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It is February 0081. Although the One Year War is now a fading memory, the rusting remains of shattered cities like Seattle are lasting testimony to that horrible year. Once an immense metropolis that boasted one of the hightest literate populations in the United Staes of America, Seattle is nothing more than a logistical nightmare. There is nothing left of the massive American infrastructure other than the meager scrappings held together by small communities of survivors. While the Earth Federal Forces were quick to reassert their influence across the Earth Sphere, there are still many lawless regions that need to be reclaimed. Isolated soldiers of the defeated Duchy of Zeon mingle in the ruins and in the unaligned mobs that populate the regions. The Earth Federal Forces are all too aware of these. They are also aware that the only way to flush out the persistent Zeon fighters is to go in there after them. Which is what they did. They aren't given a name but everyone knows who they really are and what their purpose is. The Earth Federal hunter groups detached themselves from large fleets and bases as they made their way to every hiding spot on the globe. In the decimated city of Seattle, Private Charles Gano's GMPGT is part of one such seek-and-destroy squad. Surrounded by GMs, the GMPGT pilot stares into the dark shadows created by the city's ruins. They tracked a single unit here. A very aggressive one that is armed with a beam weapon nevertheless. Had it been an older Zaku or even a Dom, Gano would have felt confident in his Lunar Titanium armor. But that was not to be. Three other GMPGTs proved that the vaunted armor plating is ineffective against this prey. As a result, every pilot with a shield is hunching behind cover as they crawl through the crumbling buildings of Seattle. Charles Gano reckons this to old nobles hunting boar on horseback. The image of him as a medieval lord made him shake his head in disbelief. He'll be sure to write about that in his next letter to Scott Archer. "MOvement! A hundred yards north by northeast!" A dozen guns swerved towards the direction of the contact. Sure enough, a shadow was moving faster than it should be. "Open fire!" cried the platoon leader. Tracer rounds went everywhere as Gano joined the GMs' volley. A heavy object slumped to the floor and every gun barrel followed it until it slid to a stop. "Well, son of a gun..." someone said," it was a Gouf all along." "Yeah, should have known. Mean things with their speed an all. Saw one gut open three Guntanks without ever touching the ground." "Pffft. Well this here Gouf ain't going to bother no one no more. Let's get back to base camp." "What a minute," interrupted Gano," since when do Goufs shoot beams?" Before anyone could respond to the abnormality, a GM is torn apart by a beam machinegun from behind. The Federal mobile suits tried to turn, but the uneven terrain and tight spaces slowed them down. This allowed the grenade from a MMP-80 machinegun to detonate right in their face. Dust and dirt clouded the air as their ambushed closed in. Gano saw the shape of the Galbaldy Alpha dash between two GMs. He saw the pilot, Gai Kaiser, run into the middle of the platoon and open fire with a weapon in each hand. The infinitly optimistic Gai Kaiser smiled as he realizes his plan is working. Well, why wouldn't they work? When he DOESN'T WANT THEM TO. AHA. Parts of the Federal force are pulling back, trying to get away from the mess as quickly as they can. Gai Kaiser saw this and start to pursue until his mobile suit is thrown off its feet. Gano squinted as he tries to look through the cloud caused by his GM Bazooka. Suddenly, Gai Kaiser's Galbaldy Alpha is upon him. Gano tries to fire the bazooka again, but Kaiser slaps the barrel aside before colliding with the GMPGT. The two metal machines wrestle in the remains of a shopping mall. They crash through the terrace and mezzanine levels before coming to a stop in the food court. Gano's GMPGT shrugs off a collapsed floor as he rose to his feet with a beam saber blazing. Gai Kaiser did the same, his own beam saber engaged. The two fighters paused for a moment before giving a mighty roar and charging each other. Both swung their beam sabers, except Gano used his shield to block the Galbady Alpha's forearm as the GMPGT's beam saber dug into the Zeon mobile suit's torso. On reflex, Kaiser grabbed the closest thing with a handle and bashed it against the GMPGT. His panzerfaust. The same moment he did that, the Galbady Alpha fell further onto the GMPGT's beam saber, giving Kaiser the opportunity to stab Gano's mobile suit in the side of its back. The combination of high explosives and hungry beam sabers eatting into each mobile suit spelled disaster for the pilots. In a simultaneous failure, both Zeon and Fedearl powerplants failed and went critical. The explosion rippled across the already devastated Seattle ruin. What buildings were standing before, now buried the corpses of Gai Kaiser and Charles Gano. Then, with that, the cemetery that is Seattle accepted it's last two additions of the One Year War. Charles Gano - Killed in Action Gai Kaiser - Killed in Action Gil Krundle had taken to life on the open oceans well. The sieges of Jaburo had all left him unable to participate in the assaults, due to the massive frame of his mobile armor, and the freedom that Earth's oceans offered him was refreshing. No orders, no tiny tunnels, and no Federation patrols hounding him everywhere he turned. Also: No payment for fighting the dirty Feddies. He'd almost run out of cold hot dogs and warm beers, and unless he dug up some work pretty soon, he might be forced to sell his baby, the Grabro. He was free, he was happy, but he was bored. And if he ran out of food or beer, he would not be happy. These facts drove Gil Krundle in his sojourns, searching for rebel groups around the world who could use a decent pilot in a very decent mobile armor, who just happened to be a little indecent when it came to interpersonal interactions. Gil had never been good at relating with his fellow men, but that hadn't stopped him from serving for years in Zeon's Terrestrial Assault Force. It had, however, stopped him from forming any lasting connections with any of his war buddies. He belched loudly, savoring the loud noise, disappointed that there was no one there to admire its fullness and depth. No one could belch like the acclaimed Gil Krundle, and fewer could drink to match him, either in quickness or quantity. He checked his (broken) mini-fridge once again, and saw the last 24-pack staring him in the face. Yes, he was definitely running low - on emergency reserves, so to speak. He needed a job. Fortunately for Krundle, luck was on his side today. He noticed the Jukon before it noticed him. The large submarine was churning through the water like nobody's business, seemingly oblivious to all around it. He glanced at the hull, and saw smudged, cracked Zeon markings, and a name. "Pendragon," he read slowly. That certainly was familiar. On a ship that size, they had to have beer, and old comrades who'd be willing to share war stories over a few cold ones. "I'm coming, guys!" he shouted into an old Zeon war channel. He hoped "Negative. Pursuers are right behind us." It was then that Gil noticed the large battleship cutting through the water behind the Jukon, sending a steady hail of depth charges around the beleagured submarine. "I'm on it," was all Gil said, as he sent the Grabro hurtling toward the battleship. Later, then men and women aboard the Pendragon would reminisce about that great man who had single-handedly saved them from the Federation patrol, when all hope was gone, and their asses were on the line. None of them knew his name; "I'm coming guys" and "I'm on it" were all they had to go by. And if some of them thought the Grabro seemed familiar, as had the voice on the other end of the line, they either didn't make the connection between it and Gil, or they were unwilling to give voice to their thoughts. The Federation battleship and the Grabro died that day, but Gil Krundle lived on as a hero of the remnants of Zeon on Earth. Gil Krundle: Killed in Action "Boooomeeeee" The artificial bell rings throughout the cabin of the shuttle as it slides between the colonies of Side 5. It had been one of the modifications made to the shuttles to ease the irritation of silent space travel. It echoed out on a regular basis based on the distance traveled, almost imitating some form of a train's movement over an uneven track. However it was still just a noise, most of the passengers paid no attention to it and didn't recognize its distance traveled announcements either. The noise blended in with the rest of the crowd's grumbling, several businessmen and women talking to each, a child screaming for his mother's breast, and one particularly annoying man who brought in one of those annoying audio-chirp jackets. "Anaheim Electronics, everyday something we make, makes your life better." It had been a recent trend in the years following the war, companies fought each other from contracts from military and such gimmicky advertising allowed the company to put their names anywhere a human could walk. To put it lightly the tread was annoying but heavily successful, even now a few of the business men from Earth gawked at the jacked and it's animated Anaheim Electronics logo. Kenshiro found the advertisement disgusting. It had been a few years since the war ended but he still felt the Zeonic Corporation had done a better job; this idea of his was based on nothing more than patriotism which should have died long ago. He lost himself in that sense of nostalgia for the days of the War. Memories of the war never died easily among the soldiers in it, it was a common occurrence for him to reminisce about his Bigro mobile armor. Hiding himself was easy enough but it meant having to lose the Bigro after a few months. Fuel consumption was high on the unit and the markets that let him buy rocket fuel without drawing any attention slowly vanished as peace maintained through the months. He was alone now, relying on constant hops from colony to colony for two years while picking up odd jobs with false paperwork when he could. It was not a dignified life but the ex- petty officer still felt free among the stars. Life was going to pick up. A new junkyard had opened up on a neighboring colony and rumor had it they would hire without asking too many questions, it was the kind of opportunity Kenshiro had been waiting for. Settling down in a small place to himself, a steady job working out of sight from the authorities, and most of all he would be able to do it in space. "Attention travelers, this is a routine stop by Federation personnel. Please have you identification ready to be verified. Average time of delay is estimated at 25 minutes; please ensure your documents are out to ensure the delay is as short as possible. Thank you." The automated voice echoed through its recording again but it was fairly obvious this was no coincidence. Silently he smacked himself for coming onboard the shuttle in the first place. He eyed the exits while looking for any emergency suits, there were none. It had been a trap; the Federation must have spread the rumors of tempting jobs for his kind and put out a blockade on the shuttles to catch rats. Rats like him. Outside he could already make out the lights of the Federation Transport Craft approaching, likely crawling with marines waiting to come onboard. He had no chance against them if they boarded, he had only one chance. His hand ripped open the thin liner of his jacket and grabbed his Walter P99 as he made his way towards the cockpit. Jaewan Park sat towards the front of shuttle and glanced backwards to the man as he made his way quickly towards the front. It had obviously drawn attention from nearly everyone on the shuttle as Kenshiro made more of a scene during his walk than even he had noticed. His nerves were shot from the two years of paranoia and now he had finally ended up in the deep end without a solid plan in mind. Jaewan watched him closely, Kenshiro's movement was off balance, he tripped over feet as he moved forward and then he saw the gun as the jacket swayed out of the way after fumble with his feet. Park made his move first, catching the panicking Zeon soldier off guard. His legs twisted him up and into a spin as he rested both arms on the back of his chair and aimed his Beretta 92 towards the advancing man's torso. "DROP YOUR WEAPON!" Jaewan barked his voice muffled slightly as his body hid behind the chair for protection. Kenshiro stumbled to a halt as he looked over to the Federation soldier. The two of them knew exactly what the other was thinking, without an exchange of words they both knew the other was their enemy from the war. Both wanted to live but each felt the obligation to continue fighting and upholding their duties. The fight was hardly between the two men, similar occurrences happened across the system where men and women find themselves carrying on the fight that was declared over long ago. Jaewan could have let this man try his best to escape, and Kenshiro could have turned himself in but both refused to fold to the other even if no officers called for them to continue. Both had retired from the active military but with guns in both their hands that simple fact mattered very little at the moment. They stared down the eyes of the other as they continued their standoff. "Don't do it..." Kenshiro's eyes watered as his hand shook the gun from his grip. It landed on the ground as all the passengers sighed with relief. His lips muttered the words, "I...I don't have a choice..." Kenshiro lunged, now unarmed at the ex-Federation soldier behind the chair. Jaewan tossed his Beretta aside, not wanting to fire off rounds inside the shuttle unless absolutely necessary. Fists collided with teeth as the two men clashed. They were almost identical physically with one exception, one had been from Earth and one had been from Space. They continued on, each not letting up on the other Kenshiro had been certain his determination would give him the stamina to keep doing whatever it took to live. It had been enough in the past. Slowly he felt small sensations during his brawl as he was pulled away from Jaewan. Several of the civilians gathered together and dragged Kenshiro away, holding him down. He looked upwards at the Samaritans as he tried to reason with them. "What are you doing!? Let me go. LET ME GO! Don't you see! He's the enemy, not me! I just want to live! HE'S THE ENEMY! HE'S AN EARTHNOID! HE'S THE EARTHNOID!" His racist declarations fell on silent ears as civilians piled on top of him. Jaewan sighed with relief as he picked back up his Beretta from the ground and headed towards the center of the shuttle where the mob pile had pinned Kenshiro down. Jaewan made his way towards the mob as he heard the man's cries continue. "They're fucking Earthnoids...why couldn't you just leave me alone..." *click* An arm extended out of the human pileup holding a grenade in hand. "Why couldn't you just leave us alone...?" Jaewan ducked behind a chair out of reflex but it did him no good. The plastic explosive inside of the grenade erupted along with the bomb inside of Kenshiro's jacket. Chassis frames bent from the explosion as panels and glass erupted outwards into space. A large hole in the shuttle's wall quickly pulled body parts and debris into space as air escaped the vessel. Jaewan's body floated among the wreckage as his body bounced off the Federation Transport Craft. The pilots looked down over the wreckage, "Well shit, should we check for survivors?" The pilot looked over at him, "For a bunch of useless Spacenoids? I'm not suiting up for that. Let them freeze in hell. Turn her around and let's go home." Kenshiro Imawano: Killed In Action Jaewan Park: Killed In Action |