Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.

- Benjamin Franklin

Chapter 10: Persuasion

- March 1, UC 0084 -
It was an amazing thing that the standoff had dragged no as long as it had; suffice to say that the bureaucrats in the Riah government had learned their craft extremely well. Somehow, by saying just the right things to just the right people at exactly the right times, Side 6 had dragged out this situation for the better part of a month and still the Titans had not forced their entry into the colonies. But tensions were at an all time high in any case. The Federation Naval base in Libot Colony had put itself on siege status and was under constant alert, while three battle groups of either Titan or Federation vessels held station near the Side 6 border amongst debris fields where their exact position could not always be confirmed.

Earth-based newspapers were calling it the largest offensive since Abau-Aqu, some even went so far as to call it the Federation's first counter attack for Operation Stardust. The spacenoid press had a very different view on this; the Federation force of sixteen warships and eighty mobile suits was seen as little more than a gang of jackbooted thugs knocking on the door of the notoriously peaceful colonies of Side 6. Where Earthnoid press made a huge fuss about Side 6's "massive arsenal of super weapons" and advanced technology banned by their security treaty with the Federation, spacenoid press counted only seventy five of new mobile suits in all of their twenty colonies, along with over two hundred RB-79 battlepods bought from a Federation surplus and a dozen or more GM models purchased the same way. Arithmetic of the opposing armies ran more in favor of Side 6, but anyone keeping touch with the situation knew the truth. This stood to be one very short and very bloody conflict, one whose outcome was as inevitable as the consequences that would immediately follow.

The two thousand refugees of the first Zanzibar knew what to expect if and when the Titans captured the colony, and gathering any belongings along with relatives and acquaintances they made arrangements in small packs for their exodus from Side 6. Two thousand became five thousand, and a mass of civilian transports were fuelled and stocked for their desperate run. In that time, Side 6's defenses were gearing up for combat even as their politicians stalled for more time. Admiral Dyson's impatience grew day by day, while Captain Bosque sat calmly and waited for his turn. Side 6 could not stall them forever and he knew it at least as well as his opponents did. In the days and hours preceding the opening strikes, everyone involved knew history was about to be made.

Not that some of the soldiers didn't have time for fun while they waited for the invasion signal...


-1005 hours (CST) -
Mechanics and crew crowded around monitors and viewport all over the ship to get a better view. Anyone off duty came to the bridge and crowded into the back of the room, watching on the big monitor with their fists curled tightly in anticipation. Kelly had all the odds scrawled out on a sheet of paper, sweating bullets through his flight suit as the fight went on. If this went as he thought he would, he would not only win back his previous losses but win back that same amount and then some, but ONLY if she won this fight in under the time he'd predicted. "C'mon, kid... strut your stuff..."

Lieutenant Browning reported on the ship's P.A. system, "The Mudrock has moved into a field of colony wreckage! Looks like they're engaging in close range now!"

Kelly's palms started to sweat. "C'mon, you can do it...!"

Alice cut back and forth through fragments of debris towards the mangled remnants of the colony cylinder, hoping to use it as cover to get behind her opponent. All this maneuvering was harder on her, sitting on Brian's lap as she was, but she was so much faster than her pursuer she made up the difference anyway. Naomi started to lag behind now, but her aim with the machinegun was still just as accurate as ever. "You might as well give up, little girl! You can't shake me in this debris field!"

"Oh yeah?! Watch me!" She kicked in the thrusters to full and pulled away from Naomi, feeling the acceleration slamming her back into Brian's chest. Once she had some distance she turned around and fired a long spraying burst from the machinegun, but Naomi dodged every last shell like a true professional and closed in again. Alice turned and went back to running, again relying on her speed to keep a distance between them. Alex sent a few bursts her way from its gun, and as before the Mudrock cut back and forth as it accelerated away from her towards the colony.

Brian could barely see anything at the speed they were moving. "Slow down! There's too much debris to move like this..."

"I'm fine! The mobile suit can see better than you can!"

"Funny you should say that..." Alice stopped in space and boosted straight up where she was, crashing through a cluster of scrap metal and scattering it in all directions before turning back towards the ruined space colony. Naomi's computer lost track of her in the commotion, but then picked her up again as she sped away from her and gave chase once again. "Oh, you almost lost her that time!"

"I'm not trying to loose her!" She finally reached what was left of the colony and slipped inside through an opening in the side walls just as a burst of paintball rounds from Naomi's gun splattered behind her.

The Alex followed cautiously, making sure not to walk into Alice's guns and slipped into the wrecked cylinder, looking around for any movement. Everything was still, not even a heat source for her to home in on. She moved into the middle of the wrecked cylinder and started scanning for hiding places. "Hide and seek, is that it?" She picked out a group of crushed buildings floating freely close to the opposite wall and fired a long burst from her machine gun to scatter anything that might be hiding there. Still no movement.

Naomi changed clips on the gun and moved closer to the colony wall, scouring the gutted city below for her target. "You can't hide forever, kid..."

"I don't intend to."

"Why don't you come out and fight me?"

"Maybe I will." Naomi slowed down her search and waited. A few moments of stillness passed, and then she spotted some movement out of the corner of her eye and turned and fired on instinct. The paintball rounds splattered against the Mudrock's arm shield, but the mobile suit was nowhere in sight. What happened next was too fast for even her gun camera to catch. She just blinked, and suddenly the Gundam was right in front of her. Even Naomi couldn't react fast enough; both of its cannons fired from less than twenty feet away from her and the impact knocked the Alex into a spin, its chest armor now covered in bright green paint. Naomi stabilized and fired back at the empty space where the Gundam had just been, and then she felt another impact from behind as the cannons hit her from behind. "Checkmate! You are SO dead!"

The entire crew of the Tarawa exploded in a roar, regardless of who they had actually bet on. Lieutenant Browning announced the winner on the P.A. as if anyone hadn't already seen it on the monitors, Eric and Mike slapped Chase on the back, Kelly added up his bets on the notebook and calculated his winnings. Rico's was the most unique reaction; he quietly slipped into a seat in the cafeteria, popped two peptobismols into his mouth and sipped a cup of black coffee. Captain Shiden picked up a handset and addressed the entire ship, "Attention all hands, pay close attention to this, you might have just seen history in the making! In light of such a huge upset and the fact that roughly half the crew is now out several hundred dollars, I am officially allotting a double portion of the Tarawa's beer ration to Brian and Alicia Anderson!"

Ensign Franks looked down in confusion, "Beer, sir? I'm not sure Alice would be all that excited."

"Good point..." The Captain thought for a long moment, then came up with a better idea. "In addition, I'd like to recognize a new addition to our crew. As of 0700 hours today, I'm extending a deputy field commission to Petty Officer Alicia Anderson who will be assigned duties as the Tarawa's morale officer and color guard, with all the rights and privileges thereof."

Ensign Franks looked down again, "Color guard?"

"She carries the flag during ceremonies."

Lieutenant Browning joined their confusion. "I thought YOU were supposed to do that?"

The Captain shrugged. "Back in the old days they had one soldier whose sole duty was to carry the flag around in battles, marches, funerals and stuff." The two mobile suits appeared in the distance on their way back, with Lucy's Gundam bringing up the rear with am arm full of long range camera equipment. "Besides, it's a good start. Another year, she'll be promoted to the ship's media spokesman, and after that... who knows? She could grow into a fine officer in a few years time if she's still interested."

Lieutenant Browning glanced over his shoulder at Franks and shook his head sadly. Franks just shrugged. "Somehow I don't think it'll work out like that..."

The Tarawa's MS hatch opened as the two suits came in. Naomi came in first, landed gently on the starboard deck and immediately planted her feet and spun around. Brian looked over her shoulder and watched the approach on the monitors. "Okay Alice, just like we practiced."

"Relax, I can do it."

"That's what you said the last time and you almost killed us." Alice moved the controls in small movements, keeping the mobile suit lined up in its approach on the way in. They were still a good distance away, but their relative speed was still very low. Brian watched every display and every gauge and dial in the cockpit and just started to relax when Alice's feet pushed down on the foot pedals again. "Don't add any more thrust..."

Annoyed with his back seat driving, Alice slammed the pedals to the floor and pushed the controls to the front. Mudrock went from a slow approach to a mad charge into the hangar, and all at once everyone in the crew held their breath. The Alex adjusted its footing on the hangar deck and raised its hands to catch her. "You know something, Big Brother..." She made only small movements with the controls to adjust her approach, and then at the last second threw the legs forward and fired the thrusters on full power. "...I don't need all this negativity." The G-Force slammed both of them forward as the Gundam slowed. In less than a second its speed dropped off and the mobile suit's feet made solid contact with the deck. The knees buckled to absorb the force, then after a moment or so it straightened up and Alice began walking it back into the hangar. "Sometimes I wish you'd be more supportive of me."

"Supportive?! You won didn't you?!"

"Yeah, I won. But you still think I'm just some goofy little kid who likes to play with giant robots." She stopped the suit halfway into the deck, then tapped the switch to open the hatch. "I really am getting better at this, you know. Before you know it, I'll be ready for the real thing." She released the restraints and pulled off the psycommu headset, then groped around the cockpit to find her way to the hatch.

Brian followed close behind. "Alice, I hate to break this to you, but no matter how good you may be, you're still nowhere near being ready. The youngest pilot on record was still three years older than you and even then it was a full blown emergency."

"You're talking about Amuro Ray, aren't you? That's not the same at all." Alice started working herself down the leg of the mobile suit until Brian took her hand and pushed off, guiding her back down to the deck while Astonage entered the cockpit to move it into the maintenance rack. "When Lieutenant Ray first got into that Gundam he had no idea what he was doing and still managed to shoot down three mobile suits AND fight off Char Aznable single handedly. I've been practicing day and night for the last three weeks just to get good enough to fly with you and Ryo, so I at least know how to fight. Just give me a couple more weeks and I'm sure I can keep up with you!"

Brian smiled. "We'll see, but you still have to wait until you're older."

"Aw c'mon...!"

Naomi stood in the open hatch of the Alex and watched them argue from the distance, finding the humor in the situation despite the anxiety boiling in her chest. She looked on for a few long moments until she noticed someone else watching with her, perched on the waist armor in a pilot's normal suit. "I suppose you're going to make fun of me, right?"

"Not at all. That was a nice move she got you with, there's no shame in it."

Naomi grunted in disapproval. "Nice move my ass. She got lucky."

"That wasn't luck, Lieutenant. She knew exactly what she was doing." He pushed off the waist armor and stepped up into the open hatch next to her. "She timed you."

Naomi nodded, having already come to the same conclusion. "I only gave her a fraction of an opening and she nailed me with it... I've never seen anyone move that fast before. She'd mop the floor with an ordinary pilot."

Ryo nodded in total agreement. "Ordinarily, she's sneaky as hell and always knows what's going on around her. It's interesting that she works the same way in a mobile suit." He watched Brian and Alice disappear into the normal suit locker room and asked his question almost casually, "What do you want with her anyway?"

"Want with her? What do you mean?" She said, trying to brush him off.

"You didn't spend the last three weeks training her just because you were bored. You're using her. Why?"

"You have an active imagination, Lieutenant."

She pushed off the open hatch of the Alex towards the locker room, putting him behind her. Ryo pushed off after her. "Naomi, I'm going out on a limb here..."

"C'mon Izumi..."

"... but I think this has something to do with Project N."

She set down on the deck just in front of the airlock hatch and yanked him down, pulling him in closer to talk to him quietly. For a few moments she wondered just where he might have heard of the Project in the first place, but almost immediately she remembered the spaceport just before the Merrimac Incident where he had been eaves dropping on her conversation with Dyson. Obviously he didn't know much about it himself, but by now he had surely put the puzzle pieces together. "What do you want to know?"

"The truth. I just want to know what's going on. No bullshit this time, just be straight with me."

Naomi took a slow breath and gave him the only part she cared to give. "Project N is a bio-weapons research program developed for the Federation by a man named Professor Murasame. I won't bore you with the details, let's just say the program developers mainly focus on human experimentation. In the time I was there I saw some things that... I saw enough to convince me that Project N and everyone involved with it have to be destroyed. I've been looking for a shot at Carter for fifteen months, and I think Alice is the best I've got..."

"You've lost me, Lieutenant. What does a little blind kid have to do with bio-weapons?"

She paused for a moment, taking a breath to brace herself for what she had to say next, "It's simple. As long as we have Alice, Carter's weapons can't even touch us. If her abilities were strengthened, if we brought out her true potential as a newtype, Project N would..."

"Wait a second... If I understand you correctly, you talk about biological weapons, what you mean is..." Naomi nodded, and at that moment Ryo's hands started to shake. "Okay... you've obviously been planning this for a while. Where does she fit into it?"

She was about to answer him when the lighting changed and the claxon in the bulkhead next to them started its panicked wailing, then stopped again as Captain Shiden's voice came over the P.A. "All personnel, this Captain Shiden. This vessel has just received an E.A.M. transmission from Jaburo on a coded channel. At exactly 0900 hours colonial standard time we will commence the first tactical strikes against the Side 6 colonies. All decks assume general quarters and standby for mobile suit deployment."


- 1210 hours (CST) -
The cruiser looked like it had seen better days. Like the Zanzibar class, this ship had been patched and cobbled together from a variety of scrap sources, some of them salvaged from Zeon vessels, some from Federation hulks, all thrown seamlessly together to form a kind of metallic quilt that seemed quaint in a strange kind of way. Still, Captain Mackenzie disliked the implications of this ship's presence, almost as much as she disliked the three men sitting at the table on the other side of the restaurant looking out the viewport at the same ship. Each of them had a strange grimace on their faces as if they were revolted by the look of the vessel. "Shit, Galen, this is really embarrassing! You knew we were going to Side 6, you should've at least painted the damn thing!"

Galen shrugged apologetically. "Appoli, we're scumbags. Let's at least look the part."

"Speak for yourself. It so happens you're talking to the world's sexiest ace pilot!"

Appoli chuckled. "What was the name of that girl you met at Von Braun? Paula or something..."

"Paulina." Galen corrected. "Or Paul, depending on the lighting."

Roberto rolled his eyes. "I'm not ashamed of it. He was a beautiful man."

Appoli slapped him on the back and took another gulp of his beer. Out of the corner of his eye, he happened to notice Captain Mackenzie sitting across the table, discretely watching them out of the corner of her eye. "And that, my friend, is a beautiful woman."

"Who, that red-head?"

"The Captain over there. We met her on the way in... Catherine Mackenzie?"

Galen suddenly remembered it himself. "No, Christina." He cleared his throat and hollered across the room before either of his companions could stop him, "Hey Captain Mac, buy you a drink?"

"Some other time, Mr. Galen."

Galen chuckled. "C'mon now, the fighting could start any minute! There might not be another time!"

Chris took a deep breath and left her spot at the table, reluctantly walking across the room and sat across from the three of them, looking at her watch to make sure she had somewhere to be before having to sit with them for too long. It wasn't in her nature to show them just how much she would have preferred to avoid them. "So you three accepted the contract, huh?"

"Sure did. Side 6 paid in advance in case nobody was left to compensate us. Smart move if you ask me."

"Yeah, smart." The waitress came back to the table with a fresh beer bottle and Galen poured a clean glass for her. "What will you do if Side 6 collapses? You know the Titans will come after you as well."

"That's the life of a bounty hunter. We live on the run, it's no change for us. In fact, being outlaws would probably expand our repertoire a bit."

She caught his drift right away. "Piracy, you mean?"

Galen grinned. "Who knows? And by the way, the terms of our contract are to help support YOUR unit in combat, so if things go south just know there's a place for you on the Scarface. Think of it as an emergency escape route."

Chris smiled outwardly and grimaced inwardly. Even if the Scarface survived the battle, and she doubted it would, they wouldn't have an escape route that the Ticonderoga couldn't make on its own. "Thanks Galen, but I'll pass."

"That's your decision." Galen took a sip of his beer and then added casually, "You don't like me much do you?"

Chris shook her head. "I'm not much on mercenaries. I think people should just pick a side and then fight for it."

Galen nodded. "I couldn't agree more. And I did pick a side." Chris stared at him for a moment as he volunteered his explanation, "I'm on MY side. So are Frick and Frack here. Sometimes there's other people on my side, those are the people who pay me, so in this case you are also on my side. As long as I'm on the job, my guns are your guns."

"I'll keep that in mind." Chris started to stand up, but Galen caught her arm.

"Just one question, Captain."

"What?"

"You fought in the One Year War, didn't you?"

Chris hesitated, unsure where he was going with this. "Uh huh."

"And you were stationed here, weren't you?"

"Briefly."

Galen pulled her closer and whispered in her ear, "My brother Mikhail was assigned to a Special Forces unit called Cyclops Team during the war. He was piloting a blue mobile suit very much like the one I use, but his entire unit disappeared during an operation in Libot Colony." He paused a moment and read her body language for reactions. He was internally amused that his information had been so accurate. "I never could get a straight answer as to just what happened to them, but rumor has it he was brought down by an advanced Gundam prototype. Since you were in Libot at the time, I wonder if you might know who the pilot was or where I might find him."

Chris slowly pulled her arm free and took a small step back from the table. "I wouldn't know. Sorry gentlemen, I have to get back to my station."

"Good luck out there." Galen said as she left.

Apolli waited until she was out of earshot and then whispered. "I didn't know your brother fought in the war..."

"He didn't." Galen chuckled and took a sip of his beer. "Truth is, I don't even have a brother."

Roberto leaned back and laughed quietly. "Why do you do that to people?"

"I like to keep folks on their toes, especially beautiful women who might be useful to me..." The lighting in the room changed and the scramble alarm started screaming throughout the colony, almost drowned out by the simultaneous air-raid warnings. Normally, Galen would have counted this one down to another drill and finished his drink, but when he looked out the window he saw a flashing light on the bridge of the Scarface blinking a Morse code message: 'T-I-T-A-N-S'. "Time to go." He said, abandoning the table. "Whatdya say, guys? Let's go earn our paychecks."


- 1255 hours (CST) -
Monsha locked his feet down on the catapult and immediately grumbled in annoyance, "What's this bullshit? I thought we were supposed to be the main force?"

Lieutenant Bate sighed in his own personal hell. "Quit complaining, Monsha. Captain Bosque is already in position to attack, so we might as well support him while we're here."

Monsha groaned. "Whose idea was it to pull the Agamemnon to the rear line? We should be on the front...!"

"We ARE on the front! Just because the ship isn't..."

Lieutenant Passaroff cut them off with his own channel, his voice hiding his cynical amusement with Monsha's frustration. "Bate team, scramble and support the Alexandria's group. Braun Team, form a defense line behind Bate's team. Launch immediately."

Monsha cracked his knuckles and pushed down on the foot pedals. "Roger that, moving out." The GM Quell shot down the catapult track and launched into space, followed shortly by the other three suits of the 4th team, then Lieutenant Braun's GM Quells behind them.

Lieutenant Larson, as usual, was the last to board the catapult, but for some strange reason she felt more uneasy than ever before. "Major Cunningham, you'll be replacing me as liaison to the Marquis fleet after this mission. If you get killed and strand me on this damn ship without a replacement, I will have no choice but to piss on your grave."

Dieter chuckled and locked his Hizack onto the catapult. "I'll keep that in mind." Dieter launched first out of the ship, and Gwen followed just behind him, keeping her thrust a bit lower than usual to stay out from in front of him. She couldn't understand why, but for some reason she didn't want to turn her back on Dieter Cunningham for any period of time.

The two ships from the Marquis fleet were now just behind the Alexandria, supporting the ship's rear defense from attack by the main defensive push of the Riah forces. She was amused to see the battle had already begun, and even more amused to find that the two combatants seemed to be more or less evenly matched. The Titans mobile suits were far more powerful, but Side 6's pilots seemed far more skilled. "Maybe this won't be the slaughter we all thought it would be. Maybe I AM routing for the wrong team..."

Berriga colony was just up ahead, with the mobile suit and ball defenses swarming around it, battling like angry bees around a hive. The boxy, simply looking Hercules mobile suits were flying with their backs to the colony, firing in massed barrages at the encroaching GMs and GM Quels from the Titans units. Two GMs double teamed a single Hercules with its back to the bay block, but the cornered mobile suit fired off two quick shots from its rifle into the chest of the first before the other scored a direct hit with a bazooka round. As Gwen came closer she saw the Alexandria and the three Salamis cruisers with it, blasting away with mega particle cannons at the two civilian ships with bolted-on beam cannons on their sides. Alexandria scored a direct hit, and one of the ships immediately flew apart in a massive explosion.

Captain Bosque was grinning despite the growing intensity of the battle. Little by little the mobile suit battle was breaking down into an all-out brawl, but with every second the battle moved closer to their target colony. Berriga was the home port of what passed for Riah's naval fleet, a dozen civilian warships modified very imaginatively into third-rate combat vessels. "Converge main cannons onto the spaceport and maintain barrage for thirty seconds."

Alexandria's cannons changed targets and all fired at once, striking the number two space gate of the bay and blowing it wide open. A squad of Hercules saw the flash and closed in to attack the ship, but Lieutenant Bate spotted them on the way in and blindsided the leader with his machinegun before it even got close. The other four turned and fired in his direction, apparently not even seeing Monsha and Adel as they locked on to attack them from behind. In a hail of gunfire all four of them took damages, two of which pulled out with holes in the armor and the other two drifted in space until their reactors cooked off. "These new mobile suits aren't so hot after all. I wonder what all the fuss was about."

Monsha reloaded his machinegun and scanned around for a new target. He spotted three enemies rising out of the bay block, RB-79s with their cannons already aimed his way. "Look at those dumbass spacenoids trying to step it up in those things! Now that takes Balls!" He laughed aloud at his own pun and locked his rifle onto the first of three.

His computer warned him too late to help, and a single bazooka round punched through his back pack and exploded underneath his armor. The mobile suit drifted powerless in space, and Monsha sprung the hatch and leapt to safety just as another bazooka round split the GM in half. Duncan laughed as he picked another target, and fired another bazooka shell in Adel's direction just as he turned around to engage. This time the shot missed, and Duncan shot past him and sped out of range while he thought of what to do next. "Moron!"

"The Titans are as predictable as the Feddies. I guess Earthnoids are all alike." Vanessa peaked out from behind the colony mirror again, finally confident enough that her target was in range. The Salamis cruiser just in front of the Alexandria was ripe for the picking. "Red Rifle to all units, fire in the hole!" All of the Hercules and Ball pilots responded right away, immediately clearing her firing path as her beam cannon powered up. When the cannon fired, the recoil actually slammed the Rickdom back a few meters, but the beam went straight to its target as accurate as always.

Captain Bosque saw a flash out of the corner of his eye and looked over just in time to see the massive mega-particle beam slam into the hull of the New Guinea just forward of the main bridge. The beam punched through the keel of the ship, and a split second later a gigantic explosion split the ship in two and sent both halves tumbling off in different directions. "DAMN! Gunnery, set your targets to the sky pannels! Blow those shudders wide open!"

Everyone in the room turned slowly and looked at him. "Captain, if we blow the shudders the colony will decompress...!"

"I didn't ask your opinion! Follow my orders immediately!"

Captain Bosque's weapons officer swallowed hard and reset the primary target in fire control.

The next barrage from the Alexandria was a direct hit, all four main guns and the two from both of the remaining cruisers raking down the sides of the colony, melting and smashing the transparent panels in the side of the cylinder. Everyone in the battle field stopped whatever they were doing and watched with a sudden rush of horror, Titans and Riah forces alike. The series of explosions that blossomed along the one side of the colony expanded in a tremendous fireball from the sudden massive oxygen release, scattering debris into open space from inside the colony itself. The shockwaves from the blast blew out an entire section of the panel, and the rush of air from the colony suddenly intensified.

Lieutenant Larson's heart stopped beating for half a minute as she came to terms with what she was now looking at. "My god... was that... was than an accident?"

"They've been evacuating civilians since before we crossed the border. The only ones left will be a few government officials and some soldiers." Dieter almost sounded bored by all of this, like the destruction of the colony was some kind of pitiful distraction from things that were really important. "Pay attention, Larson. In case you haven't noticed, we ARE fighting a battle, here."

Once again, Gwen found herself wondering if Dieter's past experience hadn't completely destroyed his sanity, but at this point there was another major concern to deal with. She fired her throttles to full, charging through the battlefield as the fighting resumed from its moment of pause and homed in on the targets she'd seen before. Both of them recognized her, and in a flash she found herself standing next to the now-wrecked bay block face to face with a pair of Rickdom Sniper Customs. "You two! What the hell were you thinking anyway?! Do you have any idea how much trouble we'll be in if the Titans...!"

Duncan took a step forward and pointed his finger over her head at the battle around them. "The Titans can go to hell! Riah's done nothing but follow the Federation's own laws and THIS is how the Titans repay them! You think we can negotiate with people like that?!"

"They need us! The Titans aren't strong enough to police the Earth Sphere on their own and they need strong allies with a finger on the pulse of the spacenoids! They need us to...!"

"That's bullshit and you know it! The Titans will turn on us the instant it serves their purpose and just use whatever they can get from us! They're developing their own newtype weapons, what more proof do you need?!"

Gwen looked over her shoulder at the Alexandria as it fired another barrage into the colony, stripping off another panel of the colony and this time knocking off an entire mirror panel with it. She could already feel the colony's rotation starting to change. "Jamitov gave us his word! He gave us his sworn promise that the Green Noa-II would be free to self govern! You're not making this easy for us!"

Vanessa changed out the gigantic energy capacitor on the beam cannon and raised it to fire again, this time aiming it right at Gwen's head. "Earthnoid promises aint worth a damn! Go ahead and do what you have to, and we'll do what WE have to!" She raised the beam cannon two degrees charged it up and fired it once again. The beam caught a Titans GM completely off guard and vaporized it instantly, but at the same time the squad leader of the main Hercules team fired three flares over his head, a general retreat signal. "Go back to the Admiral and tell that damn fool to stop living in a dream world!" Duncan and Vanessa pushed off the colony and joined the other retreating forces. Larson hung there in space somewhat stupefied, not noticing Major Cunningham's mobile suit a hundred meters behind her watching the entire scene passively.


- 1245 hours (CST) -
Acheron colony's garrison was on full alert even before the Federation fleet entered the area. Everyone knew that the twin defense force garrisons at Libot and Acheron would be primary targets once the fighting started. At the moment of the first aggressive action by the Titans, the colony defenses swung into action immediately, opening fire on the Federation base in Libot colony while reinforcements came to defend the twin colonies from the attack they knew would come soon.

The three ships of the defense force, all modified from old civilian fuel tankers took up a defensive position just behind the colonies as the recon teams reported the approaching attackers. The Ticonderoga, a the largest of the three, launched all nine of its mobile suits from the two modified cargo holds to join the other fifteen mobile suits already forming their defense line. Captain Mackenzie launched from Libot's bay block and rejoined the other five mobile suits of her team as her first officer brought her up to speed on the radio. "Strike teams in Libot report the Federation garrison's offering heavy resistance but progress is being made. We'll have the base secured within the hour."

"And the incoming hostiles?"

"It's an assault carrier with a full escort, three cruisers with mobile suits. It'll be in firing range in about ten minutes, and the mobile suits have already launched."

"How many?"

"Six to ten mobile suits in two separate groups."

Chris raised a brow. "Ten suits? That's not very many..." With the numbers and types of ships approaching it was obvious that this was just the first wave. The second would probably launch immediately after this, and then the Feddies would tag-team the colony until the defenders were too exhausted to fight. "We have to push them back on the first wave. 4th and 7th team, take care of that first group above us. 2nd team, follow us to intercept that group down below."

As soon as the Hercules squads started to move, Lucy's motion sensors picked them up and locked on. "Targets sighted, one minute to firing range."

Naomi scanned ahead in that direction and identified her targets. "Same models from Afghanistan. They don't look like much, but the brass at Jaburo thought they were pretty impressive." The targets started moving towards them, closing the range more quickly and coming into firing range. One group moved below against Mike and Eric's group, leaving Naomi to engage the high road with Lucy and her three GMs. "There's twelve of them. Here we go..." The leader's suit opened fire as it came into range, but from that distance it was hitting nothing but empty space.

Lucy increased power to her thrusters and came in closer, calmly cycled to one target and locked on. The Hercules didn't seem to notice her approaching, even as a burst from her arm gatlings ripped through its torso and burst one of its fuel tanks. Two of his companions turned and fired, Lucy aimed and fired back; the beam struck the suit just below the cockpit and the suit scattered into space on a fireball. "Two down..."

"I got the next one!" Naomi's computer locked on and the crosshairs centered on another suit. This time the pilot was ready for her; her first shot was a bit too low, and he sidestepped the next one by a margin of a few feet. Two more shots missed, but when she got closer she put one beam straight through the cockpit and left it hanging dead in space. "They're not bad. About Zaku performance, maybe more..."

Two of the GMs behind her picked out a single suit and opened fire with beam guns. One clipped a piece of the suit's leg and knocked it into a spin, the other put the deathblow into it with two short bursts. Three others flew through the explosion and opened fire with their machineguns, catching both off guard in a burst of fire. One GM was destroyed instantly, the other got off a few quick shots before it was ripped apart by the flurry of shells. The Riah suits hesitated for just a moment, and in that split second both of the Gundams blindsided them with a blast from their beam rifle while the remaining GM finished off the third.

Naomi spun around again and raised her shield just in time to block several rifle shells from two other suits. "Still a few more of them...!"

Lucy dodged a few rounds and picked another out of the five remaining suits. "Naomi, Garry, we're going in. Keep advancing to the colony."

"Roger."

Mike's team had made slower progress; one of the GMs was gone and another had already been damaged. The ten mobile suits engaging them were moving with a precision and a confidence even Mike could identify as the work of veteran or at least very well trained pilots. "Swanson, these guys are no amateurs! Be careful here..."

"Quit pep-talkin, Mike! I can handle this!" Eric pushed forward under full thrust and locked onto one target, then fired a long burst from his arm gatlings as he closed in. The pilot avoided his line of fire, but Eric kept the trigger down and walked the crosshairs up to the fleeing suit until finally his shells scored a hit. The mobile suit spun off in flames, but before he could even give a shout of triumph his computer warned of an attack from behind. He dodged to one side as the attacker rushed past with a beam saber in hand, but when he came around again he saw a machine he couldn't identify coming around for another pass. "Wha... that looks like a Zeon model!"

Mike scanned the suit and the computer identified it right away. "Confirmed MS-18E Kaempher Custom. They didn't make too many of those..."

"What's it doing here...?" The Kamepher came around again, this time stowing the beam saber and drawing one of its bazookas from storage. Eric barely had time to blink before it closed in again, and only by a luck reflex did he move aside before the bazooka round blew his head off. "Christ that thing's fast!"

"No kidding... Swanson, behind you!"

Eric spun around and fired blindly with the beam rifle, Chris dodged left and fired back. The shell hit its mark; the Gundam's right hand exploded and the beam rifle spun uselessly off into space. Chris fired two more shots, both of which exploded against his chest plate but made little more than an ugly dent in the armor. The Gundam backpedaled in space and popped open its arm gatlings, but Chris was already moving away before he could pull the trigger. "They've upgraded it! Not bad..." She caught a flash out of the corner of her eye and turned her head just in time to see two of her mobile suits exploded side by side, both racked by a burst from Mike's arm gatlings. Two others returned fire on the Gundam, but diverting their attention made them easy pray and both were picked off by beam guns from the GMs behind it. "Dammit! Galen, take out that Gundam!"

"Roger! Watch me work, Chris! This is why they hire people like me!" The Kaempher lined up for a high speed pass of the Gundam, and Galen wasn't at all surprised when Mike turned towards him and fired a few quick bursts over his head, though for a few moments he was deeply impressed with how quickly it moved to counter him. "Pilot's quick but he's no newtype..." Appoli and Roberto moved in behind him as he dove in, and Galen made his move. He picked his targets and picked out the two small rocket launchers on his waist armor, aimed and fired them both without changing course at all. The Gundam raised its shield to block, realizing too late that it was not the target of the attack.

Both GMs were hit dead on, both shattered by the warheads and scattered into space like so much garbage. Mike's beam rifle returned fire and again Galen dodged completely as he charged straight in towards it... and then he caught an explosion from behind him and spun around in surprise. Roberto's Rickdom was tumbling in space with a ball of fire where its legs had been destroyed by the Gundam behind it. Appoli made a few small moves to avoid its arm gatling, and Galen reversed his course on a dime. "Appoli, take the other one!"

The Rickdom passed him in the opposite direction and moved in to attack Mike's suit while Galen went after Eric. Two Hercules behind him put a few shots across his face and Eric turned for the briefest moment and fired a short burst to keep them at a distance. But when he turned back it was too late to counter attack, and this time Galen didn't bother with his beam saber; the Kaempher reached behind its back and uncoiled its chain mine, and with a wave of its arm whipped the tip of it against the Gundam's head. The rest of it snaked around his armor, locked down to the end and armed themselves. Galen flipped the switch on his consol and all fifteen bombs in the chain mine detonated at once.

Mike heard Eric scream on the radio, and just that one distraction left him open to Appoli's attack. The Rickdom fired a single bazooka shell as it closed in and Mike raised his shield to counter, but when the shell exploded it tore straight through the shield and took most of his left arm with it. But the sudden burst of debris around him covered his next move, and Mike fired one last lucky shot off his beam rifle as the Rickdom shot past him.

Appoli felt the impact and then his monitors faded to black, replaced a few seconds later by a grainy image from his backup cameras. "Shit! Galen, my main camera's malfunctioning!"

Galen took a look in his direction and laughed out loud. "Camera nothing! He blew your head off!"

"My head?! AW MAN...!"

"Hey, cut the chatter people! Check your ammo, their second wave could come at any time!" Chris took one moment to look around and felt a rush of anxiety. She was reduced to six mobile suits, all of them low on ammo, and even Galen was down one pilot from battle damages. Even worse, she looked back towards Libot and saw that the other team had already penetrated and the battle was now raging on and around the colony itself. And then the final insult: Chris's combat computer picked up a heat source from the distance, and she turned her head just in time to see a barrage of mega particle cannons reach out from the distance, crossing through space to impact directly on Libot's main bay block at the West end. A series of explosions opened up the colony walls and secondary explosions began bubbling out from within the docking hatches. "This is Captain Mackenzie to all units, abort mission! Fall back to carriers and retreat immediately! I repeat, fall back to carriers and retreat!"

Galen sounded confused on the radio, but even he could understand the reason for it. He grabbed Robert's suit by the hand and dragged it behind him, and by remarkable coincidence, when he checked his rear display, he spotted one of the Gundams doing the same with its heavily damaged comrade. The Gundam looked like it was barely holding together, in fact just the stress of being dragged by his companion was too much for it and bits and pieces of it began to break off and fall away into space. "Looks like I win, Gundam. Until next time..." Galen turned his back to them and returned to the already-retreating Scarface, firing as it retreated at the Tarawa and the three Salamis cruisers.

Captain Black signaled them as Galen came in for a landing, "To all friendly forces, enemy attacks were more coordinated than we thought. The defense forces at Berriga and Franchesca have been completely overrun and we've lost contact with our advanced forces sent to slow their advance. Defense Headquarters wants all forces to regroup at Londenium and buy some time for the evacuees."

Galen brought his suit to a stop in the Scarface's airlock and took a few deep breaths. "I wonder if this is more important than just a contract?"