Space, it was big dark nothing.

It stretched on forever. This was nothing like the Granada base back on the moon, thought Yosef. Peering from the window of the transport he was riding, space felt a little overwhelming. Of course being a part of the Wolfpack Taskforce, he had spent month training near colonies for space battle, but being the far from anything was a first. "Pilot how long till the Nahel Argama?"

"About 15 more minutes." said the pilot

Yosef let out a small grunt of annoyance and cracked his fingers. He would much prefer to be in a cockpit of a suit than be sitting here in a cargo/passenger hold. To add to that, the shuttle was flying un-escorted. Sure, the Laplace Conflict had ended but that didn't mean that some Neo-Zeon fanatic wasn't waiting to blast them out of the sky. Was he getting paranoid, he thought, maybe, but that was the whole reason they were sending him to the Nahel Argama. The Wolfpack was originally an eight man team, but the higher ups decided that they should split them up and send them to various high value locations as "security advisers". God, sometime he thought the admirals traded IQ for ranks.

"5 minutes, get you stuff together" shouted the pilot.

1

"Marida Cruz, report to MS hanger." blared the commlink lying on the nightstand. Weary eyed and exhausted, Marida, groggily reached out to answer the beeping. She hadn't been sleeping well and was sure that that she was having some kind of dream. Groaning, she hit the answer button on the comm. "What is it, Rory?" She said with venom in her voice " The Kshatriya doesn't have maintenance scheduled and there are no training sorties today."

"Look, im really sorry to ask this, but there's a new mobile suit coming in today, and we need some extra hands. Im begging you."

"uhh, fine Rory, give me a minute, ill be there," she said, cutting the line.

She pulled herself out of bed and pulled on her normal suit for space work. Despite the fact that the Laplace Conflict was over, something was still eating her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Maybe later she would ask Micott or Mineba about it.

Swinging out of her door, she made her way through the well lit corridors of the Nahel Argama. Despite having been there only a short while, the ship felt like home to her. The halls were well designed and it took her only a few minute to get to the MS hanger. Coming out of the door, she saw what they were moving.

Boy, was it a beauty. Being pulled on a cargo sled was a heavily modified Jesta Mobile suit. It was painted a tinted black, and its backpack seemed different.

"Admiring the goods?" said an unfamiliar voice.

Marida turned to see a person standing in the doorway wearing a federation uniform. She noticed his skin was an olive tan and his beard seemed rather unkept for a military man. He had a certain rugged aura about him.

A certain sense of pride came over Yosef whenever his Jesta Remus was loaded into a new ship. The crews would marvel over its black paint and weapons as it was put into a storage rack. This time was no acception. As he let out a sigh of satisfaction of the hanger decks quality, a flash of red caught his eye. One deck lower, he saw a women with long red hair scoping out his suit. On a whim he called her our for staring. He need to get to know the people on this ship, he might as well start here.

"It's a nice suit," she replied "you the pilot?"

"Name is Yosef, i got transferred here from Wolfpack"

Her eyes widened slightly at the mention of his unit.

" Well, i see you can handle it, what kind of mods?"

"I'ts called a Remus, it carries an extra mobility pack, a double beam spear, and a multi-launcher."

She gave him a smirk of approval "very nice, my name is Marida Cruz, i pilot the Kshatriya"

This time he was impress. She jumped away to help secure the Remus before Yosef could say anything, but he couldn't help but feel like this was a good start to this posting. That's when he remembered he had to get to the captains room for a briefing.

Well, nothing is perfect, he muttered as he dashed down the corridors.

Well the briefing was pretty basic, supply list, VIP list, emergency protocol. Tomorrow was a meeting with the current VIP, Mineva Leo Zabi and his team leaders. To think that he had been fighting these people less than a couple months ago. Surprisingly, he didn't have much animosity toward Zeon. He had seen the politician, soldiers and civilians separated in his mind. Politicians and high ranking soldiers were the only ones he truely hated. Mineva was the best bet for peace in his time so guarding her was almost a natural thing.

With that and the thought of the new friend he had made earlier, Yosef wore a smile as he walked into his assigned room. He threw his duffle down next to the foot locker that had been delivered earlier. Crashing onto the bed mattress, he unholstered his service pistol, set it on the nightstand and pulled his computer from his bag. Entering his password, a new email from his Mom popped up. Groaning, Yosef opened it. It wasn't that he didn't like his mom, she was great, supported him when he enlisted, and was so proud of him when he made Wolfpack. However, she was a bit pushy on one subject.

...I hope you are having a good time at your new posting. I was wondering if you'd be interested in meeting some of my lady friends daughters. They have all heard so much about you ( Crap, i probably have a freakin fan club back home) I think its about time you started thinking about finding a lady for yourself...

ahhh, moms. Even though that she and my father had met during his service, Yosef had seen enough divorces and bad break-up to see that they were the exception. He was married to the service and that was good enough for him. With that in mind he fired off a response politely declinening to meet with his fanclub and wishing him mom well. He flopped down on his bed, looking to get some sleep before the squad leaders meeting he had called. At 0400. Those poor souls, he thought as he drifted into sleep.

More to come next chapter.