Mobile Gundam Red Flag

[Nagato21]

This a fanfic I have been working on for quite some time now but left unfinished.
I call it Red Flag and my perspective of the Newtypes is a little bit different from UC, The combat will be axed more toward guerilla warfare in space and the theme is mostly about social discrimination and ideological conflict. Please comment on it.
(PS: There are a lot of mistakes so please forgive me, I'll edit as much as I can to correct it.)




At the end of the colonization era, mankind has colonized most of the solar system marking the beginning of the Solar Calendar.
Unfortunately this era was not meant to last.
As the number of colonies continued to increase, Earth authority was dwindling.
In Solar Calendar 311, the colonies of Mars rebelled and declared themselves the Republic of Mars.
The rebellion of Mars would have dramatic consequences on Earth whose economy had relied heavily on Mars mining resources. One by one the colonies declared their independence, worsening the economic situation of their home world.
As a result of the economic crisis, the nations of Earth united under one government the UNITED EARTH DIRECTORATE or UED.
Using a militaristic approach, the UED invaded the colonies, hoping to subvert them by brute force; instead the colonies decided to resist the invasion and formed the Space Liberation Army
It was only a matter of time before the conflict escalated into a full scale war between the UED and the SLA.
During the so called “War of the Union”, a new weapon began to emerge on both sides. Call Mobile Suit, those giant humanoid robots proved to be far superior to any conventional weapons.
In Solar Calendar 342, after 31 years of conflict, the War of the Union ended with the United Earth Directorate victorious.
However with the most of the conflict happening in Jupiter, Mars had remained unscathed. After the destruction of the Mars orbital colony cluster Alexandria in February 346 by the UED Mobile Suit code name Gundam Longinus, Mars destroyed the Gravity Subspace Gate: Artemis on the moon which linked Earth, Mars and Jupiter.
This sudden lost of inter-planetary travel and communication which was exclusive for Earth changed the solar system forever. With UED divided, the corporations and multi national formed the Consortium and establish the Periphery colonies, neutral economic zones which provided ore and other goods for the UED and Mars in exchange for neutrality.
It is now the 358 year of the Solar Calendar; the UED has recently reaffirmed its grip on Jupiter and began to move its armies toward Mars who has prepared itself.
As a new conflict to determine the future of one nation, the advent of humans known as Newtypes will unfold a new era.



Chapter one
SC 358
Strategic Defense Cluster #7 code name: The Red Line, area D21


It took Helmer a few seconds to realize where he was: a battlefield; the once empty void known as space had become a new play ground filled with shrapnel, bombs and blood.
Cramped within the tiny cockpit of his Mobile Suit he painfully tries to reach the med kit attach beneath his seat. His left eye was bleeding after his helmet had been tore by micro debris caused by his left arm Mobile Suit destroyed by a stray beam shot. While he avoided most of the damage, the kinetic energy of the explosion sent him flying straight into a small asteroid.
As he is just about to stop the bleeding, his alert proximity monitor begins to scream. Two enemy bogeys where closing on him very fast.
A quick glance at the maintenance control screen reveals his options: the Vulcan Laser head guns, the fold bazooka was still attach to the left shoulder, but he had to eject the ammo rack when he had been hit to prevent any secondary explosion, thus only one shot was left; for close combat he could still use the beam saber.
With the enemy a few hundred meters, away from him, Zack quickly moved his MS MSC03 Sainan into a pack of debris; hoping the Particle interference was still strong enough for him to avoid detection.
A yellow beam piercing through a metallic panel a few meter next to the Sainan dashed Zack’s hope for concealment. His chance of even getting out alive where approaching zero when he realize that the enemy MS was armed with a beam weapon. He had heard the rumors but he never thought they where true. A stream of data converging on his head, revealed the identity of the Mobile Suits: ART XR11 Hellcat, a new mass production model of the UED fitted with a beam rifle. His mind started to wander into the depths of despairs when a soft and familiar voice called him back to reality. The horrors of war, the decision to join the army, the dreams of many shattered by a friend, a traitor.

“Not yet” he murmured, his blue eyes fixing the battlefield, became as cold as the void that surrounding him.
“I won’t die until I find him!”
Like a shooting star, the Sainan busted from its makeshift hideout, seconds before a rain of beams reduced it to a molten pack of metal and flame.

Before they could adjust their angle, the Sainan was already close, a burst of energy sprouted from its right arm and slashed through the enemy MS like a knife trough butter.
Tore in half, the suit internal system ignited the spilled fuel cells, creating a huge ball of fire.
The second Hellcat was still here trying to avoid close combat, while firing a volley of laser guided missile.
Zack rode his MS through the debris, avoiding the shower of bombs after him, suddenly the proximity monitor blinked again, signaling a third Hellcat closing fast behind him.
The enemy MS summoned its heat sword ready to pierce the Sainan chest.
Still showing his back and with no time to evade, Zack detached the fold bazooka, while pushing his thrusters forward.
The cylinder tube split in half exploded violently slamming the Hellcat into the surrounding debris, thanks to its cheap light materials and components, the MS immediately blew up upon contact.
With two of its allies gone, the last Hellcat retreated toward the friendly lines. He never made it. Two small beams of lights tore through its chest, heating the reactor before turning into a ball of fire.

Zack swept the blood gushing from his left eye and applied a patch. It was only temporary until he reaches a medic. Unfortunately his MS was almost out of juice; his fuel canister must’ve been separate from the suit when he was thrown away.
He reached his right leg pocket, unfolding a piece of paper containing a set of numbers; once input into the computer, the monitor displayed a map with several red, blue and yellow dots: There where beacons pointing out to a number of concealed shelters containing ammo, fuel and other supplies.
Created four years ago as part of the Albion Protocol; the Strategic Defense Cluster or SDC was a large wall of debris and asteroids four hundred kilometer wide and four million kilometer away and around Mars. Filled with anti personal mines, hidden weapon platforms, camouflage gunships and thousands of MS pilots, the UED had nickname it Azura the land of carnage and chaos as implied in ancient mythology, after the 11th Fleet and the 3rd Space Infantry Battalion, the finest of Earth had been massacred while attempting to break through in Solar Calendar 357, ironically it was during the month of March one of the many name given to the God of War.
Because 45% of the casualty rate was inflict by anti personal weapons, all military personal entering Azura undergo a thorough training procedure on how to distinguish the billions of booby traps and decoys planted inside this garden of death. To increase chances of survival, the conceal shelters had been created with self destruct charges in case if the enemy was to use them.
The red dots meant that the shelters had been compromised, the yellow dots meant the shelter was occupied, the blue dots meant it was free as for the black dots it meant it was empty.
Despite the number of red dots, Zack was able to find a yellow shelter, hidden inside the abandoned wreckage of an Orion class cruiser, the UED standard battleship.
He carefully maneuvered his Sainan through a series of obstacles marked with Greek symbols design for allies to avoid the booby traps strapped around the area.
His course brought him on the cruiser’s rear which was wide open, like a can of bean, as he is approaching the wreckage, Zack notice several concealed weapon platforms armed with MCP and auto cannons, along with dozens of Mobile Suit hiding behind makeshift bunkers and six gunships, as he looks closely he recognize the emblem on the MS shoulder’s and the ships hull, a strange bird of prey with red feathers, sharp wings, gold at the tip and white claws: the mark of the 3rd Mobile Corp aka Red Hawk Corp, Zack’s unit belong to it.
Following the sign of the beacons now visible, Zack entered his machine inside the cruiser’s hangar which had been repaired to serve the Martian Mobile suits.
After securing his Sainan on a service bed, he opened the cockpit, outside a tall silhouette in red and black suit, with green eyes and an angry face stared at him.

“Lt Helmer?” Ask an angry female voice

Zack swallowed hard at the sound of her voice.

“Co…Commander Grapier!” He replied by a hard salute, his body upside down due to the lack of gravity and he being startled by his Co presence. “W…What a surprise; I thought you where still at the front with the others.”

Commander Natasha Grapier, leader of the Red Hawk Corp was known for a short temper and verbal abuse on her men. Granddaughter of General Thomas Grapier, a hero of the War of the Union, she had inherited his tactical genius and gift of leadership the latter was describe as voracious insults, distribution of latrine duty and her personal favorite: Golf Grenade.

“To the front, hey!?” She replied, her angry green eyes where plunging inside Zack’s like a swarm of needles. At this very moment he wished to trade place with one in a middle of a land mine. “How the hell am I supposed to fight in the front when one of my nuggets is leaving the flank open to the enemy?”
She grabs the poor lieutenant by his collar, bringing toward the decompression chamber.
“That was your job; remember?”
“Actually that was Captain Franklin’s job and he…”
“I know! I know Franklin got himself toast like a roast beef to those damn Yuuds (nickname for UED soldiers). As the good grunt you are, it was your job to hold the line you piss off monkey!”

A rookie would have been angry at the Commander’s remark, but Zack knew it was a façade she only shown to the men that had serve her a long time, he was one of them. He knew she was morning the death of Captain Franklin who got taken by Yuuds sudden bombardments moment before he ordered the 11th squadron to disperse.

“A lot of nuggets made it back, but they still have the green tooth. Since you are the only ranked officer in that lot, you’ll take charge of the 11th; understood!”

The expression in her eyes was still angry, but Zack knew another interpretation

“I won’t let you down Sir!” he saluted while giving back a serious gaze to his CO.
It was an invisible form communication that could only be develops after months or years of devoting service and respect.
“Get yourself a grub and some shut eye. But first go to the medic and fix that ugly mug of yours then I wont have to court martial you for mistakenly kill friendlies.”

Off she goes to check on the other side of the hangar.

A few minutes later, after getting a patch from the medic, Zack reached his assign bunk his heart filled with sadness, he wondered how long this war will last and when will he be able to reach his goal.



The man he admired, he considered a brother faces him with a devilish smile.

“Greg? W…What’s going on here?”

With his grey hair, pale skin and red eyes, he looks like a snake summon from the depth of hell.

“Don’t worry Zack” His voice is soft and gives a feeling of trust in contrast to his appearance. “There’s nothing to worry about…my friend.”

At his feet lies a pool of blood, the corpses of soldiers and civilians forming circle and between the two figures a woman, with long dark hair and brown skin, she lies agonizing in her own blood forming a lake.

Zack rushes toward her, he has to run faster, he has to rescue her, but he can’t, he is too slow.
A giant in black, rises before him, his dark lumbering hands spills a tornado of fire, wiping out the buildings and gardens along with her.

His feet don’t listen anymore, he falls on the ground.

The man he trusted, he admired is standing above him.

His soft voice reaching his ears

His eyes filled with tears as he sees the devastation unfold, the dark sky is illuminated by bright lights shining like stars. But they are not stars; they are the last sparks of life agonizing in the endless cosmos.

“It’s alright Zack, don’t cry.” His hand gently caresses his face, while his evil gaze devours the young boy. “W…What have you done? Greg?”
“Would you like to know?”
A chill travel through his spinal cord at the sound of his words
“I have cast the die?”
A column of light above gushes through the ground and disintegrate the soil along with them.

Sweats, shallow breathing, the eyes filled with tears and an annoying ringing on his Com Cell snap him back to reality.

“Helmer’s speaking.”

A timid voice answers back
“Lieutenant… huh I mean Captain Helmer, this 2nd Lt Louie Birgadette, of the 11th squadron, you where suppose to review attendance for the squadron, but since you didn’t show up I thought about raising your Com.”

“Damn it! Sorry Lt, I must have dozed off b/c of the med gave me some painkillers. I’ll be there in two minutes. Over”

He lied; the doctor didn’t prescribe any painkillers. It was the third time in a week he had experience the same nightmare. Why? Why now; of all time?
He got off the bunk and reaches the sonic emitter, cleaning his face. There was no shower and no gravity here, despite the genetic enhancements Zack obtain when joining the Mobile Corp, which allowed him to endure the stress of no gravity on the human body, he was in desperate need of exercise and mental relief; For two weeks now, the 3rd Mobile Corp had been dispatch to defend SDC #7 infamously known as the Red Line against the UED sudden offensive, which repeatedly bombarded the area with particle beams along with heavy payloads of missiles later they will disgorge scores of MS inside the gaps. Luckily the Martian where well sheltered inside their strong makeshift refuges surrounded by debris and before they could take position to ambush, half of the enemy forces already fell to the layers of booby traps and weapon emplacements.
However the repeated attacks where taking a toll on the soldiers and everyone was wondering why the hell did so many Yuuds wanted to die here? Couldn’t they just go home or something?
His face clean, but still tired, Zack put on his space suit, checked for any gap, grabbed his helmet and left the room.
A minute later he reached a pressurized module next to the hangar serving as a pilot lounge, it had partial gravity, a bar serving drinks in bags, foods in cube and a gymnasium.
Birgadette, a man with a frail physic and thick binoculars was waiting for him.
Zack ever wondered how a guy like Louie made it into the elite Mobile Corp. He had read his stats on the roster before going to sleep; the 2nd Lt had an impressive kill record and scored high during training.
He shrugged his thoughts and reached a Birgadette who gave him a bag of hot coffee.
“Ruth day heh?” he said

“Yep; did anyone from the 11th made it back, aside from the rookies that is?”

“1st Lt Romero made it back with five more pilots onboard a gunship, sergeant Bolivar made it back but he’s in sick bay critical condition.”

The mention that Romero and Bolivar survived, gave Zack a small relief, after Commander Grapier had promoted him, he was afraid that he would be the only experienced officer in the 11th. While he was technically the squad leader, Romero and Bolivar supports would be vital to reshape the squadron.

“Where is Romero now?” he ask

“He’s in the hangar, along with the others. He said he wanted to shape them up before we go back in combat.”

Zack was about to say something, when the alarms rang sounding general quarter.

At a split second precision, everybody inside the lounge rushed through the exits for the hangars.



Inside one the cruiser cargo bays which had been converted into a command center; Major Bob Rambo and his aids looked at the Holo-sphere displaying enemy units in red dots approaching the combat area. The particle interference was still too strong for the sensors to estimate the number of enemies, but what he saw on the sphere was enough to make him almost throw up his last dinner.

“Estimated number of enemy Mobile Suit: 78” claimed an operator “Captain additional heat sources have been detected 200 kilometers on vector 6-12-0 Charlie Omega. They are not moving”

“Mobile Suits?” Questioned Rambo

“Negative! Heat sources confirmed, they appear to be small sized vessels…. Oh my god they are firing missiles! … A lot of them! Straight at us!”

“Dispatch Korus and Jeri teams to intercept the missiles, Argent, Dover and Kato teams will take on the vessels and their escorts; scramble the remaining squadrons to line B3 and C5, order them to assume defense formation “Kampf Five”.

“Roger”

The operators quickly dispatched Rambo’s order in a calm and coordinated fashion. They were professional after all and Rambo knew they would do a good job.

A frown on his face appeared, while looking at the enemy vessels who had appear behind the base. This was not a coincidence; the enemy had launched a coordinated assault, using their mobile suit on the front to distract them while the ships slipped behind.
How? He doesn’t know. But it hardly matter for the moment.

“Major I have Commander Grapier on the line.”

Rambo approached a monitor on his left display his superior face.

“Looks like the Yuuds have come to buy some root canal Major!”

“I agree Commander, however this assault is quite unexpected, to think they could enter so deep in our lines, Intel must be getting lazy.”

“I don’t like this Bob, my little fingers tells those bastards got something up there sleeves. It will be better if we save some of our firepower just in case. The enemy outnumbers us, but I doubt they have the skills to hold against us, for now that is.”

“Acknowledge Maam! I’ll withdraw half of our forces for later, just in case.”

Grapier nodded and cut the signal.
Although Rambo was in charge of tactical decision, he knew Grapier advices where better, but she prefers to act on the battlefield rather than taking a seat. Both officers knew something was looming in the horizon; what was it? They didn’t know. All they could hope was that there men would survive.


It took only a few seconds for Zack to reach his newly repair Sainan; the crew had painted the fearsome mono eye machine in red and white colors, given for squadron leaders while the others would receive theirs in red and black, as he glance rapidly on the frame, he notice that the cockpit had been reinforced along with additional armor plating on the weak areas and the head had been fitted with radio antenna.

The mechanic attach to his team approached him

“How do you like your suit now? Looks like a new baby born from here.”

“Thanks Lorenzo, I appreciate. By the way did you increase the output for the thrusters like I ask you?”

“Of course, but I still don’t know why you need that much power. With all the debris flying around here, it’s very dangerous to fly at such speed.”

Zack smirks as he boards the giant of metal.
“It’s not for speed, it’s for mobility.” He replies to a skeptic Lorenzo.

The hatch pressurized the monitors inside quickly turned on, while the reactor continues to distribute power throughout the Mobile Suit. Zack begins his check list while waiting for clearance to launch. The trusted Hyper Velocity Machine Gun 90mm firmly griped by the left arm, a shotgun was attach behind the waist and could fire twelve cartridges stored in a rack inside each hips, which stored the magazine for the 90 mm as well.
Instead one, the Sainan featured two beam sabers this time and an improve laser turrets on the forehead.

“Talon Control to Ofnir 1, proceed to ramp number 3 for launch. Over”
“Ofnir 1 to Talon control roger. Ofnir leader to Ofnir team! Move Out!

As he gives his first order, Zack slightly pushed the left pedal, while maintaining the AMBAC; the giant behemoth proceeded gently toward the elevator ramp follow by five other Sainan behind him.

“This Ofnir 2 to Ofnir 1, how does it feel to be squad leader?”

Zack smiled, recognizing his best friend voice.

“1st Lt Albert J Romero, keep up the chatter and you’ll be demoted.” Replies Zack while imitating the voice late Captain Frank.

“Aye aye Captain! Just wondering if you wanted to trade place, considering you are still asleep, dreaming on the day you’ll wed the Commander.”

A few smirks from the other pilots who where on the same frequencies could be heard at Romero remarks.

“Keep going Romero, we’ll see who’s laughing when I assign you to latrine scrub duties, and as for the rest you rookies remind me if we make it back alive to give you some golf grenade lessons.”

The cold hard and familiar voice of Commander Grapier muffled the mouths of the Ofnir team, while the elevator swiftly brought them next to their Co Mobile Suit and her team.

At that precise moment, the team wondered if the countless leave orders they had thrown away a few months ago, might have helped them to escape the murdering golf session with the commander.

“Listen nuggets” call Grapier. “The enemy seems to have located our hideout; they are surrounding us, meaning they must have one or two mother ships and supply ships behind their asses. Our first objective will be to locate those ships and neutralize them if possible. Ofnir will proceed to Area DX 122, Grabac to FX233. It’s quite likely they may have additional reinforcements coming in, if so minimize engagement as much as possible and coordinate your strikes with Talon. Is that understood?”

A yes Commander from both group sealed the orders.

“Ok boys lets go give those bastards some route canal!” yells Grapier with an evil laugh.

Her red crimson ASC 08 Cyclops proceeded toward the catapult, follow by the two teams.



SDC #7: The Red Line, area D54, 11h30 GMT

Ryan narrowly avoided the beams that destroyed gunship #15 spilled by the hidden auto-cannons a few hundred meters from his squadron and his.
As he maneuvered his ART 015 Lagos Commander Type (CT) to find a safe angle where he could fire his bazooka without interruption, a rain bullets sprouted from his flank tore out three more Mobile suits from his unit. That was a total of 15 Mobile Suits he had lost in less than ten minutes from, the booby traps and enemy fire. Only twenty five remained.
Angry and filled with sudden bloodlust, Ryan threw two thunder crackers blinding the visual sensors of the gun emplacements and fire two rounds from his beam bazooka reducing the position into particles of fire.

A Sainan suddenly erupts from above, behind debris plate charging at the Lagos with his beam saber; a pair of red wires with energy claws emerges from the Lagos upper chest, tore the Sainan arms at the same time pushing the MS away. The pilot losing his balance due to the inertia, Ryan aims his beam bazooka and fire a round, the burst of energy pierces the MS chest follow by a big explosion.
Satisfied he sets his eyes back to the MCP battery which is dispatching its venom on the UED gunships.
Deprived of its defenses, the battery is quickly silenced by Ryan beam shots.
“Hmpf! I can’t believe those monkeys are giving us such hard time” he muttered.
“Backus leader to Galvan one, what’s your status?”
The transmission took a few seconds follow by loud static noise, the Martian where increasing the jamming, which further angered Ryan.
“Galvan 1 to Backus, Brunei squa….. has reach point….Liebe…strong resistance…request support.”
“Roger that Galvan. This Northwood to Backus squadron, round up and proceed to point Liebe.”

“This Backus 2; Commander, Orshtong team has lost four of its ships and request permission to return to Galvan for re supply.”

Ryan adjusts his head camera, the mono eye circling from left to right, downward.

He sees four large gunships escorting the huge frigate Gungnir class twice the size of the small escort vessels.
“Negative, if we wait, here the enemy will have time to regroup, beside four ships is more than enough to do the job, tell Captain Coral that to much greed is taboo. We will move forward and take down those Red monkeys.”

A priority com channel opened up as he was finishing distributing his orders.

“This Oran squadron; a group of Mobile Suits has broken through our positions and are proceeding toward your position Backus. Approach vector Blue 6-8-12 Charlie.”

As Ryan was hearing the last words, five mobile suit strapped red and black followed by a white and red Suit appeared behind them from above.

Ryan glossed when he recognize the emblem on the enemy suit: The Red Hawks.

“Backus squadron intercepts the enemy; do not let them approach the Gungnir.” He orders his men he says: “Leave the squad leader to me”



“Use the surrounding guys; it’s the only way to survive here.” reminds Zack to his men, while slaloming behind the debris to avoid the incoming particle fire.
He was quite shocked when he discovered that the UED assault forces had manage to penetrate so deep inside the Red Line, it was a first since three years ago during the battle of Phobos. He was even more shock when he and his squadron stumbled upon the assault frigate and a full squadron of Lagos Mobile Suit. Those units where only reserved for the Elite Special Operation Army code name: Tartarus. A quick check on one the mobile suit emblem confirmed his fears; those guys belonged to the Cerberus Corp, the butchers of Europa colony in Jupiter.

“Damn it! The nuggets aren’t ready for this!”

One Logos surged from his left spilling a score of bullets to him; Zack raised his shield, putting his machine back on the leg waist rack, summons a beam saber, while dashing toward the Logos still firing. His shield absorbing all the damage, Zack pushed the Mobile Suit away letting the inertia disable the pilot balance, while he pierces the cockpit located in the chest, as he exit the saber out, air and blood gushes out of the suit.
He hasn’t time to even watch the carnage, a second Logos approaches, he doesn’t wear the traditional white blue color, but a black and gold color giving him a more sinister look, on his left arm a huge bazooka, Zack can easily identify as a beam shot canon.
He fires a couple of grenades before gaining altitude above his opponents.

This last shoots down the incoming grenades with his Vulcan guns mounted on the head and swiftly maneuver the MS body, evading the machine guns fire from above.

“Damn he’s good.” Mutters Zack, he pushes the acceleration pedals to evade the coming beam shots.

But nothing came; the Logos has disappeared from its position at the same moment when Sainan performed his evasive maneuver.
In split seconds, he perceives a pressure from his right side and brutally pushes his suit backward, evading at the last moment a ball of hot particle, a second, then a third and fourth shot rushes toward him, instead of avoiding, Zack rushes forward, letting his shield do the work, breaks through the energy ball.


Not too far away on the same battlefield, a stream of green light split space and time for a few seconds before breaching the hull protecting the nuclear reactor of the gunship, follows a series of compressing and decompressing reactions inside the ship interiors at frightening speed until it transform into a ball of fire and debris ripping through the nearby allied ships and MS alike.

“Two down, two more to go” gloated Romero as he pushed aside the visor of his long range Mega Particle Canon. It was a good idea from Zack to order him to take MPC and a Scrambler module so that he could act as a stealthy back up.

His Sainan had been modified at the last minute with the necessary equipment in the base, on Zack’s recommendation to the Commander. He knew Romero was an excellent sniper.

He swiftly moved his MS away before the enemy cannons would pick him up. A few seconds before taking out the first gunship, Zack ordered him to stay away so that he could pick up the enemy as well as relay a call for reinforcement.

His monitor detected two Logos converging toward him from above. He shrugged their presence and proceeded inside an abandoned transport shuttle. His visor adjusted he had a clear view of the Frigate rear side. Two disappearing blips and two large explosions warned him that the pursuing Logos had been destroyed by the kinetic mines set up on their path; he confirmed the kills by linking his computer with one of the many small URV he had deployed around the area.
Now he could enjoy his next prey without worries. The frigate was now starting to move away for a thicker area, but unknowingly its rear engines to the Sainan Striker.

Romero revealed a wide smile, his first time killing a frigate; it was direct line to promotion and a straight course for golf grenade session with Grapier.
This last thought snapped him back to his concentration, he had displayed the ships schematic and was aiming for a direct shot to the fuel distribution tubes that powered the engines and where awfully close to the reactor.
The laser sighting on target, he fired the green stream at full power this time, overloading the canon fuses and pulverizing every obstacle on its path before hitting deep inside the engine core.
Five seconds later, the two remaining gunships aimed their canons and fired back toward the sniper position, two kilometer away.
But Romero was already gone, while he proceeded to another location, the frigate began to convulse, follow by small secondary explosion which reach the ammunition bank.
The explosion like a volcano broke the ship into two huge burning pieces; proceed by a massive shockwave of energy.

The Sainan maneuver had shock Ryan, for a few seconds before he narrowly avoided a fatal stream of bullets, as he was ready to aim again. The Sainan that passed him with incredible speed and gained altitude, he was again little surprise as to why the suit was running away from him when, he noticed a bright light behind him. His eyes displayed a horrified expression when the massive energy wave from the Gungnir engulfed him the Logos along his entire Mobile suit squadron.


Birgadette watch as the Frigate explodes taking the enemy Mobile Suit with it. Lt Romero warning came as a salvation for the Ofnir team. Everyone had escaped the confrontation; some had damages but nothing threatening and still combat ready.
Louie had been worried that the memories from the last assignment impair the rookies’ performance. If they make it back to base he will use them to shape up the rest of the 11th, since only one team was off today.

“Louie! Round up the boys and lets proceed to DX122.” Order’s Zack. “Our job is far from over.”

“Yes sir. What about Lt Romero? He hasn’t responded to any of my hail, but he’s still on my screen.”

“Don’t worry about him. He’s trailing ahead of us on a parallel course so we may avoid unwelcome guests.”

“Roger! Ofnir 3 to all unit round up and let’s proceed to area DX122, keep toes sharps boys.”

A “Roger” from the last two members, Louie adjusted his navigation computer and uploaded the data stream coming from Talon control.

His Sainan had been modified for electronic warfare and also served as a communication relay between his team and the command center, using quantum laser signal, a technology unique to Mars and still in development with the UED.
Furthermore the backpack attach to the MS acts as an AWAC allowing him to detect specific magnetic field and heat signature emitted by the enemy units through a few kilometers.
As he began to distribute the data to his teammates, something caught Louie’s eyes.

“Ofnir 3 to Ofnir leader” Call Louie. “We just received an abort mission order, priority one from Major Rambo.”

“Says that again?”

“Grabac has just relayed data to Talon. It appears that the enemy attack force is larger than expected, the groups we fought earlier are merely decoys, the main force is assembling between DX123 and D34. Our team is to abandon the current mission and regroup to Vega nine grid 54 G with the rest of our squadron already on route for an immediate counter attack.”

Zack and the rest of the team where shocked, this was no incursion, the enemy intended to go straight for the throat. The fact that a Tartarus Division had been deploy here was evidence enough that an ill omen was approaching.

[Strike Wing]

Nice chapter, can't wait to see the next one. Though you might want to work on your spelling.

[Nagato21]

Thank you. I appreciate
I'll be correcting the chapter as fast as I can and finish the next chapter by next week.

[Strike Wing]

You're welcome. =)

And I'm lookin forward to it.

[hartofahero]

verry good job indeed ^_^ keep up the good work

[Nagato21]

Here a little glossary on the universe of Red Flag and a view about some of the characters as well as some of the sciences. I will update it as the stories progress. Note this is my first time posting a fic so please provides your opinion or advice about the story. I appreciate.

Characters:


Zack Helmer
Age: 26 (born in December 332)
Blood Type: AB
Sign: Sagittarius
Birth location: Mars Orbital Colony cluster #05: Alexandria
Occupation: Officer within the Martian Defense Force
Hobbies: Collect 20th century movies, work on his Harley Davidson, sleeps while on duty, and practice Golf Grenade with his Co.



Biography:
A man with a mysterious past, Zack Helmer is one of the few survivors that escaped the destruction of the Martian Colony Cluster of Alexandria in February 6th SC 346 by the mysterious Mobile Suit Gundam Longinus which took the lives of 200 million people.
After the tragedy, Helmer joined Kurita Industry, which conducted salvage operations and help the Martian Military to build the defensive line Azura using the remains of Alexandria (Composed of thirty one colonies at the time).
It is rumored (Lack of data) he enlisted in the Martian Defense Force in SC 352 and joined the military Academy of Olympus. Graduated to the rank of the 1st Lt He was assign to the Naval Intelligence Taskforce (NIT) code name: Black Wolf conducting black ops in the Jupiter Sphere an attempt for Mars to support the Jupiter Liberation Army. In SC 354, he transferred to the Naval Research Department, serving as a test pilot for the final development stage of the MSC03 Sainan in during which he successfully destroyed nine ART P1 Raptors during an ambush toward the testing site.
For unknown reason, Helmer left the NRD and transferred to the 3rd Mobile Corp in SC 356, acting as Captain Harry Franklin 2nd in command, until SC 358 in which he assumed command of the 11th squadron and was promoted to the rank of Captain.

Not much is known about Helmer prior to the Alexandria tragedy.
There are rumors he may have had connection with the Leviathan Squadron, an Elite Martian unit who was (albeit a few survivors) wiped out during the destruction of Alexandria. Further information about the squadron are classified by the NIT and known to a few ranked officers and government officials, (which may explain why Helmer joined NIT).

Helmer is a skilled pilot and an accomplish leader, who cares deeply for his men. He is a gifted tactician and guerilla warfare specialist; because of his involvement with the Black Wolf in Jupiter he is skilled in the use of many weapons and Mobile suits alike. He is also a CQC expert and employs many hand to hand techniques while piloting Mobile Suits.
When he joined the Red Hawk, Helmer acquires a rapid reputation thanks to his skills, he is later nickname: The Red Reaper after he single handedly destroy 29 Mobile Suits during the battle of Phobos in April 357. Rumors has he can anticipates his opponents movements or even senses enemy presences before they appear on sensors.
While not on duty, Helmer is the laziest person in the world, he spends most of his salary in collecting old 20th century movies, since no one uses DVD’s or even VCR anymore, those movies cost a fortune. He is also the owner of a Harley Davidson, only three bikes exist in the entire solar system. Ironically one of the three bikes is own by UED Commander Ryan Northwood of the Cerberus division who considers Helmer as his nemesis.
The third bike is in a Saturn colony.
It is rumored that Helmer has a romantic relationship with his Co, Commander Natasha Grapier, and leader of the Red Hawk.
After being promoted to Captain, Helmer often plays Golf Grenade with Grapier (Her favorite hobby) and the unfortunate nuggets of the 3rd Mobile Corp.



Natasha Grapier
Age: 30 years old, born in SC328
Blood Type: O
Birth Location: Olympus City, Erusean Continent, Mars
Sign: Leo

Biography:
Born in the elite of Olympus, the Capital of Mars, Natasha Grapier is the short tempered commander of the 3rd Mobile Corp which she has nickname Red Hawk a reference to the Red Luft squadron, her father’s unit who died during the Alexandria tragedy.
Despising the UED for their actions, she enlisted in the Martian Defense force in SC 348 and joined the Naval Academy; she graduated in SC 350 to the rank of Colonel after applying for the Mobile Division. The same year she participated in “Operation Over bound” a military expedition design to capture the Resource Satellite: Harvest (In truth it was a weapon of mass destruction) from the UED above Callisto a moon of Jupiter.
During the operation she and her squadron neutralized the moon orbital defense system power grid. While repairing Harvest engines, the expedition was ambush by the UED Tartarus Division: Wyvern, the Martian battleship Lombardia heavily damage was force to crash on Callisto. Grapier and her men initiated a rescue operation and captured the docks of the underground UED base Ortega after a series of diversion and guerilla warfare tactic. The crew of the Lombardia was evacuated onboard the battleship “Hercules” and successfully escaped the moon.
For her actions on the field she was awarded the Diamond Star for act of bravery in the battlefield and a promotion as Lt Commander, but she was demoted a few months later after punching Vice Admiral Richard Novenka who had deliberately abandon half of her squadron during a mission in Jupiter for retrieving vital intelligence. Grapier and some officers suspected Novenka to be a double agent but nothing was proven. To avoid scandal, Grapier was demoted to the rank of Commander and assign to the Mobile Corp, Admiral Helena Proudmoore commander in chief of the SDC Azura gave her the command of the 3rd Mobile Corp in SC354. During a patrol routine, she witnessed the prototype MSC03 Sainan piloted by Zack Helmer take out nine mobile suits, after which when he left the NRD; she recruited him into the 3rd Corp.
Grapier is famous among the pilots of the Mobile Corp for martyring and verbally abuse (sometimes physically) the new recruits in her unit, by forcing them on latrine duties or playing Golf Grenade with the victim attach to the end of the poll. It is rumored she may have inherited this hobby from her grandfather General Thomas Grapier, a hero the “War of the Union”, after he retired, Thomas Grapier became a police officer and used the Golf Grenade technique to force suspect to confess their crimes (He was force to retire once his superiors found out about his practice), creating a temporary but unprecedented low rate of crime in Olympus history.
However, Grapier is someone who cares a lot about all the men and women serving under her command, especially the new recruits, giving them the title of nuggets.
Because of her past experience, Grapier is determined to never leave any men behind, even if she disobeys orders in doing so.
Aside from duties, Grapier likes to cook and she is a very good one, which has made her even more famous among soldiers to the point that the High Command uses her name and recipes for ration packages to increase the morale of the troops.
She even has a fan sites and posters among the female recruits in the academy who view her as a model.
Grapier is also a lazy person, who passes her time drinking hundreds of bier bottles when alone. What is more surprising is she never gets drunk, because she inherited the genetic attributes of her ancestors the first settlers, who had obtain genetic enhancements to fight and adapt to mars environments. That makes her one of the few Martian soldiers who can fight without enhancements.
There are rumors that she may have a romantic relationship with Zack Helmer which is often the subject of jokes among the 3rd Corp; because the first time they met she admitted in public she fell in love with him because he reminded her of her father.



Ryan Northwood
Age: 42
Birth location: England, Earth (lived most of his childhood in Artemis)
Blood Type: B
Sign: Capricorn

A brilliant commander and member of the Elite Special Operation Army: Tartarus, Northwood commands the Cerberus division during which he led them in the 2nd Jupiter War against the Jupiter Liberation Army.
Like many veterans in Tartarus, he doesn’t agree with the UED politics and racial views. However he believes Earth must rule the colonies to ensure peace.
While he looks like a young red hair man in his twenties, Ryan is actually 42 years old.
During the destruction of Artemis, Ryan’s body was affected by subspace energy leaking from the GSD, as a result his cells regenerate constantly, keeping his body younger and healing his wounds faster. He is not immortal; as a matter of fact doctors predict his body won’t be able one day to keep up with the regeneration cycle. When is a mystery, Ryan could live for hundred years before the process stops.
His family was killed during Artemis destruction; he has a younger brother who also joined the UED. Ryan’s first motivation to join the army was for revenge, but years of fighting and bloodshed have made him reconsidered his views about war. He is now determined to bring peace to humanity and the only way to succeed is to defeat Mars which he believes is the source of all conflict. While Mars may be responsible for his family’s death, Ryan has no ill feeling toward them however.
Like many UED officers, Northwood has great ambitions as well as an agenda of his own and seemed to be after a certain person. He may questions his superiors’ orders, but Ryan always carries his order, sometimes he tends to be a bit zealous; he also cares about his men but doesn’t show any compassions for cowards.
Ryan can also be describe as a sort of thrill seeker when going in combat sortie, he feels himself alive only when fighting strong opponents or facing insurmountable odds.
He volunteered his division to fight on Mars, after hearing of their legendary status. His skills in combat make him one of the top aces among the Tartarus and a model within the regular army. He also happens to possess what people call a “dark side” making him somehow cold and merciless, during those moments; Northwood becomes almost invincible, especially in close combat.
During the Martian war, Northwood develops a rivalry with Martian ace pilot Zack Helmer, the first enemy to have hold up against him in combat. As they continue to meet in battle, both soldiers develops a mutual respect for each other and happen to follow the same goal while they are on opposite sides.
Northwood is also assisted by the mysterious Laura, a woman with strange abilities who seems to know about his dark secrets.
Outside duties, Northwood practices Bushido or reads ancient war stories or philosophical books like Confucius or Machiavelli. When on permissions he visits regularly his family grave on the moon or rides with his Harley. His relation with his little brother is very complicated since he has joined the radicals Earth supporting the war.
It is hinted he may have a relationship with Major Louise Nora, his right hand 2nd in Command of the Cerberus.


Glossary:


Gundam Longinus

It is a mysterious mobile weapon responsible for the destruction of the Orbital Colony Cluster of Alexandria in February 346.
While no conclusive information is available on the Longinus, it is speculated that this Mobile Suit is capable of unleashing massive nuclear attacks as well as performing interplanetary travel through the use of the Gravity Subspace Drive, which forced Mars to destroy the lunar city of Artemis.
The origin of the Gundam is also a mystery; prompting many to believe to be a UED weapon. This suspicion has been confirmed several times when the UED senator Richard Zimmer, used the tragedy to bolster his political campaign and galvanized Earth for another war. Other rumors imply that Longinus may belong to a sinister force hiding in the shadow, or that it possesses powers beyond human understanding.
No one understands why or when it was created, however if Longinus was to reappear again it is very likely that the chances of defeating such weapon would be almost impossible.



Leviathan

An elite squadron of Martian Mobile Suit pilots, created to bolster Mars defenses at the end of the War of the Union.
Officially Leviathan was to act as an aggressor squadron to provide experience to Mars soldiers, their battle experience also served to create the first generation of Martian Mobile Suit and text books in Mobile Suit combat theory.
However nothing is known about the group members and where they obtained their combat experience. Rumors has the pilots where gifted with unknown powers and could anticipate enemy attacks or even read their opponent minds.
In February 346, the group was annihilated while trying to protect the Colony Cluster of Alexandria from the Gundam Longinus.
Miraculously three members managed to survive the onslaught, Alex Klein, Robert Donovan and Adam Plisken who currently continue to serve the military.
Their also seems to be a connection between Zack Helmer and the Leviathan leader Greg Mundo; who Helmer seems to harbor a deep grudge.
Incidentally Greg Helmer was listed as MIA, after the destruction of Alexandria, implying he may have survived.

Alexandria

A Cluster composed of 38 colonies built on Mars Artificial Lagrange point in SC 245, it orbited above Mars at a distance of four million kilometer. The colonies of Alexandria where nickname the joule of outer space because of their amazing architectures. Unlike closed colony, Alexandria type colonies where large ovoid structure containing an artificial atmosphere maintained by a gravity field, each colony where different in sizes and capable of holding five times the capacity of first and second generation colonies as well as producing their own resources, that included minerals, ore and food. Thanks to their gravity field, the colonies could repel any debris and asteroid, as well as performing space travel if needed.
Unfortunately the colony cluster was destroyed by the Gundam Longinus along with two hundred million people, the worst tragedy in human history.
Alexandria was a vital economic resource for Mars and even Earth; during the War of the Union; Alexandria chose to remain neutral and continued so even after the end of the conflict.
It has been hinted that some radical Martians government officials may have deliberately left Alexandria defenseless during the Gundam Longinus attack because of Alexandria neutrality and refusal to fully support Mars (the Republic is a federal government, and each states is entitled to its own autonomy, aside from providing money and support the economy, they can choose to act in political affairs or not.)
None less Alexandria destruction was a shock to all humanity; it became a symbol of freedom for all colonies to reject the UED tyranny and instigated the 2nd Jupiter War.


Artemis

Created at the end of the colonization era, Artemis was the largest city on the moon; it became a landmark of human civilization when it became the residence of the Gravity Subspace Drive (GSD) system, a device allowing for interplanetary communication and travel.
After the War of the Union, the UED took control of the GSD to restrict the colonies movements and monopolized the economy.
When it was discovered that the Gundam Longinus was using the GSD to perform interplanetary travels, Mars launched an attack and destroyed Artemis along with twelve million people and the GSD to prevent the Longinus to be deployed. Unfortunately destroying Artemis created a massive communication black out across the solar system, cutting contact between Earth and the colonies. Using the opportunity, Jupiter revolted once again, while the Consortium created the Peripheries and the colonies of Saturn formed the Libran Commonwealth.
It is still unknown as to how mars managed to destroy Artemis or even penetrate the Earth Sphere Defense Network.

Libran Commonwealth

Created in 346 by the colonies of Saturn, not much is known about this nation because of its distance from the rest of the colonies.
When the GSD was destroyed, the UED lost contact with many of the colonies, the Libran used the opportunity to wipe out the garrisons stationed on Saturn and formed their own nation, with the capital on Titan, Saturn largest satellite.
Twelve years later, after reestablishing order on Jupiter, the UED has yet to invade the Libran Commonwealth. It is largely believe that the reason may be because of its distance and the manpower to retake the sector would exhaust Earth resources, instead the UED is focusing on Mars which is closer.
There are some rumors that Libran may be providing supports to the remnant of the Space Liberation Army, since its colonies served as staging bases during the “War of the Union” it is assume that they may have a very powerful military force and advance technologies.


The Republic of Mars

Suffering from heavy taxations, and its population force to work in the mines for small wagers; Mars rebelled in Solar Calendar 311 and became the first colony to obtain independence.
When the UED began its march to reclaim the colonies, Mars supported the Space Liberation Army by providing manufacturing facilities for warships and weapons.
Because Jupiter was the most important target for the UED, Mars escape the destruction brought by the war. At the end of the War of the Union, many SLA members came back to seek refuge on Mars and helped them to shape its military.
With the help of the Consortium it became a nation whose economy and military power rivals the UED; it is considered by many as a model of freedom and symbol against the tyranny of the UED.

Unified Earth Directorate

After the colonies became independent, Earth fell into a global economic depression; to avoid a global war, the first world nations united together and absorbed the weaker nations. Amazingly, many of them complied and barriers between nationality and ethnicity where quickly erased. While some nations like the African Confederation and the Oceanic Alliance have remain independent, the rest of the world became united under the Unified Earth Directorate.
A militaristic and fascist government, the UED views the humans of outer space as inferiors because they evolved in an artificial environment; this attitude was already the cause of the rift between Earth and the colonies before the establishment of the UED; it grew further when the planet fell into the economic depression, causing Earthnoids to blame the colonies for their situation.
Believing they are superior, the UED doesn’t hesitate to commit crimes against colonies or even disregard their human rights.
While it appears like a united government, the Directorate is very fragile, because of countless power struggles and secret shadow wars between its members; it seems also that the population is enjoying a level of social status superior to the colonies, another source of their arrogance and why the colonies believe Earth is so corrupt.


Consortium

An Alliance of multi nationals and industrial corporations that left Earth for outer space, installing power bases on different colonies, the Consortium enjoys a level of power and influence on both Earth and outer space.
During the War of the Union, the Consortium supported the Space Liberation Army, believing that they will win over the Earth. When the UED developed and mass produced the Mobile Suit the Consortium immediately switched side. After the war ended, they stole the Mobile Suit technologies and provided it to Mars in order to level the playing field.
After the destruction of the GSD, the consortium liberated several colonies by making them into economic zones call the Peripheries, freeing them from the UED grasp. Mars was proposed to join, but refused.
As of now, the Consortium is the most powerful economic entity in the solar system and provides technologies and weapons to both the UED and Mars.
It is clear that their main objective is complete domination over outer space and Earth, but some corporation like Kurita Industry and Agetec have given considerable support to Mars, not for profit but for the freedom of the colonies.

Strategic Defense Cluster (SDC) Azura

Spanning over four hundred kilometers wide and a thousand kilometer long, the Strategic Defense Cluster (SDC) or Azura is a massive defensive line surrounding the orbit of Mars; compose mostly of debris, it was created using the remains of the Alexandria Colony cluster as well as asteroids from the asteroid belt.
To prevent any debris from falling onto the planet, an artificial gravity maintains the SDC; because of the field, the planet can only be access through the “Corridors” special routes that exist inside Azura.
The Space Defense Cluster is divided of into hundreds of sectors, each divided into clusters, to assure that no enemy passes the lines, Azura is filled with billions of anti-personal mines as well as a network of Attack Satellites (A Sat) deploy into kill zones, along with thousands of hidden military posts occupied by trained pilots in guerilla warfare.
To maintain the SDC, the Mobile Corp was created, an elite group of soldiers trained in guerilla warfare; there are currently 23 divisions operating inside Azura like the 3rd Red Hawk per example, along with the 3rd Martian Space fleet, they must defend Azura to the last man standing.
Azura may be a formidable defense, however it has many weaknesses such as requiring a lot of manpower and constant patrols, because of the strong particle interference disrupting radio and radar equipments, the defenders are as blind as the attackers and the casualty rates are often caused by the numerous anti-personnel weapons, making Azura a danger to even the most experienced soldier.
In ancient mythology, Azura was known as the land of carnage, where warriors would fight for eternity even after their death.

[Nagato21]

Notes: I will post the Mobile Suit into the Mecha Design page later

[Strike Wing]

I didn't want to read much on the characters in the bios since I feel that that information should come across in the story, which I assume you'll do so. Gonna run through the sciences in a little while.

[Nagato21]

Sorry for the wait, my computer took a crash dive and I lost most of my files. This is Chapter 2 but it was suppose to be a little longer.
I'll put the rest in chapter 3 after I have recover the rest. Enjoy


Chapter 2: Battle Plans

Mars Mobile Corp headquarter: Phobos, SDC# 13; 14h27 GMT


She walked as fast as she could. She could run, but a commanding officer never runs in a hallway, even when hell breaks loose.

As she approach the door, two MP in uniform guarding the entrance salutes.

The room was filled with many officers circling around the giant holosphere representing Mars and its multiple lines of defense, on the far side of the room, computers, monitors, tactical maps display on large screen tables surrounded also by officers.
Despite the alarmed call she had received earlier, Admiral Helena Proudmoore was relieve to see that panic was not on today’s order. She pushed back her long dark hair from her skin denoting her European origin. As the admiral entered the Strategic Room, everyone stiffened and gave her the salute she deserved.
While still in her thirties, Proudmoore was one of the most brilliant tactician and leader composing the Martian Defense Force. It was through her decisions and plans that Mars had been saved from countless destruction and that millions of soldiers had been able to live again along with the many orbital colony clusters which featured as the UED prime targets before planetary invasion.
She approached the holosphere, displaying Azura and its allied positions, several large red circles in the middle marked the rumored enemy staging areas.
“What is the situation?” She asked
Colonel Josh McCoy, chief of Intelligence Operation, a tall black man with a moustache, approach her, offering a cup of coffee.
“We have report that the UED has launched a simultaneous assault on every sector between the Icarus and Telemakus Navpoints. We have lost nine forward post, two auxiliary bases and four communication nods.”
The woman frowned as more affected area where marked with red.
“This is the largest offensive since last year. Hell it was a cake walk compare to last time.”
Helena slowly sips the burning coffee. It was good, not surprising since McCoy family was the number one coffee maker on the planet; her eyes still fixing the holosphere.
“Do you really believe the UED will go through with this; after what happened in Jupiter?”

Two years ago, the UED had finally achieved its victory against the Jovian Liberation Army, a parallel war to the “War of the Union” that lasted thirty years and killed millions of innocent throughout the Jupiter sector and caused massive economic repercussion to the United Earth Directorate, which led to the creation of the special neutral economic zones known as the Peripheries in the asteroid belt and a few colonies in Jupiter.
Control by corporations, the Periphery had force the UED to review there dictatorial tendencies and focused on rebuilding the economy through mining ore provided by the Peripheries and a non aggression stance on commercial cargos going in and out of Mars, that included civilians as well.

“Since the assassination of UED supreme council Zimmer, the New Prime Minister is Edouard Paraya, Zimmer’s long time rival and a radical of the highest order. The military was more than happy when he took power. He has mention in many of his speeches, that we might have a hand in Zimmer’s death. In truth he is just covering up his own crime and uses us as a scapegoat. The creation of the Interplanetary Assembly at Luna is also one of his ways to take the support away from Mars while his forces choke us to death.”

“Thank you Colonel, but I was not talking about politic. What I am asking is if the UED has what it needs to go into another full scale war with us?”

Embarrassed, McCoy slowly tried to regain his composure, one of his bad habit was to be too passionate about political debates. Aside from that, Helena chose him because of his ability to organize and rapidly process information as well as his sharp instinct working as a sleeper in the UED foreign legion years ago, McCoy knew a lot about UED chain of command, in which he had collected so much dirt through the help of the Consortium private network he was responsible for the demise of hundred of commanding officers being executed or imprisoned by Zimmer, resulting in UED military being severely weakened.

“Sorry Admiral. To answer your question, I believe that UED can muster enough strength to go to war with us, but a long term solution will be unacceptable, even if they manage to break through “Azura” they will have to face Deimos and the orbital defense grid, not to mention the full brunt of our fleet and additional reserves on Olympus.”

“If you are right, and I don’t doubt it believe me…” Helena sipped the coffee again, the aroma reawakening her senses after six hours of sleep. “Then the Yuuds will do everything to break through “Azura” as quickly as possible and use every possible ways to defeat us as fast as they can. Do you agree?”

McCoy nodded, understanding what the Admiral was implying, which didn’t help him to forget about a tragedy which ended millions of lives.

“It’s probable they will use nuclear weapons again.”

This time Helena took a bigger sip as she gaze coldly at an area in space which was once a joule in the universe had become a graveyard and symbol of freedoms for billions.

“It’s not a probability; it is a fact, a cold fact.”


SDC# 14, Ragnar Sea, 16h11GMT

As he opens his eyes, fixing the grey ceiling, Ryan Northwood wandered how he was still alive. He remembered the explosion of the frigate, devouring him and his men.
Then total obscurity; he did make it.
As his head is filled with questions, he tries to move his body. So far he seems alright, his arms and legs are little stiff but he knows it’s temporary.
A soft hand applies on his chest, revealing a slight pain and a bandage covering the injury.
“You really are lucky, Commander Northwood. To survive such an explosion, it’s a miracle you didn’t blow up with your suit.” The voice was coming from his left, a tall white figure with black eyes, green hair and a devilish face. Wait green!
He stood up on the hospital bed his eyes astonish; the woman answered him with a smile.
“I know it’s not a fashion trend but I don’t like blond hairs.”
“You are?” He asks in a suspicious tone. She wasn’t a medic for sure, and he never seen a uniform like hers, actually it was more like white suit.
“Laura.” She replies, with an enigmatic smile. “I am your new partner.”
If that was meant as a joke, Ryan didn’t like it. He started to wonder if he was on an allied ship, the room was empty aside from the bed, the medical tools, a chair where the girl was sitting and yes the girl.
Should he grab her by throat and force her to spill the beans, or should knock her out. He could maybe use her as a hostage. First he…
“First you should calm down, second stop thinking about naughty things like shocking me or grabbing my boobs. I am not into bondage ok?”
“What the…?” Ryan was stupefied, was he thinking aloud? No that was impossible, could she…? He didn’t even dare to think about that kind of possibility, people like that couldn’t.”
She approached his ear and softly spoke
“Yes I know what you are thinking?”
A cold shiver traveled the young Northwood spine.
“That’s impossible?” he yelled, while backing toward the wall.

“You are right its impossible.” Says another voice, a tall man in white military uniform enters the room. “For a normal human it would be impossible to read someone else’s thoughts.”

“Then she is not normal. Right?” ask Ryan while trying to stop the Laura from touching his red hair.
“Are those your natural color?” She ask, visibly intrigued, she pulls a small chunk out of his head, prompting the soldier to slap her, but he only hit emptiness, Laura was back to the chair.

“Her reflexes are five times superior to yours, commander. You won’t be able to hit her, especially with half your strength.”

“Who are you?” ask Ryan visibly irritated.

“Colonel Robert Dubois, attach to the Tartarus Research Division, at your service commander.” He bowed down his head, in European fashion, denoting his French origins

Ryan felt like Jupiter had been dropped on his head at the mention of his affiliation.
“Then you are a member of…”
Laura approached his face, still smiling
“Don’t worry. We won’t eat you.”

“What do you want from me and where am I?”

“Onboard the battleship Coeus of course, your flagship if I assume” replies Dubois. “Your suit was found drifting by your surviving teammates. I have to admit you where really lucky.”
“What is the status on operation Blanket?”
“Phase one of the operation is complete, phase two will proceed in a few hours.”
Ryan sighted a sign of relief, he had been afraid the operation margin of failure, but somehow his comrades had manage to pull through; now all he needs is to regain his honor and avenge the fallen ones. That was his promise, when he enlisted.”

“I can help you if you want.” Ask the girl.
Ryan gave her back an angry glance
“You can stop trying to read my mind for starters.”
“Ok, I promise not to read your mind.”
She seems so innocent and yet
“There are too many naughty things inside; I might become perverted if I keep looking.”
That was the last straw, Ryan was very irritated, hadn’t she be a woman he would’ve strangle her right away.
“Wasn’t your plan to do so earlier?” She asks a snick on her face.
“Stop reading my mind! Damnit!”

“Its good, you too are bonding” Says Dubois, visibly please by their interaction.
“No we are not” replies Ryan. “Now get down to business; what do you want from me?”

“Like Laura said, we want to help you.” Replies Dubois. Visibly he was hiding something.

“Where does that sudden benevolence come from?”

“Let’s just say that, for the good of the Unified Earth Directorate and for your own good, having us or should I say Laura by your side could dramatically benefit your quest.”

“My quest?” Ryan was even more astonished, no one could possibly know except…
Now he was angrier than ever.
“Ricker…” he mumbled

Dubois nodded
“Yes Admiral Ricker was the one who recommended you for our mission.”

“I already have a mission, find someone else.” He got up the bed and started to wear the uniform left for him on the table.

“Our mission is to help you, Commander.” Said Laura

Ryan stiffened, he felt her tone had become cold and serious; a tone reserved only for those who where devoid of emotion, ruthless and merciless; a tone he heard before, from his past.
A smirk on his face betrayed the joy on his heart, as he turn to face Laura, the young woman back down, visibly startled by this new aura. She seems a bit afraid and yet curious.
“It looks like I am getting a little bit closer.” Noted Ryan
He turns back, finish buttoning his combat uniform and turns back again facing the two strangers.
It was Laura’s turn to be surprised, his expression; his eyes had changed again, back to how he was before getting up.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” he said. “If you want to tag along fine, but when I give an order you obey, even if I ask you to jump in a volcano you do it, no hesitation. Capiche?”

“Yes Sir?” Laura saluted in a military fashion, but he could tell she wasn’t serious. Only her eyes sealed the agreement.
“One more thing” he asks. “If you ever try to read my mind again”
He pointed his index on her forehead, an evil smirk on his lips
“Bang!”
Laura move back two step away; now she was scared, and she didn’t need to read his mind to know he wasn’t bluffing, because he never bluff.
“Now if you excuse me” He saluted “ I have a war to attend.”

As soon as he left, Laura crumbled to the chair, visibly stunned by what happened.

“Is he to your licking?” asks Dubois, his face still remains emotionless.

The young woman gazes at the grey ceiling

“I can tell, he is far from what I expected.”

“Meaning?”

She smiles, the same cold smile
“He and I are both alike.”

It is Dubois turn to smile
“Yes, things are definitively getting interesting” Laura didn’t hear him, but she felt the same aura, Ryan had manifested earlier, coming from the man next to her.
She wonder: how come she never noticed?



Like a behemoth summoned by ancient time, the battleship carrier Coeus stands unopposed in size and firepower. One of the many super carriers develop by the UED through years of military development, the massive ship is home to the Cerberus Division one of the many branches composing the Elite Special Operation Army: Tartarus.
As he proudly walks the corridors, his feet maintain by the artificial gravity, Ryan reads carefully the report display on the pad handed by Major Louise Nora, his right hand, she is the 2nd in command of the Cerberus and their Tactical officer, making her also the de facto Captain of the Coeus.
Ryan frowned as he read the casualty list lost in the Red Line; he took special attention at the area where he had almost lost his own life and lost a squadron of fresh rookies.
“Damn!” Like most of the veteran in Tartarus, he hated the decision of Central Command to incorporate the newly formed 11th Space Infantry Division inside their elite taskforce. Officially the idea was to replace Tartarus casualties and strengthening the relation between the regular Space Forces and the Elite soldiers; but Ryan and the others where not dup.
The truth, the top brass was afraid of the Tartarus; they hoped the rookies would become an obstacle during the operations on Mars, a territory unfamiliar to the elite, which will result in heavy losses, allowing the brass on Earth for quick reforms and firm control over the group.
“Colonel Bram thinks we should review the roster for the next phase of the operation.” Commented Nora, “He has already discussed the matter with Colonel Lewis; they are now waiting for your decision, sir.”
“No changes in plan!” announced the commander. “The rookies mental is very low right now; if we put them in store they might get PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), when the time come to rely on them, it’ll be like putting a bag of flesh inside a Mobile Suit cockpit.”
He hands the pad back to Nora, who begins to slow down.
“What if it’s already too late? Those people where never trained in guerilla warfare and the Martian are eating them for lunch. It’s a whole new territory here, even for us.”
Ryan doesn’t stop, he doesn’t turn back, he just keep walking
“We are survivors Nora and humans are the best example. It doesn’t matter if its hell, they adapt, not because they are forced to but because it’s what they need in order to evolve beyond the limitations of nature.”
As he is about to enter the briefing room, she faces him, her eyes filled with doubts
“You realize you are gambling with our future; if the Cerberus fails, it will prove that even Tartarus cannot compete or even uphold the honor of Earth.” Her eyes became angry as she spoke those words.
“Are you ready to live with that kind of shame?” She asks
Ryan gazed at her with all his might, Nora had serve under his command for nearly three years now, she had proven herself as a Cerberus in combat, but like many zealous recruit of the UED she could not stand the fact that Earthling could lose to the inferior race living in outer space. But the Tartarus knew better, Ryan knew better.
“If you keep that attitude you’ll never become a true soldier. If you want to restore the honor of Earth do it with your own hands, don’t count on others.”
As she contemplated his words, Ryan passed her and entered the room.

The briefing room was very large, chairs arrange in semi circular position laid stack above each other, in the middle of the room, a large rectangular screen serves as a tactical map, along with several monitor screen and a podium at the end of the room.
Ryan looked at the officers who had come to attend the briefing, some of them where veterans of the Jupiter war, who had served with him against the JLA; as for the rest, they where green tooth in there first tour of duty, some had seen combat, but mostly against pirates or smuggler groups roaming in space. It was a dangerous mix, like Nora said, but it was his duty to shape them into warriors.
“Major Nora!” he called “Would you care to update us on the operation?”
“Yes sir!” She says promptly, Ryan smiled, she was a professional after all; that’s why she was at his side.
The Major turned on the screen on the floor, displaying the actual battlefield.
“As of three hours ago, our forces supported by the 23rd fleet have successfully established a foothold within the designated rally points: Liebe, Belune, Abalone and Caleb.”
A series of green color tag confirmed her words; the Cerberus where not the only one in this operation, a dozen sector where being attacked by other Divisions; for three years, the UED forces had died in Azura, three years fighting through this artificial space jungle, no avail, the space force had been unable to breakthrough. After the failed attempt to take Phobos fortress last year, many thought about pulling back; with Edouard Paraya appointed as the new Prime Minister of Earth, the military was revitalized and the decision of Tartarus to lead the war brought hope to the soldiers.
Months of planning, reconnaissance and training to overcome the greatest military obstacle in human history had begun five days ago, many Tartarus divisions where at the front and heart of the offensive.
“The enemy has already begun its counter attack; they will reach our main forces in exactly two hours.”
Two red triangles popped on the screen, moving toward the green tags.
“They are gathering their forces from those two points; we believe their first objective will be to assess our numbers inside each rally points, then perform the usual hit and raid tactics to create panic among our ranks, follow by massive bombardment of our positions.”

From each green tags, a series of arrows of the same color, converged toward two yellow circle, between each arrow, a series of blue square moved toward to encircle the two red triangles.
“Unfortunately for them, we will counter attack by concentrating our forces in capturing the Lambda and Epsilon point. Our forces will be divided into three groups, Alpha, Beta and Gamma. Alpha will take Lambda, Beta will take Epsilon, Gamma will be divided into three groups respectively call Gamma 1 2 and 3. Gamma objective will be covering our approach toward the objectives by performing diversionary operations on the enemy positions where we assume they are preparing their counter attack.”
Nora took a glance at some of the officers, looking nervous.
“Diversionary operations?” Noted a nervous captain, visibly a rookie
“Yes Captain Belfast? Demands Nora.
“Is it a good idea to split our forces like that? If we fail to take Lambda and Beta, we won’t be able to count on reinforcements.”
Other officers nodded in agreement with Belfast comments, the rest visibly look irritated by the seemingly cowardice express by the new recruits.
“What are you? Yells Captain Kuberness a veteran Cerberus; “A bunch of wet moles or soldiers?”
“Who are you calling coward? Asks an irritated Captain Debra, a young officer, recently promoted with a few kills under his belt; “I lost half of my men yesterday, because of a few maladjusted zeros! So don’t you dare call us cowards?”
Before the situation could degenerate into chaos, Ryan summoned his authority between the men.
“That’s quite enough both of you. Save your frustration for the enemy. You people seems to have forgot the true objective of Operation Blanket. Major if you would please continue.”
Nora nodded
“Commander Northwood is correct; our purpose goes beyond capturing a few positions. We need to keep the enemy focus on our movement at the same time minimizing our casualties within the main group until phase three. That role will be given to Gamma 3; it doesn’t matter if we fail to capture Lambda or Epsilon, if we can’t hold our ground for more than 15 hours.”
She took a few seconds before continuing, looking from left to right, making sure their eyes where hang to her lips she uttered the fatidic words.
“If we fail… we all die!”
For a few seconds, which seemed like an eternity no said anything, meditating on her revelation.
Ryan broke the silence
“Fifteen hours; for fifteen hours we will kill as much enemy we can, preserve our lives as long as possible and then, let fate decide our next course.”
Debra took a step forward, facing his commanding officer.
“Commander! Permission to join the Gamma wing.”
Ryan takes a deep look into the young man’s eyes; they have the same fire and determination that animated his body.
As he was about to give his decision, Kuberness took a step too, next to Debra, with the same fire in his eyes.
“In that case I’ll join Gamma wing as well.” Declares Ryan stunning the officers including Nora.

“But sir…” as she tries to intervene, he raises his hand.

“You said it yourself Major, Gamma wing is the heart of our offensive, if it fails, the whole force fails; right?”

“Yes but…”

“As a commander it is my duty to ensure that it doesn’t happen.”

Nora wanted to object, but the fire animating her commander’s eyes told her to abandon the fight; she smiled
“I understand sir.” She said, with a tone of defeat.

“Commander Belfast?” she turns to the other Captain, “You will lead Epsilon wing.”
It was not a request, it was an order and Belfast unwillingly accepted.

“All of you are dismiss, please brief your men to the situation and prepare for deployment in one hour.”

The room began to feel empty as the officers wondered if they will pull through this new engagement.

Nora and Ryan where the only one left

“Sir; about that woman, do you think it is wise to have her participate in the operation?” she asks.

“That’s what she is here for. Assign her a squadron in the Gamma Wing; we will see what she can do.”

Off he goes, leaving her for the battlefield;
“I don’t understand you Commander; men tend to want to escape the shackles of death, but you seem to seek it. Why is that?”
He had already left the room, she wish he could’ve heard her, she wish he could’ve answer her question. But she knew he will never answer back. She had to watch from here, she will wait, like always, praying for the best.



SDC#12, the Wolf Den 17h30 GMT

Alexei gloated as he blew up a Sainan emerging from a camouflage fox hole dug inside a small asteroid crater. He received several replies in his radio helmet, confirming his teammate’s success as well.
“Archer 2 to Archer leader, that’s makes twelve kills on plate today.” Notes proudly 1st Lt Robert Lang, Alexis wing mate, a new member in the Gigas division, with a few kills, the man lacked maturity in the battlefield.
He and his unit had been deploy three hours before the 2nd phase of Operation Blanket; acting as scouts to clear the roads of mines, bunkers and foxholes ahead of the allied main force.
“Don’t get too confident Lang”; warns Alexei visibly irritated. He had reluctantly accepted the rookies because of the losses inflicted on his squadron two days ago. He was the only survivor along with two veterans that had been transferred to commend their own team of rookies.
The Captain frowned as his thermal radar identified enemy mobile suits converging toward their position.
“Archer 5 to all units. Watch out everyone! We’ve got company; three enemy suit, Sainan models, no visual yet.”

“Those monkeys are a hundred years too early to compete with us!” replies Lang, visibly excited to add more kills on his belt.
He pushed his ART PR11 Hellcat thrusters, a new mass production model equip with a beam rifle.
Alexei was furious when Lang passed him; he became even more furious when two more Hellcats followed the immature Lieutenant.
He ordered the rest to stay on their position and raised Lang on the radio
“You idiot! Get back here right now Lt Lang or I’ll bust you back to private!”
The Lt laughed at the old geezer comments, he joined the Tartarus to get himself a name not to follow some warrior philosophy.
“Come on Captain; don’t tell me you are afraid of a few monkeys. We are superior race after all.”
Alexei was about to get even angrier when something on his radar screen caught his eye. Something was wrong here.
“Archer 1 to Archer 2 retreat now; it’s a trap!” yelled the Captain
Lang laughed again, as if a bunch of spacenoids could really hurt him.
“Don’t worry about me sir, I’ll clean up the trash and then will go celebrate in some Martian bordello; I here the chicks there are pretty feisty.”
The Sainan where still out of his visual range, but it didn’t matter, the sensors where already locked on there thermal signature, he aimed his beam rifle at the coordinate, set the power beyond the limiters and fired the lethal yellow stream.
A series of explosions confirmed all three targets had been destroyed.

“Archer 9 to Archer 2; nice shot buddy!”
“Archer 7 here; guess the old man was worrying for nothing.”
Lang smiled, satisfied with his three new kills; he was certain to be promoted when they get back to the flagship.
“That man is just a relic from the past, with our Hellcats we are goanna wipe out those maggots.”
“Archer 2! Watch out!” warned his wingman
Before they could re act, a green beam from above pierced Archer 7 upper chest, blowing the suit apart.
“Sniper! Above us” warned Archer 9
The two Hellcats fired back to enemy position; suddenly a stream of machine gun bullets tore Archer 9 body, blowing the cockpit chest apart.
As the machine felt silent, Lang minds began to be wrapped up with fear; for the first time in his life he felt he was being the prey instead of the hunted.
“Archer 1 to Archer 2, get some cover now! You are sitting duck here.”
But Lang could not here him, his radar was blank, no trace of enemy and yet two of his team mates where now dead. He saw a shadow to the left, then another one to the right;
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
Panicked Lang powered his beam rifle to maximum and fired a wide stream of particle, reducing everything ahead of him into a molten sack of burning metal.
“Did I get them?” He asks, his face trembling and sweating
“Archer 2 watch out! Behind you!”
A black Sainan emerges from behind with a powered beam saber aimed at the chest, but Lang moves his Hellcat to left, damaging the left arm in the process.
“You bastard!” yells an angry Lang, he throws a kick, pushing the Sainan away and aims his beam rifle.
“I won’t be defeated by a bunch of monkeys!” He fires the beam delivering the final blow, when suddenly!
A bright explosion shatters the Hellcats right arm tossing the suit into some debris.
Bleeding and obstructed by the crushed cockpit Lang fell in tears, he doesn’t understand; how could’ve been defeated?
As he wonders about his failure, the front of his cockpit blows away, revealing a hot red stream, burning his body.
His eyes crumble into darkness, just before a giant arm approaches.

[Nagato21]

Srry for the double post

[Strike Wing]

cool, nice chapter man though you need to add comma's in dialogue like this:

"Archer 2, get back here right away," said the commander.

but if it's only dialogue just put a period instead of a comma or an '!' if he's screaming it or yelling like: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Look'n forward to the next one man.

[Nagato21]

Thank you Strike Wing.
I've had some trouble with the comma and spelling because I used an Azerty keyboard when I wrote the chapter, when I switch to QWERTY it caused me some trouble and I didn't notice.
I am please you like this chapter b/c Its not really the one I wanted to post, but since my computer crashed I had no choice.
PS: Anyone What do yu think of Ryan Northwood? I wanted to portray him as a modern samurai, did anyone got that feeling?

[Strike Wing]

ah, okie dokie. Hopefully it won't crash anymore and you won't have anymore trouble with it

Also I did find Ryan to be sorta samurai-ish. Cool.

[Nagato21]

Its been a while, I have tried my best to resume the story b/c I lost a lot of data in my computer.
Enjoy and please post me messages on what you think I need to do to make the story better. Oh and sorry about the spelling I am currently using an AZERTY keyboard (French)

Chapter 3: Rebirth of the Betrayer

SC 358
November 15 6h11 GMT
SDC#13, Malta Base


If Hell was a definition of this present nightmare; Louie wondered what heaven would be.
One hour ago, the Malta supply base which there squadron had been assign to, was hit hard and fast by the Yuuds bringing swarms of Mobile Suits and gunships like Locust devouring an elephant.

“Ofnir 3 you’ve got a boogie on your six from above!”

Louie oriented his Sainan backpack thrusters to the left avoiding a lethal beam from a Hellcat, then he pushed his suit to the right avoiding another beam; because of all this equipment on his suit, Louie knew he wouldn’t be able to aim his rifle still on his back and dodge at the same time, not at this distance. He pushes on the pedal thrusters, closing the distance between them, while avoiding the particle streams; he selects his beam saber and slashes the Hellcat left arm mounting the beam rifle.
As he delivers the final blow, the Hellcat dashes away from him, while two more enemy suits appears from below covering their comrades retreat.
“Team work, eh?” Louie smirks; he aims his Sainan right arm, revealing a panzer Faust; the projectile goes into a short arc before tearing apart the chest of one Hellcat, two seconds later Louie dashes toward the second Hellcat; visibly in shock and pierces his chest cockpit with a stroke of beam saber, rending the suit inert.

“Ofnir 2 to Ofnir 3”; call Romero. “That was some fancy killing, even though you are using a Sentry Pack.”

“If it weren’t for those UED having cheap armor, I would be scrapping metal by now.” Reply Louie.
“Don’t underestimate your skills buddy; those Yuuds bastards may have the numbers but they don’t know jack about using their suit.”

“Drop the chatter Romero! Ofnir 1 to Ofnir squadron withdraw immediately to point six _six Blue, Alpha.”

“What’s going on?” asks Romero “Louie?”

“No time Lt, just move away now!”

As the squadron moves to their new position, a rain of green stream and missiles came from above their head, narrowly missing Malta base, the enemy fleet was tore apart, like weed freshly cut from the grass, follow by massive explosion caused by the clusters of missiles loaded with hydrogen charges.

Romero whistles in awe at the massive triangular ark of metal rapidly hovering above their head while it continues to incinerate what was left of the enemy fleet.



“This MSFB 0215 Talon to all allied combat units, regroup to Nova point at five, nine, zero Green Alpha for immediate counter attack.”
“Once again the Red Eagle comes to the rescue!” Proclaims Romero in awe; “Right Captain?”

“By the way Captain how did you knew the Talon was coming?” asks Louie “My sensors only read at the last second.”

Helmer removed his helmet glass and brushes the sweat off his face; He was still baffle by what just happened. As a matter of fact he knew what happened: A familiar feeling, a warning, a pressure.



“That’s a state secret!” He replies jokingly, leaving his comrades perplexed.

“Ofnir 1 to Ofnir squadron; the Red Eagle has spoken, proceed to designated coordinates and engage the enemy at will.”


Pride of the Martian navy, the Brontes class represents the sum of Martian technology and the years of experience accumulated during the Union Wars. Armed with eight twin particle laser canons, two weapon bays compose of fifty missile silos each and two internal hangar with a capacity of sixty Mobile Suit, the Brontes was the clear definition of war machine.

A few stream of red particle faded a few meter from the Talon’s hull.

“Particle field output reduce to 0.003%!” signal an operator

“Two enemies Frigate detected, distance 500, on Green vector. They are firing again, contact in fifteen seconds!”

Captain Santiago stood impassively on the Holographic map describing the present battlefield; He glances at the wall of light freezing the beams from the enemy.

Seating below next to him Commander Natalie Dhal, his second in command, a young woman with blond hair and blue eyes, was giving orders to the crew.
“Target enemy frigates with cannon one through four, order allies in the line of fire to withdraw…. Fire!”

Santiago watches the deadly rays coming from the Talon front port, splitting through the darkness before igniting sparks of fire and shockwaves far away.

“Direct hits!” confirms the weapon officer, Hakim Berkaft. “Both Frigates have been destroyed.”

Two small red triangles faded from the Holo Map, confirming the kills.

“Enemy forces are withdrawing.” Announces officer Dhal;” Shall we pursue, Captain?”

Santiago was still staring at the Holo Map

One hour ago, the enemies had for the second time launch a massive strike across on three major routes
Phobos Headquarter gave immediate order to defend the strategic positions that maintained Azura together from being captured; as soon as the counter attack was initiated the enemy retreated and began attacking communication outposts, supply bases like Malta, before retreating again.

“Standard guerilla tactic, crude but effective” thought Santiago. The enemy had finally adapted to the harshness of Azura and began exploiting it.

“Affirmative; order Galva squadron to secure the perimeter, recall every squadron available to the ship and set a course for Syracuse.”

Dhal looks at him surprised

“What about Malta? If we live it here defenseless…”

Santiago shrugged her comment with his hand

“This attack was just a diversion; Malta may be an important supply base, but if Syracuse communication arrays are taken down, it won’t matter. The entire cluster will fall.”

“I see!” Reply Dhal. Although she was bothered by Santiago bold decisions, she respected him for his experience and quick judgment. Thanks to that they where still alive.
She quickly relayed his orders.

“Commander?” calls the comm. Officer; I have the 11th squadron attach to the 3rd Mobile Group is requesting to dock for repairs

“Grapier’s hounds huh?” asks Hakim sarcastically. While the Mobile Corp was famous for their bravery, the Navy did not holds them much in respect because they act independently from the Navy, which was the cause for many disruption within the chain of command and denied many occasion for the Naval fleet itself to prove its worth.

“It’s not like we have a choice.” Replies Dhal. The Mobile Corp was the reason why the Navy had been force to face draw backs in material, personnel and logistic. The decision of the Central Command to create Azura resulted in decreasing the Navy and at the same time it required the Navy to provide round o’clock surveillance in a defensive line that would’ve required more than twice the current state of their effective.

The Talon and most of the Brontes class carrier where created to compensate those shortcomings, alone their ship operated as an independent taskforce capable of overcoming most situations.

“Beside we could use the help” Dhal sighted

“Commander?” calls the comm. Officer again. “There is a cargo shuttle designation SNT0127 that’s requesting an immediate docking; authorization code: RTZ0001298 Charlie.”

The young commander frowned

SNT was the designation for Secret Naval Transport, what was such a thing doing here.

“Do we still have an uplink with the Q.O.N?” she asks

“Affirmative!”

The Q.O.N is the Quantum Operation Network which serves to relay military information throughout the Martian sphere, develop at the end of the Union War, the system proved to be vital in providing data for commander on the field and so on.

Once she input her log in access, Dhal entered the code of the shuttle in question. Because of her clearance level, most of the file was encrypted; but the access information she was given made her heart shiver. Had another officer like Hakim read the file, he would’ve certainly jumped off his seat.

A strong grip on her shoulder, forced her to turns around, facing the gaze of a tall blond hair man, probably in his thirties, wearing a black and red uniform.

Colonel Ken Davenport of Naval Intelligence; “Of course” thought Dhal, the man had been assign on the ship at the last minute before the Talon was ordered to be scramble.
According to the official orders it was to help smooth cooperation between the Navy and the Mobile Corp, since their task force was operating alone.

“If you don’t mind Commander, I will take care of this.” Answer the Colonel with a white smile.

Dhal smiled back at him
“Of course, that is why you are here after all.” She said sarcastically. If she didn’t hold much contempt for the Mobile Corp, she sure harbored deep grudges with Naval Intelligence; as a fact the whole Navy did.
For the sake of gathering information, many believed that N.I had sacrificed an entire colony clusters along with 200 million people. Their souls never finding peace, served as a wall to hide the cowardice of their people. This project displayed on her monitor was the very proof of it.

Davenport ignored the sarcasm or didn’t care; “This is a top secret project classified level 5; I hope I can trust your discretion?”
Dhal taped on her console, closing the file.
“Good!” says Davenport, visibly satisfied. “Please arrange accommodation within the hangar and a security detail if you please.”

Dhal grunted at the Colonel’s orders, but she had to do her job.

“You do realize that no matter what you try to do; as soon as this thing gets inside the hangar; it will raise a lot of eyebrows.” She said

“I am well aware of ….” Dhal turn her head back, wondering why he paused, Davenport face was like stone totally different from a few second ago.

“Is something alright, Colonel?” Not that she cared, but she didn’t want to have a sick officer in her bridge.

“Shield the bridge now!” yells Ken

“What?”

Dhal met his gaze, his eyes where as if filled with fear, no it was as if he was in some kind of trance.

“Hurry shield the bridge!” he yells again

“Why should I do it?” asks Dhal, now angry. “There is no need to!”

“It’s an order!” he yelled back, this time his tone was similar to a scared child. “Hurry!”

If the man was playing a joke at her own expense, Dhal was certainly not going to let him, she thought about slapping him, but then the best way would be to return to her seat.

Realizing she wasn’t taking him seriously, Davenport turned around: “Santiago! Do something.”

The captain was still showing a face of cold stone, he looks intensively at Davenport then faces Dhal.
“Shield the bridge! Helmsman push us to starboard at 2% Hard!”

The young commander and the bridge crew look at their captain with surprised look

This time Santiago gave them an angry stare!

“Who the hell command this ship?”

It was instinctive, like a child condition to obey when parents shout.
In a half second the bridge armored shutters closed, while the slow stream of air could see gushing out of the portside, moving the ship into the opposite direction.

“A large heat source is approaching fast; dead ahead!” Signal Radar Officer Basher

“Evasive action!” orders an alarmed Dhal

“There is no need anymore!” replies Santiago, he sat on his command chair and activated the ship inter comm. “All crew brace for impact!”

A huge arrow of red light came spawned from the void, pass right above the ship bridge, melting several panel of metal, before fading away.

“Minor hit on the outer bridge shell!” report Basher

“Do a sweep scan at once!” orders Dhal. “Scramble Galva and Asher squadron for intercept! That ship is not getting away!”

“It’s not a ship!” the words came from Davenport, his face was now that of a man who had cheated death many times. “Captain Santiago, dock with Malta base and order our Mobile Suit to maintain a defensive perimeter, while we evacuate the station.”

“Abandon Malta!” yells Dhal. “Why should we?”

“Because the main force is arriving!” replies Davenport

“Impossible” cut Dhal; “Syracuse would’ve warned us!”

“Large formation of Mobile Suit and ships are approaching.” Reports Basher
The Commander’s face became livid

“Looks like Syracuse has already fallen!” concludes Santiago “Order all Mobile Suit to launch! Defend Malta until evacuation is complete.”

Davenport heads for the exit door

“Where are you going?” Asks Dhal
The man turns back and gives her a devilish smile

“I think its time for me to go earn my nickname as the Crimson Angel!” He said with a wink before leaving the bridge and a stunned Natalie Dhal.

She turns to face the Captain who is also smiling

“He…He’s the Crimson Angel?” she asks

Santiago gets his old pipe out of his pocket and begins pouring some tobacco.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him flapping his wings.”


The massive internal hangar was like a disordered hive, however amidst the virtual chaos, the mechanics where avidly fielding weapons and fueling the dogs of wars for battle, while the pilots closes the cockpit of their Mobile Suit being lifted one by one by the massive mechanical arms onto the magnetic catapults located on each side of the ship.

Dress in his red and black pilot suit, Davenport entered the hangar, before closing off his helmet; it has been a while since he felt this scent: “the scent of going to battle”, now he was about to step into the land of carnage once more, among the tormented souls of Alexandria.
He gave a grin at the sight of his new instrument of death.

Draped in bloody red paint and obsidian black, it is slimmer and less bulky than a Sainan, it features a much stronger armor, better power output and a mean looking mono eye.

Once inside the giant, he inputted his access code, activating primary systems; the main monitor lit up displaying the designation of his suit: ASD011 Uber Kruntz.
His weapon check list complete, he receives the green light and get rapidly transferred to the catapult ramp.
“Talon control to Red Knight, you are clear to launch, proceed at your own pace!”

“This is Red Knight, Colonel Ken Davenport; Launching!”

The magnetic clamp deactivated, the suit fell into the magnetic field before being propel at frightening speed in the cosmic void; once clear of the ship, and so the Kruntz powerful thrusters ignited sending the Suit forward to the battlefield.



SDC# 17, Amerigo Comm. Relay station, 6h15 GMT

Sweat was flowing on Richard’s face like a waterfall, if it weren’t for the deadly space vacuum and the time constraint, he would gladly open his helmet.
For now he needed to concentrate on the task at hand.

“Do you want to volunteer for a historical mission Chief Engineer Richard Malory?” had asks a Special Forces Commander five months ago.

As he slowly assemble the wires; Richard couldn’t help but grumble

“Historical my ass!” he thought; this was nothing but pure suicide, added with outright slaughter. He looks at his peers, trying to find someone sharing the same distress; but he pushed those thoughts aside; a black Mobile Suit hovers for a few seconds above him.

“Hurry up you guys, we have forty minutes to get this shit together and then high tail out there.” Said the voice from the Mobile Suit

“Don’t press us, Major!” warns Richard I wouldn’t want to have your sorry comments blow this shit on my face.

“Why you…”

“Enough Ray! Get back to your station.” Said a strong female voice; the face of Colonel Rosemary Pierce of the Black May special forces appeared on Richard’s HUD helmet.
“I know it is hard chief Mallory, but timing is critical to ensure the success of this operation.”

“Don’t worry Rose; it will be done in time.” He says.
The woman blushed hearing her nickname; the two of them had known each other since childhood, although they where of different ranks.

“I know, we are counting on you Richie.” She said before cutting the comm.

Richard almost bites in his own flesh: how could she carry such a thing with a straight face? Was he the only one without a conscience?

The wiring complete he closed the finale panel.




SDC#13 6h25 Malta Base


It took a few seconds for Debra too aim and release the charge of particle coming from the bazooka of his Lagos, transforming the enemy Cyclop into a ball of fire.
Two Sainan came from behind a debris asteroid above him, but where quickly incinerated by a massive red beam. The young officer took a glance at the form emerging from debris of rock, a massive insect looking Mobile Armor.
“Do you like my Mantis?” Chuckles Laura; she moves forward, facing an incoming wall of bullets and missile.

“How boring!”

A red beam sprouts from the Mantis chest which blows away the attack, then the rear tail opens to unleash a barrage of missile on the aggressors, reducing them into a pile of ash and metal.

“If you are bored; how about you go take care of that ship as you where ordered?” asks Debra visibly annoyed by the girl attitude.

“I would but there is someone blocking my senses.”

“What are you talking about?” Debra breaks formation; he was already irritated on the fact that the whole division was being used as bait, but to assign his squadron with a little freak piloting an expensive machine like the Mantis was the last straw.

He decides to take his frustration with the incoming enemy Suits. As if gliding, Debra evades the beam with ease and skillfully with his bazooka takes down each Mobile Suit.

“What a bunch of weaklings! I thought Red Monkeys would give a real challenge but I guess their only strength lies with this jungle of metal.”

“This is Echo 1 to all allies requesting immediate back up…”

Debra scanned the surrounding area and located Echo 1 position, just above the supply station.

After waving at his wingmen, Debra went to the designated position follow by ten other Lagos.

As he reaches the coordinates, he spots a ball of fire, signaling the death of Echo 1.

“Echo team is down sir!” reports his wing mate

“Jeez thanks for the update!” he says upset. “Scatter in groups of two and take them down one by….”

He couldn’t finish his sentence, a rain beam particle came from above him and he barely avoided the attack by moving from the side, but two of his wing mate where less fortunate.

A red and white Sainan with a red wing on its shoulder; Debra smirks: now the real fun begins.

“All units engage”

Like a fray of stampede, the two groups rushed at each other, while the trays of bullets and beams where closing the gap rapidly.

Debra took down one Sainan and blew off the shoulder of the second; then he rush for the real prize: the commander.


“Another gung ho, Eh?” thought Helmer; he evades the beam shot, circles around a rock and fire back with his newly acquired beam rifle. He narrowly misses the Commander Lagos, who fires back, blowing the rock apart.

Luckily Helmer’s shield absorbs much of the damage, he tosses his shield at the Logos approaching and fires his head mounted laser turret on the shield compartment housing two Panzer Faust.
The explosion rocks away Debra’s suit, losing balance; Helmer seizes the opportunity and close the gap for a beam saber kill; but his prey is no easy one; Debra activates his shoulder thrusters, performing a roll onto the right side, evading the deadly slash beam.

He regains his balance and throws a kick, pushing the Sainan away, then train his beam rifle; but Helmer fire back with his laser turret hitting the rifle which blows up.

“That suit really deserves its name” grunts Debra

His prey now disarm, it is now Helmer’s turn to fire his beam rifle, but Debra avoids the fires and launch the Lagos rocket anchors located on the chest; the heat blades of the anchor cut the Sainan left shoulder and blows the beam rifle on the right arm.

“Damn it!” swore Helmer. “I am not letting you off that easy.”

He fire his head turret hitting the Logos left shoulder, but Debra shrugs off the shot and throw his rocket anchors again.

“Doesn’t work twice!” yells Helmer; using his still valid right arm he select the beam saber and slashes one anchor, he aims for the second anchor, when Debra fires a round of Vulcan blowing the Sainan head, while the last anchor clinches on the right leg.

“Now you are mine!” Gloats Debra, he select his beam saber and moves in for the kill.

“As if I’ll let myself die like this!” reply Zack as if he heard the comment.
His right arm still functioning he throws his turned off beam saber toward the Lagos

“Are you that desperate?” Laughs Debra as he get closer, he dismiss the approaching tube and aims at the cockpit.

Zack can’t help but smile

“Got you bastard!”

A small spark leaving the right arm of the Sainan, caught Debra attention, it was fin, really fin; he follows the wire ending on the white tube moving toward his Mobile suit chest.

Before he can even react, a faint glow of light reaps apart the Lagos left hip armor layer while small sparks of lights ignites the fuel cells.
Debra’s suit began to convulse from the inside, while the temperature inside his cockpit began to rise.

“You son of a bitch!” He stares at the Sainan still immobilize. “I am taking you with me bastard!”

Using his last strength, Debra push his burning suit forward, slamming the Sainan and him onto a wall of the station, then inside an empty hangar.

“I am not dying with you, freak!” Zack pushed the lever on his left, unleashing a large cloud of white smoke, the Sainan chest opened up revealing a red sphere: the cockpit which took off inside the entrails of the station while a horrified Debra watch his enemy fly away from him.

The explosion of the two suit blew away the hangar module into pieces.

“Captain!” Cries Louie But his voice can’t reach over the static.

“Damn it! Swear Romero. Ofnir 2 to Ofnir squadron fall back to Malta area 5”

“What about the Captain?” ask some pilots

“Don’t worry, the kid isn’t goanna go down that easily; But we have more to worry here, c’mon!”

Unwillingly the squadron moved away from the wreckage, praying in their hearts for their comrade.


As he push the lever opening the capsule hatch, Helmer remember he forgot to depressurize the capsule, thus he got sucked away outside, before slamming a large panel. Lucky he was still wearing a helmet.
It was dark around him; he activates his search scanning the large room. Maintenance Sleds, spar parts and weapon containers. He remember when fighting the Lagos he got inside what look like a hangar, this must be a storage room.

He tries his Comm. unit, but the static makes him give up.
As he explores the room in search of an exit, something caught his eye.
Something familiar, something buried.
A large black container stands before him; he trails his searchlight on the marking:

RX-333

Helmer felt his knees falling on the ground; a tremor ran trough the room, probably an explosion. As the tremor grew intense, the front panel of the container fell off.
Helmer rolled on his side, avoiding being flattened, with pain he stood up, trained his searchlight on the tall and black giant slumbering in his coffin.
A flow of memories came back like a storm flooding his memories.

The five of them ran through the valley of Ambrosia, jumping and galloping like rabbits across the colorful fields of flowers.

“Wait for me!” cries the boy his knees on the grass; his long hair sticks on his sweaty face

A young man of about the same height, with long white hair extend his hand, his hair hides his face but not the angelic smile

“C’mon brother”
“Thank you Max!”

The kid reaches his brother arm and gets up, his strength renew by his smile and words. He knows he can always count on him.

“What’s with that smile?” Another kid approach, his spiked blond hair pointing to the sky and his blue eyes scares the little boy. “You know if you keep this up you’ll never graduate.”

The little boy hides behind Max and start crying
Startle the blond hair kid gets angry
“Why are you crying? It’s not like I am going to eat you!”

A painful knock in the back of his head make the blond hair fall on the grass

“What the…?” He gets up and turns around, a tall kid with red hair and green eyes, a mean grin is staring at him.

“With a look like that, no wonder he’s scared of you, Lord K!”

The boy in question gets up and raises his fists

“Alex; you are really starting to piss me off!”
“That makes two of us” Replied Alex smiling

“Enough you two!” Cut Max

Both kids immediately stop their head down. While Max looks as frail as his little brother, everyone respected him.
He faces his little brother

“Don’t worry, if you keep working hard you will graduate.”

The little boy shed his tears and nodded.

“Lets go, Eva is waiting for us” declares K by pointing a hill with a cherry blossom

The boys dashes to the hill, at the foot of the tree, a young girl with long dark hair stares at a couple of squirrels, but the group of boy scares them and they run away.

Eva sights

“Why do boys have to be so loud?”

“Looks like you came first again.” Comments Max

“How do you do it?” asks Alex. “We are faster than you and yet you always manage to come here before us.”

K knuckles rain hard on Alex forehead

“What’s with you?”

“That’s no way to talk to a girl dum ass!” replies K

“Both of you stop it!” snaps Max

Eva sighted again

“You guys really don’t change.” She leaves the group and walks toward the edge

“So what’s your secret?” asks Alex still determined

Eva stop and stares at Max brother; the little boy blushes; then she gives a wink and resume her walk.

“That’s a secret.” She says

“What?” exclaims both K and Alex; they stare the little boy with mean glares
“C’mon peeps quick!” says K” Spill the beans!”

But the kid runs to reach Eva and his brother. The kids break off there pursuit, when Max points out the landscape profiling over the edge.

Aside from the green valley, the large city of Orpheus profiled itself on the horizon, with its artistic blend of plants and urban construction, above their head, daylight was slowly giving his place to the night, covering the sky with stars.

“It is beautiful hey?” asks Eva

“You bet!” answer K and Alex

“It’s our home and we must protect it!” declares Max

The little boy nods in agreement

“Are we going to protect it with those weapons?” asks the boy by pointing a large installation east of the city.

Max smile back at him

“That’s right with their power we will protect our home!”

“What is it called again? Asks K “Gunsha.. or something?”

“It’s call Gundam.”


Another explosion rocks the room again, bringing back Helmer to his senses; at this moment he realized he was crying.
He gave himself a scowl; he had swear he would never cry again; no matter he was human after all.

“Cap…Captain Helmer can you read me?”

Helmer adjusted the frequency of his Comm. Unit; the explosion must’ve clear the debris jamming the audio.

“This Helmer, what’s up Louie?”

“Thank god, you are still alive sir! Are you injured, what’s your status?”

“I am alright! Give me a sit rep!”

“Before that I have someone on the line for you, sir!”
Helmer frowned, who could it be?

“Long time no see, peeps quick?” Helmer felt a cold shiver in his spine at the sound of the familiar voice.

“K… Is that you?” he asks, his voice charge with emotion

“Still a cry baby, are you?” asks the voice mockingly. “ Listen if you don’t want me to make fun of you in front of your squadron you better get that ass of yours on the double oh and don’t forget to take Gurthang with you.”

“Gurthang?”

“Yes that’s the name of that model in front of you” replies K

“You expect me to get into that thing?” asks an angry Helmer “After what happen, you want me to…”

“Yes I want you to get inside that god of death!” cut K. “I want you to pilot the instrument of our sorrow! Is that what you want to hear?”

“I..I can….”

“Oh no!” cut K again “Don’t give me that crap! You are the one who made a promise remember?”

Helmer thought his heart would fail

“But…I”

“Remember you swear on her death bed!” K’s voice was now cold but charge with emotion. “Now that you have the tool to do what you need to do you are going to chicken away? Is it?”

Helmer took the pendant on his neck

A squirrel tooth

“Don’t cry Eva”
But Eva could not stop the tears flowing from her face; the squirrel where dead, buried in the Earth.

“It’s not your fault if they happen to be in the training area.”

“But I was the one who fired the beam rifle!” cries the girl

“I know it’s sad but people die you know; right now there are a lot of people who are dying in this war.”

“Is that why we are training?” She asks. “Are we training to kill other people?”

“No!” says Max “We are training so we can protect our home!” “This war has nothing to do with us.”

“That’s not what my father said!” whispers Alex

“That is not the point!”

Eva continues to cry as the boys where arguing, a soft hand reach her elbow

It was him, his hair where hiding his sadness, but tears could be seen running on his face.

He opened his hand revealing two white teeth

“I…I took it from the squirrels; its for you… so you can remember.”

Eva stopped crying now curious

“Mom has a necklace” continue the boy “She says that it was my dad who gave it to her so that he will always remain in her heart.”

“Have you seen your father?” asks Eva

“Never, but Mom says that I look like him, that’s good enough for me.”

The girl shed her tears and smile

“Thank you Zack!” She removes one tooth and closes it in Zack’s hand.

“This way you can remember them too and me too!” she says “If I am not here I want you to look at it and always remember why you are fighting for.”

The boy blushes at the comment

“Thank you Eva!”



“What is it going to be?” asks K in the inter comm. “I won’t force you, you know!”

Helmer took a deep breath; he put back the necklace in his pocket, and then leaped into the container.

“Ok dum ass!” He says while opening the access hatch “I’ll ride that stupid thing, and then I’ll kick your ass like in the old with interests.”

A smirk came from K, over the microphone

“You’re on amigo! I am sending you the access code; oh and… good luck….brother!”

Helmer chuckled, as he got inside the cockpit and activated the main systems

“Do you even need to say it?”

As he entered the finale access code, a pair of red eye flashed from the dark container, while the giant of death begin to rise from its slumber.

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