Episode 16 - R&R [4th]

The last RPG was "Zeta Gundam: Tales from the Frontlines - The AEUG" which ran from 2006-14.
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The Big Zabowski
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"So, where did you get that rank badge? The last time I saw one was in '83."

"Long story; was 11 at the time when a little spat between the Libot Federal Garrison and a Zeon Tee-eff lead to fighting inside the colony. The place was never really neutral, some colonies in the side placing their bets with Zeon, the others like Libot with the Federals. Zeke Fritz pilot crashed his Zaku in the local park behind my school, definite rook but I was none the wiser at the time."

Al shook his head in dismay and slouched slightly against the crate.

"Back then I was a total MS fanatic and got the badge as a barter for "traded MS footage." Turns out it was footage of the Feds unloading a Prototype MS from a cargo ship in the bay block of the colony. Some Newtype Gundam contraption that was supposedly finishing testing at Libot.

So much for neutrality and concerns for peoples lives. Worst part came when Zeon came knocking with a pair of Musais and a Tivvay with a load of Nuclear warheads to be used to wipe the Gundam and the colony out of the side."

Setting his jaw, Al closed his eyes, looking down at the floor as his fists clenched.

"Never really came to that, as the Feds caught up with them just inside the bunch border, and the two sides never came to major blows. Though there was a spat inside the colony with what I later found to be a Kamper MS or whatever it was called. That Gundam whiped the floor with the Zeke suit. Only way it was taken out.."

A tear formed along the inside of his right eye, floating off slightly as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to hold in the pain.

"Only way it was taken out was with a Zaku Fritz type. Pilot sacrifced himself and left the Gundam incapacitated. Towed off for scrap later on. Sucky thing was; my neighbor was the pilot of that Gundam, and the Zaku pilot was the same one that gave me this rank badge."

Al pulled the rank badge off of his collar and held it in his hand, feeling the stitching and embroidering as he looked up at his teal colored Nemo.

"Bernard was no older than maybe 20. He actually struck up a friendship with the Gundam pilot, but neither of them knew who the other was. Funny how much war loves to screw with people."

With the badge in hand Al looked over to Bernard, his eyes somewhat blank. If someone had been holding on to the kid, they'd feel him trembling and cold to the touch as he spoke.

"I saw that Zaku take the beam saber to the cockpit. I saw the Gundam get opened like a tin can with that heat hawk. War may have been a fun fantasy, but when you see two people you know and love get into it with a pair of 18 meter tall mecha, it's never fun anymore. Bernie died trying to save the colony, even when the Nuke strike team had been caught. He took that half fixed Zaku and took out the Gundam.

And it was that same drive that brought me to take out Lon Kou. I'm damned sure of it. I did it to save you guys, and the fleet. Otherwise we would have lost more men. Now that you mention it, this badge has more meaning now.. It not only reminds me of the one best friend I lost during the war, but of the drive that keeps me going."
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Lans
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- Hamburg -
- Mess Hall -


"Morning, lieutenant, how was your night, restful I hope." It was Ltjg. Trask who also come early to the mess hall.

Emington, still playing with his cup of coffee replied briefly to the smiling comrade, "Morning to you as well lieutenant. Well I have pretty good sleep, no more and no less." He chuckled for a bit and added, "Here, have a seat. Have you got your morning meal? I must say that they serve pretty good spaghetti, it seems that AEUG treated their people no less than our beloved EFSF. I must admit that I already prepare for the worst you know, for a bunch of rebel like us. I even stock some digestion pills just in case of food poisoning." Randy let out a heartily laugh, added some more color and life to this warship mess hall.

"So, anything to discuss?" Emington lowered his voice before continue, "Officer to officer I mean. Have you got any suggestion with the team? I'm open for any advice that would make us last longer in front of the Titans." He let out a sigh, and thought to himself, 'We're facing against elites created by our own EFSF military facility, same tactics and deployment, but better facilitated and more indoctrinated. Damned that Jamitov man.'
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- Hamburg -
- Mess Hall -


"So, anything to discuss? Officer to officer I mean. Have you got any suggestion with the team? I'm open for any advice that would make us last longer in front of the Titans."

Trask took the offered seat, and replied, "Well, it's been awhile since I was in a space battle, my last action was at Jaburo, you see. Though from what I remember from Solomon, all the basic should be covered, like staying close, don't separate, etcetera. But, I think the team should split into two sub-groups, a vet with a rookie, so for example, you with Jeridan, and Bernard with Al. Now, one team would cover the other, and the vets can cover the rookies."

Trask smiled wryly as he finished. "Seems I remember more than I thought, hey? he asked rhetorically. " You think about that, lieutenant. I'm gonna get some food, see if its edible. Tell me what you think when I get back."

Soon after, Trask returned with what was meant to be, he assumed, spaghetti, though it seemed more like thin, undercooked noodles lathered with tomato sauce with traces of mince. Resuming his seat he said "Well what did you think?"
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wonton bob
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- Hamburg -
- Mobile Suit Bay -


After having heard Al's story, Bernard could tell he was a little emotional. It surprised Bernard that Al being so young was involved in something so horrendous.

friends fighting each other..must have been a real mind f***

"Well, this Bernard of yours sounds like he was very admirable, rookie or not." Bernard takes a deep breath.

"It was a bad time all around. Even now the lines are not so clear. I'd bet anything that some of the Titans are only fighting to protect the Earth..we'd do the same if we believed our home was threatened...damn waste this war business." Trying not to bring a doom and gloom mood in, Bernard changes the subject.

"So, whatever happened to that Gundam pilot?"
"War is some crazy sh**" - alexander the great
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The Big Zabowski
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"So, whatever happened to that Gundam pilot?"

Al snorted and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Funny you should mention her. Ended up getting "transfered" back to earth for another testing job. She'd send us stuff from her ports of call from time to time, but the last time she ever sent us anything was back in '84. Then we never heard anything from her."

Al paused a moment, looking back at the Nemo again before continuing.

"She's a Lieutenant or something in the Titans now, last I checked. Commissioned as one of the originals probably for her "defense" of the Libot garrison. No doubt she's been put under a blackout status and hadn't been able to speak to us since then..but only god knows what she's up to now."

Looking back at Bernard, Al sighed and shook his head.

"I had hoped to at least run into her out here one day, on the battle field. One of the many things I had on my to do list since I joined the AEUG. But now it only seems like a pipe-dream. For all I know, she could be dead, and I'd be none the wiser."

Al straightened a bit, and waved Bernard up to his Nemo as he kicked off the floor of the hangar up toward the cockpit hatch of the primer, red, blue, and green AEUG suit.

"I got something to show ya. Took it a day before the raid."

Al popped the hatch and pulled a small 4x5 photo from inbetween two buttons on the Nemo's console.

"Red head is Christina Mackenzie and the blonde guy in the red jacket was Bernard Wiseman. Two actually hit it off a bit as far as I could tell; but again they didn't know the other was an enemy pilot. Sucks."
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wonton bob
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Bernard accepted the invite from Al and joined him near the cockpit entrance.

Al popped the hatch and pulled a small 4x5 photo from in between two buttons on the Nemo's console.

"Red head is Christina Mackenzie and the blonde guy in the red jacket was Bernard Wiseman. Two actually hit it off a bit as far as I could tell; but again they didn't know the other was an enemy pilot. Sucks."

Bernard took a good look at the photo. His opinion of Christina slipped out.

"Nice."

But taking a look at the Bernard in the photo revealed just how young the pilots were in the final days. He looked like any other typical youth.

Trying to cover his slip up Bernard clears his throat before speaking.

"Shame. They looked happy."

Backing off Bernard tries to cheer up the kid or at least give him some hope before leaving.

"You know, since she was a Gundam pilot I'm pretty sure she could take care of herself. Probably out there earning medals... Well, 32 hours without shut eye is creeping up on me. I'm gonna crash in my Nemo.."

Kicking off the Nemo, Bernard gives Al a wave. "don't worry about us too much kid. We're all keeping an eye out for one another here."
"War is some crazy sh**" - alexander the great
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- Hamburg -
- Mess Hall -

Hearing Trask's suggestion Randy is in deep thought about the unit composition. While 2 by 2 composition is good but without adequate pilot skills, the wingman would burn out his propellant pretty fast just to follow the lead. 'No, Jeriden while he's not that bad, he's not that good either...' Randy finalized his thought and sipped some coffee.

"Well what did you think?" Trask asked him when he get back. Randy relaxed himself in the chair and replied, "I'm afraid 2 by 2 won't fit for us. Jeriden is inexperienced, let him follow a lead and he'll depleted his propellant fast without even able to engage a target. I'm thinking of putting Jeriden rather closer to the ship, a sweeper if you like - to counter anything that come close to the ship. The other three will scramble in formation and make a forward line. Hope that will suffice to hold the Titans while the teams from the flagship, the Dervish or so, could deliver the blow." Randy finished his coffee and add, "I'll get some rotation in order, since we also got you Lieutenant. So that one of us could rest longer. I'll start the rotation after we're leaving the port."
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hellbore
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"Hmm, thats a good idea if Jeriden is as inexperienced as you say." Trask tilted his chair back. "I suppose letting him act as a sweeper will let him get experience. The rotation of the roster will help with fatigue, of course. I suppose it all depends on what the Titans bring against us." Adam paused and considered trying the meal. He decided against for now.
"Anyways, you've got pilots who've faced them a few times up here right, we should talk about this with them."
Trask then reconsidered his idea, screwed up his courage, tool a mouthful of the stuff on the plate in front of him, swallowed, and almost gagged. Still he persisted, knowing any food is better than no food.
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-The Dervish-
-Ready Room 2-

Ian Greydon re-entered the ready room to find little had changed in the fourteen-odd hours since he'd left it. He'd gone back to his room earlier to get some real sleep, which he had, spending more than twelve hours racked out, followed by an hour or so of letter writing and some person hygiene. Ian's only contact, if it could even be called that, had been passing Pan Heyden in the hallway, but neither man had even acknowledged the other.

The ready room was mostly the same. Eddie, now in his pilot suit and with wet hair that implied a shower, was again sprawled on a couch, now reading a novel Ian knew to be about fictional space war in the mid-0060's. Ian had read it, it had been a bestseller for a while after it's release, although warfare had changed so dramatically...

Ian snapped back into his mind as a locker closed and Marvin zipped up his pilot suit. "Hey, Ian," He said, the younger man's tone close to normal. Close.

Ian grinned, "Howyadoin' Marv?", the words more of a statement than anything else. He saw a hand rise over the couch and wave in his general direction. He glanced around but found no one else present, which caused a snort, "No Wes, I see."

Somewhat surprisingly, it was Eddie that replied, with the somewhat distant tone he had when reading. "I don't think he even moved his s*** in here yet." A page turned.

Marvin snorted this time, "Guy has a chip on his shoulder about being moved in with us f*** ups," which prompted chuckles from the other pilots.

Ian walked to his locker and began to make sure the items inside were locked down for zero-G conditions, "Eh, give him a little time. He's probably just pissin' and moanin' because he thinks he got singled out and the world is out to get him and that kind of bull," Ian said with a shrug.

Cowboy returned the shrug before busying himself by getting a drink. Ian shrugged again, this time to himself, before deciding that his locker was a fine as it would ever get and began to change into his pilot suit.
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- Amman -

- The Dervish -
- Hallway -

Michiko returned Jim’s big smile even after his faded away in realization. She had no way of knowing what Jim was thinking, but her normal demeanor to everyone on the ship was cheery regardless. "Walking and smoking... sounds about right. Not like there's much else to do on this ship... unless you've got contraband. Anyway, what's the rush? Got a full half hour left before we ship out. Lotta things you can do in thirty minutes,” Jim observed. “Oh?” Michiko responded innocently, but MacAlpin continued, "Say, you haven't happened to hear where we're shipping out to by any chance, have you? All seems kinda sudden…”.

"C'mon Jim... haven't you noticed the trend by now?" Wes asked suddenly from outside Michi’s peripheral vision. As he approached, he clarified, "Either we're headed out to kill some Titans, or we've got guys up top with agendas dragging us along without giving us a word as to what's going on,”. Wes’ attempt at a veiled insult at Fritz went right over her head, and she just nodded quietly in welcome to him. For all she knew ‘guys up top with agendas’ was in reference to people like Wong Lee and Maximilian Gates.

Michiko nervously folded her arms under her chest and hesitated a moment before deciding to pass on the mess hall gossip she had heard. “Well, some of the crew in the mess said we’re leaving the moon to meet up with some Axis Zeon,” she admitted.

- Bridge -

Abbey took his seat after conferring with Wade for a few moments about their planned course and straightened his cap. “Someone please find Mr. Barrique and ask him to return to the bridge,” the captain asked, and Jungst rose from his seat with a quick affirmative. Capt. Abbey regretted that he didn’t have the time to track his XO down personally, and he made a mental note to apologize to him later. “Mr. Wilson, I believe we have permission to leave the docks. Take us out when you’re ready,”.

Less than 45 seconds later, the Dervish and the three other ships of the 4th Advance Squadron began to slowly ascend out of their berths at the Amman port. Abbey folded his hands in his lap as he solemnly watched the blackness of space fill the Dervish’s bridge windows. Jane smiled and flipped a switch that would allow everyone to hear the comm channel she was listening to on her headphones.

“--od luck, 4th Squadron. It was a pleasure to have you at our shipyard. Time for us to find a legitimate EFSF unit to take your place to keep up appearances,” the voice on the other end chuckled. Abbey smiled at the sendoff from the sympathetic EFSF unit that had serviced and hidden their ships during their stay at Amman. The 4th formed up into a staggered line formation as they left Luna on their way to the rendezvous point.
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The Dervish
Mech Hangar

Rem stretched inside the simulator. He was disappointed, mostly with himself. He had run these simulations so many times his eyes crossed; he had begun to recognize the computer patterns in this scenario, even with the random element generator. Why hadn't he remembered that there weren't any Nemos on the ship? A rookie mistake, not to check the logs. At least Dr. Merkwurdigliebe hadn't called him on it. The doctor had been working on retrieving the pilot data from the Dias suits in the bay, although there hadn't been many hours logged on them yet. Hopefully the mechanics on the other ships could pull together the data from the old Nemos for reference.

The engines started warming up, the slight rumble could be felt through the deck plates. A few minutes later, Rem felt the telltale loss of gravity as the ship pulled away from port. He quickly grabbed the few pens that were floating around the simulator and tucked them into his computer case. He decided the program was good for now, having found no new bugs in the last 8 hours of testing.

Cracking his shoulders as he stood up and stretched his arms, he looked around the bay. The good doctor was tethered to another suit, still downloading data. A few mechanics were milling about, monitoring the bay during launch. Rem walked up to the chief mechanic who was still watching Dr. M and asked, "Sorry to bother you right now, I know you're kinda busy... Where are the normal suits stored on the ship? I realized I didn't find out earlier."
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Richard had already started to make his way to the bridge, a container of water in his hand as he slowly sauntered down one of the corridors and toward a lift. There was an uneasy look on the face of the Lieutenant as he absently nibbled on the mouthpiece of the water container, free hand in his uniform pocket as he paused at the door of the lift. His gaze became lost in the lights above the lift as they went from right to left, showing that the lift was coming from a higher deck than his current position.

As he stared into the lights, his mind began to wander..echoes of gunfire began to sound in his mind as he soon began to daydream.

Captain Barrique! What are you just standing there for, get out there and cover our retreat! We need every able bodied MS pilot out there!

Richard looked down and found himself back in a Zeon uniform, the disheveled office of some officer surrounding him rather than the halls of the Dervish had been just moments before. He looked up to see the commanding officer of the African outpost he was stationed at during the war, and his secretary.

The secretary stood at his side, as the commander was frantically waving Richard off to the front while he tried to save his own skin.

Richard looked down to a handgun clutched in his right hand just as the Commander looked up and saw it as well, drawing his own sidearm in response. The officer pointed it at Richard, wide eyed.

"You..... BARRIQUE!"

Richard flatly responded to the officer.

"You think you'll be forgiven for what you've done here while you go hide away with your mistress? I don't think so sir.."

A pair or shots rang out, followed by the thud of two bodies. The vision then blurred and the voices echoed once more..

"What happened to Col. Reiss!? Isn't he coming?"

"He's dead..federals already got to him.."

"But that can't be! How could they have gotten this far!"

"Don't question it..just GO! I'll be right behind you!"

"Yessir!"


Richard was then jostled out of his vision by the hand of a crewman as he shook the almost catatonic Barrique.

"Sir, you're wanted on the bridge."

It was Jungust.

"Oh..Uh. Thank you. Lets go."

Richard made his way past Jungust and stepped into the lift..rubbing his forehead slightly with the butt of his free hand, the other clutching the water bottle.
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-Dervish, Hallway

“Well, some of the crew in the mess said we’re leaving the moon to meet up with some Axis Zeon."

Jim's grin returned with a vengeance.

"You're kidding!" he said with a laugh, "That's too good to be true! It's about time my people started realizing that their goal is not so different from ours. This'll be great! With their forces added to ours, those Titan bastards will be crying for their mothers before the end of the month!"
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"You're kidding! That's too good to be true! It's about time my people started realizing that their goal is not so different from ours. This'll be great! With their forces added to ours, those Titan bastards will be crying for their mothers before the end of the month!"

Wes smirked when Jim became estatic from the news that Axis was going to negotiate with the AEUG. His fascination for the Principality's remnants never ends.

"Woah there... what makes you so sure that Axis is going to be willing to work with a bunch of ex-Feddies?" Curren says to Jim. "Do we have to explain the meaning of the AEUG acronym again?"
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"Better ex-Feds than current Feds. No matter what you think you're doing, you're not fighting for your precious Federation anymore, Curren. We're clearly the lesser of two evils."
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"Who said I'm supportive of the current Earth Union? I'm here afterall," Wes replied. "Unless you really want me toasting your a** with a beam rifle and sporting black and blue on my MS.

"And logically speaking, anyone looking at things in the grand scale would want to join a group with more bargaining power," Curren continued. "As far as I'm concerned, Axis could very well join the Titans as much as they could help us. They fit together very well... the old colony gassers and the new colony gassers working together against the only group with a semblance of moral value? Axis may no longer be your precious Zeon after all these years... just like my so-called 'precious Federation.'"
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SUDDENLY A PAN APPEARED.

His recognizable voice suddenly broke through from the far end of the hallway.

"You couldn't toast warm bread with a beam rifle Curren."
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Ascension
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"Axis and the Titans? Come on, that'd be like matter and antimater joining forces. Do you remember what the Titans were formed to fight, or has the disconnect between your brain and reality gotten to the point where you can't remember recent history?"

Jim grinned at a Pan's comment.
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Wes laughed at Pan's comment, "Well if it isn't for the new guy. Pan... was it? I'm not exactly sure what your beef with me is, but I don't take your tone too kindly. Or is it because you've taken a liking to this guy I've been known to berate?"

He thumbed over at Jim. This new Pan fellow did have a pink MS, so something odd between the two of them wasn't that strange. "So... did you go do a few favors for the new guy too, Jim? Just to add another name to your list of groupies? Though... last I checked I thought you had a thing for females. I guess I was wrong...

"As for Axis working with the Titans... what exactly kept the RoZ from being on the other end of the Titans' wrath? The Republic is as Zeon as the remnants running around pulling off s*** here and there. Zeon is a faction full of two-faced fools. And for the record, so is the Federation, and even this little rebel group too. Keep that in mind before you start jumping to conclusions about various team-up combinations MacAlpin."
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"Why you little..." Jim growled. It took all of his self control not to punch Wes in the nose. He only held back because of Michiko's presence.

"You'd better be glad we aren't on the same team anymore, Curren," he hissed, "I've heard that sometimes, in the heat of battle, people can make unfortunate... mistakes."
Don't call it a comeback...
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