Not All It Seems
An 08th MS Team fic

Disclaimer: Erica 'The Phoenixbird' Weller is MY CHARACTER, and so are Zandra Sakhalin, Wesley Adams, (the name) Nera Lezero, and any names that come up as part of the GM Team. The others are all owned by the Anime people. And I don't know the correct spelling of Ginias's big ship (I'm using 'Apsalus'), so if someone does, please review and tell me!!

A/N: My first, but not last, 08th MS Team fic (there aren't enough of these!!). What if, when Shiro and Aina, in Shiro's Gundam, had crashed into the Apsalus, Ginias had hit the escape button and been ejected from the ship? The war, then, wouldn't have ended. At least that's my theory.

However, because of my dislike...no, my absolute HATRED...of both Captain Ryer (spelling?) and Commander Kojima (They were going to have Shiro SHOT, for crying out loud! I can't like that in the least!), they're both gone, killed by the explosion. Oh, and Shiro doesn't lose his leg in this one (too complicated to fix, sorry).

This picks up when Eledore grabs Karen's arm and starts calling for Shiro.

Chapter One: Aftermath

"Commander newbie?!" Eledore called, pulling Karen along. Sanders and Michel took up the call.

"Commander!" "Shiro!" "Newbie!" Their voices rang out across the now-demolished mountain. Finally, Karen began to call, too.

"Commander!" she yelled, running towards where his Gundam had landed. Karen had also seen what she assumed no one else had seen. The pilot of the giant suit, Ginias, had escaped.

It was Michel who stumbled on the abandoned corridor, and heard voices coming from a blocked-off end. The voices sounded familiar.

"Commander!" he called. "Shiro Amada! Are you down there!"

A faint but familiar voice responded, "Michel? Is that you?" Michel felt a surge of hope. Maybe the commander was alright! He jumped down into the corridor. Three thuds, the rest of the 08th Team, followed him.

"Shiro! Commander, are you in here!" The call was Sanders's. He still felt he owed a personal debt to the commander for saving him in space.

"Sanders! Michel! Aina, it's them!" Shiro called from behind the debris. It was dark where they were, very little light, but he could see well enough to know that both he and Aina were alright.

The 08th Team went to work clearing away the debris, trying hard not to let anything fall through or over onto Shiro and Aina. Finally there was a big enough hole for them to crawl through.

"Commander! Aina! Are you ok?" asked Karen. Both Shiro and Aina nodded, and Michel had to fight the urge to scream and yell with joy. Shiro was alive!
************

It was when they reported back to base that they heard the news: Both Capt. Ryer and Commander Kojima had perished in the explosion that was the destruction of the Apsalus. But there was good news as well. At least, Shiro considered it good news.

A girl was waiting for them at the base. She was about 5'5", with long blonde hair in a braid and sapphire blue eyes. She had a commanding look about her, but everyone could tell she was young.

"What are you here for?" Eledore asked her.

"I'm looking for the 08th Team. I'm their new...uhm...Mobile Suit pilot, I guess you'd call it. Do you know where they might be?" Her eyes flicked to Shiro, and a grin spread over her face.

"We're the 08th Team, little girl. But you don't look a day over twelve! You're too young to be here!" Sanders cried. The girl took a step back.

"For your information...uhm...Sanders, you MUST be Terry Sanders...for your information, Sanders, I am fourteen and one of the best commanders of any GM team you'll ever see!" She smiled and held out a hand. "Erica Weller's the name, although most call me 'The Phoenixbird' nowadays." Aina's face lit up in recognition.

"Erica Weller?!? Zandra...she told me about you! You were her friend from back before...but I can't believe it's true! My sister's old best friend!" Shiro turned to Aina, questions in his eyes.

"I thought you only had a brother, Aina. You never mentioned your sister."

"She chose to follow my brother's way of thinking. She's only fourteen herself, but she pilots a fighter." Aina shook her head sadly. "And she'll be the first one Ginias goes looking for once he lands. He escaped, by the way," Aina added as explanation.

Shiro was the one to shake Erica's hand. "Hi, cousin. Anything new on Side 2??" He grinned, a grin nearly identical to Erica's.

"Cousin!!" cried Michel. "This kid is your cousin! And she knows us! Man, this is too weird, even for me." I'll have to write to Bebi about this, he thought.

"I'd like if you kept your comments about me to yourself, if it's all the same to you," Erica said aloud to Michel. His eyes widened. Had she just...nah, she couldn't have.

"Well, come on, Phoenixbird. Looks like we've got some explaining to do," said Shiro, and he led them to his quarters. "Start with this business about being a commander of a GM unit. The last time I saw you, you were seven." So begin Erica did.

"Well, I guess it starts with the fact that the GM unit was made up of mostly the people from Side 2 anyway. When they said they needed another officer, I knew I HAD to be part of this, so I 'signed up', you might say. The thing was, everyone on my team was AT LEAST five years older than me, except Lora Seroli, who was my age. The only person I knew was Andrianna, and SHE wasn't much of a help..." Erica blushed as she realized they all were staring at her. "Andrianna Bolder was my Commander," she muttered.

"The first time we attacked a Zeon force, Kelawney Martin (one of my fellow officers) took out only one out of the five Zakus, and there were only four of us to begin with. Lora took out two, but one got Andrianna good, and her suit was disabled. So I had to give the orders, and we took out another one, but..." Erica sniffed a little.

"But what?" asked Michel.

"But the final Zaku blasted Andrianna again, and...well...destroyed her GM. So I took it out. But the pilot escaped, and was picked up by another Zaku that retreated as soon as it picked her up. Yes, HER," Erica growled at a questioning look from Sanders. "Zandra Sakhalin. Yes, Aina, your sister. She took out my commander, and as much as I hated Andrianna, at that moment I hated Zandra more.

"So when we got back to the base, two more people were added to our team: two boys, Richard Lawrence and Jonathan Andre. And I was made Commander. I was the youngest one on the team, only 13, and I was Commander. But they listened to me right off, for some reason. When I left, Lora became Commander in my place."

"So that's how you got here, Phoenixbird?" asked Shiro. "Man, what have I been MISSING up there?"
************

Captain Wesley Adams, permanent replacement for Captain Ryer, looked the new-and-improved 08th Team over. The original five, plus the Commander's cousin and one Zeon girl stood before him.

"I'm on the Federation's side now," Aina said solemnly. "My brother is still out there, insane as he is, and he'll do anything to control the Earth. I'm willing...I'm willing to fight against him!"

Captain Adams nodded, and turned to his new second-in-command, Battalion Commander Nera Lezero. "I see no problem," she said.

"Captain, sir?" asked the new girl, Erica. He raised an eyebrow. "There's a woman...an intelligence agent...her name's...uhm, let me think...Miller. Something Miller. She...she tried to kill their...our...commander right before the mission to discover the enemy base." Only Sanders noticed the spark of recognition in Lezero's eyes.

"How do you know of this? You weren't a member of this team then!" Adams demanded.

"Well, sir...Michel's not the only one who wrote letters," she said in explanation. He nodded.

"We'll see what we can do about her. You and your team, however, are assigned to protect a rebuilding village in the jungle. I trust you'll find the area familiar." Shiro nodded. "Then go," was all Adams said, but that was enough.

************

"Wow, a real Federation Mobile Suit," whispered Erica as she stared up at her suit. Aina was having the same reaction to her fighter plane. Erica climbed into the cockpit and familiarized herself with the controls. She loved technology, and had a real knack for fixing it, too.

She met Shiro back down on the ground a few minutes later, along with the rest of the team.

"My orders still stand, desertion or not. Everyone comes back alive, no matter what. I'll make sure that I follow my own orders," he added with a grin. "Take out any enemies you see, because they may be looking for us. Zakus can be mighty sneaky if you're not careful." With that, he climbed into his Gundam. The others did the same, Michel and Eledore into the Hovertruck, Aina into her fighter.

"Karen, take my right, Erica my left. I'm on point. 08th Team, let's move out!" Shiro called over the communication (com.) system. Erica easily took up a position on Shiro's left side, and they headed for their next, and her first, mission.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

How was it for part one? As my first 08th team fic, it can't be too bad, can it? There'll be more, trust me.