Patriot-112: And here I am back with a new chapter! I hope everyone who read the fic enjoyed it. Now for those of you who are curious on what the Mobile Suits used by the Kaledonians are based off of, I will tell you...

KRMT-XM01 Nugget - (RGM-79[E] GM Early Type)

KRMF-M01 Dragoon - (GAT-01 Strike Dagger)

KRMF-M02 Boshin - (MBF-M1 Astray)

KRMF/G-G01A Jäger - (GAT-01D1 Duel Dagger)

KRMF/A-G02 Marauder - (GAT/A-01E2 Buster Dagger)

117Jorn: We'll make more detailed specs after a while, but for now that's basically what they're based after, with some minor cosmetic differences. But for now, on with the show!

Phase One: Contact

Deep Space

Location Unknown

The section of space was quiet, until a sudden bright flash of blue light shown, and after disappearing, left three ships floating adrift.

On the bridge of the Mejaren Pirate Ship, Magno Vivian groaned as she woke from her unconscious slumber.

"Well, this certainly isn't the afterlife," she said, taking in the traces of some blue crystals along the walls. "So what happened?"

"I'll check right now-" Amarone began to say, before suddenly the ship shook violently. "Wha-" The bridge crew looked up as a crystal-like webbing from the Ikazuchi lashed out and grappled with their vessel, and it soon also attached itself to the Reckoning as well.

"What's going on?!" Magno shouted, "Is the crystal trying to eat the ships?!"

"I-I don't know!" Belvedere said, "It… It looks like its just bringing together all the ships and parts all together like a magnet!"

Magno cursed silently as the vessels drew closer to the Ikazuchi before she hit the comms. "Gascogne, can you cut us off?" She asked, before a holoscreen appeared before her, as the head of the ship's Registry appeared - Gascogne Rheingau. In the background she could already see members of the registry working to cut away some of the crystal fragments.

"Not with laser beams," Gascogne said shaking her head, "If we don't hurry, this place'll get absorbed too."

"The Corrosion has spread through the ship." BC said as her image also appeared on the holo monitor. And appearing next was an image of main engineering with Parfet.

"The engine is dead, too." She said shaking her head. "We're not going anywhere."

Magno closed her eyes and sighed "So, we're gonna have to remove it from the source." She said before her eyes opened. "I'm going up! B.C! Parfet! Meet me up there!"

"Roger!"

Meanwhile - Onboard the Reckoning

"Chief, status report!" Roa barked wanting to know what happened after waking up, and seeing the chaos happening all around him. Starting with that light of crystals drawing his ship and the Mejaren ship toward the Ikazuchi.

"These damn crystals are all over the place, Cap!" said the Chief engineer, Edward Nichols, a man of 31 with some rough features, with light brown hair and grey eyes, "And to make it worse, the engine's shot, meaning we're stranded here!"

"Is there any way we can remove them?" Roa shouted.

"What the hell do you think I'm trying to do down here?!" Edward shouted, as he bashed what looked like a mining pick into a sigil of crystal, as the sound of a jackhammer drill could also be heard in the background. "We've tried everything short of explosives to cut this shit, but we're not even putting a dent in… whatever the hell this stuff is! It's all coming from the Ikazuchi!"

Roa's eyes narrowed at that, as he looked outside and saw as the Reckoning was positioned right over where the Mejaren ship is, in the middle of the Old Colony ship. Taking a deep sigh, he made his decision.

"We're going to the source," he said, and turned to Noemi who looking over Riika's shoulder at her control screen. "Noemi! You and me are going up! Ed, you too, let's go to where this is crap's coming from!"

"Aye Captain!" Noemi said with a nod.

"Gotcha boss" Edward said with a sigh.

Meanwhile - Onboard the Ikazuchi

The interior of the Ikazuchi was almost entirely overrun with crystal fragments from top to bottom, giving the appearance of a cave more than a starship. This was the first thing Meia noticed as she regained consciousness, groaning a bit as she glanced around. She wasn't the only one, as she could see Jura waking up as well.

"Jura…" she muttered, as the fellow Dread pilot awoke.

"Here… geez, what happened…" Jura said, shaking her head. "Wait, where's Dita?!"

"Yeah...?" A voice shouted, as the two turned around as they saw Dita on the ground, waving at them with a rather lazy and tired expression on her face "Something went beep, then whoosh! Alien power is amazing!"

Meia ignored that, as she continued to look around the ship interior. However her thoughts were interrupted by separate sets of groans and turned and saw the Kaledonian pilots who stayed behind to help them.

"Ugh...what hit me?" Rei said as she sat up and removed her helmet, rubbing her temples to get rid of the headache, "Did somebody get the liscense plate of those missiles?"

"Agh… my head feels like I got crushed by a trainee on his first Nugget course..." Kimiko groaned, taking her own helmet off as she sat up, glancing around. She then blinked in confusion. "Are… we still on the Ikazuchi, or did we land on a planet at some point?"

Rei blinked as she looked around, recognizing a few spots.

"No we're still on the Ikazuchi," she said, "But as for this, I've no clue,"

"Hey, you two alright?" they turned and saw Meia looking at them, and they nodded.

"Yes, we're fine," said Rei, "Got a little bumped up, but fine,"

Meia nodded at that, "Good," she said, then went back to looking around before spotting the man that Dita chased lying on the ground flat on his back, "It looks like we're not alone,"

Rei and Kimiko blinked before looking and spotting the out cold Teraak male.

"Well shit," Kimiko said as she stood up and went over to the stowaway, and checked on him, "Aside from a bump on the head, he looks alright,"

Kimiko then spotted an egg-shaped object next to the boy and picked it up.

"Hello, what have we here?" she said as she examined the robot. "Some kind of robot… it's a bit more advance than what the Teraak usually make… "

At that moment however, the sound of engines could be heard as the others looked up and saw a pair of craft entering the Ikazuchi. The first was a small Mejare shuttle craft, while the second was a Kaledonian Dropship, both of them landing apart from the other.

The hatch of the Mejere shuttle opened, and out stepped Magno, along with B.C and Parfet, the former of whom glanced around at the new interior of the vessel . "Now, this is amazing..." she muttered as they and several other guards stepped out.

"Captain." Meia said in somewhat surprise, "Sorry to make you come up all this way."

Magno shook her head as she walked forward with her cane. "No need to apologize," she said, "I just wanted to see it with my own eyes." She then glanced at the Kaledonian Dropship, which the hatch began to open. "Plus… I am curious to meet the crew of the Reckoning."

When the hatch fully opened and the landing ramp dropped down, six figures exited the dropship clad in custom colored KAF Pilot suits, their visors polarized preventing anyone from seeing their faces. Then three more people came out and the women, with the exception of Kimiko and Rei who snapped up and saluted, gasped at the sight of Roa, and Ed, with Noemi by his side.

"Welcome aboard, Taisho!" Rei and Kimiko said at the same time.

"Kimiko, Rei." Roa said nodding "Good to see you're both alright. Either of you have any idea what happened here?"

"No idea, sir." Rei said shaking her head, "Last thing I remember was a bright light. Next thing I knew… well, we were here."

"I see… " Roa said, before he turned to look at the Mejare pirates. "Ah, and you must be the ever-so infamous Magno Vivian."

The Mejere guards and pilots tensed a bit, however with a wave of her hand Magno told them to stand down. "And you must be Captain Roanoke Schmidt of the ex-Kaledonian ship Reckoning." She said with a small smirk, "You're older than I would expect."

"With age comes experience, Miss. Vivian." Roa said with a small smile.

"Indeed," Magno said, "So it seems the rumors are true… that Kaledonia is a Co-Gender society, eh?"

The Mejaren women all blinked in surprise at that, as Roa nodded, "Yes, it's true," he said, "Kaledonia was founded nearly over a century ago, by the Amaterasu Colonial Fleet, in the same star system that Mejare and Teraak are a part of, which is a three star system,"

Magno nodded at that, "Yes, I remember my younger days when I was back on this ship," she said, "The Amaterasu and it's fleet met up with us near the magnetic storm that shielded the Kronos System,"

"Yes." Roa said nodding, "Then once we passed through the storm, we all went our separate ways… us on the Amaterasu Fleet finding Kaledonia, the men colonizing Teraak, and the women Mejare… causing over a century's worth of useless paranoia and propaganda."

"You don't even consider one another the same species… " Kimiko muttered shaking her head, glancing at Dita. "Mr. Alien? Really?"

Dita blinked in confusion "But… he looks so different," she said, "He doesn't look like-"

"Its all about Genders." Kimiko said, as she facepalmed, "I'm getting so sick of this, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it… before men could just make themselves in factories, and before Mejare could reproduce using fahma's and ohmas, men and women would have children TOGETHER, no cloning, no donating an egg to the other, just doing it the old fashioned - and proper way."

It felt as if there was a full minute of silence… until…

"NEEEEEEEEH?!" All of the Mejare women - minus Magno - shouted in unison, with looks of disbelief.

There was a series of snickers and some flashes of cameras coming from the Kaledonians, as the looks on Mejerans was priceless, while Magno just shook her head.

'Kids these days,' she thought, before her eye caught the unconscious form of the Teraak stowaway. "What have we here, Meia?"

That sentence snapped the Dread Squad Leader out of her shock and turned to Magno following her gaze to the out cold boy.

"W-We don't know," She said, still reeling from the bombshell the Kaledonian pilot had just dropped on them. "Dita was chasing him after her Dread crashed."

"I believe he's a Third Class citizen of Taraak society." Rei spoke up, "Judging from his appearance… since third class citizens are barred from joining the military, he's likely a stowaway… though his reasons for wanting to be onboard the Ikazuchi are still unknown."

Roa hummed at that "Third Class citizens aren't exactly treated all that well… " he said, before he sighed and turned to Magno, "Either way… until we can figure out where we are… and whatever the hell this is-" he kicked some of the crystal fragments on the ground "-It may be best for the crews of our ships to work together, Ma'am. From the way it looks right now… it almost seems as if this crystal is trying to absorb our ships."

Magno nodded at that, "Agreed, and I was under that assumption as well," she said, "Which is why I brought my Chief Engineer Parfet with me to go to the source of the problem,"

Roa smirked at that, "Great minds do think alike,"

Dreamscape

For the briefest moment, Hibiki saw it… two machines unlike anything he had seen before. One which looked similar to a Vanguard, or a Mobile Suit, but with a double-V head crest, and an intimidating form like that of a warrior. It brought forth a pair of large wing-like objects over its shoulders, easily blowing the Murasame missiles away. The next thing Hibiki knew, he was floating in a void of green lights.

"Who are you?"

The formless voice startled Hibiki as he glanced around, finding no source. "M-me?" He asked, "I'm… I'm Hibiki."

"Hibiki..." The voice said, "The term for this organic being, or a personal name?"

"Why are you here?"

"Is your objective from instinct of responsibility?"

Hibiki was confused, with the voice changing its tone after every sentance. "No! I was just sick of it!" He shouted, thinking back to his life on Teraak. "I wanted to escape from the life where I'd be mocked, just because of how I looked, or where I worked!"

"Unable to comprehend."

"What is 'Hibiki'?"

The voices were just confusing Hibiki more now. "What kind of question is that?!" he shouted out.

"Why do… you exist?" The voice asked, "Your… proof that you are you. What is it?"

"Proof?!" Hibiki shouted out, feeling insulted. "Can't you see it by looking at me?!"

"That answer is primal..." The voice said, as it sounded as if it was fading away. "Three-Dimensional..."

"W-wait!" Hibiki shouted, as the world began to fade to black, "What are you? Where are you?! Wait! What should I do! I… I..."

*BANG*

"Ow!" Hibiki shouted as he finally awoke, "What the hell..." he rubbed his head, before he glanced around - quickly recognizing his surroundings of him being back in his 'makeshift cell'. "Oh damnit..." he muttered, "Looks like I'm back in prison… "

"I see you're awake," a voice said, causing Hibiki to jump.

"Who's there!?" he snapped out, and turn to the source, seeing a man, possibly a few years older than him, with long black hair with one bang draped over his left eye, and wearing a long white coat.

"My name's Duelo McFile," the man said, "Do you have a name as well, Third-Class Citizen?"

"Don't mock me!" Hibiki shouted, "I'm Hibiki Tokai! I'm not your typical Third Class Citizen!"

Duelo didn't seem to react much to that "You interrupted the Ceremony, right?" He asked. "How did you sneak in?"

Hibiki just sighed "I'm sure being questioned a lot, lately." He muttered, but then blinked as he noticed that he was missing something. "Hey wait a minute! WHERE'S THE DAMN ROBOT!?"

Meanwhile

Kimiko was looking at the robot, which was called a Navi-bot by Magno with curiosity. From what she was told, they helped the original crewmembers and colonists of the Ikazuchi navigate the ship so they wouldn't get lost, and as teachers for children.

"Now, how do I...,?" she began to say, before suddenly the robot came to life, spooking her, "Whoa! It's alive!"

"Beep… Beep, Hm?" The robot said, before a pair of arms and legs popped from out of it, and its main monitor displayed a pair of big white eyes. "Pyoro!" The robot said, as it glanced around, scratching its head. "Hm? Where is this? Who am I?"

"Wow, you work!" Kimiko said surprised, causing the Navi-bot to look at her curiously.

"Hm..?,"

Meanwhile Everywhere else on the Ship

All over the three combined ships, the respective crews were all trying to stop the spread of the crystal like substance. And so far, everything they tried wasn't working. Many of the Kaledonians offered help to the Mejerans, who were still distrustful of the male members, but thanks to Magno's assurance, the crews began to help one another.

Within the ship registry of the Mejeran vessel, a member of the registry looked up into one of the holes which lead directly into the Ikazuchi. "Wow, Ms. Gasco," she said, "We're connected to that ship from the inside too!"

"Sheesh..." Gasco sighed as she looked at one of the monitors, "I didn't think Paksis was such an amazing energetic force..." her eyes then narrowed as she looked at the registry member who spoke "And it's not Gasco! Its Gascogne!"

Meanwhile within the engineering section of the Ikazuchi, engineer teams from both ships were looking through the results of the fusion so far. "Just as I thought," Parfet said as she looked at the screen displaying the progress between their vessel, the Ikazuchi, and the Reckoning. "Our ships have been linked down to our core areas! Search for a route, insert linestar particles into the main cable over there!"

"You got it!" Nichols said, following her instructions. "You heard the lady boys and girls! We might not be able to stop this thing, but we can at least try to control it!"

Parfet couldn't help but smile a bit, it was actually very interesting working with Kaledonians, especially men. They weren't anything like the Taraak men, preferring brute force over logic and reason, and would never be seen working with a women. But the Kaledonians… both men and women were working together almost flawlessly, obeying the others orders without question.

'I could get use to this...' she thought, as she continued her work. 'Though still what's the 'old fashion way' for making children? I'll have to ask one of the Kaledonians once we're done here.'

Meanwhile in the Former Party Hall

In the crystal covered party hall, a panel near the base of the ruined statue of Grand Pa, fell apart, allowing one cowardly Bart Garsus to stumble out and look around in fear.

"Oh man, I sure got myself into a big mess this time," he said as he stood up and began to walk around, completely shocked at all the crystals all over the room. "What the heck happened to the ship!?"

At that moment though, a larger crystal fragment collapsed right next to him, sending dust flying and for Bart himself to jump and yell in surprise. "D-Damnit, what is this?!" He shouted as he crawled away, "Don't surprise me!"

However as he turned away, he saw at least three pairs of feet right in front of him, and cautiously looked up. He then gave a smile as he realized he had been caught. "O-oh," Bart muttered, "hello..."

"Well hello there Mr. Cadet?" said one of the three, a man dressed in what to be a type of military uniform of some sort and had an assault rifle aimed right at Bart's nose, "Got lost on the road of life?"

Meanwhile - Brig

"Come on, come on..." Hibiki muttered as he looked through the contents within the makeshift cell he and Duelo were in. "Gotta be something in here I can use to get out of here..."

"Where would you go even if you managed to get out?" Duelo asked.

"Shut up!" Hibiki shouted, "I'll figure-" he was cut off though by the sound of footsteps, as he and Duelo looked up as a small group of women now stood outside their cell, some in uniforms, others not. "W-women! What do you plan to do by sticking us in here?!"

"Calm down," the woman (Buzam) who appeared to be the leader said, "For the time being this is probably the safest place for you,"

Hibiki however was not buying it, "Sure you say that, now. But later you're just gonna eat my guts!" he shouted, causing Buzam to raise a brow.

"Eat your guts?" she said, while two of the women behind her began to giggle before laughing. However, a groan and a sigh was also heard.

"Do you REALLY believe in that crap?,"

Duelo and Hibiki turned and saw, to Hibiki's shock, and Duelo's curiosity, two men enter the prison block.

"I swear you Teraak are completely stupid to believe that nonsense,"

"H-hey!" Hibiki shouted, "W-what are you waiting for?! Get us out of here! We're men too, ya know!"

"Yes, but we are from Kaledonia." one of the men said, sighing. "Like we explained to the Mejarens among the crew, we're a co-gender society."

"WHAT?!" Hibiki shouted, "That's impossible! Men and Women are totally different-"

"We're the exact same species, just different Genders, Idiot." the second man said, shaking his head. "Geez, I always knew it was bad for Teraak's propaganda about women, but this level of stupidity..."

"We're gonna have to get use to it Klein," the first man said, shaking his head.

"Hmm… so the rumors about Kaledonia are true..." Duelo said, scratching his chin. "It's been heatedly debated that Kaledonia was a society of either men or women, only a few within the Teraak government ever assumed you were both."

The two Kaledonian men blinked at that.

"Wow, you know a lot there," said Klein, "I guess you're one of the Elite-class of the planet. But you certainly don't act it,"

The first man nodded in agreement, "Yeah, you actually appear to be more...what's the word I'm looking for..."

"Punctual? Polite? Open minded" Duelo said for him.

"Yeah! Two of them really? Polite and Open minded."

"As much interesting as this conversation is..," interrupted Buzam, "Our respective Captains wish to speak with you, come with us."

One of the guards deactivated the cage, before gesturing for the Taraak prisoners to follow them as they headed down the hallway of the ship. As they walked, Hibiki gave an odd look at the women's bodies, not quite understanding why their chests and butts were so large. 'Is there something inside their uniforms or something?' He thought, as he poked the butt of the one guard in front of him.

The woman froze, before her head whirled around, her face turning red oddly enough. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!" She shouted.

*SLAP!*

Hibiki was still twitching in pain, as his face still had a rather sizable red hand mark "What… was that… for...?" he muttered.

Klein sighed, shaking his head as the woman from before huffed in annoyance "Someone's gonna have to teach this kid how to treat a lady properly..." he muttered.

"I agree with ya there," Kaito said, sighing in disappointment.

"HEY! I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THE HECK YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Hibiki shouted, clearly offended.

The two men just sighed again.

"Yup, he needs lessons...," Kaito before looking at the Third-Class Citizen, "...a LOT of lessons,"

However before Hibiki could make another comment, the door opened allowing more people to come, with none other than Bart, with his hands on his head, and being escorted by Meia, and two more men.

Buzam smirked as she saw the group. "Ah, you caught another one?" she asked.

"Yes." She said, "He was hiding in the platform."

"O-oh, Comrades." Bart said, still sounding a bit nervous, "I'm glad to see you!"

"Oh my," a new voice said, as everyone turned to see Magno enter the room, alongside Captain Roa and their respective escorts. "We came in here to see the prisoners, but they're all a bunch of kids!"

"I agree with you there Miss Magno," said Roa, "However, while I'm not sure about our little stowaway, these two here will know doubt make, if we were real kidnappers, a nice ransom."

Magno and the Mejaren women all blinked at that.

"Oh? You know something about them?," Magno asked, and Roa nodded.

"That I do," he said, and pointed to Bart who flinched, "That one is the son of the Garsus Family, who run the biggest food pellet distribution company on Teraak," Bart's eyes widen at that, before Roa continued and looked at Duelo, "And that one there, now he's a special case. His father is a highly decorated officer in the Teraak Army, who is rumored to be part of a Moderate Faction who seek to have peace with our respective nations."

"I cannot deny that my father is one who believes coexistence is possible," Duelo said in his monotone voice, "He has believed in evidence over propaganda… and so far, it seems he was correct all along."

"That he was." Roa said nodding, before the door opened as Kimiko comes in, carrying the small Navi-bot in her arms.

"Sorry I'm late, had to finish some fixes to this little guy here." Kimiko said, before the Navi-bot hopped from out of her grasp.

"Hey! Hey! Interrogation time!" The robot said, hopping towards the Captains. "I'll tell you everything!"

Magno chuckled slightly at the robot, "Still nostalgic seeing an old Navi-bot, and a still-functioning one at that." she said.

"What do you mean by that?" Duelo asked.

"Yeah! This was a man's ship before you took it over!" Hibiki said, causing Roa to groan, shaking his head.

"This vessel was a colony ship long before it was a Teraak ship." Magno said, catching all three of the Teraak men by surprise, "Oh, you don't know anything do you? The Ikazuchi was one of many vessels which left a planet called Earth. Of course, this was before this was cut off. Your cowardly grandfathers took the Ikazuchi from us and escaped to Teraak."

"They overhauled an old battleship with residential quarters." the Navi-bot commented.

"The same was done for the Amaterasu, as we colonised Kaledonia." Roa said. "And now, here we all are once again… together on a single colony ship."

"We will be taking this ship, since it's our business." Magno said, before glancing at Roa "Though we will be more than happy to split the rewards with the crew of the Reckoning, since they pulled their share of the weight to get this ship as well. Its only fair after all... "

Roa nodded as the door opened again, and Kurt and Lewis came in, along with the traveling cases.

"Here's the goods we got from the safe, Captain," said, as he and Kurt placed the traveling bags on the ground and unzipped them open revealing the gold bullion, to the surprise of the Teraak Men, the Mejerans, as well as the Kaledonians.

"My goodness!" Magno said as she blinked, as Roa knelt down and picked up one of the bars, looking at the seal in the center.

"Bank of the Earth Federation seal...hmm...," he said, before Kurt and Lewis handed him the gun and the data disc.

"We also found these, Cap," said Lewis.

The captain hummed as he inspected the pistol. "Hmmm… well I'll be," he said, "A Browning Hi-Power pistol, with some Waffenfabrik markings from the Second World War… ancient compared to modern firearms, but none the less effective… and a suitable trophy..." he then looked at the disc. "Any idea what's in this?"

"Not yet sir," Kurt said, shaking his head. "Whatever's in that thing, it's locked up tight. I haven't been able to access anything from that thing yet."

Roa sighed, but nodded, "Well then, if you have trouble, then you better get some help," he said.

"Parfet could assist in you that," Magno said, with Pride in her voice, "She's not only a capable engineer but a clever hacker. With you two working together, you can open that thing and find out what's inside."

Kurt nodded at that, "Any help will be greatly appreciated Captain Magno," he thanked. "Also, Captain, there was a lot of stuff still in crates back in the sub bridge, I think there might be some other loot we can look through."

Roa nodded at that, "We will once we figure out what the heck is wrong with this ship. But for now...," he then turned to Hibiki, who began to grow extremely nervous at the look that Roa was giving him, "...how about you tell us what you were doing on this ship in the first place...Mr. Third-class Stowaway?"

Hibiki groaned 'Oh boy...' he thought.

Meanwhile - In the Garden

"Oh no, none of them are matching..."

The garden segment of the Mejere vessel was filled with large and small crystal fragments, but overall the garden was still just as beautiful as it has ever been. One could argue that the crystals seem to enhance its beauty. However this was not on the minds of Dita, Erza and Noemi as they looked through their binoculars, looking for familiar constellations to figure out their location. "I don't understand..."

"You don't understand?" Dita asked, still having a dream expression, "It's an amazing thing to come across an an alien!"

Noemi sighed shaking her head "Men aren't aliens!" She said, "How many times do we need to tell you?"

"He still seems kinda like an alien to me… " Dita said, causing the Reckoning's XO to groan.

Ezra chuckled a bit "Still, it is kinda amazing... " she said, "I mean… first we thought the Paksis was just an energy source… but now it's revamped all of our ships together! And on top of that… we just found out the Kaledonians have men and women co-existing together!"

Noemi chuckled a bit at that as well, "That's how our ancestors did it," she said, "It's the way it should be… just pumping men out of factories is just wrong to begin with… not saying there's anything wrong with the Majerans' way though."

"You don't?" Ezra asked with mild surprise as Noemi shrugged.

"Sure it's a bit different, but it's leagues better than just making humans out of a factory." She said, "When you have children, you don't do it because of a 'just cause' like the Teraak, you have children because you love the other person, want to spend the rest of your life with one another, and have a child."

Noemi smiled a bit "That's the way it is on Kaledonia." She said, "Men and Women can have kids together, or if they don't swing like that, it could be two women or two men. All that really matters… is if there's love, and usually there is nothing wrong with love after all."

Ezra blinked at that, but smiled as well "That's good..." she said, "Maybe once we go home, I can go to Kaledonia… I'd like to see what it's really like... "

Dita meanwhile was in her own little world "Revamped, huh..." she muttered, "If I ever get abducted by an alien..." However Ezra at that moment sighed a bit, shaking her head, finally drawing Dita's attention. "Something wrong Ezra? A Fever?"

The Mejare pirate shook her head "No… I was… just thinking about everyone back home..." she said.

"Yeah..." Dita said nodding as she looked back towards the stars. "We left all of our veterans back at base..."

"I hope we get back soon..." Ezra said, however Noemi rose an eyebrow as she observed her.

"Are you sure you are alright, Ezra-san?" She asked, "You do look a bit pale..."

However, she just shook her head "No, no… I'm fine," she said, "Its just-"

"Eha!" Dita suddenly shouted as her eyes widened. "There! There! Do you see it!"

The other two women whipped out their binoculars and saw three objects heading straight toward them, moving in a sporadic pattern, making it obvious they were not simple meteorites.

"What the hell are those-?" Noemi began before knocked aside by Dita, who somehow had the appearance of cat, and was imagining little flying saucers zipping around her and little green men.

"Isn't it obvious?! It's a UFO!" the redhead said gleefully, while Noemi gave a deadpanned look before looking at Ezra while pointing at Dita.

"Did she get dropped on her head when she was a child?" she asked, while Ezra just giggled.

"That's just how she is,"

Meanwhile

Roa and Magno sighed in exasperation as they heard the story from Hibiki, while mostly everyone was either trying to control their laughter, or laughing hysterically like Hyenas. The only exceptions were the Captains, Meia, and Duelo.

"So let me get me straight," Roa began, "You were pulled into a bet by the nose by your fellow workers in Third Class, which was to steal one of the new Van-Type Battle Suits. Then you sneaked onto the Ikazuchi, managed to get to the hangar without being seen, but before you could get the Vanguard you marked and get out, the ship launched ahead of schedule, and during the Presentation Ceremony, you were discovered by the entire crew and got caught. Did I get everything right?"

"Basically… yeah..." Hibiki said, scratching the back of his head as the others - both Mejaren and Kaledonian (aside from the four aforementioned) continued to try - and fail - to contain their laughter.

"I don't know what's worse!" Klein said, as he tried to laugh in his hands, "The fact he got so far without being caught, or the fact he got so far in and didn't even know how to pilot it!"

Kaito patted Hibiki on the shoulder, "Kid, you got balls of brass, and you get an A for effort, but as for timing...you suck bad!," he said, before he started laughing as well.

"COME ON! IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Hibiki shouted, feeling both pissed and embarrassed.

"From theirs' and my point of view it is," said Bart, having been there himself.

Hibiki growled at that, and glared at the cadet. "HOW ABOUT I CAVE YOUR SKULL IN!? HOW'S THAT SOUND!?"

"I'd like to see you-" Bart began to shout back, before the intercom of the vessel snapped on.

"Ma'am, we've got something approaching us!" Ezra spoke up, as alarms began to sound. B.C quickly picked up the phone. "How many?" She asked, "Reinforcements from Teraak?"

"Umm, no… actually-hey!"

"ITS UFO'S!" Dita shouted. "ITS MORE ALIENS!"

"Give me that!" Noemi said, "She's not entirely wrong - whatever these things are, they aren't Mejare, Teraak or Kaledonian!"

The whole ship suddenly shook from explosions outside, causing cracks to appear in the walls, and causing everyone to struggle to hold their balance.

"They've commenced an attack!"

"The Aliens are upset!"

"Would you quit it already?!"

"The Dreads are taking off, Captain," said Meia and then left.

"You two!" Roa said, pointing to Kimiko and Kaito, "Get to your Mobile Suits and help them, out,"

He then reached for his own comm, "Rei! You there!?"

"I'm already on my way there, Captain!" she said, "But we got a problem, most of our Mobile Suits have been absorbed up by the Peksis, and the Launch Catapults aren't working!"

"Just get the ones that aren't absorbed out there!" Roa said, "And forget about the catapult! They can launch fine without them!"

"Roger!"

"Parfet, can we move?" B.C asked on the intercom.

"Negetive! We still don't have control! We can't even use weapons!" The Mejare engineer said, "Only auto-defenses are working, and just barley!"

"Just do what you can!" B.C said, as Meia, Kimiko and Kaito ran off.

"Barnette, where are you?" Meia asked in her communicator.

"Paiway's locked us in the shower..." Barnette muttered helplessly, "She's not letting us out - and she's taunting us with that puppet again!"

"What?!" Kimiko shouted, "We're in the middle of a battle! What's wrong with-"

"Male Germs." Barnette said, which caused both Kimiko, Meia and Kaito to facepalm.

"Ms. Gasco, what about you?" Meia asked.

"The Dreads have been swallowed up by the Paksis," Gascogne said, "Sorry, but we'll be heading up there too."

"Got it."

"And it's not Gasco, its Gascogne!"

Meia ignored that as she then contacted her wingmen "Jura! Dita! Where are you?"

"We're heading towards the platform now," Jura said, as she, and Dita ran into the platform where their respective Dreads and Mobile Suits were being housed. However upon seeing them, their eyes widened as they could see the not-so subtle differences in the machines freed from the Paksis crystals. "Are these really ours?"

Dita stopped beside her, and she gasped at the sight of their Dreads.

"Wow!" she said.

"What is going on around here?"

At that time Meia showed up, and when she saw the Dreads, she too became surprised, before she brushed it off and told her two teammates to get on their Dreads.

Meanwhile, Kimiko, after splitting from Kaito since his Mobile Suit was back on the Reckoning arrived at where her mobile suit was, and she stopped as soon as she saw them, "W-What the!?"

"Kimiko! What's wrong? We need to-" Rei said before she too stopped and spotted their mobile suits. One, that was Kimiko's looked almost the same as her old Jäger, and in the same custom colors, but the head was completely different, as it has two eyes instead of the eyeshield, and had a v-crest on it. However, Rei's Mobile suit was the most changed of all, as it no longer looked like a Boshin, but rather something else entirely. The vernier binders on it's back had turned to majestic looking wings, while the head now sported a double v-crest.

"Uh Rei...," Kimiko said, "...a-are these really ours?"

"I… think so..." Rei said, before shaking her head. "C-come on, we gotta get going! Hopefully they still fly as good as they use too."

"R-Right!" Kimiko and the two young women got on their machines.

'What happened to you, buddy?' Rei thought in concern as she entered the cockpit, and activated it. The Panoramic Monitors all switched on, more quickly than they used to and she saw the O.S. begin booting up.

"Rei, everything working on your end?" Kimiko asked as her image appeared on the holo screen. "The Dread's are preparing to head out."

Rei nodded at that, "Right, we should head out, too," she said, and the two Mobile Suits stood up. "Rei Takamura, Boshin, taking off!" with that her machine launched with a speed much greater than her Boshin as she headed out into the firefight.

"Kimiko Kei, Marauder, heading out!" Soon following her comrade, Kimiko's own mobile suit launched from the Ikazuchi, soon followed by the three Dread's.

"What the? Are those Mobile Suits?" Jura said as she saw the two machines. Meia also blinked at the sight, but knew they had a job to do.

"We'll figure that out later, right now we have a job to do!" the Dread Leader said and the three went on the attack.

"Excuse us, Mr. Aliens!" Dita shouted as she fired her Dreads laser cannons, "We're a peaceful race! And I'm sure we can all understand if you tell us what's wrong with you!"

As she was trying to 'negotiate', Dita managed to pull off some maneuver, that resulted in shooting five of the unknown octopi-cube like fighters.

"Dita these are the enemy!" Jura shouted, before she blinked, "Wait a minute, when did she become a good pilot?"

Meanwhile, Meia spun her Dread around as she gunned down some of the unknown craft, mildly surprising herself as she turned on a dime. "What's with this response?" She asked herself, "Its almost like I'm in a totally different Dread..."

"Well, as long as it's all effective against… whoever these guys are," Jura said, "They sure are an unknown enemy… they aren't Mejere, Kaledonian or Teraak that's for sure."

"I know! They're Evil Aliens!" Dita shouted.

Jura gave a deadpanned expression at that, "Oy vey...,"

Meanwhile with Rei, she was having the time of her life as she blasted more of the Octopi fighter drones with her suped up Beam rifle, before quickly drawing her beam saber and slashed one in half when it got too close.

'Holy crap! The response time is incredible!' she thought as she hit the throttle going after another cluster, the smile on her face growing 'I can get used to this!'

"AAAHHH!" Screamed one of the Mejaren guards as a section of the wall broke apart and landed on her, knocking the poor girl out.

"Hold on! I'll help you!" One of the other guards said, however Duelo then stood up.

"Don't move her!" He shouted, as the Mejere guard rose her ring-laser at him. "Don't worry, I'm a doctor." He leaped over the seat his was sitting in as he crouched over here the girl was. "I just want to see my patient. You, help me."

"O-OKay," the guard said, as they began to remove the rubble off the other guard. Bart, watching the scene, decided to come up with a plan.

"Well, it appears that you could use some assistance here," he said, causing the Pirate officers to look at him, "Considering the fact is that we are enemies, right now we have to make our survival top priority. And well, you may wish to use my skills. You see the truth is, I'm actually a helmsman,"

Magno rose an eyebrow "You? A Steersman?" She asked.

"Warning! Warning! This guys sound bogus!" The Navi-bot shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Bart.

"Not now," Roa said, before looking at Bart. "What are you proposing?"

"Call it a cease-fire," Bart said shrugging, "Provide to the other with what the other doesn't have. We can momentarily gather our forces, and deal with this crisis."

"Interesting," said Magno, even though she knew the young man was practically lying through his, but she didn't let him know that, "That's not a bad idea,"

Roa nodded in agreement, "I concur," he said, as Bart smiled more.

"I appreciate you taking my advice," he said, a little nervously, "So how about we shake on it,"

However his hand was smacked away by Magno's cane in response, and for the older woman to look him in the eye.

"I have no wish to get chummy," she said, while smirking, "You'll still be treated as one of our prisoners. By my crew and Captain Schmidt's crew,"

"U-Understood..." Bart muttered.

"It's impossible here," Duelo said after they had dug the guard out of the rubble. "I'll need to take her to sickbay!"

Magno nodded "Very well," she said, "You, come with me to the bridge. BC, take Mr. Hibiki down to the cell."

Hibiki gasped as he looked from his position on the floor, while Roa pulled out his communicator.

"Terumi, you there?" he said.

"Here Roa," came the voice of the Chief Medical Officer of the Reckoning,

"I need you to head to the Medical Bay of the Mejeran's ship," he said, "We got a problem with an inexperienced nurse. Once you're done with that, head to the Ikazuchi Medical Bay,"

Terumi sighed "Its the girl in that french maid outfit, isn't it?"

"Probably, yeah."

"For the love of… I'll be there shortly."

"WILL. YOU. JUST. DIE!" Kimiko shouted as she fired the shoulder-mounted energy cannon of her modified mobile suit, hitting several of the Drones, only for even more to take their place.

"They're like a Hydra!" Rei shouted, as she sliced another one in half.

"A what?" Jura asked.

"A Hydra! Some kind of ancient mythical creature from the pre-colonization era." Rei answered, "Slice off one head, two more'd take its place!"

"Sounds about right in this situation!" Meia said, as she shot down another group of drones, "We need to find the source!"

"AAAHHH! EVIL ALIENS! KEEP AWAY" shouted Dita as she's being chased by three of them.

"Oh boy...," sighed Kimiko, "I'll get her,"

With that her Marauder went off to help Dita with her problem.

Rei, in her own mobile suit was looking around for anything that could possibly be an mothership for these drone fighters, until she saw what looked like a large seed in the distance.

"I think I found their mothership," she said.

"Gee, ya think?" Jura muttered, before the supposed mothership's front end opened up like a mouth, before it released a pair of cube-shaped object, which immediately separated into dozens of more Drones.

"What is that system?" Meia asked, "Are these things really aliens?"

"We can't stay here for much longer," Kimiko said as she activated one of her beam sabers, slicing one of the Drones in half. "We need to fall back!"

"We know, but at this rate if our ships move-" Meia began to say, before grunting at a near miss from one of the Drones. "We need to hold them off for as long as we can now!"

"Looks like it'll be a while before it stabilizes." BC said as she and another guard escorted Hibiki back to the makeshift cell, passing through the crystal-covered interior of the Ikazuchi. "I guess when the enemy attack supercedes this change, it'll be the end of us... "

Hibiki was silent, seeming to be in deep thought about his current predicament. "You know… I didn't think our data would be incorrect about that," B.C said, grabbing Hibiki's attention, "We've heard about the men of Taraak being a proud race, but to think they could be such pathetic beings..."

"What?!" Hibiki asked.

"No matter what the reason, aren't you here for your pride?" She asked, "To show proof of your existence?"

Hibiki gasped as his eyes widened at that, as BC continued.

"Male or Female, Mejaren, Teraak, or Kaledonian, it doesn't matter now. In situations like this, all it comes down to is that we're human beings who breathe the same oxygen," she said, her eyes narrowing a bit, "While there are people around who are desperately trying to overcome this crisis, are you simply gonna curl up like a helpless baby and wait for the final moments to come? What deficiencies are you trying to make up for right now? Where do you think you can hide at a time like this? No matter how much of a loser you are or how uncool you are? If you cower at every obstacle in front of you, nothing will ever change. And without change your race will shrivel up and die. Do you understand that?"

Hibiki was silent for what felt like a solid minute. He had to admit, he wasn't the bravest person in the world… he really only accepted the job to steal a Vanguard due to pier pressure, not out of courage. He was tired of being considered a 'lowly' third-class citizen, he thought doing something like this might make people recognize him… to prove his existence in Teraak society.

'Look where that got me...' he thought, 'I got captured by the Teraak Military and Mejaren Pirates, now we're being attacked by… whatever it is, and I can't do a thing about it...' This was a chance where he could actually do something… however…

"But… I don't know..." he muttered, "I don't know what to do myself!"

It was quiet for a moment before BC sighed.

"I guess I didn't have to say all that," she said and walked passed the in thought Teraak, "Let's get to the bridge,"

The red haired guard nodded, "But what about him?" she asked.

"Don't worry about him." BC assured, "With what's going on right now, this guy has no where to go...and neither do we."

The two women left the hallway leaving Hibiki along to his thoughts.

New Bridge of the Ikazuchi

"Okay, will someone explain to me how the hell THIS happened?!"

What Roa was referring too, was the fact that it seemed that not only had the bridges of the Mejare pirate ship and Reckoning have merged together, but they have MOVED so far forward that they now overlooked the garden down below, and the overall design of the bridge looking very different now as well. Now the two bridge crews of the two ships were doing what they could to regain control of the vessel.

"Sir, the crystals are just messing with everything," Riika said, "I'm just glad that we haven't somehow gotten vented out into space yet."

"Hard to believe that the crystals have this effect..." Magona said, before glancing at Bart, who had a look of surprise on him. "Well now Helmsman, show us what you can do." She said as she pushed him forwards with her cane towards the forward platform.

"Hey take it easy! This is dangerous!" Bart shouted, while Roa glared as he crossed his arms.

"Not as dangerous as me venting you out into space without a spacesuit on if you don't move it!" He warned, causing the cowardly cadet to chuckle nervously.

"Okay, okay, sheesh! No need to go that far," he said, as he reached what looked like of aura green liquid, "What the heck?"

"What's wrong, you say you can't pilot it?" Magno said, making the Teraak soldier more nervous.

"W-what are you talking about?" Bart said, stepping towards it. "T-This is one of… one of our military's secret weapons! L-like this!" He stuck his foot into the liquid… which then seemed to come to life as it snapped up and grabbed the rest of his leg "WHOA AGK!" He shouted before the liquid dragged him in, followed by it erupting into a pillar of green light.

Roa, Magno, Pyoro, and everyone who witnessed, all had shocked wide eyes at what happened.

"Oh my...," said Magno.

"Damn, that's some secret weapon," Roa finished for her.

"He doesn't know how to use it, does he?" the Navi-bot asked rhetorically.

Roa glared at the robot, "NOT helping!"

Inside the green liquid, Bart blinked 'Wait, I'm still-' he began to say, before he saw an alien drone appear right in his face and shoot at him "GAH! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" he shouted as he moved his arms, and in doing so the ship lurched to the left complying with his movements, causing several members of the bridge crew to lose their footing from the sudden movement.

"Wow, the ship moved!" Magno said wonder as the poor Navi-bot went rolling around on the floor.

"You FOOL! WATCH IT!" Roa shouted as the ship did an 180 and began to beeline to get the hell out, with the Seed-like mothership and the cubes chasing behind them.

Meanwhile, in the Ikazuchi's medical bay, Duelo had taken the wounded guard and her friend to the bay, pushing aside some useless junk before laying her on the table. He attempted to turn the power on, but no luck. "Offline, as I thought." He said, before he grinned slightly cracking his knuckles. "Then I guess we're gonna have to do it my way."

The guard's friend panicked a bit before she pulled out her communicator. "Pai! Where are you Pai?!"

In the Sickbay of the Mejare side of the vessel, Paiway grumbled as she lightly banged her head against the table, with dozens of injured crewmen entering the bay every second, and the shouts of the women still in the decontamination chamber. She eventually just stood up on the table and shouted. "GEEZ! STOP GETTING HURT, ALL OF YOU!"

However a shadow passed over her, and the young girl suddenly felt a chill go up her spine.

"What. Do you think. You're doing?" a voice she knew from before asked lowly, but she could hear the slight irritation and anger in it. And so with hesitance and a nervous smile on her face, she slowly turned and saw the face of the older and more experienced Kaledonian Chief Medical Officer.

"Oh, hehehe, hey Doctor Terumi, fancy seeing you here," she said timidly, as said woman glared down on her, and Paiway could swear she could see a scary masked figure behind her holding a rusty knife and pointing at her.

She wasn't the only one as the other injured crewmembers see the exact same thing.

Terumi closed her eyes for a moment, seeming to be letting out a silent scream in her mind. "Where the hell, did you get your medical license?" she muttered.

"Licence?"

Terumi then facepalmed "For the love of..." she muttered, "Open the damn chamber - there's no such thing as man germs. And start organizing these patients in order of how critical their injuries are - worst upfront, least in the back. Do it now, before i have a GODDAMNED ANEURYSM! "

Paiway turned as pale as a ghost, scared of the furious doctor in front of her, but she managed to do what she was told and opened the door to the chamber to let Barnette and let the other trapped girls out, who were a little fearful of Terumi.

"Wow, she's really scary," said one of the injured patients.

"At least we got a more competent doctor," said another.

Back on the bridge, the bridge crew worked hard in trying to get away from their pursuers.

"Stay away, STAY AWAY!" Bart shouted, as the vessel made a U-turn before continuing to speed away as the enemy ship and drones continued to follow.

"The enemy system is in pursuit. Meia, and Miss Rei are attempting to interevene!" Amarone reported.

"Captain Roa, a few of our Mobile suits are ready to go, but the ship's moving so fast we can't launch them!" Riika reported.

"Oi! Slow the ship down!" Roa shouted, but Bart wasn't exactly listening.

"Do you think there's a chance for us to escape?" asked B.C. as she came back on the bridge.

"Your guess is as good as ours," Magno said, before the ship shook as one of the engines took a hit from one of the drones laser blasts.

"Port engine's been hit! Shield's weakening" Reported Belvedere.

"We can't regroup with all this pressure," Magno muttered.

"Hey, can you hear me?" A voice spoke up, as the two captains looked up in surprise to see Hibiki's face on the screen. "Take these things off me, I can't move like this!"

"What does he mean?" Magno asked, as BC smirked slightly.

"Leave this to me," she said, before turning back to Hibiki's image "What's your plan?"

"I'm gonna fight with you, of course!" The boy shouted, causing BC to raise an eyebrow.

"Fight? You?" She asked.

"Its true that I'm pathetic, that I'm not cool or the most interesting man in Teraak." Hibiki said, "But I've already gotten sick of that me! "

"Is that a man's nature, or are you just rebelling?" B.C asked, with a small smile on her face.

"That's not it!" He snapped, "At least for now, that's not it! It's to be strong! And for me… to prove my own existence!"

BC chuckled slightly, before pulling out a small handheld device, pressing the button before Hibiki's cuffs were disengaged. "Alright, I'll make this count!" He said before he ran off the screen.

"That boy's got guts," said Roa, with a knowing smirk, "Reminds me of myself when I was that age,"

B.C. nodded before Meia and the other battlers' faces appeared on Viewscreens.

"The intensity of the enemy's attack is increasing, we cannot hold out much longer," said, Meia, as she winced a bit from a drone's shot that nearly got her.

"Where's our back-up?! We need everyone if we're gonna take that Seed ship down!" Rei demanded as she destroyed yet another Drone.

"Reinforcements are on their way," said Magno, who then sighed, "However we don't know how reliable they'll be,"

The two women blinked and raised an eyebrow at that.

"Reinforcements?"

With Hibiki

The young Teraak managed to make it back to the place where he last saw his Vanguard as he entered through the doorway.

"I got back as quickly as I could partner-!" he began saying before he stopped and his eyes widened at the sight of his partner. For the most part, it still looked the same, however it had several new parts along its face and chest, and possessed a glistening body as if someone had just polished it off the production lines. "Partner..." he muttered, as he patted the area where the small emblem was. "This… is you, right?" He sighed slightly. "You changed too, huh..."

He thought back about what BC had said, before he smirked a bit "Well then, I'll have to change too!" He said, before he leaped up into the cockpit. "I won't let it end like this! I might not know how to work this thing… but dammit we'll move with my spirit if we have too!"

However, just as he said that the lights to the Vanguard flashed to light, as the mobile weapon's eyes snapped to life. "N-no way..." Hibiki muttered, honestly not expecting that kind of reaction. "There's no way..." however, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth before he grinned. "Alright then, I'm gonna pay back everything right now, all in one shot! Hibiki Tokai, Vanguard, here I go!"

He pushed forward on the controls, before the Vanguard launched forward on the catapult, Hibiki was pushed into the back of his seat from the sheer G-forces before his Vanguard flew outside into space. Almost immediately after he launched however, he was attacked by three of the Drones which attempted to surround him. "Hey! Stay Back! Go Away! Damnit!"

In the dread and mobile suits, all of them were surprised by the 'reinforcements' that just showed up.

"What's that thing?" said Jura dryly, clearly not impressed by the appearance of the Vanguard.

"Meia do you see that!?" Dita said cheerfully, "It must be the good Alien!"

In their mobile suits, both Rei and Kimiko both sighed exasperatedly.

"Give me a break..."

Meia was looking at the changed mecha with surprised wide eyes.

"That's our...reinforcements?"

Back with the Vanguard, Hibiki managed to get out of the group of drones, only to slam into another which spun him around making him dizzy.

"O-Kay...you guys are pretty good, I'll give ya that," he said as she shook his head, and then smirked, "But I'm getting the hang of this thing now! Try this! LIGHTNING FIST!"

...nothing happened, as four Drones took pot shots at the Vanguard, causing Rei and Kimiko to facepalm.

Hibiki shook his head before he recovered "Okay, no weapons..." He muttered, "Then let's try this!" The Vanguard reached behind it, as it proceeded to pull out a long broadsword-like weapon with a green blade. He spun the machine around, and managed to cleave two of the drones in half. The Vanguard then sped forward, swinging its blade into another Drone as it made its approach towards the enemy mothership.

"What the hell is that kid doing!? trying to get himself killed!?", said Kimiko, as she shot another Drone down with her beam rifle.

Rei groaned at this strategy, knowing it only resulted in one thing.

However her attention then caught the sight of a familiar blue dread. "Amazing, Amazing!" Dita shouted as she flew in to follow the Vanguard.

"Dita! pull back!" Meia shouted, "You're going out too far!"

"There's no reason to worry!" Dita said, "Mr. Alien's doing this for us! I know it!"

"Dita! Don't be an idiot!" Rei shouted, but Dita's Dread continued to fly to follow 'Mr. Alien'.

Meanwhile, Hibiki's Vanguard was doing a surprisingly well job at fighting the Drones as he approached the mothership, slicing one after another. However the Drones were quick to learn as they began to surround his machine to trap it. "I'm gonna pull ahead..." he said, "I won't let anyone get in my way!"

The mouth of the mothership slowly began to open, as the Drones latched themselves onto Hibiki's Vanguard. "Just a bit more..." he muttered as he reached his machine's arm out towards the ship. "I'm so close… I want power! I want just enough to make that last step!"

"Mr. Alien!" Dita shouted as her Dread moved towards him, almost looking at is it was about to ram into him.

"I WON'T LOOSE!"

At that moment, the Mothership shot out a stream of red energy from out of its 'mouth', which impacted against Hibiki's Vanguard, Dita's Dread and the Drones, causing a large explosion to appear where they once where.

"DITA!" Meia shouted.

"That Idiot..." Jura muttered.

The Kaledonian Gundam pilots could only sigh sadly at the apparent of the two pilots.

"Dammit...,"

On the Bridge of the Ikazuchi

"I guess, our little miracle didn't happen," Magno said with a sad tone, while B.C. nodded.

"We should have the crew evacuate," B.C. suggested before...

"I don't think it's over yet," Roa said, causing the two women to look in surprise, as they saw a large metallic arm come out of the flames and grab onto the tendrils and then destroying them. Emerging from out of the ball of fire, came a vastly different machine, one which looked like a demented hybrid between a Vanguard and Dita's Dread, as the flames subsided the machine revealed its blue colors much like that of Dita's Dread, as it faced down with the mothership.

"What… the HELL is that?!" Rei shouted on the Comms.

"Is that another secret weapon the Teraaks had?" Magno asked in shock.

"No..." Roa said, his eyes narrowing. "Teraak doesn't have the technology for something like… that."

"Impossible..." BC muttered, "Is this… a Miracle?"

The Drones renewed their attack on the new threat, however every time they attempted to latch on, the machine just batted them away - and in some cases just ran right through them as it sped towards the mothership, which began to close its mouth. The machine grabbed onto the front of the vessel, rippin the mouth open. It raised two cone-shaped objects from its back over its shoulders, which began to grow an emerald color… and fired.

The sheer blast caused the entire mothership to rupture, and blasted a hole clean through it before the entire ship explode into a ball of fire, and the remaining Drones loosing all power… leaving the new machine completely unscathed.

"Holy shit! Rei did we just see...?" said Kimiko while said Mobile Suit Commander nodded, her eyes wide in surprise.

"We did Kimiko," said Rei, "And something tells we're gonna quite the adventure story for everyone back home,"

Hibiki smiled as he sighed in relief 'I did it,' he thought, 'I got here… I finally...'

He opened his eyes… but they then widened when he saw his hands were over someone elses "EH?!" He shouted, before he noticed Dita was sitting on top of him in his lap, seemingly asleep. "W-What's going on here?!"

"Hmmm..." Dita muttered as she nuzzled into his chest. "Your amazing, Mr. Alien..." she whispered.

Hibiki gulped "Is this… proof of my existence?" He asked nervously.

Not far from the Battle

Several hundred Kilometers away, a vessel silently observed the battle well outside their sensor range. It was not a vessel belonging to the attackers, having a compact design with obvious weapons platforms across its hull, and two wing-like segments on either side. The vessel itself was colored jet black with some red trimming along it.

"What the hell did we just watch, sir?" A woman on the bridge of the vessel, with short blond hair and blue eyes, wearing a white and black uniform asked.

Standing near the front of the vessel was a single man, wearing a red and black version of the same uniform. He looked to be in his early twenties with short spiky black hair, and crimson red eyes which were locked onto the image of the new machine, and the vessel they launched from. Held in his hands was a pair of sunglasses which he polished slightly with his hands.

"It seems the Harvesters have an interest in this ship… and that mobile weapon..." the man said. "It has the firepower of a battleship all in one package… not unlike some of our more advanced prototypes… "

He then proceeded to place the sunglasses over his face, covering his eyes and the small scar over his left eye. "Activate the Shade system, and move us closer." He said, "We need to keep an eye on our new… guests, for now."

"Lieutenant Commander sir, sensors are detecting a Romulus Federation vessel in the vicinity," One of the operators on the bridge said, who oddly enough seemed as if she had a pair of wolf-like ears coming out of her head, and a wolf-like tail. "They must have seen the battle just like we have."

"Ignore them," The man said, "They can't get any closer… unless the Federation made their own Shade device, which I doubt. Send a report to command what we found… we'll continue to trail them from a safe but close distance… and if need be, we shall reveal ourselves to them."

"Yes Commander Takeo." The operator said, as she sent the message.

"Is this wise, Jaden?" The woman in the center chair asked, somewhat warily. "We don't know who these people are."

Lieutenant Commander Jaden Takeo smirked slightly as he turned around. "Trust me on this, Gladys." He said, "An enemy of the Harvesters is a friend of ours - and to those of Romulus who see them as the same threat as we do. You know what I say..."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Captain Natasha Gladys said, smiling slightly shaking her head. "Alright… though if this goes south, it's on your head."

"Don't worry, Captain." Jaden said, as he walked towards the exit. "You know I have a sixth sense in these kind of things."

With that, Natasha nodded, as the unknown ship disappeared to the naked eye and sensors. While at the 'Romulus Federation' ship, a single Mobile weapon is launched, headed toward the ship.

For the crew of the now conjoined ship, it was going to be a very interesting, and harrowing adventure.

Patriot-112: And boom! The journey has begun, and as we said before, new factions are making their presence known!

117Jorn: Just who are these new and mysterious factions? What is the Romulus Federation? And how will this change the course of Vandread's lore?

Patriot-112: You will all just have to find out next chapter. Until then...

Both: Sayonara!