The human woman is, by nature, a business woman; her various gifts are most effective when applied to tasks that require constructive leadership.

- Zeon Zum Daikun

Chapter 2: Baby Doll

- February 2, UC 0084 -
- 1940 hours (CST) -
 It had been almost twenty minutes since they'd been ordered to report to the briefing room, and at least fifteen minutes since both of them showed up next to the door. The two visitors from the assault carrier Tarawa were already inside, but as Brian had said and Ryo strongly agreed it was better to make them wait for whatever it was they wanted before going in to talk to them. But after fifteen minutes, Ryo was starting to feel the strain of impatience. He took a few more breaths to calm his nerves and leaned against the bulkhead next to the door. "Okay, tell me again, who are these people?"

Brian was tired of repeating himself, but he could understand why he was nervous. "Lieutenant Commander Wilson and some Japanese chick. Couple of ace pilots from that assault carrier we were talking about."

"What do they want with us?"

"How should I know?"

Ryo cleared his throat again and shifted his weight anxiously. "What would the Titans want with a couple of guys like us?"

"Actually, I think this is probably my fault. The new censorship laws make it a Federal offense to be caught with a copy of Daikun's book."

"I thought you had it memorized?"

"I keep the book for people who don't believe it."

Ryo smirked slightly. "People like me."

"Yeah, people like you." Brian looked at his watch again and stretched his neck from side to side. "What time is it?"

Ryo glanced at his watch. "Eighteen minutes, now."

"I think we kept her waiting long enough. Let's get this over with." Brian stepped past him and tapped the switch on the front of the door. Both of them stepped inside one after another into the briefing room and stopped to look around briefly. Ryo immediately recognized the two officers waiting for him, the girl with the red hair and an extremely thin Asian woman with a faint scar across her cheek. He wasn't really surprised to see it was them who came to talk to him, but he couldn't help but be curious just what they wanted with them in the first place. "You wanted to speak with us?"

"Have a seat." The red head gestured to the chairs in the briefing room. Ryo and Brian looked at the chairs, then back at the two officers before them. Lieutenant Wilson shot a kind of 'I told you so' glance at the woman next to her. "I'm Lieutenant Commander Naomi Wilson, commanding officer of the 108th Mobile Suit Team on the assault carrier Tarawa."

Titans. I hate Titans. Brian kept his expression level and kept the loathing out of his voice. "Are we under arrest or something?"

Wilson glanced again at the officer behind her, and she handed them a large brown envelop stuffed with papers. "I'm here to make you two and offer you'd be stupid to turn down. I could just go behind your backs on this one, but that seems too much like something the Titans would do."

Brian scoffed at the remark. "Right. We don't wanna be like the Titans, now do we?"

"No, we don't."

Ryo took the papers out of the envelop and flipped through them shortly. There wasn't anything like a mission plan or a tactical summary for an operation, only technical data regarding some highly advanced mobile suits. "GM Sniper Customs, Guncannon MP Types..." He came to the last page finally and his jaw fell open. "No way! Gundam-class?!"

"The Gundam's G-4 variant, we call it Alpha Gundam. It's a derivative of the prototypes they were working with during the war for newtype pilots."

"Newtypes? What are you talking about?"

Naomi slowed down, realizing she was getting far ahead of herself. "I was observing your performance during the battle today. I'm sure the two of you noticed that strange energy phenomenon that drove away that enemy mobile suit,"

Ryo slapped the papers down on the table next to him. "Hell yeah, we noticed it! You think that had something to do with us?"

"Actually, I KNOW the two of you were behind it. That kind of power can't be generated by any one person."

"But how...?"

"Lieutenant Izumi, the Tarawa was put into service after the cancellation of a project designed to develop newtype weapons for the Titans. Most if not all of the ship's crew are newtypes themselves. Therefore, we have a rather sharp understanding into the nature of newtype phenomenon like this."

"I don't follow you, Lieutenant."

Naomi decided to slow down a bit more. "Every newtype for 100 miles filled their pants when you put out that energy wave, including, it seems, a few crewmen right here on the Merrimac. We already know that someone on this ship was behind that energy and I am convinced it's the two of you."

There was something terribly dishonest behind her words. She seemed friendly enough at a glance, but Brian could sense something else inside her that made him nervous. Despite what anything she might say, he had the strongest impression that she wasn't actually interested in either of them at all. "What's the catch?" He said suspiciously.

"Catch?"

"You don't get asked to join the Titans unless you've got something they want. What's your price, exactly?"

"Basically, your identity gets scrubbed from official records and you get diplomatic immunity pretty much anywhere in the Federation except some parts of Jaburo. Basically that means you're not subject to Federal law and you won't have to pay taxes anymore."

"Is THAT all?" Brian shot a glance at Ryo, trying to resist a smirk. Of all the conditions for joining a new unit, she had somehow named the one that made them happier. "Completely untraceable? No one can find us?"

"You'd both be completely anonymous. And best yet, you wouldn't officially be part of the Titans." Brian was smiling now. The prospect of simply disappearing from official records had crossed both of their minds a number of times before. She knew this as well as anyone, but she also knew it would take alittle more than that to get them onboard. "As it happens, we're also short a couple of pilots. We never replaced out losses from Operation Stardust, and just yesterday that enemy ace shot down one of our snipers. We've got two replacement mobile suits coming in on the next transport, and I think you'll fit in just nicely. What do you say?"

"Just a second," Ryo took Brian aside and whispered in his ear. "What we're facing, old buddy, is the moral dilemma. If we say no, we're stuck on the Merrimac with Flying Coffins, and maybe Eisen will give us a promotion for such a pretty job painting the hull. If we say yes, we both fly a Gundam, our records disappear, and we get paid to push people around for a change..."

Brian nodded. "That's a tough one. Lemme think about it." Brian turned around again and cleared his throat. "I need two things taken care of. First of all, there's Kelly."

"Who?"

"Sergeant Kelly Amonte. He's one of the best mechanics I've ever seen and I wouldn't trust anyone else with my mobile suit. I want him transferred along with us."

Ryo was surprised at first, mainly because he had forgotten about it himself. As much as he himself was excited at the concept of piloting a mobile suit as powerful as a Gundam, he knew Kelly would probably castrate himself just to touch one. Good call, Brian.

"I'll see what I can do. What's the other?"

"I need some assurances that my sister will be taken care of. I don't want to leave her alone here but I don't expect you'd have room on an assault carrier for a little kid..."

Naomi nodded, and Brian recognized that somehow she had been expecting this. "Your service record made special mention of it. Don't worry, there's plenty of room for a nine-year-old civilian. Anna will be just fine..."

Alice growled in annoyance, slouched in her chair in the back of the room. "That name's Alice. And I'm thirteen."

Naomi did a double take at the sound of it. She was 100% sure this room was empty when she first came in... "How'd you get in here?"

"Through the door."

"No, I mean..." She took a step closer to Brian, "Did you know she was sitting there listening to us?"

"Of course. She's involved in this, she has a right to know what's going on." Brian turned to her slowly. "What do you think about all this? I know how you feel about the Titans..."

"What difference does that make? The uniforms all look the same to me anyway."

Naomi couldn't contain herself anymore, she decided not to wait until later. "Lieutenant, let's get one thing straight: we're a counter intelligence division, it's our duty to know exactly how the colonies feel about as and the Titans, but we don't defend them or even condone their actions. You have to understand, we don't exactly take pride in the work we do."

Alice rolled her eyes at the statement. "If you don't like being Titans bus-boys, why are you cooperating in the first place? If you really have a problem with it, you should just use your own free will."

Naomi sighed distantly; for just an instant Ryo saw that same look on her face as she had in the spaceport with Admiral Dyson. "We all have our reasons, kid. Your brother should understand that better than anyone."

- February 3, UC 0084 -
- 0950 hours (CST) -
Aguile Delaz has been called "The Ghost of Gihren Zabi." By that rationale, Admiral Francis Marquis could have been called "The Ghost of Kishiria Zabi", which is ironic in a way considering that he stood a mighty 7 foot 3 and weighed slightly over 600 pounds; some say he actually bore a closer physical resemblance to Duke Degwin Zabi. This former Captain of the Zeon Newtype Corp had been ordered by Kishiria herself to remain at Granada no matter what, even if Abau-Aqu should fall. What they hadn't counted on was the prospect the Kishiria herself would be killed in the battle, and that Zeon would surrender that same day.

Almost two years ago, with the imminent installment of Haman Khan as regent of Mineva Zabi, Admiral Marquis and his fleet parted with Axis for the last time, pilfering several prototype mobile suits from the production sector and packing their bags for the Earth sphere. At around the time as the Delaz Declaration in 0083, the Marquis Fleet moved into its new hiding place inside the cylinder of a wrecked colony, completely hidden from the prying eyes of Federal reconnaissance. All twenty ships of the fleet held a loyalty only to Admiral Marquis and, much like their former leader Kishiria, had developed a bitter dislike of Gihren Zabi and his followers over the years. For this reason, the Marquis Fleet had refused to participate in Operation Stardust, choosing instead to follow their own less radical agenda.

Similarly, Delaz had known nothing of the prototype mobile suits in his arsenal, such as the one carried by the Musai class cruiser Balenea as it approached the wreckage of Bunch 39 in Side 2. The recon mission to Side 6 had ended very badly for the Zeon, especially in terms of the near-even kill ratio and the damage to both of the advanced prototypes during the fight. Duncan took it the worse out of everyone involved, and didn't manage to finish offloading his mobile suit until early the next morning after the ship returned to port. With all the luster of a funeral procession, Duncan moved his mobile suit to the battleship Ganges where Francis Marquis awaited his arrival. He landed in the MS deck of the Gwazine class ship and headed strait for the bridge, and when he arrived his face was frozen in a sullen, half depressed expression. "Reporting, Admiral." He said quietly.

"What's the matter Duncan? Don't like your new toy?" Marquis teased him, his rumbling voice like an earthquake in his throat.

Duncan shifted his weight awkwardly. "Sorry, Pop. I screwed up."

"With what? Your mission was to collect data on the Feddy warships. You did manage to do THAT didn't you?" Admiral Marquis stood up from his chair and dropped one massive hand on his son's head. "What are you so tense about?"

"There was a warship there, a Pegasus class. There were four Alex-class mobile suits onboard..."

"That would be a Titan's vessel. Obviously one of their special units." Admiral Marquis led Duncan off the bridge and walked along side him in the corridor. Even at almost half his father's size, Duncan always felt like a giant when the man was around.

"Pop, I think we're gona have a problem with this one. Their mobile suits weren't that impressive, and their defenses were basically nothing, but when I got ready to take that one shot…"

"What? Happened?"

Duncan blushed. "Well… There was this girl…"

Admiral Marquis stopped in the hall, draping his massive arm over his son's shoulders. "Ohhhhhh... A girl huh? Tell me about her. What's she like?"

"I don't know. I didn't see her directly. I sensed her on one of the support cruisers."

"Sensed her? Have you met this girl before?"

"I don't think so."

Marquis grinned. "I must be getting old. My little Duncan goes out in his mobile suit chasing Feddy skirts!"

"That's not what happened! She was… Pop she's got incredible power!"

Marquis stopped smiling. "What, she's a newtype?"

"That's what's bugging me! They were ALL newtypes! But this girl was… you can't imagine what it was like! It was like her mind reached out and kicked me right in the ass!"

Admiral Marquis changed direction now, leading Duncan to the MS deck instead of his quarters. "You think she could be more powerful that Amuro Ray?"

"No doubt in my mind. I've never felt anything like it, not even from Haman!"

Marquis sighed. "Ah, puppy love. You're growing up so fast!" He slapped the boy on the back, almost knocking him over.

Duncan was mildly amused by the way his father teased him, but couldn't help but worry that the old man was not taking him seriously. In any case, he decided to change the subject. "So when do we begin the operation?"

"It won't be long now. We're just waiting on confirmation from Major Cunningham that all of our arrangements are in position."

"Cunningham?" Duncan rolled his eyes is pure disgust. "Why do we count on him so much? I can't stand that guy."

"Dieter's the kind of man who thinks whatever you want him to think. That makes him extremely valuable."

Duncan looked at his Regelg, resting in the hangar under the watchful eye of the mechanics. "That's why I don't like him. He likes to follow orders so much that he doesn't care where they come from. I'd keep an eye on him if I were you."

Admiral Marquis chuckled playfully. "Oh, you're just mad because he's in love with your sister."

Once again, Duncan wondered if he was taking things too lightly. "Sometimes I worry about you Pop..." He scanned the hangar until he found the Vanessa's blood red mobile suit, leaning up against the wall while the mechanics worked to replace the machine's destroyed left arm. He had always wondered why they didn't just plate her Rickdom Sniper Custom with Luna-Titanium like his Regelg, but Vanessa never seemed to see the point of it. "Hey sis!" He called out, hoping to draw her out of concealment.

"Hey Duncan," Vanessa poked her head out of the cockpit for a moment to see where they were coming from. "How'd you guys do out there? I heard you had a bit of a rough time after I pulled out."

"You could say that. I had some trouble with a…"

"Pegasus class, yeah I heard. Hey, what's this I hear about you getting crushes on little Feddy girls? Planning your next conquest or what?"

"I don't have a crush on her!" Duncan shouted, pulling himself into the cockpit to yell at her face to face.

Vanessa smiled and kissed him on the forehead. "Calm down, Duncan, you're going to burn out if you don't learn to loosen up some times." She handed him an armload of circuit boards and went back to working on her cockpit. "So, what's she like? This girlfriend of yours?"

Duncan blushed again. "Well… she has a warm feeling to her, almost like you do, only a lot stronger. But for some reason…" Duncan scratched his head as he tried to think of a way to express his feelings. "…I feel this really strong urge... I feel like I really NEED to kill her."

Vanessa nodded. "That's becaue you feel threatened by her."

"Threatened? This kid scares the hell outa me! She makes Char Aznable look like Kai Shiden!"

Admiral Marquis appeared outside the cockpit, his face still full of humor and playfulness. "We'll flag the ship's IFF code next time we see it. I won't let anyone else bother your girlfriend until you get close to third base." Admiral Marquis couldn't help but laugh again.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "Guys, this is now joke. I'm dead serious, we need to destroy that ship as soon as possible."


- 0950 hours (CST) -
Monsha was trying his best to stay awake for this briefing, but it was getting harder by the minute. Bate and Adel were, as usual, perfectly alert and focused, but every couple seconds Monsha would yawn and slowly nod off in his seat until Jamaican rose his voice a bit at some point of his endless lecture. He knew he needed to keep his eyes open, but he couldn't seem to motivate himself to consciousness. And then, drifting again into sleep, his eyes saw the door open and Captain Bosque Ohm walk into the room; suddenly Monsha was wide awake. Anyone knew Bosque's tried and trusted reaction to anything and everything that irritated him: anyone near him was liable to get punched in the face.

Jamaican seemed to notice the improvement, and much to Monsha's dismay, Bosque seemed to notice his sudden surge of attention as well. He tried to focus himself and tune in to the rest of the briefing. "...the target colony is known to be harboring a large number of soldiers and mobile suits who were loyal to the former Duchy of Zeon. The mobile suits are officially commissioned with their defense force, but with some of the post-war resource shortages in the colonies they've started raiding shipping lines and some of the neighboring colonies for equipment and supplies." Jamaican put a navigational chart on the screen, showing a series of transport hijackings and piracy reports along the shipping lines to and from the colony in question. "It's highly doubtful they'd attack our unit when we approach, but once we make contact with the enemy you are to engage and destroy them as quickly as possible. Recon teams have reported a single Musai class cruiser in the area, but its intentions have not been confirmed as hostile and we can't even tell if its weapons are operational. We know a number of Zeon vessels have been modified to serve as medical transports and space-liners, so we don't want to take any chances with this one." Jamaican turned the lights up a few levels and made sure everyone was listening. "Lieutenant Monsha, you are to exercise EXTREME restraint in this mission."

Bate wasn't at all surprised that Lieutenant Jamaican had made a special note in the briefing for Monsha. Obviously he was well aware of the man's less-than-stellar reputation by now. "Should we expect any surprises? Any new types of mobile suits or warships?"

"Not that we've seen, but the Federation generally ignores the activities of the space colonies so... I guess anything's possible."

Bate groaned at the vagueness of the answer. "We're going into an unfamiliar area against an unknown number of enemies with lord knows what kind of weapons. Could we at LEAST scout the colony first to get some better intel?"

Jamaican grinned, and in response to Bate's complaint gestured towards the back of the room. "Not to worry, Commander. We have a special guest for this operation." All of the pilots turned around in their chairs to see a short woman with short black hair leaning up against the wall with a bored, spaced out expression. "This is Lieutenant Gwen Larson, she'll corresponding with our unit for this operation." They couldn't place the uniform she was wearing, but it looked like a bizarre variation of a Zeon officer's uniform. From the look of her she could have been fresh out of the academy, but she had an air of superiority around her characteristic of a seasoned ace pilot.

Monsha looked her over thoroughly, and couldn't help but be impressed. It would be an understatement just to call her a babe... "Well that's just perfect! I wouldn't mind following THIS woman around!"

"Not now Monsha..." Bate said quietly. He turned back to Jamaican. "Is the Lieutenant some kind of specialist?"

"Not exactly," Jamaican deferred to Lieutenant Larson, and on cue the woman stepped to the front of the room and replaced him in front of the large screen. "Fill us in on the details, if you would."

"Gladly." Larson tapped the consol and put a new graphic on the monitor. "Eleven months ago, two rival factions within the government of the Axis Zeon challenged the decision on who would replace the late Maharaja Khan as the new Regent. The challenge was peaceful at first, but radical members one of the groups started a firefight after a botched assassination attempt, resulting was a short but extremely bloody civil war. The larger of the two dissident groups scattered into interplanetary space and our intelligence has been unable to keep track of them. The other faction, a group known as the Marquis Fleet, retreated from Axis en masse and have since begun construction of an independent space colony known as Green Noa-II, orbiting Side 7. In exchange for peaceful coexistence with the Federation, the Marquis Fleet has offered full support to the both Titans and the Federal Forces in order to prepare for future hostilities with the Neo-Zeon army under the current Regent, Haman Khan."

Bate had seen something like this coming for a long time. The Titans always seemed to be close to their friends while sleeping with their enemies. "I take it you're here to represent the Marquis Fleet?"

"As a liaison, yes. If you have any questions or issues regarding our partnership, I can pass them on directly to Admiral Marquis."

Monsha's patience was already running out. "Okay, so besides walking scenery, we need you for what again?"

"I'm a spacenoid." Larson said flatly. "You may be good pilots, Lieutenant, but you've got alot to learn about space combat."

Monsha rolled his eyes. "What's there to know? See space colony, see bad guys in colony, see space colony blow up. It aint rocket science or something..."

Larson snickered. "I'm glad you have so much confidence, Lieutenant, considering that without special training, you Earthnoids couldn't tell a space colony from the end of your dick. I'm here because your bosses don't want another embarrassing repeat of the Libot Incident."

Captain Bosque cleared his throat. "Lieutenant Larson, I'll remind you that as a spacenoid and a Zeon, you should consider yourself are under scrutiny by our investigators. Confidence is a good quality to have, but until you prove your loyalty you had better watch your mouth."

Larson rolled her eyes, but made no other gesture of dissent. "Yes sir, Captain sir. I'll watch that from now on."

Captain Bosque stood up again to complete this part of the briefing. "As for the rest of you, please be aware that this will be our first operation to aggressively suppress Zeon terrorists In order to demonstrate our ability to keep order in the colonies this mission has to be carried out as quickly as possible without difficulties and with as few civilian casualties as possible."

"Don't worry about a thing Captain! we can take care of them, no problem!" Monsha said, boisterous as ever.

Bosque frowned again, this time at Monsha. "General Haiman may be impressed with your abilities, but I have yet to see anything worth bragging about. Just do your job out there and do not disappoint me again, Lieutenant."

All of the pilots stood up and saluted, and one by one started to file out of the briefing room. Bate and Adel exited first, but hung around the door and waited for Monsha to come strolling out as usual. He had that same cocky, swaggering step Bate always associated with a man perpetually pleased with himself. How sloppy. Sometimes I wonder... "So, old buddy, we're about two days from the colony now. Got any plans on how to pass the time?"

Monsha shrugged dumbly. "I checked every inch of this ship and I can't find any women as hot as Nina. On the other hand, I did see a couple of wet noses coming aboard from another unit that looked at least as naive as that dumbass Kieth. That might be entertaining for awhile..." He glanced back to the door as Lieutenant Larson stepped out and walked down the hallway in the other direction; this gave him an idea. "Hey Lieutenant Larson!"

Bate and Adel immediately recognized Monsha was about to make an ass of himself and followed closely to get a good view. "Can I help you with something Lieutenant?" Larson said, stopping the hand grip in the hall.

Monsha floated up next to her and planted his feet on the deck. "Hey, no hard feelings Gwen! Actually, I'd appreciate it if you'd teach me about this fighting in space thing. I think we should have a nice little discussion about this."

Larson stared at him for a few moments, then smiled warmly. "I see. How about dinner tonight?"

Bate and Adel were stunned, but Monsha seemed infinitely pleased with himself. "That sounds great! What're we having?"

With a flash of movement too fast for them to follow, Larson planted her feet, sprang up off the deck and snapped instep of her boot directly into his crotch. "Grapes." Larson said flatly.

Monsha keeled over automatically and started floating in the corridor, curled up in pain. Larson chuckled and pushed him back down the hall into the waiting arms of his comrades, then took the handrail again and continued on down the hall. Monsha groaned for a few moments and then looked up and watched her go, catching a perfect view of her flank as she retreated. "Man, she totally digs me!" He squeaked in agony.

Bate sighed distantly and glanced at Adel again. "Sometimes I really do wonder..."

- 0950 hours (CST) -
Naomi seemed to be dancing around in a giddy excitement at her own personal achievement with Brian and Ryo. Convincing them to sign on had been easier than she thought, and neither of them seemed to catch on to what she was really up to. Not that it mattered, neither of them really needed to know what she was up to in the first place, and once they were aboard it would be easy enough to get what she wanted without tipping off someone in the Titans chain of command. On the other hand, she had her own concerns. She hadn't noticed before that the little girl was blind as a bat, and she was more than a little nervous about her appearing out of thin air in the middle of a classified briefing; hopefully this wouldn't become a pattern for her. She didn't expect trouble from Brian or Ryo, but now she started to have concerns that maybe Alice herself would be the biggest problem of all.

Doubts and concerns aside, her mood couldn't have been more lively than it was today. She skipped along in the gravity block like a schoolgirl on parade, hummed a tune in the elevators, bounced back and forth in the corridors of the main ship like a demented grasshopper, finally shooting into the portside MS hangar wearing a massive smile from ear to ear. Lucy noticed it before anyone else and dropped down from her mobile suit to meet her on the deck. "How'd it go Lieutenant?"

Naomi caught her as she landed and spun her around like a top. "It was perfect! They didn't give it a second thought, just came right on board!"

"And the brass?"

"It's just another set of replacement pilots. They won't even read the names when they process the new assignments."

Lucy planted her feet again and looked at her with a worried expression. "What about the kid? You talk to her yet?"

Naomi chuckled. "As a matter of fact, I did."

"And?"

"Let's just say this is gonna be a really interesting tour." She bounded off the deck again towards her mobile suit, the RX-78N-2 resting up against the maintenance stall. Several mechanics were bolting down armor plating around engine assembly of the left leg, and when she thought back Naomi didn't remember any damages there. "Astonage, what's wrong with the leg?"

The ship's youngest mechanic and his three companions looked up from laser torches and grinned. "Nothing at all! Even the mighty Alex needs routine maintenance sometimes!"

"Let ME worry about Alex's maintenance for once! It is MY mobile suit, you know!" Naomi set down on the platform in front of the cockpit and switched on a computer terminal, going strait for reaction speed data. "Ugh... 98%?! What am I doing wrong?" She saved the file onto a disk and checked the reaction data against her readings from the sorties during the Delaz Rebellion. "Dammit, this is an all-time low! I even used more fuel than usual..."

Someone emerged from the cockpit of her mobile suit with a sharp, inquisitive expression. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Lieutenant. We all have our bad days."

Naomi's eyes noticed the Admiral's insignia on the shoulders before she saw the face between them. She snapped to attention automatically and found herself saluting Admiral Juan Dyson aboard her own ship. "Can I help you with something Admiral?"

"Not really, Lieutenant, just looking over the hardware." He stepped back on the lift platform and looked over the mobile suit from head to toe, clearly impressed with the craftsmanship of the humanoid weapon. "This really is one fine machine. In the hands of a skilled pilot like yourself, even on a bad day, I'm sure we'll get to see it's full potential."

"What does that mean, sir?" Naomi tried not to look at him directly, hoping perhaps he would go away after he answered the question.

"I came to give inform you of your new orders. Intelligence indicates the possibility of a new Zeon threat mobilizing somewhere in the colonies and this latest incident seems to confirm our suspicions. We're not sure of their strengths, but we're certain their capabilities already exceed that of the Delaz Fleet before the recent uprising, in fact they may even be aligned with some of the survivors of that very organization. The entire fleet's being mobilized for a counter offensive, but we need advanced elements like yourselves to try and draw them into the open where they can be dealt with quickly and decisively. As usual, you're free to use any means necessary to complete your mission."

That sounded official enough. Naomi relaxed just a bit. "You can count on us, Admiral."

"Of course I can. We've invested a huge amount of resources into the Tarawa and we're confident you won't make us regret it." Dyson gave away that same perverse smile again. Naomi started to sweat. "And I know you'll continue to make us proud. You've always had that fighting spirit, that's what I like about you, Naomi."

Her body tensed up again and her hands tightened into iron fists. The rest of the crew began to take note from all around the MS deck and began hoping and praying this would not end in an incident. "Is that all, sir?" She said evenly.

Dyson was quiet for a moment. He stood back a few steps and looked her over with the same satisfied look as the Gundam. "I really am looking forward to your performance in this campaign. You're quite a piece of work yourself, Baby Doll."

Naomi's entire body flinched. "I've told you before to stop calling me that."

Dyson smiled again, this time more mischievous. "Why so tense? You don't like me or something?"

"What makes you say that?"

Dyson winked at her and leaned back against the mobile suit, clearly not planning to leave her alone any time soon. "Think of all your successes. Everything you are, everything you've worked for until now would be just out of your reach if I hadn't been there to help you. I think I deserve alittle more respect, don't you?"

Naomi's blood was boiling in her veins. Even Dyson knew how much he was tempting fate by staying here, but she couldn't understand why he refused to disappear. "Respect, sir? You... sir, you tried to kill me on two separate occasions. I survived only by letting you think you'd succeeded. Everything I've done, I did in spite of you, not with your help."

Dyson stepped away from the mobile suit and walked around her, stopping just behind her so close she could feel him breathing down her neck. "Conner and Miranda are involved in some very dangerous work, and as you well know, Ashitaka's mental instability puts him at even greater risk. Remember, you are a powerful newtype. All of this negative energy you're putting out increases the chances of... heh, accidents."

All it would take was a steady breeze to set her off; her fingers were already stretching for the combat knife under her uniform. It took everything she had to keep her reflexes under control, and her voice came out like a strained whisper. "I can only promise you that if you so much as scratch one of them, I'll kill you."

Dyson came around in front of her and poised himself directly in her face. "I would LOVE to see you try."

Her fingers abandoned their stretch for the knife, instead going for her gun tucked into the holster on the other side. But before she could even draw her weapon she felt Eric's hand on her shoulder and saw Sergeant Amonte come out of nowhere to plant his feet on the platform behind him, overly eager to draw the Admiral's attention to some trivial detail. "Admiral, Chief Watson's been sending inquiries about the new mobile suits. We still don't have the specs for them and it'll be impossible to inventory the new parts without the specs."

"I'll get someone to help you later..." Dyson tried to brush him off, but Kelly grabbed him by the arm and effectively dragged him away from the mobile suit. "Actually, this is kind of an emergency. You see, with the new pilots coming on board and the possible stress of this new operation we need to get a head start on the maintenance cycle. One mistake at this point and we could loose the entire platoon..."

Dyson floated off unwittingly under Kelly's distraction while Lucy came up from the deck and set down in front of her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Naomi brushed her off and stepped into her cockpit, fighting back a flood of tears boiling in her eyes.

Lucy stuck her head inside slowly, hoping not to have it bitten off by a temperamental officer. "How does he manage to get under your skin like that? Sure, he's an asshole, so are all the other Earthnoid big shots..."

"Long story."

"You wanna talk about it?" Naomi answered her with a tap on her control consol and the hatch started to close. Lucy just manage to pull her head out before the hatch slammed shut and decapitated her. "I guess not." She stood for a moment and logged this one back into her memory. Everyone on the ship knew of Naomi's burning hatred for the Admiral by now, and they also knew the feeling seemed to be mutual. Just what it was that could have started this rivalry was anyone's guess, but if it really was that person, Lucy wasn't about to pry into someone else's personal life. "It's probably none of my business anyway..."

"Why? She's your friend isn't she?" Lucy spun around suddenly to find herself face to face with a twelve-year-old girl in a black shirt and slacks. It caught her so off guard her mind went blank for a moment, and the girl took that as a cue to speak again. "Admiral Dyson only picks on people because they're isolated and vulnerable. I don't think you can find a more sadistic weirdo anywhere in the universe."

Lucy stared at her for another moment before she thought to say anything. "How long have you bee standing there?"

"I don't know, I forgot my stop-watch."

Lucy looked around briefly to see if anyone else was watching, but somehow no one seemed to even notice she was here. "Who let you in here? Don't you know this area's off limits to civilians?"

"Astonage let me in. Ask him, he'll tell you."

Lucy leaned over the railing and looked down the side of the mobile suit where Kelly and three mechanics were pestering the Admiral with a small stack of paperwork. "Astonage, what's this kid doing here?"

Astonage looked up from the group with a confused expression. "Kid? What kid?"

"This little girl right he...?" When she turned around again, Alice was gone, leaving only a quiet hole in the air where she had just been standing. Lucy looked around the hangar in all directions, but aside from the usual mechanics the bay was empty. She thought it over for a moment before she remembered what Naomi had said before and made the mental connection. "Interesting tour... No shit!"