the cosmic pirate

by ninja of the shadows

yet another working title. noah carson was deemed insane when he claimed he had broken the fourth wall and piloted a gundam. the group formerly known simply as, "the salvagers" now intends to recreate his work and become the first thieves to steal from another reality. will it work?wll they go insane like noah? or will they become rich beyond their dreams? it's 1 am...temp summary.

So for the record this is not a side story to my story celestial seed. It is however in an alternate timeline of sorts. My last story kinda went off the rails after I lost my tower and had people wondering when I would get chapters out so I pressured myself into putting out chapters that I made plans on that now feel forced. Anyways suffice to say i`m hoping this time around I also won't feel like i`m taking super advantage of writers freedom or whatever.

Also while not gundam themed I do have plans for a new series to help with my writers block instead of just making filler chapters. The previous story may be revived at a later time but for now gundam wise i`m gonna focus here.

Also I do not own gundam, bandai has made it clear ANY AND ALL gundam IDEAS are their intellectual property and any other franchises I throw references too I do not own either. My regular readers will understand. Also unless stated otherwise I do not own any custom gunpla described here though they all will have my personal touch ups. The exceptions being EX-caliber, GM commando and any commando unit and the black flag. This is not just IRL gunpla this is meaning the simple concepts of the idea as again bandai made it clear that matters.

With that being said please enjoy the cosmic pirate!

The smoke from a cigar filled a small, dimly lit workshop as the soft sound of a Dremel tool could be heard. A light shone over the modeling workbench, a plastic model of a robot sitting on it. Lining the walls were models. Some mauled, some damaged, others pristine. All had one thing in common though. The logo on the left shoulder….where it wasn't burned or too scarred to see it. A jolly roger but the bones behind the skull were wrenchs. This was the logo of the "salvagers". A group of modern day pirates. Well they used to be.

They used to hustle gunpla battles. They would hustle young, smart, creative builders and would take their models…the remains at least and put whatever new tech they got. New parts, new weapons, new systems. They put it into their works. They won battles. Three times their fighter was a runner up. But sadly this meant they couldn't always repair the model back to full capacity.

Their fighter. He was good. He liked the challenge of adapting to the repairs. Of learning the new tech. each fight had a new challenge for whatever reason and he loved it. He wasn't in it for the money they made in the smaller tournaments he won. He wasn't in it for the technological secrets a hacker they had in their midst would find and sell. He was…the robin hood of the group. Something the rest of them sometimes thought was his reason for only ever being runner up. They thought he would throw the match because he felt the machine wasn't his own work. Wasn't their own. Not completely. That he had no right to win or something because of it.

As the older man who was working on the model pulled his cigar from his mouth, another puff of smoke leaving his lips as he put the cigar down and looked over his work.

The man certainly was old. He was a modeler. But he was old. As he set his Dremel down he looked at his work. It was a crossbone gundam. The Dremel had a polishing piece attached and the gundams weapons were laid out before him. The heat daggers were shining, made of actual metal. Titanium if their fighter was to be believed after his last heist.

That was where he came in as part of a pirate group. Once, they had a good "gang" of people. They were somewhat feared even in governments though they were no more powerful than a group of college hacktivists. But they went after everything. Schematics, Information, Coding, Cars, guns…you name it they stole it and likely sold it. Again their fighter enjoyed the challenge. And their hacker enjoyed money

Now it was him, their hacker, their fighter, and a fence they knew. Most of what they stole and sold was information and gunpla parts.

Back to the old man. He was old, old enough to feel honored that such young kids as the two waiting on him out in the large lab they had set up still wanted to work with him even though all his contacts had died or turned their back on them and all he could contribute was his modeling skills. The gunpla in front of him was his masterpiece. And it was for good reason. The crew was after one final score. After all between larger gangs wanting to crush them and take what little business they got for themselves and the authorities starting to close in on their operation they wanted something to call their own. Sort of. And this gunpla would do just that.

Couple months back their hacker had heard about a rather interesting man. Supposedly a man had managed to create some high tech simulator, intended to be a video game. But something had happened and it became a portal almost, a break in the fourth wall between reality and the gundam meta-verse. Or so he claimed in the looney bin. but he had only been in his simulator for a few minutes according to his friend who had turned him in.

It had peaked their hackers interest when she had investigated it and found he had scars that he hadn't had when he entered as well as had clearly aged in a way. Not much. Longer hair. Lost weight. His pictures from before he went in and when he got admitted as a patient were like night and day.

So their thief had gone and stolen as much equipment as he could as well as downloaded what he could off the mans computers. From there the hacker had begun working on recreating the project. And so operation: black flag had begun to take shape.

Just as the old man picked up his cigar to take another drag off it the door to his small abode opened abruptly and chuckling could be heard.

"is it ready? I`ve been waiting all day for this." Said a young man as he stood in the door way, light shining over him from the large room behind.

The young man was in his mid-20's. he had a dirty blonde hair color with bright gold tips spiked at the front like some anime character. He was wearing jeans and a tank top. Black in both cases. His shoes were black combat boots with a knife tucked away in the right one. On his right thigh sat a holster with a 1911 in it and on his left hip sat two spare magazines in pouches. The look on his face, those blue-steel eyes full of excitement and determination, it made the older man curious as to if he had picked the right machine.

The old man chuckled and took a drag off his cigar, turning to look up and blow out the smoke. "yeah. If this tech works the cold of space should get rid of the smoke smell. Should…I hope. She still sure her little modifications will work?" he asked as the boy walked in, coughing from the smoke.

He nodded. "yeah. According to the logs she recovered all it`ll need is a burst from the drive you put in it's back and it should work." Said the boy

"But that was done with an exia. And custom one at that. We sure we wanna try this? What if you can't come back?" asked the older man as he let the boy look over the model.

"well the way I see it this ends one of four ways. One. I go over, work my way onto the archangel, go through the cosmic era stealing all sorts of secrets and tech and such. I come back, we find a way to manufacture it, make a mint, everyone goes home happy and maybe I even get laid." He said, the two men having a good laugh at the last part.

"option 2. I go in, work my way onto the archangel, steal all sorts of shit, find out the kill switch doesn't work. I end up in orb or hell maybe I go work for the librarians or the junk guild. They could use a true gundam. Option 3, and this is the dire option, but kill switch doesn't work. This beauty fails me and I get captured, interrogated. Who knows from there, depends on who captures me and who wins the war." He said, crouching down to look at the model at eye level.

"and option 4…. kill switch doesn't work, this beauty fails me…and I don't come back. Simple as that. This is the last score. No danger no glory." He said as he patted the older man's back.

"Everett! You know we don't take those kinds of risks!" the old man exclaimed as he coughed and the boy, Everett, patted his back more.

"yes yes I know. But I'm not like you guys though. I don't run and hide at the sign of a challenge. I welcome it!" exclaimed Everett.

The older man sighed. "fine…and that mentality is why I have made you this to go in with." He said while throwing his hands out to exaggerate the gunpla before him.

"I give you…the black flag!" he nearly shouted, Everett looking skeptical about it.

"it's kinda small. And not much in the way of armor. And the weapons…really? Are we going to stick to the pirate theme for this?" asked evert as he looked to the older man who growled.

"I PUT MY HEART AND SOUL INTO THIS GUNDAM! HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT!" he shouted as he shot up only for Everett to take his chair. That was what Everett did to get what he wanted.

"I'm kidding Eli, just kidding!" he chuckled as he picked up each weapon and looked it over till he reached the gundam.

The black flag was a crossbone gundam as stated previously. But not just any crossbone. It was the BEST crossbone gundam he could make. It took the best aspect from every machine of the crossbone line/series.

The arms were a bit thicker in the forearm section due to both having the I-field generator of the X3 machines along with the crossbones standard beam shield emitter/brand maker. According to how they would work this would make him a rather formidable enemy to anyone who should become his own purely on the basis he could stand in front of a ships largest guns, except maybe for the lohengrins on the archangel though, and activate one and the beams wouldn't even each him. It was one of his main defenses.

From the X2 and the full cloth the extra small "feather" antenna to add some extra power to his sensors. Though this was the only thing taken from the X2 as the shot lancer was deemed unusable for the cosmic era and possibly fighting phase shift armor.

The machine itself had the standard X1 black and white paint job. One of the biggest customizations to this gundam was in the core of the X shaped thruster set up from the core fighter was a GN condenser. Not only a back-up power system but also essential for this project to work from what their hacker had concluded.

Draped around the black flag was it's namesake. A black cloth which was the anti-beam cloak, washed in a unique formula to add to the effectiveness of the beam blocking capabilities for gunpla battle and hopefully into this endeavor. The cloth was hooked up to a unique winch system. as a model it was just some wire and a hook and spindle. But once in gunpla battle or this simulator they had stolen plans for the hook so it could retract the cloak back into a case within the armor similar to how it could be packed inside the gundams back in the manga. This though made it easier and faster and able to do in the middle of combat. The groups symbol was on the back, and it was fitting. The skull and wrench jolly roger. If nothing else it was what Everett would be. A pirate. A scourge on the cosmic era. And if he could make it back they would be kings…and a queen.

If he didn't then Eli knew Everett would go down swinging at least.

In true pirate fashion the unit had two holsters just above the side skirts for a pair of buster guns, shaped and painted like flint lock rifles. At each hip sat the handle for two beam zanbars, powerful beam sabers that would take the form of a cutlass. Of-course each of these could connect to the buster gun's to form zanbusters. On the sides of each thigh sat a rack of three grenades meant to be attached to the end of the zanbuster and fired like a rifle grenade from WWII. Due to the presence of N-jammer's the atomic shell usually also provided for any of the crossbone series and the "no-no" ness of nuclear weapons Eli decided against providing such shells as well.

The head still contained the standard head Vulcans, the front hip skirts still contained the scissor anchors and the rear hip skirts contained the screw whips. And in the legs the heat daggers would still go and would still be able to be used out of the base of the feet. the mega machine cannons from the X1 kai is still housed in the eyes of the skull on it's torso.

The way the model was to be codded the dummy launchers in the hand would work as well. Just as in any UC timeline anime the front digit of the left index finger would seem to break off and the launcher would release inflatable dummies. While without the minovsky particle interference they wouldn't be much use this still might benefit him later on.

To finalize the arsenal the peacock smasher crossbow was laid out on the workbench as well as the muramasa blade. Everett pointed to the two large weapons. "how exactly do these play into it? I mean they are huge. How am I expected to use ALL THIS without losing these?" he asked.

Eli groaned and grabbed the peacock smasher, seemingly crumpling it in his old hand only to open it and show the weapon seemed to collapse on itself and become a long, rectangular box with the beam rifle "cans" folding underneath to form two lines. He then lifted the cloak and was able to easily attach it to what Everett assumed was a magnetic plate on the back skirt. He then took the muramasa blade and slide it along the waist of the machine till it seemed to lock into place on another magnetic plate. Both weapons then vanished under the cloak.

"there's one more thing…"said Eli as he gently took the model from Everett and pulled an object from his pocket. A small one.

"Everett. This mission. This operation…this…chance. It's gonna be rough. You're a good fighter. You really are. But I think you're expecting it to be more like just another gunpla battle." Stated Eli as he gently pushed the left hand of the black flag into the arm itself after having it form a fist, revealing an empty polycap.

"I want you to go into this knowing…KNOWING that if you fuck up it could mean the end. I`ve felt honored to get to work with you kids. Where we barely scratch by sometimes I still have enjoyed the work I have done with this group. Hell I'd feel better if you could come back sooner than we agreed upon. But I've watched you fight. You take risks. You`ve won a couple matches because you fight like most fighters do, your just playing with a model. But I've also seen you fight as if your using an actual gundam. Like your inside it. Those fights get you fired up. I can see it in your face afterwards." Eli stuck the piece into the polycap slowly and then set the model down. The face looked to have an expression of determination.

"I have put everything I know about gunpla building and modeling in general into this model. Every stolen technique. Every bit of information I could find about this line of suits has gone into it. My heart and soul go into this beauty. My hope that this can finally be a good end to our group. So come back safe and sound so we can all have a good party with all the loot you get." He said with a smirk before moving his hands and showing that he had put a metal pirate hook. "a small challenge for when you get there. I know you enjoy your challenges. It can be ejected anytime and the hand will be accessible." He said which had Everett chuckling.

"thanks old man. I`ve been honored to work with you as well." He stated as he started to load the model up with it's weapons when a tapping sound could be heard. They both looked back to the young girl who was the girls hacker. She blew a bubble from the gum she was chewing before reigning it back in. "you two gonna kiss and make out or are we gonna make some money?" she asked as she motioned towards the lab area behind her. "come on. final adjustments are done. I`d like to get you over there before someone finds out what we are doing." Stated the girl as she turned around, Everett grabbing the model and following her while Eli sat back down and returned to his cigar, praying they`d get Everett back.

Black flag

Everett looked over the crazy mess of cables connected to towers and monitors. The room was dark aside from the light from the monitors. Something of a common habit in the group. Unless they were eating or reading the only light they got was from the tools of their trade.

Stepping over to a pod they had built as a group Everett glanced inside. The cockpit set up was ready. "so I have a special little twist on what this Carson guy did. I`ll admit the old man told me what model he was using a while ago so I could factor in variables for the maiden voyage. I did some research. Put this on." she stated as she handed him an odd headband or sunglass band…what was it?

It looked originally like a pair of high tech sunglasses. Maybe something cyclops from x-men would wear or...no…now Everett remembered where he had seen these before. It was like the glasses that cisco character on the flash tv show wore when he used his powers.

But these ones went all the way around his head and had a long needle looking object at the back.

"Vera…what are these?" asked Everett…worried she was mixing experiments on him.

"the crossbone gundam works off a bio-computer system or something like that. The whole thing is like a backwards pyscho frame. Instead of you projecting your feelings onto the gundam it turns all the sensory data it takes in into…emotions, gut instincts, a god damn spidey sense if you will and feeds it back to the pilot. A newtype could bring it out better or maybe that new thing in IBO but for now we just have you. Hold on this will sting." She said as she forced the glasses onto him before moving behind him and somewhat gently shoving the needle into his skin till he jumped when he felt a sharp pain of the needle making contact with something very VERY sensitive in his back.

"sorry for the pinch…"

"pinch!? You call that a pinch? That felt more like you stabbing me with a needle deep into my spine. What did you do?" asked Everett before she began to pull the needle back out.

"I used the needle to implant a chip onto your spinal cord. That chip will use your body's own electrical impulses to power itself. When you're in the cockpit these glasses will automatically turn on and help project your Hud more like it's right on your eyes. You`ve watched IBO. Kinda like that. Anyways along with that the chip will sort of Bluetooth to the cockpit and glasses and will act similarly to the bio-computer system thing. Hopefully it`ll help keep you alive enough to get something good at least." She stated as she pulled the rubber band that had been holding the needle to the eyewear and left the sunglasses on him.

"also, since we don't have enough plavsky particles to constantly recycle them or whatever Mr. Carson's plans called for these ARE your Hud. Otherwise you`ll have the classic universal century 360-degree camera and a basic gunpla battle cockpit, I was able to build that at least. I hope that works. If not go steal us more particle canisters and we can wait a bit." She stated as she crossed her arms, Everett flexing his back and arms.

"fine. I'll make do." Growled Everett as he looked to the makeshift scanner or what it was supposed to be.

That was where Eli came out to join them. "I read the logs. I just told you how important that model is to me…to us. It better not get destroyed." Stated Eli as Everett set the black flag in the scanner and it closed around it, a light slowly filling the cracks between the casing before it slowly lowered and went out signaling the model had been scanned.

Everett turned to Eli and smirked. "don't worry. I promise. I`ll come back in one piece and so will your prized work. Now are we ready or not?" asked Everett as he opened the simulation cockpit. It was just a nice chair in a modified and reconfigured arcade game pod. But at least it was leather. That; Everett took comfort in.

Climbing in he took his seat and strapped himself into the chair. Vera poked her head in. "remember. Don't forget where you came from. Eat, drink, sleep. If this works you`ll be the second person ever to break the 4th wall. It won't be just a simulation. You could die if you forget these things." Stated Vera as she stepped inside and made sure his harness was secure.

"yes mom…" stated Everett before she turned and sat in his lap, laying back on him as she sighed. "I was almost jealous….but then you called me mom…"she said as she got up, purposefully moving a leg to put pressure on the plate that held the two lower straps causing him to groan. "I'm not a mom. Not yet. Not till you get back and I get rich enough my brats can afford to be from whoever I want and be raised like royalty. Keep that in mind. Steal something good. Not just worthless shit like you do when you don't have a target." She stated as she turned around to face him again. Vera was a brilliant young girl with little regard for romance and a high regard for sexual pleasure. she was also the same age as Everett and made it a point to play hard to get but made it clear. He wanted to settle down. He wanted the picket fence without the 9-5. Fun all day with the wife and kids. That was what got him to start stealing more than to survive.

She wanted none of that. She wanted to live like a queen. She wanted what any spoiled brat who gets dumped on the street wanted. She wanted her life back and more and with no one really to worry about in terms of consequences.

"trust me. I`ll come back with one hell of a haul. Now where are you starting me off at?" asked Everett as he ignored the dull pain between his legs.

"same place he did. just outside the battle to protect vice foreign minister allster. The records show he destroyed a couple GiNN and saved allster. It actually highlights all his changes until he got destroyed. But I recommend doing your own thing. Follow him…or don't. but just remember to test the kill switch at some point. good luck." She stated before she got out of the pod and closed it. Everett placed his GP base on a small stand that popped up and sat back in the chair, listening to a small piece that Vera had recorded to play before his first time launching.

It was a small monologue reminding him about the ZERO system, telling him about what the logs explained how it was meant to work, what it was meant for, primary functions and all that. And then reminding him what actually happened. A brilliant man's mind was supposedly ruined by this system. they all prayed that the original designer hadn't actually gone insane and that this worked. It also reminded him of the backstory he had worked out for himself to get onboard the unsinkable archangel.

Closing his eyes, he heard Eli outside the pod count down till the pod shuddered as everything started up. With a slight breeze plavsky particles would fill the cockpit and form a basic hard light cockpit set up. Nothing too fancy. They couldn't take the chance of him running out of particles. Opening his eyes as he could FEEL the connection between the chip now attached to his spine and the machine.

He could feel that it was working. And with a press of one of the hard-light pedals under his feet a burst of GN particles left the GN condenser that had activated behind him. With that the chip suddenly sent him a wave of sensory information. Oh the plan worked…he was here.

Black flag

As Everett looked around him and saw the Hud produced on the glass of the odd sunglasses he smirked, looking and seeing it like some VR set up. If he looked straight ahead he could see the stats like his speed, the power levels of each buster gun, the time remaining on each I-field generator till they had to cool down. Then he moved his head to the right and saw those disappear. Looking out into the blackness of space he was surprised when a small section was highlighted and enlarged, a zoomed in visual of earth showing up on his display.

Looking to the left screen he saw stars, more stars then he could count. It was beautiful. But he wasn't here to take in the sights. Looking ahead again this time an area in front of him became highlighted before it split to identify the Vesalius in one section, the archangel in another, and the last screen split in two to show him the strike and aegis fighting on one side and the mobeius limping back to the archangel in another. Blinking he thought about how he just wanted to watch the strike and aegis, not even finishing how he wanted to but couldn't the system switched to focus just on that fight.

"Vera, you sexy witch. I swear in another life you were even more of a nerd with what you can do with tech." he said as he grabbed the control balls in front of him. "time to see how they react to the first official pirate gundam of the cosmic era." Stated Everett as he switched off the GN condenser and began to push on his acceleration peddle.

The one thing about this fight. If athrun saw him as enough of a threat he could very well keep up with him. The strike might also but still. he needed to remember he didn't have much in the way of defenses. Speed was his ally here unlike most of his other gundams Eli built for him.

With that in mind the cloak around his gundam fluttered around him as his thrusters ignited and he boosted into the battle at speeds they likely had never seen…nor would they as he flew in and reached out interestingly enough with his hook hand. moving and timing it perfectly he grabbed a GINN taking aim at the last of the earth alliance scout party by its mono-eye. The hook easily crushed the camera and it's housing before catching inside and dragging the mobile suit out in front of the smaller unit. And smaller was an under-statement.

Ginn's stood at 21.43 meters tall. His crossbone gundam stood at 15 something meters tall. But in space that meant he had the advantage. Resting his left hook hand beside the machine under the cloak he reached beside him and drew his beam zanbar, igniting it to form the signature cutlass of a pirate.

It seemed the GINN pilot had managed to regain visuals, likely switching to another camera but it was too late. Everett swung the beam cutlass down in a right to left diagonal slash with no time for the GiNN to react. Like a hot knife through butter the powerful saber cleaved through the torso of the GINN, but only going far enough to cause it to shut down and finish the sweep by removing the left arm.

When the GiNN went limp he put the zanbar away and punched the section of armor that was the door to the cockpit before grabbing part of the crumpled door with his hook and tearing it off. Shortly after the pilot slowly floated out and seemed terrified by the otherwise inferior but lightning fast unit.

"nice. Scored a GINN in…15.8 seconds…hm?" he said, glancing around as the pilot used the jetpack built into his flight suit to move towards the Vesalius.

A tingling in the back of his neck told him something was off. Sure enough all eyes were on him. The battle had stopped. Turning his gundam around he smiled. "same reaction as the logs state mister Carson received. But he had a GN drive. Need to find a way to stop…wait. I have the muramasa blade…. but do I reveal that or no…" he pondered till his alarms blared and he found himself looking to a GINN charging him with its sword.

Everett easily "sidestepped" the charge with his maneuvering thrusters before the GiNN drew its rifle and fired on him. Climbing Everett wanted to move the GiNN away from his prize, but it appeared they had come to reclaim it.

"no…this isn't how piracy works. You don't just grow a pair and take my haul back." He stated, watching the GINN try to make a break for the Vesalius with the disabled GiNN and likely the pilot trying to get to it.

Once more drawing the beam zanbar he drew it and ignited it and in one fluid motion had boosted over and cut the GINN in half, grabbing his disabled machine and boosting away from the explosion. "phew. Would have hated to go through all that work just to lose this." He stated before noticing the exploded GINN's sword and rifle somehow survived. Smiling he boosted to them, grabbing the rifle and using his gunpla arena style controls to manually attach them to his prize who appeared to have launched with the purpose of shooting down the alliance vessels.

He was alerted once more but this time to the fact he was being targeting by the Vesalius. "great…you have to target me instead of the archangel…"he stated before he shoved the GINN away and activated one of his I-field generators just in time for the invisible barrier to form over with with a flash of blue like the shields on mass effect.

Just as this happened the ship opened fire with its 177mm high energy dual beam cannons followed by missiles which raced out towards Everett. Smirking in his cockpit he began targeting the missiles and by the time a destruction course was plotted to conserve ammo the beams had hit his I-field and dispersed, as if they had never even existed. Before the missiles got in range another shot from the cannons was let loose and he smiled as he watched large beams of death race towards him only for them to be extinguished inches from meeting their mark.

Now it was time to deal with the missiles. Just as he planned a few short bursts from his head Vulcans and the mega machine cannons in his chest and the missiles lit up like firecrackers. Just watching them nearly brought a tear to Everett's eye. Oh he had done this plenty of times in gunpla battle but here. In the expanse of space. No arena barriers in sight. No way to look up and see the spec of the ceiling of a gunpla arena. No crowds cheering. Just the sights and sounds of the missiles going off. Oh anime logic. Sound in space.

Finally boosting forward he dodged the beams this time, the I-field shutting down as it needed to cool. This time he drew the beam zanbar again and dove down below the ship and back up slicing about a third of the way down the barrel before spinning around and opening up with his mega machine cannons to destroy the second barrel.

Just as he was about to try and do more damage he got his first hail. Answering it he smirked as natarle went through her routine about lacus being on board the ship and how if zaft didn't stop their attack then they couldn't guarantee her safety. "freaking cowards. Then again, it's not like Kira is gonna shoot down athrun and just go destroy their ship. Oh well. Might as well let it play out. My fault for taking too long." Stated Everett as he let them talk and boosted back to his prize, noticing the aegis had been "drifting" towards it.

Everett got to it just in time to grab it away from the aegis with his hook hand, his actual hand reaching into his cloak and drawing one of his buster guns. He aimed the flintlock rifle at the aegis and shook his gundams head. "don't think I follow their rules kid. This is mine now." Said Everett as he watched the aegis put its hands up after a moment of deliberation and fly away to the Vesalius.

"yeah that's what I thought. And here comes the perfect pussy." Groaned Everett as he watched the strike start to fly over towards him. Getting a ping on his comms he answered it.

"this is ensign Kira yamato, pilot of the G-unit X105 strike calling the unknown G-unit. Do you read? Over." The look on Kira's face screamed he was scared to approach the black flag. Everett wondered what did it. The pirate theme? The fact he had so easily destroyed one GINN and disabled another with only one hand? or maybe the fact he had the balls to get within firing range of a zaft vessel's CIWS and didn't even flinch.

Regardless he could see a look of worry on Kira's face as the strike got within…well striking distance of the nimble little machine.

"this is the ZGMF-X17A crossbone. I call it the black flag." Stated Everett, smiling at the image of Kira's face going from worry to fear as the strike got in a defensive pose. "don't worry kid I'm on your side. There's a reason I call it the black flag and not the crossbone." Stated Everett as the black flag put its hands up, the GINN still stuck to its hook.

He then got another ping, this time from the archangel. "great I bet it's that slave driving ensign." He groaned as it was in fact ensign natarle badgiruel.

"this is ensign natarle..." she stated but was taken aback when Everett interrupted her.

"yes yes I know who you are. I know who all of you are. Why do you think I'm all the way out here?" he asked as the black flag maneuvered around the strike and headed for the archangel.

"if you know who we are then why are you in a zaft mobile suit?" she asked angrily.

"I stole it. I was hired by some strategic naval research place to look into some fancy new machine zaft was designing based on leaked intel about your project. But I can explain more in person. This channel isn't exactly secure." Stated Everett as he got closer to the ship, the strike keeping pace but still ready for a fight.

Now all that mattered was they believe him. "it's all hush hush, black ink and suppressed pistols if you catch my meaning. Officially I don't exist, this machine doesn't exist, and any reports you put me in will just get black inked like no one's business. So best to just pretend you don't see my following the strike inside till we talk." He said, trying to impose that his work was of the kind that got people killed just for speaking about it. In the meantime, the doors to the hangar on the right leg of the archangel opened and Everett motioned for Kira to take the lead.

Kira must have been told to just follow suit as the comm channel with the bridge was cut without another word and the strike hesitantly moved into the ship before Everett followed with the GINN in front of him.

When no one stopped him from stashing the GINN in an empty MS bay or the black flag next to it.

As he sat in the cockpit he had to take a moment to take it all in. the sounds of the hangar once it re-pressurized, of Murdoch and his crew starting work on the strike and even starting to do what they could on the GINN. He noticed the captain and her rather annoying XO floating towards his machine along with a couple of the ships security crew. Deciding not to keep them waiting he powered down the black flag and took off the glasses. "need to give these a proper name…"he thought as he hung them on his shirt and opened the cockpit with a hiss.

The moment he did the security team had grabbed hold of his machine and had guns aimed into his cockpit. Turned out the black flag was a little small for the scaffolding that acted as the cage for the archangels MS.

Holding his hands up Everett stayed seated as murrue and natarle floated up to his cockpit hatch and looked down in.

"so…what exactly couldn't you tell us over that comms channel?" asked natarle, murrue not exactly seeming happy with him or natarle but staying quiet.

"well for starters the name is Everett foster. Though officially you never heard that. This machine was stolen from a black site in a mined out asteroid. The people who hired me...they don't officially exist. As I'm sure you realize the earth alliance wouldn't wanna admit there is a leak. Then again makes me wonder how they knew about this machine. but then again, I'm not one to ask questions. They gave me coordinates and the means to get there. I snuck onto the base. Got out of there with this bad boy." Stated Everett as he slowly lowered his hands, smirking.

"I still don't exactly understand. I`ve never heard of any organization named strategic naval research anything." Stated natarle and Everett just laughed.

"exactly! Like I said. They don't exist, officially. And the whole suppressed pistols bit and the black ink stuff…what do you think they would do if any of this got out? Listen here's the short and sweet of it. The ship I was on, the one doing research on this mobile suit, we got wind of the Heliopolis attack just before it happened. We were racing there when we got attacked by an elite zaft assault group. They hit us hard and fast, so much so I barely got out of there alive with the black flag. The beauty of this machine though…no battery." He stated which had them all gasping.

"then what powers it? How did you get to us with no power source?" asked murrue, finally speaking up.

Everett shrugged. "I don't know. Some kind of new fusion reactor I think. It was made by some guy named minovsky, produces some kinda particles that counter the N-jammers. I don't know. All I know is that it enabled me to track you guys all the way here and now I'm hoping I can hitch a ride with you back home. Now…you wanna hear my offer?" asked Everett as he laid back in his chair, smirking as everyone seemed spooked by the gundams power source.

Murrue seemed to mull over whether to hear him out of not. Finally she spoke up. "not here. Let's let Murdoch and his crew get the riggings set up so you can properly access your mobile suit. you can go over any maintenance needs with him later. Before we go through…" she said, looking away and to the GINN. "what do you expect us to do with that?"

Everett smiled as he began to move out of his cockpit. "that's simple. Repair it as best he can. When was the last time the earth alliance got an intact GINN to study? I still owe my employers some new data. Plus officially this mobile suit doesn't exist. Neither do I. again…what do you think the higher ups would do if it got out that they stole a mobile suit that supposedly has a fusion reactor that operates even with the N-jammers? I highly suggest leaving anything to do with me or my machine out of your reports." Stated Everett as he glanced over to the strike across the hangar from the black flag.

Again murrue seemed to need to think. This sounded like some bad spy movie. A really bad one…but still. Noticing his outfit it fit the profile of a merc and it fit his story. She figured he may have been working on the machine when they were attacked. His attitude spoke to the fact he likely just hopped in the cockpit and launched, flight suit or no. if he failed his mission he was dead either way captured or shot down. And if it got back to his employers he lost all the research data he was likely a dead man.

"fine. Ensign badgiruel pass it on to ensign yamato and lieutenant la flaga that they are to leave mister foster out of any reports they write up. Mister foster if you`ll come with us." She "requested" as one of the guards motioned with his gun for Everett to get out of his cockpit.

Following the guard lead Everett unstrapped himself and pushed up out of the odd cockpit. He had to admit it was interesting to see the inside of the hangar. And when the guard gave him a nudge towards the other side where the door was he was truly reminded he was actually here. This wasn't a dream. Wasn't some VR simulator.

He was in the cosmic era…and no one could possibly guess what he planned to do.

Pushing off his mobile suit he followed the still lieutenant Ramius and soon Mu La Flaga joined as they reached the door and headed into the ship. Everett hadn't exactly memorized Vera's "script" and so he was finding himself starting to worry about just how this would go. Especially as he fondled the device in his pocket meant to syphon off a copy of the archangels entire database.

Following them he started to spin the tale in his head and remember every little gundam fact he could…oh why didn't he do any research on the crossbone before he left?

Break

Vera sighed as she monitored the data flow of the Z.E.R.O. system and made sure it was accepted the data she had put in for Everett while also looking over the base coding to see if there was ways for her to interfere and perhaps help the fighter. It was thanks to this she noticed a small…glitch in the system. that was all she could think to call it.

"prototype 002…YMF-X14A zaku…" Vera whispered, looking over the data. Not too much of a gundam nerd she decided to look into where the modification came from.

Finding the source it was the program making its own alterations based on an unaccounted for variable in the simulation. "what…but…. ugh…" she decided not to wrack her brain, at least knowing zaku's weren't in gundam seed…. right?

"ELI!" she shouted loudly, a crash being heard in the old man's workshop. Grumbling he came out, wiping a big block of green paint off his hand into his work apron.

"what? Did Everett come back early?" asked the old man as he glared at the younger woman. She just rolled her eyes in response and pointed to one of her many computer monitors.

"YMF-X14A zaku…. that a real thing or am I looking at something like the paladin from Noah's run through with this mess of code? From his logs it kinda went rogue. I'm pretty sure neither of us want that. Do I need to find a way to warn Everett?" asked Vera as she spun in her chair to face the older man, watching him pull out his glasses and lean forward to read the specs of the machine.

"these specs are all over the place. Speed and maneuverability match one of the new zaku's from um…oh what's it called. Thunderbolt! But the weapons…the cockpit system. I mean…no this doesn't belong. But at the same time this doesn't look like it was made to counter the black flag. I read the paladin's specs. Z.E.R.O. made the paladin to match EX-caliber. This looks like a ZEEK's fantasy grunt suit. all that's missing is the reuse psycho device and some funnels. It's a fantasy suit alright but a tame one…like they had some serious restrictions making it." Stated Eli as he stood back up and sighed.

Vera groaned. "that means one of two things then! Either Everett isn't the only one in the cosmic era with access to gunpla battle tech and a Z.E.R.O system or someone hacked our system and is likely gonna try to shoot Everett down…" stated Vera as her hands began to fly over her keyboard and she returned to her attempts to find a way to contact Everett or give him help in some way.

Eli sighed and thought about the specs he had just seen. Turning around to his workshop he decided he likely had some work to do. If they had competition, whether it be from some kind of government agency or another group of some kind, hackers maybe, then Everett would need help…and likely another unit.

Break

Back in the cosmic era at an undisclosed military location mike stretched as he stepped out of the cockpit of his brain child. He was both the "original designer" and intended pilot of what he originally was going to call the "zaku warrior: fighter type". But when he had woken up one morning not only was he the pilot of "unit 002" of the project but he was the designer of a gundam.

Mike wasn't a "sieg zeon" kinda guy per say. He wasn't going to turn down a gundam. But when he learned facility XXXX had been "attacked" and mobile suit ZGMF-XXXX had been stolen he was originally confused. Till he got the specs of the machine.

Now the fighter type…now known simply as the "zaku" he had helped developed with schematics and such that he claimed to have come up with himself right here in the cosmic era. He had spent months coming and going after he had quit his job at the psych ward after having one of the patients map out how to build a system and write a program that would allow such a fourth wall break….he just improved it.

Instead of a cockpit he had the equivalent to a small closet he just had to walk through anytime he needed to return to reality. He had made this a few months ago.

It had taken a brilliant mind to work the program to dump him nearly a year before the actual beginning events of the series, aka the theft of most of the gat series and destruction of Heliopolis.

Having used the program to insert himself high up enough in zaft to have clearance to know about the intended operation as well as know early enough about the leaked data he brought forth his suggested project. A smaller unit, roughly similar in size to the gat line, but featuring the trademark mono eye of zaft. He was a fan of the thunderbolt series so it was designed to fight in space with large thruster tanks and multiple maneuvering thrusters and lots of weapons.

Of course, also learning he had "secretly developed" a state of the art reactor for said mobile suit chairman Clyne had obviously not been happy. It was a new fusion reactor after all and operation uroboros had been intended to stop nuclear powers. But when he spun it as a way to keep them on top of the naturals in terms of power Siegel did reluctantly approve his proposal as he saw it as a way to stop the intended operation to steal the gat series.

Of course he didn't intend to give zaft nuclear powered machines early so while simply coding a single, working minovsky particle fusion reactor in for his machine he made the ultimate construction of the reactor to costly and take too long to effectively produce even a few other machines powered by it to affect the war even for a zealot like zala.

Hence why the operation still took place.

Now back to his "dilemma". After the theft of this mysterious gundam he had left to reality to check his coding. It seemed someone else had created a similar device and had somehow unknowingly piggybacked on his project a backstory for themselves. So, while it was easy to adapt he was not to thrilled to not be the only one here. Granted he had wanted to help zaft win, wanted a better life than what he had had, but he had just planned to utilize the fighter type to hopefully catch the archangel and strike before they got to earth, become a war hero, and live out the remainder of the altered series in luxury.

So with all this in mind he was now currently getting into his flight suit as he was about to launch and utilize the speed and power of his machine to reach the Vesalius and hopefully help recover the stolen gundam.

Now what made his zaku unique was not only it's armaments but while it wasn't the customary "red elite" coloring, his currently light grey zaku II thunderbolt variant had a unique cockpit. Based on the G-gundam style cockpit his unique flight suit had bio-sensors all over it and would link to the cockpit which had a full holographic haptic interface as well as a 360 degree view screen, he would control the mobile suit with his own body.

This was his personal favorite cockpit style and he was glad that with zaft R&D help along with his own coding skills in the zero system he was able to bring it to life here in the cosmic era.

The arsenal it had, including the thunderbolt versions sub arms, a rather expansive selection.

To start he had added the "standard" claw set up to the feet to help grab asteroids or ships, whatever he needed to help stabilize himself. Going up he had a set of "Pardus" short range, guided, 3 tube missile launchers attached to the legs from the GINN heavy weapons set up. While this meant he had to modify the locations of some of his verniers it had all worked out in the end.

At his waist he had two of the zaku's signature crackers on his right side skirt and the left had a GINN's heavy sword. On the back of the waist sat a "zaku bazooka", one of the ones with the top loaded, four round magazines.

From there the armaments moved onto the backpack. Hanging off the backpack was the same plate as on the standard thunderbolt zaku II. Directly behind, hooked to the plate, was a heat hawk, tried and truest of zaku weapons. He hoped it would help. On the other side of the plate though sat an MMP-80 machine gun which was unusual for a zaku…well to any U.C. fan.

To round out the arsenal was a 76mm heavy machine gun from the GINN line as well as a rack of spare magazines attached to the long propellant tank. There were also two spare MMP-80 stick magazines on the inside of the zaku shoulder shield on his right shoulder.

The mobile suit was otherwise standard looking for a thunderbolt style zaku 2 aside from it's paint scheme. As of now it didn't have one. But that was because he had been fortunate to have the phase shift armor of the gat series already ported over to him for re-engineering. Instead of going through all the work of actually re-engineering the armor he just used his access to the zero system to "fast-track" development and construction of phase shift armor for his zaku. This addition came mostly after the mystery gundam had been "stolen".

When powered up the zaku II had a color scheme similar to his favorite TV character as a kid. the green power ranger.

So while most of it would turn a dark metallic green the fore arms would turn black, the spokes on the left shoulder would turn gold, and around the mono-mono eye came the signature mouth/teeth set up that most of the "rangers" helmets.

With his flight suit fully on he glanced to one of his engineers and smiled. Reaching out he ruffled her hair slightly and turned around back towards the gangplanks. "melody. I want you out on the next resupply ship to meet with the Vesalius. I`ll be testing the zaku's propulsion by flying ahead. Unit 001 Is fast. I`m pretty sure even the aegis couldn't catch it. They will need me to catch it. Then I want you to pilot it. I don't think I can trust anyone else with our only other fusion reactor." He said to which the girl smiled and gave him the crispest zaft salute she could muster even as she wanted to hug him, having been told that making her day.

"I won't let you down sir! That damned natural will rue the day he crossed you!" she exclaimed, her Irish accent coming through as she stepped back and watched him put on his helmet and seal his suit before the door to the catwalk locked.

Spinning on her heal the Irish coordinator made a professional yet also mad dash to the exit. Packing be damned, the flight wouldn't be long and she already knew the hangar of the next ship headed out. They'd be back with her needing to train to pilot unit 001 in no time! she had faith in mike. After all he had the homelands future in mind. That was good enough for her to overlook the nuclear option he was using.

Back in the hangar mike closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the zaku being turned on its "pedestal" to face the hangar exit. Flexing his hands as the mobile suit powered on he could hear the fusion reactor igniting for the…third time…yes. This would be its maiden voyage and it's second test flight outside simulators.

As the systems came online the mono-eye lit up and the facial tracking software in his helmet caught his eyes looking back and forth, causing the mono-eye to do the same. As he finished flexing his hands and a ping sounded in his cockpit to alert him that everything was ready he crouched down and leaned forward.

"mike Garcia…zaku…launching!" he called out for the records as the hangar doors opened and he boosted out. Once outside the hangar doors he reached back and grabbed the bazooka, boosting in a Z pattern before boosting back to test his agility.

"good it's just as I planned. Stops and turns on a dime. Whoever you are punk…you should have known better than to mess with war…" he said as he looked forward and flexed his muscles in a manner to activate his thrusters.

Break

"you expect us to just believe that? You're some merc that happens to be following such classified mission specs that even we aren't privy to them! That if anyone even knew you were alive after your ship was destroyed that you`d be killed or something? This is bull shit! Lieutenant Ramius, tell me you're not believing this!?" exclaimed ensign badgiruel, who was red in the face with rage as Everett had the audacity even to sit in the "acting captain's" chair in her office and was eating the apple he had forced them to stop and allow him to get from the mess.

Lieutenant junior grade murrue Ramius was just as flabbergasted at the story the three commanding officers of the archangel had just been told…but it made sense. "given the tension between Z.A.F.T and O.M.N.I….to do what he says he did a mercenary makes sense. A deniable asset. If he talks to anyone he can be denied. If he fails they didn't lose anyone super important. And even more so if he is discovered then he never existed. They don't have to follow any sort of prisoner trades or anything involving him because he never was one of theirs." Stated murrue which seemed to upset the ensign even more.

"lieutenant la flaga! Someone speak some sense around here! This is straight out of some bad sci-fi vid!" she was shouting at this point, standing in front of Everett with her arms out in a "what the actual fuck" pose.

The blonde mobile armor pilot could only frown and scratch the back of his head as he glanced away from the angry ensign. "to be honest it is…but even if he is lying what's better? Having a nuclear powered mobile suit in the hands of zaft or us?" asked mu as he closed his eyes and groaned. "what's your offer kid? you said you had one for us." Asked la flaga as he messed with his hair in one hand and had his other hand on his hip like he did in the anime when frustrated…or Everett would know if he had watched gundam seed before doing this.

Everett turned in the chair and smiled. "why that`s simple mister la flaga. I stay onboard the ship, help protect it and you all don't mention me in reports…you just have to give me room and board and food." Stated Everett before capitalizing on the silence that followed with the loud crunch of him taking a bite of his apple.

"that's it? Just room and board and you`ll protect us? What about your duty to these science people?" asked murrue, breaking the silence before natarle could with another rant.

Everett waved off her concern about him needing to report to the naval science institute people. "they think I'm dead. Why report to them? Oh, hey so you know the other secret project you had going on? The one with orb? Yeah, I just merged your little war crime with that. How do you think that`d go over? Even better how about in person?" asked Everett as he shook his head.

"no, I stole that GINN for more than the scientific value to the E.A. instead if anyone askes yes I did steal something…I'm an engineer defecting to the E.A. with that GINN in order to help progress your mobile suit production. But I'm trading my expertise for silence and the right to examine the strike." Stated Everett, having forgotten Vera's counter to why he didn't go report to the people he was hired by if his mobile suit could get him this far.

That made murrue scratch her head. "there's…there's protocol for that…but...I guess. I supposed…it works? How about I come up with something later…I assume you're tired and need some rest." Said murrue to which Everett stretched, conveniently moving his arm under murrue's desk. From there he took Vera's device and planted it, feeling it whirr and start to work silently under his hand before bringing it back and nodding.

"yeah for sure. A nap sounds good. Should I just take one of the pilot's quarters? "he asked as he got out of murrue's chair and moved for the door, looking like all his strength had left him, his previous appearance of having any energy at all gone as he yawned, the three officers not realizing this was his act, not a moment ago behind the desk.

Biting her lip murrue thought on it. "yes. You have my permission. And to back up your story tell ensign yamato if you ever want to examine the strike you have my permission." Stated murrue to which natarle barked, "lieutenant!? You can't be…I'm going back to my quarters. This…farce is done I presume?" she asked as Everett nodded and left, murrue not stopping her as the ensign left.

"such a by the books person, isn't she? I mean honestly vice foreign minister Allister's ship may be damaged, but we still have an escort now thanks to him…and the man is alive because of Everett. You`d think she could cut him some slack." Stated mu as he looked back to the lieutenant.

murrue nodded, "but she has a point. We have no proof he is telling the truth. But to betray us would mean signing his own death warrant as I'm sure zaft is even less likely to believe the alternate of that story. Especially when he just stole a GINN, destroyed another, and attacked that ship that has been tailing us since Heliopolis. For the moment we have you and Kira to protect us from usually 4 of our own units. I`ll take his offer and watch for the knife behind me over turning him down and making a potentially very deadly enemy out of a miracle of an ally. A non-battery powered mobile suit…think about it…" she said as she took a seat at her desk and began to make her report for this encounter.

Mu nodded. "yeah…even if his story isn't true…to think of zaft having such a machine is terrifying." He stated before turning to leave her office.

Murrue looked at her blank report file and sighed. She didn't have long before she would be needed on the bridge again…" the civilian!" she exclaimed, shooting out of her chair to go see what was coming of that. After all she had promised to return the girl in order to arrange the cease fire.

Break

Athrun grimaced as he looked at the tactical map on the Vesalius' bridge. His commander and the captain were discussing the correct plan of action regarding the legged ship, the 8th fleet and the new mobile suit.

"captain we have an incoming transmission from the home land…. it's a data packet concerning that new unit as well as another new model just sent out to assist us." Stated their comms officer. Switching the tactical map over to an informational screen athrun was given a chance to see the technical files for the machine.

The three males gasped as they read its power source and output, athruns helmet would have been like a pin dropping if they hadn't been in zero gravity.

"a nuclear fusion reactor? But how? The N-jammers..." athrun started but le creuset held up his hand, the man smiling in a rather creepy fashion.

"the N-jammers are designed to stop nuclear fission. Nuclear fusion is an entirely different process. It's brilliant. I`m surprised R&D didn't think of it sooner." stated rau as he pushed off the table. "athrun prepare to retrieve miss Clyne. If this mobile suit should reveal itself again I plan to take it on myself. I wanna experience its power for myself." Stated rau as he moved for the door, his heart pounding and nerves screaming to jump into his mobile suit and attack the legged ship on his own just to incur the wrath of this unknown mobile suit.

It was like he was a young…well clone again.

So, as he headed down the hall towards the hangar had had to admit the almost skip to his steps made him worry for just a moment he was enjoying this just a bit much. But then he remembered his end goal and to think a nuclear powered mobile suit would soon be a somewhat regular sight…well mobile suit combat was already polluting the planet. A few nuclear explosions would only ensure his goals were met sooner…

Break

so I may end up putting a touched up version here soon but for now I had my new possibly temporary beta reader say it was good to go as is but I feel it is still lacking. Still. Wanted you all to know I still live and know what the basic concept of the black flag was as I mentioned it in a previous authors note on a story.

anyways I hope you all enjoyed it. I know it's been a while but hopefully I can find some time to get really back into writing soon.