Disclaimer: I just want to let you know that I don't own the rights to Gundam: 08th MS Team, though my thanks go out to them for the great series. I'm just borrowing the character to write a story.

Another Special Note: Sorry about this but I should mention this. This is the chapter were character's might be OOC, not to mention I did make up somewhat fake background and one other big thing (you'll notice what it is) but when I posted my story before no one complained (actually people liked it). Deal with it. My self-made author's license says I can do it. Now on with the show.

The Rescue


******** Federal Forces Base *******

Just a few minutes ago, Shiro didn't think anything else would surprise him. In the past few days, Shiro would be lucky if he got five minutes to rest. Four days ago, he and his true love, Aina Sakhalin, were finally married. But even the peace from that did not last long. The first night on their honeymoon they were attacked. He tried to fend them off but he was easily outnumbered. They kidnapped Aina but Shiro was lucky to wrestle a cell phone from one of the men. Using that he found out it was a rebel Zeon group that had attacked them and kidnapped the love of his life. He then tried a crazy stunt by try to steal mobile suit from a Federal Forces Base. That only landed him in deeper trouble. He ended up getting caught before he could even get the mobile suit to move. Then by a twist of fate, some mysterious person showed up and gave him a chance to rescue Aina. He was sure that there was something that wasn't being said but he couldn't tell what. He didn't really care, as long as he could rescue Aina, it didn't matter to him. He was then ordered to go to a briefing to get some more information on what was going to happen but when he got there he was in for a surprise. There, in the meeting room, were all his friends, the 08th MS Team. He didn't know why they were all there but he was glad to see them and from the look on their faces they were surprised and glad to see him as well. "What are you guys doing here?" Shiro asked in shock.

"We're being blackmailed into another mission." Karen said sharply.

"What!?!" Shiro yelled out in total shock.

"Yeah. If we don't go on this mission, they'll arrest us on a bunch of charges especially for knowing your whereabouts and not saying anything. So in other words its either go on the mission or a firing squad, just like the last time." Eledore explained with a sigh. "So what about you? They forcing you to do this as well?"

"No, they're not forcing me." Shiro said in a low voice. "As a matter of a fact, I requested this mission."

"You requested this?" Kiki asked. "But why?"

Shiro's face tightened up. "Aina's been kidnapped." He said seriously.

"What?!?" everyone replied in total shock.

"When was she kidnapped?" Kiki asked.

"Shortly after the wedding." Shiro told his friends.

"Who kidnapped her?" Sanders asked. Before Shiro could answer, Kojima stood up.

"Ahem." Everyone looked over at Kojima. "Listen up, I have a video here that you might be interested in seeing. But its classified and the only people that can see this are ones going on the mission. So if you don't want to go, leave the room now!" Kojima ordered. No one even moved an inch. "Fine. Shiro, I apologize for not showing this to you sooner." Shiro got worried at the last part of what Kojima said. Kojima pushed the videocassette into a nearby VCR and turned on the television that it was hooked up to, the first thing that came into view was a tall and well built man as a matter of fact. He was the only thing you could see.

"Attention people of Earth and all colonies. I am part of a group known as the True Zeon. As of today, we declare independence from the Earth Federation and if within five days the Earth Federation does not publicly acknowledge our independence we will be forced into yet another war. If you do not believe that we will start another war, then listen up." The man said as he took a step back and then a few steps to the side. There were 3 more soldiers behind him. All of them were standing around a chair where someone was tied down. Shiro jumped out of his seat at seeing this. "Many of you probably do not know who this is. This woman is Aina Sakhalin. As I'm sure many of you know, the Sakhalin family was a great noble house of Zeon and Aina was no exception. She fought for Zeon, as well, but near the end of the One Year War she and another piloted deserted. To make things even worse, the other person was a Federation soldier. She conspired with our enemy and therefore branded herself a traitor and traitors must be dealt with accordingly, but we may be willing to spare her. If the Federation acknowledges our independence, we will let her live.

"The Federation has 5 days to make a public announcement of their decision. We will be waiting to hear your decision and I'm sure Shiro will be as well." The man said with a laugh.

Then the screen shut off as the video finished. Everyone looked to Shiro to see his reaction but none came. Shiro just stood there in a mixture of shock and anger at what he had just seen. "Shiro say something." Michel said. "You're starting to scare us."

It took a bit but Shiro started to come around. He kept his composure the best he could and with a small hint of anger asked, "General Kojima, how much time do we have left?"

"We have 3 days left." Kojima said.

"I take it the Federation has no intention of giving in to their demands?" Shiro asked.

"There's no way that we can even consider giving in and they know it." Kojima said.

"I don't get it." Karen said. "Any other Zeon's never bothered to ask permission to have independence before so why are they doing it now? It doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense." Kojima says. "They know we won't give into their demands and they want to play on the public's emotions. If we don't give in we'll be condemning Aina to die and then their hoping more people will join their cause."

"There's no way I'm going to let them kill her!" Shiro yelled.

"I was surprised how well you kept your cool up until now." Kojima said. "I was beginning to get worried."

"I was able to keep my cool because I know we're going in to rescue her and I'm not going to let her die."

"Besides if we would have given in to their demands. There was no guarantee they would allow Aina to live." Kojima said. "I doubt they would give any mercy to a traitor."

"We're with you, Shiro." Sanders said and everyone else nodded in agreement.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Karen asked. Everyone got up ready to rush out to go.

"Wait." Kojima yelled as everyone stopped and looked at him. "You may not know this but all the Gundams at this base were placed in storage at the end of the One Year War. We do have GMs available but I think it would be best for you to go in with Gundams. Right now 2 have been gotten out of storage and are being prepared as we speak. It will take about two hours or so to get everything else ready. So if you need to get anything or prepare, go ahead and do so. It is 10:00:00 hours right now, everyone should be in warehouse 4 by 15:00:00 hours, where everyone will be briefed. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Everyone said and saluted.

"Dismissed." Kojima said as everyone left the building.

******** Rebel Zeon Base ********

"Any word from the Earth Federation, yet?" a lady asked strictly.

"No ma'am." A soldier reported. "We know the Federation won't give into the demands, so why don't we just kill her now."

"Are you questioning my decision?" She yelled back.

"No ma'am. I apologize for what I said. I was out of line." The soldier said with fear.

"I'm going to talk to Aina." The lady said with an evil grin.

"Ma'am, do you think the Fedes will try to attack." The soldier asked.

"I don't think so. There should be no way they know where we are located. So we have nothing to fear from them." the lady said and then turned. "Let us make our way to Aina's cell. I must speak with her."

"Yes, ma'am." the soldier responded as they walked off in a slow pace.

**** Aina's Cell ****

"Hello Aina." Said the woman in a soft but not kind voice.

Aina looked up to see a woman staring back at her. "I recognize you." Aina said as she looked at the woman trying to place her face with a name. Then she remembered who she was, "You were Rear Admiral Yuri Kelane's secretary, Cynthia. What do you want with me?"

"Do you know what happened to Admiral Kelane?" Cynthia asked.

"I heard he was killed in battle while helping his men retreat from Odessa." Aina said. "Why?"

"That's what you think. He didn't die in any battle. He was betrayed." Cynthia said. Aina looked shocked. "While the main forces retreated into the mountain a small team went out to keep the Fedes busy. Admiral Kelane chose to wait for those men before going into the base himself. They arrived safely back but were locked out by no other than your brother."

"What!?" Aina gasped.

"Yes. You see your brother tortured me until he found out that the paper work for scrapping the Apalus had not been sent out. So he figured if he killed Yuri then no one would know." Cynthia said. "He blew up the tunnel with Yuri and the other 3 men."

"That's awful." Aina said.

"You see I wasn't only Yuri's secretary. He may have made advances at you but they were only jokes. He and I were in love." She said. "Your brother caused me great grief from that and I would be gladly killing him right now if I could but I can't. So you will have to do instead."

"But I did nothing to you. I fought against my brother as well." Aina said in her own defense.

"You didn't start fighting him until your love, Shiro, was in danger. You did nothing to stop him before that. If you would have, Yuri may still be alive today. I have said enough. You will die soon." Cynthia said as she walked out of the room not letting Aina say anything more.

******** Federal Forces Base: 15:00:00 hours ********

"08th MS Team reporting, sir." Shiro said to Kojima.

"At ease." Kojima said. "Listen up, it was originally planned that we would take out 3 Gundams. One for you, Shiro and the others for Karen and Sanders. But it seems you will have another person with you on this mission."

"Sir, I don't think we need any help. I wouldn't want anyone else to risk their life." Shiro said as everyone looked on.

"This was not my decision to make. This was higher up." Kojima said. "The person should be here soon."

"That person is here now." A voice said. Everyone looked over to find a person dressed in a flight suit including a helmet. They were surprised. "You may call me Ace." The voice that came out was obviously masked.

"That sounds just like the voice from when I was being interrogated. The voice that made the deal with me." Shiro thought. "Are you the person that helped me before?" he asked.

"Yes that was I." Ace said. "Make no mistake about it. I'm not your friend. I'm doing this to end this rebellion. I will take your orders as they come but should I chose to disobey your orders. I am welcome to do so. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir." Shiro said.

"As I was saying, Ace here will pilot a Gundam as well. Right now that is being taken out of storage. It will also give you some time to plan a strategy, if you wish. At 17:00:00 hours a plane will take off to airlift you to the enemy base. You may debrief your team on the plane." Kojima said. "Also, I know how you are about killing Shiro but we can't let these people free. I'm send an attachment with the Command Truck that will be able to hold prisoners. That way you don't have to kill them."

"Thank you, sir." Shiro said gladly.

"That is all. You are dismissed." Kojima said.

"Yes, sir!" Everyone saluted and walked except Shiro.

Shiro walked over to Ace. "I would like to thank you for helping me before." Shiro said extending his and to shake Ace's.

"As I said before, I don't care about helping you. All I care about is ending this rebellion. Is that clear, Shiro Amada." Ace said in a stern tone. Shiro looked up at Ace.

"Yes." Shiro said cautiously. "I will see you at 17:00:00 hours." Shiro said as he walked away thinking to himself.

"I still can't believe your doing this." Kojima said to Ace as he approached her. "Do you have authorization to do this?"

"You shouldn't be questioning my authority. And if you push anymore," Ace said looking at him intently, "You'll regret it!! Do you understand!?"

"Yes, ma'am." Kojima said. Ace then turned and walked away. "If she didn't have connections to the higher-ups, I'd pull the plug on her going right away." Kojima thought to himself as he turned to get back to work.

******** 17:30:00 hours ****

The plane had taken off at 17:00:00 hours as scheduled. Now the 08th MS Team found themselves being briefed on the plans for their mission. "Ok, listen up." Shiro said. "There are going to be two drop points and we're going to spilt up into two teams. Karen, you will lead the first team and I'll lead the second. I'm going to have Ace on my team, which leaves you in charge of every one else. You will be dropped off at point Alpha at approximately 20:00:00 hours." Shiro said as he pointed to a spot on the map. "There you will wait until 23:00:00 hours to make your move. While you are waiting, this plane is going to go around the rebel base, point Delta, and drop myself and Ace at point Bravo, which is the exact opposite direction of point Alpha. We should be dropped off at approximately 21:30:00 hours. You're about 15 km away from point Delta. At 23:00:00 hours, both teams will start towards point Delta. Karen, your team will stop about 2 km. away from the base. You will fire on the area around the base. Get your shots as close to the base as you can without hitting the base. This will hopefully draw most of the mobile suits away from the base. Ace and I will be waiting. When the mobile suits are gone, we will move it to take out any other mobile suits that remain behind and from there we will infiltrate the base, find Aina, and get out of there. When we are finished we will regroup with you and we'll radio for pick-up. Remember we are not in any war and no killing is necessary. You will take the enemy pilots alive. Don't kill them. Are there any questions?"

"Are you sure about the teams, Commander?" Michel asked.

"If you're referring to Ace, yes, I'm sure. I know you don't trust him but I do and I want all of you to trust my judgment, understood?" Shiro asked.

"Yes sir." Everyone except Ace responded.

"Is there anymore questions?" Shiro asked but no seemed to have any. "Then there is only one thing I have to say, I may not officially be part of the Federal Forces Army anymore and neither are some of you, and we're not in the One Year War but the order I gave long ago still stands: We all come back alive. No matter what. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Everyone said as they saluted Shiro.

"Fine, dismissed." Shiro said.

**** 20:05:00 hours; Point Alpha ****

"This totally stinks," Eledore said. "We get forced into another mission and we have to wait here for another 3 hours until we can go anywhere."

"Quit complaining. I don't totally like it but remember Kojima gave you the chance to leave." Karen said.

"Yeah, but it still stinks." Eledore said.

"If you want I brought along some packs of food. I can cook some up for everyone." Kiki said.

"That's the best thing I've heard all day. I'll take some." Eledore spoke up quickly.

"I'll have some too, thanks." Karen said.

"Same here." Sanders said.

"I'll help you make it." Michel said.

Half an hour later everyone was sitting on the ground enjoying some soup that Kiki and Michel had prepared. "This is really great food." Sanders complimented.

"I agree." Karen said. Eledore just nodded because his mouth was already full.

"No problem." Kiki said.

"Hey." Michel said. "What do you guys think of Ace?" Everyone looked up to Michel.

"If you're asking do I trust the guy," Sanders said. "I don't know. I don't trust him that much but Shiro seems to trust him. I don't know if Shiro knows how he is but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt."

"I know what you mean but Shiro can be a little naive." Karen said.

"Yeah, Commander Newbie will trust anyone, but I don't think Ace is too bad." Eledore said. He then got up and ran into the Command Truck and came out with something. "I hope you guys don't mind but I brought something to pass the time." It was a small CD player. It started playing a song.

"Let me guess this is another one of your songs, isn't it?" Michel asked. Eledore nodded. "You're so full of your self." Michel said before he broke out in laughter as everyone else did as well.

**** 21:45:00 hours; Point Bravo ****

"So now we have to wait until 11 o'clock until we move." Ace asked.

"Yes, that's the way it goes." Shiro said.

"Why was it that you trusted me to be on your team?" Ace asked.

"Are you going to tell me why you transferred to this mission?" Shiro responded but no reply came. After a few seconds Shiro said, "So I guess we'll have to wait and see."

"Since I do outrank you, I do have one order for you to follow." Ace said. "If when we go in to get Aina, something should happen to me whether I disappear or am wounded, I want you to get out of there without me. Leave me behind."

"Like I told you before, I'm going to make sure all of us come back alive, that includes you." Shiro said.

"That's an order." Ace said. Shiro gave no response.

**** 23:00:00 hours, Team Alpha ****

"Okay, everyone. Showtime." Karen said. "Everyone move out." Team Alpha started their 13 km trip toward the rebel Zeon base. Everyone was in high spirits as they went. It was something in Eledore's song that gave them that hope. It was 23:45:00 hours when they finished their trip. "Sanders, do see Shiro and Ace?" Karen asked.

"Its too far away from here. I can see." Sanders said.

"Well, Shiro said that when we get here to start firing. You ready, Sanders?" Karen asked.

"I'm ready." Sanders said.

"Eledore, I want you to listen closely. I want to know when they start to move out." Karen said.

"I'm ready to go." Eledore said.

"Remember Sanders, be careful not to hit any building and you want to hit in front of the base." Karen ordered. "Fire." Karen and Sanders started firing on the base. The lights of the base went on with the first shots. After a few more minutes of firing,

"They're on their way." Eledore said. "So get ready for some company. I've got 3 headed this way right now. And it sounds like they got a few more on the way."

"Good, I hope that Shiro will be okay." Karen said.

**** Team Bravo ****

"Well it looks like they're all gone. There was a total of 6 Zakus. I hope Karen and the rest of the team will be ok." Shiro said.

"We better get moving." Ace said.

"We need to find some where to hide the Gundams. We don't want some one to get in them." Shiro said.

"Don't worry. There was a new security feature installed." Ace said. "If you look to your right there is a small remote. You can lock the Gundam when you leave and use the remote to open it."

"Okay, then lets move out." Shiro said as he moved in closer to the enemy base before he got out of the Gundam. He and Ace continued to sneak into the base. It was obvious this was a very small rebel group. Just about all of the soldiers were gone in the Zakus. Shiro came across about 3 soldiers. He quickly knocked out the first two but he left the third conscious. "Tell me, where is Aina?" Shiro asked but the soldier refused to answer. Shiro grabbed him and slammed him into the wall, "WHERE THE HELL IS SHE?" The soldier started to get scared but kept his mouth shut. "YOU TELL ME KNOW, OR ELSE I'LL KILL YOU RIGHT HERE!!!"

"Up here, take a right, then a left, she's at the end of the hall." The soldier said totally scared.

"Thanks." Shiro said as he knocked the guy out. "Lets go." He said to Ace as he turned and walked on.

"I thought you were against killing?" Ace asked.

"You can always bluff, can't you?" Shiro said as he smiled. Ace just gave a small laugh. Shiro and Ace continued down the hallway until he came to the final cell in the hallway. There were two guards there but they were quickly taken care of. Shiro took the keys from him and opened the cell.

"Is it my time already?" a female voice said.

"Yes it is your time, your time to go home." Shiro said.

"Shiro is that you?" Aina yelled out as she ran over and hugged Shiro. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"I'm glad you're ok. I think we should get going before any trouble arrives. Ready Ace?" Shiro asked as he turned around but Ace was gone. "Ace?! Damn it, Ace had this planned out. We've gotta find Ace."

"Ok, lets go." Aina said.

"Ace!" Shiro yelled. "I don't believe this." Shiro and Aina raced up the hallway in search of Ace. After a few minutes of searching Shiro and Aina came to an open room. No one was in the room. They continued across the room. They were almost through the room when they heard a voice.

"Stop right there." A voice called out. Aina and Shiro turned around to see Cynthia. "I'm still going to get my revenge."

"I don't think so." Another voice called out. "If anyone is going to get their revenge, its going to be me or don't you remember me Cynthia?" Cynthia turned to see Ace holding a gun at her.

"Well I might remember you if you didn't have that flight suit on." Cynthia said. Ace looked at Shiro.

"You can take it off. I know who you are." Shiro said. Ace took off the helmet. Ace had short blond hair, blue eyes.

"Hello Alice, I didn't think you were still alive." Cynthia said.

"How did you know it was me?" Alice Miller asked Shiro.

"When you and I talked before, you called me Shiro Amada in the same tone of voice you always do. I recognized it, Ms. Miller." Shiro said with the same tone he used to say her name.

"Well you always seem to see through me don't you." Alice said. "You were right a year ago, you know that. The story I told you about the soldier. It was me. But unlike you I was betrayed and now I'm here to take care of the person that betrayed me. You were my friend Cynthia and you tried to kill me. Why?"

"I was a Zeon and you were closing in on Admiral Yuri, the man I loved. I couldn't let you get at him." Cynthia said. "And since you're here I might as well finish what I started." She said as she turned the gun at Alice and fired. Just before the bullet hit Alice, Aina jumped to push Alice out of the way. The bullet just grazed Aina's arm. As Alice fell, she fired her gun at Cynthia. It caught Cynthia in her side. At the same time, Cynthia shot another bullet hitting Alice in the abdomen.

"Aina!!" Shiro yelled as he ran towards Aina. "Are you ok?"

"I'll be fine. We have to take care of Alice and what about Cynthia?" Aina asked. They turned to see that Cynthia was gone. She must have thought she got both Aina and Alice and left.

"Leave me, get out of here now. You weren't supposed to come after me to begin with." Miss Miller said.

Shiro pulled out his radio, "Eledore, Sanders I need you here now! Ace has been shot."

"What?" Eledore said.

"Michel, I want you to trade places with Sanders. You'll pilot the Gundam and Sanders will come in on the Command Truck.

"We'll be there right away, sir." Sanders said.

"I said leave me here. That's an order." Alice said but Shiro ignored her.

Two minutes later, Sanders and Kiki came in the base with a stretcher. As Shiro helped him get Alice on the stretcher, Sanders said to Shiro, "We'll take care of her, you get Aina out of here she's the one they're after."

"Are you sure?" Shiro asked.

"Just go, Shiro. We'll be okay." Kiki said.

"Thanks. Be careful." Shiro said as he ran off with Aina.

"Well lets get out of here," Sanders said to Kiki.

"Leave me here." Miller said. Sanders was surprised he had thought she had passed out.

"I can't leave you here, you'll die." Sanders said.

"I don't care just leave me here." Alice said but Sanders made no move to stop. "That's an order." That was the last thing Alice said before she passed out.

"I'm not in the military anymore." Sanders replied to an unconscious Alice Miller. With that Kiki and Sanders carried Ms. Miller out of the base.


****

"We're almost out, Aina." Shiro said. "We just have to get out of the mobile suit hangar and we'll be ok."

"It'll be good to be outside again." Aina said.

"Do you remember how to operate a Gundam?" Shiro asked.

"Yeah, I think so. Why?" Aina asked.

"You can pilot, Ms. Miller's Gundam. Here." Shiro said tossing the remote to her. "I swiped it from her when we put her on the stretcher. She'd be going nuts if she knew you were going to pilot a Gundam… Finally we're out." Shiro said as they reached the hangar exit door. "Everything looks clear." Shiro said.

"That's what you think." Cynthia said from behind them as she operated one of the leftover Zakus. "Did you think I was going to let you get out of here alive, Aina? And Shiro since you're here as well I might as well kill you."

"AINA RUN!" Shiro yelled as he grabbed Aina's hand and they ran out of the building as fast as they could. The Zaku follow them out of the hangar, "Don't think you can run away." Cynthia said as she raised a gun and aimed it at them.

"I love you, Shiro." Aina said.

"I love you too." Shiro replied.

Just then the gun fired. Shiro and Aina expected to die from the gun but surprising they didn't. They looked behind them to see what it was that had saved them. What they saw was a Blue Gouf. It moved quickly cut the gun with a sword it had, then just as quick cut the head of the Zaku off. The Gouf them impaled the Zaku with the sword taking out the Zaku but not destroying it or killing the pilot.

"That was amazing." Shiro said still stunned at what he had just witnessed. The Gouf then turned to Shiro and Aina.

"Are you ok, Miss Aina?" the pilot said.

"It can't be. Can it?" Aina said to herself. She then turned up the the Gouf and yelled, "Is that you, Norris?"

"Yeah its me." Norris said as the Gouf kneeled down. The cockpit then opened and Norris slowly lowered down.

"It so good to see you. I thought you were dead." Aina said.

"That's where I remember you from." Shiro said. "Weren't you the ace pilot I fought with at the mountain towards the end of the war."

"That was I." Norris said. He then extended his hand to Shiro, "Its good to finally meet the man that Miss Aina is in love with."

"Aina has told me about you, its good to meet you too." Shiro said. "But didn't I kill you that day?"

"No but you were close. You cut my Gouf in half but luckily you cut a little below the cockpit and nothing exploded. I was knocked out for a little bit, that's why I didn't get out right away and luckily when I did wake up there anything that had caught on fire wasn't out of hand." Norris said.

"How did you know about this base?" Aina asked.

"Well I saw the announcement the rebels made of television and I found out from some contacts where the base was. I came here and planned on attacking a little after midnight, but the Fedes attacked sooner. When I saw you two rush out being chased by the Zaku I decided to step in."

"Well thank you very much. I don't know how I could repay you." Shiro said.

"Just take care of Miss Aina, that's all I ask." Norris said.

"Shiro, we've got all the rebels and we're ready for pickup." Eledore said over the radio.

"Okay, I'll meet up with you in a bit." Shiro said in reply. "Well we have to go. I think it would be best if you take cover so you don't get spotted when we get picked up."

"I'll be fine." Norris said.

"Norris," Aina said. "Will you come visit us?"

"If you would like." Norris said.

Aina quickly gave him their phone number. "Call us later and I'll give you directions. Take care, Norris."

"I will," Norris said as he turned and left.

"Well I think its time we get going." Shiro said to Aina.

"Yes, it will be good to get out of here." Aina replied.

To be continued in…

Chapter 7: On the Fifth Day


Preview: This isn't the end. What else could there be? Well just come on back to read the final chapter of Life After the War. And as I also said the next chapter is a tentative end. I might continue it but this is all I have for now.


Note: BTW, the thing with Norris is the big change I made, but mostly everyone liked it. Let me know what you think.

Special Thanks goes to... Fantasygirl and SulliMike for reviewing my story yet again. Also many thanks goes to LCWolf for reviews and for the explanation of the Titans. I guess I missed their appearance in Stardust Memory. Just wondering LC were you right about the mysterious woman?