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The wind blew eerily through the stagnant desert, a lifeless husk of sore reality, once a proud, illustrious and populated region of the planet Earth. Now it was nothing more than a graveyard, one with kilometer high headstones strewn sporadically across a hundred mile stretch of salted ground. The remnants of the Island Iffish space colony stood in testimony to the billions of lives lost in the One Year War, a stark and constant reminder for the people of Australia, and indeed the entirety of the Earth Sphere. The impact crater that marred the eastern Australian coast was visible from everywhere orbiting the planet. Everywhere except Side 3. On this cloudy day an orange mobile suit sailed through the ragged landscape, a beefy yet surprisingly agile GM blasted on its verniers, firing paintball rounds at a trio of Zakus below. The Zaku, its shoulder struck with red paint, slipped and began sliding down into the crater it was using for cover. "Goddamn Zaku, it maneuvers like a pig." Kou said, grumbling and looking up at the orange GM in front of him. "There's no way it can compare to that powered up GM." "Kou! Link! Formation 3! Let's hit him all at once!" Keith said, the radio working clearly in the absence of minovsky particle interference. "Roger." responded the two test pilots, their 3 Zakus taking formation and charging at Rem Hace's Powered GM. Rem quickly did a one eighty, blasting off back towards the colony wreckage. It was a simple matter for the orange GM to simply outrun the old tan Zaku II's, being equipped with a ridiculous amount of thrust and maneuvering verniers. Link had his throttle pushed as hard as he possibly could, but the Zaku simply didn't have the power necessary to keep up with the Powered GM. He was angry, something that did appear common with Link, and he turned up the blaring music inside the cockpit, as if to assume that the louder it was playing the faster his Zaku would go. As the Zakus got towards the wreckage, Hace's GM swung out from behind a skyscraper sized piece of shraphnel, having already circumnavigated it and turned around to engage his enemies. Links Zaku was hit repeatedly with paint, Hace blasting away in the other direction. "I can't believe they have me out here today." Hace said, wincing as his foot lashed out in pain. It was still bandaged from the earlier incident, and managing the foot pedals that controlled the GMs leg movements proved quite excrutiating. "That backpack's too heavy on a GM. I bet it'd look a lot better on a Zaku." Keith said, still trying to trail the orange GM. But it was simply too fast. As the test pilots did their dance, far away on a hill a Type 74 and a strangely modeled mobile suit watched in silence. It was a blue V finned model, one shoulder carrying a huge cannon and another a blue circular device. "Colonel Reece, I'm not getting enough data on the system. I'd like them to go farther out." Aleksander Dolvich said from the Blossoms cockpit, monitoring a data stream coming in fron the Gundams MPIWS array. The Colonel nodded, crossing her legs and putting a finger on her headset. "Boys, could you four be a dear and go out another mile? Thanks." She said, trying her best to add a heart emoticon to the end of her statement through the intercom. Link barely heard her through the guitar solo's reverberating his cockpit, but it did get him thinking about the plans he had for the rest of the night. Was there anywhere on base where he could get a roofie? A young blonde woman in a blue Anaheim Electronics dress looked on at the ocean, a thing which could be thought of as beautiful here, if one did not know the history of its horrid formation. The captain of the Albion walked onto the bridge and gave her a curt nod. "Excuse me for coming up here without permission, Captain Melendez." "It's no bother miss Purpleton. It is scenes like this that remind us that we must always maintain vigilance, even in times of peace." Captain Melendez responded, looking on at the impact crater with her. "This is your first time down here on Earth, isn't it." He asked her, arms crossed behind his back. "Yes. We should be over Australia soon, right?" Nina asked eagerly, amazed at the gem that was the Earth, so full of wonder. "We already are." The helmsman immediately responded, somewhat angrily. Nina looked at him, somewhat surprised. "We're already crossing over Sydney." Captain Melendez answered her confusion. "The sea we're over now is where the city used to be. The scar of Zeons Operation British." "This... This is where the colony fell?" Nina didn't know what to say. "A crater 500 kilometers wide. The largest man made hole in history, created by an explosive force equal to 60,000 kilotons. Some call it the price of war, but it is too high a price to pay." Melendez said. He took off his hat, bowing slightly to the millions of lives lost here. As the Albion began to reach the rocky shoreline, a small and concealed band of Zeon mobile suits watched them, carefully taking readings without moving out of the gully that was concealing them from Federation radar towers. "Commander Gato, it's here. The Pegasus class ship." The Xamels pilot said, the Nightmare of Solomon quietly waiting in the large suits second seat. "Right on schedule. The captain is quite punctual... For a Feddie." Gato smirked, his blonde, nearly white hair tied back in an impeccably neat ponytail. He looked as military as a man with long hair could. He leaned over towards the Xamels radio. "Haulk. Contact Marina. Tell her we are commencing Operation Stardust." William gave an affirmative grunt, and shakily began the encoded transmission to the Pendragon, which was not as far away as the EFF Naval command at Sri Lanka might think. "This is Walfisch. Pegasus-class sighted. I repeat, Pegasus-class sighted. We are commencing the operation. William gulped as he finished the transmission. It left a bad taste in his mouth, as many things did these days. "I'm telling you man, it wasn't me." Link swore up and down, trying his best to balance the soccer ball on his foot with his hands in his pockets. Rem was still pretty pissed. "I know it was you and I want to know what you did with the pictures." He growled. The two weren't exactly friends, but it was hard to be a Torrington test pilot and not know the other pilots. It wasn't exactly a large base. "Look. I'm not saying I was there, but from the situation you described, I'm sure it was pretty dark." Link kicked the ball into the air, catching it back on his foot. "So how do you know it was me? I mean, do you have any proof?" He snickered. The argument was cut short however, as the sound of the Albion landing on the base airfield rolled throughout the base, the thud of several thousand tons of metal landing softly but still loudly on the concrete airstrips. "Okay look. It was me. But we have more pressing concerns. Lets go check them out." Link said, a gleam in his eye. Rem flashed a similar gleam. "You mean the Gundams?" He said. They'd heard another two Gundams were being shipped. "Uhh... Yeah. The Gundams." Rocz responded. He'd been thinking about the Anaheim women of course. It was not long after this that the two pilots zoomed up the Albions portside hangar deck in one of the bases jeeps, eyes wide with excitement as they saw the two glorious mobile suits contained within. They leapt out of the small vehicle, immediately heading for two entirely different targets. "So it IS a Gundam." Rem said, walking towards the Zephyranthes, his neck strained as he gazed up at the machine. Link already had a completely different gameplan on the menu, looking at the short blonde moving towards them. "Oh man look at it, this one has a Core Fighter.." Hace said, immediately rushing towards the Physalis. "That one's great too! That heavy armor!" "Uh huh." Rocz said, staring at Nina somewhat below the eyes. "Are you from the base?" Nina asked, looking at the two of them. "And you? Anaheim Electronics, right?" Link grinned. "We... Uh, I mean I'm Link, a test pilot here." "Oh, you're a test pilot? I'm Nina Purpleton, systems engineer. It's a pleasure." Nina said, happy to meet somebody who might be working the kinks out of her toys. "Believe me, the pleasure's all mine." Link said, grabbing her hand and looking her fiendishly in the eye. "Oh, and that's my pal, Sergeat Hace." He said, pointing at Rem who looked like he was about to climb inside the Physalis's cockpit. Nina looked at Rem with a scowl. "The Gundam's being serviced right now. If you want to see it, you'll be contacted tomorrow." "Ah! Then you can contact me." Link grinned. "When do you get off work today?" "What?" Nina was taken aback. "Well, we have to set a time for our date, don't we? Wanna grab a beer?" Link was laying it on softer than usual, careful not to insult such a clearly uptight woman. "Hey! Nina!" Came a call from the rafters. Nina looked away, much to Rocs annoyance. "Everything checks out OK! If you don't need me, I'd like to take a walk." The man in the rafters was a young technician in an orange jumpsuit, thin with a freckled face and scraggly blonde hair. "Sure Orville! Good work!" Nina said, smiling. Link was confused. "Take a walk? But there's nothing around here." He said. "Perhaps, but everything here on Earth is new to people like us who were born in space. Oh yes! Sunsets! I guess he went to see one of those." Nina said, smiling brightly. While the two continued their conversation, Orville took a jeep and slipped out of the Albions hangar. A good fifteen minutes later, Orville was on a dusty outback road, looking at a map after carefully making sure nobody from the base had tried to follow him. Satisfied, he opened up his wristwatch, pulling an earpiece out of it and speaking into the thing like a transciever. "Blue Angel to Walfisch. Blue Angel to Walfisch." The Anaheim Electronics technician spoke calmly into the device. "This is Walfisch." Haulk responded, not quite as calmly. "Blue Angel is ready. Everything is on schedule." Orville answered back. "Walfisch. Understood." The radio echo was quiet and dull, creating a much more serious tone than the palour of the Federation base. Brigadier General Hawking and Captain Melendez, along with a handful of armed marine escorts, walked quietly into the vast and ominous bunker. The metal door slowly creaking open above them. Hawking put his hand and eye on reticles for a second, larger door, typing in a passcode after they were approved. This inner door seemed to open even more slowly, if that was possible. "This is the first time we've opened it since the Antarctic Treaty was signed." Hawking said uneasily. The much taller Melendez sighed his response. "If I could, I'd make sure that door stayed closed forever." Elsewhere, in the base cafeteria, Federation military men and women were doing their usual thing, eating as much food as they possibly could. At one of the officers tables Captain Dolvich and Colonel Reece sat with Lieutenants Uraki and Keith. "That backpack we mounted on the GM has incredible output." Belanie said, always one for making conversation. "And the shock absorbers on the legs let it handle long falls without any problems. If the stuff Anaheim gives us is that good, I can't wait to test the two new Gundams." "What do you mean YOU can't wait to test the new Gundams." Kou said, annoyed. "Aren't you already the test pilot for the 03?" "Yeah, didn't anyone ever tell you not to try two at once?" Alek said. Belanie's attitude towards promotions was well known, but she merely laughed at the barb. "Oh come on Captain. You and I are the ace pilots here. So I figured it was a no brainer." "I want to try one too!" Kou raised his voice. "Day after day all I get to drive is that stupid Zaku!" "Oh, but the Zaku's a fine machine too." Came the melodious voice of Nina Purpleton, who walked up to the table with Mora, a technician sent to assist her from Jaburo. "And who the hell are you!" Kou said angrily. The two looked each other square in the eyes. "Pardon me. I'm a systems engineer with Anaheim. Nina Purpleton." There was clearly some chemistry here. "Oh, with Anaheim? Pardon the Lieutenants rudeness." Aleksander stood up immediately, Belanie, Kou and Keith following very formally. "I'm Captain Dolvich, Colonel Reece and I are in charge of the testing program here." "Oh great. This is Lieutenatn Mora Bascht, she came here from Jaburo to oversee the maintenance team. Can we join you?" "By all means." Dolvich smiled, pulling out one of the seats. "It looks like you've really pushed mobile suit design to the limits this time." "Oh, have you already tested the two we sent last week?" Nina smiled. There had been problems in transit with the mass balancers on the 01 and 02 which had delayed their shipment from Jaburo. "We started getting preliminary data on the MPIWS system today. It's amazing." Belanie said. "If it does what it's supposed to, being blinded by Minovsky Particles could be ancient history." "By the way... We've heard you'll be choosing test pilots from this base for the new Gundams." Kou said, leaning inwards. "May I ask what kind of pilots you'd be looking for?" "Well... My company would like a pilot who can push the new suits to the limits of their abilities.." Nina said, looking Kou straight in the eyes. Their conversation went on and on, and after their dinners were over the officers retired to their quarters, while Mora and Nina went back to the Albions hangar, to oversee the equipment loading on the 01 and 02. They intended to begin testing tomorrow morning. There were three mobile suits there, a Xamel and two of the heavy Dom Funf types, all piloted by the very best Delaz could afford to send to Earth. They had only arrived three days ago, coming as fast as they could. Orville had already had to cause maintenance delays on 01 and 02 to make sure they would arrive at Torrington within the proper window. They had to commence with the operation before the nuclear weapons test the coming morning. It was a spartan campsite, lodged in a gully not too far from the base, but far enough that none of the local Fanfan patrols would spot them. There were no fires, and there were no tents, the pilots sleeping inside their mobile suits, one of them always keeping watch. Not a one was at all relaxed, the group so heavily within Federation territory, and none of them properly used to Earth. "I don't want you being careless." Gato said, as he zipped up a stolen Federation uniform. "It may be a backwater base, but test pilots can be among the most skilled." "Leave it to us." Lieutenant Bob responded. Berthold picked up shortly after. "You're the lynchpin here Commander. Be careful." The two of them were certainly eager. William was following orders, but he was also spending a good deal of time wondering how he'd gotten himself into this position. Stealing nuclear warheads was certainly not on his recruitment papers. "Could you only find a Lieutenant's uniform for me?" Gato said, looking at Orville. The Anaheim mechanic apologized. "Well, it doesn't change who I really am." Gato said, turning back at his men. "I expect only the best from you. Sieg Zeon." He saluted, the team responding in kind. Metal cranks and pulleys whirred and justled, pulling the GP-02 Gundam Physalis forwards on the maintenance bed. The Atomic Bazooka snapped into position over the right shoulder, a rather plain looking warhead unceremoniously dumped inside from overhead. "Setup complete." Nina said, Captain Melendez responding over the intercom. "Good, now I can rest easy. We'll have a lot to do tomorrow so get a good nights sleep Mrs. Purpleton. Maintain Vigilance." Everybody on the Albion knew the catchphrase well. "Hey Nina! You forgot our date!" Came the annoying voice from below. Link had come back, clearly undeterred by Nina's strict refusals earlier. "Would you get out of here! This area's off limits!" Nina had absolutely had enough. She wondered where that Ensign Uraki was, maybe if she hooked up with him this Sergeant Rocz would stop prowling around her. Link had already forgotten his earlier 'mission', and was intent on making it with Nina. "Nina." Mora said, appearing from one of the hangar decks maintenance catwalks. "Should we load the vulcan ammo into unit 1 now?" "Oh... Uhh, yes." Nina responded, happy to have a reason to get away from the tattooed pervert below. "Man, if she'd just get a better attitude, she'd be perfect.." Link said, chuckling to himself. He turned around and started looking for a way to get up on the catwalk when a long haired Lieutenant passed by. He snapped to attention. Gato answered Links salute, stopping for a moment. "Magnificent... What superb mobile suits. Have they loaded the warhead into unit 02 yet, Sergeant?" "Sir, I think so, sir." Link responded. He really had no clue, but it sounded like what the Lieutenant wanted to hear. "Well, then I'll check it out." Gato grinned, hopping up onto the platform housing 02 and beginning to climb up to the cockpit. Link was used to bad situations, and could see this one coming a mile away, but he wasn't really sure what to say. He'd already been put in confinement for screwing with superiors so often on Torrington, a wrong move could be serious for him at this point. Luckily for Link, it was Nina who spoke up first. "What are you doing?! Shut that hatch and get down from there!" She was just in time to watch Gato climb inside the Physalis's cockpit. "Who the hell." Nina growled. She started frantically running towards the Physalis. "This is bad..." Link said, thinking fast. He started running for the Zephyranthes. "Sergeant! We'll call for help! You can't do this on your own!" Mora said, watching helplessly as the Physalis started walking towards the side of the hangar bay. "I'm a pilot too!" Link grumbled. It's like nobody thought he was good for anything but sex. "We're still loading the ammo! You can't take it out yet." Mora started looking for ways to speed up the arming of the Zephyranthes, while Nina got on the Comm. "Unit 2 pilot! I know you can hear me. If you get out now, we'll go easy on you. Get out of Unit 2 at once!" Nina had no idea what to do, she was pleading at this point. How could this have happened? "I claim this mobile suit and it's nuclear warhead. Zeon will rise again!" Gato's response deadened the room. A Zeon? On Torrington? Without another word, the Gundam Physalis grasped one of its beam sabers and cut open the Albions portside hangar bay doors. "Hull breech on the portside hangar bay! Confirming damage report!" Melendez walked briskly back into the room, buttoning his uniform back up. He was about to go to bed. "Captain, we've got a report from the hangar deck. Someone claiming to be Zeon has taken Unit 2!" "Incoming missiles! Altitude, 12,000 meters!" Another voice called out from behind Melendez. His eyes were open wide now. "They're stealing unit 2? All hands to battle stations, begin broadcasting Minovsky Particles and prepare to lift off!" The raid sirens on the base had barely even started when cluster submunitions and small warheads of all sorts began peppering the base, destroying smaller vehicles and causing a general panic amongst the personnel. For many of them, this was their first real battle. For many more, they had been fast asleep. Pilots dropped whatever they were doing and began running for the mobile suit hangars, while Captain Melendez tried desperately to coordinate defense operations with Hawkings crews. There was almost nobody at ready stations, no CAP on patrol. Torrington had been caught with its pants completely down. "Trace those missiles firing point before particle density gets too thick." Melendez snapped. An old veteran of the One Year War, he would not be deterred by a few dinky missiles. As the Physalis launched its way out of the Albions hangar, Rem Hace could be seen racing along in a jeep, narrowly avoiding explosions and rubble. "God dammit! What the hell are the Zeon up to now?!" He said. A missile sailed over his head, somehow expertly landing straight inside the Albions open hangar. The GP-01 Zephyranthes climbed its way out of the smoke. "NINA!" Mora yelled, coughing as she rushed towards the now broken maintenance catwalk, Nina Purpletons bloody arm barely visible under the debris. There was no way for her to survive that sort of blast. "This isn't play-fighting! Watch your asses out there, you hear me!" Dolvich yelled at the Federation pilots in the hangar, rushing towards the Blossom as he went. Kou and Keith were two of the first ones out of the hangar, their bright tan Zakus easy targets. Almost immediately after they had revealed themselves Keiths Zaku was destroyed, a 360mm bazooka round tearing the old Zaku in two. "Holy shit." Kou said, completely stunned. Two fast Dom type units were skating towards him. "A Zaku.. The Feddies must have captured it. I can't stand to see it like this." Bob said, swooping forward in his Dom Tropen with heat saber outstretched. In one stroke Kou Uraki's life was ended, the Dom swerving away to join up with Gato in the Gundam. From the hangar, Belanie Reece watched the two Lieutenants die, a tear in her eyes. "God damned Zeon, how many people do they have to kill?" She said to herself angrily before moving for her own unit. "Commander Gato!" Haulk said over the radio, which was increasingly getting more and more difficult to use. Soon they would not be able to talk to each other any longer. The two Doms met up with the bulky but powerful Gundam. "Good work William. Mission accomplished! Withdraw at once!" The three mobile suits blasted away, the Federation still scrambling to get its mobile suits on the ground. As they exited the base they launched a signal flare, prompting an even heavier barrage from the Nimue fleet. "Pendragon, your shots are drifting to the East. Correct your solution." The crackly voice came through, though communication was becoming more and more difficult "Understood. Missile crews, adjust shots west one half click." The Pendragons weapons officer stated flatly into the comm. They were all SS soldiers here, Ghirens finest. Black uniforms bedecked the Mad Anglers bridge. A four foot tall teenager in an oversized hat oversaw the operation. "Those idiotic Earthnoids, have they forgotten about us again? If I don't kill them their own stupidity will." Marina laughed to herself. "Helm, what's the weather situation." "Still foggy ma'am, guiding the Komusai in might be a little rough but we'll make it." A young boy, not older than twenty, addressed the minute Gruppenfuhrer. "Alright. We need to assume they'll send that damn Horse after Gato, so lets get some troops on the ground. Have that pilot Delaz sent us prepped, I'm sure he wants to stretch his legs a little." Marina grinned, tipping up her overlarge cap as she often needed to do. She looked at an almost comical pair of paintings she had had put on the walls of the Pendragons bridge. One of Ghiren Zabi, and one of Xavier Brennan. "Mission accomplished, mein Fuhrer. Papa."  Delaz Fleet Victory
• William Haulk: 1 VP Gained, No Damage • ?????: 1 VP Gained, No Damage • ?????: 1 VP Gained, No Damage • Aleksander Dolvich: 1 VP Gained, No Damage • Belanie Reece: 1 VP Gained, No Damage • Rem Hace: 1 VP Gained, No Damage • Link Rocz: 1 VP Gained, No Damage. Upgraded to GP01 Gundam Zephyranthes |