Crescendo

by Deathzealot

The UN Forces GN-X Mobile Suits have pretty much defeated Celestial Being and their Gundams with Operation Fallen Angels. However, defeat does not mean dead and with some help, Celestial Being starts rebuilding themselves into a larger superior organization than ever before. Alternative Universe Story based during the last two episodes of season one and into the time-skip.

11. Report 11: Interludes

Report 11: Interludes

During those few years after that first Celestial Being Council meeting, it was a blur of building up our forces, watching as Krung Thep become a home for many people genuinely, and watching surprised as the Earth Sphere Federation was taking its first baby-steps into a new world. This, of course, saw many in the Council wondering why we were building up in the first place. At least till the formation of the new Autonomous Peacekeeping Forces (aka the A-LAWS) and their first few missions killing numerous innocent people instead of fighting against the handful of Anti-Federation Groups like it stated in their mandate. We then found the enemy we have been waiting these last few years for and we weren't about to let them get away with these so-called suppressions…

- Taken from an entry in the Journal of Commander Chall Acustica after the Mission to the Proud Colony and start of the War of Innovation

Testing

Testing Ground
Resource Asteroid Cluster
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
February 19, 2309AD

In the small section of space inside the Lagrange Three Resource Asteroid Cluster sectioned off for the testing of new weapons a single Mobile Suit floated peacefully in the middle of the said testing ground. Inside the cockpit of the mobile suit, its pilot sighed as she finished going over the data gathered during this latest test run. Looking up at her screens and around at the area around the mobile suit pilot snorted at the wreckage of the series of automated drones that were used to simulate an attacking enemy. They didn't last long against her and the new mobile suit she piloted. It was entirely different from any other mobile suit she had tested before including the GN-X series mobile suit. She briefly wondered if this was like piloting a Gundam which wasn't surprising since this mobile suit was based on a Gundam after all. Though she knew it was based on the old Gundam 0, the older First Generation Gundam, along with looking remarkably like the prototype Artemis Mobile Suits. It was superior over the GN-X, and she didn't want to think about how excellent it would be against a regular old mobile suit. She briefly wondered how different it would be when the new GN Alpha Drives were finished and equipped to the mobile suit. Right now, it was fitted with a basic, though highly tuned, GN Tau Drive. With a shake of her head, the pilot looked over at the communication screen.

"Well, this about it Director Vashti. There was about a twenty percent in the particle compression ratio compared to that of the Gundam 0 from what I understand. Also, these new fore-arm mounted GN Condensers do make things easier than that last test we did," the mobile suit's pilot Deborah Galiena reported a few moments later. On the screen, the helmeted face of Director Ian Vashti looked up from going over his own readings from his station in a specially modified CBS-60 Series Universal Shuttle that was holding position just outside of the so-called testing ground.

"We also need to be careful when we are near the edge of the Optical Cloak Field that last shot of mine pretty much went through the field and hit an asteroid. I just hope no one picked up on that from one of the observatories on the Orbital Ring. Also, I would like to do a few tests runs against a couple of the Artemis Units for these automated drones are nothing. That said, I think that was a successful test run for the Guardian Prototype," she went on with a smile and a nod of her head. The whole testing ground had a sizeable optical cloaking field erected around it to prevent anyone from the observatories on the Orbital Ring witnessing the testing and advertising that the Celestial Being the main base is in Lagrange Three.

"You are quite correct Ms. Galiena. The Particle Compression Ratio is a lot higher than I thought it would be, but we did modify the original frame of the Guardian to increase that over the Gundam 0. Also, I believe you are also correct about that beam shot breaching the Optical Cloak Field. I am going to look at expanding the Optical Cloak Field a bit in the future, so that doesn't happen again," Ian mentioned a moment later making Deborah nod in some understanding as she took a swig from her water bottle.

"I already have a few combat trails against a couple of the Artemis Units planned along with one or two with a Gundam being thrown in," Ian continued making Deborah starting coughing in surprise sending a few bubbles of water spinning from her mouth and into zero-gee.

"You are going to be putting me up against a Gundam and a Meister!" she cried out in some surprise making Ian laugh in response.

"It will be fine Deborah. It is not like it is a real battle but seeing how a vastly superior opponent fairs against the Guardian will be quite useful," Ian explained making Deborah sigh and nod for it did make some sense.

"Alright, that is about it. Bring the Prototype back to the hangar and let's see how the hardware faired during the test," Ian ordered a few moments later.

"Understand Director. Heading back now," Deborah replied and started to pilot the mobile suit towards the distant Krung Thep Colony with the CBS-60 Shuttle following behind it.

Recruitment

Council Room
Main Administration Building
Residential Section, Krung Thep Colony
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
March 22, 2309AD

Chall sighed as she leaned against a wall just inside the council room as she watched as the last stragglers of the Celestial Being Council and the handful of visitors made their way out of the room. This latest council session had been quite a doozy compared to other council meetings she had attended over the last few months since that very first council meeting. While she had gotten what she wanted from the council, it had been an uphill battle and many of the longtime Celestial Being supporters like Deputy Chairman Wong and Civilian Representative Shinji Crossroads where quite upset over her requests. With another sigh, she watched as Chairman Almodovar finished his conversation with Wong and started to head for her leaning form.

"Well wasn't that exciting?" Alphonse mentioned as she kicked off from the wall and took a position to the man making her shoot a look at him.

"Yes. I really wanted someone yelling in my face like that," Chall said sarcastically making Alphonse chuckle in response before sighing. Wong had done that after she had put forth her first proposal before the rest of the council. That was the first time it had happened since the past council meetings had all pretty much gone without a hitch.

"I do apologize for that Chall, but many of us who have been in the organization for so long is so used to the secrecy. That if anyone suggests something like you did it was immediately shot down," the Chairman explained as the two of them started to make their way out of the council room and into the Administration Building proper.

"I know you did warn me when I brought it up to you earlier, but we really need to go through with this recruitment operation," Chall explained with a shake of her head. She had proposed that they started a recruitment drive for former military personnel from the various Power Bloc militaries to pad out their growing regular paramilitary forces. This had drawn the mentioned ire from both the Deputy Chairman and the Civilian Representative with Wong even personally yelling at her. However, Chall calmly managed to deflect their ire with some hard facts including that currently they only had a couple dozen trained mobile suit pilots drawn from both their recovered agents and newly trained civilian volunteers. Of those pilots, just a handful had combat experience. Then there were only around a hundred or so trained ship crewman for their growing space fleet. Again. Only a handful had needed combat experience. Then with their plans for further expanding the fleet and introducing a new combat-rated mothership for the new Gundams. Granted. With the ships, they could counter the shortage with Haros and Karels, but it would be best to support them with dedicated, trained crewmen more so than with their older vessels.

"I didn't even suggest a large recruitment drive only gathering around a hundred or so recruits," Chall almost whined out loud making the Chairman chuckle lightly at this.

"So, you are going start with the families of our recalled agents first before moving on to former military personnel who you believe would be the best to recruit?" he asked her after a few moments as the two of them entered one of the lobby elevators heading towards Chall's office.

"Yes. The families of the agents will be the easiest so a few of them are apparently longtime supporters of Celestial Being while the former military will be a different kettle of fish. We are not going to approach them till we get a dedicated background check on them from Director Ray's people with the help of Hanayo," Chall explained with a nod of her head.

"Alright then Chall I really hope this works," Alphonse mentioned as they stepped out of the elevator a few moments later. Chall nodded at this before heading for her office while Alphonse split off from her to head to his own a bit further down the hallway.

"Same here," she said out loud before entering the office.

Patrol

Nearspace
Resource Asteroid Cluster
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
May 27, 2309AD

Near the large Lagrange Three Resource Cluster, a ship could be seen moving towards the cluster. It was apparently a ship from the UN Forces as it looked quite like that of the Virginia Class Cruiser Carriers that had been used by the UN Forces in the past. However, unknown to the ship and its crew it had acquired a follower. This so-called follower happened to be the optically cloaked form of the CBS-712 Cleomedes the second of Celestial Being's double-hulled Combat Ships. While only measuring around sixty meters long it was quite superior over the larger UN Forces ship thanks in part to its central heavy beam cannon turret and the massive GN missile battery. That is not including the ship's defenses including its GN Field and GN particle infused E-Carbon armor. On the bridge of the small combat ship, its commander looked over the shoulder of the ship's sensor tech as their sensors started to report information on the vessel in question.

"Well sir I think this ship is one of those new Mississippi Class Light Cruisers that New Ingalls had recently introduced," the sensor officer reported to the commander making the older man nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I do believe you are correct Riley. Though the question now is why are the UN Forces deploying one of their brand-new toys this far out in the middle of the nowhere?" Captain Jackson Carter mused out loud as he stared at the image of the UN Forces ship on Riley, the sensor officer, holographic screen. The ship did indeed look quite like that of the Virginia Class Cruiser Carriers he was familiar with. However, half of its forward hangar modules were removed in place of a long sword-like bow attachment. Then it sported several of those new laser cannons spread across the hull. He figured that while those guns were quite capable of damaging his ship they needed some time to get through the GN Field first and he wouldn't let them have the opportunity to do so. That is not including his assigned mobile suit unit which can easily evade the shots from those cannons.

"They are either try to find out if we are hiding a base in the Cluster or they are inspecting the cluster itself for a future resource mining mission. Since they did restart mining from the Lagrange One Resource Asteroid Cluster after all," Riley replied a few moments later making the Captain hum in agreement with the sensor tech.

"Should we destroy the ship sir?" the helm officer and his second-in-command asked from his position at the front of the bridge. Captain Carter frowned at this before looking over at the blue-haired young man before shaking his head.

"No Hans. If they are indeed inspecting the cluster, then we are not going to give the UN Forces any clues on the location of Krung Thep or that we do indeed have a base out here. However, if they do seem like they are heading in the direction of Krung Thep then we will destroy them," he ordered before looking back at the holo-screen showing the ship. The second-in-command only nodded in agreement with him for it did make sense.

"That said, Riley I want you to get as much information you can on that ship for we may have to fight her or her sisters later," he ordered the sensor officer with a nod to the screen and the ship itself.

"Understood sir," Riley replied as he hunched over his controls and started to work on following those orders.

"I shall send a message back to the colony about this since I don't know if we have any our own resource mining missions out there currently," he said a moment later as he took a seat in his command chair before opening a holographic communication screen in front of him.

The Cleomedes continued to follow the larger Mississippi Class ship as it moved through the large asteroid cluster. Luckily, Celestial Being did not have any of their own mining units out in the cluster at the time. Therefore, the ship didn't find anything out of place in the cluster to even hint that Celestial Being had a presence at Lagrange Three. Also, the UN Forces ship did indeed only inspect several of the more significant asteroids before moving out of the cluster and heading back towards Earth Orbit and the far busier near-Earth Lagrange Points. The Cleomedes continued to follow the other ship till it exited Lagrange Three space and then turned around to continue its lonely patrol of the Lagrange Three area. The UN Forces continue to be unaware of Celestial Being having anything at Lagrange Three. At least for now.

Request

Communications Center
Krung Thep Colony
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
July 9, 2309AD

As he sat in one of the new private communication booths built into Krung Thep's Main Communications Center Ian Vashti watched as a connection was formed in between the colony and the distant Euclides. After a few more moments of looking at the 'please stand by' message the face of his wife appeared on the monitor making him smile in some pleasure.

"Hello, Hun. Is there anything the matter? We just had our weekly family call yesterday," Linda asked with a frown on her youthful looking face.

"No everything is quite alright my dear, but this just came in from Wang Liu Mei and her team on Earth. I figured you and your team would be interesting in it," he mentioned as he entered a brief command into the communication monitor transferring a large data-file through the connection. Linda raised an eyebrow in curiosity before looking off-screen for a few moments as she looked at the data he had sent to her. She suddenly blinked in some surprise as she read before looking quite interested when she finished.

"Interesting. A Double GN Tau Drive. What are they planning on using it for?" she asked with a thoughtful look on her face. Ian smiled at her interest for he figured she may be quite interested in this new development of the Tau Drive. It was basically a pair of Tau Drives connected to either side of a small cylinder looking device that sported a pair of GN Condensers and a regulator built into it that theoretically could allow the whole thing to power something indefinitely. Though that was only if no high-powered equipment was used like heavy laser or beam weapons or anything else that drained the GN particles produced by the drives. Even then these Double Drives still had an operation time that was triple that of a regular GN Tau Drive allowing a couple to be equipped to something like a ship to help power it.

"Apparently the UN Forces had this new Double Tau Drive developed to help power their new ships that New Ingalls looks to be in the process of developing. They are expanding the Hybrid System they are currently using with the Mississippi Class and having these new Drives help to power the ships. It would possess three of these Double Drives which will help power the ship itself, plus its Laser Weapons, and apparently a pair of pods that have numerous GN Missile Tubes," Ian explained with an excited look on his face. Linda though only sighed at this before leaning back in her seat.

"That is quite interesting. However, that does remind me of something I wanted to ask during the last talk I had with the Commander but forgot to do. What is the UN's development rate for the Tau Drives? Since it appears that they are producing more of the basic GN-X and putting some effort into developing a new GN-XIII series machine that is set to roll out in about six or seven months time. Then we have these new Double Drives," Linda asked making Ian blink in some surprise before sighing and leaning back in his own seat as he looked up in some thought.

"Well, they managed to get the original Antarctica-based development site up to a half-dozen drives produced every month. Their new space-bound development site is sporting a rate of a dozen or so drives though that may go down as they start with these new double drives. We guess their development rate will only be half that when they start production of the Double Drives. They also may start tuning that production rate down now that they have more than enough Tau Drives and focus the needed resources to other projects like the GN-XIII you mentioned," Ian explained making Linda blink in some surprise at this before turning away from the screen briefly as she looked at something off-screen.

"So, if my math is correct that does give them around a hundred, and eighty-five Tau Drives completed?" Linda asked looking back up at the camera making Ian nod with a small smile on his face. Linda only sighed and leaned back in her seat once more.

"That is quite interesting," Linda mentioned with her own smile on her face.

"Especially with you currently have around what thirty or so Alpha Drives finished, Linda?" Ian asked with a pleased look on his face.

"That's thirty-five, but yes, we are catching up with them," Linda answered with a pleased look on her face, but she suddenly frowned.

"That said, they do have more resources to produce further Tau Drives then we do," Linda continued making Ian shake his head at his wife.

"That is true dear, but we also have the new Gundams and their GN Drives," Ian mentioned with a smirk on his face. Linda nodded at this before someone said off-screen on Linda's side of the connection making her sigh before she leaned forward.

"Understood, but was there anything else you want to discuss with me before I have to run to inspect the next batch of the Alpha Drives?" Linda asked making Ian blink before lightly cursing and looking off to the side of his own camera before entering a command to send another file to Linda.

"Yeah sorry about that. When we got this data on the Double Tau Drive Doctor Minovsky, and myself thought we could do better and whipped up this lovely thing," Ian explained with a pleased look on his face. Linda looked to the side briefly before she suddenly leaned back in some shock before turning to stare at the camera and Ian.

"I understand making a Double Alpha Drive but increasing the size of the Alpha Drives attached to this unit is something else. That is not including the idea of having each Alpha Drive flywheel rotating opposite of the second drive is quite genius," Linda managed to say after several moments of shocked silence from his wife.

"Yup. We showed that to the Council, and we are wondering if you think you can produce a dozen or so of these for the use of our fleet?" Ian asked as he leaned forward towards the camera making Linda look a bit thoughtful.

"I think we can do that though I have to get together with my team before I say how many we can produce right now. Since we only have a limited amount of resources on hand after all," Linda mentioned making Ian nod in understanding since the Euclides was only loaded with a finite amount of resources capable of producing the needed GN Alpha Drives.

"I understand Linda. I shall pass that onto the Council during the next meeting," Ian replied and saw that someone came up alongside Linda off-screen making her look over with a nod of her head.

"Alright, Ian dear. I do believe I need to go. I shall see you during our next Family Call," Linda mentioned with a wave which Ian returned before the monitor went dark as the connection was dropped. Ian sighed and leaned backward in his chair before stretching as he got up to head back to work. That blasted Twin-Drive System was still given him and his team plenty of trouble.

Flexible

Observation Booth, Slip Three
Krung Thep Construction Yards
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
October 9, 2309AD

In the expanded Krung Thep Construction Yards, the commissioning party for the newest ship in the growing space fleet of Celestial Being was winding down inside the observation booth looking over the completed vessel. Standing behind the booth's large glass window, Chall Acustica sighed as she stared down at the new ship. The new ship was entirely different from any other ship she had seen before since for one it had a vacuum of space in the middle of the vessel in between the two modified CB-70 Containers with sections of hull and armor connecting the ship's small crew module to the containers themselves.

"So, Commander Acustica can I ask what the difference between these new ships and the CBS-71 Series Combat Ships?" a voice asked from behind her making Chall turn to see the young pretty looking figure of Wang Liu Mei the young lady now in charge of the remaining Agents on the planet. She had only recently arrived at Krung Thep to discuss a few things with both Director Joseph Ray of Internal Security and Director Violento of Intelligence. After her meeting with the two Directors, she had joined in with the party.

"Well Ms. Wang the CBS-71 Series are purebred warships while the CBS-72 Series are basically modular thanks in part to the CB-72 Series Container System," Chall replied with a nod to the young woman who came up to her side while Hong Long the woman's combined aide and bodyguard came up behind her.

"Huh. A new container system? Those Containers look no different from the older CB-70 Series Containers?" the Agent questioned with a confused tilt of her head and a frown on her pretty face. Chall chuckled lightly at this before nodding down to the ship.

"That is correct for all of the Containers used in the CB-72 System are just repurposed CB-70 Containers. When the engineers first started to develop this ship and her sisters, they realized with some surprise that we had constructed dozens of the CB-70 Containers for some reason or another. Therefore, to save resources they just repurposed and rebuild several of the older Containers for the new system," Chall replied a moment later making the younger woman blink in further surprise before frowning and staring down at the new ship.

"What did they change with the Containers and the new system then? For like I mentioned they look no different from the old configuration I have seen in the past. Have they repurposed for Cargo or something else?" the young Agent asked as she looked back over at Chall.

"The CB-72 Container System is more than just simple rebuilt older Containers for like I mentioned earlier the entire ship is modular. They can just swap out the Containers if we need say another combat ship or a transport ship," Chall said with another chuckle making Wang Liu Mei blink in some surprise.

"So, there are different variants of the CB-72 Containers then?" she asked a moment later making Chall nod down to her.

"Correct ma'am. What you see equipped right now to the Agrippa are the Cargo Containers making the ship a transport. We also have the mentioned Combat Containers which sport a double-barrel GN Beam Cannon and another pair of GN Vulcan Guns along with the ability to carry a single mobile suit Then there is the Missile Container, another Combat Container Variant, which has a large GN Missile Battery. Another couple Containers are being planned but are not currently finished just yet," Chall replied with a nod to the ship in the slip below them. Wang Liu Mei hummed at this as she took a sip from the drink she had in one hand.

"Quite a flexible system then Commander," she mentioned a moment later making Chall bow her head slightly to the woman who looked quite impressed.

"How many of these ships are you planning on introducing then?" the young Agent asked a couple moments later making Chall blink at this before frowning and looking up in some thought.

"Right now, we are planning around four to six depending on a few issues Ma'am," Chall answered making the younger woman nod in some thought before sighing and handed her drink over to Hong Long and turned towards Chall.

"Thank you, Commander, for answering my questions. Looks like the party is winding down and I need to catch my transport back to Earth. I shall see you later," Wang Liu Mei said with a nod of her head towards Chall and turned around to start heading towards the booth's exit with Hong Long catching up with her after depositing the glass somewhere. Chall blinked at this before shrugging and throwing back the last of her own drink before looking back down at the new Agrippa once more as she returned to her own thoughts on the new ship and her sisters.

Training

Testing Ground
Resource Asteroid Cluster
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
October 15, 2309AD

In the pocket of empty space in the middle of the Lagrange Three Resource Asteroid Cluster that happened to be the Celestial Being Testing Ground a series of mobile suit training exercises were in process. From their position, floating next to one of the brand-new CBS-72 Modular Ship, the CBS-721 Agrippa, were four of the newly produced pre-production GNP-02 Guardian mobile suits as their pilots recovered from the latest of the exercises and their mobile suits were resupplied. In the cockpit of the first Guardian, the figure of its pilot Brian Carter took another swig from his zero-gee water bottle as he leaned against the back of the cockpit chair. This training was becoming quite brutal, even more so then the earlier training he had undergone when he first volunteered to be trained as a mobile suit pilot for Celestial Being. A beep sounded from the communication console making him look back down at his controls with a sigh before accepting the call with a tired flick of his hand towards the controls.

"Well, Brian looks like the GN Drives on your Guardians have been recycled and restarted. It is time for the next exercise," Commander Acustica mentioned from her place on the bridge of the Agrippa with a smile on her face. A smile that started to make him worry a bit for the woman had been pushing the dozen or so training mobile suit pilots for last few days since the Agrippa was finished, and the smile meant that the Commander had yet another curve ball to throw at them.

"Understood ma'am. What are we doing this time then? Two-vs-Two? Or taking on the Artemis Unit again?" Brian mentioned as he set down his zero-gee water bottle. The gathered new mobile suit pilots had been doing many of the Two-vs-Two exercises along with an equal number of exercises taking on three Artemis mobile suits piloted by the trio of Director Grave Violento, Eco Calore, and Deborah Galiena. All of which were experienced combat pilots. These latest training exercises combined with the earlier practices with the Artemis Units had shown Celestial Being how useful deploying their mobile suits in units of four had been. Instead of the standard three mobile suit units of the militaries of the Power Blocs which the UN Forces had started to inherit with their own units. Hence the reasoning for the construction and introduction of four Pre-Production Type Guardians and that only three Artemis Units were being used in training.

"Nope! This time we are doing a No-Win Scenario," the Commander replied with that same smile on her face which made Brian flinch slightly getting the feeling of inevitable doom.

"Oh. How are we going to do that ma'am?" Brian asked the Commander wearily as he eyed her image on the monitor. He knew that they had only a limited number of GN Drives after-all, not to mention the four produced Guardians which his pilots had been rotating to pilot during these training exercises, the four built Artemis Prototypes and the single modified GN-X machine. They could do a no-win scenario in a training simulation he knew, but they were currently doing live training exercises after all.

"That is quite easy Brian. You and your pilots are going to go against the Virtue and Dynames Gundams along with their Meisters," she mentioned as her smile suddenly became an evil grin while Brian stared down at her image in shock before sighing and a slight whimper.

"You are evil Commander!" he said with a shake of his head making the woman laugh in response.

"No worries Brian for after this we shall be done for the day to let your pilots get some much-needed rest," the Commander replied a moment later making him sigh in some relief.

"Understood Commander," he replied before signing off with the woman before entering commands to connect with the other three Guardians and their pilots to start their briefing for this latest exercise. As he did so, he noticed he was slightly smiling himself for it would be kind of refreshing to knock these pilots down a bit. They were becoming a bit over-confident after all with them winning the last three sorties against the Artemis Unit though they were all a close thing.

"Alright folks the Commander has decreed this shall be the last exercise for the day, and then we can get some much-needed rest back at the colony…" he started to explain with a small smile on his face. This was going to be good.

Unification

Council Room
Main Administration Building
Residential Section, Krung Thep Colony
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
December 28, 2309AD

Inside the large council room, the Celestial Being Council gathered together as they watched a direct broadcast from Earth declaring the formation of the Earth Sphere Federation which was something that been rumored to going to happen for the last several months. Though it was one thing to hear about it, it was completely different seeing it happen right in front of them. The Celestial Being Council all knew that this is what the organization had been planning to happen since the days of their Founder Aeolia Schenberg and many in the council were quite shocked that this happened. A couple of the longtime supporters of Celestial Being in the Council and packed into the visitor gallery looked to be quite emotional. However, a couple others were frowning as they stared at the still ongoing announcement this included both the Chairman of the Council and the Commander of the Paramilitary Operations. A few moments later found the announcement ending and the holographic screen showing it to the Council snapping closed a moment later. The various members of the Council and the gathered visitors blinked at this, but before anyone could say anything the Council Chairman, Alphonse Almodovar stood up from his position at the head of the Council Table.

"I know that many of us are quite excited about this development since this is what we all have been wanting to happen. However, I do apologize, but I must mention that there is plenty of stuff wrong with this new polity," the Chairman started to say but was suddenly drowned out by the angry and unhappy shouts from a few others in the Council and the Visitor's Gallery. Alphonse frowned at this before brutally tapping his E-Carbon cane on the ground.

"Order! Order!" he called out trying to cut through the noise of the shouting people. He growled before slamming his cane itself onto the table itself before shooting glares at everyone in the room then finally the noise started to die down making Alphonse nod with a frown.

"Thank you. Now I was about to mention what is wrong, but I think I shall hand you off to Director Ray to answer this. Director, if you please, the floor is yours," he mentioned before turning to the form of Director Joseph Ray who besides Commander Chall Acustica hadn't said anything in response to the Chairman's earlier comment. The Director of Internal Security nodded at this before standing up to make his way to the dais in the middle of the room. At the dais, the Internal Security Director entered a few commands into the control panel built into the top of the dais. A holographic screen popped up over the head of the Director showing the new political map of the Earth Sphere Federation and the non-Federation countries. The ESF various shades of blue and the many different non-Federation countries in different white or gray shades with the couple more hostile nations in a pale red color. Then there was a tan color covering the countries of Australia and New Zealand.

"Thank you, Chairman," Director Ray mentioned with a nod to the Chairman before turning to the rest of the council to continue with his statement, "Honored fellow members of the Celestial Being Council and visitors. I like to first mention that the formation of an Earth Sphere Federation at its core is a good idea. It is how they formed it and the military of the Federation that myself, the Chairman, the Commander, and several of my analysts in Internal Security are worried about. First, they never extended an offer to the more stable Middle Eastern or African countries to join the Federation. Not that many of them would join this Federation but if an offer was extended it may have had a couple of these countries join anyways," the man started to explain. This made many of the former angry Council members and visitors look at the map in some confusion as the countries in grays, and white shades begin to blink.

"Then we have both Australia and New Zealand not becoming members of the Federation for they were the only ones who refused to do so. Instead, they are rumored to creating their own secondary power, currently tentatively titled the Oceania Union," the man continues to explain which saw the tan covered portion of the map to started blinking. This made many in the room blink in some surprise.

"With this, you can see that while the Earth Sphere Federation does indeed cover most of the planet and all three of the Orbital Elevators, they don't hold sway over the entire world. Then we have the colonies," the Internal Security Director continued before entering another command into the control panel which shifted the map to display a second map this one showing the Orbital Space around the planet, including the moon, Lagrange One, Lagrange Four, Lagrange Five, and a bit of Lagrange Two.

"Copernicus City on the moon has long been a possession of the UN itself and not associated in any way with one of the former Power Blocs. However, when the Federation was formed, and its Parliament was formed it possessed no representative for Copernicus City. Even though the UN Council did have a representative from Copernicus on it. Then we have the space colonies who had been possessions of the former Power Blocs and currently don't have the population for a representative from them to be sitting in the Federation Parliament," he said with a shake of his head while the icon representing the moon city was flashing. Another command saw the image changing to show the draft of the Earth Sphere Federation's Charter.

"However, even if the colonies had the needed populations for that there is nothing in the Charter currently that will allow the colonies to send a representative to Parliament, therefore, making the population living in space having no voice in matters," the man finished up that line of thought with yet another, more, disgusted shake of his head.

"We currently don't see anything coming from these concerns, but we don't know if any of this will see conflict once more arising on the planet or in space itself. We are already seeing some anti-Federation groups forming in the shadows," Director Ray expanded a bit further making many of the others to frown in some concern at this. However, the Internal Security Director wasn't done with his presentation just yet, and a final command brought up a portion of the Federation's Charter.

"Finally, we are a bit worried about the Federation's military. First, all three Power Bloc militaries have been pretty much mashed together in one larger military which may see some tensions between former enemies. The Sixth Solar War was only around seven years ago, then the Fifth Solar War was fifteen years ago. Then we have this separation of duties bit here in the Federation Military section of the Federation Charter," the man mentioned, and a section of the Charter started to blink.

"It basically has the Federation military split into the Earth Sphere Defense Forces which are the main standing army of the Federation. However, they are only a garrison force and are not really allowed to respond directly to any threats. They can defend their assigned area but can't directly respond. No, that reasonability is the domain of the new Autonomous Peacekeeping Forces which are the one allowed to counter direct threats to the Federation which include the non-Federation countries, hunting terrorists or anti-government forces down. This would include Celestial Being if we ever started to operate in the open once more," he completed the final section of his presentation.

"I shall put together a further briefing on both the Earth Sphere Defense Force, the Autonomous Peacekeeping Forces, their leaders, any notable officers, and a few other tidbits at a much later date. However, for now, I am sure this little presentation did as the Chairman intended," he finally said finishing everything up and stepped down from the dais. He then headed back to his spot on the table but not before bowing his head to the Chairman and the council. As he did so, Alphonse once more stood up from his seat to look around the room.

"Thank you for that briefing Director Ray. Now that is taken care of does anyone else protests my words earlier?" the man asked as looked around the room at the other members of the Council and the many visitors jammed into the visitor's gallery. He nodded when he saw no one speak up in reply to his comment before sighing and sorrowfully looking around at the depressed looking faces of everyone in the Council Room.

"Before we go on I like to say that I would have personally loved to see a united Earth together working for the future like many other longtime supporters of Celestial Being. However, I didn't let that believe blind me from looking at the Earth Sphere Federation with a jaded eye and seeing the problems that Director Ray had mentioned. It also brought me no joy in correcting your thoughts on this announcement," he calmly mentioned with a look of understanding on his face as he stared around the room. This made a few others in the Council and in the visitor's gallery nod in agreement at this mini-speech.

"Alright that said I like to call on Commander Acustica to report on the Paramilitary Forces build up and what we can see from them in the future. Commander?" he directed looking over at Chall Acustica who nodded and stood up from her spot while he took a seat once more with a sigh. He really didn't want to brutally smack everyone with the truth, but it had to be done. Since they had no choice but to keep a weathered eye on the growing Earth Sphere Federation no matter if he really wished that it wasn't needed.

Disappearance

Commander's Office
Administration Building
Krung Thep Colony
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
February 10, 2310AD

In her office, the figure of Commander Chall Acustica was getting caught with paperwork after another strained Council Meeting. She was humming along to some song that she had heard a few days before as she looked through a report on the progress of the construction of the newest of the CBS-71 Combat Ships. As she put aside the report and started to pick up the next, she blinks as a loud ringing like sound began to be heard around the small holo-emitter built into a spot next to her desk. This made her look over at a nearby clock in some confusion before sighing and entering a series of commands into the controls built into her desk. A moment later, saw a holographic form of Hathaway Noah the new Captain of the CBS-721 Agrippa appearing over the holographic emitters.

"You are kind of early Hathaway, aren't you? You weren't supposed to be testing the new Holographic Communication System for a couple hours yet," the Commander asked with a raised eyebrow. The Holographic Communication System was developed by a few bored techs in the Resonance Research and Development Center to go together with their new Quantum Communication System. It allowed direct face-to-face communication between the various ships of the Celestial Being Fleet, and the two Celestial Being Colonies via full holographic bodies like this.

"Sorry Commander, but I decided that after what I discovered when I was checking on the CB-7024 Container that an early test would be required to test out the new system with my report," the young Captain mentioned with a frown. This made Chall sit up with her own frown as she stared at the holographic face of the young man. She knew that the CB-70 Container code-named CB-7024 was hidden inside the Luna V Resource Asteroid that was anchored roughly ten kilometers from the Industrial Colony of Olympus. It had been put there to allow a Gundam Meister a place to hide their Gundam if they were ever needed to do a mission inside the space colony for whatever reason. Thankfully, during the Intervention Campaign, it was never required hence it was basically left alone since then. However, when Chall ordered an operation to start using the various small hide-a-ways that Celestial Being had built in the years before the start of the Interventions Campaign to make supply stashes if they were ever needed in the future. One of these hide-a-ways was Container CB-7024 which Captain Noah and the Agrippa had been checking on.

"Oh? And what did you discover Captain?" she asked leaning forward towards the now physically fidgeting young man.

"That is just it Commander. CB-7024 has basically disappeared! It is no longer at Luna V at all," he reported with a baffled look on his face. Chall blinked at this before leaning back in her chair in some surprise at this. She sighed as she looked up in some thought before nodding and look forward towards the door of her office.

"Hanayo can you attend me for a second," she called out loud to the open air, and a moment later a life-sized hologram of Hanayo's body was displayed next to Hathaway. Chall knew that unless she called for her Hanayo wouldn't be monitoring her office as a form of privacy for the often-overworked Commander. She also was thankful for the addition of a few extra emitters to allow something like this.

"Yes Commander?" the Quantum Artificial Intelligence asked eying the form of Hathaway at her side before turning her attention to Chall.

"Apparently Container CB-7024 has disappeared from its hiding spot at Luna V. I was wondering if you could perhaps search through the records and find out if there is any record of anyone discovering it or even if someone accessed it. For it might have been recovered by Ribbons Almark for some reason," she ordered making her holographic friend look surprised for a moment before nodding.

"Understood. Give me a few seconds," the A.I. replied before closing her eyes as she accessed both her own databanks and that of the colony's mainframe. Several seconds later her eyes flew open in surprise before looking at Chall.

"According to the Colony's Mainframe CB-7024 had reported that someone accessed that Container around twenty-four hours after the battle at Lagrange One ended then the connection was physically cut-off at the source. If you remember Chall I was focusing on my Haro Body on the Euclides as we were heading back to the colony, therefore, thanks to this, it looks like I missed both the original notice and the Container's shut off from the network. Not to mention with VEDA no longer being in control of the network it kind of was in flux," the A.I. reported making Chall blink in surprise at this before nodding.

"Alright so do we know who accessed the Container then?" she asked in return making Hanayo sigh a bit.

"Yes. The codes used were that of Gundam Meister Setsuna F. Seiei, and there is a brief image from one of the Container's assigned Haros of the damaged form of the Gundam Exia being loaded into the Container's hangar," Hanayo reported making the office go utterly silent in surprise over this.

Battleship

Commander's Briefing Room
Main Administration Building
Residential Section, Krung Thep Colony
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
April 28, 2310AD

Inside the small briefing room next to the office of the Commander Chall Acustica the gathered officers from the Celestial Being Paramilitary Forces were assembled along with a handful of engineers from both the Krung Thep Construction Yard and Resonance Research and Development Department. They were gathered together for one primary reason, and that was to look over the design plans for the new space warship developed for the use of the new Federation's Autonomous Peacekeeping Forces: the Baikal Class Battlecruiser. At one end of the large table, the dominated the room one of the officers was hunched over a datapad showing the mentioned design plans of the new ship.

"Commander I have looked over the design of this Baikal Class Battlecruiser backward and forwards. While at first glance it looks like a poor warship with only the two dual laser cannons on the fore-deck of the ship and those missile pods, but that doesn't consider a few other different things. First, it has more guns then just those two main laser cannons, it also has forty-six fixed laser cannons spread across the ship's hull which ends up giving the Baikal quite an impressive close-in defense. Then we have those missile pods themselves, firstly what they carry are not your typical regular old missiles or torpedoes that past space warships had been using over the last several years. No, these missiles use the new Double GN Tau Drives mounted in each of the pods to make these missiles into GN Missiles which adds a whole new lethality to them. Not to mention, these pods each have one-hundred twenty-eight missile tubes giving the ship a total throw weight of two hundred fifty-six missiles. I don't care how good our GN Fields and Armor are that type of incoming missile fire will all-out destroy any of our ships. Finally, the ship sports some high-end engines which allow it to be quite fast when it needs to be," that officer Captain Jackson Carter of the CBS-712 Cleomedes mentioned as he sighed out loud. He looked up at the other end of the table where Commander Acustica sat calmly with a thoughtful look on her face.

"While the Baikal Class doesn't sport a GN Field at all it still becomes quite a threat to our ships especially if they use more than a couple ships when attacking us. I really don't know how we can counter them if we have to ever face them in combat," Captain Carter continued on as he leaned back in his seat with a sigh as he stared at the datapad that continued to display the design plans with an impressed look on his face. The gathered officers from the rest of Celestial Being's infant space fleet could only nod in agreement with the man. Jackson Carter, they knew was one of the most experienced space naval commanders they had access too since he took part in the couple of space battles from the Fifth Solar War and the space-only Sixth Solar War which he had fought in every single battle of the war as both an officer and a commander. While the man was still trying to get used to the age of GN Particle Tech, he still had plenty of experience in space combat to bring to the table.

"Both the Council and I are quite aware of this Captain Carter for there have been rumors about the development of this ship for months ever since the development of the first Double GN Tau Drive was announced. What I gathered you all here for is to come up with ideas and suggestions on battling these ships shortly," the Commander mentioned with a shake of her head as she stares up at the gathered personal gathered around the large briefing room table.

"Before you start though I like to remind you all that we are currently building the CBS-74 Ptolemaios II the new combat mothership for the Gundams. It will also serve as general battleship for our small fleet when we need her to be since we added plenty of weapons and defenses to that ship so what happened to her predecessor doesn't happen to her. Then I like to mention that Linda Vashti and her team already have several of the new GN Alpha Drive Reactors ready which shall give our ships the needed power for weapons and defenses to counter these new ships," Chall mentioned a moment later before anyone could say anything.

"That reminds me. You all should be aware that apparently these new Baikal Class ships are being produced solely for the use of the new Autonomous Peacekeeping Force and not the regular Federal Defense Forces. Granted it would be this new Force and their new toys that will be reasonable for countering any of our operations when we finally operating in the open once more," she continued on with a thoughtful look on her face. A beat later the others in the room looked around at each other before a couple shrugged and started to talk to each other for ideas to propose.

"Well, ma'am. I think we should go ahead with the construction of the new CBS-725 and CBS-726 Hulls. Along with the development of the planned CB-72CV Carrier Containers which shall increase the mobile suit compliment of any force we put together to counter a force of Baikal Class sent after us," one of the engineers from the Krung Thep Construction Yards spoke up with a thoughtful look on his face. This made Chall nod and take a note of that suggestion for it was quite a good idea. While the regular Combat Containers did sport the ability to carry a single mobile suit, it wasn't enough to counter a regular compliment of GN-X series mobile suits of the Mississippi Class Light Cruiser and now the Baikal Class. Thanks to this a few engineers got together to draw up specs for a full-on Carrier Container which rebuilt a regular CB-70 Container similar to that of the CB-71 Assault Containers used in the construction of the CBS-71 Assault Ships. The increased mass of the Container would allow it to sport a larger hangar enabling each of these rebuilt Containers to carry four mobile suits upside down similar to that of the Baikal Class. However, the downside of that set-up was that the Container wouldn't have the room for a weapon more extensive than the basic GN Vulcan Gun.

"We need to change a few things around for that to work. Since we never added any dedicated anti-ship weapons to the design besides some point defense," another engineer mentioned with a frown on their face which saw the pair of engineers bickering with one another. Meanwhile, Captain Carter leaned forward at this before taking a small napkin out of a pocket of his uniform along with a pen and wrote something on it making Chall raise an eyebrow in interest before the experienced captain leaned over the table to place the napkin he drawn on setting it in front of the engineers.

"Actually, that maybe not a bad idea," the man mentioned making the two engineers along with a couple of their fellows that got dragged in look over at him in some confusion.

"Here takes a look at this. We really don't need to give these Carrier Containers heavy anti-ship weapons for it is going to be a carrier after all. Just add a couple more GN Vulcan Turrets at these spots and maybe our own version of those Fixed Laser Cannons on the Baikal Class before pairing a Carrier Container equipped CBS-72 with one our Combat Ships," the experienced captain mentioned as he gestured to the napkin he had written on which had a crude rectangle drawn on it with a couple of x's placed over a few spots on what clearly represented the Container itself. The two engineers looked thoughtful as they stared down at the napkin for a moment before nodding.

"Okay, that does make sense Captain. Is there anything else you want to propose?" the senior of the two engineers mentioned making the experienced space naval hand frown in some thought before blinking and leaning forward slightly.

"Yeah. I have been wondering if it is possible to increase the mobile suit compliment of our Combat Ships. Maybe even use the same system on the Carrier Containers to allow us to carry four machines instead of two," he replied making the two engineers, and the others gathered around to blink in some surprise at this suggestion. The senior engineer of the group once more looked thoughtful while the woman and man who captained the other two Combat Ships seemed quite interested while a few other engineers gathered around started to mention their own ideas. With one engineer purposing to construct another pair of Combat Ships to increase the firepower of their fleet while another engineer discussed adding a few extra weapons to the Combat Ship when the GN Alpha Drive Reactor was finished.

"We would have to make some modifications to the hangar, but it shouldn't be that difficult to do so," the senior engineer managed to reply a few moments later through the suggestions of his fellow engineers making the three captains look entirely pleased. Chall seemed quite amused before she noticed a woman she recognized as Captain Carter's young wife and mother to Brian Carter was doing something with a data-pad and a notepad alone at one corner of the table.

"Is there something you want to propose Engineer Carter?" Chall asked out loud drawing the attention of the rest of the room towards Chall and the surprised looking figure of Samantha Carter.

"Err…Yes, Commander," the slightly older woman mentioned with a blush before coughing and leaning forward in her seat looking over at the other engineers. While Captain Carter looked over at her in some confusion as she stood up from her spot at the table.

"Basically, we all can agree that we need some extra firepower to counter the threat of the new Baikal Class ships the Federation are currently building. While like the Commander mentioned earlier we are starting construction of the new CBS-74 Ptolemaios II Combat Mothership which does have that firepower, but it also doubles as a carrier for our Gundams and the Meisters who pilot them. Therefore, I think the best bet for us is to develop and build our own Battleship design to support the smaller Combat Ships and the Ptolemy II in combat," the woman mentioned out loud. As she slid her datapad down to the middle of the briefing room table before she hit a key on the pad which displayed a holographic screen over the pad itself and the desk to show everyone else. The screen showed design plans for a new ship that no one in the room has ever seen before. The various engineers quickly gathered around the presented plans in some excitement while Chall leaned forward in her own chair to inspect the plans. Captain Carter meanwhile looked baffled at his wife before leaning forward to examine the plans for himself. A few moments later one of the engineers looked up from his inspection with a bit of annoyance with a hint of awe mixed in displayed on his face.

"Mrs. Carter this is quite an ambitious undertaking, but I have to ask how in the world are we going to build it? For the largest construction slip, we currently have built is set aside to construct the new Ptolemy even then this new battleship of yours is quite larger then what that slip could handle. So how do you expect us to build such a large ship?" the engineer asked the woman curiously making the mentioned woman huff in some annoyance.

"That is quite easy. We will construct it in sections the same way that the Union Space Agency built their Solar System Exploration Ships and how New Ingalls originally constructed the Massachusetts Class Carriers. Granted we won't have access to the orbital framework to help assemble it, but I designed the ship to be easily assembled module by module. With the support of Haros and Karels along with regular zero-gee suited workers it wouldn't be too difficult to assemble freehand in orbit of the colony's asteroid," she explained with some patience which made the other engineer look thoughtful at this before returning to his inspection of the plans with his colleagues.

"I basically took the basic plans of the Baikal Class Battlecruiser we all already have seen before expanding on it massively including increasing the size of the ship by about ten percent. I also vastly upgraded the weapon compliment while removing the Missile Pods to replace them with heavy torpedo launchers at the forward hull. Along with the addition of additional GN Beam Cannons to the design, all the hull of the ship to counter what I see as one of the major weakness of the Baikal Class in much of its main weapons are able to cover the front half of the ship and nothing covers the back half of the ship. I also added numerous GN Vulcan Cannons to the design with the majority clustered on either side of the main hull though there are a few other GN Vulcan Cannons spread across the hull. Then there is the main gun which I have hidden in the prow of the ship," Samantha continued to explain proudly making the other engineers start looking over at her in some awe. Chall meanwhile leaned back in her seat with an impressed whistle as she stared across the table at Samantha Carter with some admiration.

"I am quite impressed with this ship for it will be by far the most powerful warship ever designed and built. That main gun alone will give it the raw firepower around three times greater than the main gun of the GNMA-XCVII Alvatore Mobile Armor which Alejandro Corner used at the Battle of Lagrange One. Then it sports those seven double-barrel GN Beam Cannons and the heavy torpedo launchers. It is truly going to be a Battleship and something I agree with you that we are going to need if we ever are going to go against the Federation in the future," Chall said with a sigh and a shake of her head. The engineers who had been looking over the design plans could only nod in agreement with her.

"That said. Mister Weaver do you think you and your crews capable of building this new battleship in say a year to fourteen months?" Chall asked one of the engineers who looked older than the others and the man overall in charge of then Krung Thep Construction Yard. The man blinked at this before taking another look at the displayed plans with a thoughtful look on his face.

"I would say we could do it in about sixteen to eighteen months, but we are going to need the help of Mrs. Carter since my crews are not used to constructing ships in open space," the man mentioned a few moments of mental calculation later. Chall nodded at this before looking over at Samantha to see her nod in agreement.

"Alright that is done let's get on with the rest of the meeting," Chall mentioned with a nod of her own head and turned the meeting to other matters. Meanwhile, Captain Carter put an arm around the shoulders of his wife with a pleased and proud look on his face while Sam looked quite happy with herself.

Massacre

Main Space Dock
Asteroid Colony Atlas
Lagrange One, Earth Sphere
April 10, 2310AD

In the small main space dock of the Asteroid Mining Colony Atlas, the CBS-722 Callippus the second of Celestial Being's Modular Ships was attached to the primary docking bay of the space dock. On the bridge of the ship the figure of Lasse Aeon who temporarily volunteered to command the new ship frowned as he listened to reports from the crews sent into the colony itself. They had arrived at Lagrange One to inspect their base in the Asteroid Cluster in preparation for reactivating it and expanding it to allow them to keep a direct eye on the Lagrange One Colony Cluster along with a look at this side of the Orbital Ring. Since with Krung Thep located at Lagrange Three and a base here at Lagrange One they could get an almost complete picture of the Orbital Ring. Even then they had known about the existence of the mining colony literally on the doorstep of their base but had a general idea to avoid drawing attention from the colony's population.

However, when they arrived, they were surprised to find the mining colony dark and no crews out mining the nearby resource asteroids like they should be. So, after going through with their mission, Lasse decided to see what was going on with the colony for he had a horrible feeling and ordered the Callippus to dock with the colony. He knew personally that he would most likely get in trouble with the Commander and the Council for doing this, but he knew something was going on here if the colony was dark. So far, that feeling was entirely correct with no one responding to them suddenly just appearing and docking with the colony. The colony's handful of CDI-42 Bulldog Transports and Hercules Class Mining Support Transports abandoned in their own docking bays. Now the crews he sent into the colony proper reporting no one in either the docking bay section of the colony nor the industrial sector adjacent to the docking section he was starting to get a horrible feeling that he may not like what happened here. Just as he thought that he heard cries of surprise and shock over the radio from his inspection crews with a few distraught sobs.

"What is going on? Report Ashlyn," he called out over the radio to the leader of the inspection crews as he exchanged looks with his bridge crew.

"Captain Aeon we found the population," came the grim report a few moments later. From Ashlyn Carter, another member of the Carter Family one who had followed Jackson Carter into Union military but instead of the space fleet she had become a member of the Union Marine Corps which saw her joining the Celestial Being Security Troops when she arrived at Krung Thep Colony with the rest of her family.

"They all have been killed in the main square of the Residential Section of the Colony by what I guess heavy machine gun fire of some sort," the fierce former infantrywoman continued on with her report making Lasse grit his teeth in anger at this pointless slaughter.

"Understood Ashlyn get plenty of video and pictures of what happened. Also see if you can find any records on what happened, who did this and if there are any survivors," Lasse ordered angrily while the others on the bridge could only stare in horror at this.

"I understand Captain moving out now," Ashlyn replied a few moments later and the following half-hour Lasse and his bridge crew could only listen in horror as the picture became more evident as Ashlyn's team move through the rest of the colony. About twenty minutes into the search they found a small group of survivors who had passed on what happened to the Mining Colony and its population.

Apparently, the population of the colony had been peacefully protesting the more substantial workloads put on them by the Federation's new Space Mining Commission. This protest was then reported up in the chain which saw a nearby patrolling ship of the Autonomous Peacekeeping Force respond. That ship then sent in a couple security teams backed up by Combat Automatons to break up the protest. However, the teams only made a token gesture of breaking up the rally before unleashing the Automatons on the population. Thanks to the majority of the people being gathered in the main square of the residential section of the colony they were all killed as the machines opened fire with their heavy machine guns. The Automatons then searched through the rest of the colony to kill any survivors before for some reason being all recalled back to the docked ship of the Autonomous Peacekeeping Force. Not before opening the rest of the colony to space in an effort to entirely kill any remaining survivors.

Thankfully for the remaining survivors of the colony, they all managed to get into space suits while the handful of small children they had with them were saved by a couple of the emergency life support bubbles. These survivors hadn't been at the main square due to caring for numerous young children of the population at the colony's small school. Now that they were saved by Ashlyn's Team they would lead them to the colony's records to back up the survivor's story. Then that done Ashlyn had the survivors escorted back to the safety of the Callippus while she continued on to make sure there no other survivors hiding as well as making sure to get plenty of video of the massacre.

"I need a priority communication link back to Krung Thep now!" Lasse ordered his Communication Officer after he had finished talking to the survivors before turning his attention to the still open communication line with the team on the colony.

"Ashlyn bring your team back to the ship you can't do anything more there," he continued on in the communication link to the team on the colony. A moment later the ordered connection was opened with Krung Thep.

"Understood Captain heading back to the ship now," came the response but Lasse ignored it as he started to report on what was going on to the authorities back at Krung Thep. This would become known as the Atlas Incident and would be the first of many so-called suppressions by the Federation's Autonomous Peacekeeping Force which would started to be called by their nickname the A-LAWS. However, thanks in part to some unknown power behind the scenes the media and the people of the Earth Sphere went on only knowing that the Atlas Incident was caused by an improperly maintained atmosphere seal that opened the colony to space killing everyone there. Meanwhile, Celestial Being thanks in part to Lasse Aeon, his crew, and the survivors of the Colony rescued knew what had happened but couldn't do anything just yet about it due to them still in the process of building of their forces up. However, every single member of Celestial Being from the Council down to the everyday resident of Krung Thep were now dedicated to the fight against the A-LAWS and their Federation Masters thanks to this incident.

Delivery

Resonance Research and Development Center
Space Colony Krung Thep
Lagrange Three, Earth Sphere
December 19, 2310AD

In one of the vast main hangars of the Resonance Research and Development Center, a large Long Range Unmanned Cargo Pod was lowered onto the floor of the hangar in front of the large waiting crowd of people. This group included the entire Celestial Being Council, a few notable engineers of the Research and Development Center, and a few others all waiting anxiously for what was being carried in this rugged cargo pod to be revealed. They all had expected it to return empty after being sent out to Jupiter with further resources a few months beforehand. However, they had been told that there was a surprise being transported back to Krung Thep from the crew Euclides in this Cargo Pod.

With a couple loud thumps, the cargo pod was settled onto the floor of the hangar. Several moments passed by as the waiting crowd continued to stare up at the pod waiting for it to be opened. At the front of the waiting crowd Council Chairman Alphonse Almodovar looked over to the figure of Director Ian Vashti at his side waiting anxiously as he stared up at the massive cargo pod.

"Well what are we waiting for Director open it up," he said out loud with a snort. Ian grinned at this sheepishly before turning and with a few commands into the datapad he carried the cargo pod hissed as the outer shell of the pod suddenly started to slide upwards revealing the interior of the pod to everyone waiting.

"It is going to be a great Christmas I think," Ian mentioned with a larger grin on his face. As with another hiss of air and steam a series of storage racks extended outwards from the pod itself to proudly display many brand-new GN Alpha Drives and GN Alpha Drive Reactors held securely in their frames to the waiting crowd much to their amazement.

"Care to inform us on how many we are looking at here Director?" the Chairman asked as he shakily looked at the many different conelike GN Drives that were on display in front of him. No one knew what the cargo pod was carrying when it arrived. They could guess since it was sent from the GN Alpha Drive Development Team at Jupiter after all and that was the only real thing they could surprise them with, but it was one thing to guess what it carried it was quite another to psychically see it in front of them.

"Of course, Chairman. This pod is carrying the first twenty-four GN Alpha Drives and twenty-six GN Alpha Drive Reactors. It is a Christmas Present to us from Linda and her team. This so we can install the Drive Reactors into our ships as well as expand our training operations to include more mobile suits with regular Alpha Drives along with gathering further data on the Alpha Drives. That said, Linda reports that there are another hundred or so regular GN Alpha Drives and a dozen or so GN Alpha Drive Reactors are still onboard the Euclides. She also mentions that between now and when they need to start heading back home in six months they shall be able to build another couple dozen regular Alpha Drives and another half-dozen GN Alpha Drive Reactors," Ian explained with that same grin splitting his face as he looked over at the crowd. The Chairman blinked at this before chuckling lightly as stepped carefully up to the storage racks and to look onto the Drives themselves before he suddenly frowned as he spied something at the center of the storage racks still inside the Cargo Pod.

"Director Vashti can I ask why there is an extra GN Drive in the middle of the Pod?" he asked over his shoulder to Ian who stepped alongside him with a short chuckle. He had known that there was already one of the True GN Drive in the Pod. Since that is how it was able to make in between the Earth Sphere and the Jovian Sphere so quickly but an extra one was a surprise, and he briefly wondered if the Development Team did indeed somehow managed to create a sixth True GN Drive.

"That is GN Drive 05, or the Drive assigned to the 0 Gundam and later to Fereshte before being equipped to the Euclides to allow it to use Trans-Am to speed up its travels. I asked Linda to include it with the shipment since we are starting operational simulation tests of the Twin Drive System, therefore, would like to have all of the Drives here. It also allowed a greater speed with the Trans-Am System in its flight back here," Ian answered as he crossed his arms over his chest as he looked over the various Drives himself. Alphonse blinked in surprise at this before staring at the man standing next to him.

"Then how is Mrs. Vashti and her Team getting back without the True GN Drive to power the Trans-Am System?" he asked in some confusion and Ian looked over at him in his own surprise before groaning as he hit his forehead with a sigh.

"I apologize Director in all the excitement over this shipment I had forgotten to report an exciting breakthrough Linda's Team came up with about a week ago. They managed to get a system working where two GN Alpha Drive Rectors can power a Trans-Am System though they also been trying to do the same with the regular GN Alpha Drives but haven't gotten anything from that I am sorry to say. They already have replaced the GN Drive they have installed a trio of their own GN Alpha Drive Reactors into the ship. We can also send back the Cargo Pod with two of the Alpha Drive Reactors as well when we reload it," Ian mentioned sheepishly at the Chairman who sighed at this oversight but soon shook his head with a smile on his face at the other man.

"That is fine Director. I do have been caught in the excitement over the season as well, so I understand where you are coming from," he replied with a chuckle before looking back at the Drives before turning around to stare at the crowd who were all excitedly whispering to one another over this excellent Christmas Present.

"Alright, folks that's enough chattering let's get these Drives off those storage racks, inspected and stored away for later. I also want this pod reloaded with the needed supplies, so we can send it back as soon as possible," he instructed the clustered Engineers from Resonance Research and Development Center who all straightened up in attention at his order.

"Yes Chairman!" the lead engineer replied before barking out orders to his own men making the Chairman nod and turn back to Cargo Pod with a small smile on his face once more. He made a mental note to see about including their own surprise to the crew of the Euclides as well.

"Merry Christmas indeed," he said lightly with a shake of his head for it was by far one of the better presents he ever had at Christmas. He briefly wondered what else Linda Vashti and her team had waiting to spring on them in the future.

Gundams

Main Storage Hangar
Resonance Research and Development Center
Krung Thep Colony, Lagrange Three
Earth Sphere
December 10, 2311AD

In the observation booth of the Main Storage Hangar of the Resonance Research and Development Center the figures of Commander Chall Acustica, Chairman Alphonse Almodovar, Director Ian Vashti, Director Trenov Y. Minovsky and special guest Wang Liu Mei stood looking down into the storage hangar. This hangar was quite special overall to Celestial Being in that it served as the main storage facility for the organization's own Gundam units. It sported around a dozen storage bays that lined either side of the large hangar with the model number and name of each Gundam of stored with-in it written on the storage bay's door. Therefore, if not currently being used for some reason or another, a Gundam unit would be stored here in the storage bays for any later use. Right now, the original first-generation machine the Gundam 0, the remaining three second-generation units, and three of the six produced Artemis units were stored here. Currently, four brand-new Gundams dominated the center of the large storage hangar outside of the storage bays which is what everyone was here to look at.

"I can't believe it four new Gundam units have finally been finished after two and a half years of development," whispered the Chairman as he stared down at the four Gundam units for this was only the second time he had personally seen new Gundams. He had been on the Council of Observers when the Second-Generation Machines was first rolled out but had retired soon afterward therefore never saw the Third Generation Machines when they were rolled out a few years later.

"We are quite lucky that it only took that long to develop these units and even then, the 00 Gundam is far from ready. With the development of the Guardian, the GN Alpha Drive, our new Combat Ships, the new Ptolemy, the new Battleship, and a few other minor things it stretched our resources to the limit," Ian Vashti mentioned with a thoughtful frown on his face as he too stared down at the new machines.

"We still need to run matching tests with the 00 and the Twin Drive System but the simulations did not look promising with the GN Drives we do currently have," he continued with a sigh as he stared down at the 00 Gundam and the single GN Drive that was attached to its paired shoulder mounted Drive Docks.

"Even then Director Vashti your team and the other engineers at Resonance did great work on these machines," the Chairman mentioned with a nod to the other man who could nod in back in acceptance of the praise.

"That said, are Meisters Erde and Grace ready for the round of testing on the machines?" the Chairman asked turning to address Commander Acustica at his side.

"Of course, they are ready for testing out their new Gundams. Though both Feldt and Tieria will be taking turns in between testing out the 00 Gundam's Twin Drive System and testing their own assigned units," the Commander responded with a nod of her own to the Chairman. He frowned at this before turning back to look at the new Gundams mostly at the final unit of the four the GN-007 Arios Gundam.

"What about the Arios will they also be helping in testing it out?" he asked in return with a frown on his face. He briefly wondered why they ended up developing a fourth Gundam Unit with only two trained Meisters and a third currently MIA but currently alive somewhere in the Earth Sphere. The fourth Meister the one who piloted the predecessor to the Arios was MIA as well, but they had no clue on what had happened to him or if he was even alive. Not to mention there was the possibility that they may not be able to have all four GN Drives assigned to the Gundams with the Twin Drive System of the 00 Gundam if they never managed to retrieve the Exia's GN Drive. Therefore, they could have delayed the development of the Arios or never developed at all, but Ian insisted doing the full set together.

"No. Deborah Gailena would be testing out the Arios. Since she at least has some experience in variable mobile suits," the Commander answered to the surprise of the others around her for it was quite a shock to them since Ms. Gailena wasn't really a member of Celestial Being after all she only helped them with mobile suit development and pilot training. So, she really was never a member of the organization nor trained to be a Gundam Meister. Therefore, this was a strange decision for many.

"Why doesn't Director Violento or yourself test the Arios out, Commander? Since if I remember right both you of have some experience in testing out the both of its predecessors after all," Doctor Minovsky mentioned out loud much to the surprise of the others. Chall just turned to glare at that man at the suggestion for that was the last thing she wanted to do.

"The Director is currently busy, and Commander Acustica has sworn to never enter a Gundam's cockpit again thanks in part to the Plutone Incident," the Chairman answered the Doctor's question drawing a thankful nod from the Commander and saving the man from a thorough tongue-lashing from the Commander. The Doctor blinked at this not knowing how much of a trigger that been for the Commander before returning his attention to the Gundams or to be more precise the GN Drives that were fitted to the machines.

"Excuse me I don't mean to interrupt but if you don't mind Director Vashti may I see the first-generation machine?" the cultured voice of Wang Liu Mei asked jolting the gathered members of the Celestial Being out of their individual thoughts on the new Gundams. Director Vashti blinked at this request before exchange looks with the Chairman and the Commander before nodding.

"Sure, I believe we can do that ma'am," he said before moving over to a control panel and entering commands into it to open the 0 Gundam's Storage Unit. With a series of clicks, the Storage Unit's locks disengaged, and the unit's door slid upwards to proudly display the First Generation Gundam to the crowd.

"The genesis of every Gundam that came afterward and the origin of the machine that will change the world: the 00 Gundam," Wang Liu Mei mentioned out loud in a tone of near reverence as she stared down at the brand-new 00 Gundam and the single GN Drive that it currently was equipped with. The others gathered nodded in some agreement with her as they stared at the displayed 0 Gundam.

-o-End-o-

Post Chapter Notes

Well, that was quite a doozy of a chapter to write! It took me forever to do so, and I am thankful I managed to use part of my word count for this year's National Novel Writing Month to get it done. That said, it also expanded vastly from what I originally planned for this chapter. A few extra scenes were added to the story which gave this chapter a word count far larger than any of the previous chapters of this story. However, I must say that it did do what I wanted which was basically covering the last two and a half years of the time-skip. Could have these shorts gotten their own chapters? Yes. They could have, but I decided to do it this way which was quite interesting.

A couple things to mention here. First of all, I kind of redid the CBS-71 Series Combat Ship from what I posted in the past about it. It originally had a similar open-space in the middle like that of the Lab Transport, but a friend pointed out it made no sense for that space to be there. Therefore, I removed it and modified the design making it now look kind of like the Garfish Class Light Cruiser of Robotech fame just a bit smaller and not so curvy. It is also a bit larger than it was before thanks to a member of the MechaTalk Forums mentioning to me what they personally believed the size of both the Assault Container and the regular Containers happen to be after I asked about it in a thread. Then we have the CBS-72 Series Ship which is my version of the CB Lab Transport. It basically has the option of swapping out its Containers depending on mission and need. For example, one moment it would be a Combat Ship equipped with a pair of double barrel GN Beam Cannons along with the ability to carry a couple of mobile suits before swapping out the Combat Containers with Cargo Containers to make it into a transport. This is something that I have been planning for a long while, and I hope you folks like it.

Alright. A few things I need to say before getting back to work on the story's Epilogue and maybe the first few chapters of the sequel. First, some things have changed when I wrote these shorts from what I originally planned like I mentioned. For example, I originally planned on only having four of the Modular Ships, but that was expanded to six when I came up with the Carrier Container to supplement the other Containers and the Combat Ships. Next both the Double GN Tau Drive and the large GN Alpha Drive Reactor where something that I originally planned to include in the story after some of the tech backgrounds about the Baikal Class mentioned it did sport a few Tau Drives to help power the ship along with providing the GN Particles for the GN Missiles. The Double Tau Drive was the result of me musing about it and that we never see a GN Drive that takes a pair of regular Drives and mate them together to create a dedicated shipboard reactor system for warships. Then in typical Celestial Being fashion, they would take the basic idea of this to create a superior version of the Double Drive: the GN Alpha Drive Reactor. These Double Drives are larger than Tau Drive version and sport a large particle capacity and while they are not True GN Drives in that they are a Semi-Perpetual Power Source they come quite close than any other mass produced GN Drives. Finally, I would like to mention that if you noticed I expanded a few things which were only touched on in the series itself. This includes the formation of another Non-Aligned Federation Country out of Australia and New Zealand. This was to give the Federation a larger hostile country than just the Middle Eastern Nations and the handful of African nations.

Alright, I believe these notes have gotten a bit larger then I wanted them to be therefore I am going to end this here. I shall see you all in the Epilogue! Which shall be hopefully around Christmas! Till then!