Roromi

As the blast erupted from the dual Amfortas beam cannons, Creed grimaced. He studied the effect of his attack. Time seemed to slow down as the reddish blue beam arced out to touch his foe. The Galbaldy foolishly tried to block the attack and Creed had to wonder if the NPD just went daft. The beam was merciless in its course and any damage to the Galbaldy was overshadowed by the arc slamming into the ground of the colony opposite of where they were on the far side. Black smoke retreated from the impact just before being sucked back in by the small hole etched into the colony, leading into space. Satisfied at causing a big enough distraction with the colony damage, Creed transformed his damaged mobile suit into a mobile armor to jet away. Between the growing winds of the colony hole and the damaged arm, the Zero Savior began to drag sluggishly to the right. With his main weapon out of commission and the recharge time between his cannons slow, Creed was relegated to a supporting role; still he looked for the objectives. The black banner of smoke spilling from the inoperable MKII caught his attention first. Really it was just the cockpit that had been destroyed the rest of the mobile suit was still there. Grim furrowed his brow and veered his craft to the abandoned black Gundam. He transformed back into a mobile suit and began to lamely pick up the damaged suit with his good arm. While he had no idea if securing the damaged unit would count towards victory, he was willing to give it a try. If nothing else maybe he could make the enemies panic in assumptions. The only downside to his plan was how vulnerable he would be performing the task. —— Quattro gritted his teeth as the Rick Dias landed home on the blue Zaku. The momentum of the kick transferred over knocking the blue suit away and giving the lieutenant a moment to swing his bazooka back around. As he did so the blue Zaku charged forward to swing a punch at him of all things. Just then a familiar sensation tingled in Quattro’s senses and he instinctively pivoted the cannons on his back to shoot blindly behind himself. He rarely used the weapons and the jolt to his cockpit startled him, in fact the recoil was much too great. The cannons fired successfully but an impact to his back sent the Rick Dias tumbling forward. “Argh! He must have feinted and got me!” Quattro yelled out as he fought the controls. He had little time to orient himself much less properly assess the damage to his machine, but he did quickly realized the back cannons were damaged. “Looks like I have to give this guy some credit!” The lieutenant grimaced. He switched his comm again, “Higanbana please respond if you’re able to assist!”

Kamille blinked back tears as debris stung his eyes from the exploding MK II cockpit. He couldn’t comprehend what happened but all he knew was it made him angrier. All that he wanted to do was take the fight to the Titans and now it seemed that he couldn’t. As if to answer his prayers a peculiar looking mobile suit fell out of the sky and into some nearby homes. The glance the teen managed to steal told him that the machine looked in decent shape, maybe the pilot had been killed? The angsty teen took to the streets to find the crashed weapon. Just as he thought he was getting close he spotted a familiar jerk he had dealt with earlier. The blonde hair Titans fellow who had compared him to a girl of all things. As the teen rounded the debris he noticed a girl slumped up and laying very still; it was Fa. Of all the things he’d seen today this was the last thing Kamille expected to see. He didn’t have the heart to check if she was alive or dead for fear of the latter. At that moment Kamille decided it was time to take action into his hands with out without a mobile suit. Gnashing his teeth he growled as he began to run faster toward the direction of the pompous pilot. As Jerid approached the mobile suit armed and anxious to commandeer the vehicle, Kamille tried his best to sneak up behind the pilot. With any luck he hoped to jump the Titans pilot and get the gun out of the Jerk’s hand. —— “I’ll get you next time Char!” Quattro winced at the mention of his identity but had little time to contemplate its meaning as his savior from earlier went plummeting down to the buildings below endangering beloved spacenoids in the process. The NPD instinctively got on the comm to hail the odd AEUG asset, “Spider Lily are you ok?” If the Higanbana was taken out of commission on his account that was going to be even more blood stained on the Lieutenant’s hands. “Risu respond!” Still the red comet didn’t have time to mourn, he had to act. If there was one thing Char Aznable was good at it, it was revenge. The Rick Dias flared its engines to charge the Blue Zaku “I don’t have time for cheap imposters!” Quattro yelled out as he moved in for his iconic meteor kick. —— As the Galbaldy swung its beam saber at Creed, the two mobile suits clashed their blades against the other’s. Marco grimaced as the parry flickered particularly bright. The Saviour swung a leg out wide knocking the Galbaldy back once more and Marco glared out to see what caused the flash. The mark two spewed out black smoke and Marco winced, “dang it! That changes things.” He half wondered if it was the Zero System Playing tricks on him again. His contemplation didn’t last long as the Galbaldy crashed back into his shield. Persistent bugger! Marco thought as he worked his controls to try and ward off the NPD once more. The imagery of the Galbaldy swiping off the Saviour’s head made the experienced diver catch his breath before he realized it was another zero system trick and that his blade indeed caught that devastating strike. It was amazing that the nexus could simulate the effects of the notorious system so well. Marco didn’t like being tied up by a mere NPD; blow for blow the damn Galbaldy was keeping pace with him. With the unoccupied MKII being compromised his options for winning were slipping away. “You’re nobody!” He snarled out loud as he moved to bash his beam sword against the pathetic looking beam saber. Marco was surprised when his attack swished into nothing and the Galbaldy ducked from his attack to retaliate with an unchallenged thrust at his sword arm. The hungry blade bit into his suit’s right arm and an explosion of metal confirmed his fears as his weapon arm flew out lamely, free of its attachments. Scenes from Gundam Seed Destiny flashed in his mind and he feared an eminent demise like Athrun. He instinctively flared his thrusters to back away from the committed Galabaldy. A cold and detached voice beckoned to him then, her voice somehow melodious despite the chaos. “How can nobody cause you such strife?” The Galbaldy’s pilot was talking to him. No, an NPD was taunting him. Marco grimaced at the words and pulled out his dual cannons. With little ceremony he aimed at the close ranged enemy and announced, “how’s this for strife?” Damage or no damage to the colony he no longer cared.

Things picked up quickly as Creed flew ahead. Of course the Red Comet seemed to have a big target on his head. Perfect, Marco thought, let them fight over bragging rights. As he completed his wide arc of the initial battle he spotted what he was intent on. A mobile suit straying away from the skirmish to pursue - nothing? Marco shook his head at the thought as he acquired the Galbaldy. No this special NPD was after a bigger prize, he soon realized. As the Galbaldy froze to point it’s cannon at the ground at someone, Marco pushed the throttle of his Saviour, redlining the machine. Marco’s eyes went wide as the Galbaldy shot at the person who had to be Kamille. He didn’t even have a chance to save the poor kid. It was too fast, how was the NPD that fast? As the distance between his Gundam and the NPD boiled down to double digits, Marco jerked his controls to transform the Saviour back into its mobile suit form. The Saviour’s leg led a kick to the Galbaldy’s torso from the side. The impact shook his mobile suit violently and Creed had to fight with the controls to regain his bearings quickly. The kick worked in slamming the Galbaldy into a sideways fling. As the Saviour jumped off from the enemy Marco pulled the suit’s feet underneath him to perch where the Galbaldy had been standing. It was at that moment that Marco realized that Kamille was quite safe, if not shaken up from the two goliaths colliding in front of him. But how? Marco was certain that the Galbaldy had fired on the defector, was he seeing things? Just then a cold chill ran down Marco’s spine and a nervous grin grew on his face. It was the Zero System, it just had to be! Marco had dabbled with it in the previous build but apparently the developers were taking things to the next level. He shook his head and brought out his Beam Sword, igniting the weapon and pointing the tip at Galbaldy. “Kamille Bidan! Hurry up and get to the MKII!” Marco barked over his suit’s PA. Even as he spoke the Galbaldy uneasily stood up and turned to regard Creed. Marco brought his beam sword up in a guard and contemplated a charge. The Galbaldy decided for him, charging at him in an attack. Marco retaliated, desperate to keep any enemies away from Kamille. If Kamille could just get in the MKII! ____ “Apolly! Roberto! Spread out!” Quattro yelled over the comms for the AEUG. His warning was heeded just as a beam from a strange Gundam shot up at Roberto’s machine. “It appears that the Titans are testing out more than just the black Gundams!” The lieutenant warned gravely. His attention was cut short by the charge of a blue Zaku of all things. The red comet flared his thrusters to dodge the slice, just as a shot from a strange friendly unit raced towards his attacker. Quattro didn’t skip a beat aiming his clay bazooka at the Zaku and sending a volley rather blindly at the Zaku to drive the attacker back. It wasn’t the ideal weapon for a lethal attack with its adhesive rounds loaded but it was better than nothing.

Despite the somewhat lackluster attendance on the server there was a surprisingly quick turn around of divers joining this particular mission. Marco rubbed his beard as he studied the names and units respectively. All of the kits were quite impressive, each for varying reasons. There was a lot of awkward greetings exchanged and Marco hardly cared as he ran through the systems of the zero yet again. He studied the weapons and loadouts of the other units respectively, silently guessing what each was capable of. It seemed almost suddenly when the mission began. The Zeta flavored cutscene played out and soon he was staring at hangar doors opening in front of him from a rusty freighter. He glanced at the units around him: the AGE, Beta, and TR-6. “So this is the dream team…” he mused to himself before turning on his comms. “How do we want to do this Alpha team? I’m assuming the NPD’s will act out nearly like the show did….” Marco rubbed his beard as he talked contemplating the best course, curious how his teammates would scheme as well. With the added units and their respective abilities he wasn’t sure that the outcome would be guaranteed the same. Suddenly an idea cropped into Marco’s head and he pulled the controls to transform into mobile armor mode, jetting forward. “I’m scouting ahead! Let’s keep Quattro and the AEUG members safe!” Marco knew in the back of his head that it was unlikely a newly formed team could agree on a single plan quickly. The best he could hope for would be everyone not getting in each other’s way.

It was all just a glorified test. For once Marco didn’t fully understand all the cloak and dagger nonsense his sponsors had been going on about. Marco didn’t care that much about whatever motives they had so long as they kept him well funded. Marco’s biggest concern over the beta was being challenged. NPDs had a history of being pushovers in his opinion and this latest update promised the world in terms or AI difficulty. That’s all that Marco cared about, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so open to being drafted for this gig. The computer repeated its request for perhaps the upteenth time and Marco hardly noticed as he slid his fingers over the delicate details of his Gunpla. By reputation he wasn’t exactly known for making extravagant out of the box models but he was renowned for his attention to detail and for the slight modifications he managed to cram into his Gunpla. "Please, scan your Gunpla" Again the man hardly hurried his comply but did so this time around. “Show them what you’ve got…” he murmured as Marco logged in to follow his model turn machine. He soon found himself standing at the foot of his creation, nearly inverting the previous perspective he had just a moment earlier. He looked around at the world and noted the slack population on the server and again questioned Zapp’s intentions of sending him into this beta, he knew it wouldn’t be for the last time either. As he approached his machine he marveled at the perspective again and whistled to himself. “Boy you sure do dress up nice on this server… Zero…” By association he had to give his machine the somewhat dorky designation of ZAPP-013. Which he didn’t mind all that much, to him his Gunpla was simply known as the Zero Saviour. A highly modified version of the Saviour Gundam he was eager to test out its abilities at last. He climbed into his machine and launched out into the open world. He put the machine through its paces using the free energy to test out the transformation between mobile suit and mobile armor. He pulled a couple of hard turns and other maneuvers before feeling satisfied with what he had so far. The zero ran fairly light, he had contemplated adding a nuclear reactor or some other power supply but enjoyed the challenge the battery life often offered him, the trade off of less weight seemed to feel rewarding at the moment. As he climbed up to a higher altitude in the open world he noticed a flicker arcing up towards the clouds. A flare? Marco pondered, his question being answered by the “V” appearing in the sky and pointing down to a GM of sorts on the ground. “Hmm why not…” he mused as he pulled the Zero into a bank towards the invitation. As he approached he looked up the details of the mission. He didn’t particularly care, one challenge was as good as the next. He looked at the roster and studied the single name, it wasn’t anyone he recognized. He locked his name onto the roster then brought Zero in for a low flyby of the unit. He pitched back around before transforming and finally perching besides the GM. He opened an audio channel “greetings.” << Gundam Generation >> Looking for Divers… (Maximum 8 players) 1. [8TMS Lt.] Aida 2. [ZAPP Agent] Creed 3. NPD 4. NPD 5. NPD 6. NPD 7. NPD 8. NPD

Marco’s Gunpla Collection Name of the unit: Gundam Bael Base original design: Gundam Bael Name of the operator: Marco Creed This is just a high detailed version of the Gundam Bael. Occasionally Marco likes to make a simple vanilla version of a mech he enjoys. Defensive systems: Nano Filament - offers exceptional resistance to beam weaponry at the cost of being frail to physical damage. Weapon system: N/A Melee weapons: Bael sword x 2; Sword Mace x 1 (Barbatos) Projectile weapons: electromagnetic cannon x 2 (close range, mounted on top of thruster wings) Shield: N/A Power system: Ahab reactor x 2 (offers no bonuses) Any other special abilities/features: High performance thrusters - offers additional speed and maneuverability at the cost of additional armaments. ***** Name of the unit: Zero Savior Gundam Base original design: ZGMF-X23S Saviour Gundam Name of the operator: Marco Creed The Zero Savior is Marco’s mash up of the Saviour Gundam with aspects of the Gundam Epyon. While the chassis is largely unchanged from the original Saviour it does have a noticeable difference in the beam rifle being replaced by Epyon’s beam sword. Two of the “super fortis” canons were removed in order to conserve power for the beam sword, as well as reduce weight. The two shoulder mounted beam sabers have been swapped out for additional thrusters instead. The “soul” as Marco puts it, is heavily influenced by Epyon with the addition of the Zero System. The Zero Saviour was intended to be used as high speed attack unit with high output, but risky drawbacks from high power consumption. Defensive systems: Variable Phase Shift Armor - offers exceptional resistance to physical damage at the cost of power consumption. Weapon system: Zero system - offers exceptional target acquisition at the cost of zoning out the rest of the battlefield. Melee weapons: Beam sword - offers exceptionally high cutting power at the cost of energy consumption, beam can be lengthened dramatically, directly powered via cable, hand-carried in use. Projectile weapons: 2 x MMI-GAU25A 20mm CIWS, mounted in head; 2 x M106 "Amfortas" plasma beam cannon, mounted on backpack, can be fired in mobile suit and mobile armor mode; 2 x MMI-GAU2 "Picus" 76mm machine gun (Mobile armor only); Shield: MMI-RD11 aerodynamic shield, mounted on left arm- anti beam coated, reliable and heavy. Power system: Battery pack - offers a light weight power solution for greater mobility but limited supply. Any other special abilities/features: transformable

Full name: Marco Creed Faction: Zapp Inc. Rank: Licensed Operator Age: 43 Sex: Male Height: 6’0” Weight: 200 lbs Eyes: brown Hair: brown Skin: fair Handiness: right-handed Personality Marco is a family man with a passion for Gunpla. He enjoys getting into character with his mecha and generally had fun when diving. He’s task oriented and is willing to make the tough decisions to win. Strengths and weaknesses Corporate backing - Marco has the backing of the prestigious Zapp Inc. and has his sponsor supplying his Gunpla needs. This allows him to pursue his hobby more effortlessly than others. Experienced - he’s more experienced than the average diver and has been pursuing his hobby for the better part of three decades. Overconfident - his experience is double sided. Because he’s been playing for so long he doubts he can run into many challenges. He’s typically pleasantly surprised when a true challenge does surface. Careless - because of his sponsor he’s more carefree about his gunpla and tends to be reckless, willing to give a good show rather than conservative in his approach. Appearance Brown hair with a matching beard. Marco dresses casually and acts accordingly. He’s quick to warm up to people and cares about the effort others put in. He doesn’t get caught up in making a flashy avatar for the system and instead focuses on the mecha. History Since a young age Marco has been fascinating with Gundam. As soon as he learned that he could make Gunpla he was captivated by the hobby. His passion grew with his age and as he got older he got more talented in his craft. By the time he was in his thirties he was catching the eye of the community and was even offered sponsorship. For the last couple of years he’s been the poster boy for Zapp Incorporated. It’s because of his sponsorship that he was invited to the closed beta. He’s excited for the unique opportunity as well as meeting other people. Possessions Gundam Bael Zero Savior Gundam Kills N/A Role plays GBN 1.8 Coliseum battles N/A

(OOC: I had been working on this before things kinda fell apart here. In any case it felt a shame not to finish it and to not put it up here. For the same reasons I’m not going to really proof read it all that much. Hopefully someone will enjoy it.) Location: <redacted> Date: <redacted> Operation: Brook Fall (Identified from Zeon intelligence post One Year War) It seemed unavoidable, the shivering. It was a necessary sacrifice to maintain any possible element of surprise they might have however. Lieutenant Benjamin Grimsdottir sat huddled in an oversized trench coat and rubbed his leather gloves together eagerly. He keyed his microphone, “status update?” His communication line was a buried hardwire and he wasn’t afraid of it being intercepted. “We have confirmed movement from the valley LT, looks like they’re taking scenario A.” Grim grinned “Very good, make sure to keep surveillance sharp, don’t neglect anything, remain vigilant, keep your heads on a swivel.” “Roger that LT!” They had prepared for this, every conceivable precaution had been taken, all that was left was executing their plans. When Grim had been given this assignment he initially resented it. However, he soon embraced the mundane challenge and decided that he would be the best guard that this particular bunker had seen. He spent a week analyzing the terrain, figuring out possible breaches on their location. The approach by the valley seemed the most logical given that the rest of their position was surrounded by mountains; that’s not to say the zeeks wouldn’t try that too. At dusk the guardwatch reported seeing shooting stars leading to the direction of the valley entrance. Not one to take chances, Grim set some scouts ahead in light vehicles. Sure enough a team of zeeks we’re setting up to march down the valley to their location. “4 GMs and they expect me to hold a base on my own with only 4…” Grim muttered to himself. He rubbed his hands and repositioned his grip on his tiny lantern. The dull light cascaded into his compartment and drew long shadows from the dormant switches in front of him. The lieutenant tried wiggling his toes to make sure that he could still feel them. This would be the most stressful part, waiting in the cold and seeing if his crazy plan would actually work. Minutes turned into hours and sure enough the Zeeks soon arrived. The first notion of trouble was the slight vibration Ben could feel. Although the LT was shivering, the suddenly shuddering of his cockpit told him that it was more than just his body. He looked around cautiously at the dormant controls to make sure he wasn’t making phantoms in his head when a crackle on his headset confirmed his suspicions. “LT! Movement near your ridge, have a Zeek heading towards your line of sight, counting 10 repeat 10 tangos all in the valley.” “Affirmative overwatch. Setting up position, ready to be my eyes?” “Roger that LT! We are go!” Grim reluctantly uncurled from his ball in the crooked seat of the GM and began strapping himself in. His fingers shook not from the cold but from excitement of pre-battle now. He paused after strapping in and carefully considered the start up sequence of the GM. They had spent some time rewiring parts of the arm to boot up independently and with a low draw on power. Of course they tested out the sequence and of course it worked but reality often made practice seem inadequate. Still Grim slowly and deliberately toggled the switches and poised his hands over the controls for the right arm. “I’m ready overwatch, how's the show?” There was a slight pause which unnerved him and he wondered if the line had been trampled on. Finally, “LT, we got half the tangos past the skirmish line. Four units are taking the trail.” “Roger that overwatch, confirm when last two have taken the trail, countdown at 60.” “Affirmative LT, countdown at 60.” Grim closed his eyes trying to imagine the footage outside of his darkened cockpit. He could imagine the Zakus milling down the valley in scattered groups. “60” The voice from overwatch broke his concentration and he tensed both his arms over the controls. It was going to be tricky, if he didn’t complete the startup sequence quickly he would pay dearly for his gambit. “50. 40. 30.” He could practically see his heartbeat in his vision as he tried to breathe calmly. Slowly he curled his finger over the controls for the trigger. “10. 9. 8.” “This is it!” He yelled to himself. Snapping his body into the moment he tensed his fingers over the smooth plastic of the controls. “3. 2. 1. Mark!” Grim squeezed the trigger, the GM’s cockpit muffled the loud rapport of the machine gun emptying its magazine. Outside, a white GM was buried in a shallow pile of snow in a dense outline of tall conifer trees. The right arm had been poised on a pile of boulders from the nearby ridge and meticulously aimed at a so call “game trail” their squad had carved from the valley towards the base. As the GM fired off the rounds the snow melted around the weapon and the recoil bumped the de powered arm up widley. Even as the magazine emptied its contents Grim moved quickly to boot up the GM. He had insisted on digging his unit in to ambush the predicted enemy advance. The gamble was keeping the unit powered off and buried just deep enough to hide but shallow enough to pop out easily. Of course he had to keep the GM powered off too to avoid giving away a heat signature, hence rigging the arm to fire the rifle with low power and having the weapon pre aimed. As the GM woke from its frozen slumber it began to immediately fire its thrusters and gain its footing. As the snow flew from the visor of the GM Grim could see the carnage his trap had set. One zaku was on the ground bleeding smoke and fire and another behind it was tumbling into the trees beside it, explosions toppling it. Grim hardly had time to celebrate as he swapped magazines on the gun. Two more zakus further down the trail in front of him turned around in bewilderment. There was a slight pause as everyone acknowledged that things were out of place and then all hell broke loose. “All units commence counter attack!” Grim yelled into his microphone. Grim worked the controls to start charging at the two zeeks in front of him. A pink beam shot out from the base and made quick work of the zaku furthest from Grim’s GM. The shot was from one of his other mobile suits and was equipped with the only beam rifle. Ben had ordered that particular unit to remain behind to act as sniper and had given it special instructions should the battle get out of hand. The remaining Zeek in front of him paused as it drew its heathawk out and turned to consider its’ sniped comrade. The pause it stole was too much though as Grim unloaded half a clip into the belly of the monster. Four units down with six left to go. Grim’s plan had just taken out the entire rear guard of the advancing enemy forces and the remaining zeeks were at the foot of the ridge mixed in the edge of the forest that approached the base. “Unit two! Unit three! Approach the forest and proceed with the counter attack. Unit four maintain your current position as overwatch!” Three pilot voices acknowledged his order in unionship and the lieutenant dared to brave a smile on his face as he came to the base of the ridge. The next few minutes of relative calm unnerved Ben and stole the tempo of success from his stride. As he navigated the frosted forest he cautiously approached each tree, suspecting an enemy to be waiting in ambush. Step, step, pause was his rhythm now as he hunted for more enemies to engage. He contemplated changing magazines on the rifle but decided against dumping half the ammo knowing he didn’t have much reserve left. The minutes ached on and a voice on the radio nearly made him jump, “Lieutenant this is Garner! Be advised I’m not piloting my unit!” Ben couldn’t help but scowl at the announcement, “what do you mean ensign? Explain!” “It’s the boy! He tricked me and took my unit I just came to in the barracks… but I know it was him.” “Damn it! Go help Swanson in unit four Garner! Leave him to me!” Grim switched off his microphone and heaved a heavy breath before keying in the channel for unit two, “Private Winter is that you?” There was an expected pause before the young voice responded, “acknowledge LT this is unit two…” The Aussie twang was unmistakable now and Grim clenched his teeth, there was a million things he wanted to tell the private at that moment. “Damnit Gabe! Form up on whoever you’re closest to. If you wanna play pilot that badly I’m not going to have you die alone. We’ll discuss this when this is over understand?” In a calm voice the teen responded professionally, “understood L-T forming up now.” More minutes of unnerving silence commenced and Grim contemplated pulling his forces back to the base at that time, something was definitely amiss. He was about to key his mic when weapons fire rang out through the trees. He turned his GM around towards the noise and couldn’t see anything “all units report!” Garbled voices responded with a definitive scream piercing his ears. It took Ben a moment then he realized who it was. “Wagner are you ok? Respond!” Next he heard Gabe grunting something incoherent and could hear more weapons in the distance. Suddenly a blaze of pink light flashed throughout the forest and Grim got a lock on the position, “Winter respond!” “Wagner’s hurt L-T. He took a heathawk to the cockpit. I’m afraid I can’t get a good look without leaving my cockpit though.” “Negative Winter, stay in your seat your my wingman now! Base send someone on foot to Wagner's position, me and Gabe will try and lure any remaining bogies away.” Affirmatives echoed over the radio as he finally linked up with Gabriel. The wreckage of two more Zakus had the Lieutenant gauging the outcome of the battle. He desperately wanted to get out of his cockpit to check on the now silent Wagner but knew better with four enemies still around. “I took them both out L-T…” a voice softly announced. Grim turned to regard the other GM standing next to him. He motioned for them both to move off. After a minute Ben keyed his mic, “you mean that flash wasn’t unit four? You used your beam saber?” “Affirmative sir…” there was a trace of satisfaction in the Aussies voice that Grim didn’t miss. “Good work private. Keep it up and we’ll make it out of this alive.” The duo marched along the trees zig zagging to make a path through the maze. More pink flashes Burned through the night air. “Swanson report!” Grim growled as he shifted his GM to face the base. Unit four had been perched on top of the hangar to give it a vantage point but he didn’t like the idea of them shooting. “Got trouble over here sir!” Grim didn’t wait, “back to base on the double Private!” He flared his thrusters and did a reckless leap back to the facility. Grim and Gabe leap frogged back to the base and within a few minutes the saw unit four shooting frantically from the rubble of the hangar. There was a moment when Swanson’s GM turned to regard Ben and Gabriel. The moment was interrupted by a bazooka round pounding into the chest of the GM, the cloud of smoke pulling Grim’s attention to a trio of Doms rushing into the base. “Gabe get behind and get ready I’m going to try and lure them to us!” Without waiting for a response Grim fired the remainder of his clip at the lead unit. Sure enough the Dom turned to regard the duo and lead the other two mobile suits to charge at them. As Grim started swapping for his last magazine he tried to calmly explain. “Hold your fire until they rush us!” If Gabriel understood he didn’t respond. Oddly enough Ben felt at ease with the private guarding his back. His reverie was disrupted by the trio of Doms thundering into them. A bazooka round burst into his shield and his cockpit shook violently as a follow up shot hit the shield practically shattering the feeble defense. Grim barely had enough sense to sidestep a heatrod slashing for his cockpit, “Gabe now!” The private seemed to have read Ben’s mind perfectly as unit two lashed out at the Dom with it’s beam saber. Slashing from the opposite side that the Dom was attacking Ben with. The Dom’s momentum helped the pink blade dig hungrily at the metal and it soon toppled past the pair like a car wreck. The victory was short lived as the other two Dom’s began to circle around them and began angrily shooting volleys at the two GMs. Instinct took over the two Federation pilots as they moved into reaction. Ben hardly had time to consider what Gabriel was doing but instead focused on the Dom flanking in front of him. Shieldless he bounced his GM around in a clumsy dance of thruster dodges. Trying to edge himself closer as he fired his machine gun at the faster enemy. The Dom wasn’t buying into it though. Every time Grim tried to lead his shots the Dom would juke and avoid the fire. Grim likewise did the same when the Dom lined up a bazooka shot. Grim knew they were both running out of ammo so he decided to entice the Dom for the inevitable. He tossed his machine gun to the ground and drew out his beam saber. Gripping the weapon with both hands he presented it in front of himself. Technically speaking, Grim knew he was in an inferior unit, but he hoped the pride of the Dom pilot would cloud any doubts the enemy might have. Sure enough the Dom accepted his challenge by tossing its own bazooka. And in a swift motion it produced its deadly rod and charged at the Lieutenant. Grim pointer the tip of his fusia blade at the enemy’s cockpit while the Dom predictable cocked its’ heat rod to its right side. Both units fired their thruster. The dom hovered at him in a frightening pace, too fast for him to match in speed. Grim did start in a rush with his metal feet pounding away; however as they got closer, he slowed his pace. He fired thrusters with each step making his unit seemingly bounce a bit more. At the last moment he fired his thrusters hard and dipped the blade beneath with. He whipped the sword up and focused on landing the GM from the awkward movement. It wasn’t until he turned his GM around that he saw that his maneuver had worked. Dom’a were fiercely horizontal units and it would have been crazy to fight on even ground. His blade as slashed perpendicular, cleaning through the cockpit and head of the Zeek, clouds of fire bleeding from the unit. Panic stole his satisfaction as he keyed his mic, “Winter! Do you copy!” Static responded back greedily and Grim marched forward to go past the wreck of the second Dom. Just as he came past it an explosion boomed from the last known direction of Gabriel. “Winter!” Grim called out frantically as he willed his suit forward. He was pretty much out of thrust by this point and with just his saber he didn’t know how much use he could be. As he approached the last bundle of black smoke he readied his blade in front of him. He saw that the bundle was the remains of a Dom. He then spotted a GM sitting in a pile of rubble, the cockpit was open. Sitting on the open hatch was a boy still in his teens, looking out at the destruction before him. The look on the boys face was one of satisfaction, or was it relief. Grim pulled up close and opened his own cockpit. “You ok son?” Gabriel looked up at Grim, the look of reverie leaving his face. Finally he nodded towards Grim, “never better lieutenant… never better.” Grim studied the young man for a moment and wondered to himself how the private had managed to pilot the mobile suit so well. The lieutenant knew he would have some explaining to do to command about this skirmish, yet he suspected that everything would turn out ok. The fact was that they had just repelled a superior force with nothing but wit and skill. He studied his sensors one last time to affirm his suspicions and nodded in satisfaction himself. “Gabriel… that was reckless… from now on how about you stick with me? And maybe… just maybe we’ll live through this madness.” The boy nodded his appreciation, “I think I can abide that Lieutenant.” They shared a salute and then a smile with each other. They would live to see their vow through.

Ensign Winter sat hunched on the railing outside of his Quel. Quietly he tapped away at a bulky laptop which was wired up to his mobile suit. He sifted through the lines of numbers and data, a resigned sigh escaping his lips. He had gotten scrutinized over his choice of mobile suit. Lately everyone else had been transitioning to the Hizak, a mobile suit which reminded Gabriel too much of a Zeek unit. Ensign Winter on the other hand opted to maintain his use of the Quel. His decision proved to be both a burden and a blessing; a burden because of his peers criticizing him, and a blessing because the influx of spare parts for his unit from the other Quels. Despite his abundant source of supplies he was faced with having to maintain his unit increasingly on his own. A small price to pay in his mind, he enjoyed solitude. While the world seemed to move on its own, Gabriel remained glued on the past, his mind flowing back to his home, and worse to that damn Zeek who humiliated him in this very unit. He didn’t care that his peers got new units and fancy promotions, he didn’t care that he was merely tolerated; he just wanted to fight, to get revenge. Sighing once more from the headache the screen was giving him he finally shut the laptop down, satisfied with his work. He tucked the chords away and cleaned up his station before floating along down the catwalk. His eyes wandered from suit to suit and before long he spotted the only other elephant in the room, the GM sniper tucked on the other end of the hangar. His eyes glider along the paneling of the older suit and his attention was stolen when he heard his name, “Gabe!” The Titan turned around to regard his colleague Ryder. Gabriel snapped into a salute before responding, “yessir?” Ryder was one of the blokes who received a promotion, for what Gabriel couldn’t quite wrap his head around but he wasn’t one for military politics. “You’re still not taking a Hizak Lieutenant?” Gabriel asked quizzically as he floated towards his comrade. “We’re going to make quite the odd couple out there mate…” Gabriel murmured half heartedly.

“Erland!” Edwin cried out as he saw the two mechs dump onto a building. The explosion of debris was actually quite impressive with the pressurization of the small building rupturing and gushing out air and dust in a brief but violent whirlwind. He reflexively winced at the sight and fought his instincts, scanning around. Sure enough another spinner Rodi busted out of shed and blind sided Edwin knocking the rifle from his Graze’s hand. No matter, Edwin brooded, I want these cowards to see their death coming. With the elegance of a veteran Edwin moved his Graze with the momentum of the Mobile worker and twirled his mobile suit around. As he completed his rotation he drew out his blade and fired his thrusters after the retreating Rodi. As he closed the gap the Rodi also twisted around. Dancing in their dangerous game it began firing rounds at Edwin’s Graze. Panic must have stricken the civilian pilot because their shots trailed lazily towards Edwin, and despite their closing proximity, the fool couldn’t land a hit in the Graze. Edwin thrust the tip of his blade directly into the belly of the mobile suit, a clean strike that instantly killed the pilot and made the mech go limp. He pulled the blade out and twirled his Graze around to look at his two comrades. Edwin noticed Yohan similarly dispatching another Spinner with his rifle. The problem seemed almost resolved when a glimmer of crimson stole his attention, and Edwin had to sort through his confusion at not seeing Erland’s Graze. The vision of a demon made the commander freeze in genuine fear, he could feel the stump on his arm ache at the presence of the machine. Marching solemnly towards the Gjallarhorn soldiers was a titan of equal if not greater measure. Walking down the makeshift road towards the trio was a red Gundam. Their radios crackled as a strange voice hailed the trio. “Surrender your weapons and your ship and no one will have to die.” Edwin bit his lip and switched his radio to Erland, “Erland are you alive?” At that moment Edwin didn’t want to take his eyes off the demon to check on his friend. “Erland if you’re there I need you back on your feet soldier! We got a demon to kill!” He switched his comm to include Yohan, “I’ll lure it close to me, Yohan you take shots with your rifle, aim for its joints but be careful to avoid friendly fire.” At that moment Edwin had a million questions he wanted answered, perhaps the most demanding being how these rebels found a Gundam on the moon. His concerns hardly mattered with the pressing business. He was mildly tempted to banter with the rebel to learn what he could but decided that silence would gain him more favors. He had fought with a demon once before and lost his forearm because of it. He may be the only one that truly appreciated the gravity of the moment they were in.

Way to go! Let’s keep it rolling!

The violent turbulence shook the mobile and pilot alike. Stone faced, Edwin maneuvered the colossus towards the lunar surface. The weak gravity felt annoying, not quite tugging him down and not quite releasing him from the gray horizon. They landed on a ridge east of the facility. It was eerily quiet with no movement beyond the three machines. Edwin sniffed, “feels like a trap. Don’t let these rebels get an edge on us. Stick together and we’ll be fine.” He hardly waited for a reply before gliding his suit to the edge of the ridge and look down. Still no movement. Grunting he hopped the ridge and slid down towards the facility. The buildings conveniently made mobile suit the sized passages where two suits could pass abreast. The maze of passages was impressive even by mobile suit size. His rifle led the way as he took the lead. Soon They found themselves at an intersection. Edwin scowled ar the screen as he scanned the buildings. “Yohan why don’t you-“ His transmission was interrupted by a mobile worker bursting out of a garage strafing and firing at them all. A few shells rattled on their armor and before anyone could return fire it disappeared behind a building. Edwin hissed, “they’re using the facility as cover.” Silent alarms in his head went off and he resisted following the obvious bait. Something was definitely not right. “Things are about to go kinetic my friends.” The grizzled veteran growled.

Jared kept his almost infectious grin painted on his face as the woman talked. He honestly listened to her banter and kept his silent analysis of her filter behind his eyes. “Where are we headed anyway? I don't go planet side so if its Earth I get the master bathroom and whatever is attached to it." He cleared his throat, “I can’t say that I have an interest in going to earth but your machine on the other hand, catches my eye…” he leaned in close, his expression growing slightly more serious. “You see I very much wish to obtain one of these demons for my startup organization. A mascot can be a powerful symbol in the mercenary business you know.” His eyes looked at her suggestively. “I reckon you know a thing or two about combat your majesty…” there was a glimmer in his eye at the suggestion of combat. As if the excitement of the word was enough for them to understand each other. “Tell me why is it you are running away? Why is the price so high for you?” He took a moment to check a small tablet he kept with him and nodded at a message sent to him. His eyes shifted back up to the girl with the dangerous glimmer burning in his eyes. By this point several crew came floating within a respectful distance.

Edwin nodded at Erland’s remark about deploying. “Soon enough. Go get some rest and in a few of hours we’ll deploy.” With that he saluted his friend before retreating to his own quarters, he was quite tired from all the traveling. A few hours later an alarm awoke him in his bed and he groggily got up to put in his space suit. The room was sparsely decorated due to the lack of gravity and he struggled to get in his suit. His fake arm floated around him as he put on the combat gear, waiting for the last minute to attach the abomination to the remains of his limb. At last he got the suit and arm on and zipped up the uniform before grabbing his helmet. It didn’t go unnoticed that his left hand shook visibly and he nervously squeezed the device to “loosen” it up before heading into the hallway. He wore a grim look on his face as he saluted the crew and soon found the entrance to his alabaster Graze. He paused as he perched on the lip of the cockpit to study the behemoth and the sword locked on its hip. Flashbacks of the fateful combat that stole his left arm flooded his vision and he could clearly recalled how crumpled up the left side of the machine had been when he was pried out. He equally recalled the eyes of the demon that maimed him, the elegant designs of the Gundam he fought. He shook the thought from his head before going into the cockpit determinedly. As he sat down he locked his helmet on and pulled the straps across his body. He began his religious system checks to awaken his own monster and prepare for combat. As he neared the end of the routine he did a radio check, “are you there Erland? Yohan?” To his delight his Adjutant responded eagerly, “Affirmative Captain! Ready to deploy when you are!” A grin did form on his face, “you ready Erland? Let’s head out.”

The young man seized up and gurgled out a cry for help that got drowned by the blood dribbling out from his nose. Jared frowned as he saw the response to the Alaya-Vijnana rejecting one of his comrades. “Dang!” Jared hissed as he turned to regard his tech, a girl by name of Betty. The blonde shrugged at her boss and tapped at her tablet vigorously. Shaking her head she finally announced, “sorry boss, there’s a lock on the operating system. We need a key of some sort to override it.” Jared punched the metal of the cockpit in frustration. The price to gut the cockpit and operating system would be substantial and he now seriously had to contemplate giving this machine in for the bounty. He looked around the hangar while burying his face in the palm of his hand. The momentum of his mock punch on the frame flung him out in a soft revolution into the middle of the hangar; if he was discomforted by the motion he didn’t show it. His thoughts equally whirled around him and he almost missed the presence of a silver haired lass as she burst into the hangar. “I made it! Thanks for waiting for me!” The words made Jared furrow his brow and as he bounced gently into the ceiling, he steadied himself to study the girl closely. A smile now formed on his face. “Your majesty!” He cried out before pushing himself towards the girl. As he sailed he caught himself on the rail side opposite of her. He continue to flash her a toothy grin, “at last we meet princess!” He studied the girl for her reaction, the second thing he noticed was the size of her pupils (the first being the hair). “I’m so glad you could join us on this voyage of the Loose End. I’m her captain, Jared Axle at your service!” He gave her a mock salute, his voice booming loudly to get the attention of everyone on the hangar.