Hello everybody. Well, this is my first story in the Gundam UC section, and, surprisingly, the first story about Crossbone Gundam. Well, it's just a little one-shot that I came up with last night. I hope you all enjoy it.

Crossbone Gundam belongs to Bandai.

Please read and review!

The First Step in Recreating the Crossbone Vanguard

Universal Century 128

"Doesn't he look cute, Seabook," asked the new leader of the Crossbone Vanguard, Berah Ronah. Even though she was not the same carefree woman that she wanted to be thanks to the Cosmo-Babylonia incident seven years ago, Berah still had some of her teenage characteristics. At this moment, she was entertaining herself by watching a parrot do its daily routines through the window of a pet shop. "Seabook, I asked you a question," she said, annoyed that her companion did not answer the first time.

"Remember my name is Kincaido Nau, Berah Ronah," scoffed a twenty-two year old man who served as Berah's greatest follower and her love-interest. Formerly the pilot of the F91 Gundam F91, Kincaido fought the former Crossbone Vanguard when they attempted to conquer the Frontier 4 colony and create a nation controlled by the aristocracy. How ironic that he was now the main pilot for the organization that was his first enemy. Well, whatever. The most important thing to Kincaido was that Berah was now in charge of the Crossbone and he swore to be with her no matter what. Yeah, well now, he was kind of regretting that… scratch that, she still had some damn fine legs. Too bad one of those legs just bashed him in the groin. "Damn, what was that for," he moaned, slumping to the ground.

The orange-haired woman just grunted, folded her arms, and glared at him. "That was to purge you of any perverted ideas before you obey your hormones, you lecherous man," scolded Berah. Then, without any sort of intermission, she returned to her cheerful mood and looked back at the parrot. "So, what do you think Kincaido? Wouldn't a parrot be a perfect mascot for the new Crossbone Vanguard," she asked, ignoring the part that he was in pain.

"Why would we need a mascot, much less a parrot," questioned Kincaido after he recovered from the pain between his legs. Still, what was going through that woman's head was a complete mystery to him. After all, the Berah's faction of the Crossbone Vanguard was still in its early development stages. The Mother Vanguard was just completed a few weeks ago and the XM-X1 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X1 and the XM-X2 (F97) Crossbone Gundam X2 were still in the final test stage of development. Why was she concerned with a stupid mascot? "Shouldn't we be worrying about what would happen if the Earth Federation caught on to our plans," he asked Berah, but pirate leader was not there. Oh crap, where did she go? Kincaido panicked for a moment, and then he slapped his forehead when he figured it out. Berah had gone inside to buy that stupid bird. The former Gundam pilot sighed and pulled out his wallet before walking inside the pet store.

Five minutes passed before the couple exited the pet store, now with a new parrot. "Again, why a parrot," asked Kincaido as he stared at the exotic bird in the cage. Was this bird really worth him emptying his wallet for?

"What's a more appropriate mascot for a pirate crew than a parrot," answered Berah in the form of a question. She was happy with her new pet and showed it by scratching the bird underneath the neck. The parrot cooed in return and rubbed its head against Berah's fingers.

"Well, couldn't we have been a bit more original? I mean, almost all pirates you read about have parrots while real space pirates don't even bother with pets. Do you really want us to fit in with the stereotype of pirates?" Even Berah had to admit, Kincado did have a good argument. The Crossbone Vanguard was not going to be the type of pirates who steal and plunder every place they go, or the type that makes their prisoners walk the plank, or whatever. Wait, did the Mother Vanguard even have a plank? Back on the subject, Berah decided that she wanted a parrot, and that was all there was to it. Dammit, she was the leader of the Crossbone Vanguard, so it was her decision and nobody could change her mind.

"Well, Kincado, your argument has been heard, considered, and discarded like the rest of the trashy suggestions I have to deal with," Berah announced in a bold, firm tone. It was time for her to put her foot down and show Kincaido who was the boss now. "Now I'm in charge, Kincado. There won't be anymore of you bossing me around or dragging me around like that Miss Country-side pageant, or that time you got me to wear a bikini while I was doing my job as captain."

Kincado winced at Berah's tone. Damn, she's still angry about losing that game of cards. If that's the case, she was probably still angry about that time they were playing strip poker and Zabine walked in on them. Ah, good times; times that almost cost him his life, but good times nonetheless. To make matters even worse, the parrot was now angry at him and managed to bite his finger. "Shit," he shouted as he dropped the cage and moved away from the bird. "That fricking pile of feathers is so going to suffer for this!"

Fortunately for the parrot, Berah stepped between it and the angry Kincado. "Stop, he bit you because you made him angry," she scolded and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"But, that bird almost severed my finger," Kincado argued, showing Berah his wounded hand. "If that bite was a little deeper, then I wouldn't be able to pull the trigger on the X1!" She took a few seconds to examine the injury then looked back at Kincado with a slight grin on her face. Though he saw this, Seabook was unsure what to do or what Berah had planned for him.

"You're still just a child, aren't you Seabook," Berah asked before forcing Kincado into a kiss. As for the Gundam pilot, he had no clue what just happened, but why should he care? After all, coming close to losing your finger in order to get a kiss from a beautiful woman like Berah was a fair trade off. "Is that better, Seabook, or should I say, Kincado Nau," asked Berah in a teasing way.

"You should know, I don't really like birds, especially that one. But if you like it, then I'll just deal with it," Kincado grinned at the orange-haired woman and pulled her closer to him. "Does that sound fair, Cecily Fairchild… oh, wait, it's Berah Ronah, right?" Berah grinned at Kincado and flicked him in the forehead before bringing him into another kiss.

Mother Vanguard, three days later:

"Help! Somebody get this killer bird away from me," shouted Kincado as he ran for his life. Somehow, he made the parrot angry again, or maybe the bird just really did not like him. Either way, it looked ridiculous for the pilot of the Crossbone Gundam X1 to be running from an animal one-tenth his size.

From the bridge of the ship, Berah and the crew shook their heads in embarrassment. "This is the man who defeated Iron-Mask and is one of our best pilots," asked Zabine Chareux, shaking his head. "Pathetic, truly pathetic."