SO…QUICK AUTHORS NOTE. THIS IS A SIDE STORY TELLING THE LITTLE ADVENTURE DEARKA AND NOAH HAVE IN GUNDAM 00 WHILE GETTING DEARKA A PROPER COCKPIT FOR THE BUSTER PANZER!

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ MY FANFICTION PURSUING DREAMS AND SLASHING NIGHTMARES THIS LIKELY WILL NOT MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL! GO READ AND REVIEW ON THAT FIRST!

IN THE MEAN TIME I`D LIKE TO SAY THIS NOW I DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS TO THE GUNDAM OR ZOIDS COPYRIGHT MATERIAL. ALL THAT GOES TO BANDAI FOR THE GUNDAM AND ZOIDS STUFF. ALSO ANY CUSTOM MODELS GO TO THEIR RESPECTIVE CREATORS. I MAY HAVE TWEAKED IT TO FIT MY NEEDS BUT TO BE HONEST MOST OF MY BASE IDEAS COME FROM OTHER BRILLIANT MINDS. THANK THEM NOT ME. BTW…THE ZOIDS THING IS A REFERENCE TO THE BUSTER PANZER.

WITHOUT FURTHER INTERUPTIONS…

COSMIC BEING

YEAR IS 2312, 4 YEARS SINCE THE BATTLE WITH ALEJANDRO, GUNDAM 00 UNIVERSE

Louise was shaking inside as she sat in the cockpit of her jinx. 4 years…it had been four years and she finally was in a position to get payback on celestial being. Well…sort of. Thanks to an anonymous benefactor a cure had been made for the cellular poisoning the trinity teams beams had done to her when they attacked her family…but at a cost. Yes she had her hand back, yes she was in the military after a few surgeries to make sure her hand would function properly….but she had to take medication for it and it rarely lasted very long.

The blonde felt her machine being lowered out of the ship and gripped her controls. This would be her first sortie and she was nervous. It had been five years since celestial being had last been sighted…but still her instincts screamed she may encounter one today.

She was unaware of exactly what the mission was, only that according to the plan she was to hang back and observe, only providing covering fire if needed though her captain seemed certain it would not be needed.

As her team took off she took a deep breath and pushed her accelerator down, following her leader off to battle.

COSMIC BEING

Saji crossroads…a normal, average young man. Got a college degree, got a great job in space that he loved…and now because he decided to be the nice person he was he found himself sweating half his body weight off in high gravity, forced to do hard labor manually as punishment.

He had no clue what crime he was convicted of. No trial…no justice at all. All he knew was that if he didn't do as he was told he'd be killed.

No bathroom breaks, meal breaks were scheduled and extremely short. It was a modern day concentration camp meant to work the governments enemies to death.

But Saji had faith and determination to survive this place. Someday someone would rescue them or at least rescue the falsely imprisoned. He'd get released and likely have to find new work…but he could resume his search for his beloved Louise.

Ever since she turned down his proposal she refused to let him see her in the hospital, refused to take his calls…she completely pushed him away. But deep down the boy knew something had been wrong. The Louise halvey he knew and loved wouldn't act this way. The woman he loved wouldn't turn him down without a reason…and usually a silly one at that.

"you don't look like ex-military. You with katharon?" asked his fellow inmate.

"I have nothing to do with them." Stated the boy angrily.

The man chuckled. "so you just got swept up in it all then huh? Well could be worse…"said the man cryptically.

"What's that mean?"

"You`ll find out soon enough…plus celestial being could be trying to rescue us…doubt we'd live through that." Said the man as they went back to focusing on their work.

COSMIC BEING

Setsuna had to slowly stand up as he fell from the air ducts. This heavy gravity was no obstacle for the former child soldier but still it did slow him down.

Drawing his side arm the exia pilot heard some of the security force rolling by in their power suits and ran as quietly as he could to the corner of the corridor to listen in.

"hurry up with the evacuation! They're about to start the operation!" shouted what he assumed to be that teams leader.

Hearing one complain his suit was acting up setsuna rounded the corner and put a single bullet into the back of his suit, cutting the power and halting the soldier. He ran up to him and put the gun to his visor.

"what is this operation your talking about?"

"who the…hey I don't want any trouble. I don't know what the whole plan is, we just got orders to evacuate." Said the man, terrified as he looked down the barrel of setsuna's gun.

With that the black flight suit clad pilot turned around and ran off, intent on trying to figure out just what was happening. "hey wait! What about me?!" shouted the man as he tried to move in the suit but to no avail.

Setsuna only managed to round a corner before the complex began to shake. "damn…are they attacking the station?" unsure of just what was going on outside the celestial being member continued on ahead, sending a signal to his gundam to start up.

COSMIC BEING

Dearka shook his head as his screens came back online. That was one hell of an experience. He had just followed Noah into one of his quantum leap jumps with the intent apparently to get a new cockpit for his gundam.

While he had adjusted already to these haptic controls and displays he had to admit a solid set up would be nice, especially if he could install software to help him manage his arsenal better and improve his targeting. The last part was not super important, his own manual aiming was impressive but it was all these damn missiles. He loved the buster panzer already but the fact it had so many different types…he was glad to hear a set up was already designed…by Ian Vashti.

In another universe.

With the real celestial being.

Great. He just hoped Noah wasn't flying them into a situation that could end with them and the original group at odds because of Noah using their name without their permission. If they did…well…from what he could tell it'd be a four on 2 and with him unable to use this mobile suit to its full potential he hoped Noah had a contingency plan.

He got pinged by Noah and opened the comms. "What's up boss?"

"So we should technically have jumped into episode one of gundam 00 season 2. I did this for two reasons. One I want to try and save the original exia. While Ian may take its GN drive for the 00 gundam I want to try and re-build it into a true EX-caliber. But that isn't our top priority so long as setsuna lives. Once we enter the battlefield in front of us it will be a coin toss as to how celestial being reacts to us" stated Noah as the Gabriel gundam increased its particle output and Dearka began to follow it.

"Either way I want you to hang back and watch my six. Also I loaded a program onto your GP-base earlier. There are key characters that will be in this series that need to live up till certain points or at least not be engaged until certain times. One of them is Louise halvey. I`ll explain her later but you`ll find her mobile suit highlighted in green. Defend yourself if she attacks you but don't kill her." With that Noah's speed really picked up and dearka guessed he was trying to time something perfectly, likely one of his epic entrances.

COSMIC BEING

Louise watched the battle with a calm demeanor. She had to. These people were fighting the possibilities of a true peace…so they had to die. Right?

As she did so the girl noticed one of the enemies tailing lieutenant alaga and decided to take aim. However as she did so her breathing became labored and she had to pant just to fill her lungs with air. Finally she pulled the trigger and watched as her single shot hit the enemy realdo type mobile suit square in the back, causing them to explode.

As it did so she just closed her eyes, trying to calm herself. It was just her first kill. What was the term she heard during training? She'd just…popped her cherry right? This was normal right?

Either way she was having trouble calming down and that only made it worse as she worried what her commander would say.

Suddenly on the team communications channel Louise heard GN particles mentioned and her eyes shot open to look at her main monitor. Not a minute later an explosion went off above them and she looked up.

"It's a gundam…"she whispered, unaware her eyes were glowing as her mystery guardian angel shared her sight and saw this for himself.

As she watched the battle intensify with the presence of the gundam she released her controls and slowly reached up to grip her helmet, her vision becoming blurry and her condition getting worse. "my head…it hurts…." She moaned in pain as she finally closed her eyes.

COSMIC BEING

Dearka watched from behind an asteroid as the battle went on. "so 3 realdo units, one flag. All space types. Not a bad group given their stats." He said as he watched one by one the blue units get obliterated. "but against 2 GNX-II's and an ahead they weren't gonna last longer than an earth forces tank corp against a GINN. " he mused as he then saw what Noah said would be the gundam exia burst out of the colony. "How did he get it in there…"

"He likely had it shipped in at some point and hid for a while. Dearka I'm heading out, my cue is about to come up. Remember watch my back." said Noah as Dearka looked to the powerhouse of a gundam and nodded, the gundam returning the favor before flying off.

Deciding it would be best to stay at a distance the blonde coordinator brought up his standard buster arsenal and took his controls into manual, using the arm rakes to bring his weapons into the hyper impulse rifle formation and slowly floated around the giant rock to face the battle. Of course he made sure to keep an eye on Noah…who knows what would happen to his boss if he didn't watch his back.

Dearka watched as the exia danced around the aheads beams. The tan teen guessed that even though the gundam was 5 years old it's technology was so advanced in the first place it barely had much of a disadvantage.

This was proven as the dance continued…until another mobile suit joined the fight.

"shit…I forgot to watch that JINX." Cursed dearka as he adjusted his aim to keep a lead on the GN drive TAU powered mobile suit. He had watched the machine fire a couple more rounds and tailed them to watch the exia get knocked off balance. This wasn't good.

Once more finding his lead he prepared to snipe the GNX model if it interfered with Noah's plan while also keeping an eye on the fight. The teen bit his lip and wondered where Noah was as the exia's GN sword was cut in half along with its right leg.

That was when he saw Noah show up as the ahead was about to relieve the exia of its arms. Like every other time Noah arrived on the scene the entire battlefield came to a halt. Noah had put the Gabriel between the ahead and the exia, his GN sword rifle blocking both the beam sabers of the ahead.

As this happened the GNX came out of his shock early and charged Noah. Unknown to dearka help was already on the way. Even so dearka knew he had to take action and pulled the trigger. A moment later as his deep crimson beam speared the JINX a massive brilliant pink beam filled the space between Noah and the GNX-II, taking its lance weapon with it.

When dearka zoomed in on the new arrival his system brought up the new models stats.

"seravee, successor to the virtue and nadleeh gundams. Celestial being heavy weapon/innovade type mobile suit. Secondary gundam seraphim on its back which can be used simultaneously or launched as a support machine/remote bit unit. Interesting." mused the coordinator as he continued to read up on the gundam.

He'd have to keep an eye on that model in case it decided Noah was a threat.

COSMIC BEING

"Mr. Arde has located the exia….along with 2 other gundams." Stated a young girl aboard the bridge of the ptolamaios kai as her arms shot up in the air in glee. "Holy cow not only was Mrs. Lu Mei's Intel on the money but we have two more gundams!" she shouted happily.

The girl behind her sighed in relief. "setsuna…so he was there. I`m glad he's safe." Stated the pink haired feldt grace as she turned to the pilot of the ship. "Setsuna will be surprised to see you here Mr. Lassie."

The young man at the helm smirked. "Yeah I'd imagine so…but who are these other two gundams with…and how did they make them?" he pondered.

Down in the hangar bay Ian Vashti smirked. "So you're alive after all setsuna…and you kept the exia intact. Now we can try it's GN drive with the twin drive system." He stated before looking down at his tablet to view what data they received about these other two models.

"now where did you two come from?" he mused as he walked off to go greet setsuna and tieria.

COSMIC BEING

Tieria smiled as he looked at setsuna. Missing a leg the exia was currently propped up against one of the two machines that had shown up to save it. The pilots were currently disembarking their machines but for now the innovade was just glad to see his comrade.

"Setsuna…it's been four years….and I can tell you have changed quite a bit." stated the purple haired…male…as he looked past setsuna to watch the pilots walk towards them.

"you don't seem to have changed at all tieria." The krudjis native said as he looked up at the seravee. "so…does this gundam belong to celestial being?" he asked to which he received a nod.

"naturally…though those two are a surprise even too me." Said tieria as the two pilots stood behind setsuna. They wore celestial being style flight suits. The one had what appeared to be GN tau drives in his machine but tieria had scanned and picked up the signatures of not one, not 2…but three true GN drives powering his machine. That alone puzzled and worried the innovade as Ian had yet to even perfect the twin drive system. Now this pilot had 3?

"setsuna f seiei! Are you the pilot of that gundam!?" shouted Saji crossroads as he walked up to the former teammates. The young man was in tears and clearly upset. After all someone he had trusted…someone he had lived next to and considered somewhat of a friend…was part of the organization responsible for all of his girlfriend's grief.

Setsuna nodded. "yes…I am the pilot of the gundam exia."

"and what about five years ago? We were neighbors! I trusted you! Were you a gundam pilot then?" he shouted, getting closer to setsuna.

"yes…I have always been the pilot of the exia." The kurdis boy calmly replied, clearly not caring as the grief stricken young man walked up to him and reached beside him, setsuna practically letting him draw his side arm and step back, taking aim at the gundam meister.

"Then you're responsible for all my sorrow! You're responsible for Louise losing her family! It was your wicked organization that caused her to become poisoned! Because of that she refused to see me! She refused to marry me even if we were deeply in love!" the boy shouted as he pulled back the hammer on the pistol.

"And my sister….she was investigating celestial being…and she was killed! Because of you I'm all alone. The only thing that has kept me going is the thought that if I'm out here in space then maybe, just maybe Louise will recover and come back to the field we both loved in school…and I'll find her out here in space!"

At this point setsuna was staring his former neighbor in the eyes. He still said nothing and let the boy vent his anger and grief. The two pilots behind him seemed to be letting the situation play out. For what reason tieria didn't know.

"give them back! You give them back to me! Neither one of them had anything to do with war…and neither one of them deserved to die!" with that saji's hands began to shake, clearly the boy did not have the stomach to pull the trigger.

Setsuna walked up to the disturbed young man…and punched him in the gut. Within a few seconds the boy's world went black as he passed out, setsuna grabbing him before he could float away.

With that matter handled tieria turned to the two new pilots. "before anything else happens or is done who are you and where did you get those gundams?" asked the innovade and the pilot in a red flight suit stepped forward, removing his helmet before taking a deep breath.

"My name is Noah Carson. I pilot the Gabriel gundam and a few other mobile suits. I also…am the leader of celestial being in an alternate timeline known as the cosmic era. Look I'll give a full explanation back onboard your ship but just know we are friends." Said Noah before looking to dearka who removed his own helmet.

"I'm Dearka elsman, former zaft red and pilot of the buster. Now I pilot the buster panzer for celestial being. Pretty much I'm the heavy artillery member of our little team." stated dearka, basically informing the innovade he was his equivalent in this other timeline.

"alternate timeline? And the leader of celestial being?" growled tieria. He had to admit these statements both irritated him and intrigued him. While the last thing they needed was another trinity team…wait they were a team? And to be the "heavy artillery member" it meant they had other specialties.

"if you really are part of a team then who else is with you?" asked tieria as he noticed setsuna had tensed, more likely to attack before he could get more information.

"Like I said I'll explain later but we are also from an alternate timeline. Suffice to say it was only me and dearka that came here. We do have a third member back home helping protect our people. He pilots a gundam known as the blitz jaeger and is our stealth specialist." Informed Noah.

The innovade mulled over the pros and cons of bringing these two back to the ship. While Noah's machine clearly was advanced and would help Ian complete the 00 gundams twin drive system. Still…another celestial being group? Last time they ran into one it turned out they were a far more radical version of their group. He also was certain they were somehow involved with the earth spheres governments getting GN drive technology.

Tieria decided the mystery of Noah's triple GN drives was enough to warrant hearing him out. After all if they claimed to not be enemies it would be better to do this than risk facing them on the battlefield. After all who knew how well Noah's three GN drives could help him out perform even the 00 gundam even after they got the twin drive system working.

"fine…you did help save setsuna after all. But I expect a FULL explanation when we get to the ship." Stated the innovade as he turned to head for the seravee.

"wait! I have one request since what I have to say…could have severe repercussions if handled improperly. I`m sure you intend to scrap the exia frame or just throw it in storage after you remove the GN drive. I mean it's outdated if this fight has shown anything. I realize I'm asking a lot with this…but can I have the exia's frame once you remove the solar reactor? I'll share my plans with it of course but I also want a genuine gundam frame to replace a machine I lost recently." Said Noah.

In truth he was sweating bullets. This was a huge risk he was taking. Not only because of how the series ends…but because he was basically planning to merge actual e-carbon…with ABC plastic. The fusion could result in a superior gunpla or just a superior and enhanced exia…or the request itself could backfire and he could have just made enemies of these people.

Tieria stopped in his tracks and looked back at the busted exia. It was true they would just throw it in storage for now after they removed the GN drive. But how he said a genuine gundam frame…what were his machines then?

"I can't answer that request...but if your information is as important as your making it out to be…I'll talk to our engineer to see what we can do." said tieria before he pushed off the floor and went to get into his gundam.

In the meantime setsuna hauled the unconscious young man back to the exia and with the help of Noah they all managed to get out of that hangar and began the trip back to the ptolamaios kai.

COSMIC BEING

Kati maniquin was looking over the footage that the A-laws had gotten through the mission logs from the team that hit proud. She had to grind her teeth. Using military automatons to clean up a prison camp...she figured half those people that died were innocent. The A-laws weren't a true peace keeping force…they were a force designed to keep those in power IN power.

The colonel watched as the ahead clashed with the gundam exia. It seemed the battle was over as the head prepared to "disarm" exia but a new mobile suit showed up.

A gundam.

Most of its body was as black as the night around it spare the occasional warning label and the usual symbols which were minimal in the camera. It had blood red highlights and as the ahead looked into its blood red eyes she could see a determination she only saw in those fighting with a purpose which made the eyes shine and glow against the black face plate.

Switching the feed to warrant officer halvey Kati watched as the brilliant crimson beam speared alaga's GNX-III while the bright pink beam she'd recognize anywhere filled the space between the new machine and the lieutenant, disintegrating the now deceased lieutenants GN lance.

Switching back to the captains camera feed she saw him turn to the source of the crimson blast. Another new gundam. This one looked either lightly armed or she would hazard was a "barrage" or ranged type mobile suit with plenty of hidden missiles.

Rewinding the feed the tactical forecaster got a good look at the other new machine. It was too close for a full body shot but from what she could see she'd guess it was a CQC type.

Sighing Kati set the tablet down she glanced around at the soldiers of the A-laws around her. 2 new gundams…most of these soldiers were practically kids. They may have seen the footage of the fights with the gundams but it was rare to get out of those fights alive. The few vets they had would surely understand this but still…these two gundams changed the playing field enough she would need to do her homework.

COSMIC BEING

Ian was astonished by this technology. Noah had just finished explaining his tale and their reason for being here. He had explained EVERYTHING from how he knew their plans for the exia and its GN drive to when and where to be to save the exia from being damn nearly scrap metal. He even could identify everyone by name…their real names which caused setsuna to leave when he mentioned lockon's real name.

But what caught Ian's attention was his explanation of this scanning technology. While he didn't bring his gundam in Noah had shown them his collection of battered and bruised models. The level of detail on these models was intense. But what made him believe Noah's story was the damage done to the models.

In his youth Ian had built models of everything from cars to tanks to mobile suits. No tool he could think of could make this damage look as real as it did. From the scorch marks on the shield of the GM commando from missiles and beams being deflected to the chipping and blackening of the barrels on the gouf elite's chain gun from firing. You could get close. VERY close at the best level of modeling. But just how natural this looked…it was unreal.

Right now the crew, namely tieria, was waiting on his ruling for the request of whether Noah could have exia's frame or not. Noah had explained his plan to build model versions of the parts exia needed, keeping as much of the original frame as possible, but then find a way to merge the scanned in model pieces with exia.

Looking up from the models Ian pondered the possibilities of this. Noah made it clear he wouldn't give them access to advanced technology through this scanning system nor would he be spoiling any of the future events. It sounded like a bad sci-fi time travel film but still without sumeragi there he seemed to be the defacto leader of the ship.

Finally he spoke. "So your gundams can basically be shrunk down, they won't take up space in the hangar? Cause as I'm sure you know I have 2 more gundams to put in there aside from yours and now I have to fit exia." He said, wanting to confirm he'd get to see this scanning process.

Noah nodded, "yeah sure. And I'm sure you all have your own quarters but dearka and I can share one." He stated, much to the blonde coordinators grief.

Ian crossed his arms and closed his eyes, trying to decide what to do. "And can you help me finish getting the twin drive system set up?"

Again Noah nodded.

"Ok fine. Lasse get us in geo-synchronous rendezvous position 2. Setsuna will have to go recruit lockon and get sumeragi back. In the meantime Noah if you can help me get the 00 ready in case we run into a fight..."he said, turning to the gunpla battler.

"I'll do my best. In all honesty I know the secret behind it but we won't be able to pull it off easily." He said as the group dispersed, Noah and dearka following Ian towards the hangar.

"Wait…"he said, stopping and turning back to push off the wall and catch the pink haired feldt grace in a hug. The girl blinked, confused but blushing as she slowly returned it. "I know what Neil meant to you and his death likely hit you hard. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for your loss…and you kind of seemed like you needed a hug in the anime all through season two." He said.

His kind words got a small sniffle as the girl held back tears and hugged him tightly. "Thank you…."she whispered in his ear before letting go.

"If you ever need to talk or another hug I'm always open even when I'm building." He said to which she nodded and wiped away a tear and they headed back to their own destinations.

"What was that about?" asked Ian.

"Sometimes people hide it well but every now and then some people just need a hug and some kind words." Stated the gunpla battler as he floated past Mr. Vashti and towards the hangar.

COSMIC BEING

A few hours later, after Ian had the exia's GN drive installed in the 00 gundam he noticed Noah had climbed into the cockpit and just was sitting there, his eyes closed.

"Must be a dream come true. I mean the 00 gundam is the base model for your Gabriel right?" he asked the gunpla builder who shook his head.

"I mean it's nice to sit in the actual cockpit of the 00…but that's not my focus right now. One of the two ways to get the twin drive system working is willpower of sorts. A bond between the pilot and his machine." He said as he opened his eyes

Ian scratched his head, confused by his words. "How can will power alone get the twin drive system to work?"

Noah shook his head. "No no not willpower alone. Like bright noa says in the gundam series unicorn, no gundam pilot is simply assigned a gundam. Whether it be by fate, a mere wrong place right time, whatever. Every gundam pilot is chosen by the gundam. From the moment the pilot lays eyes on the gundam fate intertwines their paths. Some try to fight it, others try to separate the pilot from their gundam. But they will always be reunited. It's a bond that transcends the simple needs of tuning and maintenance. Even in terms of gunpla." He said, like a sage saying something extremely wise.

"But isn't all that scripted into the animes? Even ours?" asked Ian.

At that point Noah just raised his eyebrow. "You say that yet you're also doubting me."

Ian threw his hands up. "Well what am I supposed to make of that? What I just throw setsuna in the cockpit and it will magically work?"

"Let me give you an example. A good friend of mine was in the world championship for gunpla battles. His opponent was ruthless and badly damaged his gundam before pinning it to the wall with two blades, one through the left torso vent, and the other in his right shoulder. The model was so battered and beaten its eyes flickered and it shut down." He said, starting the tale of the famous reiji's last gunpla battle.

"But for some reason the match wasn't called. The model was responding in the system with multiple critical failure warnings, and the match should have been over. Gloating over his near victory the opponent began to beat the mobile suits head with its bare fists. While the builder tried to get the model working nothing seemed to work. All the while the fighter kept shouting at it to wake up, that they had to keep fighting. That they weren't done and could win." Noah stopped to take a breath.

"Why not just give up? The machine clearly was done if the builder can't even get it to respond." Stated Ian, enthralled by the story.

"Because neither of them wanted to lose. Finally as the fighter began to give up the models eyes flickered back on and the controls began responding again. It had heard the "pilots" desire to win and had its own desire re-ignited…or at least that's what they say. Since it was a model the builder disengaged the right arm and the fighter brought the left arm up and yanked the sword out of its torso." Said Noah, smiling at just how intrigued Ian was.

"In the end they won, by a close margin but they realized the fighter was being controlled somehow and managed to get through to him through his model while winning at the same time. Point is sometimes faith and the will to win…to survive is all you need. Through every gundam series most pilots go through that same moment and call out to their machines. In return the machines respond and give the pilot their strength." Now even Noah felt like that sage as Ian stepped back and let him climb out of the cockpit.

Deciding to change the subject as the celestial being engineer was starting to smile and feel a new drive to get this system working he asked, "so what is the other way to get the twin drive system to work?"

"You have to build the two GN drives at the same time, building them specifically to run in sync with each other." Said Noah as he looked to his Gabriel gundam. "The Gabriel is unique though and needs tuning after every operation…most gunpla do just to keep them in top fighting shape but Gabriel's trinity drive isn't exactly made up of three GN drives."

Ian raised an eyebrow at that statement. "Then how does it operate so smoothly?"

"The gundam I used for a base is something you're likely working on. The gundam 00 seven sword/g. it isn't actually fielded till after the A-laws are dealt with and not to spoil anything but it has to run on GN condensers. I created what I have named "GN well" drives by capping the GN condenser units with true GN drives. By doing this the condensers collect excess particles and store them…or at least the way I built the model they do. This gives me greater operating time in trans-am and allows me to access it again sooner." Explained Noah. It was more then he intended to give but felt it may help Ian have faith in setsuna.

The engineer nodded. "Makes sense. It's basically how the condenser in the gundams torso works. Collects excess GN particles to use as a power source and help the gundam run smoother."

Noah felt a little proud hearing that. He felt it was the closest he'd come to having the man compliment his genius.

They both turned around to look at the blue and white gundam. Standing next to the Gabriel it looked like a younger sibling trying to match its elder. In time Noah knew it would but for now he turned and went to start working on the parts for the exia.

COSMIC BEING

As setsuna piloted the shuttle away from the space elevator he looked back through the doorway at the two recruits. Lyle dylandy, twin brother to the previous lockon stratus and now the new lock. And sumeragi lee Noriega. Celestial beings tactical forecaster.

While he wasn't overjoyed at replacing lockon he knew they needed a pilot to fill their ranged fighter spot on the team.

And while sumeragi wasn't in tip top condition, trying to stare into the bottle of any type of alcohol she could get they needed her more than anything if they were to start doing armed interventions again.

Looking back out front he noticed a trail of red sparkles off in the distance. Growling somewhat he used the shuttles onboard camera system to zoom in. what he found disturbed him.

It was a squad from the A-laws. Three GNX models and an ahead leading them. And they were heading in the direction of the ptolmaios!

Increasing his speed setsuna called back to lockon who came up to cockpit just as sestina got Ian on the line.

"What's wrong setsuna? Tracking your arrival and just noticed your speed almost double." Stated the engineer.

"The ptolemaios is in trouble! A-laws units are heading in your direction!" exclaimed setsuna as he grabbed his bag nearby.

Ian groaned. "No not now! I just had Noah get rid of his models….what are we going to do?" he exclaimed in return.

"Load my new gundam onto the catapult and open the launch bay. I don't care if the drives are synced or not. I`m going to give it a trial by fire." Said setsuna as he left to go change into his flight suit.

"Is he crazy? How is he going to get onboard and to the gundam in time?" asked Lyle as he looked to the gundam designer.

"That kid is crazy…my bet he plans to ditch the shuttle while you guys meet up with us. Just focus on getting onboard. Let setsuna worry about the gundam. I`m going to try and track down Noah!" said Ian before cutting the communication.

A moment later lockon could see the ship they were speaking of…and the mobile suits maneuvering to attack it. Slowing the shuttle down he saw the launch bay doors open as well as the hangar doors below. He noticed a light turn on on his control board signaling the aft air lock was opening and bit his lip. He hoped that kid knew what he was doing.

COSMIC BEING

As setsuna propelled himself into the catapult deck he saw the 00 gundam waiting at the rear. The eyes were dull and the GN drives were dormant.

Reaching the gundam he opened the cockpit and climbed inside. As he sat down he could feel the machine connecting with him. He could sense the bond with his exia's GN drive, the machine yearned to help him rid the world of evil.

Closing his eyes as the cockpit door closed and the mobile suit activated he tried to reach out to the O gundams drive. Listening to the two drives spin up he could hear the fact they were not in sync within his soul…or so it felt.

"Exia…O gundam…with me as the pilot we can work together to cut the evil from this world. So wake up 00…wake up and lend me your strength." He said quietly. He may not be a religious person but if there was one thing he put his faith in it was his gundam.

He could hear the drives attempting to work together, trying to find a balance that would allow the 00 to fully power up.

Opening his eyes he gripped the controls. "WAKE UP OO GUNDAM! WAKE UP AND SHOW THE EVIL OF THIS WORLD YOUR POWER!" he cried out as finally the hum of both drives working together filled his ears.

As the monitors came online he saw the ahead sitting in front of the catapult. He watched the barrel of its rifle glow and fire what should have been a fatal blow. Instead the finally synchronized GN drives spun around on his shoulders and soon the whole tunnel was filled with GN particles.

The orange beam stopped in its tracks. At first just being pushed back by the particles but in a small explosion the beam dissipated and lost its fight against the 00 gundam.

"setsuna F seiei, 00 gundam, launching!" he shouted before feeling the gundam be propelled out of the tunnel, through the smoke and as he drew his blade he sliced the ahead in half, flying past it before stopping, the explosion filling the background as the three GNX models that tieria had launched and held off turned to face the 00.

Closing his eyes once more setsuna took in the sensation he felt, the connection between him and the two GN drives.

With this gundam he could once more fight the evil that plagued this world. And this time he'd make sure to cut out the heart and change the world to the one lockon wanted.

THE WORLD LOCKON AND HIM WANTED

COSMIC BEING

OK…SO HERE WE ARE. CHAPTER ONE OF THE GUNDAM 00 SIDE STORY. SORRY IT'S KINDA SHORT BUT I`M GONNA BE A BIT MORE LIBERAL WITH HOW THIS ONE PLAYS OUT. MAINLY BECAUSE THE ADDITION OF GABRIEL ALONE GIVES CELESTIAL BEING A GOOD ADVANTAGE HERE THOUGH THE MACHINE IT'S SELF NO LONGER HAS A STRONG ADVANTAGE.

ALSO DEPENDING ON THE REVIEWS I GET HERE AND ON MY MAIN STORY "PURSUING DREAMS AND SLASHING NIGHTMARES" MAY BE PUT ON HIATUS WHILE I TRY AND PUMP THIS STORY OUT. OTHERWISE IT COULD GET CONFUSING BASED ON EVENTS THAT HAPPEN HERE THAT TRANSLATE INTO THE NEXT CHAPTER ALONE OF THAT FIC.

ANYWAYS AS ALWAYS READ AND REVIEW.