Mobile Suit Gundam Century's Dawn

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The calendar of the Universal Century has reached the year 300. The Earth has fallen into a state of disarray due to a
war against an organization of countries who are seeking total world domination. Even though the Earth Federation has
numbers on their side, they are being overwhelmed by the battle-hardened soldiers of the Alliance of Middle-Eastern
Countries. This is because they had one advantage: strange humanoid machines that could devastate entire platoons
with a single strafe. To make matters worse, the Colonies have severed all diplomatic and economic ties.

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Paiyako discovered the hiding place of the Terran Alliance. Sasari Mei, the Dark Scorpion, agreed to let her in if she
and Mileena, a former Zaku pilot, could get to their base together. The two were distrustful of each other at first
but eventually they accepted each other as allies. Meanwhile, the Zeon attacked the Exalon and Koshiro used the Gundam
to save it from Ben Hoshum, the Dark Messiah and his Mobile Suit, Archangel. Koshiro agreed to become a member of the
Exalon crew.

[Title: The Beam Rifle]

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The headquarters of the Terran Alliance was a series of underground caverns that ran underneath the Cursor Valley and
surrounding mountains. The caves were made naturally but the Terran Alliance managed to convert them into a
command center.

The entrance was actually a hallowed-out tree stump. Underneath was an elevator. It was here where Sasari Mei, leader
of the Terran Alliance brought Paiyako Mushimi and Mileena Uharu.

"These Mobile Suits are going to become quite the problem for us if we don't do something about it," Sasari commented
to her two new recruits. "So we must even the playing field."

"And how are we going to do that?" Paiyako asked. "You can't destroy all the Zakus and I doubt that Federation Mobile
Suit is going to go down without a fight."

"You're right," Sasari agreed. "Which means we need Mobile Suits of our own."

"In Paiyako's words, how are we going to do that?"

"With this." Sasari held up a CD-ROM she had tucked within the collar of her pants. She went over to the computer consol
that Hacker, the man who first spotted Paiyako, was at. "Hack, read this."

"You got it, Chief," Hacker replied. He inserted the disk. Diagrams began coming on the screen.

Mileena recognized the shape. "Hey, that's the Mobile Suit that attacked me."

"What do you say, Hacker, could we get our hands on one of these things."

"I doubt it," Hacker replied. "According to this data, there was only one of these ever produced. However, we might be
able to make our own."

"Is that possible?" Paiyako questioned.

"Unfortunately, some of these parts can't be duplicated, so..." Hacker made some modifications to the diagram. The end
product was a slightly shorter squatty version of the Gundam with a large cannon attached to the shoulder and ran down
the right arm. "Behold, our new weapon against the Earth Federation and the Desert Dictators."

"That's amazing," Mileena commented. "So how do we produce these things? It must've taken the Feddies years to produce
even one of these things."

Sasari turned to her two new recruits. "What you are about to hear is top secret, okay? We actually have a production
facility on the moon. It's how we're able to produce all this technology."

"So you're accepting help from the Colonies?" Paiyako accused.

"You could say that. The Colonies are just as upset at this war as we are."

"So all we have to do is get these plans to the Moonbase Facility and we're all set," Sasari said.

"There is one problem," Hacker spoke up. "The time. Even with the Moonbase Facility, we wouldn't have enough time to
produce one for all of us. They might be able to produce three in a month but that's it."

Sasari looked at Paiyako and Mileena. "Are you two fast learners? Because you need to learn how to operate a Mobile
Suit in a month."

"I am," Paiyako voiced.

Mileena joined in, "I already know how."

"Then it looks like it'll be us three. Hacker, send the data."

"Roger. Data sending now."

"So what do we do now?" Paiyako asked.

"For the time being, we'll have to perform raids on the Earth Federation and the Desert Dictators."

"Let's get after that Earth Federation ship that attacked Scatterhaven."

"Sounds like an idea to me."

"All right, ladies, here's what we'll do..."

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Koshiro Anaka sat at the computer screen staring intently at the display. He was trying to learn everything he could
about the Gundam. The knowledge of a weapon could mean the difference between life and death, Commander Lucas
would say.

"Okay, let's see... the beam shield channels minovsky particles... what are those? Into condensed form. The balance must
be set at 95% exactly. To go to 100% would mean that the generators would overload resulting in destruction of the right
arm. The servo circuits for the feet are tied in with the reception buffers of the cockpit so the pilot must maintain
balance..." Koshiro pulled absent-mindedly on the collar of the blue and white uniform he wore. He would never get
used to being an officer.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called. Henry Kozuko, chief engineer walked in.

"Hey Koshiro, wanna take a break from the studying? Me and some of the others have a little surprise for you."

"Uh-oh, I don't like surprises very much, Henry."

"Don't worry, this one you'll like, come on."

"Whoa!" Koshiro gasped as he and Henry walked into the launch bay. Lee and some of the others stood in front of the
Gundam, which has been painted. The main body and shoulders were blue. Yellow trim was along the two vents on the
chest. The hip region had red around it. Red also covered the bottom of the feet and a red stripe ran all the way
around the wrist. The area that the eyes were in and the Gundam's "chin" was also painted red. The hands were painted
black. The RX-83 logo on the armband was replaced with the words "B-Gundam."

"B-Gundam?" Koshiro asked Henry.

"Since most of the Gundam's weapons are beam powered, I thought it was only fitting that we title this one the Beam
Gundam or B-Gundam for short. If you want to change the name, go right ahead."

"No, B-Gundam sounds fine."

"We also have another gift for you," Lee said. She handed Koshiro a garmet. It was a whitejumpsuit with patches of red
around it. Koshiro unfolded it and saw that the red patches made it seem like there was a white 'G' on it.

"What's this for?"

"For when you go into battle, Einstein," Lee cracked. "You don't really expect to go into battle wearing a formal
uniform, do you?"

"Try it on," one of the engineering officers said.

"Don't worry, Koshiro, it fits over your general uniform. Just take off your jacket and boots."

Koshiro complied and pulled himself into the Jumpsuit.

"How does it feel?" Lee asked trying to keep from chuckling.

"Well, it's a little tight," Koshiro said moving his body to check it out. "But I think I'll..." As Koshiro bent over,
he heard a ripping sound coming from the seat of the jumpsuit. He realized that it was torn in that place. Good thing he
was wearing his uniform pants otherwise he would've really been embarrassed.

"I guess it needs some letting out," Lee said between fits of laughter.

"You think?" Koshiro asked sarcastically as he took it off.

"Don't worry, I can have Muro adjust it."

"Muro made this?"

"We also have something else to show you," Henry chimed. He grabbed Koshiro's arm and began to drag him into the other
cargo bay.

"Whoa, what's this all of a sudden? My birthday's not until Saturday."

"Consider this an early birthday present," Lee said as she grabbed Koshiro's other arm.

"Hey! At least let me put my boots back on!" Koshiro redonned his uniform and allowed Lee and Henry to lead him to the
other cargo bay.

Koshiro couldn't believe his eyes. Besides the other Mobile Suit, several types of Gundam-size weapons were hung up along
the wall. A rifle, a bazooka, mace, even a set of armor.

"We found it while we were checking out the Earth Federation facility where the Gundams were stored," Henry explained.

"This'll make the B-Gundam really strong."

"It'll have to be. Zakus aren't the only card AMEC has."

"All senior staff report to the briefing room immediately," came the voice of Commander Noah Lucas.

Lee, Koshiro, and Henry all took off towards the briefing room.

The three arrived. Commander Lucas, security chief Shinji Katzumoto, and Tasha Benson were already there. The others,
Victor Lenard and helm operator Muro Okawa came in two seconds after the others arrived.

"Good, everyone's here," Commander Lucas noticed. "Let's begin." On the floor, a 3-D map of the surrounding area
appeared. A red dot was shown moving through an orange area. A blue area was in the upper left corner of the screen.

Commander Lucas took out a laser pointer and highlighted the red dot. "This is us." He then circled the area around
the red dot. He moved it to the blue area. "We're currently heading northeast from the Cobian Valley. Because of our
current altitude, our only route out of the valley would be through this crevice."

"Do you expect AMEC to set a trap?" Muro asked.

"They wouldn't be able to resist such an opportunity."

"So we should find another way out," Koshiro deduced.

"No."

"No?" Most of the others asked.

"They know that we know about it so they expect us to try to run. But we're going to spring a trap of our own.
Koshiro will take the Gundam..."

"B-Gundam," Henry corrected. Lucas stared at him oddly. "We decided to title it 'Beam Gundam' or B-Gundam for short."

"Okay," Lucas said like he really didn't know what to say. "The B-Gundam will go on ahead and take a perch on the left
side of the mountain. There, it'll wait. In the mean time, we'll go through ahead. When AMEC go through the crevice,
the B-Gundam will use the Beam Rifle to start a landslide right in front of them. They'll be either forced to withdraw
back into the valley where they'll be trapped, or they'll be forced to go forward where they'll be assaulted by rocks."

"We'll only have a short period of time," Victor said. "Any hesitation would resort in them safely withdrawing."

Commander Lucas nodded and turned to Koshiro. "Gundam Pilot, you have five hours to learn how to operate a beam rifle.
Do you think you can do it?"

"I'll have to."

"Good, our mission time is 1600. Gundam Pilot, I want you to start training immediately!"

"Yes, sir."

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Meanwhile, another group was also preparing a plan of attack. Sasari Mei was about to begin her briefing on their plan
of attack for the Exalon.

"The Earth Federation Flagship is trying to leave the valley. They'll be most vulnerable when they pass through the
crevice and that's when we'll attack. We'll install explosives along the engines of it then detonate them by remote.
The chain reaction that will result will take out the Flagship and trap the Zeon in the valley."

"Excuse me, ma'am," a soldier spoke up. "But what's preventing them from just gaining higher altitude and escaping?"

"Our spies have informed us that the Earth Federation has set up a sensor net around the area. Any attempt to gain higher
would eventually trigger it and that's something the Desert Dictators don't need. Now, we need a team to plant the
detonators. Any volunteers please stand."

Of the assembled 50 or so members, only 20 stood. 2 of those 20 were Mileena and Paiyako.

"Okay, you who are standing will come with me, the rest of you will be decoys for the Flagship."

As the chosen ones left to get their gear, Mileena noticed that Paiyako seemed a little nervous. She realized that the
younger girl wasn't accustomed to such a fierce mission, unlike her, an experienced trained soldier.

"Relax, Paiyako," Mileena assured her new friend. "It'll be all right."

"I hope so. I don't want to be killed on my first mission."

"Just remember why you're doing this and you'll do fine." Mileena lowered her head. "That's what my instructor at the
academy used to say." Now it was Mileena who was down.

Mileena, Paiyako, and the others arrived at the armory. A table was spread out with a bunch of circular mine-like
devices about the size of a hubcap.

One of the others who volunteered picked up one of them. "Hey, these things aren't made of metal."

"That's right," Sasari said. "Our spies report that the Flagship's scanners can detect anything metallic. These explosives
are encased in plastic and can be held together by sticky putty. Primative I know, but effective. Everybody gets three.
And Fredrick, no buy-offs." She gave a rather portly soldier a sly wink that caused laughter from some of the others.

Once they had their explosives, Sasari led them into their vehicle bay. The vehicles that stood in a row looked like
motorcycles but had verticle fans on bottom of them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, these are your Core Cycles. They have minimum weapons, their top speeds are only 98 mph, so use
their power wisely."

Paiyako began looking around for a Core Cycle when Sasari put a hand on her shoulder. "Hold on a minute, Paiyako." She
threw an olive green button-down shirt and pants to Paiyako. "We don't want you sticking out here." Paiyako ducked into
a closet and took off her sweater and T-shirt, the clothes she had been wearing ever since Scatterhaven was destroyed.
When she came out, she was dressed in an outfit much like Mileena except hers had no sleeves.

"It's one of my old uniforms," Sasari explained. "The sleeves were torn up. Earth Federation mistook me for a bull's eye.
Luckily they were poor shots. Look at you, you look like a female Rambo. Now mount up, we're moving out."

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Lee came into the loading bay where Koshiro, Henry, and Shinji were. Henry and Shinji had set up a virtual targeting
program within the B-Gundam and Koshiro was trying it out.

"How's it going?" She asked as she walked onto the catwalk in front of the B-Gundam.

"Take a look for yourself," Koshiro replied allowing her into the cockpit. He took off the interface helmet he wore and put
it on her. Lee saw a virtual Zaku with multiple red spots on the arms and legs. A lot more red spots were in the
background.

"He's improving," Shinji commented. "But he still has ways to go."

"All right," Koshiro said rubbing his eyes. "Reset the program, let's start over."

"No time I'm afraid," Lee said taking off the helmet. "Commander Lucas wants to see Koshiro immediately."

When Koshiro and Lee arrived on the bridge, Commander Lucas was standing by the window.

Commander Lucas pointed outside to where a crack in the ever expanding mountains was approaching. "You'll take up
position against the hill on the left mountain."

"What about the AMEC ship?" Koshiro asked.

"They're behind us," Tasha Benson reported. "They're staring right up our engine hole."

"Good. Koshiro, we'll launch the B-Gundam now. Move forward through the underbrush and take up position. We'll continue
on."

Koshiro nodded and ran to the B-Gundam. In the locker room, he discovered the flight suit.

"I sure hope Muro let it out," Koshiro said as he took off his uniform shirt and boots. He pulled it on, then bent over.
It held. Koshiro grabbed his interface helmet and ran to the B-Gundam. The B-Gundam lowered its hand and Koshiro rode
it up to the cockpit located in its chest. The chest hatch was closed and the control panel raised from its resting
place below the chair.

"Activating Helmet Interface System." The wire lowered and hooked into the back of the helmet. The visor turned blue.
Koshiro found this interface a lot easier to handle than the first one.

"Ready the beam rifle," came the voice over his helmet's comm link. To the B-Gundam's left was a large gun with a long
barrel. The B-Gundam picked it up and held it in both hands. The B-Gundam then got down on one knee.

"Beam Gundam ready for launch," Koshiro announced.

"Acknowledge," said Lee from the bridge. "Launching Beam Gundam." Koshiro was thrown back in his seat as the B-Gundam
was shot out of the launch bay like a rocket. It rolled forward and landed on the ground.

"Confirmed touchdown," Victor announced.

"Gundam Pilot, report your status," Lee ordered. A wretching sound came back at her as she stuffled a chuckle.

Finally, a weak voice came back, "I'm fine, the sudden acceleration surprised me but it's all right now."

"Any of the circuitry damaged?" Lee asked.

"No. Although I wish I could say the same thing for the seat cover."

"We're going to have to terminate communication soon so hurry to the spot before you're spotted."

"Right." The B-Gundam began jogging through the forest. Soon, it came to the foot of the mountain. It began climbing.
Soon, it found an indentation in the mountain big enough for it to sit down. "This is Gundam Pilot, I've reached the
designated spot and have taken position."

"Acknowledge. Good luck. On my countdown, switch off all systems except for weapons and scanners. Five, four, three,
two, one. Terminate designate systems now." The cockpit's lights went dark. The blue visor became red. Koshiro was
worried, he didn't have communications or movement so he couldn't get away or call for help. He had to make every
shot count.

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On the bridge, Tasha looked over Victor's shoulder at his control panel. Victor, even without looking, knew something was
bothering his partner.

"Don't worry," he said to her. "I'm sure it's just the AMEC."

"I don't think so, not unless they have over 20 small Zakus."

"I read 'ya. Commander, we have company."

"The AMEC," Lucas assumed. "Prepare to move through the crevice."

"No, sir, it's not," Tasha rebutted. "There are 20 small craft heading this way."

Outside, the Terran Alliance raced towards the Exalon.

"All right everybody," Sasari Mei called. "Let's make these bastaards pay for what they did to Scatterhaven. Move in now!"

Commander Lucas had activated his virtual glasses system and was watching them. "Damn! What do they think they're doing? Shinji, are ANY of our weapons fixed yet?"

"Negative, sir."

"Then have crew members take sidearms and attack them personally. We can't have them risking our plan."

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While this chaos was brewing, the Zeon was slowly approaching the Exalon's location.

Captain Garrett sat in his command chair looking over an intelligence report.

"Sir, sensors are detecting the Pegasus-Class right ahead of us, sir. Shall we ready weapons?"

Garrett looked out the view window and saw the Exalon being swarmed by the Terran Alliance.

"Interesting. Are they blocking our way?"

"Yes, sir."

Ben Hoshum, the Dark Messiah stepped up to his side. "Are they allies of the Pegasus-Class?"

"Who knows, who cares?" Garrett came back. The Dark Messiah looked at the Captain like he was crazy. How could anybody
have any disregard for human life, even the enemy's?

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The Zeon opened fire with machine turrets. Core Cycles began falling out of the sky.

"AMEC!" Hacker realized just before his Core Cycle got hit.

"Everybody, stay close to the Earth Federation Flagship," Sasari ordered.

Paiyako was scared more than she ever had been scared before. Maybe this was a bad idea, maybe she should've helped
the survivors of the Scatterhaven destruction to a safe place rather than go off half-cocked.

Then she remembered Mileena's words, or rather the words of Mileena's instructor. [Just remember why you're doing this...]

Koshiro.

Koshiro, the friend she knew all her life, who was like her right side, the boy she loved.

The boy who was brutally murdered by the Desert Dictators.

Paiyako made her Core Cycle do a U-turn and blitzed towards the Zeon.

"What's that girl doing?" Sasari asked.

"She's reminding herself why she chose to join the Terran Alliance in the first place," Mileena told her. {Good luck,
kid,} she thought.

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Koshiro watched this all from his hiding spot.

"Those Cycles will send our plan down the tubes," Koshiro said to himself. A hint of red caught his eye. One of the cycles
was pulling away from the others and heading towards the AMECship.

"That pilot's crazy. Who is it?" Koshiro positioned the telescopic targeting lens on the Beam Rifle and zoomed in on
Paiyako's image.

"What?... Paiyako?" Koshiro was flabbergasted. The rider left the range of the telescopic lens. Koshiro quickly reset
the lens' magnification and moved it until it focused on the rider again then he zoomed in again.

Yes, there was no doubt about it now, that was Paiyako riding that cycle.

Koshiro couldn't believe it. For as long as he known her, she never was the gung-ho type. But now she was going to attack
the AMEC ship single-handedly.

"Paiyako, no!" Koshiro cried forgetting that his communicator was turned off.

"Take this, you murderers!" Paiyako cried as she threw her first charge. It landed on the view window. She took her
second charge and threw it at one of the gun turrets. The gun turret destroyed it before it could contact with its target.
Paiyako took her third charge and flew around to one of the intake vents and threw it. It connected. The control to her
charges was hooked up to her Core Cycle. She activated it now.

The bridge window exploded inward. Shards of glass fell on everyone. One of the control operators was thrown back in his
seat. He fell over, blood spewing from his face and chest. Captain Garrett himself had a scratch on his forehead, but the
part of him that was wounded the most was his pride.

"All guns, shoot down that Core Cycle on the double!" Immediately all the guns converged on Paiyako.

"Paiyako, no!" Koshiro shouted. Without thinking, he fired the beam rifle. A yellow beam of energy came out of the
barrel. It flew closely by Paiyako's Core Cycle and struck the gun turret that destroyed Paiyako's second charge.

"What was that?" Ben Hoshum asked.

"The Earth Federation must've set this all up as a trap," Garrett concluded.

The close proximity of the beam overheated the engine on Paiyako's Core Cycle and it exploded. Paiyako began tumbling
downward.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Koshiro shouted at the top of his lungs. He quickly powered up and burst out of his hiding place.
Leaving the Beam Rifle, the B-Gundam held out its hands and caught Paiyako in them.

"That's the Federation Mobile Suit," Garrett realized. "Ben, get to your own Mobile Suit now!"

"Right."

"That idiot," Commander Lucas cursed. "What does he think he's doing?"

Paiyako could only stare at the glowing green eyes of the B-Gundam in fright as it held her. Koshiro, in return, stared at
her. How he wanted to reach out to her, to feel her close to him, to assure her that he was all right, but he couldn't.
He knew that if he did, Paiyako would never forgive him for siding with the same people who destroyed their hometown.
He could only whisper "I'm sorry."

Koshiro then heard several small pings, like rain hitting a tin roof. It was Sasari Mei and someothers. The probably
thought that he was taking Paiyako for a hostige. At the same time, the lower hatch of the AMEC ship opened and the
same Mobile Suit that Koshiro fought before flew out carrying its metal spear. Koshiro didn't want Paiyako to be
caught up in the frenzy so he gently lowered his hand as close to the ground as he could. Paiyako jumped down.

Before running off, she saw the writing on the B-Gundam's bicep.

"B-Gundam. Don't think this changes anything, I'll still destroy you. Wait until I get a Mobile Suit of my own then you
won't stand a chance against me!" Sasari Mei pulled up next to her and Paiyako hopped on. The Core Cycle took off.

Koshiro watched them disappear into the sky. That blinded him to Ben's charge. The B-Gundam fell to the side and came
face-to-face with the beam rifle. The B-Gundam turned so that its back was covered, so that the enemy Mobile Suit
wouldn't see it.

Ben sneered to himself. "Hmph, Federation Mobile Suit, I thought you would be a little more of a challenge. I guess last
time was just beginner's luck."

"You think you got me?" Koshiro said. As quickly as he could, he turned the B-Gundam overpicking up the beam rifle and
firing it. Ben quickly pulled back but the blast grazed his mono eye. The view screen shorted out as the glass lens
of the camera broke.

"Now for your turn," Koshiro said to the Zeon as he took aim. He fired off four shots, all of which missed. "Shinji was
right, I have a long way to go."

Ben threw his metal spear which knocked the beam rifle from the B-Gundam's hands. It then tackled the Federation Mobile
Suit sending both Mobile Suits crashing to the ground. The B-Gundam reached to grasp one of its beam sabers but Archangel
pinned that arm behind the B-Gundam's back. The other arm was laid out but Koshiro knew that it would be impossible
for him to get to the beam saber.

Suddenly Koshiro's eyes went glossy white as something came to his mind. He pulled back on the control lever half way and
the B-Gundam elbowed Archangel in the chest.

"What?! I didn't know he could use the Mobile Suit for hand-to-hand combat as well. This pilotmust be very good," Ben
Hoshum said to himself. The B-Gundam's head turned and fired its Vulcan guns. Although it didn't destroy Archangel,
it did succeed in distracting it long enough for the B-Gundam to get out from under its grasp and stand up.
It drew its beam saber and stabbed Archangel in the shoulder.

"I can't believe I've been bested by this Mobile Suit twice," Ben grumbled. He took off back to the Zeon.

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Koshiro returned to the Exalon. Once he got there, he delivered his report to Commander Lucas. Commander Lucas was
upset that Koshiro disobeyed orders.

"Koshiro, your orders were to stay out of sight until the AMEC was in between the mountains. You weren't ordered to
perform any heroics, especially to radicals! Now, because of you, that AMEC ship will continue to dog us."

But Muro set him straight. "Commander, sir, we couldn't have known these radicals would show up. Our plan was doomed to
fail even before Koshiro fired the first shot."

Commander Lucas sighed. "You're right, Muro. Well, so much for trapping the Desert Dictators."They then noticed that
Koshiro was in a corner of the bridge staring at the window.

Lee came up to him. "Is something wrong?" She asked matronly.

"No, Lee, nothing's wrong."

But that wasn't the truth. Paiyako Mushimi was now part of the enemy. True she wasn't part of AMEC but the Terran Alliance
was still an enemy of the Earth Federation. Could he handle it? If he had to go up against Paiyako, would he be able
to defeat her? This question would roll around in his mind for a while.

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Paiyako was also in deep reflection. The Federation Mobile Suit, the B-Gundam, had saved her. It could've just let her
fall, it wouldn't had made any difference, but it saved her. Why? Why did it save her? For that matter, why was it
staring at her like she was a precious jewel?

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The Exalon stumble across a village whose only survivors are four young children and their guardian, who seems to not be
surprised at the B-Gundam. When Ben Hoshum attacks, Koshiro must defend both the village and the Exalon.

Next episode: Village of the Damned.

Can innocence be salvaged?