— 24 hours before the battle—

Sarah: How are your preparations coming Love?

Riker: Good so far, I practiced the simulation three times today, hit the weight room, took a shower after working on my mobile suit and keeping it in peak condition, so yeah, I'm pretty much done for today, I'm going to sleep for 10 hours then do it again and then go for another 8 but work harder, then sleep for the last 6 hours before the enemy base raid.

Sarah: Well same here, mind if we have some time together? I've felt a little frustrated lately after the battle, you didn't take me with you, so now you pay the price Love.

Riker: Ha, maybe I should cut that time down from 8 hours of training to 6.

Sarah: Make it so.

—They have their time and together, time passes, 11 hours and 30 minutes before the enemy base raid, the plan was to embed assault troops from the ship in the base via space junk and then they will stealthily move along and capture the bases power core and control center then have the mobile suits move in and capture the base where the assault team has opened the base for them. The base should be empty as in the recent battle they had defeated most of if not the whole garrison stationed in LHS 3872—

Riker: Damn, I guess I can never get tired of this routine.

—Riker looks at Sarah while she is sleeping, she is smiling, Riker actually looks at her back this time and sees it, an Alaya Vijnyana type E, it's implanted on her lower neck and back and it made Riker wonder if it's a type E, then who's brain is stored in her mobile suit, perhaps an old partner or an old loved one? He didn't care, just that he wanted to protect her at all costs and get the mission done, hopefully with high marks as well—

Riker: What time is it? Oh it's about time, hey hon, it's time to get up, let's get to the locker room and suit up ahead of time, I want to hit the ground running after the assault team infiltrates the enemy base and takes them over from the inside.

Sarah: And I'll be there with you. Hopefully they have someone tough on their side, possible an ace or two, that would be fun, but with aces even two is enough of a crowd when it comes to aces, but I love to shoot them down, prove to them that they are not the only special ones on the battlefield.

Riker: Yeah just remember, the gravity there is only 0.08 of earths gravity and that the temperature is 93 kelvin so even if equipment cools down quicker, as long as we don't turn off our suit on the surface of that planet we will be able to fight easily.

—They suit up and wait inside their Mobile Suits, as the time runs down they run diagnostics and paint a stealth coating on their suits, time runs down until its time and across the comms crackles—

Marines: It's time attaching to cargo and dropping to the planet, on this trajectory they will have to pick it up or destroy it before they get to the base chances are they will pick them up on the off chance of getting more resources.

Riker watches the containers fall to the planet, first phase of the atmosphere, second then escape from atmospheric entry

Riker: Looks like the enemy is going to pick them up rather than destroy them, perhaps they are not as well supplied as we once thought.

Sarah: Perhaps, we will find out, if they open it immediately then out cover is blown, if not, I believe in that captain.

Riker: Agreed his resolve is to not be trifled with.

—The captain that was in a coma eventually woke up, was retrained so he was back to being used to working in the field, They nicknamed him "Death" as he came close to dying multiple times and each time he towered over death saying not today, it left him with a scar that covered his whole body, he lost an arm and it was replaced by a prosthetic, in which he modified it with a small scale claw system—

Riker: I think he takes his nickname too seriously when it comes to that claw as one of his arms.

Sarah: Just let him have fun with it, they took his arm in the IED blast on Janus, he's using that against them in a way this is his version of getting payback.

Riker: Fair but still, never thought it would pan out like this.

Catapult operator: All units prepare for stealth launch, the marines have infiltrated the base and are in the process of taking over base facilities. Remember as soon as you get there only one ship should remain, but there will be 50 or more mobile suits serving as its defense force. And don't damage the base, we can use it as a hideout if we leave it undamaged, so don't destroy the main base blast doors.

—The stealth assault team consisted of Viper Squadron, Red Squadron, Flag Squadron (Francis' squadron) and Python who would jam all incoming and outgoing communications between the base and HQ which was in the next system—

Riker: Roger Cat, Red team drop capsule launching.

Viper: Viper team drop capsule, launching.

Francis: Flag team drop capsule, launching.

—They freefall towards LHS 3872A1a in the capsule pods, who use small bursts of O2 thruster and forces the pods to the ground—

Marine Captain: This is Death, resources and control center captured, setting off alarm for incoming suits now.

Riker: Here we go, 130 seconds to deployment.

—The plan is to deploy well above the base and then fight the enemy suits above the base and destroy any ships after they have undocked and moved away from the blast door, that is unless the ship is disabled before trying to take off—

Riker: Deploy now!

—The door on each pod shoots off, and mobile suits come out, the alarm for the base is blaring and the blast door is opening up, and just as described, 50 suits come out and a frigate is in the docking bay—

Riker: Sarah, snipe the frigate before it can get off the ground, either shoot it's bridge or the engine section.

Sarah: On it.

—Sarah takes aim and knock out the ships engines, during this time Riker covers her to keep Sarah from taking fire—

Sarah: Down boy.

—She fires and disables the frigate keeping it from moving, she then moves her shots from the ship to the mobile suits—

Riker: They must have expected us to come here, these mobile suits are hard to hit.

—All the suits were high mobility type Zakus or Reginlaze Snipers—

Viper: We may have to get within close combat range to hit theses guys.

Francis: Drop altitude, we can get some speed if we dive and then pull up early, we can hit them down to the surface, it will be hard but that's our only choice, after all we are still in full free fall.

Riker: Carr, go ahead of us, using your mobility and wings you should be able to go ahead of us, take out as many of those Reginlaze snipers as you can.

Carr: With pleasure sir.

Riker: Jerome, go with him, you'll be of more use on the ground than in the air.

Jerome: Roger.

Riker: Frank, can you hit targets from where your standing on top of the Mons?

Frank: Ready to fire, just give the word.

Riker: See if you can calculate where the target will be before they get there, if you can do that while they are distracted, you should be able to knock out those machines.

Frank: Easier said than done, they keep moving around in no pattern at all.

Riker: It's me and you Sarah, let's destroy these pieces of trash.

Sarah: Lets do what we can.

—Viper squadron, Flag team, Riker and Sarah engage in battle in the air and as thought hit the enemies towards the ground in which most of them hit the ground and are immobilized as their pilots are knocked out from the force of the suit hitting the ground, they were able to do it for a total of 15 suits but another 10 still remained in the air—

Python: This is the electronic warfare team, we are detecting 5 extra units, due to their color we expect them to be aces, prepare for combat.

Carr: I'll finish this then, damnit.

—Carr begins to speak and then is attacked by another transformable Mobile Suit slowing down progress—

Carr: Jerome, go I'll deal with this, Frank give him cover.

Frank: On it, switching firing positions, Olympus Mons, I need more energy, transfer some via the conduit I'm connected to.

—A surge of energy runs to the suit and a cargo lift opens next to Frank with more railgun rounds and power cords to avoid overuse of high intensity electronic power going through one cord continuously—

Riker: Sarah, finish the one your fighting, we have aces on the way.

Sarah: Done, ripped that Zaku to pieces.

Female Alien Ace Pilot: Your mine!

—A Reginlaze with a laser gun on its right hand and a lance on the other approaches Sarah at high speed, and begins firing—

Sarah: I don't think so, ALAYA VIJNYANA ACTIVATE!

—Sarah dodges the shots just barely and gets behind the ace—

Sarah: I'm not going to kill you immediately but I'm going to toy with you quite a bit, and then rip you to shreds.

Riker: Damn, she's going to over do it.

Male Alien Ace Pilot: Don't put your attention to something else, I'm going to be your opponent now.

—The alien Ace attacks prematurely and Riker dodges it without having a problem, he gets close and swings his heat ax and completely misses—

Riker: Is that so, the way you attack is reckless and immature.

—Riker kicks the aces suit in the chest and then comes back with the heat rod chain sword in which he swings it and it cuts off the arm of the Reginlaze—

Riker: Good grief, it feels like your not even worth fighting.

Alien Ace: Don't underestimate me!

Riker: I have estimated you and it seems like I overestimated you, you might as well leave and run. (To himself) Why did I just say that?

Viper: Wow, that sounded like you look down on him, oops, my hands are busy too, talk later.

Francis: I'm busy too.

Riker: I mean it, unless you want to die here for a system where you were not born, the world in which you live and trust is not here, I'm not your commanding officer but one thing is for sure. This battle was always a losing battle for your side, either surrender or leave those are your choices. (Points his beam rifle at the ace) Choose before I have to take your life.

Alien Ace: My name is Vlad Kai, remember it, it will be the name of the ace that takes you down defending his home.

Riker: Then go.

Sarah: Why let him go? He may get you later. (raises sniper rifle)

Riker: (Grabs the sniper rifles barrel and pushes it down) I believe that he wants to die defending his home, a more honorable death than dying for a space bunker in the boonies.

—The ace squadron is in full retreat and gets on the FTL shuttle which grabs all the suits and then after storing them warps out of the system—

Gen. Jackson: Finish the enemies nearby, they are in full retreat, don't overextend once they have left the base at about 30 km outside the base, let them go.

Riker: Thank you for your understanding General.

Gen. Jackson: I am not without my honor as well. Now let's get this base up and running, signal HQ that we have captured this base and it is free for our ships to dock here once again.

—an explosion shakes the Olympus Mons and the intruder alarms go off—

Gen. Jackson: This is the Olympus Mons, we are currently being boarded by hostile assault troops attempting to recapture this ship, any nearby fighters from other ships and assault teams, we need help. Lock the bridge down no one gets in or out without permission until the threat has been pacified.

—The Olympus Mons is already on a descent path and is currently heading towards the base in a docking pattern—

Riker: Sarah, lets go we can't let them have their way with the ship.

—They board the ship and secure the docking bay, Sayla is unconscious and leaning against the hangar controls, the screen is destroyed as she did it to force the doors to remain open—

Riker: Sayla, oh geez, Sarah I'm going to need a medical kit, it looks like she broke a few ribs from taking a shot by a rifle to the body armor.

—All teams land in the hangar and lock down their suits as to keep them from being stolen if the enemy came back through the hangar to escape—

Viper: Alright grab your guns, we are going to need to secure the ship room by room until we come in contact with the defenders on the ship.

Riker: I'll take point, Carr follow me, Frank and Jerome hold the hangar bay.

Red team: Roger that.

Viper: All vipers advance.

Francis: Flag team cover their rear we don't know if they are hiding or directly trying to take over the ship. And remember if we come across friendlies avoid blue on blue.

—Riker and Carr head to the residential section of the ship first and find multiple defenders dead as well as the Mulungu Special Forces Scorpion unit who are attacking the ship and inform the bridge of the enemies as well as the other teams trying to free the ship—

Riker: We need to get to the docking door, if we can free that up the marines can come in and help us.

—They move to the door and as expected the marines also received the message and detached a fire team to assist in defending the ship, Riker opens the door for them and gives the group leader Death himself a sitrep—

Riker: So far, no resistance, we have no idea on how the bridge is doing and we found out the team trying to retake the Olympus Mons is a Mulungu Spec Ops team named Scorpion.

Death: I've heard of these guys they are quite brutal, sorry you had to see some of the crew butchered. They'll pay for that.

Riker: It's not an issue, I'm assuming that it's not as bad as the burnt bodies on Janus right?

Death: No but it's still gruesome regardless.

Riker: I saw the burnt bodies, charred by plasma rifle fire.

Death: Oh, well then this is nothing, being burnt to death is much worse than death by stabbing or bullets.

Carr: Can we stop talking about the dead and move up, also I hate to be the spoilsport but we don't know where our allies or our enemies are on the ship so fingers on triggers but identify the target before you shoot.

Riker: I'll try to get in contact with the bridge. Riker to Bridge come in.

LtMaj. Jordan: This is the XO we are fighting the assault team in the main hallway to the bridge the Captain was hit, I am currently engaging enemies who are messing with the—— (The communications cut out)

Death: Looks like we have a rat in our system, whoever it is they are going to continue screwing with the system until we stop them.

Riker: I would say the best place to mess with the ships electronic systems would be near the kitchen or by the bridge, they are likely near the bridge where they are messing with our systems.

—They come across Viper and his squad and soon after Francis' flag team—

Riker: Since we are regathered, how does the kitchen and the surrounding area look?

Viper: It's clear, however it looked like someone was messing around the kitchen, we found blood so someone who is high up in their command or lower than them got shot and they did a quick fix on him inside the dining area.

Francis: The armory is secure nothing was tampered with, only the current guards weapons were taken from the armory, they were logged with who was taking each one.

Riker: Understood let's move up.

Viper: Hold, you hear that?

Francis: Yeah their commanding officer is in the ready room.

Riker: Carr on me, I'm gonna toss a flash grenade in.

Sarah: Hold on.

Riker: I thought you were going to help hold the Hangar?

Sarah: Your men are more than qualified to do that job and beside I'd be a nuisance as only people who have trained together can trust each other.

Riker: Fair point lets do this, attach suppressors don't want to blow your ears out in close quarters. Flash bomb out.

—The flash bomb goes in and detonates blinding and making the enemy's command structure crumble—

Riker: Take these ones prisoner, Francis and Viper secure the bridge, if they don't surrender, kill them, any enemy wounded is to be left alive assuming they have no more capability to fight.

Viper and Flag teams: Roger.

—They advance to find a full fledged battle, they decide that they can't decide the battle with their current weapons and make way for the marines who clear a path to rescue the units at the bridge—

Death: Fire, unless they all give up fire to your hearts content until they are dead or give up.

—They take the Scorpion command structure and two commandos prisoner which they sent to the moon base temporary POW camp where they were interrogated and imprisoned—

Riker: I need a drink.

Carr: Same here, I'll join you in a minute.

—At this time the battle had raged for a good 7 hours, a long firefight, but not longer than some of the most historic mobile suit firefights where for the Celestial Being team fought a firefight for an estimated 17 hours before being relieved and saved by reinforcements believed to be Gundam meisters as well but turned out to be fakes, using it to further a certain UN members plan, at this point Riker gathers his equipment, returns his service weapon for maintenance and logged the use of one flash grenade from his kit that would need replacing—

LtMaj Jordan: This is the XO to Riker, head to the conference room on the ship, you have 15 minutes to do all necessary preparations before the meeting.

Riker: Looks like that drink will have to wait.

—Riker get to the locker room take a quick shower as he was sweating profusely during the fight on the ship hoping that the ship had not come under enemy control but the XO took action and stepped up to the plate when it was necessary—

Riker: LtMaj. Riker Lucas entering.

LtMaj. King: Enter.

—The conference call was with GHQ (General Head Quarters) in which they discussed in wondering why Riker was so effective in battle even without his AI activated as for most pilots it took years to become that good where for Riker it took him only 8 months after being redesignated from scrap collector to a MWDF pilot in which they wished to strip him of this role if they found a good reason as they still saw him as a civilian entity, of course everyone on the ship thinks the opposite, as he is quite effective but the question still lingered, "How come he was so good when he only just recently that year began working with a mobile suit?—

War Master Carlton: I am going to ask questions and you are going to answer them with honesty, if we find that you are lying, we will arrest you on charges of use of a military mobile suit by a civilian, which is grounds for capital punishment, it is non-negotiable as he has been using the mobile suit for about a year now.

Riker: I LtMaj. Riker Lucas will answer with honesty and if such a case of lying were to arise, I take full responsibility.

War Master: Good you understand, already earning points with me, I'm keeping this part off the record for I have a personal compliment, for just starting eight months ago, already attained the Rank of Lieutenant Major thats quite a feat, reminds me of myself when I was first starting as a private and had to fight in the shit that was the ground during the times of war on earth before our expansion into other systems, and then we have to go to war again after my generation worked its rear end off to get peace.

Riker: I understand sir, as I see it these people are fighting without a good reason, you have my condolences sir.

War Master: Its not too much of a problem, not, lets finish and get this political bs out of the way.

Riker: I'd rather like that, as we have work to do thanks to that damned Scorpion Spec ops team infiltrating the ship during the final stages of the battle.

War Master: About that, with capturing their strategist their military is struggling to keep up as we have just too much intel on their plans and tactics, and now with capturing one of their commando squads we can interrogate them for intel on their bases, in doing so we can have this war come to an end much sooner. Hence comes the question of how you are able to take them alive easily, most forces would fight it out to the bitter end, the ask how you did it.

Riker: Its rather simple, for the strategist his ship chem in at the last moment of our accidental skirmish from when we warped in and we intercepted a whole enemy fleet, his dreadnaught showed up and me and the other two gundam pilots intercepted and destroyed the dreadnaught, he orders his troops to retreat, then when he stent the ship on a collision course with the Olympus Mons, we made it top priority to extract that target and intercept the ship before it can cause damage, of course we intercepted it and for the commandos those crazies went and killed 30 good men and we were able to treat 50 of the wounded before they could die from severe burns, our medical bay is extremely busy. Death headed the team to capture the remaining commandos after we had captured their leader and second in command. Their electronic warfare person died before we could uncover any secrets from them on how the enemy could hack the ships systems even though we created a new OS for it and the internal layout of the electronics as well as life support were changed to make it harder for something like this to happen and it still happened.

War Master: Also about your lady friend Sarah, they plan to take her for espionage, but I'm doing what I can to keep that from happening, when did you and your subordinate Sgt. Carr discover she was a missing Agent from 10 years ago?

Riker: We didn't know it was 10 years ago that she went missing but we only found out recently that he was an agent. Even so, its not her fault, she layed out the story for us, describing what happened before she disappeared and her unit went missing.

War Master and that story is?

Riker: She said that she did a wetwork job for the agency and when they figured she knew too much they tried to kill her, but it was useless as since her ID was sent to active she went to find out why it happened and ended up with a dead end as the agency station was destroyed and all the administration for the agency were killed in the station, the ship that targeted her was also never found, we believe her and that the ship that targeted her still exists and is still out there.

War Master: Ill find the report of the destruction of that station and the interceptor, but it will take time as it is probably in a sealed report file but if they do try to bring that up and try to court marshal her, ill use this testimony and that evidence to prove her innocence. The next question is your skills without the AI how did you gain such technique and skills in a short amount of time?

Riker: Before the military took me inI loved mobile suits, in fact I was addicted to the idea of getting into one, and so the scrapper administration recognized this and they assigned me to be put under the wing of the veteran scrapper ms pilot Soran, I learned conventional and unconventional warfare against mobile suits, when I first piloted Burner, all it wanted to do was give control to the AI Athena, even though it had registered me as its user, and in that first fight I never had so much power and efficient controls at my fingertips and soon after when I was picked up by then Captain Jackson of the Ares Fleet I continued my training and adjusted my mobile suit to have the most efficient controls as it can have, as well as made its output increased while needing less input. The simulators came in handy for that, I worked my butt off, especially since I was under the command of the Fleets ace Viper, or as we recently found out Comet.

War Master: Thats enough for today, we will speak of this more tommorow, as I am sure that you are tired from the adrenaline from the ship combat and from the Mobile suit combat, also keep my contact, it may come in handy some day.

Riker: Uh, yes sir.

—The conference broke off, and from there Riker headed straight for the pub on the ship, looking to hang out and rest, that was until the Ship Captain Gen. Jackson showed up—

Riker: Are you sure your allowed to drink yet?

Gen. Jackson: A gunshot wound to the leg isn't going to heal any slower or any quicker, if it was on my body sure but on an appendage, it doesn't bother me.

—Jackson takes a sip from a unknown bottle in which she drink slowly to savor it—

Riker: What is that? It has quite the peculiar smell.

Gen. Jackson: Moonshine, its rather dangerous if the mixture isn't done right but this guy manufactures it and makes it the same exact measurement down to the last ounce of fluid.

Riker: Can I try?

Gen. Jackson: Sure.

—Riker fills a shot glass with the fluid then downs it, its strong and at the same time has a nice flavor to it unlike the other beverages at the bar besides perhaps wine, or scotch—

Riker: This is good, where do you get it?

Gen. Jackson: Special order from Mars, I have a dear friend who makes it for me and speaking of friends, you helped my XO try to get closer to me didn't you?

Riker: Is there a problem?

Gen. Jackson: No its more like I didn't expect that from him but even then, he should have told me.

Carr: Mind if I join you?

Riker: Sure thing.

—They pass the time and enjoy the company, that was when Riker realized this was revenge for the loss of the base on Venus, where lives were lost defending their home from the enemy invasion force, some of which became crew members for the Joint fleet—

Riker: Revenge can be cold but it can also be sweet in this case revenge was sweet I guess.