Mobile Suit Gundam 0084

The Nexus Ascendancy

Written By: The Ascended Ancient

Disclaimer: Well, a lot of the material is the property of the people who created Mobile Suit Gundam, but some of it is mine. Stealing either from this story means you're a duchebag and one day you'll get yours. Oh, and I'm also not making any money from this story.

Also, this is based on an alternate timeline that begins with the end of the One Year War and continues on to 0084 (because I felt that sounded like a good year) and ignores the events of Stardust Memory.

Chapter I
Olympic Base

The year is 0079 of the Universal Century, and the One Year War is drawing to an end. At the Battle of A Baoa Qu, the forces of the Earth Federation begin to penetrate the inner most defenses of the Principality of Zeon's final stronghold, while treason and patricide tear up the Principality's inner circle. It is into this environment that the Nexus returns.

Launched over a decade ago, Nexus was a space colony built with a vastly more powerful reactor and drive system so that it could function like a massive spaceship. This enabled it to travel far beyond the Earth Sphere and seek out the resources Zeon was being denied by the Federation's sanctions. Launched at a time when war was still off the table for the Principality's leadership, it's commander was Lieutenant Devin Zabi, a distant cousin of Zeon's ruling family and an absolute fanatic for their cause. Far more significant, however, was the presence of Augustus Kolia , a Newtype and possibly the smartest human being ever to live. His innovations gave birth to the Nexus, and his skills enabled the team to discover sources of valuable materials in parts of Mars and the asteroid belt that others might have missed. Aboard Nexus, Kolia would discover six new elements not on the periodic table, develop methods for manipulating metals to create new forms of lightweight armor, and invent the first nuclear fusion reactor, a machine far more powerful than traditional nuclear fission.

Out further than any human being had ever been, communication between Nexus and the Earth Sphere was limited. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Zabi was aware that the war had broken out, and that it was taking a far greater toll on Zeon than had previously been anticipated. Based on this, Nexus's original mission timeframe was cut short, and using significant enhancements to its drive system developed during the journey by Kolia it was able to return to the Earth Sphere in record time. The closer it got, the more communication the commander had with the Zeon leadership, and the more he realized that they were going to lose the war. Determined to prevent that from happening, Zabi and Kolia prepared a plan to turn things around, to inflict so much damage on the Federation that they would be doomed to annihilation regardless of the result at A Baoa Qu...

Ensign Zeke Elman felt like his brain was about to explode as the klaxon roused him from his sleep. Falling out of bed, he scrambled around his quarters to grab his clothes and was out the door before he even had them on. All around him Olympic Base was alive, personnel racing to their battle stations through the irregular, poorly aligned corridors of the various compartments of this makeshift facility.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god... The words raced through Zeke's mind as he reached the elevator, the strength of his will staying his shaking hands. He'd graduated from the academy three days ago, and the orbital refueling station of the Earth Defense Force was his first posting. An easy posting, allegedly, because Zeon was supposed to have pulled all its combat troops back to A Baoa Qu. So what the hell was going on here.

The elevator reached level 7, and Zeke burst through the doors as soon as they opened. He had to reach the mobile suit bay, had to get his unit at battle readiness now. Already the checklist was running through his mind: gear, oxygen, check fuel, check...

In an instant the whole station seemed to explode. The sound was deafening, and the deck shook so violently Zeke was thrown into the ceiling, where he found himself staying. They hit the... Behind him the elevator disappeared, and he could see stars. He barely had any time to panic before he went flying down the corridor, the force of the escaping atmosphere propelling him towards the hull breach. He reached around for something, anything to grab a hold of, but there was nothing.

"Get up!" A strong hand on his shoulder shook Zeke awake. His body ached, and he felt blood drip from his chin, but he still silently thanked the now-sealed bulkhead doors in front of him for still being alive. It was then that he realized he was floating.

"Jason?" he gasped, wiping away the blood and turning to the man tugging on him. Ensign Jason Vermer gave him a shake.

"Come on! This whole station is about to go down. Move your ass!" And with that Michael began to unceremoniously drag Zeke down the corridor.

"Wha- This isn't the way to the Mobile Suit Bay," Zeke said as his mind began to clear again. "And the gravity..."

"The primary bay was destroyed in the first volley, along with the gravity stabilizer. Last I heard before it went was that Bravo and Delta squads had made it out. The boss is pulling every available pilot down to the secondary to get into the fight with them. He told me to find you personally."

"What does Major Walker want with me?" Vermer was silent for a moment.

"We've lost a third of the station already, including command. Captain O'Leary is in charge now."

They flew around the corner, Zeke having recovered enough by now to move under his own power. Ahead of them was the secondary mobile suit bay, a place the young ensign had only been to once. Oh no. The Captain's personal request for him was finally starting to make sense.

The scene in the bay was chaotic. Pilots and engineers were flying every which way, Mobile Suits were launching as soon as they were decoupled, and he was shocked they weren't running into each other on the way out.

"Ensign Vermer, 325 is all ready for you. Go!" As Jason headed for his unit, Captain Michael O'Leary, his bright red mane colored gray by dirt and debris, floated over and gripped Zeke's hand tightly. "Thank god you didn't make it to the bay. You know your mother would kill me if anything happened to you."

"Yeah, but Michael, I don't know if I'm ready to..."

"Zeke, you're a Newtype and you've spent a thousand hours in the NT-7's simulator. You're ready, man."

"You yourself said the simulator is nothing like the real thing," Zeke protested

"Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk, man. And if we are going to make it through this I'm going to need you out there." The younger man grimaced, but finally nodded. "Good. Now Zeon snuck a strike force in here and we didn't see them 'till they were right on top of us. Did something with Earth's gravity well, blinded the few monitoring stations we still have. Our guys can handle the Mobile Suits, but it's the carrier ship I'm worried about. It's practically as big as a colony, and based on the telemetry I got before command was wiped out it's gonna blow right past us and plow into North America."

"North America?" Zeke was dumbstruck. "Where?"

"Cincinnati," Michael grimly. "That's why I need you out there. You can push past their lines and hopefully get inside and blow up that ship. Because we can't lose North America. We won't be able to survive that." His stomach all ice, Zeke nodded.

"Alright, now get..." The station rocked violently again. "Get to the suit, now!" The Captain pushed off a flying piece of debris and propelled himself across the room, and after another second Zeke did the same. It didn't take him long to find it. Unlike the other suits in the room, this one did not have bright colors. The NT-7 was designed for stealth.

Redirecting in mid-flight, he pulled himself into the cockpit and closed the hatch. For a moment Zeke just stared at the console in front of him, a chill running down his spine as he realized the magnitude of what he was about to do. Flipping the master switch, he could almost feel the electricity as the suit powered up around him for the first time. The preflight checklist was cut short; there wasn't enough time. Breaking away from the wall, he saw that almost every other suit had been boarded and launched. Taking one final deep breath, Zeke fired up the NT-7's massive engines, unfurled the four stabilization fins, and blasted out into space.

End of Chapter I

A/N: First of all, how do you spell vernie, vernee, venee, etc. It's the name they used in the shows for the big engines on the back of the Mobile Suits.

Second, if you liked this story review, or else I won't write any more.