The inky blackness of space closed in on a small transport ship, as it traveled to Earth. On board are the two most influential people in the system, the President of the Collective Alliance, and the Empress of Andel, the new independent colony cluster. A large, oddly shaped asteroid floated by the window as President Retsu Cofan watched; as it went out of view, Cofan thought he saw something about it change and took a second look, only to dismiss it as an illusion. He had been under a lot of stress lately, and was waiting patiently to catch up on sleep from the past three weeks. Sighing, he turned to his assistant, and asked her to summon Empress Jade Kobayashi to the lounge.
"Excuse me, Your Highness?" Knocking on the door of Kobayashi's quarters, the assistant was quite surprised when the Empress herself answered the door. "Hello, Your Highness. President Cofan requests your presence in the lounge area."
"Alright, tell him I'll be there in a few minutes. Also, tell him that next time, I would appreciate him coming personally, instead of sending an aide, no offense mind you."
"None taken. Thank you, Your Highness."
As Kobayashi glided into the room, the underlying murmur of conversation stopped short. She was dressed in a stunning, strapless silver dress that fell only to mid-thigh. It was very unusual for her to be so immodest, and that drew attention. "No doubt this will be in the press by next week," thought the Empress, "I can see it now, 'Empress Kobayashi, Undressed', 'The REAL Jade Kobayashi', 'Andel's Empress Struts Her Stuff!' This should be good. God, I hate the media."
"Empress! So good of you to join us! Please, sit down and relax."
"Thank you, Mister President, and please call me Jade. What is it you wanted to see me about?"
"Very well. The reason I sent for you is one of a morbid nature, I'm afraid. We just received word that Head Dedicate Moonsong has been killed." The Empress' head snapped around so quickly that she spilled her drink. "Wh-what?"
"I regret to give you the news in such a manner, but I felt that you should know as soon as possible."
"Yes, …um, thank you. I … I must go back to my quarters now," she said, in a very small, weak voice. Cofan looked at her face, and instantly understood. He asked his assistant to guard Kobayashi's door, so she would not be disturbed. Cofan alone knew why the news had hurt the Empress of the most powerful monarchy in the history of humankind. He alone knew what even the Empress' most trusted aides did not, that Moonsong, Head Dedicate of the Temple of the Stars, was Kobayashi's sister.
Seconds after the Empress had left the room; a large explosion rocked the small shuttle, causing the lights to go out, and a klaxon alarm to go off, warning of a possible air leak. Many were thrown from their chairs, including the President. A man in a military uniform ran to assist Cofan, and found him unconscious. The emergency lights started to glow a deep red as the door to the access tunnel door sprung open near the door to the elevator that the Empress had taken moments before. Colonel Miles Jordan recognized the man that emerged as the flight officer, and began to wonder if the explosion wasn't an accident.
"Your attention, please. We are under attack." The man started to call. "Everyone please remain calm. The pilot has the situation under control, but we can't take any chances. Therefore, I would like you to all return to your suites and prepare for the unlikely event of abandoning ship. Our mobile suit honor guard is strong and well trained, but as I said before, we can't take any chances." The officer's statement was intended to calm the passengers, but instead served the opposite purpose. Jordan raced to the window, and a scene of speed, light and death filled his eyes. As he watched a Serpent suit flew past after emerging from a small asteroid. Another suit, bearing the markings of the Preventers, dodged around the wreckage of another attacking Serpent it had just caused. The Serpent turned to face the Preventer, but was too slow and met the same fate as his comrade, a fiery explosion.
Turning, the Colonel saw another attacking suit destroy several Preventers before being taken down itself. Behind him, President Cofan started to regain consciousness. Moaning, he tried vainly to rise to his feet, but found a sharp pain in his leg prevented him from doing so.
"Miles, give me a hand, you?" Colonel Jordan darted over and helped the President into a sitting position. He then got a chair, and proceeded to drag Cofan to his suite in the aft of the small transport. There they waited for about half an hour, whilst the battle continued outside. A doctor was summoned, and diagnosed Cofan with a broken ankle. The President wasn't too happy about this fact, but took it with feigned indifference.
"Attention, all passengers, the abandon ship order has been given. Please proceed calmly to the nearest escape pod." With that, Colonel Jordan assisted the President to his private escape pod, and followed him in, as well as his assistant and the flight officer. The pod was quite large, with the space being a circle about 4 meters across. Only seconds after the pod launched, through the single window, the escapees could see the shuttle be destroyed by a mobile suit very different than the rest. The suit had a flame-red coat of armor, and stood half again as tall as the Serpent suits. It carried a double-ended beam saber, and was using it as a quarterstaff, beating opposing suits with both ends of the saber. On its back was a large, egg-shaped shield. The suit was quite formidable.
Suddenly, as the red suit started to come after the escape pods, a dark figure appeared behind the suit, and proceeded to envelop it in a bear hug of enormous proportions. The red suit broke the hold, but lost its shield in the process. Quickly, the scarlet suit pivoted and, redrawing its beam saber, attacked the glossy black mobile suit that was merely floating in space, unmoving. The instant before the saber hit, a flash of green fog filled the sensors of its opponent. The dark suit emerged from the cloud, using a staff to beat the red suit into submission. Eventually, the attacker stopped moving, and started to slowly push itself out of the area with the rockets on its legs. The Nightstalker watched it go, making no move to stop the red suit from leaving, it's pilot, Shadow thinking of the last thing said by the pilot of the red Gundam;
"Sadly, Shadow, it is not my time
To die, for I am the only Rhyme,
Ever to grace the heavens dear,
I will avenge what happened here.
