How often in history have we seen the forked tongue of a leader, coming in the name of peace and justice, speaking the words of saints and the promises of peace, only to rain death upon the heads of the very people he comes to liberate? People never forget a betrayal, nor do they ever forget the face that commits it. Often times their retribution far outweighs the severity of the original offense-- as a warning to those who come after that a people united will never accept an oppressor.
- Lieutenant Commander Anaval Gato
- Interview with Angler Publications, January 1, UC 0083

Chapter 23: Hit and Run

- June 7, UC 0084 -
- 0420 hours (CST) -
The lights in the briefing room were dimmed to half level and all eyes were focused on the main display screen next to Commander Wilson as she walked them through the mission with a laser pointer, "It wouldn't be wise at this point to try and attack the Dogos Gaia while she's in port. The potential for damage to the colony is much too great, and the Titans may punish Side 2 for it. On the other hand, this gives us a little bit of an advantage, since the Agamemnon and the support fleet is still nearby maintaining the blockade."

Vanessa looked at the display in confusion, a chart showing the positions of the Side 2 colonies and the Titans and Federation vessels, "They're still in patrol formation, they're not even joining the blockade line."

"Good observation. They're not at all interested in the blockade, they're mainly just waiting for us."

"Then aren't we walking into a trap?"

Naomi grinned. "As a matter of fact, we are."

A few of the pilots stirred uneasily throughout the briefing room, "They'll be expecting us, then?" Ryo asked timidly.

"They should be. But the main point of this operation is to test their defenses. And if the Titans are hanging the Agamemnon out as bait, we need to find out what they're using as a snare."

Mike thought for a moment, going through his memory of previous missions for comparison, "Three cruisers and an assault carrier, plus the Agamemnon's compliment. That's about the usual odds, isn't it?"

Lucy chuckled. "We're outnumbered three to one. That's actually better than usual."

"And that's just at a glance." Naomi continued. "We're splitting up into two teams for this mission. Lucy will take Mike and Ricardo and the Adelaide's GM squadron to this sector here," She highlighted the area with the pointer, "You'll find a Megallan class battleship and two Salamis cruisers with the blockade fleet. Launch a diversionary attack, and stir up as much of a ruckus as you can. At the same time, the rest of the mobile suits will be standing by over here," She pointed to the Agamemnon's position, "Duncan and Vanessa will hang back in this asteroid field here, the rest of the strike force will attack from below. As soon as the Titans mobile suits are away, we'll attack with full force and draw away the rest of their mobile suit defenses. Vanessa can take it from there."

The two Marquise pilots both surged up in surprise, and Vanessa almost seemed offended by the idea, "You're using ME as the main force?!"

"Long-range attacks are your specialty, Lieutenant, are they not?"

"Yeah, but..."

"You're not crucial to the mission, Vanessa, but if you can score at least one good hit against the Agamemnon or the support fleet, it'll save us a lot of trouble when we do go after the Dogos Gaia."

Duncan growled a complaint, "Meanwhile we're sitting ducks if their patrols catch us."

"It's a hit and run mission." Naomi shut off the display screen and the lights turned back up to normal. "If you're discovered by the enemy, or when your capacitor runs out, the mission is over. If you get into too much trouble, call for a rendezvous with the main force and we'll both retreat together."

Duncan still wasn't satisfied. "Hanging us out to dry, is that it?"

"Shut up, Deuce." Vanessa shoved him back into his seat and nodded at Naomi apologetically. "It's a good plan, Commander, but there's a contingency I don't think we've covered."

Naomi was already a full step ahead of her. "If the Flash Gundam shows up, Lieutenant Izumi and myself will handle it. If it comes after you first, don't risk trying to engage it, just get the hell out of dodge while you can."

Keeping with the subject, Lieutenant Dyson had a similar question, "And what if WE run into it? We retreat as well?"

She had been afraid he would ask a question like that. "Lucy can keep it distracted while the rest of you press the attack. And for the record, even though this is a diversionary attack, you should consider this to be nothing short of a direct assault. Inflict as much damage as possible before we send up the retreat signal." She paused for a moment and glanced around the room, "Any more questions?" No one answered, and Naomi folded her arms and smiled. "Then get your mobile suits ready. We launch in one hour."

All of them stood up and saluted, then all departed the briefing room and marched off towards their respective MS decks to start the preparations for the mission. Naomi fell in behind them on the way to her own mobile suit, but just as she reached the door she felt someone tug her elbow. She didn't look up; she already knew who it was, and she also knew what he wanted her for. "Not now, Brian. I don't have the time."

"I just need to know something. You can spare a minute, can't you?"

She turned slowly and stared at him, silently dreading this conversation as she had been for some time. "What do you want to know?"

"Carter's new pilot," He started off awkwardly, but slowly gained confidence, "The one called "Nine Murasame..."

"You've been reading the intelligence reports, I gather."

Brian nodded. "I feel as though I'm being left out of the loop or something. You and Ryo both have this big secret, and I..."

"You don't need to know right now. It wouldn't do any good."

She turned and started for the door again, but Brian caught her and pulled her back. "You saw her, didn't you?" He said at last, skipping through any more banter to the point of the conversation.

Naomi sighed. "Saw who?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Just tell me, Naomi, please. Who is Nine Murasame?"

"She is..." She looked up for his face and searched for something that might make it easier; there was nothing in his eyes but a longing to know for sure. "You don't need me to answer that, you already know."

Brian nodded slowly; Naomi gathered he had already suspected that. "You yourself came out of Project N after all that, so I'm certain there's a way to bring her back..."

"I don't think you understand what's happened to her." Naomi leaned against the wall and folded her arms across her stomach, "The effects of the conditioning are irreversible. Even if you can restore her memory, elements of her conditioning will remain. She'll never quite be the same."

Brian nodded again. "You know what it's like to have to protect someone, even if that person doesn't want to be protected. Whatever else she's become, she's still my baby sister..."

"But that's all gone, now." Naomi stepped away from the wall and poised herself in front of the doorway, a signal that she wished to end this conversation. "I told you, the conditioning is irreversible. She's not a child anymore, and she never will be again. From now on, until the day she dies, she will always be a living weapon."

"That's not true... I have to believe there's a way to bring her back."

"There isn't one. And there's nothing we can do to help her." She tapped the panel on the door and stepped into the hallway. "There's only one person who can bring Alice back, and her name is Nine Murasame."

Brian flinched at the remark. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Naomi closed the door without answering, and started down the corridor to her mobile suit. She could already sense him starting to pull away from her, back into himself and the old call of a family obligation he had imposed on himself. She was perfectly content to leave him to his motivations for as long as he liked.

And this time she knew why. "Izumi," She called across the hangar deck as she passed through the airlock.

Ryo poked his head out of the cockpit, "What's up?"

She pushed off the deck and rose up to his mobile suit, pausing in front of the hatch to his cockpit, "Late last night, we got a communiqué from an informant in Side 2, going by the codename "Brother Bernie." He says he might have some information about Alice."

Ryo turned slowly, suddenly more interested. "Does he now? You got something in mind?"

"As a matter of fact I do. Something VERY special, you'll see..."

- June 6, UC 0084 -
- 1930 hours (CST) -
The smell of hot food on her plate and a room lacking in hostility filled her with a bizarre, awkward feeling. Everything about these people was friendly and welcoming; they had invited her into their home, shared their table with her, even offered her dry clothes and a bed to stay the night if she wanted. Everything about the Izuruha family was peaceful and benign. And everything about them was wrong. The old instincts were growing restless in her stomach, the programming of a combat system a dozen miles away reminding her of who and what she was. There were no enemies nearby, but somehow the absence of an immediate threat filled her with dread.

Mr. Izuruha picked up on this before any of the others, but put his questions cautiously hoping not to spook her, "What's wrong, Alice?" He said in as warm a tone as he could manage, "Loose your appetite?"

Nine shook her head slowly. "Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind." She searched the area next to the plate and found a fork, timidly poked at what she quickly identified as a bowl of ramen noodles. Her stomach did a tiny leap for joy.

Mrs. Izuruha made a sound like a combination of pity and friendship; she reached over slowly and patted Nine on the shoulder. "I hope we're not making you uncomfortable or anything."

"It's not your fault. I'm never comfortable."

"I don't blame you. You've lost all your memories of the past... you must have trouble sorting things out sometimes."

Nine's rumbling stomach overwhelmed her awkward shyness and she quickly scooped up a mass of noodles, shoveled it, and went on with the conversation almost without a break in the action, "Sometimes I do, but it helps to keep busy. This is the first time since the accident I've had any time to myself without having to work."

"Work?" All three of them asked at once, all in a collective expression of disbelief.

Nine shrank away from them nervously. "I... uh... I'm with this experimental program run by the government. Medical research and things like that."

"Oh! I guess that's only natural..." Mrs. Izuruha gave a friendly smile and all three of them went back to eating. Nine gave off a sigh of relief.

Alfred had been quiet since the moment she came inside the house, but now he found a break in the conversation enough to add his own voice to the discussion. "So you really don't remember anything at all?"

Nine shook her head again. "Bits and pieces only, but nothing that can tell me anything."

"What's the last thing you remember?"

In a reflex action, Nine's hands opened and closed as if clenching around the controls of a mobile suit. "I just remember calling out to someone but... I don't remember who... I guess whatever happened was bad enough that I lost my eyesight in the process."

Alfred grunted in confusion. "What do you mean? You were always blind."

If Nine could have seen him now she would have stared a hole in his chest. "I was? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You told me once it's cuz of something that happened to you when you were a baby. But you never told anyone the details."

Nine sagged and turned all of her attention onto the food on her plate. "I see."

"Did the doctors tell you it had something to do with the accident?"

"Yeah. And one doctor in particular just earned an ass whooping."

Mrs. Izuruha sighed and leaned back in her chair. "She hasn't changed at all."

"Must be genetic." Mr. Izuruha chuckled, serving out seconds to the empty plates around the tables.

Evening turned into night; after dinner, Mr. Izuruha retreated off to his office finish paperwork for the Colony Corporation while the Mrs. left the house on the usually nightly errands. Out of the spotlight of his parents' attention for the millionth time, Alfred took Nine by the hand and led her up the stairs to the guest room at the end of the hall, right next to his parents' bedroom. "The couch in there unfolds into a bed, so you can sleep there if you want to spend the night."

Nine shrugged nervously. "I don't wanna be a bother."

"You're not, really. Dad practically lives in his office, and Mom sneaks out all the time to see her boyfriend so nobody will even know you're here."

Nine raised a brow. "You seem kinda detached from the whole thing."

Alfred pulled the cushions off the bed and unfolded the oversized mattress until it filled half the room, leaving just enough space for the shelves and the TV in the corner. "Yeah, well neither of them care, so why should I? It only pisses me off when they start fighting and drag ME into the middle of it."

"I guess it's understandable." As soon as Nine's body hit the bed, every muscle in her body released a month's worth of stored up tension. She hadn't realized until exactly that moment how tired she actually was. "Tell me something, Alfred," She leaned back on the bed and set her head on the pillow, "Were we really close friends back in Side 6?"

Alfred shrugged. "Not real close. I didn't used to hang out with that many girls back then. But, on the other hand..." He hesitated to go on, but given that she couldn't remember anyway he decided there was no harm in it. "I kinda had a crush on you."

Nine sat up again, a little surprised. "Did you?"

"It was kind of a puppy thing. My friend Chay took a picture of you with your swimsuit on and I thought you were pretty."

She chuckled playfully and fell back on the pillow, feeling a days worth of fatigue finally catching up with her. "I feel like taking a nap... can I trust you not to molest me in my sleep or something?"

Alfred laughed out loud. "I won't, but I can't speak for my dad."

She laughed again and curled up on the bed with a smile. "Thanks Alfred, really."

"No problem. I'll wake you up in two hours, how does that sound?"

"Fine. Thanks."

He left the guestroom and closed the door behind him, locking it from her side so no one else would be able to get in. He didn't wait even for a moment; he went straight to his room, out the window and across the roof, climbed down the gutter pipe to the backyard and across the lawn to the old tool shed at the neighbor's house. The door to the shed was padlocked, and only one other person knew the combination to it.

Once inside, he closed the door again and locked it from the inside with a deadbolt. A flip of a switch turned on the only light bulb, in the shed, another switch turned on the bank of computer and radio equipment arranged on the workbench in front of a computer chair. There was a note on one of the monitors from Bernard saying that he had already filled out the reports for the day, and Alfred made a mental note to thank him for filling in again. But right now he had more urgent matters to attend.

The largest monitor in the center keyed to life when he punched in his password, and a box opened in the corner prompting him to enter his message. Alfred took a moment or two to considering his wording, then typed the message into the box with the usual encryptions: "Brother Bernie, signal to CT-1702-- Have contacted non-commissioned Titans officer in Bunch 13, Side 2. She identifies herself as Nine Murasame, and has markings and tattoos consistent with a Titans special unit. May be connected to Project N... please forward to the appropriate party and respond immediately." He flagged the message as "urgent" and dispatched it across cyberspace, direct to the home offices of his friends in Angler Publications, straight to the dispatcher screens in the editor's office whose job it was to process incoming information and decide what to do with it. Normally the message would end up in the Editor's office at Angler's Granada headquarters, but lately any information coming out of Side 2 was being forwarded straight to an AEUG unit to support some big operation nearby. Project N was a secret so dangerous even Angler didn't dare reveal it to the public, but if his suspicions were correct, and his old friend had been taken into their ranks...

This time it only took a few minutes for the response to come through, something he had not expected, but since it was broadcast in real time he knew that an AEUG troop was somewhere nearby. The message: "Empty Nest, signal to Brother Bernie-- Message received. Please take care of her. Be advised that any information you can provide will help us to bring her back. Expect further communication within the next 48 hours." The cryptic nature of the message was a bit unnerving, but it was nothing he wasn't used to. He read between the lines and knew what to expect: an AEUG troop was indeed very nearby, and probably drawn to this area for that very same reason. He wished for a moment he could help them in some way other than a mere newsroom's mole passing information to the colonial underground.

It couldn't be helped. Years ago he had helped his best friend restore a shot-down Zeon mobile suit for a duel against a Federation prototype in a desperate—but utterly futile attempt to save their home colony from devastation. He had watched from the sidelines as his two best friends battled in the foothills of Libot colony, and watched in horror as the Gundam delivered the death blow to what was left of Bernie's Zaku. The problem then had been poor intelligence; a pointless battle between two friends for a non-existent cause that could only end with one or both of their deaths. "We'll get it right this time, Bernie." He muttered to himself, thinking out loud. "This time they'll have all the information they need. There won't be any more pointless deaths."


- June 7, UC 0084 -
- 0700 hours (CST) -
Side 2 space was a tapestry of stillness against an unwavering starscape. The sun was setting behind the Earth and every object in the heavens was quickly falling into shadow. A flashing light on Naomi's monitor gave the warning: the mobile suit teams were now approaching the Side 2 perimeter. The dual importance of this mission was not lost on any of them; during the operation, the Tarawa would be able to slip through the chaos into the cover colony wreckage. "Coming up on the first waypoint. All units, break formation and proceed to target points."

"Roger that. Second unit, let's get a move on." Lucy broke away first; the Gundam Alex, two Galbaldys and four GM-II's rolling off on an entirely new course and disappearing into the darkness after just a few moments. Duncan and Vanessa followed suit, moving well ahead of the regular attack group and closing in on the Titans fleet from a different angle. Once everyone was in position, the waiting game was about to begin.

"There's a debris field not far from their fleet we can use for cover." Naomi punched up a chart of the area and zoomed in on it. "It'll be heavily patrolled, so we'll have to go in very carefully."

Ryo called up the same chart and examined it carefully. "What happens if we run into those patrols?"

"Destroy it before it sees you. Otherwise we're screwed."

"I hate missions like this."

Naomi sighed. "Kinda makes you miss the good old days of the One Year Hell, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, right." Both of the Gerbera Tetra's adjusted course to make the intercept and the four GMs followed along. They still couldn't see the Titans on their monitors, but the last intelligence reports from the recon units had already confirmed their position. Any word and support from the local underground?"

"Nada. They're afraid the Titans will attack their colonies so their mobile suits have ceased operations."

"That means the blockade will have more effectiveness."

Naomi nodded. "They're only here to intimidate the colonies. Sometimes I really wonder if..." Something flashed on her motion sensors and she locked the main camera onto it, zoomed in to maximum resolution and grimaced at the image. The Titans fleet was not where it was supposed to be. "Damn. They're already too deep into Side 2."

"I see em... They're not where they're supposed to be." Ryo plotted their new position on the charts and searched the area for anything useful. There was nothing nearby that immediately struck his eye, but when he closed the chart again he saw their blessing in the distance, "At 2 o'clock high, moonward. You see it?"

Naomi scanned that area and spotted it almost immediately. Even at first glace it looked like a warship, but with a closer image she could see it to be the wreckage of a Zeon Papua class transport vessel. It was a good distance from the Titans fleet, but it was almost directly in their path of movement. "Bingo. Let's duck in behind there and wait for them to pass."

******

"I'm not the kinda guy who likes to waste time. Let's do this short and sweet." Rico locked into the first mobile suit in the distance, checked his aim and fired off the beam rifle. The shot came nowhere close to a hit.

Mike rolled his eyes. "Take your time, Rico. You're jumpin the gun." A heat source flashed into existence in front of them and Mike dodged slightly to the left as the two Hizacks returned fire. "Here they come."

Lucy powered up her beam rifle and selected her first target. "GM unit, circle around these two cannon fodders and get to the primary target. We'll be right behind you."

All four of their GMs responded and split in both directions, two to each side, in a wishbone maneuver that would take them directly around the Federation patrol unit. Lucy tried to imagine the panic on the bridge of the battleship once they understood what they were up against. "Can we please not waste time with these two?"

"Whatever happened to 'take your time, Rico'?" He locked into the same Hizack and fired off three quick blasts from the beam rifle; the Hizack dodged all three, but a shot from Mike's beam rifle sliced through the torso and the suit erupted in a mass of flame. "Dammit, that was my kill!"

"You lost it when you shot too early." Lucy locked into the other suit even as it started to retreat back to the battleship. She could sense the panic radiating from its pilot. "Must be a rookie..." A single shot from the beam rifle claimed the second Hizack, and all three of them charged through to the two Federation ships in the blockade line. A quick scan of both of them and Lucy had their numbers. "Targets sighted. Battleship Lexington to the front, cruiser Sedona right behind it with an unidentified destroyer... where's the other cruiser?" The gunners on the Lexington chose this exact moment to greet their new arrivals; from this distance the ship was a spec among stars, but the main gun turrets all opened fire in a massed barrage all the same. It was too far scattered to make a difference. "Mike, Rico, we'll attack from above. GM unit, come in from underneath where the defenses are weaker."

The mobile suits charged in from both directions, rising above and below the ship as mega particle cannons probed space around them looking for a hit. The outlines of the warship were finally visible, and as they got closer the smaller point-defense turrets along the flanks began filling space with machinegun fire. "They're just trying to keep us at a distance. Hold your fire until you get closer."

Mike checked the range on his computer; the ship was still four kilometers away by now, but the range was dropping off extremely quickly. "Closing in... where the hell are the other mobile suits?"

One of the GM pilots answered for him, "They're just now launching from the battleship. There are three Hizacks and one Guncannon."

Lucy watched the range tick off as the salvo from the battleship became more concentrated. 2500 meters... then 2000, then 1500... a spread of missiles erupted from the battleship's launchers and arced upwards towards them. Lucy threw her legs forward and slowed her approach, then locked into the battleship and fired off five quick blasts from the beam rifle. Two of them scored direct hits, one hitting just aft of the upper bow turret and the other striking the deck just forward of the bridge. Both beams split the hull wide open and sent a fireball erupting from deep within the ship, knocking it into a half spin as Mike and Rico's beam rifles opened fire and tore into it as well.

A thousand meters behind the battleship, the cruiser Sedona's mobile suits raced down the catapult line and into space to meet the sudden enemy attack. Lieutenant Gardner's GM was in the lead, Sullivan was right behind him along with the other two GMs and four RB-79 battlepods. Almost as soon as they approached the battleship, another beam from the attacking mobile suits punched through the top of the bridge, burrowed directly through the hull before finally punching out again through the keel of the ship. A fireball erupted in the center of the Lexington's hull, and then a powerful explosion snapped the ship in two. "Damn, they've already got the Lex! These aint the normal mercenary groups..."

Sullivan's radio exploded in his ears, "Enemy sighted! Above us! Two Galbaldy's and a GM!"

Gardner locked into the targets and stared in disbelief. "That's no GM... Sedona, call for reinforcements from that Titans unit! Tell them the enemy troops is lead by a Gundam class mobile suit!" As soon as he sent the warning a single blast from a beam rifle zipped past his head, missing his armor by only two meters before striking one of the GMs behind him and slicing straight through it's torso above the cockpit. The suit exploded behind him, and all three of the Sedona's mobile suits returned fire at once.

******

"Fourth Team, moving out! Time to avenge old Chap!" Bate kicked in the afterburners on Hizack-Custom and the catapult fired a moment later, flinging his mobile suit into space on a beeline to the Sedona's position. Monsha and Osborne launched right behind him, followed by four more Hizacks and a GM squad from one of the cruisers. Eleven mobile suits raced away from the Titans fleet towards the source of the Sedona's distress beacon, all at maximum thrust and not even looking back for a moment.

Naomi almost laughed out loud. Concealed her behind the wreckage of the Zeon transport, their window of opportunity seemed to be opening wide for them. "They're taking the bait. Everything's going according to plan."

Ryo's computer beeped as a burst transmission registered, "Lucy and Duncan are in position. Not a moment too soon either." He watched as the Titans mobile suits disappeared into the distance, their radar signatures fading to nothing as the Minovsky particles swallowed them up. He took another moment to scan the Titans fleet, and then felt a sudden pulse of frustration. "That assault carrier's not launching her mobile suits."

Naomi adjusted her position behind the shipwreck and looked for herself. The launch doors of the carrier were open, but none of the mobile suits had departed yet. "Dan, check the IFF signal. What ship is that?"

The leader of the Brisbane's GM unit ran the transponder and had his response after only a moment. "The Thoroughbred. Captain E.G. Walters commanding."

Naomi thought for a few moments for a reference in memory, Thoroughbred... I know that ship from somewhere...

"That explains everything." Ryo said cynically. "Thoroughbred is an advanced unit. There's some kind of ace there who pilots a supped-up Gundam model."

"More powerful than Alex?"

"Not originally, but it has been upgraded since then."

She weighed her options and the risks. Vanessa and Duncan were still standing by in the debris field, so if the Gundam came out to challenge them at the very least they would be able to draw them away so the snipers could do their work. "What's the distance on their other mobile suits?"

"Already out of range."

"Then let's go for it. Primary target is 40 kilometers distance. Break concealment on my signal." She charged up her beam rifle and switched her flight computer to combat mode. Everything was ready, even the four GMs behind her were poised to pounce on the Titans fleet. Let's see what thisnew model's really worth... "Charge!!"

******

Sullivan fired off a dozen blasts from the beam gun as he backed away, but the Gundam seemed completely un-phased by his attacks and closed in all the same. A return fire from the beam rifle sliced through his shield and ripped it from his hand, a second shot hit his shoulder armor before he could dodge the attack. "Mike, I'm in deep...!"

"Break left Sully!" Gardner's mobile suit approached from his right side and fired off a single well-aimed shot from the beam gun.

Lucy was forced to stop her attack to dodge the shot, at the same moment taking time to admire the pilot who fired it. This one has potential.

"We just have to keep them off the Sedona! Watch your back, Sully!"

Gardner locked into the Gundam again and fired twice more, but at least three separate beam rifles joined him and sent the mobile suit spinning in space to avoid fire from all of them. Gardner glanced over his shoulder and spotted the three of them as they approached, "Never thought I'd be so happy to see a Titans mobile suit..."

Bate and Osborne locked on and fired blast after blast, Lucy dodged their fire with ease and fell back out of range to adjust to the change in circumstances. Monsha moved up next to Gardner and placed his hand on the GM's shoulder, "Cover the Sedona while it retreats. We'll take care of that Gundam."

"Right." Gardner and Sullivan pulled back towards the cruiser, but even as they did they saw their ship had already sustained a good deal of damage from the enemy attacks. The destroyer alongside it was already a flaming wreck, the bazooka rounds from the attacking GMs having blown away entire sections of its hull, while the Sedona itself was swarmed by a pair of Galbaldy's sinking beam rifles into its hull even as the new arrivals from the Titans moved in to drive them away. For a moment he was hopeful that the reinforcements would turn the tide of the battle, but in that same instant one of the Galbaldy's whirled around and fired a single shot into open space, catching a Hizack by surprise and destroying it where it stood. The other suit fired a pair of missiles from its shield and the Sedona's starboard gun turret exploded on its mounting. And now the Three GMs were closing in as well. "Sully...!"

"I see them. We got our work cut out for us, so let's get to it!" Sully charged in at full thrust, leading with the beam gun and a beam saber in his free hand. Gardner charged in alongside and both opened fire as they drew near to Rico and Mike's mobile suits.

******

Ryo rolled hard over to the left and reversed thrusters to maximum. The acceleration slammed him against the harness with enough force to compress his lungs, but the maneuver cut his velocity to nothing and the Hizack zipped past underneath him, it's machineguns firing into open space. He quickly locked on and fired a quick burst from the beam machinegun, tearing through the torso of the mobile suit until it disintegrated in a fireball and fell away into darkness. Two more Hizacks circled around him on two sides; he boosted straight up with his thrusters, zig-zagged around its fire to close the range and then sprayed it with the beam rifle to join it's comrade. The other mobile suit took aim behind him, but lingered too long and caught a blast from one of the GM's beam guns. "Nice shot, Dan!" Ryo called out on his channel.

The GM pilot saluted him and moved off to search for another target... barely a moment later, a powerful beam reached out from the emptiness of space and struck the mobile suit through the center of the torso, bending it forward from the force of the blow before the machine scattered into space dust, pilot and all.

Ryo turned to the source of the attack, but the mobile suit that fired the shot rushed passed him like a bullet train. For a split second they were eye to eye, and somehow Ryo managed to look over the entire machine in the space of a single heartbeat: a Hizack Custom with a drab silver paint scheme. "Dieter Cunningham!"

"Back again Izumi?" Dieter passed overhead and started to circle around, Ryo locked on with the beam rifle and fired off a long burst as he circled the opposite direction. The Hizack was fast enough to avoid most of the burst, but a few of the pulses clipped his arm-shield and burned clean through as he returned fire with his own rifle. "What the... beam machinegun?" He circled with Ryo in several complete loops, both exchanging fire with beam weapons even as they dodged each other's attacks. Ryo's beam rifle fired off a dozen pulses for every single shot from Dieter's gun; ultimately, a pulse from the Gerbera Tetra sliced through his shoulder armor and his left arm immediately stopped moving. "This Zaku wannabe...!" He fired a spread of missiles from the pods on his waist armor and backed away at full thrust to gain some distance as Ryo pressed the attack again with the beam rifle.

Father from the Titans fleet, the GM unit circled in a dogfight with at least as many Hizacks, among them Naomi's Gerberta Tetra danced within and selected targets almost at Random. Two Titans GMs dogged one of Brisbane's suits; Naomi cut down the first with her beam rifle and closed in to slice the second in half with the beam saber in the opposite hand. Two Hizacks from one of the cruisers moved to avenge their comrades, both locking onto Naomi and opened fire with machineguns. Her mobile suit had the clear speed advantage; she circled around in space at such a high speed that she was already behind them even before their shells passed the spot where she was, sank a short burst into one of them with the beam rifle and passed it as it exploded, stabbing the second through the back with the saber. "This is disappointing." She grumbled, scanning in space for a second target, "This is supposed to be a diversionary attack, but at this rate we'll shoot them all down without 'diverting' them anywhere."

Her computer flashed a warning from the sensors and she spun around to the source of it with a sudden twinge of excitement in her stomach. A heat source from the Titans fleet told her that the assault carrier Thoroughbred was finally launching her mobile suits; the computer counted only one mobile suit, and displayed the data on her screen for what the databank called Gundam G5. "Maybe I spoke too soon... Ryo, the Gundam's coming out! Let's fall back so Vanessa can have an opening!"

"No problem, Commander!" Ryo fired off a quick burst from the beam rifle to keep Dieter at bay, then turned his back to him and boosted off at a speed just slow enough for the pursuit unit to follow. He could have easily left all of them in the dust with the speed of this new mobile suit, but for their purposes it was better to keep them engaged. "We really need to stop meeting like this, Dieter!"

The Hizack kept pace with the mobile suit only by keeping to full thrust. Dieter could tell Ryo was leading him towards the wreckage of the same Papua class transport they had been hiding behind before, but out of the corner of his eye he knew that the other two suits from his own team were catching up only a couple hundred meters behind him. He immediately started thinking of ways to catch Izumi in a pincer. "How about tea and biscuits? That more to your liking?"

"Fine with me. We'll play 'Pin the tail on the mass murderer.'"

"Aren't we self-righteous?" Dieter fired a quick blast from the beam rifle to try and slow him down; Ryo rolled and dodged the shot, but at the same moment a second blast from the Hizack further behind Dieter caught him by surprise and ripped a chunk out of his chestplate. The Gerbera stuttered from the impact, but doubled back to its original course before darting off behind the transport wreckage. One of the Hizacks hung back while Dieter and the third mobile suit followed him behind the wrecked hull. As soon as they rounded the corner, Dieter sensed an attack from behind and realized with a start that the Gerbera had changed direction in the two seconds it was out of sight and positioned itself in a perfect firing position. He fired his thrusters to full power in an evasive action, but realized two late that the attack was not aimed at him.

A long burst from the beam rifle sprayed the Hizack behind him and cut it to pieces. Ryo fired another burst in Dieter's direction, but the third Hizack appeared behind him and fired a missile spread in point blank range, blinding him for a few moments as it charged in with beam saber drawn. Ryo thought for half a second to draw his own saber, then thought better of it; raising one arm, he fired a long burst from the twin 110mm cannon on his left arm, ripping straight into the torso of the suit and shredding the armor around the cockpit with the first shots of the burst. The mobile suit crashed harmlessly against the shipwreck and began to drift, and when Ryo turned around again he found Dieter's mobile suit was nowhere in sight. "Did he run away?"

An explosion off to his left caught his attention, followed by a quick flash from the exchange of weapons fire in the distance. Naomi's voice was ragged in his radio, "Ryo, I'm getting dogged by this Gundam! I could use some support if you can spare it!"

"Sit tight Naomi, I'll be right there."

- 0830 hours (CST) -
Miles away, a quarter turn around the slope of the colony and a mile west on the main highway, through closed windows and a locked door, over the quiet chatter of a TV left on downstairs. Nine woke to the sound and sat up slowly. She didn't hear it as much as it echoed in the back of her brain, a thousand voices and a thousand minds united in anger and frustration against some common enemy elsewhere. They didn't feel like enemies, but a mutual hostility was among them. What's going on out there? An attack? She rolled out of the convertible bed and felt around the room, finding a set of fresh clothes Alfred had left for her on the shelf by the door. Her cane was leaning against the doorknob; she took it in hand and made her way to the end of the hall, down the stairs to the front door.

Her hand brushed something near the doorknob; she flicked it with her finger and found some kind of string attached to the door, stretching halfway across the room towards the direction of the kitchen. Nine followed the string to a table against the wall and found an small tape recorder with a sheet of paper taped to the side. She couldn't read it but she knew she didn't have to; she found the "play" button and pressed it, listened for a moment as the recording started, "Good morning, Alice. If you wake up and find this tape, I just went to run some errands and I'll be back in a couple of hours. If you get hungry, there's a tuna salad in the fridge, bottom shelf, in a bumpy container with a notecard on the lid."

Nine stopped the recording and laughed to herself. She wasn't used to this kind of special treatment from anyone who called her a "friend." The most she could usually hope for from her comrades on the Dogos Gaia was a wad of pre-chewed bubblegum and a day-old hamburger nobody wanted. She tried to coax herself into staying here and enjoying an old friend's hospitality, but the pressure she felt from the distance surged in her head again and she felt a growing curiosity to know more. In her sightless world, she could almost see the thin haze of energy off in the distance, a dark cloud of negativity. Can't be an attack, she thought, There's no air raid sirens...

There was no one on the street when she walked out the front door, and for three blocks she heard nothing on the sidewalk save the chirping of birds and the commotion from a pair of squirrels playing in a tree nearby. The entire town seemed mysteriously vacant for some reason, yet somewhere in the distance she heard the faint echo of a single voice shouting something in an angry roar. Thousands of others answered him in a cacophony of angry chants and slogans. Nine zeroed in on the source of it, winding towards it one block at a time as the shouting grew louder and the commotion in the distance became more apparent.

She stopped as she came to the edge of them, keeping out of what she could tell was a fairly large crowd gathered in a five-way intersection in the center of city. More than a thousand people were gathered here, many holding signs and banners with slogans and doctored photographs, with a thousand more looking on from rooftops nearby and leaning out of windows of neighboring buildings. If Nine could have looked she would have seen a dozen banners hanging from as many buildings with slogans in the same mood to match the signs carried by the demonstrators, "Space Colonies for Spacenoids" read one banner, while the building directly across from it flew "Drag your knuckles some place else." Someone jostled Nine from behind and she stepped out of the way and leaned against a building as three men in cardboard Zaku costumes marched by dragging an inflatable doll in a Titans uniform by a noose around its neck.

The man in the center of the rally was standing on a stage, a set of microphones lined up in front of him wired to an array of oversized speakers powerful enough to carry to most of the city for miles around. "It's bad enough the Federation tries to sanction any colony that wants to try and defend itself! Now the Titans come around, they sanction us just for trying to FEED ourselves! And what do they use to justify this farce?!" The crowd hissed in anticipation, half of them already knowing what he was going to say, "They always use the same line: for STABILITY! That's it, that's the reason, for STABILITY!!" A chorus of "boos" and angry shouts exploded from the crowd around him. "And then only FEDERATION stability!"

The people erupted en-masse with a barrage of insults fired into the sky. Nine almost felt their words homing in on her like a flight of missiles to her heart.

"When Riah developed a mobile defense force, the Feddies told all the colonies that THEY could defend us from any enemies, that THEY were the ones who kept peace in the Earth sphere! OH REALLY! Where was the Federation when the Zeeks overran out colonies?! Where was the Federation when our families were dying in the streets?! When the Delaz Fleet was raiding our shipping lines, where were those Feddy hotshots who do such a great job protecting us?!" Half the people in the rally began physically gyrating in the crowd in growing emotion. Nine actually had to take a few steps back, partly out of fear, but moreso out of the intensity of the emotions here.

"And who's protecting our colonies now?!" The man shouted with more intensity than ever, "Who keeps the peace for our people?! Who opposes the greatest threats to our civilization so our families don't have to live in fear?! Who do the Feddies think they're protecting when they occupy our colonies, intimidate our people, harass our merchants, bully our leaders... The Titans aren't here to protect us from the enemy! The Titans ARE the enemy! They're the ONLY enemy we have left to fear! And this time we won't wait for a pack of dimwitted Earthnoids to swing in on chandeliers with their fancy mobile suits... it's time we took control of our destinies with our OWN HANDS!"

It seemed as if a bomb had gone off in the midst of them. The sudden outburst of energy from the crowd shook the ground and crackled in the air. Everyone watching on the ground and listening on the radio or on television felt a powerful swell of pride, a feeling like patriotism but without any country to speak of. Most of those at the rally had come from all over the Earth sphere, some had even come from as Far as Side 7 just to attend to the rally. In this time and place, for a fleeting moment, they were all united as one people. United against Earth.

Nine was almost half a block away before the commotion and shouting of slogans had faded enough for her to hear her own thoughts, but now in the solitude of an empty street she leaned back against a light post and pondered to herself. What are these people thinking? If the Titans didn't keep such tight control of the spacenoids, the terrorists would run amok with no one to stop them. It would be anarchy, no order, no authority... why don't they understand that? She started to wave them off in disgust as a mob of foolishness and continue on her way... and not even three steps farther, she changed her mind. Who ARE these terrorists? She thought with a twinge of fear, Certainly not Zeons. Naomi and the Tarawa used to work for the Titans before what happened to the Merrimac... but why? What are they fighting for? What do they want? She turned back on reflex in the direction of the rally in the intersection. It was only the beginning of the event; more and more people were starting to appear to join in. In a matter of hours there would be half a million people gathered around this very spot. What if he's right? What if the Titans ARE the real enemy?

Lost in thought she came to the curb of a street near Alfred's house. When she turned to cross at the intersection, she collided with something—in fact someone—standing on the corner going the opposite direction. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Isn't there somewhere you should be right now?" It was no Titans uniform, but the voice belonged to Miranda. She heard set of footsteps on the concrete as Ulyana Zabi stepped up behind her, and suddenly Nine realized the two had her sandwiched. Miranda's voice sounded even less friendly than usual.

"I'm not in the mood for your bullshit today. Excuse me..."

"Where'd you spend the night, Nine?" Ulyana grabbed her elbow as she tried to walk away from them, "Shacking up with some boy during shore leave?"

"That's none of your business."

"The hell it isn't," Miranda stepped up in front of her and grabbed her by the collar, lifting her half off her feet and spitting in her face as she talked, "Your very existence is classified Top Secret. If anyone in this colony recognizes you, that person disappears. But even so, that's not even what we're here for."

Nine wiped a spittle from her cheek and glowered at her. "So what ARE you here for?"

"This..." Miranda gave shove, and Ulyana kicked her legs out from under her. Nine fell on her back against the pavement and scrambled back to her feet, but immediately the two of them charged her to tackle her to the ground...

All at once, Nine's world unfolded in her mind's eye and displayed itself for her to see. She could sense both of them charging towards her, she could see everything in them from their clothes to their bones, and beyond that she could even see their souls. Everything they did was displayed in front of her; she sidestepped both of them with one deft movement.

Miranda and Ulyana dove to tackle a column of empty air, crashed against the pavement in confusion, then scrambled up again and charged Nine in rage. Both threw punches, Nine swatted them both away like pair of flies. Miranda kicked at her right leg, Nine stepped over her leg and tripped her off balance. Ulyana grabbed for her collar, Nine caught her arm and twisted it back against the elbow, at once breaking her down to one knee. In another second Miranda was back to her feet and charging Nine from behind. She sensed her moving; Nine reached back as she came close and caught her arm behind her head even as she reached for her, released Ulyana for half a second and then shoulder-threw Miranda a good twenty feet into the side of a newspaper stand. In the landing, Miranda's coat ripped free from her shoulders, and it took all of two seconds for someone in the crowd to notice the color of a Titans uniform underneath.

"TITANS OFFICERS!" Someone shouted from a rooftop, and at the same moment Nine heard someone nearby loading a pistol, "Two of em! They're beatin up some kid!"

A hail of gunfire erupted from the rooftops of some of the buildings, bullets pelting the concrete behind them as Miranda and Ulyana scrambled to their feet and sprinted away. A mob at least a dozen men rushed after them in pursuit until before Miranda drew her sidearm and fired into the midst of them. One of the men took a bullet in the leg, the other shot through the chest collapsed to the ground like a ton of bricks. One man stopped and aimed with an old revolver, but Miranda's next shot dropped him before he could pull the trigger; the bullet smashed through a row of his front teeth before finally exploding out the back of his head. The rest of the crowd scattered as Ulyana added her gun to the shooting, then the two of them ran another half a block before coming to the spot where they'd parked a rental jeep. "Be waitin for you on the Gaia, Nine!" She shouted more as a general threat than an invitation.

Nine bent down and picked up her cane, then started back towards Alfred's house without another word. A few members of the crowd gathered around her in excitement, some wanting to know if she was hurt, some shouting nonsense about "Titans abusers," but the one voice in the crowd that caught her attention was the same one that had shouted the original warning from the rooftop, "Look how they run! Those Titans thugs show up just to pick on some blind kid! We're not gonna take this anymore! It's time for the colonies to unite!"

The irony of their sentiments was not lost on Nine Murasame, but as she finally arrived at Alfred's house and the curious pack of onlookers evaporated, she stopped herself at the front door and smiled in revelation. Well, I guess that explains why the Tarawa switched sides.