"This is the captain of the Eternal speaking, we are encountering a gravitational anomaly, we cannot escape from it, I repeat we cannot escape it, everyone brace for impact." Those words ran down the spines of everyone on board. On her maiden journey, the crew of the Eternal would perish due to an unforeseen astronomical event.

Days earlier...

"Alright everyone lets do our best today," the Captain stated over the PA system. Everyone was on the move preparing for the first voyage of the recommissioned Eternal as it would go from Armory One to the forward UHFS HQ in Jupiter's Orbit. The journey was going to be a long one as the trip to the resupply point at Mars was at least going to be 2 months of non-stop travel. From there it would be another month until they'd reach their destination at Jupiter.

"Wow everyone is busy," Apollo mumbled. He and the rest of the Mobile Suit Pilots (Shinonome, Zachariah, Reina) watched the engineers going about their work to keep the Parallel Gundams in check as well as repairing any part of the Eternal that could've been damaged by debris during their trial sorties.

"Well that's their job," Shinonome replied, "Our job is to wait until its time for take off." She stretched her arms out wide and yawned, "And its my job to take a nap and get ready for my big presentation."

"What big presentation, Shinonome-san," Apollo seemed puzzled. Mostly because he didn't really know about Shinonome's responsibilities outside of keeping him and Reina in line.

"Sayaka may be our comrade and equal as part of the elite team dedicated to preparing you and Reina for piloting the Parallel, but she also carries the responsibility of being the commanding officer over the rest of the mobile forces aboard the Eternal," Zachariah replied confidently, "I'm also in charge of those guys too, but Sayaka does the job well by herself anyways. They all respect her and know her reputation as an elite pilot." Zachariah checked his watch and looked up at the sky and pointed at a group of Gundam Red Astrays headed their way. "And look at the time our group is here and ready to go," he noted as the Astrays headed into the hangar bay of the Eternal. "Well I gotta go take care of this group. Sayaka head inside and prep yourself for your group, you look exhausted."

"Alright, Reina, Apollo, let's go," Shinonome replied as she ushered the two back inside the Eternal.

"Shinonome-san," Reina asked curiously, "Does Zala-san always call your by your first name." She blushed a bit knowing that it could've been a personal question.

"It's a custom here in the ZAFT military to call each other by our first names if we are in the same company or ship," Shinonome answered. "It started because everyone in the ZAFT military were all civilians that enlisted, and everyone in that time regarded each other as brothers in arms fighting for the protection of their homeland in the PLANTS. No matter the rank nor responsibility all military personnel shared this in common. So it became custom to call everyone by their first names."

"That clarifies a lot of things," Reina replied, almost revealing the real reason why she asked through her facial expressions. But Shinonome caught onto her motives fairly easily.

"I know its Japanese tradition for lovers to call each other by their personal names, but that's not the case." Shinonome said calmly but sort of annoyed that Reina went to that extreme. "You two can call me Sayaka if you want. Anyways lets get aboard the Eternal. I need to rest."

"Yes, Shinonome-san," Reina and Apollo responded in unison. The three of them walked up to the living quarters aboard the Eternal. Passing by several groups of crew members madly going about the ship getting ready for their take off procedures. As Apollo walked over to his room and opened the door he noticed that there were bags opened and their contents spread across the room. He stepped out and saw Zachariah talking with a group of MS pilots.

"What the hell is this, why is my room a mess?! Zach!?" Apollo yelled. Zachariah told the group of rookies to hold on as he turned his attention to a disturbed Apollo. He walked across the white halls of the Eternal towards him and handed him a holo tablet with an explanation. Apollo examined it and handed it back to him. "Why the hell am I getting a roommate?"

"Because everyone has to share rooms with the exception of the Captain, especially with all the new faces on board. Space will free up aboard the Eternal when we drop them all off at the forward HQ," Zachariah replied firmly, "Also I think you'll enjoy your roommate, he should be a fairly familiar face." Apollo looked over Zachariah's shoulder and saw a younger man running down the hall. Apollo immediately recognized his face.

"SHIROU!" Apollo exclaimed.

"APOLLO!" Shirou replied just as loudly.

"How did you know we knew each other," Apollo asked Zachariah.

"Well we know everything about you Apollo," Zachariah joked in a semi-serious manner, "we thoroughly studied you before even considering placing you into the Parallel Program. Also it just happened that Shirou Yamato here shares everything in common with your profile as both of you are from the ORB Union capitol, Onogoro Island. So we thought you to at least would have that much in common. Didn't even know you were two were friends."

"Friends, more like best friends Shirou and I go way back," Apollo laughed.

"Dude Apollo, I thought you were busted the last I heard of you, didn't realize you were actually training with the ZAFT elite," Shirou said in a very inquisitive way.

"Yeah man, let's first clean up your stuff and I can tell you all about it." The two headed back to their room and began catching up. Apollo explained everything from his capture all the way to his training in the Parallel Gundam Program.

"All hands on deck, prepare for departure." All the lights were green as the hangar bay of Armory One opened. The engineering staff and crew aboard the Eternal headed inside and took their first break all day, for some, in the last week. It was all in the hands of the crew on the bridge to take care of the take off procedures. The engines of the Eternal ignited and burned a bright blue as the craft made its way off the dock into space.

"Well we've just taken our first steps and most important steps without falling, Captain," first mate Lyle Galdys stated proudly. The bridge applauded as the Eternal began its flight toward the Mars Resupply Station.

In the briefing room, now jam packed with the rookie pilots, Shinonome began her presentation on their duties throughout the course of their trip as they will perform routine patrol runs and scrimmages against each other from time to time to keep up their performance. This is due to the Grey Matter having copied the designs of any mobile suit its assimilated into its ranks, so their forces are most likely littered with units that will through and through share their exact same specs. They'd also practice against Reina and Apollo to allow them to get used to the Parallel Gundam while battling against a non-computer opponent.

Shirou decided to take it upon himself to be able to defeat either Reina or Apollo one on one by the end of the trip. As the highest ranked rookie pilot and the group appointed leader he was allowed to modify his Gundam Red Frame Astray to his liking, naming it the Gundam White(Shirou) Frame Astray after his own name.

Later that day Apollo and Shirou flew off the Eternal to practice, since they were given special permission by the crew after that challenge in front of all the MS Pilots aboard. To handicap Apollo, Zachariah decided to not let Reina fly out to accompany him in the Gundam Parallel Alpha. This left Apollo with a half powered Omega Gundam which would put him on par with Shirou's Mobile Suit.

"Ready to get your butt handed to you," Shirou called out over the intercom. Apollo's face appeared on Shirou's HUD, as he sent a video message to him.

"I think you heavily underestimate your opponent." Apollo leaned forward in the chair and pushed his flight sticks forward. He pressed a button on the right stick and the Omega grabbed one of the beam sabers attached to its hip and activated it. The Mobile Suit lunged forward. Its propulsors burst in a blue and white light pattern, it moved so quickly that it appeared to have after images as it flew in a zig-zag pattern towards the White Frame.

"He's quick," Shirou said under his breath," BUT NOT QUICK ENOUGH!" As the Omega was about to swing its beam saber at the White Frame, Shirou opened his own beam saber and blocked the attack. Sparks of light flew as the two sabers clashed.

The two mobile suits jumped back and reset a distance away from each other. Apollo and Shirou both took a quick breather, "You're still pretty good, Shirou," Apollo remarked, "though you're still 40 years too early to challenge my throne as the best pilot ."

"Yeah, I'm not 40 years too early to challenge you, I'm more like 2 minutes too early," Shirou retorted. He pulled out his practice rifle and fired a couple rounds at the Omega.

Apollo dodged the shots and returned fire with his own practice rifle. "Why you little, brat. You almost scratched it." The two mobile suits circled each other trying to land shots on one another. It was clear to everyone watching that these two had been rivals for years. They knew each others' movements and battle tactics. Shots were flying everywhere, and beams of green and pink light soared across the emptiness of space. Then Apollo managed to land a shot on Shirou's rifle, disabling it. The two backed off again and opened up their comms,"Yo, Shirou, you're still a lousy shot," Apollo joked.

"Hey its harder to fly in space, man," Shirou replied, "we've only ever battled each other on Earth." Shirou and Apollo both remembered their mock battles when they were young. Shirou had always had the upper hand because he had inherited the Strike Freedom from his family. The two would go against another almost weekly at one point, and it became a weekly tradition on Onogoro Island for crowds watch the two go at it. Apollo managed to always win even in his GOUF because of simply being the better pilot. But now his belief that he could win in this match was shaky, Shirou had gotten a lot better since going through the UHFS Military Academy, and even in the technologically superior machine, Apollo couldn't gain too much of an upper hand against his old friend.

Their shared memory faded away and all of a sudden everything became clear to them. "I'll beat you this time Apollo!" Shirou's pupils dilated and his eyes went from a reflective tan to a dull brown. In his mind was an image of a crystal shattering into a million glowing pieces and all of a sudden everything was clear to him. He could feel the space around him. All of the Omega's movements appeared to be a lot slower than before, and his sole focus was on the battle at hand. Shirou pushed the flight sticks forward and armed both of his beam sabers.

"NOW IT LOOKS LIKE A REAL FIGHT!" Apollo stepped back and armed his beam saber again. This time he activated both ends of his beam saber to create a Bo staff type of weapon. He twirled it around and as Shirou came onto him he blocked the attack easily. Locking Shirou's right sword down. Shirou quickly turned around and tried to disarm Omega's left hand which was carrying the practice rifle, but Apollo pivoted around to dodge the attack.

Shirou managed to get out of the beam saber lock and aimed his next strike at the cockpit of the Omega, simultaneously Apollo aimed his practice rifle at the core of the White Frame.

"Its a draw," everyone on the Eternal exclaimed. The rookies on the ship chanted, "Shirou, Shirou, Shirou!" Everyone else took sighs of relief, for a lot of them that was their first real experience watching a mobile suit duel unfold. The moment of relief was short lived after the bridge first received reports of a gravitational anomaly in their sector.

"All units return to stations," the Captain broadcast over the PA system. Shirou and Apollo flew back to the Eternal and dismounted from their Mobile Suits.

"What's the situation," Apollo asked one of the flight crew.

"The Captain wants us to remain aboard the Eternal. They've encountered some sort of disturbance and the guys up in the bridge are trying to figure out a way to navigate around it." Zachariah and Shinonome arrived, and escorted the two back to their quarters. There they anxiously awaited the result of this obstacle.

"Captain, look," one of the gunners on the bridge exclaimed. He couldn't believe what he was looking at through the targeting camera.

"Open up a visual," the Captain commanded. The main camera on the bridge projected the image of what was in front of the eternal. What appeared before them ripped the hearts out of all who beheld it. A gigantic rift in space-time was in their way, it was sucking in light energy from the sun and other stars so the outer rim of the event horizon was lit brightly. They stared into the rift as it swirled and warped everything going into it."Captain, I'm losing control," one of the pilots cried, "we're being pulled into it."

"Is there anything we can do," the Captain asked. All he received were blank stares from everyone on board. "Anyone, please."

The Captain reluctantly grabbed the microphone and brought it up to his mouth. The words seemed to escape him as to what to say. PA System across the ship just made white noise as the rest of the crew were awaiting the final decision by the Captain.

"This is the captain of the Eternal speaking. We are encountering a gravitational anomaly, and we cannot escape from it, I repeat we cannot escape it, everyone brace for impact." Those words ran down the spines of everyone on board. On her maiden journey, the crew of the Eternal would perish due to an unforeseen astronomical event.
The Quantum Tunnel.