FLIGHT I: Arrival of the Brave

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"So… this is the MSWAD base."

I raised my head as I looked at the massive main building of the Mobile Suit Warehouse and Development Base in front of me. I have been to various military facilities of the Advanced European Union, but this is the first time I've entered a full-spec Union base. And, so far the only time I've entered Union territory without suspicious glares pointed at me.

My name is Neferu Naguib, an occasional soldier by occupation, a mobile suit pilot by specialty. But unlike the ones affiliated with either the Earth Sphere Federation or the Power Blocs that comprised it before, I flew under the flag of the Moralian PMC.

During my heyday as a pilot, I was nigh-unstoppable in an AEU Helion; so much that it earned me the nickname "Moralia's Desert Fox" from both my peers and my enemies, for my abilities in both desert-based ground and air combat. But by the time Celestial Being came into play in the various conflicts with their armed interventions, I knew that I would not have an inkling of a chance against them; so I quit the PMC at my prime.

I did try to get into the AEU's regular military forces for a change. But, having their then-new Enact thrashed by a single Gundam on its debut, the military received a disheartening shot at both legs, temporarily crippling their firepower. So I laid low for a few years, hoping that with the advancements in mobile suit technology, the military would have caught up with the Gundams.

But when I got enlisted into the ESF regular forces, I was in for a very rude awakening.

Not only were the Gundams overpowering every mobile suit that tried to go against it, but I found out that a great divide has developed within the ranks, all because of the actions taken by the Autonomous Peacekeeping Force, A-Laws. Although many of their members joined in defending the African Orbital Elevator during the Break Pillar Incident, the higher-ups refused to take responsibility for the damage done, even to the point of throwing the blame both at Celestial Being, the rebel group named Katharon, and the ESF Coup D'état faction who initially held the orbital elevator hostage as protest.

I lost a lot of friends during that incident, some of them having just retired from their work with the PMC, others jumping sides like me, either with the ESF Military or Katharon. And those A-Laws bastards just watched as they suffered.

With that I left the regular forces and met up with the A-Laws breakaway faction, then under the command of Colonel (now ESF Brigadier-General) Kati Mannequin. Sadly, I never took part that much in the space battle that ensued due to the shortage of available mobile suits; thus I ended up with the engineering team aboard Col. Mannequin's flagship, due to my experience on MS software calibration.

After the war, I forwarded my resume to her to see if I can still have the chance of piloting a mobile suit once more. And the rest up to this point is history.

Right now, I have come at MSWAD for a special assignment. I was selected from about a list of 30 to 50 pilots to take part in the Federation's experimental next-generation mobile suit program. And I'll be joining 4 other pilots, who like me have no idea as to what kind of experimental mobile suit we will be using.

All we know for sure, the new unit has been thoroughly tested by the man who will be taking command over our squad. And we are to meet him today.

"Um, could you point me to conference room B-5 please?" I asked a passing-by MSWAD clerk, who kindly gave me directions to the meeting area.

By the time I got into the conference room, there were about three men seated in front of the table. One of them, a Japanese guy who is about the same age as me, was reading a pocket novel probably to keep himself occupied. Another, a middle-aged Australian, was catching a shuteye.

Then a familiar face approached me.

"Wow, I can't believe I'm in the same room as the Desert Fox of Moralia."

I turned to the man who spoke. He was a German MS pilot from the AEU, whom I have fought countless times during my heyday, and apparently whom I have worked with during the siege against the so-called Innovades.

"Lt. Rudolf Schreiber. It's a pleasure meeting you here."

"Just a mere coincidence, Nef. Remember, you still owe me a proper dogfight after that stint in the Syrian border.

"I never thought you would still remember that. Are you still willing to bring that up now that we're working together?"

"Hey, just because we joined forces before, doesn't mean I'll just let my honor as a pilot get tarnished that easily."

Just then, another guy arrived. He has quite a large build compared to the others, so naturally I got a bit intimidated. Especially when he placed his right hand over my head like a father to his kid.

"Now, now," said the big guy, in a gruff yet understandable Russian Accent. "Let's not be too hot off our heels here."

Schreiber let off a smirk and a gruff as he left us to get a cup of coffee.

"By the way, the name's Viktor Leonov, former Vice-Captain of the AEU's MS Division at Moscow. You must be the ex-Moralian pilot who they were talking about."

I responded with a nod, still confused as to how these people came to know my reputation as a mercenary.

"You need not worry about doubts from other people while you're here, Lieutenant. Right now, the reason we have been picked is that we are considered the cream of the crop in what we do. It's basically more of what we can offer to the table, to put it simply."

"Uh… Thank you for the assurance, Vice-Captain," I replied.

"Please, you can call me Viktor if you want; I tend to feel too humbled when people address me by rank," he said.

"Anyways, I've already known about you and Schreiber, but may I know who the other two are?"

"Ah, those two, huh? Well, first thing's first: they said that the new unit they'll be letting us use is a transformable mobile suit equipped with a GN Tau drive. And since the former Union and AEU were the only power blocs who fielded transforming MSes, the selection process was only limited to their respective member states."

"No wonder I don't see pilots from the Human Reform League…"

"Yeah. Anyway…"

He pointed to the guy nodding off, who was already slowly waking up.

"That guy's Lt. Yagan Crow. He led a platoon of Union pilots from their base in Australia in assisting the HRL during the incident at their Orbital Elevator. He had about 5 confirmed hostile MS kills during that skirmish."

"He's quite good then. And the other one?"

"That's Lt. Akira Takei. He's a Former Commanding Officer of the Union's Japanese MS unit before having reassigned to the OverFlags task force."

"You mean the Union's contingent during that operation at the Tamalakan Desert?"

"Yup; he was one of the few members of the said unit who survived after having actually dealt with one of the Gundams."

Just then, Lt. Takei rose from his seat and approached me and Viktor. We introduced ourselves to him and shared a few handshakes.

"I'm just surprised that the top brass did not include 'The indestructible' on our squad," the lieutenant said candidly.

It was actually a big surprise for me as well. You see, the AEU did have an ace as well in 2nd Lt. Patrick Colasour. The reason for the moniker is that he is one of those in the ESF who has actually survived the most encounters with a Gundam. But apparently, that was just more of a running gag, since he was almost always being shot down first.

Viktor let off a couple of laughs before replying. "Well, let's just say the Lieutenant has been busy being the Brigadier General's personal guard, so he's quite unavailable."

Oh, I also need to emphasize that Lt. Colasour, who was previously a massive ladies' man, actually got married after the Innovade conflict… to the Brigadier General herself.

"By the way," I asked Lt. Takei. "Any word as to who's taking command of our unit?"

He then looked at the door which just opened. "Well, you're about to find out."

Just then, a blonde man in an ESF Uniform approached the end of the conference table. Since his attire was indicative of his status as Major, we all stood and saluted, to which he replied with the same.

"It seems you've all met each other, so let's start with the introductions." All of us moved to the seats near the whiteboard.

"To start off, I am ESF Major Graham Aker, former Captain of the Union's OverFlags Task Force and current MSWAD chief test pilot," he said. Just then, the projector came on and flashed what looks like a squadron symbol.

"And as of right now, I will be the commanding officer of the recently-established Solbrave Squadron – the unit which you are now officially members of."