It is the year 0084 of the Universal Century. It is five years since the close of the One Year war with Zeon the victor. Ace pilots and Newtypes Amuro Ray and Char Aznable are presumed dead. In the years following the war, Zeon scientists have studied Newtypes and keep them and the public oppressed in the colonies. Thanks to these efforts, scientists have created a new device called the N-Jammer which can put a block on the powers of a Newtype. The Newtypes don't have a chance.
Numerous rebel groups have rose up against Zeon, but due to poor organization and few military units, they were all quickly disposed of. However, in recent months, a terrorist group called the Anti Zeon Earth Group (AZEG) has rose up and has orchestrated many attacks against the Zeon forces. In one attack, the AZEG managed to recover a lab of kidnapped Newtypes. One Newtype, Ken Rasis, was rescued. AZEG General Kyle Dromid recognizes overwhelming powers in this boy.
Slowly building their forces, the AZEG has become a force to be reckoned with and is the first serious threat to Zeon's rule in nearly five years...
Chapter 1 – Rebellion
Things were not going well. Commander Amoris stared out the view port at the firefight taking place in the space above Side 4.
"These raids are getting worse every time" he said out loud, though nobody seemed to hear as they were immersed in operating the giant Musai and giving orders to the pilots engaged in battles.
Raids like these had become commonplace in the months following the incident with the Zabi Institute. That was when a group of terrorists calling themselves the AZEG had broken in and "rescued" an entire building full of Newtype children that were being studied.
"Curse that Kycillia Zabi" he found himself saying. "If you hadn't had been so overconfident this might not have happened".
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Lieutenant Resir swerved his Royal-Blue Gelgoog II around to dodge an incoming beam. He then sent the MS hurtling towards the MS which fired the shot, a re-fitted Zaku II, then pulled out the beam naginata weapon. The Gelgoog II flew right past the enemy unit, slicing it in two, and flying away from the resulting explosion.
"One down, 2 to go" he said to himself as he targeted the other two units accompanying the destroyed MS. In one swift motion, the Gelgoog II jetted backward, replaced the beam naginata in its hand with a beam machine gun, took aim and fired at the enemy's head. A direct hit! The Zaku II's head flew off the body, leaving the cockpit open. Resir fired his weapon a second time, destroying the Mobile Suit.
Suddenly, a beam hit him in the back, knocking out his rear sensor! "Dammit!" he cursed under his breath. He swung the agile Mobile Suit around, bringing up the beam machine gun, and shot the remaining Mobile Suit, a battered GM, hitting it squarely in the shoulder, knocking the beam spray gun out of its hand. Resir flew towards the GM, shooting its weapon. By the time Resir reached the enemy, it was already destroyed.
All 3 opposing Mobile Suits had been destroyed, and he reminded himself to paint another mark on the side of his Gelgoog II's shield to represent the destroyed squad. He turned around to survey the rest of the battle. The Zeon side was holding off the AZEG Mobile Suits. This was going to be a piece of cake. He flew towards the battle to help them.
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"All squads reporting heavy losses!" shouted one of the tech officers aboard the bridge of the Ressurection.
General Dromid sat in the command chair surveying the battle. An officer sitting near him walked up to him.
"I don't think we can last much longer, sir. Recommend cutting our losses and escaping while we still can" she said to him. Kyle Dromid agreed that the battle would end soon if they didn't get out soon, but the AZEG needed the supplies badly!
Kyle gave a sigh of surrender. "Fine. Recall all units from further action. Have the salvage ships returned?"
One of the tech officers replied that all salvage units had returned safely. "Good. Activate Particle-Drive" Kyle commanded.* The giant battleship rocked backwards and with a flash of light escaped the battle.
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Izumi Nagano, or Officer Nagano as she was referred to, always had a lot of energy. But at the time, she seemed to be very bored. Of course, salvage count was a boring job for anyone, even one such as Izumi. She followed 2 other officers to Salvage Ship #3 where they opened the door and started to take inventory of the new equipment.
"Nothing could be more monotonous then this" she said to herself as she marked down the new MS generator on her notepad. Actually it really isn't that new she thought to herself. The generator was very battered with scorch marks all over it. She believed that the technicians could make it work again.
"Izumi!" shouted someone from across the bay. Izumi turned to see her best friend, Ken, floating towards her. "Hi Ken!" she replied. Ken came to stop right in front of her. He looked down at her notepad. "Having fun?" he asked sarcastically. "More fun then a barrel of monkeys" she said with equal sarcasm.
"Don't you have some place to be?" she asked him. "Oh, you mean another one of Kyle's boring lectures?" Ken replied. Ken straitened up. "Now you must use your Newtype powers for good, you have to be careful using them, you need to have control, look both ways before crossing the street" he said in a deeper voice, matching Kyle's. Izumi giggled at Ken's accurate impersonation of General Dromid. "Seriously, Kyle almost made me fall asleep once!" he said smugly.
"That's GENERAL Kyle Dromid to you" said a voice from behind them. Ken froze, then slowly turned around. Sure enough, General Kyle Dromid stared back at Ken. For once, Ken was at a total loss for words. Izumi tried to keep a straight face as Kyle gave Ken another one of lectures, which Izumi had to admit, did seem pretty boring.
"Now then, we had best get back to the training room" Kyle said, wrapping up his speech. "Come along." Ken floated along side Kyle, turning back once to give a cocky wink to Izumi, then exited through the port. Free from Ken's distraction, she returned to her work.
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"You wanted to see me sir?" Resir Marimoe asked. "Yes, I did," replied a voice from behind the chair. "Please have a seat".
Resir sat down uneasily. He had been worried about what would happen after they let the AZEG forces get away. He looked around the large office. He sat in a cushioned, blue chair in front of a huge, bare desk. In the back there stood a bust of Degwin Sodo Zabi, the founder of Zeon. Hanging from the ceiling was a large banner displaying the Zeon coat-of-arms.
The person spun slowly around in his chair. Resir realized that Gihren Zabi, dictator of the Zeon Republic, sat in front of him.
"Resir" he began, "about the battle at Side 4". "Yes?" Resir replied. "It may seem like a loss", he continued, "but in reality it was actually a victory for us. We were able to do excessive damage to the AZEG fleet, which will undoubtedly take weeks to repair. In this time, I think it would be a perfect time to strike back".
"I think that's an excellent plan, but why tell me?" Resir replied. "Simple" Gihren replied. "For your acts of courage, your unquestionable skill and for your acts at Side 4 today, I am personally promoting you to Commander."
Resir stared at Gihren like he had just spoken in some unknown tongue. "I am honored, Dictator Gihren Zabi" he finally managed to say.
"Now, I am putting you in charge of the attack on the AZEG battleship ID'ed as the Ressurection. I look forward to seeing you destroy their forces." Gihren said. Resir got up and bowed to Gihren.
"Thank you. That AZEG will be gone within the course of a few weeks." Resir said. Then he exited the room smiling to himself.
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All Zeon oppression had been stopped immediately, so it was very difficult to locate a suitable base of operations for the AZEG. Fortunately, Side 7 had been all but abandoned after the Side 7 Dusk incident**. This made it a perfect base for the anti-Zeon soldiers.
It had been a day since the battle at Side 4 and everybody was enjoying a little time off. Everyone that is, except for General Dromid. He had been summoned to a conference held in the Northern Wing of the base.
"Ah, good afternoon, Kyle" greeted Commander Davis, one of the leaders of AZEG, as Kyle entered the room. Kyle sat down next to a woman he recognized as Commander Katrina Mara. She was in command of the 4th AZEG Fleet, one of the best of their forces.
"So Kyle, do you have any updates on the progress with Ken and Project R" Davis asked. "Well, we have made considerable progress on the R Gundam itself, but we are having problems with Ken. He is way too unfocused and he doesn't seem to care about his powers", Kyle replied solemnly.
Katrina turned to him and smiled. "I'm sure he'll come to his senses eventually" she mused. "And when is "eventually"?!" asked one of the other Commanders, rather irritably. "Hopefully soon", replied Katrina.
Kyle wished he could be as sure as Katrina about it.
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Sometimes Izumi could be a real bother. She was usually very bossy and cocky at the same time. And she could be too energetic for her own good.
Ken thought about this to himself as he snuck down a corridor. "How did she talk me into this?" he said to himself.
It had started out innocently enough, with the two of them being bored, sitting in their quarters. Then Izumi had suggested a game of Truth or Dare. Ken really didn't want to, but Izumi talked him into it. It would have been fine if she didn't go first.
"Okay, I dare you to sneak through the North Wing of the base and listen in on the meeting", she said with a smirk. He could have run away or he could have even started to play a game on his computer, but no. He had to accept the dare. What a fool he had been.
So he snuck down the rest of the hallway and turned a corner. He heard two officers walking up the hall, so he ducked into one of the rooms to hide. Fortunately, they did not see him and the room was empty. All that was in the room was a table, a couple of shelves and a book sitting on the counter.
It read "Project R" on the cover. Intrigued, he opened up the manual. In it, he found pictures and schematics of something called the R Gundam. He flipped through the pages and found more pictures, this time of two other Mobile Weapons he identified as the RAZ-77 HeaviCannon and the RAZ-13 Spirit.
He stopped when he heard the door click. Someone was trying to get in! He quickly closed the book and looked for a place to hide. The closet! He ducked into an open closet and quickly closed the door, just as the door to the room opened. He heard someone walk in and pick up the book. The officer was talking to himself. Ken leaned in to hear.
The officer seemed to be talking about the Project R he had read about. He leaned back because it seemed pretty boring. Then he heard his name come up. Ken leaned in to hear, but he heard nothing. He opened the door just a crack and saw that the room was empty and the manual had been taken.
Why had his name come up? He decided to follow the officer. He crept after him through at least 6 corridors, when at last the man came to a stop and entered the meeting room. Fortunately, he didn't notice Ken as he walked in. he pressed his ear to the door to hear what was going on.
He heard two voices, one of which he recognized as Kyle's. "There has to be something we can do to encourage him" he heard Kyle say. "Yes, but what?" he heard another person say.
"If Ken is going to pilot the R Gundam, we need to do something to motivate him, but what?" Commander Davis said out loud. Ken was shocked at these words. He was going to pilot the R Gundam that he had read about? No, that couldn't be it. Could it?
He listened to them for what seemed like a quarter of an hour and it seemed that he was, indeed, supposed to pilot the Gundam…
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"Destination time: 16:36 and closing" replied one of the tech officers on the bridge of the Musai. Resir Maramoe, now Commander, sat in a chair on the bridge.
"We'll be there soon", he said to himself. "Launch Mobile Suit squads 1-3!" he commanded. He watched about a dozen MS fly out from the hangar of the Musai. "Tell the hangar crew to ready my personal unit," he said to one of the officers. He then walked away from the room.
"Those fool terrorists won't know what hit them" he snickered to himself.
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Part of the hallway blew up in front of Ken. Were they under attack? He looked out the window. He quickly counted a dozen MS units heading towards the base. Zeon was attacking them? But how did they know where the base was? They must have followed us! All of these thoughts went whizzing through Ken's mind.
There was no way they could fight off the Zeon this time? Or was there? Ken then had a crazy thought. "No, I couldn't do that", he said to himself. "Could I?" He made up his mind and dashed towards the hangar.
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Kyle ran into the bridge where he saw the Zeon forces right in front of them. "Tell them to launch! All Mobile Suits launch!" he yelled over the com system. "Contact hangar crew!" he shouted to one of the officers.
"No response!" replied the officer. "What? Where are they? Bring up a visual!" One of the screens in the room flickered and it showed the hangar crew lying on the floor, unconscious. "What the Hell happened there?" he yelled to no one in particular.
Another officer turned from his post. "Sir! The R-Gundam has been activated!" he yelled. "What?!" was Kyle's reply. The screen flickered and it showed the blue, white and yellow Gundam's gold eyes lit up. The R-Gundam then stood up and a little awkwardly walked towards the catapult and launched from the base.
"Oh no…" were the only words that came from Kyle's mouth.
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* Particle Drive is a breakthrough made around the same time as the N-Jammer. This device has the ability to make something move at the speed of light, roughly186,281 miles per second. This new device has the same properties as Star Wars's hyperdrive and Star Trek's warp drive.
** The Side 7 Dusk Incident happened in UC 0082 where at dusk, Zeon forces planted gas bombs all around the entire colony, killing almost all of the population as a "demonstration" to anti-Zeon terrorists. This left the colony abandoned and it made a perfect base for AZEG. This is the alternate version of the "30 Bunch incident" detailed in Mobile Suit Z Gundam.
Author's Notes:
-If this were made into an anime, I would have had the techno-gods Two Mix perform the theme. Too bad it's not an anime and only a fan story.
-To get an idea of what the R Gundam looks like, imagine it as a kit-bashed MSIA, using the body and skirt armor of the GP01, the arms of the Turn-A, the head of the Gundam, the shoulders and legs of the Alex and the backpack of the GP01. Try building it at home! Or don't, it doesn't matter. Maybe I'll add a fancy backpack like the Gundam X or V2 Gundam…
Next:
Chapter 2: Invincible R-Gundam!