Chapter 3: Finding the Way

James sat in the Sussex's darkened briefing room. On the large wall monitor an intricate map of the Earth Sphere provided the only illumination in the room. James shifted his position slightly as he pull out a watch and checked the time. He studied the map carefully, going through each of the locations where Anthony could have gone. There were numerous possibilities but all he had to do was pick one. A slight noise alerted him to the presence of another person in the briefing room.

'Any luck?' asked Alexander Jellico quietly. James merely shook his head. 'What about Sweetwater?' asked the captain.

'He's too paranoid for that.' replied James. 'He'll be thinking that the Space Forces rushed in there after the failure at Axis.'

'But they didn't.' said Alexander. 'The Security Council is too scared of more rebellions in the Sides, the fleets won't sail. They can't use Londo Bell or the Luna II fleet, it'll take a lot more than this to call in the big guns.'

'While that might be the truth, it's not what Anthony will believe.' said James shifting in his seat slightly. 'He can still remember when the Federation had balls and would risk it.'

Alexander sighed and sat down next to James and vaguely stared at the map. 'Those days are long gone, it's more like cover your arse and make sure the bribes keep coming in. Do you think they'll let me retire yet?'

James half cocked his head to gaze at his commanding officer. 'No, you don't have enough grey hair yet.'

'Well that shouldn't take too long if you keep up like this.' retorted Alexander. 'I'd have had a quiet career if it weren't for you.'

'You make it sound like I did it on purpose.' sniffed James. 'I've never tried to cause anyone trouble, it just sort of happens around me.'

'You don't suppose he might have.....no surely he wouldn't.' started Alexander.

'What?' asked James straightening up.

'Well you don't suppose he might have gone to Moussa?' replied the captain. 'Sure it's beat up but he could probably hide out there and neither the Federation nor the Republic goes near it.'

James stood and strolled over to the map and look at the area where Moussa was located. 'I hate to say it but you might be right.' he spoke softly. 'It's just the kind of place he'd go. Have you had any luck getting us some help?'

'Well the Side garrisons are all sitting on their hands waiting for everything to blow over as usual.' said Alexander standing up and moving over to where James was. 'However I have been able to call in a few favours and got us the Prasutagus and Calgacus. Both Salamis Kais that escaped Luna II, mixed bag on the MS front; Jegans and GM IIIs.'

James laughed briefly, 'oh it just wouldn't be a fight without some Sally Kais eh?'

'I don't know what good they'll be but they seem fairly fired up and after some revenge for Luna II.' Alexander wasn't all that keen on letting people fight out of revenge, it was generally less than productive however at the moment it was all he had to work with. 'Considering your mood I'm sure they'll fit in nicely.'

Down in the Sussex's hanger Jason Raynor was teaching Mike Sutherns some of the finer points of mobile suit combat. Mike was in his Jegan while Jason was talking into him from the hanger control room.

'Not as random or clumsy as a beam rifle.' said Jason, 'a beam sabre is an eloquent weapon.' They all knew that the Geara Doga was better than the Jegan in just about every category so it was decided that it would be best to engage at close range and try to win them over in close combat. 'You have to let go of your conscious self and act on instinct.'

'Ok.' Said Mike as he readied his beam sabre for the next simulator round. A Geara Doga appeared, its beam sabre already activated. Mike let himself back off and let the Geara Doga advance. Then he stopped trying to formulate battle plans in his mind and just let instinct take over. The Geara Doga went in for a wide heavy swipe across Mike's midriff. Almost instantly Mike brought his own sabre around to block while bringing his Jegan up into a position above the Zeon mobile suit. Breaking contact he immediately went into the attack bringing his sabre down upon the Geara Doga's undefended top. The sabre began to eat into the Zeonic mobile suits thick armour, the Geara Doga tried to bring its own sabre around but Mike knocked it from the Geara Dogas hand with his shield.

'See you can do it,' said Jason. 'You need to stop relying on knowledge in battle. Sure it helps to know stuff, but if you can't act on instinct you'll find it very hard to stay alive.'

'Yeah it was easier that time,' said Mike as his beam sabre carried on through the Geara Doga ending the simulation.

'Of course that's the easy one.' said Jason idly. 'The real challenge will be fighting the older Neo Zeon mobile suits.'

'You mean like that big one that sunk the Salamis Kai?' asked Mike. 'What was that anyway, I don't remember it from the academy?'

'That monster was a Doven Wolf, right nasty buggers that appeared right at the end of the war.' said Jason; bitter memories were bubbling to the surface. 'Its got a thing the Zeeks called a Quasi-Psycommu.'

'What's one of them?' asked Mike again. He enjoyed talking with the older pilots; they were so much more experienced than he was and had lots of stories to share.

'Well to put it simply, it lets an oldtype pilot do the kind of things only a newtype could do.' replied Jason. 'Like using remote weapons and the like. Back during the last scrap with Neo Zeon me and the Lieutenant Commander fought against those buggers at Side 2, it was one hell of a fight in the old rust bucket mobile suits we had.'

'Will we be able to beat it with our Jegans?' questioned Mike. 'I mean they aren't the best mobile suits in the world.'

'The thing you've got to remember about the Doven Wolf is that it's big and unwieldy.' spoke Jason authoritivly. 'So what we've got to do is use our agility and hopefully got the jump on it. Now enough of this, back to doing your practice.'
Anthony Curran stalked through Moussa's docking port. The asteroid had taken a lot of damage in the last stages of the first Neo Zeon war and even now the docking port was a drifting mass of debris. Anthony was angry, angry at himself and at James. The fact that he'd lost his Geara Doga unsettling, it wasn't the first time he'd had a mobile suit blown out from under him but it was never easy. There was however one consolation, although he'd lost the Geara Doga he had managed to find the mobile suit he used during the later stages of last war. He'd been surprised at how good a condition the old Zaku III Custom had been in. There was also the Doven Wolf, which he'd used to scare off James. Anthony didn't like the Doven Wolf; he'd never been keen on the quasi-psycommu technology that it used. He'd let Edward Carson use it instead, the young pilot was practically a newtype and would be able to take advantage of its capabilities better.

He left the docking port and entered the myriad of corridors that linked the port to the gravity block. The memories folded back all to easily after the fall of A Baoa Qu he'd joined the forces that retreated to Axis and spent many years waiting within the asteroid. It was here that the dream of Neo Zeon was born and perhaps if it hadn't been for Toto that dream could have been fulfilled.

'Commander you look troubled. Is there something I can help you with?'

Anthony turned to look at the person who'd spoken. It was Warren Luther a loyal friend and companion who'd accompanied Anthony ever since they'd met each other at the Zeon officer training school in UC 0075. 'Oh it's nothing Warren, just wondering about how James got so smart.'

'Perhaps he's been taking lessons since your last encounter.' commented Warren, Anthony snorted a laugh. Warren Luther was loyal to the old order of the Principality and still wore his Space Attack Force unit badge with pride. Anthony might have lost his zeal but Warren hadn't. Warren wasn't a fanatic, like those fools who'd been slaughtered during Operation Stardust, but he did firmly believe in Contolism.

Anthony looked at his friend and noticed the concern on his face. 'Now it's my turn, what's troubling you Warren?'

'Not to be disrespectful sir, but my sources inform me that Major Kaufman's cruisers have been sighted returning to Sweetwater.' said Warren directly. Although he was a fully qualified mobile suit pilot he was more suited to the delicate role of information gathering. 'I even have unconfirmed reports that the Rewloola has also been sighted heading there. So I must wonder why we are here at Moussa and not heading for Sweetwater.'

Anthony paused to consider his reply. 'All valid points my friend. First I would take no notice of Kaufman and his elusive Special Operations Executive they are a bunch of thugs and assassins he'll be caught in no time at all.' He paused again to line up his next train of thought. 'We still have no official word on the Rewloola, we don't even know if it escaped Londo Bell at Axis. Even if Sweetwater was safe it wouldn't be long before the Federation deploys it's assets from Luna and closed down the colony, even if it's in the Republic.'

'I have not heard of anything out of the ordinary happening at any of the Federal bases on Luna.' said Warren less than convinced by his commanding officer. 'However it is possible my sources missed something. Very well Commander, I will not question your decision. Captain Atherton is waiting for you in the command centre.'

'Wonderful, now I must contend with that fool.'

'I'm sure you'll manage sir,' said Warren. 'You normally do.'
The Sussex was once again hidden within the La Vie En Rose II's dummy asteroid field however this time the Clop class cruiser wasn't docked with the space dock ship. Currently the Salamis Kai cruiser Calgacus was docked and undergoing minor repairs. Neither of the two Salamis Kais escaped damage when they fled Luna II but thankfully the damage wasn't critical and they even managed to get a full load of mobile suits.
Alexander stood arms crossed looking out of one of the La Vie En Rose II's many windows. He could see the Sussex and Prasutagus off among the dummy asteroids. He heard a noise from the back of the room and he turned slightly to see what caused it.

'I'm not disturbing you am I?' asked Catherine Williamson. 'You look tense.'

Alexander smiled. It'd been six years since he first met the brown haired Anaheim employee. He found her personality and demeanour very attractive, he suspected that he'd fallen in love with her years ago and was willing to bet she shared his feelings. However he'd never told Catherine how he felt, it was almost as if he'd be betraying the memory of his first wife Rebecca.

'Just worried about the future.' he replied. 'It seems as though James and Anthony are rushing head long towards their fate and there's nothing I can do expect sit by and watch.'

'They've been going off the rails for years, what makes you think this time will be any different? They meet again, fight and it ends in a draw with one of them retreating.' she said plainly. 'They'll keep going at it until they're in some old peoples home somewhere.'

'No I don't think so.' said Alexander gravely. 'James has been getting worse; he'd have been kicked out of the EFSF long ago if I wasn't protecting him.'

'Then why are you doing it?' she asked as she sat down on one of the many couches in the room.

'He couldn't possibly survive in the real world.' replied Alexander. 'He's been in the military since before the One Year War, he was a teenager the last time he was a civilian.'

'You could say the same thing about you Alexander.' said Catherine coyly. 'Can you survive in the real world?'

'I hope so.' he replied wistfully. 'You know I'm going to have to find some way to get out of the Federation Forces sometime soon. I know it must sound silly but I've always wanted to open a café over the years I've saved up enough money it's just I need a chance to get it going.'

'It doesn't sound silly to me,' she said softly. 'Sounds like quite a nice little dream to me. Maybe you'd let me join you?'

Alexander looked at her slightly shocked, it was a very tempting offer but he was taken back by her forthrightness. 'Look...I...I'd really like that.' he finished. He'd spent the last fourteen years mourning the loss of his wife and daughter, perhaps now it was time to move on. He was thirty six and had spent most of his adult life fighting wars; maybe it was time to settle down. 'Of course first we have to get through this crisis.'

'Now you have a reason to come back alright.' she said smiling. 'You have to come back so we can open your café.' She stood and kissed him on the cheek before leaving.
James' Jegan-L darted through the dummy asteroids surrounding the Federation vessels. The other Jegans and GM IIIs of the force were spreading out, Jason and Mike formed up on James' wings. It was a crude and rather unfair training exercise but having the Sussex team take on the mobile suits from the Prasutagus and Calgacus would go a small way to simulating the situation with Anthony's Neo Zeon. James knew Jason had been putting Mike through extra simulator training, he hoped that the young pilot had improved.

The Prasutagus' and Calgacus' mobile suit teams had a total of five Jegans and three GM IIIs, all gleamed from the Luna II garrison. None of the pilots were particularly experiences apart from their beating by Neo Zeon. In many ways the Federation was still suffering from the loss of so many veteran pilots during the Grypps War.

They weren't using live mega particle weapons for this training exercise just low power lasers, fitted to their existing weapons, which could only 'paint' a target. Even still it you were hit the mobile suits computer would simulate the damage and disable systems accordingly.

James triggered his communications system and toggled it over to the frequency being used by all the Federal mobile suits in the area. 'This is White Panther to Lieutenant Wallace and Lieutenant Crilly; you may begin your attack now.' He then toggled the frequency back to the squadron channel. 'Alright you two time to show them what we're made of, try not to get hit too easily we need to get this guys up to standard or they'll be slaughtered by Neo Zeon.'

'No trouble sir.' replied Jason.

'Yeah all we have to do it take down 2.666666667 mobile suits each.' said Mike, who'd picked up quite considerably after Jason's help.

'How exactly did you work that out?' asked Jason who was puzzled by the seemingly accurate mathematical statement.

'I used the calculator.' replied Mike plainly.

'What calculator?' asked Jason who was still confused.

'Jason are you trying to tell me you didn't know that these Jegans have built in calculators?' asked James. 'What did you do with the manual I gave you when we first got the Jegans?' There was no response from Jason's mobile suit. 'Jason?'

'Look I was meaning to read it, but I kept getting distracted!' said Jason trying to defend himself. Suddenly there was a flash as a beam zoomed past the three Jegans. 'Bugger they've caught up already!'
The training exercise turnout to be a rather short affair; by the end of it only James, Mike and Lieutenant George Crilly's mobile suits were still active. James was not impressed by the performance, two of Lieutenant Rigby Wallace's pilots had flown into dummy asteroids and most of the pilots were very sloppy in their piloting. Even Jason had gone down because of a silly mistake, but at least he got his 2.6.

James did decide that there had been one good thing to come out of the exercise, and that was the greatly improved performance of Mike Sutherns who seemed to have completely changed since his first battle. He could only surmise that this was a good thing, of course at the back off his mind he felt uneasy about training a young man into becoming a killing machine. It had happened to him and he didn't really want to see it happen to anyone else.

James knew that Mike hadn't joined the Earth Federation Space Forces to become a solider; he was one of many who'd joined up because he couldn't get a job in the colonies. With the end of the first Neo Zeon war the Earth Sphere had quietened down again and the Earth Federation Space Forces returned to being dull but well paid employment.

By the time the mobile suit teams returned to their cruisers the Federation vessels were already preparing to set sail to Side 3. The cruisers had deployed in a rough V formation with the Sussex the head. James' Jegan-L was the last to touch down on the Sussex's deck so that he'd be the first to take off, James was a firm believer of leading from the front.

'Captain have you set course for Moussa?' he asked. Alexander's face had appeared in a communications window on the panoramic monitor.

'Yes James we have.' replied Alexander reluctantly. 'You got to remember something very important James; we're going there to fight Neo Zeon not so you can continue for feud.'

'I know that well enough.' replied James slowly 'After this battle there will be no more feud Captain, I can assure you that.'

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Chapter notes: I went back and edited the previous chapters to update some of the spellings of certain places.

Federal Ship Names:- Prasutagus – King of the Iceni and husband to Boudicca
Calgacus – Caledonian general who fought the Romans at, named by Tacitus as, Mon Graupius