Hachiko couldn't help but feel self-conscious as she sat in the shuttle's passenger cabin. Even Honah couldn't hide her discomfort as everyone else on the shuttle kept glancing at their chests, specifically the small black and silver medal bar on their left breast, signifying their receipt of the Guardian's Star for their actions almost a month ago. They were probably wondering how a pair of fresh ensigns just transitioning to their first operational posting, could have possibly earned such honours.

Admiral Wein, commander of Starbase Cephalon, had personally presented the two of them with their citations, in front of all the cameras necessary to record the event for state media. Despite all the praise she received, Hachiko couldn't feel elated about her part in those events, she could never forget the people she failed to save.

While it was never officially announced exactly who were on those shuttles, Hachiko had learned through the Cephalon grapevine that a lot of high-ranking officers had been visiting earlier that day and they'd been scheduled to leave at about that time. It didn't take much imagination to figure it out from there. After all, the Federation wouldn't have conducted such a perilous operation just to take out a pair of shuttles with random people on them. She never heard if they ended up catching the invaders or not, but she did know that the two Zakus she'd seen leave the base never returned.

Shortly before she shipped out, Hachiko had been granted the chance to correspond with her family. They had all seen the video of her receiving her medal and had been quite surprised. Her parents were so proud they actually burst into tears and they all wished her luck on her assignment.

Hachiko's assignment was intended as a reward for her actions, sending her right into a front line combat unit. Everyone who joined up wanted to get right into the fight, but Hachiko thought she might have preferred garrison duty, which would free up someone else who wanted to go, but she couldn't exactly tell anyone that. Still, she would do her duty, as always.

The pilot announced they were nearing their destination and to prepare for docking. Unfortunately, their shuttle had no view ports, but Hachiko had tied her personal computer tablet into the shuttle's systems, allowing her to see through some of its external cameras.

The ship they were approaching was a Papua-class light carrier, though they also served as supply ships in the fleet. Three-hundred metres long the ship consisted of two hulls suspended above a narrow command hull by large connecting struts, making the ship look upside-down. The two hulls contained the engines and hangar spaces, and while they hadn't been initially designed for it, they could carry dozens of mobile suits. In fact, the first ship-based launches of mobile suits in the Collective had been from converted Papuas.

The shuttle moved to a docking port on the outside of one of the twin hulls and extended a rectangular connecting vestibule that sealed against the ship's hull before the docking port extension extruded and connected with the docking port of the ship itself. After the light over the hatch turned green and the pilot gave them clearance, they disembarked. As officers, Hachiko and Honah went first.

A petty officer waited to greet them. "Welcome to the Serios Bay, Ma'ams. I'll take you to your commander." Unceremoniously, she guided them deeper into the ship and down a series of passages before stopping in front of a door, whose signboard read "Cmdr. 128th".

They knocked on the door and a curt, "enter" came from inside. The petty officer opened the door and stepped inside. "Ma'am, the new pilots are here."

"Very well, PO, send them in."

The petty officer left the office and Hachiko and Honah went inside.

The office itself was predictably spartan, with the only personalization of the space being the single picture frame attached to the simple, light alloy desk by a magnet. The takenam sitting behind the desk looked at them with critical, green eyes, her dark-purple tentacles twisting ever so slightly.

The two ensigns saluted and said in stereo, "Ensigns Turfer and Meadows reporting to 128th Squadron commander."

The commander looked between them then leaned back in her chair. "At ease, ensigns." Her voice was calm but it had a stringent undertone. "I'm Lieutenant-Commander Stovni. I've been commanding the 128th for the past four months. You two are our first replacements since then."

Hachiko winced internally. Four months without replacements? Perhaps the war was pushing them further than they thought.

"Do either of you have time on the -06F model?"

"Only an hour of sim time, Ma'am," Honah replied. Hachiko nodded to indicate the same for her. The new Zaku models had just come out and the hour of simulation time they'd received for it had come only after they'd received their new posting orders. Stovni closed her eyes and sighed.

"Well, unfortunately, you won't get any time to familiarize yourself with it before the op. We'll be going into combat soon."

Hachiko and Honah looked at each other anxiously. "Already?"

Stovni gave them a wolfish grin. "You two have wonderful timing. We're about to partake in a major operation and you arrive just in time to bring my squadron up to full strength. Aren't we all fortunate?"

Honah straightened. "Yes, Ma'am! We'll gladly take part!"

Stovni unbuckled herself and floated up from her seat. "Try to keep that enthusiasm over the next few hours, Ensign. Meantime, we'll find you two your racks so you can stow your gear. We might have just enough time to introduce you to the rest of the squadron before our briefing."

As the commander passed them, Hachiko shared a grimace with Honah. Neither of them expected to be thrown into the fire this quickly and with so little preparation. Was this just how it was at the front or did their previous combat experience (if it could be called that) lead everyone to think they didn't need the extra time?

The next twenty-four hours were going to be interesting, to say the least.

The mood was surprisingly light – even jovial as the pilots of Serios Bay piled into the briefing room. With no gravity, everyone clung to bars attached to the floor and walls, all facing the front of the room where a large screen dominated everyone's vision.

Serios Bay's captain entered the room, followed closely by his two kaaslan – his female bodyguards. A few other officers also entered.

Like most Octarian males, the captain was small in stature; however, he had a presence that far outstripped his physical size, and when he spoke, his voice rang clear and loud in the room.

"Today we are conducting another drop operation in accordance with OPERATION: BOOSTER. For those of you new to Task Force Sixty-two, OPERATION: BOOSTER involves the supply of reinforcements to our forces on Terra currently engaged in major offensive operations. Today, we'll be bringing reinforcements to our forces on the Orican continent."

The screen blinked to life and showed the Orican continent, the largest continent on Terra. It stretched furthest from East to West, widest just below the equator where bands of dry desert and savannah separated the more hospitable climates, tapering towards the south until it broke up into an archipelago of large islands. It was home to several neutral nations and Octarians had traditionally held the North East and southern tip of the continent, but the Federation largely dominated. As the largest landmass separating the home continents of the Inklings and the Octarians, wars between them had been fought on the continent for centuries if not millennia.

The view zoomed in to the north-eastern region of the continent and showed a double line snaking from north to south, one half red and the other half blue.

"This is the front line as it was last we updated. Those of you who've been here a long time can see just how far it's moved. We have completely pushed the Federation out of the North Eastern region and out of the former nation of Sluggotah. We've taken over the city of Sapurro and reactivated the former Federation base there which is supporting the new Southern Army Group. That is where we will be dropping our reinforcements. Naturally, the Feddies are well aware of what we're doing and this time they seem keen to try and do something about it."

The screen displayed a strategic map, showing Task Force Sixty-two approaching Terra and a Federation fleet working its way around the planet to meet them.

"Up until now, the Feddies have been mighty nervous about letting their ships out of their safe little fortresses but now they seem like they want to play. We don't know what new tricks they might have come up with but we do know that they've got short range missiles somewhat working now, so be careful of those.

"We expect them to intercept us approximately twenty minutes before we planned to make the first drop. If they come at us full burn, which they very well might, they could hit us as soon as an hour before the drop.

"Unfortunately, our scouts haven't been able to get close enough to estimate how many ships are coming. It seems some of them have minovsky reactors so while some of the ships are clear of the fog, some of them aren't, and they aren't flying in typical formation either, which makes guessing even more difficult. However, it doesn't matter. Our mission remains to conduct this drop and bring all the required reinforcements down to Sapurro, regardless of the enemy's intentions. If they want to fight then we must fight as well and I would say we are better at it than they are."

A few chuckles echoed around the room and the Captain smirked. "That's the right attitude. Now, onto the weather report…"

Forty-five minutes after the briefing, Hachiko was getting suited up with the rest of the squadron. In her stomach, butterflies danced merrily and she felt contractions in her ink sac. These feelings apparently weren't shared with the rest of the squadron as they talked jovially with each other and made wagers on each other's kills.

"You nervous, Hachiko?" Honah asked, soft enough that the others couldn't hear.

"Yes. This is our first real battle. This isn't like what happened at Cephalon."

Honah smiled and tenderly coiled a tentacle around one of Hachiko's. "Don't worry, we'll be fine. We're with an experienced squadron and the Feddies haven't won a fight against us yet."

Hachiko hoped this would not be the first.

"Quit gabbing, all of you!" Commander Stovni snapped. "We have an enemy to fight and a task force to defend. Don't act all cocky and expect an easy fight. The captain's right, this won't be the kind of engagement we're used to. We lost the last war thanks to 'victory disease'. Don't any of you dare forget that."

Her pep talk done, the commander floated towards the air lock and the more senior officers followed her, save for Lieutenant Stormwave, the squadron's executive officer. There wasn't enough room in the air lock for the whole squadron to go at once.

Stormwave looked over at Hachiko and Honah. "Are you two ready?"

They both came to attention. "Yes, Ma'am."

"We'll do our duty."

"We'll kill 'em all!"

Hachiko winced, thinking Honah might have come on a little strong, but the XO made no comment.

They all waited until the airlock opened again then they donned their helmets and went inside.

Serios Bay had two main hangars for mobile suits, one in each of its twin hulls. Their hangar was in the starboard hull and it was busier than she had ever seen the hangars at Cephalon.

Techs flew back and forth, equipment was exchanged and installed, and there was plenty of shouting for an environment with no atmosphere.

Her tentacles massaged the controls on the inside of her helmet, reducing the range of her proximity comms, which reduced the noise dramatically.

Hachiko kept along the bright-yellow safety rails as she made her way further down the hangar to where her new mobile suit was fastened, her new MS-06 Zaku IIF, painted in the standard CAF dark grey. Curiously the number 8 had been painted in black on the right shoulder shield.

Externally, there was little to separate the F model from the C model she was used to, other than the slightly different thruster arrangement and the far more distinct trio of armoured spikes bursting out of the left shoulder pauldron. She wasn't really sure what their purpose was but they certainly added an extra level of menace to the machine.

The tech overseeing the readiness of her mobile suit gave her a casual salute as she approached.

"It's all ready, Ma'am. Fresh from the factory though so I don't know what you'll have to do to break these new F models in."

Hachiko grabbed onto the one of the Zaku's external handles and slipped in through the open airlock hatch.

"My father works in one of the factories that makes these. He told me the big thing to worry about are the thruster gimbals. If the 'suits have been transported or stored improperly, they can get sticky."

"That so?"

The tech followed her and helped her get strapped into the seat. It was remarkable, being in a machine nobody else had flown outside the construction trials.

"All set, Ma'am?"

Hachiko wriggled a little in her seat, getting comfortable and tested her straps. "I seem to be secure. Adjust the pedals please. The last person in here must have been a giant."

The tech laughed and slid towards the floor and moved the pedals closer. "That about right?"

Hachiko moved her feet on the pedals, testing how they felt. "Can you increase the tension a little bit?" The tech turned a knob on the footplate and Hachiko moved her feet again. Little more… there, that's right."

She moved the arm controls next and felt satisfied. "I wish I had more time to adjust things but it seems pretty well squared away. Thank you."

"No problem, Ma'am. We've already done all the usual checks so short of flying, everything should be ready to go for ya."

Hachiko began the startup sequence and the instrument panel winked to life, followed by her viewscreens. She noted her field of view was slightly better than in the C model. She turned on the comms and synchronized them with her helmet. Now she could hear the voices of her squadron mates checking in.

"Good luck, Ma'am."

"Thanks, you too."

The tech gave another quick salute and left. Hachiko closed the inner hatch then continued through her startup checks. Only when she was finished did she close the outer airlock door. Once she was sure it was secure and the armoured plate had closed, she checked in on comms with the rest.

"Delta Actual, this is Four-four, reporting in."

"Good to finally hear from you, Four-four. Did the techs forget to remove some of the bubble wrap?"

Hachiko smiled a little. It was good to hear that, despite her seriousness, her commander was the kind to joke when faced with adversity and felt a little of her own anxiety fade a little. "No, Ma'am, just took me a while to get settled. I'm on standby and ready to go."

At that moment, control cut through the comms. "Delta Squadron, Beta is away. You can begin deployment.

Stovni replied back immediately, her earlier humour replaced with stoic seriousness. "Copy, control. Delta Actual heading out.

"Alright, one-twenty-eight, this is our first show with a full roster since Alexandria. The rookies are gonna' be watching you so don't screw up!"

Hachiko watched patiently as one Zaku after another was picked up by the overhead crane and brought forward to the launch deck. All the while she was still fighting the butterflies flapping about her insides.

This was so different from fighting those stealth bombers. Back then, she hadn't had time to be scared. She tried to think of a poem, something from her memory that might calm her down.

In spirit mine, darkness rejected,

My good deeds unlauded,

In God's mighty arms, my soul protected,

My spirit continues undaunted.

Hachiko let out a breath. She felt a little better. Even though the butterflies continued their waltzing, her ink sac had at least unclenched. Finally, her turn was up.

The crane slid on its rails into her alcove and latched onto her. The techs unfastened her Zaku from the deck then the crane picked her up and carefully carried her towards the front of the hangar and to the launch deck.

Ahead of her, Honah's Zaku was put into position and then the catapult shot forward, flinging her out of the hangar bay. Hachiko waited as the catapult retracted and the crane moved her forward.

She looked around her cockpit one last time, searching for anything that might be amiss. She looked almost straight up and frowned at a piece of black tape sticking to the ceiling, one corner of it giving way. She reached up and peeled the tape off, only to find something written beneath.

"For my Hachiko…" She couldn't believe it. Her father has put that message in there for her. He must have helped build this Zaku, for her! But how? How had he known this would be the one she would be assigned?

She felt a jolt as her mobile suit was placed onto the catapult and gritted her beak to try and stop the tears that threatened to flow as a new wave of powerful emotions and an intense longing for home washed over her.

Robotic arms on either side of the deck extended towards her, carrying her machine gun and placing her spare magazines and grenades onto the back and waist. Manipulating the hand and arm controls, she grasped the machine gun and the robotic arms receded.

I'll survive this fight, Daddy. Both of us will.

*Veeen*

She stared out the hangar opening, Terra's day side yawning below, it's largest ocean just coming into view.

"Delta Four-four, you're cleared for launch."

Hachiko hastily stuffed the torn piece of tape into one of the cockpit's storage compartments then gripped her controls.

"Roger control, Delta Four-four launching!"

Hachiko grunted as she was jerked back into her seat. She felt the release from the catapult, counted, then hit her thrusters, and was blown back again, but never had she been blown back like this when flying! It reminded her of the centrifuge tests during pilot training. The F model really was a different beast.

The effect began to dissipate as her Zaku reached it's maximum aetherial velocity and she backed of the throttle, coasting forward as she joined the rest of her squadron.

The 128th was positioned forward and above the task force. They could already see the enemy ships in the distance. Some small scout craft were probing in close, trying to test their attitude, but nobody was taking their bait.

"I hate just letting them sit there like that," Honah grumbled.

"Ignore the small fries," Stovni said. "Keep an eye on the warships for now. They're probably hiding their fighters in the fog. They'll probably use slashing attacks and try to get through to the task force. They teach you about slashing attacks, Rookie?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Briefly."

"Well expect them to swarm us all and once and try to shoot past us to hit the task force, but don't worry about that, our job is to hit their fleet back and a lot harder. That's why you have that bazooka, four-three."

"Yes, Ma'am." Honah's eagerness was evident in her voice. Eight wished she felt so fearless.

Hachiko watched through her forward screen as the Federation fleet drew closer, close enough she could see the ships with the naked eye.

"Okay, Rookies, I hope you're diapers aren't saturated."

Hachiko wondered what she meant when the nearby cruiser opened fire, shooting long lances of bright emerald fury. A half-second later, the rest of the task force did likewise. And then things got even more exciting.

Eight leaned away reflexively as a bright pink beam slashed past her and narrowly missed the light-cruiser Wildebeest even as it fired a second salvo from it's mega-particle cannons.

Hachiko heard someone curse over the radio. "Someone over there's a good shot."

"Any sign of fighters?"

Hachiko stared at her viewscreen but saw nothing new, just more pink beams lancing towards them as the enemy warships became ever clearer.

"Nothing," someone else said. "Minovsky particle density is sky high though so between our fog and their fog I'm not anyone would be able to tell at this range."

"We should still be able to see something! Are they seriously hiding behind their warships?"

"Clear comms," Stovni snapped. "We're moving in. We'll hit the ships near the rear of the formation. Maybe we'll see what they're up to."

The squadron moved and Hachiko did her best to keep up. They kept bobbing and weaving to avoid getting shot at but the enemy warships seemed to be ignoring them.

There was a flash behind them as the cruiser Beta Tribus took a hit to the port engineering hull, creating a large hole through the armour. The shots were getting closer.

The 128th moved forward while other squadrons delegated for ship killing moved up and below. By now the light fog was no longer an issue and everyone could see clearly, but the minovsky density was so great that she lost communications with the task force.

As they drew close, the ships at the rear of the Federation formation started to target them and more bright pink beams lashed out.

"Stay the course," Stovni called, probably to her and Honah in particular.

Stormwave's voice crackled next. "Ma'am, the enemy is changing course, away from the task force."

"They want to run, that's fine, but nobody attacks us and gets away unhurt. After them! Blues, attack!"

An indicator showed on Hachiko's display as Stovni designated a target for the blue half of the team: a Salamis-class light cruiser.

"Ma'am, the enemy is changing formation!"

As Stormwave said, the enemy ships were shifting their positions, their formation expanding out in every direction even as some ships moved inwards. Instead of the usual battle lines, the Federation formation gradually formed into a multi-layered icosphere with each ship as a vertice.

"What the hell?"

And Hell was what break loose.

As the mobile suits attacked they were met with murderous fire from multiple angles, not just by the particle cannons, but the autocannons too, filling the space with deadly metal.

Hachiko gasped as the blues were focused upon by nearly all the ships at the rear of the formation. Sparks flew off some of them as they got a face full of bullets and one of the Zakus lurched backwards as the head was torn to pieces. Still, the blues pressed forward and began firing into their target with their bazookas.

The rocket-powered shells streaked out and slammed into the light cruiser, blasting large holes in the side of the hull which vomited fire, debris…, and bodies.

Hachiko shut her eyes tightly and shook herself. Now was not the time to get squeamish. She had her duty.

The light cruiser shifted as it tried to remain stable with all the holes being blasted into it and soon got its own back as one of the beam cannons found it's mark, vaporizing the torso of one of team two's Zakus and sending the arms and legs flying away.

"Red team, hit the next one. Blue team, mop up and move on!"

Hachiko gulped. Red team meant them. She found their designated target and followed her teammates up towards it, even as cannon fire streaked down to meet them, and more fire came at them from the sides and below.

She was shaken in her cockpit as she suffered several glancing blows from the autocannons, but they failed to penetrate.

"Watch my back!" Honah called to her as she aimed her bazooka up at the light cruiser above them.

Hachiko jinked to the side and fired her machine gun up at the ship, aiming for the cannons. The ship listed lazily as the bazooka rounds hit home, gutting the ship's belly. To add insult to injury, the ship took a hit from a mega-particle cannon that blew the bow off. Their task force was starting to work it's way to the back of the formation.

"Incoming!"

Stormwave's cry barely got out before her Zaku was overwhelmed with missiles, tearing it apart like a swarm of flesh eating insects, and whatever remained tumbled away, smouldering like fresh embers.

Hachiko dodged to the right just in time to avoid another swarm of missiles launched from a Federation bomber, with the Federation's Toriares fighters swarming at them.

Hachiko brought up her machine gun and fired, dodging every way she could to try and avoid the storm of angry metal coming after her.

"Fall back, fall back!" Stovni ordered and the squadron turned to disengage from the enemy fleet, swarms of enemy fighters hot in pursuit.

"Where did they come from? Were they in the middle of the formation the whole time? On the opposite side?"

Hachiko had more important things on her mind at the moment, like staying alive. With the initial shock of the attack over, she was able to mentally find her footing and shot down several of the attacking fighters, their small-calibre guns sparked off her armour before they were silenced.

She managed to form back up with her squadron as they weathered the storm, running back towards the task force and searched for Honah, her sensors barely functioning in the all the minovsky interference.

"Meadows! Get into formation. I said to fall back!"

Stovni's angry call filled Hachiko with dread as her mind flashed back to the encounter with the stealth bombers. No, Honah wouldn't…

She looked back towards the light cruiser they'd been attacking, Honah having dodged the initial assault from the fighters and bombers, was continuing to attack it, emptying her bazooka's magazine into it's flanks and managing to shoot the side of the bridge tower, turning the bridge itself into a short lived inferno. This didn't go unnoticed by the attacking fighters; however, which swiftly turned around and moved to engage her.

Without prompting, the rest of the 128th moved to support, but they were too far away to get there in time.

Honah waited until the last minute to put away her bazooka and switch to her machine gun, meeting the enemy fighters head on. She fired and managed to splash one of the offending fighters but that still left half a dozen more unharmed. They launched their missiles at close range as Honah tried to doge, and three of them struck, gouging holes into her Zaku and igniting a small secondary explosion in the lower torso.

As the squadron rushed to her rescue, one of Team 03's Zakus was blasted by a particle beam, melting everything below the waist and sending the rest tumbling uncontrollably before the reactor detonated in a brilliant ball of nuclear fire, taking the rest of the suit, and its pilot, with it.

As they reformed near the stricken cruiser, enemy fire had slackened considerably, the fleet's sphere elongating and became oblong as their wounded ships fell behind the rest, leaving their squadron more room to manoeuvre in spite of the opposition.

The other bazooka armed members of their squadron fired on some of the nearby ships, already damaged by the mega-particle guns of the task force's cruisers, silencing their autocannons. Meanwhile, Hachiko followed the rest in attacking the enemy fighter squadron, but they had been joined by several others now and felt bold enough to maintain their attack in spite of the new opposition. The 128th met them head on.

Gunfire and missiles filled the space between them. Hachiko managed to hit one then another fighter in the brief melee, but one of the Toriares managed to hit her with a missile that blew off half her shoulder pauldron, exposing her Zaku's naked shoulder joint, but the arm was still working.

She looked behind her and saw little more than debris and burning wreckage falling towards the planet below.

"Meadow's, what's your status?"

Stovni's voice grabbed Hachiko's attention back and she moved to look at Honah's Zaku. It's left arm had been blown off at the elbow and large chunks of armour was missing all across her front. It clearly had some internal damage too.

"I'm fine," Honah replied irritably. "My Zaku's still working, I can still –."

She was cut off by a cry from another member of the squadron. "Ma'am, the task force!"

Hachiko turned to look and her stomach dropped. The Federation hadn't been turning away from the task force at all, instead, their lead ships, burning though they were, plowed into the middle of the task force, and whereas most Collective ships had much of their firepower forwards, the Federation ships had their heavy guns spread throughout the ship to fire in virtually all directions, a feature they used enthusiastically, as all sides of their ships fired angry pink particles and autocannon shells into the middle of the task force, hitting the supply ships and carriers.

The defending mobile suits fought hard to knock out the enemy ships, but armed with mostly machine guns the process was more difficult, and they were also having to contend with the still swarming fighters and bombers, which tore at mobile suit and ship alike.

The cruisers at the front of the task force, thinking the Federation was going to run away, was now out of position and still trying to get turned around to bring their guns to bear, but they were the worst damaged and some of them were burning wrecks. The Wildebeest, which she'd seen earlier, had broken into four pieces and was now slowly drifting downwards towards Terra.

"Hit the rear of their formation before they hit the task force!" Stovni shouted. "Ignore the cripples; we'll deal with them later!"

The squadron moved, rapidly advancing on the ships at the rear of the enemy formation and were once again met by a hail of autocannon fire, but with only a few shots of their bazookas left, they had to get close before they could respond.

Stovni led them towards a Magellan-class battleship, with several times the firepower of a Salamis, and more powerful than anything in the task force. Though it was already wounded, it was still a dangerous foe. They emptied the last of their bazooka shells into the engine block, turning the thermonuclear thrusters into little more than a collection of sparking flints.

After everyone declared themselves out of bazooka ammo, Stovni called on them. "Get close and disable their weapons! Team two, hit the Salamis on our right! Team Four, cover us from those fighters!

As Team 02's remaining members broke off, Hachiko slowed slightly and turned to face a flight of bombers getting a little too close, warding them off.

Team 01 and 03 sandwiched the battleship between them, hitting it from both sides and passing by too quickly for their autocannons to track. The autocannon blisters on the flanks popped and the secondary guns swivelled vainly to try and track the fast moving mobile suits.

A flight of Toriares tried to intervene but Honah got in their way, shooting down one of them before the rest had the good sense to break off.

Hachiko watched as Stovni drew her heat hawk, the long blade turned red hot as she brought it down into the back of the battleship's bridge tower, carving a deep, ragged gash through the metal before a violent decompression tore the wound open further.

The rest of the attacking teams were also doing well, blasting the remaining turrets apart and knocking out the missile launchers. The salamis Team 02 went after was also burning as it tried to escape.

Hachiko did a quick visual scan and found no fighters or bombers left near them. Then, with gritted beak, she looked out over the task force.

What had been a proud example of Octarian military might was now a mass of burning and bleeding ships. Not a single one appeared untouched by the Federation fleet's guns.

The remaining Federation ships arced away, beating a hasty retreat, many of their remaining ships streaming atmosphere and debris behind them. A few cruisers fired parting shots in their direction but the main part of the battle was apparently over.

"She's sinking!" Stovni called. "Everyone get clear!"

Hachiko moved away from the Magellen as secondary explosion ripped open the hull like a tin can, travelling further backward along its flank until it reached the centre of the ship and detonated, turning a once mighty battleship into a small supernova.

"Serios to Delta Squadron, come in Delta Squadron."

For the first time, almost since the battle began, Hachiko could hear signals from their mothership.

"Serios, Delta Squadron Actual," Stovni replied wearily. "We're still operational but we're almost out of ammunition and most of us are damaged."

"Understood, Delta Actual. Please begin sweeping for survivors. We've… got quite a mess to clean up here before you can land anyway."

Hachiko found Serios Bay near the front of the task force, and it was indeed in a bad way. What was left of its port hull was floating more than two kilometres from the rest of the ship, and the command hull was pockmarked with scores of smaller impacts and breaches.

"Alright everyone, team by team, spread out and start searching. We'll start here and work our way back the way we came."

Hachiko checked her propellant reserves. She hadn't used as much as she feared but she'd used almost half of it. She'd have to be conservative until they returned to the ship.

As they wandered back the way they came, Hachiko spotted the first ship they had taken out. The fires were gone now and it had taken on a lazy, corkscrew spin. She was surprised none of the cruisers had finished it off, but then again, there wasn't much left of it.

"Commander! I found Stormwave! She's still alive!"

Hachiko saw a member of Team 02, grasping the burned and mangled torso of Stormwave's Zaku, a single figure in a pilot suit slowly emerging through the airlock.

"It's a damn miracle," someone muttered. Hachiko agreed.

An icon on one of her monitors suddenly started moving quickly. It was Honah and she was heading towards the planet.

"Honah?"

Hachiko shifted her Zaku to face Honah's direction and saw why she was headed that way. A small stream of Federation lifeboats from the same salamis they'd attacked at the beginning was descending onto Terra, with the first few already starting to hit the upper atmosphere.

"Honah what are you –?" Hachiko's words died in her throat as Honah came to a stop, pointed her machine gun at the helpless lifeboats, and opened fire.

One of the lifeboats was hit, the back half ripped apart before the rest began to tumble slowly, sending bodies flying out the ragged hole. A second one exploded when it was hit, in a way eerily reminiscent of the shuttles from before.

"Delta Four-Three, case fire!" Stovni shouted, her voice coming out almost as a screech. But Honah kept firing, taking out another three lifeboats.

"Delta Four-Three, I said cease fire now! That's an order!"

The bullets flew for another second and then finally stopped. The remaining lifeboats were in the upper atmosphere now, the lead ones already undergoing reentry.

Honah wandered back up towards them and Hachiko could swear her Zaku seemed to glare at her.

"What the hell did you think you were doing!"

Hachiko swallowed as she waited for Honah's response.

"I was killing the enemy, Ma'am."

"In life boats? What the hell did you think you were going to accomplish doing that? There are rules against that kind of thing, Ensign. You do know what rules are don't you?"

Honah didn't reply.

"Never mind, I'll deal with you later. Everyone, resume sweeping for survivors. Meadows, you go and guard the Serios. Then you and I will have a chat."

Stovni didn't wait to see if Honah would obey her orders, she simply returned to the sweep and the rest followed her. Hachiko stayed for a moment, staring at Honah, wondering what could have come over her.

She reached out with her Zaku's hand and placed it on hers, establishing a private comm link between them. "If you want to talk later, I'll be there for you." Then she followed after the rest of the squadron. She still had a job to do, she still had her duty.

Hachiko and Honah stood at attention, their feet hooked inside steel wire loops tied to the floor of Lieutenant-Commander Stovni's office. The officer was glaring from behind steepled fingers at Honah, who was unusually stoic and quiet. For whatever reason, their squadron commander had wanted Hachiko there as well. Perhaps, as Honah's battle partner, she was also somehow responsible.

"I'm not going to ask for an explanation," she said, finally breaking the silence. "Because I know I'm not going to get a good one." Her eyes narrowed and the ends of her tentacles curled into little round fists.

"Whether you like it or not, Ensign, there are rules we follow in war, including how we treat the enemy. Don't think what you did is going to earn you any points with anyone in this squadron because I guarantee you, it won't. What if you're actions prompt the Federation to start shooting our lifeboats, huh?"

Without even flinching, Honah, "it's preferable to being an inkling prisoner."

"You don't get to decide that for everyone else, Meadows, and I don't recall giving you permission to speak!"

Honah went silent, and Stovni settled in her chair again, or as well as one could when they had to be strapped to it.

"You're being put on report, Ensign, for this and not listening to my orders several times during the operation." Her eyes narrowed. "You're getting off easy because this was a tough first op for you both and I know emotions can get pretty riled up in your first real fight, especially with all the crap they pump into your heads during training. But this isn't training or an Anti-Federation League clubhouse, this is the Collective Armed Forces, and in these armed forces, you follow my orders and you don't commit war crimes. I hope I've made that clear."

Her glare intensified briefly then she waved her hand. "Now both of you get out. I don't want to see either of you again until I call you."

They saluted and smartly departed the office into the crowded corridor beyond. As she looked around at all the wounded packed tightly together and the orderlies passing through, Hachiko wondered how many people had heard that exchange.

Honah floated aft and Hachiko followed her to the aft observation deck. A few people were there dozing, catching a few moments of peace while they could.

Honah floated up to the top of the room and stared out the viewport at other ships in the task force slowly trying to put themselves back together.

"I'm just doing my duty," Honah whispered. "Killing the enemy is what our job is. What does it matter where I kill them or when?"

Hachiko bit her lip and tried to consider her words. Honah was obviously trying to keep her anger under control and the last thing she wanted to do was set it off. She needed to try and defuse her somehow.

"I… I think what the commander is most upset about is that you rushed ahead on your own and almost got yourself killed. If we hadn't shown up, you would have been. We already lost a few people today, people she's served with a long time, maybe since before the war. I'm sure that's eating her up a lot too. She just doesn't want to lose anyone else."

Hachiko reached over and tentatively put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "I don't want to lose you either. Besides, you can't do your duty if you're dead."

She felt Honah's shoulder muscles tense up for a moment then relax. "I guess you're right."

Hachiko smiled, which helped to hide her relief. "I like to think I can be once in a while."

They continued staring out the viewport, watching as mobile suits worked to attach one of the Musai cruisers to one of its wounded sisters with massive cables to tow it along.

Hachiko was glad she'd gotten Honah to concede the point and hoped she would be more careful in the future, but Hachiko was all too aware that they had sidestepped the real issue and there was every chance it would come up again.

One conducted war out of duty, not hatred, because duty was justified, hatred was an irrational weakness. But how was she ever going to convince Honah of that?

Author's Notes:

Probably one of if not the longest chapter in the story, it's a lot to cover.

The Octarian Collective may have gotten a bit complacent with how easy they've had it operating in space with the superiority of their mobile suits and the caution and defensive mindset of the Federation commanders. Hard to say who won this round.

While writing this chapter, I realized most mobile suit units in Gundam don't operate as squadrons and rarely act in groups of more than six. I assume this is because of the sheer size of the mobile suits which don't allow for many to be stored aboard ships. Plus, the large team of technicians needed to maintain and repair just one of these titans is much more than would be needed for an aircraft or tank.

In this case, a carrier like the Serios Bay enables a squadron type organization thanks to its large capacity, and in the case of the other ships, a squadron's elements will be divided up between 3 of the Musai-class cruisers. There may be organizational reforms in the future but for now this is how it works.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. Writing all that action was tough.