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September 5th, Universal Century 0079 Side 7 was really not much of what you would call a Side, only two colonies completed at the outbreak of the war. Because it was still under construction, Side 7 Bunch 1, consisting of the colonies Green Noah and Green Oasis, were staunch Federation supporters, the majority of its citizens still employed by the Earth Federation. After the One Week War it was moved into orbit of Luna II, and a secret base built on Green Noah in order to work on the mobile suit construction program, the V project. The two colonies ballistic couplings were taken away, making Side 7 the single colony bunch whose colonies were the farthest distance from each other. After the Federation had regained some ground in space, Side 7 was moved to the halfway point between Side 5 and Luna II, an advanced testing base and resupply center for the Federal forces. The two colonies were left in a rather wide orbit, with four small, lightly manned listening posts put at the edge of its controlled territory. It was not much to look at, but the people there called it home. While Zeon knew Side 7 was used as a supply base, they had no idea it was housing the most advanced of the Federations mobile suit projects. Char Aznable and his ship the Falmel were returning from a mission in Earth Orbit when they saw an unidentifiable Federation battleship on a direct route for Green Oasis. "Char, what should we do. Our ship can't handle all of the Federation forces in the area on its own." Boone asked. He was the captain of the Falmel, one of the rare Musai Scout Types. Char was peering out at the strange ship with binoculars, his red uniform marking him as a known newtype, and his mask marking him as one of the duchies greatest legends. At this point in the war many people believed newtypes were still a myth, but even those who didn't believe would agree that if they did exist, the Red Comet certainly was one. "Load up a Zaku and fly us just outside of their space. If they deploy ships we'll make a run for it, but I have a feeling about that ship that I can't chase... I want to take a better look at it." "Sir, we're getting prelimenary reports from the lookout posts, it seems a Musai class ship was tracking White Base." the voice on the intercom was low and monotone, almost scared. The room was dark, deep in the bowels of Green Noah. Wires and open panels decked the walls, brightly colored tubes marked with various notes and reminders littered every corner of the research area. Jamitov sat in a large chair, gloved hands holding a bottle of wine as he watched the research video in playback. A young woman was sitting strapped to a chair, a very complicated helmet sitting atop her face, preventing the viewer from seeing any of her identifying features. It was bulky and oversized, and a multitude of wires were plugged into it at the back. Jamitov sipped the wine as he watched the girl on tape, screaming as the system behind her was activated, humming louder and louder until she abruptly stopped, her head dropping to one side. Perhaps he had taken it a little too far. If he killed all of his candidates they would never perfect the system. "Sir... Should we intercept?" "No." Jamitov answered. "There's no reason to believe they know about us here if a Federation battleship goes into Noah. The suits at Oasis are not important at any rate. We will wait and respond as necessary. "Yes sir." Another sip of the wine, and Heimann flipped the switch on his remote. "Have the pilots move to action stations, just in case." It wasn't really much of a venue. A small freighter airlock they had found on the south side dock. Rachel had used a few of her connections to get guards with the right attitude placed there, and the DJ had signed on independantly. He was trying to push some of his new stuff, and it wasn't Shangrila scene music, but it was alright, you know? There were about fifty of them there, but it was enough. A good way to cool off on one of her off days. Rachel decided she needed another drink, so she gave whatshisname a quick kiss on the cheek, and kicked herself off the wall. Her hair lifted up a bit as she floated, and she closed her eyes, hips silently bouncing to the beat as the rave went on around her. Dancers flew through the air, doing tumbles and flips through space, somersaulting along the ceiling, tossing glowsticks through the confines of the airlock. Someone who wanted to dance simply let go of their drink, liquor floating in place until its owner returned for it. Sometimes people would open the caps off their sealed bottles and toss liquid into the air, and if you saw a ball of alcohol floating passed you, it was rude not to have a bite. The bartender was standing on a diagonal at the far corner of the airlock, tables set up around him on all three walls going outwards from his feet. That way he could serve no matter your spatial orientation. She took a midori from the man and winked at him, sloshing it down her throat in one gulp, and then she rejoined the crowd. Bodies bumped into each other casually, people lost in the music and lights. Rachel gave several of the dozens of bands on her arms small clicks, and they lit up in an array of sparkling colors. Raising her arms in the air she formed patterns in the dark room, anklets chiming to the same tune as she floated like an angel through the air. A short girl with dyed blue hair, covered in makeup, floated past her and grabbed her hand. They both pulled, swinging around in a spiral and exchanging a few words before letting go, the built-up momentum causing them to sail in opposite directions. "You throw a great party Rachel!" the girl yelled, doing her best to be heard above the DJs mix. "Thanks, but this is nothing like Shangrila! You need to go sometime!" Rachel responded. As they let go the smaller girl laughed. "Don't think I'm cut out for the big city." she yelled back, the two blowing kisses at each other. The shorter girl landed on the ceiling, watching as Rachel was caught by one of the men, swung in another circle and flung into his buddies. The next minute she was being passed between boys in a surreal game of zero gravity catch, but she didn't care. It was all part of the fun. As she was flying, the large bulge in her back pocket started to buzz. She pulled out her cellphone, flicking it open and reading the text. It was from headquarters. Return to base and report for battle immediately. Fifteen minutes later Rachel was in her pilot suit, sailing down Green Noah's hangar deck towards her GM and trying very very hard to not look drunk. The radio in her helmet was buzzing, one of Jamitovs aides explaining the situation to her as she hopped in the Juggler. Her pilot suit was normal, but the helmet was huge. It covered all of her face but her mouth, and had several openings in the back as if it was to be plugged into something. Once she lowered the visor she would not be able to see normally. "So I'm just supposed to stay put and wait for orders while Zeon is attacking Green Oasis?" Arronax snapped. She was already in a bad mood for command ruining her party, but these orders were particularly unsettling. "That is correct Seaman. Command over and out." "Amuro!" Frau yelled, beating on the door. There was no answer. There was never any answer. After another thirty seconds of beating on the door, she realized it wasn't even locked. Opening the door, she muttered to herself about how her self appointed boyfriend was a basket case and stormed into his room. The young nerd of a man was working on some sort of electronics, wearing only boxers and a tank top. "Amuro! Didn't you hear the sirens?!" she yelled, pulling open his drawers and throwing a pair of pants at him. He slowly sat up, blinking and looking at her. "What sirens?" the boy asked, slowly putting on his pants. A small green sphere of a robot rolled into the room, hands popping out of a pair of rabbit ear like holsters to bounce it up and down on the ground. "Amuro! Amuro Genki! Amuro!" "Haro, you're looking well today." Amuro smiled, picking up the green robot and suddenly ignoring Frau Bo. "Arigato Amuro! Amuro!" the robot responded. Frau grimaced, grabbing him by the cheek and pulling him down the stairs. "Ow!" Amuro cried, zipping up his pants as he was forced out of his room. "The evacuation sirens! Everyone is getting to the shelters, something about an enemy ship. Come on!" Frau cried. Gene's Zaku slowly and quietly crept towards the base, reactor set to the lowest possible setting. In the mobile suits hand was Char Aznable, wearing a red normal suit and watching the hangar very carefully with his binoculars. "I want you to find an airlock and see if you can make it inside the colony. They may have a secondary base inside. I'll infiltrate the dock." Char said. Gene may not have been the best choice for this job, he was a little impulsive, but he was also probably Char's best pilot. "Don't worry sir, you can have faith in me." Gene answered. Char gave him a salute and fired the thrusters on his jetpack, the two going their seperate ways. It was a few minutes before Gene found an entrance to the colony, but luckily it seemed as though his Zaku hadn't been detected. Walking through a small dark passageway, the mobile suit came out the other side of an airlock in the middle of one of the mountains. The end caps of each space colony were designed like mountains, and this close to the center of its rotation there was no gravity to speak of. Hiding behind a large rock and zooming his camera to the surface nearly a kilometer below, Gene looked for any telltale signs of a Federation base. It was not long before he found what he was looking for. It seemed a number of mobile suits in pieces were being loaded onto half tracks to be moved to the hangar. "Commander, this is Gene. Come in, commander Char. I've sighted enemy units, should I engage?" Gene asked. No response. He looked at one of the panels on his display, a sensor made to detect the presence of minovsky particles in the area. The colony was full of them. Spreading particles inside of a colony? It was a rash move, and called for a rash response. Gene brought his bazooka to the ready. Commander Char hadn't been promoted so many times for being idle and not winning battles. Meanwhile, in the hangar bay, Char Aznable floated dangerously through the main dock, taking picture after picture of the enemy battleship. It looked like a strange, white horse. Two of its front legs were open, and cargo was quickly being hauled into it. Sailing down the dock in full view of all the personnel in the area, it was not long before Char was spotted. "A Zeon! A Zeon spy get him!" Someone yelled, and firing broke out almost instantly, tracers zipping all around Aznable. He activated his backpack thrusters and flew around the room in amazing jagged patterns, not one of the guards able to catch him. Finding an open door, he slipped into a side room, a Federation guard standing close by. Before the guard could even react Char unbuckled his helmet, pulled it off and shot the man in the face. He had taken off his mask and was still changing uniforms when the door behind him opened. It was a skinny white haired man and a young beautiful blonde. "I don't care if you're a coward Kai, we've been ordered to evacuate he colony and the best thing for us is if we get on that battleship. You're my friend and, well I mean I've never really LIKED you but you're my friend and you're coming wi-CASVAL?" Sayla stopped in her tracks, stunned. Char turned around, an equal look of shock on his face. "Artesia...?" He responded. The two stared at each other for a moment before another guard came through the back door. Seeing the dead soldier and the Zeon issue pilot suit floating through the air he pulled out his pistol and began firing. Char whipped his helmet on and in the next moment was out the door, sailing back out of the hangar. "I'm just not cut out for this kind of thing..." said Kai, having grabbed onto Sayla for dear life when the firing began. Meanwhile back in the colony, Gene was destroying everything that he saw. There were few guards inside the colony proper, and he had already emptied his entire bazooka magazine into the disassembled Guntanks and Guncannons, completely destroying everything that hadn't already been moved to the ship. Now he had taken his 120mm to the civilians, killing anyone he saw. Amuro, Frau and Frau's parents were running for one of the shelters when a shell hit the ground beneath them. They were flung in the air, landing on the pavement by the entrance to the hangar. Frau's parents were not moving anymore. The girl burst into tears, trying in vain to pick up her obviously dead mother. "Frau, get ahold of yourself!" Amuro yelled, pulling her off of the body and slapping her. "You're stronger than this! The shelters have all been destroyed, you'll have to run for the ship!" Frau wiped her tears off her face and nodded, running for the elevator that led to the ship dock. Amuro turned around, facing the green monster in front of him. A small backbone somewhere in the boy told him something needed to be done. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a Federation mobile suit that was still intact. Two men were by it, seemingly arguing. He ran towards them. "Why isn't that mobile suit fighting! You're in the military there are civilians you need to protect!" Amuro yelled. The two men turned around as he came closer. "Dad?!" "Amuro, what are you doing?" Tem scowled, and then looked at the other man. "Forget the civilians, you need to load the Gundam onto White Base. It is the secret to winning this war. Load the Gundam first!" "Dad?!" Amuro said again, shocked. Just then a round slammed into the pavement beneath them, all three of them flung into the air. Amuro opened his eyes. His dad was nowhere to be seen, and he'd been pushed on top of the Gundams cockpit. "Wha... Well, there's got to be some way..." He said, opening the hatch and climbing into the pilots seat. "Is there a manual or..." He pressed a few buttons, and suddenly the Gundam started powering up. "Wha- that mobile suit has been activated.." Gene looked on. He quickly trained his machinegun on the Gundam, pounding round after round into its thick hide. However, there was no noticable damage. "Wha... What kind of a monster is that thing?" Amuro was scared, and pressing random buttons. He pulled back on a lever and pressed what looked like a trigger, and the Gundams vulcans began firing over the head of Genes Zaku. Realizing his machinegun would do no good, he grabbed his heat hawk and charged the Gundam head on. "There must be some other weapons..." Amuro said, flipping switches frantically. The Gundam reached up and grabbed its beam saber, bringing it down at just the right moment. He slashed through the reactor of the Zaku, causing a tremendous explosion that ripped through the colony wall. In an instant Gene was killed, and the Gundam pulled into outer space. Char was floating back towards the Falmel when he caught a flash of light behind him. He turned around, seeing the small silhouette of a mobile suit leaving the colony. "Are they following me?" He asked himself. Firing the rest of his thruster fuel to go as fast as he could, he took a signal light off his belt and began signaling his ship in morse code. "Sir, a message from commander Char. He's telling us to launch his Zaku, and target the colony dock with a salvo of missiles. Scatter rounds." the comm officer looked at Boone. The dark haired man laughed, moving towards the windows. "Char knows how to run a party. Do as he says, we'll have a battle yet!" In the ship dock, many of the crewmembers of White Base who hadn't been killed in Genes attack were trying to load the rest of the cargo and refugees they needed onboard, including captain Paolo. "Come on Kai!" Sayla yelled, she, Kai and Frau's childhood friend Hayato Kobayashi running into the ship. "That's the last of the refugees, good work Ryu." Paolo said, signaling his men to go inside and take off. He was a manly man, and wouldn't go inside until everyone else was on board and safe. "Enemy missile attack!" came a shout over the loudspeaker. Paolo looked on as missiles sailed into the ship dock, breaking apart and tearing everyone remaining in the dock apart, turning Paolo and his comrades into swiss cheese. Ryu Jose had just entered the ship, and leaping out of the door yelled for his captain, but he was obviously already dead. The news got to the bridge about a minute later, first mate Bright Noah taking command. Their helmsman had been killed in Genes initial attack, and a civilian named Mirai Yashima, from the wealhy Yashima family had volunteered to pilot the ship. "Mirai, take us out of the colony. Is the Gundam still outside?" White Bases two sensor operators were still professional soldiers, answering with all the quickness expected of the military. "Yes sir, it's a civilian in the cockpit but he seems to have gotten the hang of it." "He'll have to do. Have the engineering team send him a beam rifle, he'll be fighting enemy Zakus." Bright responded, pacing around the deck. This situation was turning from bad to worse as fast as it could. Where was Jamitov and the Side 7 defense force? Char caught on to the cockpit of the red Zaku as it sailed past him, climbing into the machine and activating its thrusters. Boone had only sent him with a machinegun, but it was all he would need to take out a Federation mobile suit. The Feddies had made an odd machine, and the pilot might have been injured, he was moving very erratically. Char smirked, sailing around the Gundam in a wide circle and firing his machinegun. Every shot hit home, but absolutely no damage was done. "What? The Federation has built quite a mobile suit." Char mused, circling around and firing again. Still nothing. The Gundam returned fire with its beam rifle, pink lances of energy firing from the muzzle of the gun. "That looks like... Are those battleship particle cannons?" Char was shocked. He let off another barrage of suppressive fire and turned around, making evasive dodges as he flew back to the Falmel. He would have to think up a different approach. "I did it... I fought off the Zeon!" Amuro cheered. One of the officers was ordering him to come back to the ship, which was just now leaving port. Messily, Amuro flew the Gundam back into the Pegasus class ships hangar, Chars frighteningly fast Zaku already long gone. About an hour later, the White Base was sailing as fast as it could, the Falmel in hot pursuit. Jamitov had ordered Bright to seek help with Wakkein, saying he didn't want to disclose the location of the base at Green Noah. Char was in his quarters, a coded message line with Dozle Zabi having just been established. "Admiral Dozle, a pleasure to see you again." Char said, saluting the commander of the SAF. "Ahh, the red comet himself. I hear you've uncovered the secrets of the Federations V project." the huge man bellowed, his voice echoing even through the depths of space. "Yes sir. I'd heard rumors of Federation mobile suits that were impossible to destroy on Earth, but it seems the rumors are true. The Federations new mobile suit seems to be armed and armored like a capital ship." Char responded. "Well now, that seems exciting! I'll send a resupply ship your way in case you need it. Capture that ship and that mobile suit for me at all costs!" Dozle said, cutting the transmission. Char nodded, and was walking back onto the bridge when he felt something odd. Something wasn't quite right. He stopped for a moment to make sure he hadn't felt this particular sensation before, and then immediately sprinted as fast as he could towards the mobile suit hangar. "Come on Rach, you can do it..." Rachel muttered to herself, hands wrapped tightly around each other and hands clenched shut. Her forehead was burning, a noise in her ears overpowering as the crude Federation psycommu system worked around her. The two Ball Bits were far ahead of her GM, and she was now barely able to control them. "Left..." she said to herself, the bits clumsily responding. She could see, in her minds eye, the visuals provided by the bits cameras, but only barely. The reality was Arronax was the best test pilot they had found for the Juggler, and even then she was barely able to control the system, and definitely unable to move the bits while concentrating on piloting her own mobile suit. The balls slowly crept towards the Falmel when a red mobile suit leapt out of its rear hangar. "They saw me?!" Rachel gasped, her mind yelling at the balls to fire. The orange bits launched four mega particle rounds at their enemy, but Char dodged them easily. In the span of a moment he had destroyed both with his machinegun, causing a great lapse of feedback in Rachels cockpit. She screamed, blacking out as the psycommu system overpowered her. Jamitov muttered slightly, watching the entire ordeal through a camera built into the Jugglers cockpit. It was the least he could do to help the White Base escape, but it seemed that this too was a failed project. He took another sip of his wine, a staff of researchers working around him in the dark, messy room of wires. Jamitov picked up a project summary sitting in front of him, reading the words out loud and smiling. Phantom project, perhaps that would be the success that would win the war. Rachel Arronax: 4 VP gained, repairing 1 injured 2 White Base: Damaged Falmel: No damage |