." Right then, two people exited the space port. "Hey, what are you doing?" Ryu asked the two young women.

"The Captain ordered us to check for anyone who was left behind," the blond said. At that moment, a young man with Grey hair and eyes passed by and headed towards the spaceport door.

"Hey, did you see anyone else on your way here?" Fraw asked the man.

"How should I know?" he said. "I hid out in all of the commotion and barely made it out myself! Are you guys coming?"

Sayla narrowed her eyes, ran up to the man and slapped him. "You were hiding when you could have been helping!" she asked incredulously.

"What's your problem?" Kai asked.

"Cowards that only look after themselves like you should be left on Side-7!" Sayla shouted.

"Who died and made you princess?" Kai asked. "You're no different, Sayla."

"We were actually helping others!" she shouted before turning away. "Come on, Fraw, let's go."

Meanwhile - Outside of the Colony

"Cannons armed and ready, sir," a Crewmen reported.

"Activate engines and maintain power, ready and hold Mega Particle Cannons on standby," Dren said. "And proceed to target the main Side 7 Space Gate, but do your best to avoid any direct hits at the Docking Bay."

Six mega particle beams then launched from the cannons on the Musai, and slammed right into the colony, missing the docking bay, but hitting the exterior causing quite a distraction from Char's team.

Char chuckled. "Good Job, captain," he said, turning back to his team. "Slender, Report."

"Sir, I have found an entrance we can use," Slender said, and Char nodded.

"Good. Let's begin Operation: Why the Hell are We Still Out Here," Char ordered as he and his men entered the colony with the Musai's distraction.

Meanwhile - White Base

The bridge of the White Base shook as the tremors of the blasts were heard. "Looks like Zeon is attacking again…" Mirai commented.

"Amuro must be dealt with," Bright said. "But we need to use Gundam Unit 2 to hold them off!"

"Operators, what's shooting at us?" The captain asked the two Operators above them.

"Sir, we have a single Musai-class approaching us at high speeds!" The Operator said, "40 Degrees point stern!"

The captain groaned a bit before speaking again. "Mr. Bright," he said. "We need to destroy any remaining V-Project materials still in the colony. Issue a Beam Rifle to the Gundam."

Bright looked at the Captain in surprise. "Sir?" He asked.

"Bright, I know he's young, but we've had teenage soldiers before," the captain said. "And right now, We do not have a choice!"

The Ensign looked at the Captain, before he sighed and saluted. "Aye aye, captain," he said, before turning back to the screen where Amuro was. "Amuro, you need to destroy all of the remaining V-Project parts in Side 7, we can't risk leaving anything behind for the enemy. Any ideas what we should do?"

"Well, the specs on this thing says its beam rifle has a super napalm launcher," Amuro said, "Would that work?"

"Captain?" Bright asked, and the Captain nodded. "Very good, Amuro," he said. "An excellent choice, let's leave it to him."

Meanwhile - Inside the colony

"Are there any survivors?" Sayla Mass asked on the loudspeaker as she drove the car through the ruins of what use to be the interior of Side 7. "Can anyone hear me?"

As she drove, she obviously received no answers as she sighed "It looks like nobody's left..." she muttered as she focused on the road. Then, she saw movement! Someone on top of ruined remains of a Mobile suit. 'Is that a Zeon?' She thought, noticing the figure was wearing a normal suit. She stopped her car, and pulled out a gun from the glove compartment.

Slowly, she moved towards the Zeon Soldier who was checking out the pieces of the Destroyed Mobile suit. Not having noticed her, she moved as she ran out from her cover. "Don't move!" she shouted as she pointed her gun at the Zeon, who froze, "Drop it!" The soldier complied as he let go of the V-Project item he picked up as he raised his hands.

"You're brave, but you don't look like much of a soldier to me," The man said as he walked towards Sayla.

"Move and I'll shoot!" she shouted as she tightened her grip.

The soldiers eyes widened, and he stiffened. 'She looks just like…' he thought.

"Take off the helmet, and face the other way," Sayla ordered.

The Zeon did so. He removed his helmet, and after he took it off, he removed his metal mask revealing his dark brown eyes, and the small scar across his face.

Sayla's eyes widened. 'N-Nii-san?' She thought, and her grip loosened. Char took his chance, and kicked the gun from her hands.

'She can't be…' Char thought. 'She's much too strong to be Artesia…'However at that moment, Gundam unit 2 came down the lift, Char put his mask and helmet back on, and flew away with his jetpack.

"A Zeon soldier? In my Colony?" Amuro questioned, before he took aim at the Zeon, however he flew away behind the cover of ruined buildings, and he lost sight of him.

Meanwhile, Sayla was looking back at where he had run off to. "Was that…my brother?" she asked herself.

"Hey, you alright?" Amuro asked as the Gundam walked next to her.

"I'm fine," Sayla said.

"Ma'am, we're going to use the Super Napalm," Amuro said as his suit bent down. "Climb into my hand, we have to destroy all mobile suit material."

Sayla nodded and did as told. Amuro's suit stood back up, he then raised his beam rifle, and fired the Napalm launcher, and it hit dead on. The fire was quick to spread, and soon all of the mobile suit material was burning.

The Gundam approached the lift to the spaceport, but unbeknownst to any of them, Char was waiting for this. The moment it opened, he activated his Jet Pack and flew into it.

"Shit!" Amuro shouted. "Ensign Bright! A Zeon soldier just breached the port!"

Meanwhile - inside the Spaceport

"Captain, what do we do?" Bright asked Pablo, who sat up in his bed.

"Lock down all the hatches to White Base," he ordered. "And issue a gun to anyone who can carry-" he then groaned from his wounds as they began acting up once again.

"All hands, move it!" he shouted on the comm. "Spread out our teams and take out that Zeon soldier approaching the bow!"

Char flew forward with the Gundam slowly catching up, as he moved through the spaceport, he ordered the others of the recon party to retreat as he took pictures of the mobile suits and their ship. Soon, dozens of civilians and soldiers with rifles started shooting at Char and he managed to dodge them.

Bright then grabbed his own rifle and cut Char off. Though his rounds missed him, it hit his Camera. 'Damn!' He thought as he then used two Grenades and blasted his way out and met up with the rest of the scouting party.

Meanwhile - Absolution Catapult Deck

"Here they come!" Ron shouted on the comm, "Char and his men are leaving the colony; White Base and the Gundam are right behind them!"

"Alright," Jordan said. "Tom, we're heading out! You focus on Char and keep him away from Amuro!"

"What are you going to do?" Tom asked.

Jordan sighed a bit. "This is gonna sound crazy," he said. "But… I'm going to attack Amuro in the Gundam."

"What?!" Ron, D.J. and several of the others shouted in disbelief. "Jordan, are you nuts?!"

"Why are you wanting to do that?" Takeshi asked over the radio from the hangar. "What kind of plan is running around in your head, Jorn?"

"Guys, if we want to make a real impact in the Universal Century, we need to change things on both sides of the war," Jordan said. "Both for the Federation and the Zeon. If I fight Amuro, I will make myself look like an ally to Zeon. And since my MS is a Zeon mobile suit, they will be all the more convinced."

"Bit of a problem, Jordan," Ron said. "If Char sees you, he'll try and contact you, and you DO have a working IFF, which DOES display the unit's name and model number. And I don't think the Gouf was a secret development: he WILL contact Dozle about you."

"Yes, but my Gouf is heavily modified," Jordan said. "I will say I got a damaged MS-07A Gouf and I upgraded and modified it for ground and space combat."

"Alright, but if this goes south, all the blame is on your head," Ron warned. "And don't damage the Gundam too badly: that thing either survives until Solomon or A Bao A Qu. Depends on whether or not you go by the novel or the anime. And DON'T kill Amuro!"

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna kill him or damage his suit too much," Jordan said. "I'm not an idiot - I'm just going to shake him up a bit. Enough of that though, Jordan Tackett, Gouf All Regions Type, Launching!" With that, his Gouf launched from the Absolution, heading into battle.

Tom sighed. "Hope this works," he said. "Tom Johnson, Vidar Gundam, Targeted and Firing!"

Meanwhile - White Base

"GAT sensors 360 Degrees and fully operational," Mirai said to herself as she stayed behind the controls of the White Base, which slowly moved out. She felt a hand on her shoulder as she looked and saw it was Bright. "Stay calm, you're too tense," he said. "Let the computer monitor the area, it will let you know if there is anything wrong."

Mirai nodded. "Yes sir," she said as Bright looked up at the screen where Amuro was. "Amuro! You're getting too far from White Base," he said. "Get back to within ten Kilometers of our starboard side."

"Yes sir," Amuro said with a nod.

Bright then turned to Fraw, who stood next to the Captain. "Make sure that each station is air tight," he said. "Can you do that for me?"

Fraw nodded. "Sure," she said, before Bright looked up at the Operators. "Operators, our helmsman is a rookie, so go easy on her! You'll have to give quick responses to orders!"

"Yes sir!"

Across the bridge the wounded personnel of White Base helped the civilians get an understanding of the controls, both knowing that White Base was their only ticket off Side 7 and away from the Zeon. "Departing from the Docking Bay," Mirai said as the White Base moved out of the port slowly.

"Ready with the Core fighter, sir!" Ryu Jose said as his image appeared on the monitor.

"How much experience do you have?" Bright asked.

"Microsoft Flight simulator UC 0070 sir!"

"…that is absolutely perfect!"

"Missiles incoming!" one of the Operators shouted.

"Mirai! Evade!" Bright barked. "Hard to starboard!"

"Aye sir!" Mirai replied. She moved the White Base to the starboard as the missiles approached, Amuro meanwhile piloted the Gundam, and fired a beam shot which nailed the first missile. He fired another shot which missed, but quickly fired a third which destroyed it quickly.

"Sir, incoming heat sources!" the operator shouted.

"More missiles?" Bright asked.

"No sir, they're mobile suits!" he said. "Just two of them, but… one of them is moving faster than any normal Zaku! It's approaching at… 3 times the speed of the others!"

The captain whispered something, but bright didn't hear it. "What is it, sir?" he asked as he knelt down.

"It's… Char… Aznable… It's the Red Comet…" he said.

BGM: "Here Comes Char" Andrew W.K or the Hori Kouichiro versions

Bright's eyes widened in fear. "As in… the Red Comet?" he asked for confirmation.

Pablo nodded. "He… sunk five battleships… single-handedly at the battle of Loum… GET US OUT OF HERE!"

In Char's customized Maroon colored MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type, Char grinned as he saw the Gundam before him. "Now then," he said. "Let's test the reaction time of your Mobile Suit, shall we?"

"Amuro, you are not ready for this!" Bright shouted out his warning. "Char is leagues ahead of you!"

"I know I can handle this!" Amuro shouted, as he raised the Gundam's beam rifle. "Watch me!" However just as he was about to fire, a voice shouted out over the comm. "I've got this, kid," and a single green beam of energy lanced between Amuro and Char, stopping both of them, the White Base, and the Camel dead in their tracks.

"What the?" Char demanded, as he looked up towards the source, and his eyes widened slightly as he saw what appeared to be another Feddie Mobile Suit! However this one was colored much differently, and while it shared some similarities, it seemed much more unique at the same time. "Where the hell did that thing come from? The other V-Project Mobile Suits look like the one that came out of the colony!"

Amuro was going to take advantage of this, and took aim at the distracted Char. Fortunately for Char, a burst of machine gun fire kept him from firing. "What the-" He looked downwards, finding another Zaku-type Mobile Suit charging at him, firing at him with a large gatling gun mounted on a shield. "Another Zaku?" He asked. While they looked the same, (and in many ways WERE the same) it was a very different machine than Char's Zaku II Commander Type. About as fast - if not a bit slower than Char's Zaku, but had a proper shield and more ornate armor on the shoulders.

Jordan was behind the controls of his Gouf, grinning ear to ear. 'So tempted to say 'No Zaku' right now...' he thought, 'but, I'll leave that to Ral I suppose.' He charged at the RX-78, who raised his rifle to defend but Jordan quickly dashed to the right, dodging the shot easily as he maneuvered behind him and fired a few quick shots of his rifle into the Gundam, however its armor proved too thick as the bullets did nothing. 'Rifle's useless against this thing,' he thought before he dashed forwards, putting away the Machine Gun before drawing out his Heat Saber 'Let's see how you like this!'

Not one to let an opportunity go, Char charged in to put an end to the threat of the V-Project only to get cut off when four dagger like objects nearly gored his suit. "What the?" Char questioned in shock, only his supernatural reflexes saving him from the strange weapons before another beam of green energy near took the head of his Zaku.

Inside his cockpit, Tom roared with laughter. "How's it feel to be on the ropes, Char?!" He asked "I bet that's how those battleship crews felt when you destroyed their ships!"

He kept firing, but Char kept dodging. "Ok, this is starting to REALLY piss me off!"

"Remember what Ron said: we can't kill him, Ryu!" Jordan warned, as he continued his own duel with Amuro. "No matter how tempting it may be to you, he needs to live!"

"That won't stop me from trying!" he shouted, as a beam finally hit the Zaku II, but it only hit the ridiculously-mounted shield on the right shoulder. Still, it DID destroy it.

"Fuck! What the hell is that thing armed with?!" Char shouted. "A cruiser's main gun?!" Another beam hit the Zaku, taking off one of the legs. "Got him!"

"Dren, I need to fall back! This Fed's got me on the ropes!"

Tom let out a small tsk as a sniper control unit descended from the top of his cockpit as he targeted the Musai. "Hey Char, watch your back, there's a bullseye on your back from now on!" He shouted out as he pulled the trigger firing off a shot, it sailed past the surprised Char, heading straight for the Zeon ship, grazing the bridge.

"That range…" Char breathed out. "The Camel was over 900 km away!"

As he continued to fight Amuro and now Ryu Jose in the Core Fighter, Jordan glanced back at Tom and sighed. "Tom, are you just showing off now?" He asked, shaking his head as he banked left, avoiding the next strafing run from the Fighter, and blocking a punch from the Gundam.

However as he fought, several 120mm rounds hit the Gundam's back, doing little damage. Jordan traced the shots back to its source, where Slender's MS-06F Zaku II was firing away at it. Amuro raised his Beam Rifle for a shot. Not wanting to simply let Slender get killed, Jordan punched his MS's thrusters to max as he sped towards him. "Look out!" He shouted as he got there just as Amuro fired his rifle. Jordan grabbed Slender by his left arm and dragged him away, though Slender's Zaku was not unscathed as the shot pierced through his left arm, destroying it.

"W-Wha?" Slender asked, shocked.

"You can thank me later!" Jordan said. "Zakus don't stand a chance against these things in case you haven't noticed! Fall back to your ship!"

Char, who was still falling back to the Camel, heard Jordan speaking on the Comm. He finally got a chance to read its IFF Transponder, and it was reading out 'MS-07B-3H-10' on the monitor. He turned on the Radio. "Pilot, identify yourself!" he said.

"This is Jaden Takeo, pilot of the Gouf All Regions Type," Came the reply, coming from the Mobile Suit, "Nice to finally meet the great Char Aznable, sorry if my appearance was rather sudden."

Char rose a slight eyebrow. 'Gouf All Regions Type?' he thought, 'I didn't know any more variants of the Gouf aside from the 07A have been fielded yet...'

"Indeed," he spoke. "While I thank you for your assistance - what are you doing out here? And why in a Gouf of all things?"

"You weren't the only one who wanted to investigate the Feddie V-Project," Jordan, going by his alias 'Jaden' said. "I've been spying on Side 7 for a good while now, I wanted to take one of the Feddie machines for myself or get some data for upgrading my Gouf, but I wasn't able to get much. Then you guys decided to attack, and I thought it best to lend you a helping hand against the Federation's new Mobile Suits."

Char was silent for a moment as he processed this information. He had plenty of questions for this pilot, namely how his Gouf could operate in space, and he was also interested in seeing if this man knew anything about the Feddie V-Project. "Do you have any transportation?" Char asked. "Our Musai is not far from here."

Before Jordan could answer, Ron's face appeared on his and Tom's respective comms. "Guys, you've done enough."He said, "Fall back to the Absolution using two separate flight paths: questions will be asked if you two fly in formation."

Jordan glanced in the direction the Absolution was, before looking back at where Char and Slender were falling back, while the Gundam and Core Fighter withdrew back to White Base having exhausted most of their ammo. "Tom, you go on back." he said, "I'm heading to the Camel with Char."

"Jordan, didn't you hear me?" Ron shouted. "I said fall back to the Absolution: you don't belong on that ship anymore than Amuro or Char do on ours! Get your ass back here. NOW!"

"If we are going to make an impact in this universe, then we need to be able to work with both sides, Ron!" Jordan retorted. "Not just gaining Amuro and the White Base's trust, but we will need Char's trust as well!"

"I'm not risking your life, or giving Zeon more advanced technology then they need!" Ron retorted. "Your Mobile Suit has a 360 degree cockpit: something no Zeon MS has until UC 0085!"

"Which is why if anyone other than myself tries to activate the Gouf, it will self-destruct," Jordan said. "It's got the same Retinal scanners as the Gundam's from Anno Domini."

Ron sighed. "You had better not get yourself killed," he said. "Or captured as a spy. You're not on the books as a Zeon MS pilot. And Char is not an idiot: he WILL be checking for proof of your claims. Be careful." His face disappeared from the panel, just as Ryu's MS headed back for the Absolution.

"Watch your six, Jorn," Tom ordered, a small smirk on his face.

"I will," Jordan said nodding as he turned off the Comm, and flipped it back to Char. "Well, I'd have to wait for the next shuttle…" he said. "I might as well grab a ride with you - I have a feeling that we might be able to help each other out."

"Alright, follow me back to my ship," Char said, as they continued back to the Camel, and their Comm went dead. Jordan let out a long sigh as he piloted his Gouf towards the Musai-class cruiser. 'Into the Lion's den,' he thought to himself. 'Here goes nothing...'

Later - On board the Absolution

"That IDIOT!" Ron shouted as he and the others were gathered in the briefing room of the Absolution. "While I'm fully agreed that the timeline needs to be changed, we need to stay in the shadows!" Ron punched the right armrest of his chair. "Why the hell did he just go and decide to join Char? He KNOWS White Base is going to launch an attack in a few days! Amuro will be skilled enough to be able to take on Char thanks to that damned learning computer in the Gundam!"

Steven's eyes narrowed. "Something's wrong here," he muttered. "And I don't like it. Why would he suddenly up and leave us, I don't know. But if he's with Zeon, then I'm not gonna hold anything back next time we meet!"

"He's obviously got a plan, you guys," said D.J. as he came into the briefing room, still in his pilot suit. "And I agree with the objective. We need to change Zeon and the Federation from the inside, and that means steer any people away from the Hardline views of Gihren or the Earth-Born Elite, and taking out those who are too deep in their hate of each other." He then looked out the window "Besides… Char is not only Jordan's favorite character, but in a way he's also his idol. If anything, he wants to keep Char on the right path."

Ron cracked his knuckles. "Mr. Nightmare of Solomon and Delaz are mine, then. They can't be swayed, not that I would WANT to: too indoctrinated by their loyalty to Ghiren to bother thinking about defecting. I'll just kill them and be done with it."

Steven frowned. "I'm gonna get Ridden, then," he said. "My machine's speed will prove to be an asset."

"I'll take on the Black Tri-Stars," Takeshi remarked. "Hopefully I'll be able to take them down quickly once they launch the attack on White Base after they get their Doms - I want to be able to take them down before Matilda makes her decision to support the Gundam with only a Medea. I'd also like to save her fiance, Woody, if I can - those two need to survive."

Everyone nodded at that and D.J. then spoke again. "If it's alright with you guys, I plan to get to Southeast Asia and help out the 08th MS Team, including Shiro. I also plan on saving Packard, and kill that bastard Ghinias," he said, the latter name with a snarl. "That prick doesn't deserve to live after what he did," he said.

"If I've got time, I'll join you," Ron said. "Right now, we need to build up our defenses, starting with our backup Mobile Suits. Patriot, how's that Stark Strike Dagger of yours?"

D.J. gave a smirk. "Just put in the AGE Builder not 10 minutes ago. It should be ready in a couple of hours. I also plan on putting one of my new projects in there as well. You guys might like it." he said.

"We're also going to need to start training our pilots, especially Miho," Ron said as he looked at the youngest pilot there. "No offense, but I can't cover you at all times and your machine is ill-suited for anything but underwater and melee combat."

Miho bowed her head, but she realized Ron WAS right. She needed a better Mobile Suit for space combat and the training to use it. "That doesn't mean you're not the queen of the water: at least that thing's better than the Aqua GM." Ron said with a small smirk, brightening her spirits. "Piece of shit from the beginning, that thing."

"The Absolution is ready to go whenever," Matthews said. "With Mirage Colloid we can follow the White Base and Camel up to Luna II, once they leave that Asteroid we can follow them down Earth's atmosphere." He sighed. "Unfortunately, as you all know, MC doesn't work when entering the atmosphere - so we either reveal ourselves during the descent, do it before or after Luna II, or we don't go down to Earth at all until we're sure no one will see us."

"Well, we need to keep an eye on Jordan." Ron said, "If we can keep an eye on him: Char goes all over the goddamn place while White Base is dealing with the Black Tri-Stars and M'Quve. And Jordan will try and stay with him at all times if he can." Ron went for the door. "I'll get the Hybrid Destiny ready for sortie: God knows if anyone's going to attack, Mirage Colloid or not."

He left the room, but shortly after, swearing was heard. "FUCKING ZERO GRAVITY! IF I FIND A WAY TO REPRODUCE ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY, I'LL DO IT!"

D.J. couldn't help but chuckle. "I have a feeling that's not gonna happen for a long time," he said and then began to leave the bridge himself. "If someone needs me, I'll be at the replicator," he said and the door opened and closed as he left.

"I'll go check on the AGE Builder," Takeshi remarked. "Once D.J.'s Stark Strike Dagger and Ron's machines are done, I'm gonna put my Non-GN-Tech version of the Tempest in there." He then looked at Shion and smiled. "You care to join me, Shion?"

"Sure," Shion replied. "We can use the intervening time to work on designing new Gunpla, and you could even tell me a bit more about this 'MSGX' story you were talking about."

Takeshi nodded, though he was a bit nervous about it. "A… alright," he said as they left the bridge.

'Jordan… you'd better be alright out there,' Takeshi thought. 'Take care of yourself, and don't let yourself get killed or incarcerated.'

Meanwhile - White Base Bridge

On the bridge of the White Base, a short while after Amuro and Ryu returned, Bright was still on the bridge with the wounded Captain and Lieutenant Alakura, both staring out into space, still stunned at what had just transpired. "Lieutenant," Pablo spoke up, catching the pilots attention "Do… do you know what… Gundam unit that was? I was not… aware of a fourth unit…"

Akira shook her head. "There IS a fourth unit," she said, "but to the best of my knowledge, it hasn't been completed, let alone left Jaburo."

"Then where did that Gundam come from?" Bright asked. "I'm not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth, but it was almost too convenient that that Gundam showed up to delay Char while another Zaku-type engaged Unit two. That brings up another problem: the pilot, Amuro Ray."

Akira glanced at Bright. "Ensign, we need every pilot we can get," she said. "That includes the boy. I can't pilot Unit 1, Unit 2 AND Unit 3 at once, and Ryu Jose is barely trained to fly the fucking Core Fighter, let alone the Guntank, Guncannon or the Gundam units!"

Bright flinched at the tone she used. She DID, however, have a VERY good point. They had limited pilots and crew, survivors or not. "We also have too many civilians on board," Akira continued. "We need to offload them soon, it's best not to get them too involved with the ship."

"You're right, but where should we go?" Bright asked.

"The best place should be Luna II," Akira said. "It's the closest Federation base in the area. Hopefully we can get them offloaded there, and get some actual men and women to man the White Base." She sighed. "But then it comes down to if we can get there before Char decides to have another go at us."

"We should try and get him off our tail, while we're at it: he HAS to be following us." Bright said, "This ship is the only one of it's kind: if we lose it, the Federation could lose the war."

Akira had little choice but to agree. Char's Musai-Class light cruiser was more heavily armed than the Pegasus-Class White Base, though, so it would be a VERY hard fight unless they surprised them. "We need to launch a surprise attack and get that red bastard off our ass." She said, "He DID lose two Zakus and his own machine is badly damaged thanks to that mysterious Gundam that saved our asses."

"But what about that other machine?" Bright asked, "It looked like a heavily souped up Zaku I've never seen before, and it looked like it was keeping up with Amuro and Ryu…"

"It's a Gouf," Akira said, surprising the others. "It looked like a heavily modified MS-07A Gouf, they're new Zeon ground-use mobile suits, they're still in the limited production phase but I've seen a few of these things on Earth." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Thing is: they're ground-use mobile suits, they're not space worthy, at least as far as I know… whoever's piloting that thing must've heavily upgraded it to the point it can work on land and in space… and they're not too shabby of a pilot. But the real question is: where did it come from? It appeared almost out of nowhere and attacked that kid in Unit 2."

Bright then rose an eyebrow. "Speaking of which, it seemed like that attack was almost staged," he said. "After thinking about it, that… Gouf avoided damaging Unit Two too badly, and while Char is highly skilled, I would think that a better machine would be able to take him out with ease."

Again, Bright had made a valid point: that attack seemed staged for the most part. Someone was screwing with them. And neither of the two conscious officers liked that part one fucking bit. If someone was screwing with them and Char… well, that was LESS acceptable.

Zeon Musai-Class light cruiser Camel

Jordan sighed a bit as his Gouf All Regions Type, or as he sometimes calls it the Gouf ART, successfully landed in the hangar bay of the Camel, thanks to the few differences between between a Zaku and a Gouf in size at least it was able to maneuver through the hangar easily enough. He moved the Gouf towards the berth which was designated for him to use, as he docked his mobile suit there.

Glancing through the interior of the Zeon ship, he could see mechanics and engineers working quickly to repair the damaged Zaku's of Slender and Char, with a priority on Char's Zaku commander type as a new shoulder shield was being pulled out, and work to replace its destroyed leg was underway. However he also watched as Char appeared out of his Zaku II, and Jordan couldn't help but smile as he finally saw the Red Comet himself in his full red Zeon uniform, mask and helmet included.

'Well this is it,' he thought to himself as he began shutting off his Gouf, being certain to activate the fail safe systems he had installed onto his Gouf, including the retinal scanner. As the cockpit dimmed, the front hatch opened. Jordan picked out the sidearm he had grabbed before launching - a good old Beretta M9 pistol, and put it in the holster he added to his Normal Suit before he floated out of the cockpit.

Not too long after he floated out and stood just outside his Gouf, he was soon greeted by Char himself, who floated up towards him. "You must be Jaden Takeo, I presume?" Char asked him as he stopped himself upon reaching him.

Jordan nodded. "Indeed I am," he said with a smile. "An honor to meet you, Red Comet. Wish it were under different circumstances, all things considered."

Char let out a short chuckle. "True," he said. "Though allow me to personally thank you for your work - fighting that Feddie mobile suit. From what I saw, nothing our Zaku's threw at it worked. And that other mobile suit… I'm just glad some damaged mobile suits are all we got for this."

"Just doing what I can to help," Jordan said. "The Feddies made some mean machines on Side 7… and those Gundams are just part of it."

"Gundam?" Char asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know what they are called?"

"Of course," Jordan said. "I've been keeping an eye on the Feddie's V-Project for a couple months now, snuck into the colony. I was going to try and hijack one of their new prototypes so I could use it myself… but as you can tell, that plan didn't go so well. But I managed to get bits of information on them during my stay - their names being one of them."

"I would be very interested in hearing what you have learned, Mr. Takeo," Char said, and Jordan shrugged.

"I'll tell you what I know, what little I do," he said. "And please, just call me Jaden - makes me feel old." He then looked back at his Gouf. "Also, I would prefer it if you kept your men away from my machine - I take the security of the mods I've made to it very seriously. If they try anything… funny, they may end up triggering my fail safes - and trust me, you do not want those things triggered."

Char nodded in understanding. "I will make sure they refrain from getting too close to your machine," he said, before he turned, gesturing Jordan to follow. "Come with me, it's best we discussed this on the bridge with Dren." Jordan simply nodded, as he followed Char through the Camel towards the bridge.

Meanwhile, back on the Absolution

D.J. couldn't stop grinning, why, because he specifically asked the replicator to produce a Gunpla kit of the GT-9600-D Gundam Leopard Destroy, and lo and behold, said Gundam appeared.

"Excellent! This will help us if one of our Mobile Suits gets damaged!" D.J. said excitedly, and then heard a voice behind him.

"Hey Patriot!" the voice said, and D.J. turned around and saw Takeshi standing there at the doorway. "I see you got a new Gunpla to mess with?"

D.J. scratched behind his head. "Well, this baby will help us out a lot, considering the amount of firepower the Gundam Leopard has."

"Yeah, though if you want firepower, I'd say you'd be better off with a Heavyarms," Takeshi remarked. "The Endless Waltz version, especially, but both versions have plenty of firepower, combining More Dakka with Macross Missile Massacre, and both to a truly frightening degree."

"Wing Zero would also be good, though it goes more for the Wave Motion Gun angle than a More Dakka/Macross Missile Massacre combo," Shion added. "Virtue, Seravee, and Raphael apply similar principles with GN-Tech, and a Gundam X's Satellite Cannon, or the Twin Satellite Cannons of a DX, also fit that category."

D.J. nodded at that. "Which is why I'm making an upgraded version of this. Give it a Beam rifle for one, plus beam sabers in the shins. I know for that there will be some unlucky bastard who will piss his pants at the sight," he said.

"Interesting idea," Takeshi remarked. "A lot of my projects are mainly units from my MSGX story, which are pretty much overkill for the One Year War - heck, even the TXG-103, a modified version of the Tempest that doesn't use GN Technology, is likely overkill for the One Year War - it'd be able to compete with a base-level Freedom, in my opinion. Still, one of my common sayings is 'Overkill is Underrated', after all."

D.J. blinked at that. "That's exactly how Jorn and Ryu think, overkill is nothing to them," he said. "Of course, who am I talk, I like to make sure my enemies are as good as dead as well."

"Too true," Takeshi remarked. "Better to go overkill than to discover you didn't use enough 'kill'."

"When we get back, remind me to introduce you to Star Trek Armada II: Fleet Operations. THEN you will see overkill." Both glanced behind them to find Ron entering the mess hall. "Fleet Operations?" D.J. asked.

"It's a mod of Star Trek Armada II," Ron said. "Think StarCraft or something like that with fleets of starships instead of troops and tanks."

"Sounds like a good game," D.J. remarked.

"It's pretty good - I have the base version, myself," Takeshi said. "Not the best, and I haven't played it in a few years, but it is pretty good."

"The stock version's kind of ok," Ron said. "The mod, though, is the best version. Wish I brought my desktop computer so I could play it, but that would've been impractical."

"How good are you at playing it?"

"My advice is not to be my enemy. I know how to keep you out of my base. And when I build up my fleets, well… it's not pretty. Now, if you excuse me, I need to get a drink."

When Ron left the room, D.J. was gaping. "Holy crap… that's exactly what I do on Command & Conquer Generals and Red Alert 2." He then smiled a bit. "Looks like great minds do think alike."

"Whenever I played Armada 2, I tended to just throw up a wall of turrets in the entrances to my base to keep the computer out while I built things up," Takeshi remarked after Ron had left. "Never did any actual multiplayer, but it certainly worked against the computer."

"When we get back, get Fleet Ops," Ron walked back in, carrying a VERY large mug.

"What the hell? Where'd you get that thing?"

"I brought my backpack in with me: considering I don't have oxygen tanks, so…"

"Is that the mug you used to keep yourself up rebuilding your brother's Blu Duel and making your Gunplas?"

"HELL yes. I have this thing to thank for my Hybrid Destiny. Now, I need to get back to the bridge: I'm still the acting tactical operations officer, so I need to get back to my post."

After Ron left again, Takeshi, Shion, and D.J. just stood there for a moment, staring at the door. "He seems… odd," Shion said after a moment.

D.J. and Takeshi nodded at that.

"Yeah… he is."

Back on the Camel

"So, they're called the Guntank, Guncannon, and Gundams?" Char asked as he and Jordan now stood on the Camel's bridge with Dren, as they stood before the plotting table.

"Yes," Jordan said. "Guntank is pretty much a Mobile Suit with Tank Treads for legs, and is not very maneuverable, but packs a lot of firepower with its cannons and machine guns. Guncannon is an actual Feddie mobile suit, but focuses on ranged artillery support much like the Guntank, but uses all of the same beam weapons as the Gundam. And the Gundam Units are what the V-Project all forms around, mostly using beam weaponry with the exception of its Hyper Bazooka and 60mm Head Vulcans. And as you have seen, they are highly advanced mobile suits that surpasses a Zaku with little difficulty."

Char hummed in thought as he looked at the images of the Gundam Unit 2. "Indeed," he said. "Zeon is still perfecting their Mobile Suit-scaled beam weapons… I'm amazed you managed to get this much information, Jaden. Let alone sneak inside Side 7 while it was under Federation guard."

Jordan chuckled a bit. "It wasn't that hard, as you no doubt know," he said. "If your men could sneak in three Zeon Zaku's right under their noses, sneaking in my one Gouf is just as easy." He sighed. "Wished I had more time though… I would've loved to steal one of those Feddie mobile suits, and actually get a chance to see what else they have under the hood of that thing…"

Char nodded. "So do we all, Jaden. In fact, these mobile suits could in fact be the key into ending the stalemate between us and the Federation," he said.

"Yeah, and the Feddies know that," Jordan said. "We all saw what the Gundam could do… and that was just one machine. They have two more inside that ship, and it won't take the Federation long to begin mass production… given they haven't started already."

"What makes you say that?" Dren asked, and Jordan looked at him.

"The Federation knows that they can't win this war without mobile suits," he said. "Zeon has shown them Mobile Suits are the future of combat in space - especially with Minovsky Particles screwing up long-range targeting systems most of the time, meaning ships like their Magellan-class Battleships are useless unless they wanna try eyeballing everything. And since most Feddie ships are practically defenseless against mobile suit attacks aside from a few Anti-Air batteries, they need to adapt or face destruction. People like General Revil realize this, and that's why the V-Project finally got some funding. Once they begin making more Mass Produced MS, Zeon's one advantage over the Earth Forces gets thrown out the window."

Char nodded. "You're right," he said. "And seeing how successful their Gundam is, it's likely they've at least begun some limited production for additional testing."

"Which is why we need to prioritize the destruction or capture of the Gundams, and White Base," Jordan finished, nodding. "Though I doubt we will be able to do much with just two Zaku's and my Gouf."

"Which is why we are being resupplied - and are gaining some reinforcements," Char said, causing Jordan to look up at him. "Admiral Dozle was kind enough to send a supply ship our way - and he's redirected the Matsunaga Team and their ships here as well. They should be arriving in the next few hours."

Jordan smiled. "The White Wolf, eh?" he asked. "Sounds like things are gonna be getting interesting, then." Although he was outwardly impressed, internally Jordan was panicking a bit. Already things were changing in ways they didn't plan! And now they had to face off against two of Zeon's top aces! 'Calm down, calm down Jordan…' he thought. 'The others can handle it… by now, they should have more Mobile Suits capable of deploying, so the odds should be a bit more evened out… but they're likely going to end up revealing themselves to the Zeon and Feddies if the battle gets too rough.'

Meanwhile - On board the Absolution

Ron had settled into his chair, drinking from his giant mug.

"How the hell are you keeping that shit from floating all over the place?" Matthews asked, as Ron tapped on the top of it, which was capped with a plastic lid. "Small slit," he said. "That way I can-"

Ron glanced at the sensors, spotting a contact. "Der Teufel?" he asked.

"What is it, Mr. Pinkerton?" Matthews asked.

Ron glanced at Matthews. "A major problem," he said. "There's a contact on the sensors." He looked at the screen once more. "Correction: several contacts. One of them is the supply ship that resupplies Char, but the other silhouettes are closer in shape to a Musai and Chivvay then a Papua or Pazock."

Ron sighed. "Fucking Christ: THIS is what happens when you fuck with the timeline!" he groaned. "Char's getting reinforcements! And judging from the flight path, they're heading in our direction! And Mirage Colloid isn't perfect: at close range, they WILL detect us."

"I hate to admit it, but he's right," Matthews said. "We'd invisible to most sensors, but magnetic sensors will likely be able to see us if they have any."

"So, we're likely gonna end up in a fight with the Zeon," Hammer said. "Had to happen eventually…"

"Luckily we have more machines finished up," Takeshi remarked. "D.J.'s Stark Strike Dagger's done, and Ron's Perfect Noir's currently in the Builder, but should be done soon." He sighed. "I'd hoped we'd have a bit more time, so that my TXG-103 model would be ready to go - I can't use my current version of the Tempest because we don't want to reveal our GN Technology, and the TXG-103 is a Non-GN-Tech version of the Tempest, so I could get around that issue. Looks like I'll be sitting this one out again."

"Me as well: I can't use the Hybrid Destiny because of the DRAGOONs unless I can remove them outside of combat. Which isn't possible!"

A cough called their attention to Tom who stood in a doorway with a raised eyebrow. "Did I not just use DRAGOON Fangs scant hours ago?" he asked, rolling his eyes as he walked in. "I agree that we can't show off too much tech, but, Zeon should have been experimenting with Newtype-use weapons around this time, not to mention the massive butterfly effect we're already putting into effect."

"Fuck it. I need to kill something and those assholes just gave me an excuse." Ron said before he got out of his chair. "I'll get the Hybrid Destiny ready." He left the bridge, clearly not happy. And most of that was directed at Jordan and they all knew it. If they didn't interfere, they wouldn't be getting ready for combat now.

Tom sighed and rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. "What some may not realize, the butterfly effect would've happened, even if we didn't interfere with anything." He said, "Our mere presence changes things…"

"And we just have to make do with what happens, and try to direct the changes in the way we want," Takeshi remarked. "I'll still stay behind since the GN Technology in the Tempest is too much technology to give away right now - the main reason I came up with the TXG-103 in the first place - but that's not to say I won't use the original Tempest, or even the Raging Tempest once that thing's done, if circumstances call for it."

"It may," Tom agreed with a shrug. "Zeon may choose to pull some surprises out of their hat in future battles."

"I'll sit things out, too," Shion remarked. "My GM Kai might be alright to use in terms of blending in, but I feel like I might need something stronger. Takeshi, you mind helping me design something?"

"Sure," Takeshi replied. "I can share a few of my ideas for you to fine-tune, and I might be able to fine-tune and tweak some of your ideas, depending."

Shion nodded and smiled. "Good to hear," she said. "Come on, we can plan next to the AGE Builder, and then use the Replicator to get any Gunpla Kits we need."

The two then departed the bridge, as D.J. sighed. "Well, time to mount up," he said and floated out of the bridge to his Stark Strike Dagger in the MS Hangar.

Tom shrugged. "Time to fuck some things up, I guess," he commented before heading out himself.

Meanwhile - On White Base

"Special Delivery!" A childish voice shouted out, as Fraw and the three children who had taken a liking for her pushed a cart of canned foods down the rather crowded halls of White Base, moving around the civilians.

"Excuse us, let us through please!" Fraw said as she pushed the cart, trying to avoid running into anyone.

"More Canned stuff?" one of the refugees complained.

"Isn't there anything else to eat?" another asked.

The only girl of the three children (Frau didn't count) glared at the two. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH CANS?!" If it was intended to scare them, it seemed to work, as the two recoiled from the look on her face.

"Uh, we didn't-"

"Fine! You don't get any!"

"Kikka, stop it!" Frau kept wheeling the cart through the crowded hallways, looking slightly sheepish. "Sorry, all we have are canned goods. Delivery, coming through!" Meanwhile, Bright and Sayla were on their way to the bridge. The two remained in a bit awkward silence.

Bright, deciding to break the silence, spoke. "Ahem," he said. "Civilians are always a selfish bunch," he said. "They use their weakness as a shield, and do nothing but make demands…" He glanced at Sayla, who didn't seem to respond to that, and was more or less ignoring him.

"I heard you were in medical school," Bright said, trying to start something of a conversation with the blonde. "But where were you before coming to Side 7?"

Sayla finally glanced at the Ensign. "Is there any reason I need to answer that?" She asked.

Bright gulped a bit, before he sighed. "H-Haha… not really…" he muttered. "This is actually my first time into space…" He shrugged a bit. "Missions from headquarters can get pretty long I guess."

Sayla allowed herself to smirk a bit. "I thought you were Elite?" She asked a bit teasingly, causing Bright to half-glare at her, before forcing up a smile.

"Was that Sarcasm?" He asked, and Sayla chuckled a bit.

"No, not really," she said. "I just didn't know they picked timid men like you, Ensign." After she said that, the elevator finally opened, and Bright groaned as they stepped out, shooting a glare at Sayla, who simply ignored it.

Meanwhile - On Shin Matsunaga's ship, the Silver Wolf

Within the pilot locker room, a young woman of about fifteen, with short blue hair and amethyst eyes, was getting into her ocean blue pilot suit, on the off-chance of getting called in for pilot duty. It wasn't likely, seeing that there weren't any Feddies in the immediate area, but… well, she would be lying if she said she didn't have worries for the future, given the strange dreams she had.

These dreams started the day before her parents were murdered for a reason she had no idea why at the time. All she knew at the time was that her parents supported a man named Zeon Zum Deikun… she had begged her parents to get away from the area, but they wouldn't listen, thinking that she was being bullied at preschool. It was the first time her dreams cost people their lives, and her the family she was supposed to have, back in U.C. 0068.

Ever since then, she had dreams of people close to her dying, not limiting themselves to her family. The first time she dreamt of herself dying, the day before she ultimately joined the Zeon Military Academy, was the last time she felt she would be a normal civilian. She would have gone down her way to school at thirteen, but then get murdered by a sniper round to the head, as she was mistaken for someone else with a similar build and similar features.

Shaking her head after going through those morbid thoughts, she realized that she might need to get another pilot suit for the future… the one she was wearing was becoming too tight at the chest, oddly enough. Still, if there was anything she needed to do at present, she needed to get back to her Mobile Suit for when it was time to sortie. Well, that was the plan, but then the locker room opened up to reveal her superior… who wasn't aware that she was in here.

"Oh, sorry, Ensign Kyou," Commander Shin Matsunaga said in an apologetic manner. "I didn't realize there was anyone else in here… if only we had gender-split locker rooms, to avoid this mess in the future."

The now identified Kyou shook her head again, before saying, "Don't worry, sir; I forgot to lock the door, anyway. Besides, I'm done changing, though I don't know if we'll need to sortie or not."

Shin chuckled a bit at the preparedness of his young protege in the art of Mobile Suit combat. While she was initially going to be a bridge bunny, she wanted to be on the front lines, and especially as a pilot. Soon enough, with his help as her mentor, she made it to be a Mobile Suit pilot, one that was found to be a naturally occurring Newtype, which was a good thing for her. He didn't want her to think she was less than human, especially since she did not have the mentality of someone superior to the rest of humanity, which is what he feared Newtypes would be seen as by the "Oldtypes".

Still, with a thought on his mind, he said, "By the way, Char just sent me a message. He picked up a mercenary who infiltrated Side 7's colony of Green Noa, there to investigate the V-Project like Char ended up doing, and someone who piloted a Gouf variant at that. The mercenary expects the Federation to have something planned at Luna II that we need to crash, so, since Char's the one with the most experience in this area, he'll lead us to defeat the forces garrisoned there, while we prepare to stop whatever new units they have in mind to test out here in Space."

Kyou blinked at that, unsure what to make of her superior's words, until it processed in her mind better. With the fact of Char Aznable leading an assault on Luna II, she knew that she needed to be on her best behavior, considering that Char was said to be intolerant of those that weren't. Of course, that was probably a rumor her friend came across, but she had nothing better to say on that front. Instead, she said, "S-sir, I hope that I don't let you down, nor Commander Char."

Shin simply patted her head at that, saying as he did so, "No worries. You're the only one in this war that worries about letting down the field officers more than the Zabis, but you really aren't letting us down, y'know that?"

Kyou Yamato smiled at that. She really worried that she was letting her superior down, but that wasn't the case, as it seemed.

Meanwhile - Absolution

Crew Quarters

Tom sat on the bed of a quarter within the Absolution, his entire body shaking as a nearly crazed grin spread across his face as he stared at his clenching and unclenching hands. "It was real… that was actually real…" he breathed to himself as he shook a bit. "That… was a real fight, against a real ace with a real chance of death…"

He chuckled as he stood up. "I actually fought against Char Aznable, the real person and not some simulation, and it was amazing," he laughed loudly as he began to pace. "But… he is not the strongest there is… no… there was one stronger than him, Amuro, the White Unicorn of Londo Bell, but… he is not there yet, I can't fight him yet, else, it would be just like Gunpla, boring, no real challenge with it, he must become stronger, but… it would take years for him to reach his full strength… I… I can't wait for it… but… I don't want to be bored fighting him, I want that challenge, that chance for death hanging over me…"

Tom forcibly stilled himself as he planted in hands against the wall before him, breathing raggedly. "He grows quickly, but he doesn't have the spirit until Char's Counterattack," he breathed to himself. "So… I need to make sure that he never loses it, I need to make him stronger, reinforce that will, but… Lalah Sune… she… should I kill her? Make him hate me? Give him an enemy to kill?"

Tom rested his head against the cool walls of the room. "Yes… give him someone to hate, someone to sharpen his blade against, I will fight the White Unicorn someday… and it will be glorious!" Laughter bubbled up from within him as he grinned. "A fight against the Legendary Newtype… I cannot wait for it!"

Absolution

Hangar/Gunpla AGE Builder

"OK, if we're going to make you a custom Gunpla, Shion, we first need to figure out what type it should be," Takeshi was saying, as the two were looking over the plethora of Gunpla parts they'd replicated, to provide a multitude of options. "Your preferred combat style plays heavily in that - we don't want to make you a melee unit if you're a ranged fighter, and vice versa."

Shion nodded, as she looked at all of the Gunpla. "Alright…" she said. "I've never really had this much to work with… so many Gunpla parts…"

"I know, it's like the modeler's ultimate wet dream," Takeshi remarked. "Glad that the Replicators were able to make everything we might need. Now, what is your preferred combat style, Shion? Are you a melee fighter, ranged, support, or what?"

Shion thought about it for a moment. "Well, I do sometimes get in melee fights, like anyone else does," she said. "But usually I end up attacking from mid to long ranges with a Sniper Rifle, or spotting out enemy targets. I suppose I'm more of a ranged fighter, with a bit of support."

Takeshi nodded. "Might want to use Cherudim as a base, then," he remarked. "That's one of the best Long-Range Gundams I know." He paused for a moment. "We have enough parts here… think we could make two versions, like with the Tempest? One that uses GN Technology, and another that doesn't? The one without GN Tech would be usable right away once we plug it into the Builder, but the GN Tech one would be useful later on…"

Shion nodded. "Sounds good to me," she said. "It's best to be prepared, I suppose. So, how should we do this?"

Takeshi looked out at the parts. "Well, we'll start with the Non-GN Tech version," he said. "We need to select a decent layout of parts, along with systems to match." He picked up a Buster Gundam Torso in one hand, and a Blitz Gundam Torso in the other. "For a Torso base, SEED Gundams always deliver decent stats if you don't have special engines like GN Drives or gimmicks like the AGE System." He then turned to Shion, though he did his best to make sure he wasn't staring at her, as he'd been prone to doing off and on over the past day or so. "Buster would be a decent choice for a sniper unit… or you could do a Blitz Torso - if I remember correctly for special systems and Gunpla parts, the Blitz Torso is pre-loaded with Mirage Colloid, if you want stealth capabilities."

"Sounds like a plan," Shion said, as she smiled a bit. "You know a lot about Gunpla, don't you, Takeshi? I mean I'm no stranger myself, but you really know your way around stuff like this."

Takeshi chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I've had a fair bit of experience with Gunpla," he remarked. "I may focus primarily on the Exia, its successors, and my custom units based on them, but I actually joined a Gunpla Club in college one year after that first tournament - learned a fair bit about how to get just the results you want, not just combining existing parts and systems, but designing your own systems, weapons, and some parts - it's how I was able to give the GN-103 Tempest the same features it had in Mobile Suit Gundam Xenosaga."

"Xenosaga?" Shion asked, with a bit of surprise. "You play it too?"

Takeshi blinked as well. "Uhh yeah, one of my favorites, actually," he said. "It's why I tried to make a Gundam crossover with it…" He then chuckled a bit sheepishly. "And, uhh… I didn't want to bring this up but ehh… you and your brother… kinda do look a lot like Shion Uzuki and her brother Jin… heck you even have their same first names."

Shion sighed at that, but still smiled. "Trust me, you're not the first to notice," she said. "A lot of my friends compare me and Jin to them."

"I'd bet," Takeshi remarked. He debated saying this next bit, but decided he might as well get it out there. "It was definitely a surprise when I first saw you in the hotel, especially considering that I… well…" He blushed a bit. "I have a major crush on Shion Uzuki…"

Shion blinked at that, and Takeshi could swear he saw a tinge of red cross her cheeks. "Oh…" she said. "Well, uhh…"

"I… I know you're not her…" Takeshi said. "But you look like her, you share her first name, you even sound like her… I can't help but feel some of those feelings stirring when I look at you… I…"

Shion looked at Takeshi for a few moments, however, she didn't feel very negative about what he said. In fact, she would admit Takeshi seemed like a nice guy, even though she's only known him for just a short time. And considering what they were currently doing…

She smiled a bit. "Well…" she said, "first off, thanks for being honest about it. And second…" She leaned forward and gave Takeshi a quick kiss, causing him to freeze a bit afterward. "…you seem like a nice guy, Takeshi. Even though we've only known each other a little over a day, you seem like an honest, nice person, something that a lot of people overlook these days… and I'd be lying if I said didn't find you a bit… attractive. And considering our… current predicament, and how we probably won't be going home anytime soon… we might as well see if there's any… chemistry between us."

Takeshi just stared at her for a minute, processing all she had just said, coupled with the kiss. "Y… yeah," he said finally, starting to smile. "We don't need to rush into things… we can take our time, get to know each other, see how it works out… thanks, Shion."

"You're welcome, Takeshi-kun," she said, adding in the Japanese Honorific. "Anyways, let's get to work here - we've got a lot of work to do in making my new Gunpla. With all these parts, I'm sure we'll probably come up with new ideas as we go."

Takeshi nodded. "Let's get started then, Shion-chan," he replied, adding the Japanese Honorific, too, as they started looking through the various parts they had at their disposal.

They had a Gunpla to make.

Meanwhile - Absolution bridge

Ron paid very close attention to the Zeon ships, unwilling to be caught off-guard by them. Cloaked or not, they were still vulnerable, as every time a cloaked ship was shot at, in Gundam, Star Trek or anything involving cloaking technology, the cloaked ship was almost always destroyed by the one that wasn't.

"You know, you're going to strain your eyes looking at that screen," Matthews commented from his seat on the bridge.

"Better to strain them then to get caught and blown to shit," Ron retorted, not tearing his eyes away for a second. "Unless, of course, you have never watched Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."

Matthews sighed. "You should try to get some rest you know," he said. "In case you do have to launch out there. Me and the others can keep an eye out for you."

Ron finally tore his gaze away as he glanced at Matthews, before he sighed. "Fine," he said. "As long as you can make sure no one pulls a Chang on us and blows our asses to hell. I'd rather not end up like that Klingon jackass." He got up out of his seat, then glanced at the screen. "Please, be paranoid." Ron walked out of the bridge before stumbling and hitting the wall. "DAMN IT!"

"You alright?"

"I need to sleep. I REALLY need to sleep." Ron managed to unmarry himself from the bulkhead, and used the zipline to get down to the crew quarters and into his own room. "Note to self: kill the bastard that gave Patriot that Phenex." Ron landed on his bed and fell asleep within minutes.

Meanwhile - On the Camel

On the bridge of the Camel, Char and Jordan both watched as the small group of Zeon ships approach their position within the crater of Luna II. Jordan could see the Papua-class Supply Ship among the fleet, however as Char had pointed out, there was also a Tivvay-class Fast Heavy Cruiser, and two Musai-class Light Cruisers. The Musai's were of the standard dark green color, however the Tivvay had a distinct Grey, Black and white color scheme too it, along with a noticeable white wolf emblem placed proudly along the port side of its hull, next to it being its registry number, and its name: P.Z.S Silver Wolf.

"So… that's Shin's flagship, eh?" Jordan asked.

"Yes," Char said with a nod. "It's rather new actually, Tivvay-class ships are only recently being brought into service to replace our aging Chivvay-class. Having one with us will greatly increase our odds against the White Base." He then smiled a bit as he looked at the Papua-class. "Though I am surprised that Gadem showed up in his Papua," he said. "I'm amazed that battered old ship is still able to be in service."

Jordan shrugged. "A ship is a ship," he said. "A friend of mine once said a ship should continue to serve for as long as it can be upgraded to keep up with the times. When in situations like today when Zeon doesn't have the resources we did back when the war first started, its not wise to pick and choose, and just take what you can get."

"Sir, receiving a hail from the Supply Ship and the Silver Wolf," Dren said. Moments later the front screen showed two images. On one side, the images of Captain Gadem of the Papua supply ship, while on the other was the White Wolf himself, Shin Matsunaga.

"Well, it's been a long time, hasn't it Char?" Shin said with a grin, "Never thought you'd need a hand taking on a Feddie Battleship, let alone a Mobile Suit."

"The Federation's new Mobile Weapon isn't to be underestimated," Char said. "And that was just one unit, two if you include the mysterious Gundam which appeared during our last battle - which was capable of using our experimental Funnel technology as if it had been developed decades ago."

Shin looked surprised at that statement. "Our Funnels?" he asked. "But those are still in R&D… we haven't truly deployed any in battle yet. How could the Feddies have them already?"

Char shook his head. "I don't know, Shin," he said. "But as I said, I am not taking any chances against them. Once we resupply, we need to be prepared for another fight."

Shin nodded. "Very well," he said, as he paused for a moment. "However, I would like to send one of my own pilots over to your ship, to join your team. She's one of my best, and hopefully she'll be able to help you in your next fight."

Char smiled at that. "Thank you, Shin," he said. "We appreciate the assistance."

"Alright, let's just get this over with," Gadem said, his image starting to flicker in and out. "The Minovsky Particles are so thick here its like - *bzzzzzck* we're drowning."

"Very well," Char said, as he turned to Dren. "Open the supply hatches! Speed up the docking on the conveyor pipe!" Dren saluted as he went to issue the orders, as the Papua moved alongside the Camel. Char then turned to Jordan. "Jaden, would you mind meeting Shin's pilot for me?" he asked. "I have a lot to do to prepare for our next battle."

Jordan nodded. "Sure thing," he said, making a short salute before he took off towards the hangar.

Later - in the Camel's Hangar

Kyou looked around the hangar bay in her new superior officer's ship, which was a Musai, from the inside of her Mobile Suit. Her unit, a MS-06R-1A Zaku II High Mobility Type in the Matsunaga Team colors, was upgraded a couple times, mostly the sensors and magnetic joints that she needed to dodge incoming attacks on her unit… still, what she saw of the Gouf was enough to make her wonder where it came from. She didn't have a clue who could have piloted it, nor what sort of speed it had in comparison to someone like the legendary Red Comet's Zaku II Commander Type, but she was glad that whoever piloted it was able to save one of their own. It would be awful if the pilot was uncaring of the situation at large.

Shaking her head a bit, she prepared to get out of the cockpit of her Zaku, before she remembered that she needed to wait for the pressurization to work. After waiting for the hangar to close, she opened her cockpit… and then, right when she was sure nothing strange would happen, she banged her head on someone else's, a boy a few years older than her by her estimation.

Bringing her hands up to her head, she said in a cute tone, "Owie~." After clearing her head for a bit, however she did not realize at the moment that when she did, she inadvertently activated the older boy's Newtype powers, albeit a small amount of them, like his Newtype sense. Despite being a Newtype that was learning how to use her abilities, she had never helped activate abilities in a fellow soldier… one who was on the ground after being hit by the head bang. Going down to the boy, she said, "Are you alright, mister?"

The young man shook his head a bit, rubbing the spot he hit. "Yeah, fine… just surprised me is all," he said, before glancing up at Kyou. "You alright?"

Kyou was about to open her mouth in reply when she… felt, for lack of a better word… a stronger than usual presence from the young man in front of her. Deciding to keep that tidbit to herself for now, she eventually answered, "Yes, unless you count my head getting the equivalent of a migraine at the impact zone." Looking into the man's eyes, she asked, "Who are you?"

The man chuckled a bit sheepishly "Ehh… sorry..." he said. "Well, my name's Jaden, Jaden Takeo. What's your name miss?"

"My name is Kyou, Kyou Yamato," Kyou said. With a look around the hangar, she asked, "Which unit is yours? I was hoping that you'd be willing to show me what it is, at least."

Jaden appeared to blink in surprise at her last name, but smiled as he pointed his thumb towards, surprisingly, the Gouf. "Right there," he said. "That's my Gouf All-Regions Type, or Gouf AR Type… it's basically just a modified MS-07A I found on Earth, only I've completely overhauled it to operate in all environments, including space. Considering my work, I want a machine that could operate in all terrains without constantly needing to modify it from space packages to land packages."

Kyou blinked at the information she received on the MS, before she thought of a question that would be important for her to figure the answer out sooner than later. "What line of work are you involved in?" she asked. "Is it anything to allow Spacenoid Independence?"

Jaden looked surprised at the sudden question, but smiled. "Well, I suppose I am Pro-Spacenoid," he said. "If Zeon and the colonies want Independence, they should have it without the interference of the Federation…" He then frowned a bit. "Doesn't mean I quite like how the Principality goes about doing it… and Gihren is reminding me too much of Adolf Hitler…"

He paused at that for a moment, before he shook his head. "Anyways, as for my 'line of work', I'm more of a Mercenary, I suppose you can say," he said. "But I don't fight just for the money… I just fight for what I think is right."

Kyou looked surprised at the comparison to Nazi Germany, but then thought something important. With a nod of her head, she asked, "So, would that make you a Deikun loyalist?"

Jaden shrugged. "I wouldn't say 'loyalist' but I am a supporter of Zeon Deikun's ideals and dreams," he said. "If he hadn't died… I think Zeon would have been very different from what it is today, maybe we wouldn't even be in this mess with the war going on."

Kyou nodded her head at that. She then asked, "Tell me, Jaden. Are you in fact related to Aren and Sutura Takeo?"

Jaden blinked in surprise. "E-excuse me?" He asked, sounding a bit startled. "Aren and Sutura Takeo?"

"Yes," Kyou said. "They're two of Zeon's best Military Commanders, Vice Admiral Sutura is in charge of the 3rd Zeon Space Fleet, and General Aren is in charge of the Zeon 9th Army. I heard they had some children, and I was wondering if you were related."

Jaden was silent for a moment, before he shook his head. "N-no, no we're not related," he said. "Just… surprised we had the same last name… then again, it's not the first time that's happened, one time a friend of mine named Jordan Tackett found out there was a show called 'Christmas with the Tacketts'… that was a pretty weird coincidence."

Kyou looked at Jaden with an odd look in her eyes, before vocalizing. "Your friend knows of an old A.D. era television show called that?"

"Well… it was more of a parody thing," Jaden said. "It involved the old Blue Collar T.V. Christmas Special… my friend likes old A.D. era stuff like shows and stuff."

"Huh… really interesting," Kyou said. Before she could say anything else to Jaden, though….

"Oh, Jaden," a brown haired and blue eyed man wearing the Zeon green pilot suit called out from the other end of the hangar. Floating over to the two of them, Slender Matthewson saluted them both, saying upon arriving, "Commander Char wanted me to tell you that he needs you in the infirmary for something. I think it's a blood test, to see if there's anything that needs fixing, so…."

Jaden sighed, but nodded. "Alright, I'll head over there now," he said, glancing back at Kyou. "If you'll excuse me, ma'am, I've got a few things I need to take care of. If you would like to talk some more, we can meet back up in a bit."

Kyou nodded her assent, before saying, "Alright. I hope we can have something to eat in a bit… I'm starving!" With that, she and Jaden parted ways for the time being, one of the many times they would get together for anything.

Meanwhile - Absolution

In the recreational area of the Absolution, D.J. gave a sigh as he looked at the gathered gunpla parts they just created from the replicator machine, as well as the ones he won from his matches. He was looking at his 105 Dagger Parts, and his Gundam Alex parts, as he carefully attached one of the Arm Gatling guns to the right arm of the 105.

"Okay, there we go..." he said as he put the tool down. "Now you are put together, let's put some colors on ya," he said and stood and went over to what looked like a glass case.

The door to the room slid open and Steven walked in with a can of soda. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Just adding the colors to my newest creation," Patriot said. "I have another Gunpla in the works, but it's not ready yet, having damn problems with the wings."

With that, he closed the case and immediately went to terminal and began typing in the commands of what colors his Gunpla should have. Steven walked over to the case and saw what he recognized as a 105 Dagger, only with the Gundam Alex's arms, and bits of its Full Armor mode, specifically on the legs and shoulders.

"Huh. That's a new one," Steven noted. "I've never even seen a suit like that."

"That's because I just made it," Patriot said with a smile. "I used parts from the Gundam Alex, along with the 105 Daggers. Thus I have just made a totally new machine."

Steven pursed his lips and nodded. "I see. Still, what are we gonna do now? I mean, Jordan is with Char, and we need to figure out a plan for what to do next." He chugged down some of his drink.

"For now, we wait for the White Base to start the attack, which shouldn't be much longer," D.J said, with a shrug. "Once they begin the attack… they will need our help to deal with the Zeon Reinforcements Char got. In canon they could have probably taken on Char's one Musai and an aging supply ship, but now they've gotta deal with two more Musai's and a Tivvay, and the former of which is one of Zeon's top ships…" He shook his head. "It's not gonna be easy."

"Well, we'll just have to do our best, and hope it's enough," Jin remarked as he walked into the room. "Luckily, my Astray Black Frame doesn't have any technology we don't want to reveal yet, so I can lend my skills to the fight."

A yawn was heard before they saw Ron approach. "Couldn't sleep; threat of impending death and all that." He said as he walked toward the replicator and sighed. "A glass of grape juice, no pulp." The device created the requested drink and even made a zero-g bottle with it inside for him.

D.J sighed a bit. "You're not the only one," he said, leaning back in his own chair. "We've done all we can to prepare for the fight when it comes up… all we can do now is wait…" he shook his head. "This must be how my brother feels when he's on duty… calm before the storm..."

"So, we just sit here and do nothing?" Steven asked as he tossed his empty soda can aside. "That doesn't sound like a good plan to me."

"Not much of a choice." Ron said, shaking his head. "But I hate being under cloak; every time a ship runs into a larger force while under cloak, the cloaked ship ALWAYS explodes."

"Then we just need to be careful," D.J said. "And we won't be cloaked for much longer. When the fighting breaks out, we're probably gonna end up de-cloaking to engage the Zeon." He then smiled a bit. "Besides, we've learned from the mistakes of those who do mess up their use of cloaking, so we don't make them."

Ron sighed as he drank some of his grape juice. "No. We'll just make new ones. It's the usual way of things. I'll go to the hangar; see if they've got the Perfect Noir done. I'm not piloting one of those MDs out there; I won't be able to spot an MS coming up from behind me if I have to sortie."

D.J. chuckled at that. "I know what you mean," he said. "I always thought those AC suits were not very dependable due to their heads not revolving a full 180. Except the Serpent of course."

"Part of the reason why I chose them and the Aries over Leo's," another voice said, as Leonidas walked into the room as well. "Glad I'm not the only one who couldn't sleep."

"I must admit, waiting for an impending battle is a little disquieting," Jin remarked. "Still, at least we are somewhat prepared for it."

Leonidas chuckled a bit, as he sat down. "This isn't like Gunpla anymore," he said. "There's no respawning or rebuilding your Gunpla afterwards… one wrong move, one oversight… and that could be it for ya."

"Too bad we don't have a phaser set to heavy stun or something: THAT'D knock our asses into sleepyland." Ron sucked in juice from his ZG bottle's straw. "Have I mentioned how much I hate zero gravity?"

"A few times," Jin remarked. "And I must admit, it does take some getting used to."

"That Jordan guy seemed to love it," Leonidas said, shrugging, "He got use to it pretty quick if ya ask me… though you are right we need to fix our gravity problem." He glanced at the Replicator. "I wonder… you think we could use one of those things to make a Gravity Generator or something? We can make food and Gunpla from it..."

Ron glanced at him. "I've already thought about that," he said. "Problem is, while I know ships from Star Trek, Babylon 5 and BSG like the back of my hand, I know very little about the interior specs of most Gundam ships. And that thing might only create things that existed in our universe or the Gundam metaverse. Still, when we get somewhere with a decent gravity field, like Earth, I'll look into it. I doubt you want parts flying everywhere."

D.J. nodded at that. "Yeah, too many working hazards," he said, then turned back to the Terminal and pressed the enter button and inside the case, small mechanical arms proceeded to give the gunpla model a paint job.

Ron sighed, before saying, "I am going to say 'fuck it'." He said as he walked back to the replicator. "Here's hoping this works: put my ass under after my ass got operated on." He took in a breath. "Codeine, around 50 milliliters, plus a hot chocolate with milk." The replicator created the requested items, putting them in a syringe and an air-tight bottle respectively. "Thank you." He turned to face the mess hall's other occupants. "What?"

"You had your ass operated on?" Leonidas asked.

"I had a cyst," Ron said as an explanation. "Took four months to heal. Worst summer of my life."

"How long is that supposed to put you under for?" D.J. asked, somewhat tentatively. "Will we be able to wake you up easily when the battle starts, without you feeling groggy?"

"It should knock my ass out for 6 hours," Ron replied. "Which would you prefer: me out there tired, bitchy and unfocused or me asleep and not causing trouble for you?"

"When you put it that way…" Leonidas said tentatively.

Ron squirted the codeine into his mouth, then quickly drank from the bottle of hot chocolate. "I hate this shit, but I can't swallow pills, so I'm out of luck," Ron replied. "I'll be in my room, trying to sleep. Here's hoping the ship doesn't explode while I'm napping." Ron left the mess hall.

Jin shook his head. "He is not normal," he said, in reference to Ron. "I definitely haven't met anyone like him before, and I honestly doubt there is anyone else like him out there."

D.J chuckled a bit. "That's Ron for ya," he said. "He's a one-of-a-kind, and I trust him to help keep us out of trouble."

Jin nodded. "By the way, I've noticed that Takeshi gives me and my sister… odd looks from time to time," he remarked. "Though the looks he gives Shion are different than the ones he gives me… do you know why he gives us those looks?"

D.J. shrugged. "Dunno, probably because you both look like Jin and Shion Uzuki from Xenosaga," he said, causing Jin to blink at that. "Takeshi's a big fan of the series and all."

Jin blinked a bit more, before he nodded. "He wouldn't be the first one to notice that," he remarked. "A few of Shion's friends have often made the same comparison."

Meanwhile - Camel Infirmary

Jordan sighed as he rolled down his sleeve. "So, is that it?" he asked the doctor, who now had a sample of his blood in a test tube. "If that's all you need, I need to get back to work on my machine."

The doctor nodded and said he could leave as Jordan stood up and left the medbay for the hangar. As he made his way, however, his mind was elsewhere as he thought about what Kyou told him.

'Vice Admiral Sutura Takeo and General Aren Takeo…' he thought to himself, 'You gotta be fucking shitting me right now… This is the original Gundam series, not one of my Fanfics! How the hell are MY OC's part of the Zeon Military?!'

Jordan didn't know whether or not to be scared shitless or to be glad about this fact. If characters of their own creation started popping up, it just made things more complicated. However at the same time, if Aren and Sutura Takeo are anything like they were in his fics, that could be a good thing as they would be very good potential allies for the future.

'I'll have to ask Kyou or someone about them,' Jordan thought, 'But I need to tread lightly… I can't afford to have my cover blown right now. But I need to find a way to contact the others, tell them what I found out… but I can't do that with all of the Zeon soldiers everywhere.'

Ironically enough, he was so focused on his own thoughts that as he rounded a corner, he did not notice Char there as the two bonked each other in the forehead… while floating in 0 G, which made it even worse for both of them.

"Ow! Frack!" Shouted Jordan as he rubbed his forehead in order to lessen the pain, while Char did the same. "Sorry sir, didn't see ya there!"

"Its alright," Char said, rubbing his own head. "I guess I'm to assume this is a good excuse to apply safety rules to all crewmembers to wear helmets at all times." However while he was rubbing his forehead, Char, too, was thinking about a thought of his own he had been having moments prior.

'Jaden Takeo...' he thought. 'Aren and Sutura said they had a son named Jaden… but while he does look a bit like Aren, he doesn't look enough like either of them to really be their son...' His eyes narrowed slightly behind his mask. 'But why would he lie about his identity?'

However, Char put these thoughts aside as he helped steady 'Jaden'. "Anyways Jaden, I'm glad I ran into you," he said. "I would like for you and Kyou to prepare to launch… I have a feeling White Base will be paying us a visit soon."

Jordan looked a bit surprised at that, but nodded. "I was thinking the same thing," he said. "But even if they do, it would be pretty ballsy… assuming they know we got reinforcements."

Char nodded at that, glad he put aside the thoughts of who 'Jaden' was, mainly because, no matter the appearance, the guy had the same tactical mind as both Aren and Sutura… combined. "Indeed," he said. "I'll be sure to put a good word in to Vice Admiral Dozle about your achievements, should it come down to it. Then again… you might want to use a different name, Jaden, given that you'll probably confuse people who are more familiar with a different Jaden than you."

Jordan rose an eyebrow at that, but nodded. "I'm sure I can think of something," he said. "I suppose if you had to, you can call me Jordan Tackett… Jordan was a friend of mine, and Tackett… well… Have you ever seen the old Anno Domini comedy series 'Blue Collar Christmas Special'?"

Char blinked in surprise, but shook his head. "Well, that's where I got it," Jordan said simply. "Anyways, I need to prepare for the next fight. I'll be in the hangar if you need me." With a short salute, he then floated down the hall towards the hangar.

Char watched him leave, with a small smirk. 'So… Jordan Tackett's you're real name, eh?' he thought to himself. He had a suspicion that Jaden Takeo was not his real name, as Char has always been good at sniffing out liars, that and he knew the real Jaden Takeo quite well, however he went along with it to find out why Jordan would lie about his identity.

However now, he could tell that Jordan was being honest with saying his name was Jordan Tackett. But that still rose the question as to why he would lie in the first place. However at the same time, while he knew he was lying, Char did not feel any further deceit from him. He was obviously hiding something, yes, but his desire to help Char and Zeon was honest, so he was willing to let it slide for now. However he knew sooner or later he would have to confront Jordan about this.

Later - White Base Hangar Bay

Amuro was preparing to get inside the RX-78-2 Gundam when Fraw, who was on the side of the hangar bay, yelled to get his attention, "Amuro!"

"Oh, Fraw," Amuro said, turning his attention to her. "What is it?"

"I brought you some food and a change of clothes," she said. "If you don't change, you'll start to stink."

"Yeah," Amuro said, however he largely ignored her, working on the Gundam. Fraw sighed. "You've missed two meals already," she said. "You can't afford to miss another one."

Amuro glanced at her briefly. "I'm not hungry, Fraw," he said, before getting back to work.

The young woman was getting slightly annoyed now. "I thought you didn't want to do this because Bright was forcing you to?"

"I'm not doing it because of that," Amuro said. "I just don't want to die."

"Amuro, you HAVE to take better care of yourself," Fraw said with a tone that would make her seem more like his mother… which Amuro didn't want out of his friend.

"Fraw, knock it off! You're not my mother!" he yelled at her in a harsh tone.

"Watch your tone, boy!" Akira shouted as she walked over from Gundam Unit-3, a scowl on her face. "I am hereby ordering you to not only apologize, but to report to the mess hall for a meal and at minimum 6 hours of sleep! If I have to I will force feed you and knock you out!"

Amuro growled as he narrowed his eyes. "I have more important things to do!" he shouted back. "And I don't have to listen to you, or your orders! I'm not part of the Military!"

The next thing Amuro knew, he was spinning in the air before landing hard on the hangar floor, Akira standing over him as she rubbed her fist. "The minute you took control of Unit-2, then yes you are, soldier," Akira informed with a growl. "What, you thought you could just waltz in and take control of an experimental Federation Mobile Suit with no responsibility attached? Wake up and smell the roses, boy, you are now a conscript in the army."

Before more punches could be thrown, (for both their sakes) the PA sounded off. "Attention all military personnel: report to the bridge. We have a situation up here."

"That means you, too, mister, ON YOUR FEET!" Akira barked out harshly, making many of the mechanics in the hangar leap instinctively at their Lieutenant's commanding voice.

Earlier - 8/19/2022 AD

Hotel Lobby, Universal Hilton and Towers, Universal City, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States of America

'How the hell did I get myself stuck in this fine mess?' a young man of 22, named Samuel Kauffman, asked himself in his thoughts. He was a bit heavy set, having had problems exercising, but Gunpla Building and then Fighting was proving to be a good way to exercise his mind at least. Still, he was lucky that he didn't weigh more than 200 pounds, he needed to stay in the healthy range.

He stared at the man in front of him with his glasses-covered hazel eyes, not breaking eye contact for anything, as he thought back to how the situation unfolded. It was starting off like a crummy day, anyway, but this took the cake.

Samuel was arriving at the hotel to check in, hoping to avoid the hassle of lines to the reception desk. His flight to LA was, to put it in nice terms, eventful… well, eventful in that he had been paired in seating with possibly one of the biggest scumbags in the existence of the business world. This particular scumbag was the main reason why he didn't take out his laptop and his Gunpla kits, mainly because the guy had outright said, in no uncertain terms, that "kids need to learn from their betters, so no distractions, bucko." This was one reason he hated being 5'9".

As soon as the flight was done, the scumbag thought to drag Samuel over to a different hotel, all because he didn't get told to piss off! It was getting so bad, it needed divine intervention just to get past it without making things worse for him. Well, the only bright spot to that was a Christian music artist, Matthew West, was in the area and overheard the commotion, eventually getting the scumbag to get it through that he was not allowed to drag Samuel off. It was also a bright spot in that Matthew West was heading for the same hotel as well.

After all of that, Samuel was the first to get inside the hotel lobby so that he could see about checking in… well, fat chance of that. He just had to bump into a different scumbag, one who existed in the Gunpla world and was possibly the ultimate bully of LA in the Gunpla arenas. This man forcefully dragged Samuel over to the arena in the hotel, even though he was still carrying his luggage, after getting into some BS about how he'd have to do something to "prove himself". Finally, the bully stopped and directed him to a bathroom to let him change into his pilot suit… but only as long as the rest of his luggage stayed "safe" with him, not counting the Gunpla.

It took a while, but Samuel eventually changed into his pilot suit, and got ready for the battle to come.

"Okay, punk," the bully said, causing Samuel to lose his train of thought. "I won't repeat myself at all, so you better listen! This battle is going to be you against everyone else in the arena, namely the rest of 'The Sleeves' Gunpla Team, to see how well you can handle being one of us! Currently there's 19 of us Sleeves, and we need a 20th, so, should you win, you'll be the 20th member! Any questions on what this'll mean will be answered after the battle is won!" Before Samuel can protest, the leader of 'The Sleeves' said, "You still have your luggage with you, in all honesty, so that's one less problem for you."

Running a hand through his short and spiky dark brown hair, Samuel sighed, before he said, "Alright, but don't blame me for saying 'thanks, but no thanks' to your 'offer', bastard."

"Heh, not like you have a choice in the matter, boy," the bully said, before the battle officially started.

"Please set your GP base," the computer on the arena said, prompting everyone to start with that very move.

While he didn't know what the others had for models, Samuel realized that he didn't care about that detail, so he put down his GP base and saw his name and his Gunpla's model number (which he put down himself) show up on the screen. The model number turned out to be XXXG-01SD1, which made sense, considering the specific model he started this with.

As soon as everyone put their GP base and Gunpla down, the automated voice of the arena computer said, "Beginning Plavsky Particle Dispersal." As soon as that happened, the battlefield began to form in the middle of the arena, showing an exact copy of the Torrington area from the anime version of Gundam Unicorn. As soon as he saw the battlefield, Samuel got a sinking feeling in his gut that said that this battle was going to be trouble, whether he liked it or not.

Upon finishing loading, the computer continued, "Field Custom: Torrington Base 0096 selected." Before long, everyone was in a hologram of their cockpits, with Samuel noting that the cockpit style for his Gundam was like it was in the late Universal Century. With that, the timer started counting down, before it reached 0. "Battle Start!"

Before Samuel got to launching his unit, the 'Sleeves' started their launch, while he… felt, for lack of a better term… a disturbance of some sort, somewhere in the battlefield. Unable to pinpoint it, he shuddered, before he was told by the bully, "Time to get started! Hurry up and launch!"

Grunting in assent, Samuel said, "Samuel Kauffman, Shinigami Gundam Deathscythe, IKIMASU!" With that, his Gunpla started the move from the GP base to the battlefield, like it was on a catapult.

Upon reaching the battlefield, a text message arrived in the cockpit, which Samuel read aloud, "Choose first and foremost: Protect the base and surrounding area? Or fight us as fast as possible?" Upon realizing that this battle was probably going to result in the same canonical end as before, he thought, 'Okay, I'll take out the grunts from the Zeon Remnants first, then I'll get rid of 'The Sleeves' and have this farce ended. I don't want the Zeon to destroy the base as much as they did in the show.'

Before long, he found the first wave of Mobile Suits coming in from the land side of Torrington Base on Base Jabbers, so he took to the skies and fired his unit's Igelstellungs at the individual Zeon units, before their Base Jabbers were shot down by defending Earth Federation forces. With that taken care of, the Zeon units fell to the ground, exploding in a massive amount of hellfire (if one were being overtly religious about it). It was at about this time when he realized that Yonem Kirks was getting ready to fire beam sniper rounds on his position, so he activated his stealth features and boosted up to take care of Kirks before anything dangerous could happen. When he got into position, he deactivated the stealth features and swung his Beam Scissors at Kirks' Zaku I Sniper Type, causing the unit to explode.

Seeing that this had the undesired effect of getting all the Zeon remnants to target him, he jinked and dodged all their attacks, including the grenades that were launched his way… unless they kept going into his flight path, in which case, Igelstellungs away. Eventually, the Zeon remnants in the area ran out of ammo, which resulted in only the Efreet Schneid being willing to fight still, what with the daggers on it, only for Samuel to swing his Beam Scissors at the Efreet Schneid and slice it in half. When the Efreet Schneid went boom, the remaining Zeon Mobile Suits remembered that they had melee weapons of their own, so they brought those to bear.

Remembering to turn on his Gundam's stealth features, Samuel then moved his unit to slice the Zeon units in half, all the while keeping his stealth up to avoid detection by the Zeon Remnants. While he silently massacred the Zeon Remnants, he kept an eye out for what the Federation forces were doing… only for him to realize that they were getting massacred, too! It looked like there were Geara Zulus in the area, easily destroying multiple Federation Mobile Suits and Fighter Jets… wait, Geara Zulus?!

Indeed, they were Geara Zulu units, each marked with the stylistic sleeves on their arms that marked them as members of 'The Sleeves'. However, there was another unit in the immediate area that looked like a customized Duel Gundam, painted in Geara Zulu colors with the same sleeves on its arms and firing high-powered beams at different Federation units. In fact, the shots even managed to one-shot the Byarlant Custom that was stationed at the base, thus ruining the chances of saving the base even further.

With a fury that was slowly building up in him for some reason or another, Samuel rushed over to the Duel Gundam, turning off his Shinigami Gundam Deathscythe's stealth feature in the process. While he wanted to formally challenge the Duel Gundam's pilot, he thought it would be best to knock it away from its beam rifle, first. However, before he could reach the sleeved Duel Gundam, a Geara Zulu and two Zee Zulus intercepted him, intent on getting rid of him.

With a snarl, Samuel yelled, "OUT OF MY WAY!" With that, he brought his Beam Scissors to bear, holding the blade in front of him while he rammed the Geara Zulu and Zee Zulus.

This action had three effects. The first was the Geara Zulu pilot, a member of the gang called 'The Sleeves', was taken out of the battlefield, along with the Zee Zulus that were computer generated, and his cockpit faded away. This forced the bully to take his GP base, walk away, and mutter something about how "newbies should stay newbies".

The second effect was the sleeved Duel Gundam turned its attention to Samuel's unit, seeing one of his buddies get beaten by the enemy Gundam, and firing all out on him. Samuel dodged as best as he could, considering that he didn't want his Gundam to go boom anytime soon, and was swatted away by a bash to the torso from the Duel Gundam's shield. The Duel Gundam prepared to fire on his unit….

"Need a hand?" a female voice asked Samuel from another part of the arena, showing that the third effect had taken place.

A red and white Gundam Exia arrived on the scene, using its Sword Rifle in rifle mode to shoot around the Duel Gundam to draw its attention to it. The Duel Gundam, perhaps because of carelessness, lost its beam rifle in the process of getting the attention drawn to it. When the unit looked at the Gundam Exia, it attempted to draw a beam saber, only to get cut down by the new enemy with its sword mode… and that meant bisected at the cockpit.

Looking at the unit, Samuel couldn't help but notice that the unit looked a lot like how he envisioned a particular fanfic's Gundam Exia to look, after going through OMNI Enforcer modifications. For example, there was an anti-EMP coating on it, to prevent things like Minovsky Particle interference. As another example, there was a picture of a black rose on its left shoulder, and a picture of a white angel, with halo, on its right shoulder. Finally, there was the matter of the pilot, whoever it was… who in the world was piloting it?

Before he could open a comm channel to the pilot of the Exia, he received a video comm from her, showing a Middle Eastern young woman wearing Setsuna F Seiei's pilot suit… with the modifications to fit her three sizes (not that he knew what they were). "I was in the area when I heard the commotion this had caused, and I wanted to see what I could do to help out, given that you're practically outnumbered here. Want my help in taking out these bullies?" she asked him.

Samuel, who had fallen into a sort of stupor upon seeing her, shook himself out of it when he fully heard the last bit. With a nod, he said, "Yes, thanks, miss…?"

"Seiei. Setsuna F Seiei," the now identified female Setsuna F Seiei replied. With a nod, she said, "Of course, my real name is Saleema Ibrahim, if you're wondering."

Samuel, despite his wide eyes, calmed down shortly and nodded, before saying, "Call me Samuel. If you're ready to fight the bullies with me, I'll say this: Give them hell, and no quarter!"

Turning his Gundam in the direction of the rest of the base, he said to Saleema, "I hope you're ready to kick 'The Sleeves' out of this place. They don't belong here at all."

With a nod, Saleema turned off the comm channel, turning her Gundam Exia Black Rose Angel Custom to face a whole group of Geara Zulus, eight in all, before rushing out to crush them.

Samuel, despite himself, smiled at the sight of Saleema doing what she did best, so it would seem. It was times like this that he was glad he got into the Gunpla Fighting arena, mainly because—

At that moment, he spotted a group of nine Geara Zulus headed his way, making him wonder how to take them out in as timely a manner as possible. That was when he remembered that he had a Beam Katana, the main reason for calling his unit the Shinigami Gundam Deathscythe, as based on from Bleach.

When he put away his Beam Scissors, he put his unit's right hand on the hilt of the Beam Katana and prepared to draw, all the while charging at his foes and avoiding their beam machine guns firing on him. When he got within range, he drew his Beam Katana, slicing the nearest Geara Zulu in half before rushing further in and performing a spinning slice that bisected the remaining eight Geara Zulus. With that, he scanned the immediate area, noticing that Saleema was just finishing off her group of Geara Zulus and the remaining Zee Zulus. Before he could continue looking around, he saw what he assumed was the NZ-666 Kshatriya, given that it had the exact quad-wing form on it. However, to differentiate it from the standard Kshatriya, there was a black sleeve image on the forward left wing.

"You PUNK! You think you can beat all of us, even with the sudden backup like that?!" the lead bully yelled over open comms, hate clearly evident in his tone of voice. With a strange glowing surrounding him, he yelled, "FUNNELS! PULVERIZE him!" With that, all twenty four Funnels from his unit's wings shot forward to shoot at him and blast him apart, except… well, there was an I-Field Generator inside the Shinigami Gundam Deathscythe, so that would make things even more complicated… especially since it activated around the Gundam. As the beams went around it, Samuel wondered what was going to happen to end the battle, namely with the defeat of the Kshatriya.

However, before he and Saleema, who showed up to help out, could do anything, the glowing from the Kshatriya reached all its funnels and even the two Gundams prepared to fight it, enveloping both of the machines, and pulling off the same sort of phenomenon that happened earlier that day… in that exact same arena. Before the bully could realize what was going on, and before Samuel and Saleema knew it, they were gone from their reality… not even leaving Samuel's luggage behind.

Back in the Universal Century, at the present time

Luna II Surface, Lagrange Point 3

While the resupply operations began for the Camel, Jordan was waiting in the cockpit of his Gouf AR Type, prepared to launch at a moment's notice. Since he knew it was likely the Feddies would attack, he had to be ready to defend the Camel and the other ships in the area. However, he also knew it was very likely that his friends on the Absolution would show up as well to support White Base, given how Zeon now had more ships than before in canon.

'Just avoid killing anyone,' he thought to himself. 'I'll focus more on the Mobile Doll units, it will convince everyone else I'm on their side at least if they see me taking out hostile MS, but I may end up fighting one of the others… we'll have to make the fight look convincing enough for them.'

"Jordan, are you receiving me?" Came the voice of Char, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I need your help with something."

"What is it, sir?" He asked.

"We spotted a strange flash of light a few moments ago, not too far from our position." Char said. "I want to send you and Kyou to investigate, see if the Federation is going to try and attack us."

Jordan nodded. "Got it Commander," he said. "I'll launch immediately." He then hit the comm button. "Kyou, you got that? We're heading out for a bit."

"Roger that… still, why did he call you Jordan?" Kyou asked. "Isn't that your friend's name?"

"Yeah, but then he pointed out Vice Admiral Takeo and General Takeo had a son named Jaden," Jordan explained. "So to avoid confusion, just call me Jordan, one less thing to worry about."

"Roger, Jordan. Let's rock and roll!" Kyou said, as she sent her Zaku II High Mobility Type out the hangar, leading Jordan in this battlefield.

"Hey! That's my launch line!" Jordan shouted. "Ah, dammit… Jordan Tackett, Gouf AR Type, heading out!" With that, the Gouf took off from the Camel, and out into space to catch up with Kyou's Zaku.

Meanwhile - Inside Luna II

Samuel groaned out in his forced slumber, wondering why there was so much incessant beeping going on all around his head, before he slowly but surely opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed with his eyes was that he actually didn't need his glasses any longer, so it would seem. The second thing he noticed was that his cockpit had a lot less room than he remembered it, given all his luggage being sprawled out and about inside it….

Wait, his luggage was sprawled out and about?!

Upon having that realization, he fully woke up to see that he was inside his Gundam's cockpit, in a military base, and no enemy Mobile Suits were in the area to his knowledge. Because of the precariousness of the situation, he decided to stay inside the cockpit, while making sure nobody sees the Gundam. He didn't know where he was, but it was obvious these people were military, if the Earth Federation uniforms were any… indication….

'Dammit all to hell!' he thought. 'I'm in an actual Gundam universe! I just hope that I can find the one responsible for this mess… they'll pay for this!'

Meanwhile - Aboard the Absolution

D.J, for one reason or another, sneezed all of a sudden.

Meanwhile - Inside Luna II

'Still… why do I have the bad feeling that I'm not the only one here, and that my foe is in the area, looking for me?' Samuel thought, before he decided to look around inside his cockpit for the switch to the incessant beeping. When he got to looking, his Gundam seemed to share specs with him of different Mobile Weapons in the area, mostly just the space fighters and the odd Zanny here or there… until he stopped himself for a bit.

'I think I'm going to have a migraine from this,' Samuel thought to himself, having found the switch he was looking for, followed by turning it off, before he heard a klaxon go off near his location. 'Hello, what have we here? Federation soldiers are scurrying about the area, looking for an invader… hope that it's not me.'

Fortunately for him, it wasn't what he thought it was, especially the "looking for an invader" part. What he got out of it was something else.

"All hands, Battle Stations! I repeat: All hands, Battle Stations! This is not a drill! An unidentified Zeon-make Mobile Suit has infiltrated the base, and is destroying everything in its path!"

"Well… shit," Samuel said out loud, before he sighed heavily. "Well, time to fight the Kshatriya once and for all, hopefully without killing the pilot." With that, he rushed towards the direction where the Mobile Suit was coming from, intent on crushing the Kshatriya.

Meanwhile - Area around Luna II

Saleema's location

Saleema was silently gliding about in Space, looking for any sign of where she was, considering that the battle map was initially Torrington Base in 0096. The only clue she had so far was the vessel in the distance near that asteroid… which, to be blunt, wasn't Artemis at all. For one thing, no Lightwave Barrier, which would have kept them perfectly isolated.

Then again, the ship was not a normal ship, in her opinion. It even had a helmet, fer cryin' out loud! How many people had helmets on their ships… anyway…

"Okay," Saleema said out loud. "It seems that I'm in the UC somehow, even though it's technically impossible for that to be the case. Now… how do I get home? I know for a fact that I'm in no condition to defeat the Red Comet with my limited training."

Unknown to Saleema, however, two Mobile Suits were heading in her direction… one in her exact situation, the other a native of this world, one who knew nothing about this.

Meanwhile - With Jordan and Kyou

"Another Gundam?!" Kyou shouted in disbelief, as she and Jordan's machines approached the gliding Mobile Suit before them. "Seriously, just how many of these things did the Federation make!?"

Jordan was shocked as well to see the new unit, in fact it was an understatement. He saw it was obviously a machine based on the GN-001 Exia, however with several distinct modifications making it appear much more original.

However, this brought up the same problem they had to deal with before he left for Zeon. He did a quick glance, and saw the machine did in fact have a GN Vernier, meaning it had a GN Drive, and that was the last thing he needed right now, was to worry about Zeon getting GN Technology.

"It hasn't noticed us, it seems," he said, breaking the silence between them. "Either that, or it's ignoring us…"

"Hmm… we need to report this to Lieutenant Commander Char, then, Jordan," Kyou said, oblivious to what was going on in Jordan's mind. "I'm sure he'll let us capture the machine to be studied by Zeon's top scientists, including Professor Elmerit."

"Do you honestly think we can capture one of those things?" Jordan asked. "Me and Char could barely handle two of them before, I don't think it would be wise to engage a machine like this without finding out what it can do… or who it belongs too."

"Honestly, Jordan, how are we supposed to find out what it can do without engaging it? For all we know, it could simply have that big shield on its right arm as a kind of weapon, with a rifle integrated into the shield." Kyou said, in an attempt to encourage Jordan to fight it. Noticing that didn't work the way it was supposed to, she said, "Besides, I'm positive we can capture this together. The enemy pilot won't know what hit 'em." With that, she took off in her Zaku and prepared to engage the Gundam, hopefully without damage to her machine.

"Kyou, wait!" Jordan shouted, but she went on forward as he cursed. "Goddamnit!" He sped forward after her, both to make sure she didn't get herself killed, and to make sure that the Gundam machine wasn't captured by Zeon intact, even if it meant he had to destroy it.

Meanwhile - With Saleema

Despite what Jordan had thought, Saleema noticed the two of them, and wasn't ignoring them at all. Instead, she decided to wait for the time to start her strike against whoever was coming her way, hopefully not Char Aznable. By the time this battle was over, there would only be one outcome… victory, but to one party.

'Now, then, Zeon soldiers,' she thought to herself. 'It's time to have the biggest fight of our lives, with one possible outcome for you. Care to guess what it is?'

117Jorn: And finally, third chapter DONE! :D

Titanic X: So, hope you enjoy the next one as well! :D

Xamusel: Also, starting with this chapter, I will be assisting in my own way. This is especially so with the fact that Kyou's my creation in this. Plus, well, I'm piloting the Shinigami Gundam Deathscythe. :D

Ron the True Fan: And we're going to be making damn sure that neither side gets their hands on those machines; some things just don't belong in other universes.

Takeshi Yamato: The Butterfly Effect is running full swing here, and new variables get added each chapter. Let's see what happens in the next one. :D

DragonKnightRyu: And my Insanity/Bloodlust grows even further.

Patriot-112: And I get new Gunpla ideas to implement… what? It's true!

DragonKnightRyu: HIGH POWERED DEATH DEALING MACHINES… AWAY!

Xamusel: On a side note, please take the time to read and review each of our stories, and please give honest feedback on each one. There are those among us who need the reviews for their stuff (*cough*ahem*cough*), which, quite frankly, we could all deserve, especially since those stories we worked on need help in one way or another. Anyway… until next time…

Everyone: Hasta Luego!