Title: Mobile Suit Zaku
Chapter 01: Academy Life
Disclaimer: Some names, characters, places and events contained in this story are copyrights of Bandai Entertainment. All others are intellectual property of American Zaku Productions. This story is Fanfiction based on the sci-fi anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. It is an original story spin-off of that series which follows the life of Xandra Zabi during the horrific One Year War.
Author Notes: Though I had a year for Xan's birth, I never did select a day. I pondered this for a while and tried to decide on one. One of my first ideas was to simply make it my own birthday, which was in the month of September. However at this time I was also working on my patriotic little side story which is an offshoot of my Production Company's name and in a mix of patriotism, politics and war, I went with the infamous Sept. 11 which isn't too far off from my own birthday of Sept. 25. As for deep meaning, try not to read too deeply as there really isn't any. It was an important day in my life and a date easy to remember.

Chapter 01
Academy Life
0073.09.11 UC

Universal Century 0073, September 11th. Today was Xandra's 15th birthday, on this day when most girls would be celebrating with friends and loved ones, she spent it signing paperwork with her uncle for applying to take part in the new Pilot Training Program at the Zum City Military Academy. Still in awe of the Zaku mobile suit she saw, Xan was set on making sure she would be able to pilot it.

It was the first day of class at the Academy and most of the students were eager young soldiers, but not nearly as young as their newest member. Standing in the doorway was a thin teenage girl with somewhat bushy blond hair which hung freely to her shoulders. Her eager blue eyes scanned the room, only to find herself being the youngest person there. Because of her being skipped a few grades in Side 6 she was used to being with older children, however now she was among adults, some of which were twice her age. Her eagerness turned to slight intimidation when they all looked over at her with what the hell do you think you're doing here written all over their faces. Taking a deep breath she took a seat and tried not to think about the others as they went back to their muffled conversations. It was a rather large classroom, with about 30 students, and is struck her as ironic to feel so alone while near so many people. After a few awkward moments the instructor finally arrived and called everyone to attention. The instructor was a middle-aged man with thinning gray hair and brown eyes. He spoke with a slight rasp in his voice as he told the students about what they would be learning. Aside from military basics, he said they would be focusing on on the principals, tactics and maneuvers of a whole new type of warfare, and that they would be the first generation of soldiers to utilize this new form of combat.

The first day came and went and wasn't quite what she thought it would be. She was still a little intimidated by the others but as the class went on she felt more comfortable and confident that she knew what she was getting into. One moment in particular, when she was the only one in the room who could identify what an image of the prototype Zaku was when it was displayed, gave her quite a boost. With class over for the day she was shown to her dorm room where she would be staying until the program was over. Much to her surprise she had a roommate and to top it off, she was hardly older then Xan. The raven haired girl stood a few inches taller and her eye's were concealed behind dark sunglasses. She looked over at Xan with a smile and introduced herself.

"Faye Wong," she said as she extended her hand. "You must be the Sovereign's niece, I've heard quite a bit about you."

Xan was a little surprised to say the least, she quite expecting that. Shaking her hand she replied. "After that class I didn't think I'd be seeing anyone close to my age here."

"Not really by choice, my parents were big shots in the revolution and it was their idea that I enroll in this place." Faye seemed to be trying to hide some degree of anger as she mentioned her parents. "Oh well, not point in thinking about any of that. Out other roommate should be back from class soon also."

"Other roommate?" Xan asked.

"Yeah, another youngen, guess they figured since there was only three of us in the whole place that they would stick us together. I think her name was Madison Reese." As she spoke, the dorm's door opened. "Speaking of which..."

As the door opened another young girl about their age stepped into the room, she had short red hair and green eyes and was sporting a rather tight fitting uniform. "Damn bunch o' pervs is all they are." Madison spoke with a slight accent that Xan couldn't really identify off the top of her head, but she knew it was European of some kind.

"The old men giving you trouble again? I told you to tell them to give you the right size uniform, but you just gotta show off." Said Faye with a hint of annoyance in her voice. Xan could sense that the two of them seemed to have known each other for a while and hoped she wouldn't be dragged into it. She quietly went to her room to unpack. She didn't bring much with her, about a week's worth of clothes and some personal items, knowing that from now on she'd be wearing mostly uniforms, it would have been pointless to bring along everything she had at Side 6. But one thing she couldn't leave behind, her most treasured possession, a locket with a picture of her parents. She lost them both while she was still too young to remember them, and this picture was the only thing of theirs she had. It had been a while since Xan gave them much thought, but ever since returning to Side 3 and seeing just how influential her family was, she just couldn't get them out of her mind. Now that she stopped to think of it, she didn't even know how they died. She remembered hearing once, something about her mother having died when she was born, but no one ever really spoke about her father.

Xan's train of thought was sudden broken by the sound of a yell, followed by a loud thump on the floor. Rushing out to see what had happened, she saw one of the young male students laying on the floor with a small amount of blood dripping from his mouth. Standing over him with a very angry Madison. Reese regained her composer and walked away without so much as a word. Faye didn't seem to surprised, she just went about reading her book. When Xan faced her, Faye looked up and replied to the question she knew would be asked. "It happens all the time, some of the others seem to think we're just here for their entertainment, the last one to think that way got a fractured jaw and bruised ribs for his trouble."

Xandra was more then just a little puzzled, while she was quite aware of sexual harassment, it was not something she actually experienced herself, nor had anyone close to her. She pondered for a moment, fleeting second thoughts about if this was the right place for her. But then she just remembered her uncle's words, and the sight of that magnificent machine. No matter what this new life of hers threw at her, she would stay on the path she choose. I'm not letting anything stop me from piloting that machine. "Well I guess I'll just have to stay on guard then" she said with a smirk.

Faye glanced up a moment from her book and smiled. Maybe this one will last longer then the other 'kids' who thought they could get an early pass into the military.

Wrap up: Mostly an intro of main and not so main characters. So much I could get into, so little time to write it all. And a special note to Newtype Alpha, thanks for the comment, long time no see, I was starting to wonder if I'd ever hear from you again lol. You should get back on AIM sometime, we got lots of catching up to do.