RedRat8- None whatsoever. Yet

RoyalTwinFangs- No. Too much time to get him from Earth to space to make it in time.

Delaz Fleet

Anavel Gato

Twelve hours before the Earth Federation naval review

The time had come. The time to bring about the return of the Principality of Zeon as well as the end of the Earth Federation. It was time for the righteous to rectify the mistakes of recent times and bring about a more just government.

That was what Gato was thinking as he waited for the all-clear to launch. Waiting patiently in the stolen Gundam's cockpit, Gato thought over what the game plan was at the moment.

The first phase of Operation Stardust was rather simple. A portion of the fleet will launch itself against the soon to be starting Earth Federation naval review at Solomon. The plan was for the fleet to give Gato enough time to get into position in order for him to launch the Gundam's tactical nuclear warhead right in the middle of the Earth Federation forces, taking out not only a good portion of the Earth Federation space forces but also some of their top leadership as well, like admirals Kowen and Revil.

Though it's been estimated that a good amount of their men will die in this operation, no one backed out or refused to participate. The men and women of the Delaz fleet knew the score. They knew what was at stake and what will come if they succeed. And they were all willing to die in order to achieve it. These were true patriots and soldiers. Not those fools the Federation has in their military or those cold, calculating machines that now make up a growing portion of their military. And now they'll see those true soldiers in action.

A few minutes later of contemplation, Gato eventually received the message to launch. And with that, he launched himself, readying himself for what is to come.

Meanwhile

Konpei Island

"This is ECOAS team twenty-nine. We're in position and awaiting further instruction."

"This is ECOAS team twenty-four. We're also in position. Got nothing on the scopes. We'll continue monitoring."

"Londo Bell cruiser Guardian here. We're also in position and awaiting the Zeon forces to arrive."

"This is security station 4. We're getting nothing from the perimeter satellites at the moment. Neither our AIs for that matter. We'll continue monitoring for any anomalies."

These and many others were flooding secured channels as the Federation awaited for the Delaz fleet to arrive and begin their attack. To prepare for that attack, everyone stationed for the, soon to be starting, naval review was prepared for a fight. Though the ships, mobile suits, and personal were not in ideal formations for battle, everyone was ready to fight in unison when the Zeons come to attack. The ECOAS and Londo Bell forces, in particular, were ready for a fight. In addition to the teams and ships that are participating in the naval review, additional personal were hidden amongst the asteroids or inside Konpei Island, waiting for the signal for them to launch and attack the Zeon remnant forces. There were even rumors that a Headhunter team is here in case the Zeons have a Newtype among them. All in all, the Federation was as ready as they could be with what they have to deal with.

In all this activity, captain Synapse was going over the plan for him and his crew.

"Alright, we'll go over this one more time." Said Synapse as he addressed his mobile suit team as they waited for the enemy to arrive so they can stop them from launching a nuclear weapon against the Federation forces here. "Once the battle begins, you are all to launch immediately in order to quickly find the GPO2 Gundam and prevent it from launching its nuclear weapon against the assembled forces here. While it is preferable if you capture the GPO2 with minimal damage, high command has given you permission to destroy the GPO2 Gundam if you believe you can't stop it from launching its nuclear weapon on Konpei Island." After receiving confirmation, Synapse continued his instructions. "We'll be receiving help from several Londo Bell and ECOAS teams to help in this assignment. Do the Federation proud, pilots, otherwise, a lot of people on our side are going to die."

"Understood, sir, we won't fail." Said Burning as he and his team waited for the signal to deploy. With that done, everyone on the Albion waited for the Delaz fleet to arrive so they can end their threat to the Earth Sphere. Synapse, however, also wondered about one other thing. How the Delaz fleet managed to receive information about the GPO Gundams in the first place.

Nothing from the information that Cima had given him held anything that said of how the Delaz found out about the Gundam Project. Even the traitor they found couldn't have given them the amount of intel he found within the briefcase that Cima had given him, which, in addition, contained information about the original plans regarding the Gundam Project and the naval review, from scheduled routes and positioning of certain military assets during the naval review. Sure, it wasn't a military secret, but where the Gundams were and where they're being tested was in order to prevent the attempted theft of the units as well as preventing Zeon remnant forces from attempting to do the very thing that happened to the GPO2 Gundam or attacking Federation bases in a sad attempt to gain vengeance or something akin to that.

Either the Delaz fleet had some skilled hackers in its ranks, or they had a traitor in the ranks of Federation high command. The latter was quite scary to the captain of the Albion, even if it seemed unlikely to him. Though corrupt officials in the Federation weren't uncommon, as much as Synapse was ashamed to say, especially those within the upper echelons of the military, there shouldn't be any that will willingly help the Zeon remnant in toppling the Earth Federation.

There was just little incentive for such admirals or generals to side with the Zeon remnant against the Earth Federation, especially with the ones they have currently. They were either confident that the Earth Federation can be reformed, such as Revil and Kowen, care little of monetary bribes, such as general Fenix, were comfortable with their positions of power in the military to bother getting more, such as admiral Wyatt, believed in the ideals of the Earth Federation or were very confident that any attempt to betray the Federation will be found out and there will be hell to pay on those that dare thinking of betraying the Federation. The fate of general Elron was an example of such a fate.

And speaking of that general, he only helped the Principality of Zeon for money, not for their ideals. And most of the Zeon remnant groups, if not all of them, didn't have any money that is of any value to those in the Earth Federation. So, the only effective way of bribing Federation officials was not an option for the Delaz fleet. Even if they did have any sort of money that'll be accepted by Federation officers, Synapse doubted they had sufficient amounts of such currency to get a high-ranking Federation officer to help them out. So, how did they gain so much insider information? Whatever the answer was, Synapse feared greatly that it'll come to bite the Earth Federation in time.

Unfortunately, he couldn't ponder on it more as he suddenly received an alert of Konpei Island's command center. The enemy had been spotted and first response units were intercepting them now. With that, Synapse then ordered the launching of all mobile suits in order to find the GPO2 Gundam and stop it from launching its nuclear weapon. As he watched as his mobile suits quickly launched from the Albion, he prayed they or another mobile suit team can stop the GPO2 Gundam before it inflicts a crippling blow to the Earth Federation space force.

Meanwhile

Delaz Fleet forces

"Incoming!" Yelled a Zaku F2 pilot as he dodged an attack from a GM command II mobile suit, only to be sniped by a GM sniper III. As this was happening, a defense satellite armed with beam guns meticulously aimed and destroyed a Rick Dom and a Zaku F2 as they tried to avoid fire from several GM command IIs.

"The Federation reacted quicker than I thought!" Yelled a Zeon commander as he tried to shoot down a GM command II with his Zaku F2's bazooka, however, the mobile suit in question just dodged the attack and counterattacked, taking out the arm that held the bazooka.

"How could to these gravity-born scum managed to react so quickly?!" Demanded a Rick Dom pilot as he destroyed a defense satellite, only to be destroyed by a lucky shot from a Salamis cruiser, who fired all its main guns at the Rick Dom. Unfortunately, it then got swarmed by new mobile suits developed by the Delaz fleet. These new mobile suits seemed to possess similar parts to Zaku F2s as well as, noted by several AIs, parts from old Gattle fighter bombers.

The Salamis cruiser managed to shoot down a few of these new mobile suits with its laser defense turrets but was still swarmed by them as they circled around the ship and began shooting at it. Fortunately, their armaments were pitiful, containing only a three-barreled Vulcan Gun of the 40mm caliber on one arm and a beam saber on the other. As a result, there was time for several Federation mobile suits and fighters to arrive and save the ship before it was destroyed.

And while this was happening, even more, Federation forces were arriving to the location where the Delaz fleet forces arrived and began adding their own mobile suits and firepower to those already engaging the Delaz fleet. With those forces were teams from Londo Bell and ECOAS, the latter of which had their mobile suits painted grey with purple visors. As the Federation forces and those of the Delaz fleet engaged with each other, it was clear to any spectator that the Federation would be the victor of this engagement.

The Delaz fleet forces numbered at around six dozen mobile suits of varying models, from the old Zaku I to the more modern but still obsolete new mobile suits created by the Delaz fleet, that were quickly reduced in numbers as more Federation mobile suits arrived to take down the Zeon remnant forces. The Delaz fleet knew this is as well, but that didn't deter the Zeon forces from fighting. They kept fighting and fighting, even as the Federation arrived in such numbers that they kept on fighting as best they could. For they knew that they weren't the ones that will bring the end of the Federation. The one that was is currently moving into a position to do so.

Utilizing all the thrusters placed on the GPO2 Gundam, Anavel Gato was making his way towards the most optimal position, dictated by their top analysts, to launch his nuclear weapon at Solomon so he can inflict maximum casualties on the Federation. As he made his way to his position, he overheard his fellow Zeon soldiers fighting for their lives against the oppressive Federation. How they're dying against the superior might and, as much as it pained Anavel to admit, experienced soldiers of the Federation. Yet, Anavel was proud that his fellow comrades were undeterred from fighting the Federation lackeys, despite knowing those advantages, and were giving their all in fighting the Federation. Even as they died without gaining a single kill to their name, they refused to back down and continued to fight for the beliefs they loved so deeply.

These were warriors and soldiers. Not those that the Federation calls upon to fight its battles for it. They don't believe in the ideals of the Earth Federation. They only cared about two things. The money the Earth Federation gave them to be their attack dogs or their own, insignificant lives.

Only the people of Side 3 and other Spacenoids knew what it means to fight for a cause worth fighting for. Only they knew what it truly means to fight for what you believe. And though it may seem that the spark is gone from his people, he knew that it was still there amongst the people of Side 3. It was simply waiting to be reignited again. And that will soon come to pass.

Placing more thrust into the GPO2's thrusters, Anavel Gato quickly sped towards his assigned position. Eventually, he arrived at his assigned location, straight above Konpei Island.

Gritting his teeth at the Federation desecrating Solomon, Gato readied the launcher for its part in Stardust. With a loud whirl, the two-piece nuclear launcher snapped into place. A green light appeared in the cockpit to signify that the launcher was ready. Smirking, Gato then had the Gundam aimed down at Solomon, directly at the two large warships that a majority of the Federation forces were congregating around.

Glaring at the Federation forces with all the hate he had for the Earth Federation, Gato then yelled out.

"Solomon! Your vengeance has…" He couldn't say anymore when alarms blared out in his mobile suit, tearing Gato away from his duty to see a Federation Gundam charging straight at him, it's green eyes emotionless as it fired its beam rifle at the launcher.

Seeing that it was targeting the launcher, Gato quickly moved it away in a bid to protect it and the nuclear warhead from being destroyed, both to save his own life as well as to protect the only thing that can ensure that Stardust doesn't end prematurely.

He managed to avoid the first few shots, but then the Gundam charged forward, using its back thrusters to close the gap between them, and then slashed upward with its beam rifle, stunning Gato. He then figured out why the pilot would do such a thing as a small beam blade came out from a small emitter attached at the bottom of the rifle's barrel, slicing right through the barrel of the launcher before the enemy Gundam then shoulder slammed into the torso of the GPO2, causing it to lose it's grip of the launcher, resulting in it floating away from the two Gundams.

"No!" Yelled out Gato as his weapon floated away from him and with it the chance of resurrecting Zeon. Yelling out in anger, he brought out a beam saber and engaged the Gundam that had jeopardized the entire operation. Clashing with the beam rifle's small beam saber, Gato tried to move away from the Gundam to move closer to the launcher that was currently floating away from him. But every time that he tried, the enemy Gundam pressed his attacks in order to prevent him from doing so. And as each second passed, Gato felt fear and despair growing within him as the chance to bring forth the return of the principality of Zeon grows smaller and smaller. It was making him reckless as desperation started to take in, resulting in him being sloppy.

Eventually, with the launcher almost out of reach and sight, the desperation that was emitting from Gato won out. With a simple barrage from the GPO2's vulcan guns as well as a thrust powered kick, Anavel managed to daze the enemy enough to make a quick run for the launcher. With the launcher in sight and within his grasps, Gato had been so focused on it that he didn't account for the idea that the Gundam had been traveling with a group of other mobile suits or if the Gundam had an AI installed. Just as he was about to grasp the launcher, another series of alarms blared out in his mobile suit. Before he could even respond, another wave of crashes began permeating throughout his mobile suit. One, in particular, was so hard that it caused him to slam his head onto the side of his cockpit, breaking his helmet's visor, sending glass everywhere.

As he recovered from that nasty hit, Gato saw a GM command II mobile suit painted all jet black with a blood-red visor. With that, Gato could have sworn that he saw that, instead of normal manipulators, the GM's fingers were shaped like claws. But before he could confirm that, another wave of crashes came about as other GM mobile suits slammed into the GPO2 in order to disable both it and the pilot, seemingly uncaring if they killed said pilot or not. As this was happening, Gato wallowed in his failure and how, once again, the Federation had emerged victorious and that the spacenoids will be under their oppression longer until someone else comes to free them from the oppression of the Federation.

"Why!?" Thought Gato as screamed internally at his failure. "Why must humanity be kept under the tyrannical rule in this day and age? Why can't these fools in the Federation military realize that they're nothing more but tools used by those kept prisoner by Earth's gravity to oppress those that represent humanity's des…" He couldn't say anymore as a final attack from a GM command II finally knocked him out and disabled the GPO2 Gundam.

Meanwhile

Kou Uraki

"Kou, are you alright?!" Yelled out Burning as the rest of the team arrived to assist Kou and Rook. The two had taken off immediately when Rook found the most ideal position which the Zeons will use to launch their nuclear weapon on Konpei Island. Equipped with new thrusters and balancer that enabled the GPO1 to fight well in space, the Gundam speed towards the location, both pilot and AI confident that they found the GPO2 Gundam. Luck seems to be in their favor as they were right, and they managed to stop the GPO2 in time. Not to mention they helped in ensuring its capture as well.

"Yeah, I'm fine sir." Said Kou as he shook his head. That last attack from the GPO2 had him dazed for a bit. Hopefully, there wasn't any lasting damage to his brain. "Just hit my head a bit when that Gundam kicked the cockpit. Might need to go to a doctor, sir." Burning nodded in agreement at that before looking over to where the GPO2 was and saw it being handled by a team of GM command II mobile suits. Upon seeing the jet-black colors and the red visor, Burning instantly knew that they were part of the Headhunters' special forces group.

"Those nutjobs are here?!" Thought Burning as he saw them handling the retrieval and capture of the GPO2 Gundam and its pilot, doing it without any sort of care towards the pilot or the mobile suit either.

Burning knew about the Headhunter special forces group and was none too thrilled to see them here. The Headhunters were, putting it lightly, were nothing more than sadistic, AI killers that do nothing but harm the Federation's reputations if the public ever got wind of them.

The Headhunters, much like Londo Bell and ECOAS, were formed after the One Year War. But unlike the other two and other special forces groups, they were formed entirely to deal with Newtypes and were comprised entirely of AIs. The reason was simple. After the One Year War, the EXAM system was deemed unsafe to be used by Federation high command after more information came to light about its true origins. As a result, all data concerning the system was destroyed and the creator, professor Chlust Moses, was arrested and sent to a maximum-security prison in Alaska. As he was being taken away, it was reported that he raged that the Federation was making a huge mistake and that they needed the EXAM system in order to fight the greatest threat to humanity, the Newtypes. That was the last thing that Burning knew about what happened to Moses since he was arrested, having never bothered to find out more because he didn't give two shits about that madmen. He heard about what he did to a young girl by Amuro and another pilot by the name of Yuu Kajima in order to gain the ability to create his EXAM system. He was gone forever and Burning was glad for it.

That being said, the threat of Newtypes was something that, for some reason, unnerved some officers and politicians in the Earth Federation enough that they wanted an elite unit to deal with Newtypes. As a result, based on combat records regarding Zeon Newtypes against Federation AIs, it was decided to make a unit comprised solely of AIs as, according to said combat records, the AIs were the reason that some Federation pilots survived or even beat some Newtypes during the One Year War. Despite arguments that those were done solely because most of those Newtypes on Zeon sides were inexperienced in combat, the unit was approved and so the Headhunters were born.

The AIs that made up the Headhunters were purposely built with the notion of eliminating enemy Newtypes at all costs. As a result, the creators of these Headhunter AIs built that differently compared to other AIs. Burning didn't know what exactly they did to achieve this, but the end results were obvious. They created AIs with no empathy for those that get caught in their sights or any care for the rules of engagement.

To test them out and to gauge if they're as useful as the politicians hoped they would be, they sent the Headhunters out in a joint assignment with Londo Bell to take out a small outpost of Zeon remnant forces.

It wasn't anything special. Just a platoon or two worth of soldiers with some old Zaku I or II mobile suits. The only thing worth about the outpost was that it contained a handful of supposed Newtypes amongst its ranks.

Even from the beginning, it was clear that there was something wrong with the Headhunters. The Londo Bell soldiers, even the AIs, were uncomfortable with having the Headhunters around as they twitched erratically and they looked at every single human with what can only be described as hatred and bloodlust if that was even possible for machines.

Things took a turn for the worse, however, when they went into battle. The Headhunters were the first to be deployed and it was clear to everyone that they were utterly psychotic. Whoever they fought, whether it be from mobile suit combat or combat with actual human soldiers, they fought and killed with no mercy. Even as they begged for it, the AIs gave none. If anything, it just made them more aggressive and eager to murder their opponents. On that very mission, Burning had to save one Headhunter mobile suit from destruction. The reason was that it was busy ripping apart a Zaku I that it had disabled. After saving it, he heard the begging of the pilot as the Headhunter AI resumed it's merciless attacks on the defenseless pilot, meticulously ripping apart the mobile suit with a beam saber. The act left him disgusted, but not as much as when he saw Headhunter AIs in GM trooper platforms rip apart two surrendering Zeon remnant soldiers before his very eyes when they found them hiding in a storage room.

When he reported this to Bright, the young captain was disgusted at it and made sure to add it in his report of the Headhunters. When high command heard of this, Revil immediately tried to decommission the Headhunter unit but was overruled by the Federation high council, who had little care to how the Headhunters operated or their conduct so long as they did their jobs. Though Revil had significant influence in the military with the help of Kowen and other likeminded high ranking officers, who were also disgusted with the Headhunters, and even in the government in the form of Adenauer Paraya, who advanced in his position after the One Year War on account of his assignment on Side 6, it was nothing compared to the entirety of the Federation high council who were in support of the Headhunters. As a result of this support, the Headhunters were allowed to operate, much to the disgust of the more progressive and moral officers in the Federation high command. Despite this, they compromised with each other.

The Headhunters were kept to under to a dozen teams and no more with constant monitoring of them to ensure they are loyal to the Federation. And they are only deployed to sites where there's a confirmed or suspected enemy Newtype amongst their ranks. They are also kept far away from the civilian populace at all times in order to prevent potential homicides as well as to prevent the general populace from knowing about their existence for it'll be a PR disaster if people know even the most basic details of the Headhunters. Added to this, their activities are also highly classified, much like ECOAS, to the point that the only thing the civilian populace, and most of the military for that matter, know about the Headhunters were that they exist. And that was something everyone would like to keep it that way.

Burning, himself, would like to see them gone as he saw them as a mistake and a bomb just waiting to go off, so did Frost, but he couldn't. So, he had to tolerate them along with everyone else that knew of their purpose and sadistic way of dealing in things. Much like the rest of his team and all others that despised their existence.

But going back to the present, Burning was helping Kou as he and Rook managed to regain control of their machine. Once they fully managed to do so, he let go and asked Monsha what's the situation everywhere else.

"It's a massacre, sir." Said Monsha as he saw the rest of the Federation armed forces destroying the last remnants of the Delaz fleet forces. "We're wiping out the enemy forces with ease. They were banking on that nuke launch from that stolen Gundam of theirs. Speaking of which, you took that thing out yet?"

"Affirmative." Said Burning as he looked at the Headhunter mobile suits went away from them, stolen Gundam in tow along with its weapon. "Headhunters are taking it away now along with its pilot."

"What!? Those crazies are here!?" Yelled Monsha upon hearing the Headhunters were here. "God damn!? I feel sorry for that Zeon pilot. He better pray or something that they're feeling merciful otherwise he's going to end up wishing he's never been born."

"You and me both, Monsha." Thought Burning before he contacted Kou. "Alright, Kou, let's head back to the Albion to get you patched up. I don't want to have you fight with a potential concussion." Kou wanted to protest, thinking he was perfectly fine, but nonetheless agreed. There's not like there was much to do anyway and he already did more than enough for the cause. With that, the two pilots quickly sped away towards their mothership. Burning, along the way, had Frost contact both Synapse and Federation high command of their successful prevention of the Delaz fleet from launching their nuclear weapon against Konpei Island, much to the relief of those present at Konpei Island. Once this battle was over, there will surely be some commendations be given to Kou Uraki for his role in defeating the GPO2 Gundam. But for now, there was a battle to be done.

In the span of the next half an hour the Federation forces whipped out the remaining Delaz fleet forces, who were confused at the fact that Gato hadn't destroyed the enemy forces yet with his GPO2 Gundam. Some thought he had been delayed in doing so due to either maintenance issues or he had engaged some Federation soldiers that managed to find him, preventing him from launching the nuke, and so continued to fight their hardest. Others feared that he was destroyed and so despaired over the loss of the Delaz fleet along with the chance to bring about the return of the Principality of Zeon, making it easier for the Federation pilots to destroy them. And with them gone, the threat to Konpei Island and the Earth Federation was over. Operation Stardust was a complete failure. Now all they had to do was deal with the other groups of the Delaz fleet and they can officially end the threat of the Delaz fleet.

Fortunately, for the Federation, they already have forces sent to deal with those the Delaz fleet sent to deal with the other part of Operation Stardust. They can only hope that those sent to deal with that portion have completed their objective. For them, however, they have another assignment that was equally important. Dealing with the main Delaz fleet forces, which were located in a fortress called the Garden of Thorns, located in the debris-filled area that used to be Side 5's original location during the One Year War.

Meanwhile

Cima Fleet

Colony relocation route

Cima couldn't help but chuckle as she watched as the Federation destroy her entire Cima fleet. Even as her men fought against them, even destroying a couple of mobile suits, it didn't matter. The fate of her men and herself had been sealed the moment they had been selected to partake in this part of Operation Stardust. But, honestly, she and her men didn't care. They got the vengeance they so craved for. Delaz and his remnant group were finished and with it, the hope of a resurgence of the Principality of Zeon. For, unlike other groups, they didn't have a man like Delaz to inspire or gather a significant number of forces under his command. No one, as far she knew, had the charisma, even if it's misguided and foolish, or the tenacity to try to bring forth a new Principality of Zeon. So, without him, the threat of another Principality was gone forever. And, because of that, Cima and her men were satisfied. It's just a pity that her partner had decided to get rid of her after she had outlived her usefulness.

Cima, however, wasn't a fool and knew that he would do this to her and her men. So, she left a little parting gift for that old captain. If he's as smart as she thought he was, then he'll figure out that there are still sharks out there that are just waiting to take a bite out of the Earth Federation. This time, however, from within.

Opening up her fan, Cima watched as a pure black mobile suit came straight for her ship's bridge and opened fire, obliterating her and her entire bridge staff.

Few hours later

Konpei Island

A phone rang for a moment before someone picked it up. As soon as they put the phone up to their ear, they spoke.

"Is it done?" Asked the person. After receiving an answer. "Good. You've done well Captain Om. Now, ready up for the next portion of the plan while I deal with the remaining Zeon scum." With that, the person ended the call before booting up a terminal. The person then typed in a code before sending it towards a particular group of machines.

Headhunter Columbus carrier

Konpei Island

"You blasted machines! Do you have any idea what you've done!? You've helped ensure the continued oppression of the human race! And you claim to be built to be guardians of humanity's future and prosperity. How can you be such things when you help protect an institution of oppression and corruption of people just for being born in space. You all are nothing more than pets and dolls for a…" Gato ranted on as he glared at the Headhunter AIs, all in GM trooper platforms, uniquely made with claws instead of normal manipulators, as they all looked at the Delaz fleet pilot with their red visors. The AIs just let the man ramble on as they waited for further orders. They had no idea why they were ordered to have this man stay on their assigned ship and not taking him directly to Konpei Island as a prisoner of war, but none of them particularly cared. A few of them wished to just kill him right now violently to both stop him from yelling and to satiate their need for physical violence.

Eventually, however, they all received a series of orders directly from high command. Upon receiving it, they all spasmed out a bit before their visors glowed even brighter. Flexing out their claws the group of Headhunter AIs then pounced on Gato as he finished his rant.

The hangar bay of the ship was then filled out with the screams of Anavel Gato as the Headhunters ripped him apart bit by bit.