Chapter 5:...and now the end is near.

The missile barrage from the Federal cruisers hammered the entrance to Moussa's docking port, the port itself was spared direct attack thanks to the thick rocky exterior. The handful of Neo Zeon mobile suits did their very best to look like a swarm as they came up out of the docking port. Anthony Curran knew that for his plan to work most, if not all, of these few would have to die. It didn't bother him as far as he was concerned they were the type of people the universe could do without; they were all fanatics to a man. You had to be a fanatic to be a pilot in Neo Zeon; back after the One Year War many people had explained away their piloting by conscription and how they didn't support the Zabis. Now with so few loyal and trained pilots you had to be a true zealot of Zeon to step into a cockpit.

As the third wave of Federal missiles hit Moussa Anthony's sensors picked up the approaching mobile suits. The Zaku III Custom's computer checked the approaching mobile suits against its own database and identified three GM IIIs, seven standard Jegans and one modified Jegan, flagged as a 'Keffer Custom'. The eleven enemy mobile suits were all plotted onto the spherical panoramic screen with a zoomed window opening which focused on the Keffer Custom. Anthony knew that James would be piloting that Jegan again and he knew that one of them would have to die during this battle; there was no way around it. Before they'd always seemed to find a way to avoid actually having to kill each other but everything was different this time, no where to run to and no where to hide.

Beside Anthony's Zaku III the hulking form of the Doven Wolf levelled up. Anthony allowed himself a slight side glance at the massive mobile suit; it truly was a monstrous weapon. The Doven Wolf was probably the most powerful mass produced mobile suit ever made; only a handful of custom newtype mobile suits and mobile armours surpassed it. He knew that the power of that mobile suit could swing the balance of the battle in his favour however it was dependent on the ability of the pilot; despite all the power of the Doven Wolf it was not invincible. Anthony pressed a button on the control pad of his linear floating seat that caused the Zaku III to reach out and touch the Doven Wolf, initiating a contact link to communication with Edward Carson.

'Lieutenant I want you to concentrate your attack on the enemy cruisers,' ordered Anthony. 'Destroy them as you see fit.'

The Federal Forces mobile suits fanned out to create a wide front as they approached Moussa. The older GM IIIs had positioned themselves at the centre of the formation with the Jegans forming up on the flanks; James Keffer's Jegan-L flew slightly ahead of the GM III. The advanced sensor suite on James' mobile suit was the first to detect the Neo Zeon mobile suits. James' breathing rapidly increase as he dropped his targeting crosshairs over the Zaku III at the head of the Zeon formation; he didn't want to have to do this, but he had no choice. Cursing under his breath he pressed the trigger. A trio of beams burst forth from the barrel of the Jegan-L's long beam assault rifle.

The Zaku III avoided the beams with a minimum of effort. James knew it was never going to be that easy. Pushing the Jegan-Ls thrusters to maximum he sped away from the rest of the Federal mobile suits, at the same time the Zaku III did the same. Both suits peeled off in the same direction, allowing the rest of their two forces to continue on towards each other.

As the two suits closed it was James who fired first. The long beam assault rifle spat at quartet of shots but just as before the bulkier Zaku III Custom skilfully avoided the assault. In return Anthony fired a burst from his beam rifle but James dodged the beams just as skilfully as Anthony had. They were both consummate professional warriors who'd lost their way in the universe.

James painted the Zaku III with the laser designator on the long beam assault rifle, keeping the lock was hard as the Zeon mobile suits launched itself into a pattern of sharp movements. James triggered a full barrage of six long missiles from the shoulder mounted launchers on the Jegan-L; all six missiles streaked through space homing in on the Zaku III. As the missiles closed the Zaku III span around and the waist mounted beam guns lifted up into firing position. Anthony pressed the trigger lightly sending out a volley of mega particles that destroyed all the missiles. He kept firing, through the missile swarm, aiming at the Jegan. James attempted to avoid and the beams only narrowly missed the mobile suit instead they sheered off the top of his shield.

James lashed back with a hail of fire from his long beam assault rifles but only succeeded in blasting off some armour plating from the Zaku IIIs right leg exposing one of the built in thrusters. 'Damnit!' snarled James. 'Can't get a clear shot, I need something I don't have to aim!' A flash of inspiration hit him and he quickly set to work detaching the long missile launcher from his Jegan's right shoulder. Grabbing the launcher he threw it in the general direction of where he thought Anthony's Zaku III would manoeuvre. A smile crept onto his face as the launcher neared the Zaku; he wait for what he thought was the right moment and fired.

The beam lanced through the missile launcher and detonated the three missiles still housed within it. The expanding explosion caught the rear of the Zaku III and shredded two of the ejectable propellant pods mounted on its backpack. The propellant pods exploded causing the Zaku to shudder violently and Anthony was forced to eject the remaining two in case they too exploded.

Anthony roared with fury and sent his Zaku III jetting off towards James. His hand gilded gracefully over his linier seats control pad as he triggered the activation of one of his beam sabres. The Zaku grabbed the deadly melee weapon, with its left hand, from its housing on the mobile suits waist. Jetting in close Anthony let loose a flurry of slashes and jabs with the beam sabre that James was hard pressed to avoid. With one last slash he sliced through the Jegan-L's long beam assault rifle causing it and the grenades in it's built in launcher to explode.

Suddenly on his monitor Anthony was alerted to the information that the Lutzow and Graudenz had successfully launched from Moussa. 'I've got another appointment to meet James.' said Anthony coolly. 'So I guess we get to live a little longer.'
Jason and Mike were able to single out their opponent very easily. The Doven Wolf stuck out like a sore thumb in the Neo Zeon formation; no matter how impressive the Geara Dogas looked they just didn't have the same look of absolute power. When the two sides clashed the Doven Wolf didn't even bother with the Federal mobile suits instead it just barged through and headed for the Federal cruisers.
Edward Carson knew his orders and he planned to carry them out to the letter. His target was the enemy capital ships, the little Jegans were even worth his attention. As he closed on the cruisers they threw up an impressive hail of defensive fire but that's to the power of the Doven Wolfs qusai-psycommu his was able to avoid it all effortlessly. He locked his beam rifle into place on the Doven Wolfs chest turning it into a mega- launcher; he let his aim fall on the lead Federal ship, the Clop class cruiser that had been chasing them since the Battle of Axis. He'd get rid of that nuisance once and for all right now.

He pressed the trigger and watched the beam build before it lurched from the barrel. Even before the beam fired Edward saw another rifle beam creeping into his vision. It was a lone beam but it streaked through space and collided with his own blast, it was a one in a million shot. As the two beams hit they released a tremendous amount of energy that blinded Edward for a moment.
'Great shot Mike!' Jason was impressed. He didn't know how Mike had done it but that one snap shot had saved their ship. He was beginning to think that Mike was special; he hadn't seen shooting like that since the first Neo Zeon war. However he wasn't going to dwell on that now, the most important thing was to destroy the Doven Wolf no matter what.

The two Jegans raced towards the mammoth Neo Zeon mobile suit as fast their thrusters would allow. Jason fired a trio of shots towards the Doven Wolf but it avoided them all too easily. Not wanting to let up he continued on unabated, firing a constant stream of mega particles at the large mobile suit.

Incensed by the assault on his mobile suit Edward Carson lashed out, the qusai-psycommu sending the Doven Wolfs two wire-guided hands racing out in different directions, ready for an all-range attack. The first wire-guided hand fired its palm mounted beam gun and severed the Jegans left leg; while the second wire-guided hand rammed into the Jegans head ripping it clean off. Inside the Jegan's cockpit several monitors exploded showering Jason in shards of glass as the mobile suits span helplessly out of control.

Edward never got the chance for the kill shot since Mike sent his Jegan hurtling towards the Doven Wolf and with skill far exceeding his experience as a pilot severed the wires linking the hands to the Doven Wolf. Mike wasn't finished their though he dashed in close to the hulking Neo Zeon monster and fired the missiles mounted on his shield at point blank range before fainting back. He was taking full advantage of the Jegans superior manoeuvrability. The missiles struck with great forces and ripped the right arm clean away from the Neo Zeon suit.

Carson return fired with his beam rifle and chest beam cannons as the Jegan fell back but only succeed in destroying the pale green mobile suits shield. As the mighty Doven Wolf tried to reposition itself to target the Jegan better Mike drew his beam sabre and went in for the strike. Racing in from above and behind Mike rammed the beam sabre down into the torso of the Doven Wolf. The cockpit with filled with super-heated plasma and the sabre carried on until it breached the suits reactor. Wisely Mike abandoned the sabre hilt and fled before the reactor cooked off.
As his Zaku III journeyed back to the vicinity of Moussa where the two Musaka cruisers were waiting Anthony spotted the flash of the Doven Wolf exploding. He let out a sigh of relief; he was pleased that the Federals had managed to deal with that monster. He knew it was quite cruel deliberately sending off men like Carson to die but he didn't care anymore. He brought the Zaku III up close to the bridge of the Lutzow, placing the hands of the Zaku III to commence communications.

'Commander Curran we have lots of lovely stuff in here.' chuckled Captain Atherton. 'We even found one of the Geymark prototypes; I expect that will fetch a fair price. Along with all of Toto's clone research materials.'

'Excellent Captain.' commented Anthony.' You have made things so much easier for me. Now the dream of Neo Zeon ends here!' In a swift movement Anthony activated the Zaku IIIs waist mounted beam guns, the popped up into fire position, with a simple finger movement Anthony sent torrents of mega particles ripping through the superstructure of the Lutzow. He pulled his mobile suit away from the cruiser as secondary explosions ripped down into the bowels of the vessel.
The bridge of the Graudenz was caught totally off guard by the actions of the black and yellow Zaku III Custom. 'What the hell does he think he's doing' yelled Captain Henry Mustafa. 'All weapons target the traitor!'

'I don't think you want to do that Captain.' said Warren Luther; he was holding a pistol to the captain's temple. 'I suggest you have your crew stand down and signal our surrender to the Federal Forces.'

'Surrender are you insane?' yelled Mustafa. 'They'll kill us. I'll never go along with this!'

Warren sighed. He didn't want to do this but he had his orders. 'Very well if that is your decision.' He pulled the trigger. Mustafa's blood and brain matter splattered across the deck plating. Warren pulled the dead mans body aside and sat in the command chair. 'I am assuming command of this vessel. Deploy a surrender flare. There has been enough bloodshed these past years.'
James wasn't all that surprised when he watched Anthony destroy the Lutzow. Anthony seemed to have become just a reckless as he had. With his long beam assault rifle destroyed he was left with only his beam sabres. James didn't mind close combat it was just that in his opinion it could be sloppy and far too dangerous; ranged combat was the best way forward. However that was all but impossible now. He took out a beam sabre but didn't activate it; he wanted to get closer to Anthony. He saw the other Zeon cruiser deploy a series of flares; the international sign of surrender was blazoned across space but he knew that didn't apply to him and Anthony. The few Zeon mobile suits that remained were now heading back to their ship.

James sent his Jegan-L racing down towards where the black and yellow Zaku III Custom was hovering around. As he closed in he triggered a burst from his Vulcan gun but the bullets merely scratched the heavy duty Zeon mobile suit. Anthony returned the favour with his own Vulcan gun and a pair of missiles from the launcher hidden in his arm shield. James was forced back as he avoided the missiles. Anthony jetted off to the left and took out his own beam sabre and went off after the Jegan-L. In a barrage of hacks, slashes and parries the two mobile suits engaged in brutal close combat, each exchange adding more damage to both machines.

'Why don't you just play nice and die!' yelled James taking another jab.

'Why don't you!' replied Anthony parrying the jab and then taking the offensive himself. The next few moments seemed to slow down for both the combatants. As Anthony lunged forward James slipped to the side and rammed his own beam sabre upwards toward the approaching Zaku III. Too late Anthony realised that he'd be impaled on James sabre, mentally Anthony prepared himself for his fate and he wasn't disappointed.

Then in that terrible moment James realised what he'd just done. He'd just killed his best friend and what for? Nothing but a stupid argument over a decade ago. Grief swelled up inside him and he started to cry, sobbing out year's worth of anguish. It didn't last long though as a power surge in the Zaku III caused its beam rifle to fire one last time. The shot smashed its way the Jegan-L's torso shredding the cockpit and its pilot.

The two heavily damaged mobile suits drifted apart from each other and lots of little explosions racked them before there reactors exploded. The two shone as bright a supernova before finally disappearing.
Two Earth Federation Space Forces officers stepped off the linear car into the station; this station was midway along the length of the space colony. One of the officers was obviously older than his companion because of the specs of grey slowly creeping into his hair. The two officers walked slowly through the station one stopped briefly to buy a newspaper from a vendor, the headlines were still full of the Republic of Zeon's rejoining the Federation. As they left the station they entered the colony cylinder and out into a fairly quiet suburb, occasionally an Elecar would meander down the main thoroughfare.

The two officers were looking for a particular place; the older officer took out a scrap of paper and consulted the scribbled down instructions written on it. He looked up and down the thoroughfare checking the visible street names before pointing at one of the side streets further along. The youngest of the pair fell in step behind and followed. It didn't take them long to find their destination, a small café going by the name 'Le Café En Rose'. The caf's sign had a crude painting of a flower; only a certain type of person was likely to recognise it as the space dock ship the café owner had warped the get the cafés name.

The bell above the door tinkled as the officers opened the door to get in. They sat at the small round table in the window. Up at the counter the two waitresses shared a hushed conversation before one of them disappeared into the kitchens.
'Mrs Catherine! Mrs Catherine!' called the waitress as she dashed through the kitchens to the small office at the very back of the premises. She burst through the office door much to the surprise of Catherine and Alexander who were sitting behind the desk. 'Two Federal Forces officers just came in. What do you think they want! The Federal Forces never normally come down this far.'

'I suspect they want something to drink and maybe a bite to eat.' commented Alexander. 'This is a café after all.'

'Don't worry child.' soothed Catherine. 'We'll deal with them, won't we darling?'

'Of course.' replied Alexander as he stood up. 'I have no idea why you girls get so jumpy when Federal Forces people drop by. It's not as if we're about to have another war or anything.'

Leaving the office Alexander walked down the service corridor and out into the seating area. He took one look at the two Federal Forces officers and a smile crept onto his face. It had been quite a while since he'd seen them last.

'Mr Raynor and Mr Sutherns what can I do you for today?' he declared as he walked up to their table.

'C-captain!' stammered Mike Sutherns as he shot up out o the chair not exactly sure whether he should salute or not.'

'I've had enough of that.' groaned Alexander, he pulled up a chair. 'I'm retired you don't have to do all that crap. So what brings you all the way out here?'

'Our ship came into port this morning.' replied Jason Raynor. 'The crew is a bit green and let us collide with another cruiser, we lost the portside turret; the captain was not impressed.'

'I'm not surprised.' snorted Alexander. 'That crew must be pretty pathetic to let that happen.

'Yeah you would have thought the SNRI would have better people.' commented Mike offhandedly. 'I don't know what its like at their head office but it's a slapdash affair around here.'

'You guys are with SNRI now?' asked Alexander. 'You must be going up in the world.'

'It's not as impressive as you think.' said Jason dismissively. 'We get use to test out the prototypes they don't want to waste the time of their top test pilots with.'

Alexander leaned back on his chair, something Catherine always chided him for, and ran a hand through his hair. 'We never really got a chance to do this back then did we? I mean just hang around and chat.'

'Of course not.' voiced Jason. 'James always had us running off on one thing or another, and then there was his damned feud with Anthony Curran.'

'I never really knew James but what was that feud all about?' asked Mike.

'He never told me.' replied Jason. 'Did he tell you Alexander?'

Alexander slowly nodded. 'Once, it was at the back end of the Grypps War when we first ran into Axis Zeon. You know that he and Anthony were both school friends from their home colony in Side 5. They were both passionate about spacenoid independence but they had differing views on how to achieve it. James favoured using the Earth Federation Assembly to again independence peacefully, however Anthony believe that the Earth Federation would never free the colonies and that force was the one way forward. A simple ideological difference influenced their entire adult lives and set them against each other.'

'Quite sad really.'

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Room 5, House 9 Studios Presents A Trying To Blend In Production

Mobile Suit Gundam 0093: Wayward Warriors

By Paul Snowdon Based on Mobile Suit Gundam created by Tomino Yoshiyuki and Yadate Hajime © Sunrise and Sotsu Agency

Cast in Order of appearance:
Alexander Jellico
Kyle Walker
James Keffer
Michael Sutherns
Jason Raynor
Henry Zigner
Anthony Curran
Edward Carson
Ross Atherton
Catherine Williamson
Warren Luther
Rigby Wallace
George Crilly
Neil Winthrope
Eric Bradshaw
Diana Levy
Henry Mustafa

Thank You for taking to the time to read this fan fiction work.