Rise of a Saviour

Episode 1 - Rising
Solar Era 75 (SE 75) (2375 AD)

Mankind has begun to spread through the solar system, developing orbital and planetary colonies. With the first orbital colony completed humanity started the solar age which led to peace and prosperity for 75 years led by the United Earth Sphere Federation. Military technology has evolved to produce mobile suits: large humanoid machines piloted from the inside. The Earth System Peacekeeper Force, the main military organisation, was formed as a result of total military unification were well known and highly respected. Their armoury consisted of a versatile array of mobile suits and ships existing to prevent the Earth system from falling into civil war. Civilian and military ships travelled between systems using a revolutionary Link gates. These huge gates allowed rapid transport between distant locations, so far the gates orbited Earth, Mars and Jupiter. Since the dawn of the Solar Era humanity had achieved a state of peace and prosperity never reached before. However in the past few months claims were reported that attacks had been carried on lightly protected ships that strayed too far from orbit. Accounts from the few survivors said that the attackers used new model mobile suits and easily overpowered the defensive weaponry.

As a response the ESPF stepped up their plan and deployed more forces, because of this increased training teams of elite Striker pilots started to form, naming themselves after colours to stand out. Black, Green, Red, Blue and Orange Squadrons were among some of the best known ones, each one famous for different achievements in simulated combat, but all of them highly impressive.

At 16:28 GMT on the 27th of April SE 75 the first encounter between the ESPF's Red Striker Squad and the enemy on the dark side of the moon began the stellar war. This would be the first recorded encounter between the unknown enemy and the Peacekeepers. The squad was led by ace pilot Major Ian Starling and was backed up by a Supernova class ship, the Da Vinci.

"Distance to target?"

"1000 metres. No reading on IFF, unable to get anything discernible on sensors."

"Alright, launch the Reds."

Down below the bridge pilots and crews sprung into action.

"All mobile suits prepare for linear launch, all mobile suits prepare for linear launch."

Starling floated into his custom machine and started it up.

"This is Starling, all units check in."

"Red 2 ready sir."

"Red 3 all systems good."

"Red 4 ready to kick some ass."

"Red 5 checking in."

"Red 6 all set sir."

A green light flashed in the hangar, he gripped the controls. "Remember boys and girls this isn't practise, good luck. This is Striker team Red launching."

The six mobile suits flew out of the ship and headed for the civilian carrier.

"Lieutenant Arlen what are we dealing with?"

"Sensors detect no life signs, no atmosphere either sir. Distress call was picked up at 15:58 GMT, reports of multiple hostiles and heavy firepower." he replied.

The team continued their reconnaissance of the ship; the carrier's name was only just visible on the hull: EXT-A 293 Atlas. They passed a large hole in the hull, at least twenty metres in diameter and exposing a lot of the interior.

"Da Vinci, looks like a Starcarrier class with heavy damage." Reported Starling.

"Roger that, proceed with caution."

Lieutenant Reymande flew closer to check the storage bay.

"Cargo manifest?" asked the major.

"OS upgrade chips, fibre optic cabling, fire suppression foam, breach sealant foam and 5 communication satellites. Hardware's from CTI and the foams are from ESC." replied Lieutenant Arlen.

"Boss the cargo's gone, the escape pods are still there and the shuttles are in pieces. I'm guessing whoever did this wanted no survivors, this ship was meant to be full before it got raided right?"

"Yeah, we need to know what this cargo important enough to be stolen. Miller, retrieve the blackbox so we get find out what happened." ordered Major Starling.

"Yes sir."

"Hey Chris can you hurry it up? They're planning on blowing up this thing up in two hours to make sure it doesn't fall to earth." joked Lieutenant Reymande.

Miller laughed, "Shut up Anthony, at least I don't launch with no active manoeuvring thrusters."

"That was once, I was in a hurry, no-one told me they were offline and you know it."

"If neither of you get a move on I'm leaving you in this tin can to be blown up. Now get moving." the major broke in.

"Yes sir."

Starling smiled, he wouldn't admit it to a lot of people but his squad meant a lot to him, he'd chosen the best of the best and hadn't been disappointed. Lieutenant Miller's machine approached what was left of the bridge when suddenly four small objects flew out of the wreckage and surrounded his mobile suit.

"What are they?" asked Lieutenant Miller as he drew his rifle, uneasy being surrounded.

"Not sure, there aren't meant to be any recovery teams here. They don't look like recon drones."

Without any warning the objects simultaneously fired thin orange beams piercing the mobile suit at several points.

"Major!" Miller cried out, before anyone could save him the lieutenant was lost in the inferno of his exploding machine.

"What the?" exclaimed Starling. Suddenly the comms were alive with activity.

"What the heck was that?"

"Another heat source inbound, heading orange 220° by 133°, range 900m at 30 kilosecs."

"A machine with such speed?"

"Major Starling, your orders?"

"McAlster and Kendel, intercept those bits. Reymande, Arlen and I will take the high speed bogey." ordered Starling.

"Yes sir."

Quickly the pilot armed themselves, they grabbed their linear rifles and plasma blades. Starling's machine was equipped with a double plasma blade as he preferred close combat over ranged. The objects in the mean time had started to fire at lieutenants McAlster and Kendel who, now aware of their capabilities, elegantly avoided the beams.

"Two packs of two, watch your six." said lieutenant McAlster.

"Roger that, formation gamma 2." replied Kendel.

The two Striker machines reached maximum speed and flew back to back. The objects overtook them and took up a ring shaped formation, primed to fire. Lieutenant Kendel saw the opportunity and took it.

"Now!" she yelled, the two officers raised their rifles and fired a barrage of linear bolts, destroying the remote weapons before they could fire back. There were several explosions and the two machines tore through the smoke without a scratch. While the lieutenants dealt with the remote weapons the main enemy came into visual range, it was a blood red and black mobile suit, armed with a doubled barrelled rifle and thick shield, four red eyes staring malevolently. It drew an orange beam sabre and headed straight for Starling. Starling saw the manoeuvre and charged straight for it, the two clashed, white against orange.

"You kill my comrade, mock my squadron and now you dare to try and kill me? Do you know who you're dealing with?" he roared.

The Striker forced the enemy mobile suit back.

"I'm the Starlight Hunter!"

Suddenly the voice of the enemy pilot was heard over a com link.

"He was weak and you cannot stop us, Eclipse will take back what is ours." it spoke spine-chillingly cold.

The two suits clashed over and over again, flashes of energy every time they crossed swords.

"Take back what?"

"The Earth system no longer belongs to you, your world is ours."

Suddenly the mystery suit aimed its rifle at Starling, who yelled and sliced through it without hesitation. It exploded and blinded the pilot for a moment.

"You can't claim the strength of a united world!" said Starling furiously as he slashed the suit's right arm off.

"Your world is flawed but we will cure it. Yes, the end is coming and our victory will be inevitable." said the pilot.

Starling paused and held his beam sabre meters away from the enemy suit's head.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. The Eclipse machine's head turned and looked at him, four piercing eyes staring at him.

"Join us and learn the truth, join us and save your beloved Earth. We are the crusaders fighting for justice." Suddenly an immense rage flowed through the major.

"You call yourselves crusaders? How dare you?"

The unknown tried to escape, the others opened fire on the fleeing machine, Starling chased after him.

"You're nothing but terrorists!" he cried and stabbed the enemy machine in the head and followed by slicing it into pieces. He flew back seconds before the enemy machine exploded, inside he caught his breath, closed his eyes and regained his composure.

"Strikers regroup, we're returning to the ship."

"Yes sir."

"Eclipse", he said to himself and gripped the controls tightly. "If those bastards want a war, then I'll give it to them. That's right, they're going to pay."

The five suits reached the carrier and touched down, once landed the maintenance crews started work and the pilots left their cockpits. Most of them were visibly distressed, yet despite his earlier rage, Major Starling had left his emotions in his machine.

Shortly afterwards the squad was debriefed via communications link to Earth. With them were the Aristotle's commander, Colonel Rushmann and the commander of the ESPF, General Mason.

"Your report states that Lieutenant Miller's machine was destroyed by remote controlled weapon bits, correct?" asked the colonel.

"Yes Colonel, Lieutenants McAlster and Kendel managed to retrieve sensor data on the weapons which is being analysed now."

"What I find more disturbing is that we are faced with the prospect of a war with a vastly superior enemy force. The data gathered suggests our Valiant model wouldn't stand a chance." said Mason. "The problem is despite the Striker model being top of the range right now only 120 have been built so far, we can't deploy them as a mass peacekeeping force." said the colonel.

"I entirely agree sirs but we don't have anything better than our Striker, short of retreating to within range of our orbital defence stations we don't have much choice." said the major. Suddenly the door chimed.

"Come in." said Rushmann.

A clean-shaven man in uniform with shoulder length brown hair tied back floated in and saluted. "I'd like to introduce Major Cecil Harlow, one of our technical specialists." said General Mason.

"Sirs."

"What have you got for us Major?"

He sat down and displayed a hologram of the weapon bits and the enemy mobile suit.

"Based on the data gathered on the 'Eclipse' organisation technology I believe that they have developed a new generation of mobile suit technology. This is based on three discoveries."

He displayed a new image, a radio wave graphed out.

"Firstly a new communication system; this is based on the fact that the suits emit a wave that scrambles complex radio waves, this wouldn't inhibit communication or sensors but it would prevent remote weapons from working."

The images of the wave and remote weapon shrunk out of the way and the mobile suit image took its place, zooming in on the armour.

"Secondly a form of armour that reduces plasma sabre damage by roughly 45%, we're still unsure of its composition though."

The image of the rifle was then displayed.

"Thirdly the rifle this machine was carrying was not meant for physical rounds but rather particle beams, the close quarter combat weapon also uses a particle based platform. These new technologies require a stable power source that requires a larger output than our current hydrogen power cells, this had lead us to believe, along with trace emission detection, that they're using micro nuclear fission technology." he reported.

"Great, a nuke in a suit." remarked Lieutenant Reymande.

"Not quite, more like a fifteenth of one."

The general's expression became even more serious.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I believe our suspicions has been confirmed, as of this moment all civilian ships are grounded and all ESPF forces are recalled to reinforce the orbit- and link-guard fleets. Major Starling."

"Yes sir?" "I believe your performance reinforces my decision, as of this moment I'm promoting you to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and transferring Major Harlow to your squadron."

Starling was stunned. "Thank you very much sir."

"Major I am hereby giving you the green light on Project Storm, you are to head to the L2 base." "Very well sir."

"And Starling?"

"Yes sir?"

"Good luck."

The general closed the link, everyone got up and headed to the bridge.

"Helm set a course for Lagrange 2, full speed burst for 120 seconds then shut down engines. Shut down all weapons except anti-MS types, I want this ship to run as quiet as possible." ordered Colonel Rushmann.

"Yes sir, course laid in." replied the crew member.

"What's Project Storm?" asked Starling.

"That's classified, but that data you gathered may be instrumental to its completion. And congratulations on the promotion." replied Harlow.

"And I can't order you to tell me?" asked the colonel.

"No sir, project Storm has level 1 data classification."

He let out a long whistle. "That's gotta be some gun." he stood there, wondering what could be so important.

"So how did a technical expert become a major?" asked Starling.

He smiled. "Don't think that I'm no pilot, I've worked hard to earn the nickname 'One Shot Wonder'." "'One Shot Wonder?' where's that come from?"

"All machines have a weak point, apply pressure and the defence will fall usually resulting in a one shot kill. Only the famous Green Squad Sniper has matched my record on hits to kills." continued Harlow.

Starling smiled slightly, "You know you're way too much of a show-off, right?" The major raised an eyebrow, "With all due respect, your point sir?"

The colonel chuckled, "I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with some good hand to hand combat. You know? Get your hands dirty for once."

He was suddenly interrupted by an alarm.

"All personnel to battle stations, four unknown mobile suits believed to be enemies are approaching for the ship, heading red 013° by 002° 2.5 kilometres at 30 kilosecs."

Colonel Starling scowled, "They're coming, a sneak attack from behind us."

Suddenly he realised something. "How did they know our location?"

"Let's go and ask them." said Harlow as he cracked his neck.

"You're launching too?" The two headed for the launch bay.

"The Raven was in the area, didn't take long to get here in a mobile suit." he replied with a sly smile. "It hasn't been repainted yet though."

They stopped at a prep room to put on pilot suits, then floated through the airlock into the launch hanger. Ready to go were three Striker mobile suits, two red ones and one black.

"Nice colours." said Starling, he didn't mean the major's suit though, Black Squadron was as highly regarded as Starling’s Red Squadron, an honour few teams had. The pilots boarded their suits and the launch bays were opened, large holographic screens appeared reading: "Linear catapult standby"

"Linear systems ready, all suits are green." reported the major.

Patterns resembling eyes appeared on each of the machine's visors, sleek and pointed, designed to intimidate the enemy. "Roger that, all Strikers, our orders are to protect the Da Vinci and to destroy or capture the enemy suits." He paused. "Let's do this for the lieutenant."

Outside the lights changed from red to green, indicating clearance for launch.

"All suits launch." ordered Starling and he accelerated out of the launch bay, he was followed by Lieutenant Arlen and Major Harlow.

"Red 2 taking off."

"Black 3, locked, loaded and launching."

On the underside of the catapult another launch bay was visible where Lieutenants Reymande, Kendel and McAlster were launching from.

"Red 4, I'm out of here."

"Red 5 proceeding to target."

"Red 6 beginning defensive manoeuvres."

The six machines flew into formation and headed for the enemy formation.

"How are we doing this sir?" asked Lieutenant Arlen over comms.

"Lieutenants Reymande and Arlen take bogey 1. McAlster and Kendel take 4. Major Harlow take bogey 3, I'll deal with number 2."

The pilots acknowledged their orders and prepared for combat, Starling drew his double plasma blade whereas the major and the lieutenants drew their rifles. Naturally being experienced pilots the lieutenant colonel and major's machines had been customised to suit their preferences. Starling focusing on close combat and Harlow on mid-range. But fighting in simulation was very different compared to a live battle.

"Commencing pre-emptive strike, here we go." said Harlow as he fired off a wave of missiles. They struck the target and exploded, however the enemy machine flew out of the cloud without a hint of damage. "Damn it." he swore and opened fire with his rifle. Lieutenants Kendel and McAlster had equal difficulty dealing with their target. Their high speed hit and run techniques couldn't land them a single hit.

"It's completely different, I can't get them."

"Stay alert, we'll fin d a way."

"On your left." McAlster grabbed Kendel's machine and pulled it out of the path of beam fire.

"Thanks."

Arlen and Reymande where barraging their target with linear bolts to little effect. Suddenly two of the enemies launched their weapon bits and started to go on the offensive. Lieutenant Arlen drew both of his plasma blades, dodged enemy fire and charged at the target, it was an obvious manoeuvre and the enemy drew his own weapon and parried.

"Do it now!" he said, holding the enemy in position.

From behind him flew lieutenant Reymande's machine, plasma blade in hand, he quickly positioned himself behind the enemy suit and rushed forwards, stabbing through the machine's waist.

"Surprise! "

They pulled back before the suit crackled and exploded.

"Sweet." commented Reymande as he mimicked shooting the suit with his hand.

The colonel seemed to have as much luck even scratching the enemy machine as his opponent did his, this time he appeared to be fighting a similar machine only with black highlights and additional verniers mounted on the frame. The two machines appeared to be evenly matched in every respect as they clashed over and over. Double blade clashing against wrist mounted daggers. However, his opponent refused to lead this into a stalemate and launched his weapon bits at the next parry. They lined up and took aim at Starling.

"Crap."

Fortunately the bits came under fire from Reymande and Arlen and were forced to move, Starling used this opening to charge again, damaging the forearms on the enemy machine forcing the pilot to draw a standard beam sabre.

"Don't worry sir."

"We'll deal with the bits boss."

The problem was that even though one of the enemy machines had been destroyed it had launched its bits before its destruction. This meant that there were several groups of bits flying round the combat zone and right now almost a dozen of these were harassing Lieutenants Kendel and McAlster while they tried to make their attacks.

"There's no end to them." said Kendel as she tried to slice them, they avoided her every attack. "How the hell are they so manoeuvrable?" She moved and blocked a particle beam heading for McAlster's machine with her sword.

"I guess we're even now." said McAlster.

Major Harlow wasn't having any luck either, he had managed to keep the enemy machine back but it kept blocking his shots. Suddenly he noticed something. "You've still got your bits, if I get you to deploy them then maybe."

He increased his rifle's rate of fire, seeing the increase in firepower the enemy responded by preparing to launch his bits.

"Gotcha." said Harlow and launched another wave of missiles, this time he aimed them at the exposed sections which were instantly destroyed. The resulting secondary explosions created a number of holes in the suit's armour. The major saw them and executed his plan, moving so that he was on the left of the suit. He raised his rifle and took aim. He fired, a sliver-white bolt blazed out of the rifle's barrel. The bolt struck a weaker area of armour and blew through, dealing damage to the suit's critical systems and destroying it.

"The only targets left are 2 and 4. Better help out Red 5 and 6." Suddenly the battlefield was filled with a string of explosions. "Then again, it looks like they're fine without me."

These explosions were the work of Lieutenant McAlster as she had discovered a weakness in the bit's programming. By having Lieutenant Kendel fly and maximum speed the bits would always move to intercept her several kilometres ahead. But instead of dodging them she would charge straight past, confusing their programming and freezing them for a few seconds. In this moment McAlster would fly into weapons range and take several out.

"Four down, twice more should finish them off." said McAlster.

"Alright then, full throttle. We'll do it again." replied Kendel.

"Roger that, preparing for standing manoeuvres."

With that they tore through space and performed their attack, again a large number of explosions followed. "We're almost there." said McAlster. "Time to finish these things off."

The Lieutenant checked her sensors to locate the last group of bits, but something wasn't right. "They're gone."

"How's that possible? We're in the middle of space."

Without warning the enemy machine charged out of nowhere, brandishing two beam sabres, it rushed past Lieutenant Kendel and cut off her machine's arm.

"Damn you!" yelled McAlster and chased after it, the machine spun round and parried her attack. The two suits held each other back, at least until the enemy sabres flared for a moment and forced her back.

"I don't how you did that, but you're going to pay for all you've done, Eclipse!" she cried and drew her second plasma blade but two particle blasts struck her machine's shoulders and disabled her suit.

The enemy closed in for a kill, slowly moving closer and raising its sabres. "It can't be over, I can't die yet. I refuse to give up like this!" She fired her suits head-mounted vulcan guns but the shots bounced harmlessly of the suit's armour.

"Do not fear, your death will serve our cause." gloated the enemy pilot. The beam sabres came down toward Lieutenant McAlster's cockpit mercilessly.

With no warning the machine was hit with a linear bolt, sending it flying backwards. McAlster looked where it came from, then saw the enemy flying towards them.

"Alex don't!"

"I'm sorry Isabelle, I'm not letting go that easily."

The machine came closer and closer, holding it's beam sabres together, easily dodging the Lieutenant's fire. It approached the damaged mobile suit and planned to slice it cleanly in half.

"Alex get out of there, eject!"

She refused and kept firing uselessly until the machine was almost right in front of her. From nowhere a red blur sped towards the Eclipse machine and kicked it in the side.

"That's Anthony!"

Lieutenant Arlen's mobile suit flew past it and cut off one of its arms.

"Get it away from the others."

"Roger."

The enemy clashed with Arlen while Reymande grabbed its leg and threw the machine a fair distance away.

"Now sir."

A wave of missiles impacted the suit, both arms destroyed. The two lieutenants fired simultaneously, two white bolts tearing through the damaged armour. The mobile suit exploded, leaving nothing but tiny fragments of metal.

"Are you two alright?" asked Harlow as the Arlen and Reymande went to help them.

"We're ok but neither of us have manoeuvring or cruising capabilities." replied Lieutenant Kendel. "Sir, we've destroyed all the bits." reported Arlen.

"We got 'em good sir, they'll think twice next time they want to shoot us down with remote weapons." boasted Lieutenant Reymande.

"Good work, help Kendel and McAlster back to the Da Vinci." Harlow turned his machine and accelerated away at high speed.

Starling's battle with the Eclipse machine had been stalemate after stalemate, a chain of parries, evasions and blocks. "What's wrong Eclipse bastards?" he yelled. "Don't feel so talkative?"

The two machines clashed again.

"Or perhaps you never expected to be losing! Just because you have superior technology doesn't mean you're a superior pilot." he continued and pushed his double blade up while parrying with one arm and drew a single one.

"I'm coming for you, don't even think you can get away." Starling slashed with the single blade, leaving deep gash in the enemy machine's side. The Eclipse pilot moved away and attempted to escape.

"I said I'm coming for you. What made you think you could get away?"

Starling threw away his twin sword, held the single blade with both hands and closed in for the last strike, seconds before the conclusion of the battle, and revenge for a lost comrade. He raised his weapon, but moments before he swung the enemy suit turned and cut off his right arm with a beam sabre from the palm of the machine's hand. Starling swung but missed, his opponent disarmed him by cutting through his machine's left forearm.

"What the hell?"

"Eclipse is darkness, darkness is deception. Your advantage is not as great as you thought it was and I used your blindness to fight you." said the pilot as he held the beam sabre metres away from the striker's cockpit.

"I do not care for the loss of subordinates and so I do not fight with a disadvantage. Prepare yourself, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Starling. This will be the last time you breathe."

Without warning the enemy machine's head exploded, followed by a hail of bolts through the chest. A fair distance behind the wreckage stood Major Harlow's mobile suit, rifle raised. The colonel blinked in slight disbelief as the major's suit drew closer.

"You know sir, I think you should try long range combat, your machine might come out of it in better condition." said Major Harlow.

He laughed "Point taken Harlow."

"Can you move?"

"Yeah, propulsion's probably all that works right now. Whatever you're working on at L2 better be good seeing how two of our machines are disabled and mine's not well either."

The two pilots landed on board the ship, a small army of engineers waiting for them.

"Let's move it guys, team 1, begin overhaul and full frame repair of Red 1. Team 2, internal repairs and suit OS restore. Begin automated re-up on Black 2." ordered Chief Technical Master Sergeant McLevin.

"Yes sir!" replied the teams.

The colonel and the major floated towards him.

"How are the other units chief?" asked Starling.

"Units 3 and 4 only had light body damage, 5 and 6 are going to take a while to fix up."

"How bad?"

The sergeant grabbed a tablet computer attached to his suit and displayed a hologram.

"Hydrogen cells are shot, sensors are out, the frame's severely compromised. I could go on but I think you get the picture." said the sergeant.

"How long until they're back up and running?" asked the major.

"To repair the colonel's suit about nine hours, repairing Lieutenant Kendel's and McAlster's." He sighed and thought for a moment. "Eleven hours, and that's if no-one else breaks something while we work on them." he replied.

"Keep at it sergeant." said Starling.

"Yes sir." McLevin saluted and joined his team.

The pilots headed out of the hangar, changed into uniform and went to the bridge.

"From what little we know that model you fought against appeared to be an improved version of the first enemy suit." said Harlow as the floated down the corridor. "You know we really ought to start naming them." "Something's not right."

"Huh? What do you mean sir?"

"The pilot knew my name and addressed me as Lieutenant Colonel. And they found us despite the fact that we were running quietly." said Starling.

"You think someone intercepted the communication from Earth?" asked the major.

The colonel nodded, they reached the bridge.

"Starling, good to see you're in one piece."

"Colonel Rushmann we believe we have a situation." began the major.

"That might be but General Mason wants to talk to you." replied Colonel Rushmann.

"That's the problem sir, we have reason to believe that the enemy's tapped our comms."

The colonel thought for a moment and then turned to an officer.

"Mendez."

"Yes sir?" replied a Hispanic woman sitting at a set of controls.

"Send a coded message to command, use every form of encryption we have. Hide the signal in a regular data-burst, 'Communications compromised, possible signal tracking.'"

"Roger that sir."

The three entered the briefing room and sat down alongside the other Reds, General Mason appeared on the screen.

"General sir."

"Ladies and gentlemen, a few minutes ago a video was released to the net, it's only a matter of time before news media catches on to it."

"What is it?" asked Rushmann.

The general's face was replaced by an image of a masked man sitting at a desk, he wore a red uniform and had blonde hair, behind him was the emblem of the brotherhood, the last rays of light being blocked out by a planetoid.

"I would like to address this speech to every human born and raised on either Earth and or of its colonies." he spoke. "There is a new movement awakening, Eclipse, to guide humanity along the correct path. Mankind has become lost in its own confusion of wealth, religion, politics and energy and must be shown that there is a simpler way to life. We are the ones who will show you the path out of the blinding light. However, there are some of those who do not want our guidance and wish to hold back all of mankind." his hand curled into a fist. "Those are the ones that we must retaliate against. Humanity has become too caught up in its own complications, the only way forwards is to accept our teachings." He raised his fist. "If you are not with us then you are against us and against the progress of humanity."

The video ended and the general's face returned.

"The IPP is running after any leads they can find but so far they've got nothing credible."

The colonel rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"What now sir?"

"We have no choice but to go ahead with plan Delta 2. Project Storm has been moved to Lagrange 1 where the teams are working on it, for now head for the base but remain on standby."

"Yes sir."

The link closed and the screen went dark.

"Colonel? Project Storm can't have been moved at that speed." asked major Harlow.

"Delta 2 is code for 'continue standing orders', if our communications have been compromised then they might fall for the fake orders."

"So what's waiting at Lagrange 1?" asked Starling.

"Fake signals and a minefield." replied Rushmann.

The major laughed, then cleared his throat.

"Do you think they'll fall for it sir?"

"Can't say for certain, personally I think they expected to defeat us at the first battle." replied the Colonel.

He nodded, saluted and left. Starling turned to the Colonel Rushmann.

"What do you know about him?"

"The major? Not much, nice guy, scientist as well as a soldier. I heard he used to be hard to be around, but he looks like he's doing well."

They looked down the corridor and saw the major talking to another officer, they laughed and headed off.

"He's good at what he does, ready to fight for peace and for his beliefs. Why do you ask?"

"I just like to know who's in my squadron."

"You don't think he gave away our position? He's working on one of the most important military projects we have. Do you know how long background checks take to gain clearance for it?"

"Surprise me."

"Twelve weeks. If he's working on Project Storm then trust me, he's one of us."

The major in the mean time was reviewing technical history.

"Display basic Reichold system using theoretical power generation schematics XFG-902." said the major.

A metal spherical machine connected to a large disk shaped object appeared. He sighed and rubbed his temple. "Diagrammatic form, stupid system."

The image changed to a 3-dimensional diagram.

"Now add two condensers linked in series and a positron injection system connected to the second condenser."

The hologram changed accordingly.

"The Storm Drive, before it was simply a conceptual weapon system. Now with the data we've obtained we can create a working micro fusion plant." He stared at the diagram. "I wonder, did you know your theory would lead to this, Professor Reichold? The ability to create particles out of energy which can be used in two ways. As Reichold particles they can be converted back to electricity, as SR particles they can be used for weapons like the Eclipse machines." He closed his eyes for a moment. "Not only could this spark off the first stellar war but also possibly the biggest energy race to date."

Time passed and eventually the Da Vinci arrived at an asteroid field. The Striker squadron was assembled on the bridge, watching as the ship got closer and closer to the field.

"Welcome to Lagrange 2, a bunch of rocks." said lieutenant Kendel sarcastically.

Slowly the ship made its way through the field and stopped in front of a large asteroid.

"Sir we're receiving a signal, audio only." said Mendez.

"This is Athena base, lock on to navigation beacons and prepare for docking."

Suddenly a piece of a huge asteroid slid to the side revealing a dock.

"Just a bunch of rocks huh?" asked Lieutenant Reymande.

Kendel shot him a glance of 'shut up'.

"Take us in captain."

"Yes sir."

The ship moved forward into the hidden base.

"Now aligned with beacons. 200 metres to docking. 150. 100. 50. 25. Docking complete, shutting down engines and attaching support cables."

"Good landing captain."

"Thank you sir." said Mendez.

The Striker squad left the bridge and headed to an exit tunnel. The major turned to them and gestured out of the window. "Welcome to Athena base, home of cutting-edge experimental technology." he said proudly.

"How long has this been here?" asked Lieutenant Arlen.

"A little over 20 years."

He pointed out of the window. "And that?"

The major looked, he saw a large battleship under construction in a hanger.

"That's, that's..."

"That's our latest model cruiser, the ESPS-X742 Broadsword. When it's finished it will be the first of a line of revolutionary carriers."

They looked to the right and saw a dark blonde woman in a lab coat head towards them.

"Hello there, my name is Dr. Northwood, I'm the director of this research base."

The squad turned and saluted.

"Doctor, I'm Lieutenant Colonel Ian Starling. These are Major Cecil Harlow, Lieutenant Michael Arlen, Lieutenant Anthony Reymande, Lieutenant Alexandra Kendel and Lieutenant Isabelle McAlster."

"We’ve been expecting you. Please follow me, I take it you know why you're here?"

"To provide data that's crucial to a top secret project." replied Arlen.

"Correct, but none of you, except for the major know what that project is right?"

They nodded, the group approached a set of tall doors and the doctor unlocked them with a retinal scan, they smoothly slid open.

"Welcome to Project Storm. The latest in mobile suit technology."

They headed inside to see a mobile suit hangar, in several bays stood new machines, the most prominent feature on each one was the new head design. Each one had a more human looking face; two blue sensors where the eyes would have gone and a mouth guard-shaped plate below, finally just above the sensors was a large gold V-shaped fin. It was an impressive sight.

"What are they?" asked Starling.

"Gundams." she replied.

"Gundams?"

"G-u-n-d-a-m. Generation unseen new drive assault mobile unit. They're state of the art mobile suits that can turn the conflict in our favour." explained Harlow.

"So far we've managed to produce three frames but we were having trouble with the power source. Until now that is." said a voice above them.

An engineer floated down towards them.

"Chief engineer Forrest sir."

"The chief here is the frame designers, he's personally overseen production of the Storm, Sunflare and Cascade."

"The machines use technology like new weapons, advanced AMBAC and improved sensory systems. The last part of the puzzle was a power source. You've probably guessed that we can't use hydrogen cells."

"They lack about six times the power we need, we had to search for a new option."

"So you want to make them nuclear powered like the mobile suits used by Eclipse." said Lieutenant Reymande.

"Not quite, please follow me." said the doctor.

"What is it with him and nuclear power?" said Major Harlow quietly to Lieutenant Kendel.

"Don't know." she replied.

"Maybe it's the potential for big, bright explosions." said McAlster.

The three laughed quietly. They left the hangar and entered another holographic lab. A spherical device about two metres in diameter appeared before them, it cut open to reveal a cross-section.

"This is a Reichold space, inside is a unique environment where electrical energy can be converted into particles, as you may know they have been widely used throughout the system." she explained.

"And you can then store them and convert them back into electricity right?" asked McAlster.

"Correct, but recently we've discovered a form of condenser that allows us to store and destabilise the Reichold particles, these new particles are known as SR particles."

The hologram changed to show a cylinder filled with particles that changed colour from white to pink.

"Both types can be transferred through specialised cabling, SR particles can then be ejected through an outlet guided by a magnetic field. Simply put; the SR particles can be used as ammunition."

"But then why haven't we used it yet?" asked Kendel.

"Due to the 0,0 treaty we can't use nuclear fission to power the Gundams. This left only one viable option to use: fusion."

"Unfortunately we haven't been able to build a working micro fusion generator that's small enough to fit inside the suit." said the major.

"What about on a ship?"

"That's the Broadsword, it going to be the first ship with a built with on board fusion reactors, instead of the high efficiency chemical based plants. A ship with that system wouldn't need to refuel for a substantial time." replied the doctor.

"What about fitting this into mobile suits?" asked Starling.

"Using the data from the Da Vinci's sensor logs we've managed to bridge the technological gap, without it we would probably be two years away."

They floated through the lab and entered a much larger one; in the middle were three large metal cylinder-shaped objects.

"These are the Storm drives, as we speak we are programming nanites to build nano heat exchangers inside them." A scientist working at a console turned around and floated towards them.

"This is our resident nanotechnology expert Dr. Barton-Thomas."

Dr. Barton-Thomas was a tall man with an afro and spoke with an American accent.

"Pleased to meet you, from what I hear you're the ones to thank for solving our power problem. I'll explain what we're doing here."

He gestured towards a large tank in the side of the room.

"Inside are nanites, tiny programmable machines that we use to perform microscopic construction and repair. After analysing the data you provided from the scans of the enemy mobile suits we've copied the design of their heat exchangers but it's taking time to implement them."

He floated back to the console. "Once the design's been programmed we can inject them into the Storm Drives and begin modifications, with some luck you'll be able to take the gundams for a test drive in no time at all."

"Thank you doctor."

"My pleasure. "

They left and headed to main control centre of the base.

"While we complete the project we would like you to remain here, it's only a matter of time before the Eclipse forces figure out the orders were fake." said Dr. Northwood.

"When they do they'll probably put one and one together and start looking around Lagrange 2 again." concluded Starling. "For that reason we've unloaded the Strikers and are repairing them here. They should be ready in four hours. In the mean time we've prepared accommodations for you."

Starling turned to his squad. "Alright guys take a break, get some sleep, food, whatever."

He saluted, they saluted back.

"Dismissed."

The squad broke up, a sense of relief could be felt as the lieutenants went off in search of food. The colonel headed to the control centre and the major went back to the hangar. On his way he passed a young second lieutenant, his name was Thomas West. West had joined not so long ago as a pilot but flew light spacecraft instead of mobile suits. Sadly he somehow never had the knack for piloting such a machine, some called such pilots rejects, others aces for still being able to fly something that didn't need an auto mass balance active control system constantly running. He arrived in the mess hall, grabbed a drink and sat down with a friend of his, second Lieutenant Kai Ashuri, a few tables away sat most Red Squadron.

"Look at them, who would've thought that the fabled Reds would grace us with their presence." said Ashuri.

"Go easy on them Kai, they lost a comrade and fought off the enemy twice to get us the data." replied West.

Ashuri smiled and leant back.

"She's out of your league."

"What are you talking about?" asked West, blushing slightly.

"The EGX-001, we both know that you've been staring at it ever since they started construction. There's no way you're going to get it." He turned his head towards the Striker's table. "It'll probably go to the ESPF's golden boy Starling. Lucky guy."

"Oh right, Storm Gundam."

A third person sat down at their table, a red-haired young woman also wearing a military uniform. "Hey Naomi."

"I've heard the Broadsword's going to be the carrier, can you imagine? The pride and heart of the peacekeepers, that ship's meant to double as both a carrier and battleship." she said excitedly and nudged West. "They'll need a pilot."

"Do you think pick someone here?" asked West.

"Let's face it, there are three of the best wingmen here and all of them could fly that thing with one hand." said Ashuri, somehow the way he made that claim made it seem believable.

Red Squadron's lieutenants had sat down to unwind yet despite the feeling of relaxation there was a strong sense of underlying tension. The loss of their comrade had hit them hard, none of them wanted to be first to admit their feelings. Finally one of them couldn't take it any longer.

"An enemy who uses deception and remote controlled weapons as their main tactics. It's cowardice, nothing more." said McAlster.

"I still can't believe he's gone. Just hours before we were laughing it up over his impression of the colonel, you remember right?"

"Yeah, but remember we've been trained for this Alex. We don't let our emotions get in our way." said Arlen.

"That's not how it should be Michael, you know it, this whole squad knows it, that new major probably knows it and Colonel Starling probably knows it. I'm never forgetting someone who died." she curled her hand into a tight fist. "I'm fighting for them."

"Yeah."

"We won't stop until every last one of them are finished off."

The major had had enough for the day, he had found how to create an EC layer for a cutting edge power source, helped save two lieutenants and his superior officer. He had come into his room, took off his jacket and dozed off. The others had done similar things, it had been only seven hours since first contact but the red squadron was exhausted. Almost everyone was dozing off or in some form of sleep, everyone except Lieutenant Kendel. She had remembered something from the last battle and was checking the sensor logs. There amidst the entries was the information she needed, she selected the log and viewed it.

"Oh no." she whispered, the lieutenant grabbed her jacket and left her room. She made it to control centre where a technician was on duty.

"Something I can do for you ma'am?" he asked.

"Get me Dr. Northwood. Now."

"Yes ma'am." A few minutes later the director came in.

"Lieutenant, what can I do for you?"

"I need to see this."

Kendel gave her the tablet computer with log file. The doctor studied the screen for a moment before a frown appeared on her face. She turned to the technician.

"Mike wake up the striker pilots and tell them to get up here now."

"Yes director."

"Colonel Starling?"

The colonel woke up.

"I was just resting my"

Starling looked around.

"eyes. I swear someone was here."

"Sir I've tapped into the PA in your room, the director needs to see you and your teammates."

"Alright, I'm on my way."

"Ok doctor what's the big hurry?" Starling came in to the control room to see the rest of his team looking at a video being projected.

"Lieutenant Kendel has discovered a potential problem in our sensor system."

"During our last battle the enemy machine we fought disappeared for a moment and managed to flank us."

She froze the video at the moment when the mobile suit reappeared.

"It was using some form of camouflage cover to hide from our sensors. Therefore there's nothing to stop them from trying the same trick again."

The major floated over to a console and started tapping at it. He displayed a 3-dimensional map with sensor readings in the centre of the room.

"Nothing yet on visual sensor, no heat sources." He frowned. "Proximity sensors are going crazy, like there's a dust storm going by."

Lieutenant Kendel stood next to him.

"What about trace heat?"

The major examined the readings.

"Nothing coherent."

He rubbed his temples, deep in thought. He turned to the doctor.

"If we increase the sensor resolution could we pick up the heat from their propulsion system?"

"Maybe, but the margin of error increases dramatically if you zoom in too far."

The major displayed sensor readings, the results were disturbing.

"They're consistent." said Starling. "We've got company."

"Agreed. Sound red alert, prepare base defences." ordered Doctor Northwood. She touched her radio opening a link. "Doctor we need those drives ready."

"We're not done, the nanites need at least five more minutes. If we start up the drives without a complete energy conversion layer the system won't work and we'll burn up the nanites before they finish."

The major and lieutenants gathered.

"If we launch the Strikers and use the base defences we could buy some time." said Lieutenant Reymande. The console beeped urgently and the holographic map updated, now at least twenty hostile targets had been confirmed.

"You can't go out there it'll be suicide. The odds will be too high as soon as they launch their bits, even for a Striker team." said the doctor.

"Well as much as I'd like to sit around debating we can't wait forever. It's true that they don't know where we are yet, but we need a plan because it doesn't take anyone long to start blowing up large asteroids." said Starling.

She nodded, "Max, load the drives into the suits. We'll let the EC layers be built while they're being fitted." "Alright, tell the pilots to meet me in the hangar control room."

"Roger." she closed the link and turned to the squad. "Colonel, you and the Major will head to the hangar control room and launch the Storm and Sunflare Gundams. I would like the rest of the squadron to remain here to assist in defence while the Da Vinci prepares to launch."

Down bellow Dr. Barton-Thomas and his team began moving the drives.

"Easy now, we need to get these to hangar one. Keep an eye on the build rate and start them up as soon as they're ready."

The Da Vinci was preparing to move out too. "Declare condition red, start up engines, prepare to disconnect support cables and all anti-MS weapons on standby." ordered Colonel Rushmann.

"Load missile tubes one through six with Valkyries. Activate SRIT railguns and stand by for automated MS tracking." ordered the deputy commander, Maria Garcia.

"Attention all forces, in 0060 we will launch a barrage of missiles from Athena. While the enemy forces are disrupted the Da Vinci will launch in 0080 and hold off all hostiles until the gundam units are launched. Good luck." said Dr. Northwood.

"Final check of all missiles." ordered Lieutenant Arlen.

"All launchers online, ready to fire."

"Da Vinci here, ready to launch."

"Understood, prepare to fire missiles on my mark." the time for the counter to reach zero seemed to take a century. Finally the readout read 0000.

"Fire missiles." he ordered.

"Aye aye, firing missiles."

Around the asteroid base numerous hatches opened up revealing a large number of launcher tubes. Moments later a few hundred missiles were fired from them, they flew around the base’s airspace and finally detonated in a series of bright explosions. Then amidst the explosions the hatch in the side of Athena opened and the Da Vinci launched from its hangar.

"70% of the enemy forces have been destroyed." reported Mendez.

"Alright then looks like we've got our work cut out for us. Lock on targets and fire all railgun batteries." ordered the deputy captain. "Target largest enemy groups with Valkyries, fire!"

The ship accelerated forwards and opened fire on the enemy suits.

Inside the research base the powerful sensor array suddenly detected a problem.

"There's a ship out there!"

"What? How did they get that here without us picking it up?"

"They probably hid it behind some of the larger asteroids on the outskirts of the field." said the doctor.

"But that's beside the point, Da Vinci prepare for incoming enemy mobile suits, that new ship's probably a carrier." said Arlen.

Beneath them the two officers had nearly arrived in the control room where the doctor was waiting for them. An explosion rumbled through the base and the ceiling came down, separating the two.

The major tapped his radio. "Colonel can you hear me?"

"Yeah, that was close. Is there any way round?"

"Sorry sir, you'll have to go back via the command centre."

Starling sighed. "Alright launch without me."

The major continued and came in to the control room where Dr. Barton-Thomas was, in each arm he held a pilot suit.

"Where's the colonel?"

"Cut off, I'm launching alone."

"Alright then, you're going to need one of these, your normal pilot suits won't protect you well enough against the predicted g forces." he handed the major one. "Also we're nearly ready to launch both Storm and Sunflare."

A large explosion suddenly shook the base.

"We need to hurry." urged Major Harlow. They headed out of the control room and towards the hangar.

"Which one are you taking?" asked the doctor.

"Sunflare Gundam." The doctor helped ready the mobile suit. The base shook again, amidst the commotion no-one seemed to spot another person behind them wearing the other pilot suit heading towards Storm Gundam.

"Good luck out there."

"Thanks." replied Harlow.

The engineers headed out of the hangar as the two pilots entered their Gundams. The hatches closed and the screens inside lit up, the doctor's face came up on the screen inside Sunflare.

"Forty seconds until you can launch."

A counter reading 97% appeared, without warning the base shook even more violently then before. Dr. Barton-Thomas checked something.

"What the? Someone's in Storm. Unknown pilot identify now."

A new face appeared on the screen. "Sir, second Lieutenant Thomas West."

"West you're not cleared to pilot that. Shut it down now."

"With respect sir we don't have a choice, I've read the manual and there's no time to get another pilot. Please, trust me."

The doctor put a hand to his forehead, clearly not happy with the present situation.

"Major? It's your call."

He thought for a moment.

"Stick close West, it's going to get rough real quick."

Despite the situation he couldn't entirely contain his enthusiasm.

"Yes sir."

"Moving Storm Gundam and Sunflare Gundam to catapult level."

The platforms lifted the machines to the floor above; at last the counter read 100%.

"Construction complete, activate the drives."

"Roger that, beginning start up." said West. Beneath him he heard a low hum, inside the readouts started to go green, the screen in front of him lit up displaying a number of readouts and Storm Gundam's eyes lit up in a bright blue flash. Inside West closed his eyes.

This is it, Storm Gundam and I, we're going to save everyone.

His eyes opened, a new determination visible.

We're going to fight back.

"Storm Gundam, Thomas West." he pushed the throttle forwards "Launching." and felt the g-forces pull as the gundam flew out of the base at a fantastic speed, the major wasn't far behind.

"Sunflare Gundam, Cecil Harlow, heading out."

The Da Vinci can't take much more of this, thought Rushmann as his ship took more damage, it's a carrier, not a battleship.

"Starboard batteries one through five are offline."

"Main engines down."

"Hull breach on deck twelve."

Suddenly Colonel Rushmann saw two dots of light approaching them.

"Hang on for a bit longer, help's on the way."

"Sir." said Mendez, she pointed outside at four machine lining up to take aim at the ship. The particles built up in their weapons as they prepared to fire.

"Anytime now would be good Starling."

A blade suddenly stuck out of one of the machine before the suit exploded, the blade was reeled back and locked back onto Storm Gundam's wrist. The other machines quickly scattered as Sunflare opened fire.

"Our first priority is to take out the targets around the base and the carrier."

"Roger that."

West took a few shots with the gundsword, a multi-modal weapon serving as either a beam gun or sword, before switching modes and engaging in close combat. An Eclipse suit charged towards him, beam sabres drawn. He neatly severed its arms and then cut it through the waist. Firing the grapple-blade West pierced another mobile suit, the end opened up to stop it being pulled out and he swung round. The machine followed and was slammed into two other. The lieutenant retracted the wire and fired with the beam gun, the shots pierced machine after machine and soon he was surrounded by nothing but smoke and debris.

"Such agility, and firepower. Who would have thought we could make something like this."

The major had been shooting down enemy after enemy. Something beeped and he narrowly avoided an enemy before shooting it in the back, he then switched to dual beam pistols and adopted a gun-kata style. Flying through the combat zone he took out several more enemies while using a series of turns and flips.

He stopped to catch his breath, "Looks like that's all of them." he opened a channel "Da Vinci you alright?"

A slightly crackled reply came back. "We're alright but we're heavily damaged and returning to the dock for repairs."

"Roger that Da Vinci."

He turned his gundam around and headed away.

"Good luck Sunflare."

The gundam met up with West and they headed for the ship. Hatches opened on either side and a barrage of missiles was launched.

"Look out." said the lieutenant, slightly panicked.

"We're not their target. Take them out."

The gundams opened fire with their vulcans, trying to take out as many as they could. However they proved to be too much.

"They got through!"

Sunflare chased after the rest of them, machine-gun drawn. He took almost all of them down in one burst of fire.

"There's still a few left." said West. He was out of range and aimed his gundsword in futility.

"Enemy ordnance approaching rapidly. Countermeasures are non-responsive."

"What about the Da Vinci?" asked Dr. Northwood.

"Under repair, we can't launch it."

The missiles had reached beyond Sunflare's range and the major slowed down. He could see the blips of light now, before they disappeared from view.

"Missiles are streaking round. They're aiming for our ship hangar."

The director watched as the targets on the map drew closer and closer.

"All personnel brace for heavy impact."

Outside the weapons manoeuvred into final their flight path. They closed in, if they hit the base would take massive damage. But suddenly a burst of white linear bolts destroyed the missiles before they could reach the base.

"Who was that?" asked the lieutenant.

"It's the Strikers."

West zoomed in on the approaching machines; his suit automatically recognised another mobile suit in the formation and displayed information.

"EGX-004? They launched Cascade Gundam."

A new voice came over the comlink. "We're not letting you have all the fun."

"Reymande is that you?" asked Harlow.

A sleek white jet-shaped craft flew towards them and transformed into its mobile suit mode, revealing the third gundam as its eyes flared a bright blue.

"It's me and check out the new suit, Cascade's currently incomplete but it's not totally useless."

Starling and the other Strikers arrived as well. "Good work you, the good doctor filled us in."

In front of them the ship opened its hangar bay doors and new model suits launched.

"Detecting eighteen new contacts."

"They're weaker, possibly mass production types." reported Arlen.

"Alright, Strikers fall back and form a defensive perimeter. As for you gentlemen, weapons free."

"Yes sir."

Cascade transformed again and two beam sabres on wings lit up in a bright pink hue. Sunflare grabbed its machine gun and pistol while Storm extended its blade. They charged forwards towards the enemy forces, Reymande's gundam simply cutting through the first few suits as it flew past. Cascade then transformed into its MS form and drew two rifles mounted on its legs. Sunflare shot down several suits and covered Cascade's back.

"This suit's incredible."

"Tell me about it."

Harlow pistol whipped another suit in head, cracking its sensors. West appeared behind it and sliced it down the middle. Slowly but surely the three gundams weaved through the enemy fire until only the carrier was left. As soon as the enemy's strength began to dwindle it turned and headed away from the combat zone.

"Oh no you don't." said West.

"Lieutenant, I need a lift."

Cascade Gundam transformed back into its sleek jet shape and flew towards Storm.

"Grab on." said Reymande.

The suit held onto Cascade's wing as it raced towards the retreating ship, West aimed the grapple-blade.

"We need to get closer, otherwise this won't work."

Reymande pushed the throttle further, the digital readouts flashing red. He gritted his teeth as the g-forces pulled him back.

"We're flat out, if you've got a plan then hurry."

West checked the distances, there's way no way he could reach, unless.

"Sir, I need to you do exactly as I say. On my mark transform to mobile suit mode and grab on."

The reply came back sounding a little unsure. "If you say so."

Reymande's hand hovered over the controls. "Ready for transformation."

"Roger that."

West positioned himself on Cascade, he placed the suit's against one of the dorsal fins and counted down. "Three, two, one, mark!"

On his last word he pushed off of the other machine as hard as he could and fired the grapple. The end struck the ship's hull and remained in place. A split second after he had jumped lieutenant Reymande had transformed again and grabbed the Storm's outstretched arm.

Back at the base the others had landed and were following the battle from the control centre.

"Incredible."

"I didn't know the EGX-004 could travel that fast."

Starling turned to the director, obviously amazed at what he just saw.

"Tell me doctor, how can a rookie pilot who's had no prior experience pull off a move as if he's a seasoned ace?"

Her eyes remained fixed on the footage of the battle. "I have no idea, perhaps there's more to the lieutenant than previously thought."

"Alright, I'm going to reel us closer but you need to take out the engines sir."

Cascade drew it's rifle."

Understood."

West pulled them within range and the lieutenant took aim and fired. The beam tore through then right set of engines, he then crossed his machine's arms and shot the left set. "That's it, the ship's dead in the water." West released the grapple and reeled it in. The two suits slowly headed towards the ship, suddenly an insistent beeping sounded. "What the hell?" The ship broke apart in a large explosion, the shockwave knocking gundams back. Reymande punched his controls in frustration

"Damn it. Who the hell blows themselves up rather than surrendering?"

"Sir, look."

Scattered throughout the area were pieces of the ship.

"We might something of use in the remains."

"Right, contact the base, tell them we need transports and mobile suits."

Eclipse Brotherhood council - unknown location

A group of people sat around a large circular conference table watching the footage of the battle.

"It would appear that the strike team failed."

"The strike team and the support group, every single unit, annihilated."

"Not only that, but the Peacekeepers now have access to the same technology we do but more powerful."

"Fortunately the carrier self-destructed before capture. They won't get anything out of that."

"You're underestimating their abilities, for humans they are rather resourceful. They have after all created a superior version of the Pulse Drive."

A commanding voice cut through the arguing.

"What they've built is not important, there are currently only three of them. This means that the next step be a large scale military attack." He paused. "How is construction of our forces proceeding?"

The centre of the table projected a hologram of the mobile suit encountered at Lagrange 2.

"85% of the Duister mobile suit force is ready, construction for additional units will continue after that."

"Good, soon we will take back what was denied from us so very long ago, we'll take back the Earth."