The One Year War is long over. Young Minerva Zabi has been on the run from the Federation Forces since she was but a baby. She managed to stay hidden along with the remains of the Zeon army for almost a decade on the asteroid Axis. When the Federation tracked her down they attacked in force, intending to place Minerva under arrest then place her in prison for the rest of her life. Her only crime was being born a Zabi. After a long battle the Federation force prevailed and stormed Axis, only to find that Minerva had been spirited away to a new hiding spot along with a small portion of the Zeon Army.
Minerva lived in a secret asteroid base called Gamma for four years. The Federation tracked her down again when she had just turned fourteen...
"What do you mean pack up and get ready to leave! I don't want to have to run away again!" Minerva exclaimed, "Why can't we fight the damned feddies off!"
"Our forces are crippled and outdated. We don't have the resources to upgrade our Mobile suits." Goya, the female officer who had acted as an adoptive mother to Minerva for her entire life said, "It's estimated that the Federation attack force will be here by tomorrow afternoon, we leave tomorrow morning for the asteroid Vega"
"I'm tired of hopping from one asteroid to another! Why not hide in a colony for once, there has to be some that are still sympathetic to our cause" Minerva said, "Then maybe I can meet some people my own age instead of being around people all at least fifteen years older than me"
"There are colonies that are symathetic to us but the Federation is constantly watching them" Goya said, looking out the window, "But that doesn't stop them completely from helping us as much as they can, take a look"
Minerva looked out and saw a force of a dozen strange mobile suits landing on the surface of the asteroid. The mobile suits looked like a cross between a GM and a Gelgoog and all were painted blood red. Each carried a single long range beam rifle and a multibarrel chain gun as their primary armament. Eleven of the suits landed and began to enter an unused hanger while one fired a tether into the surface of the asteroid and just floated in space.
"Who are they?" Minerva asked, following Goya out of her room and towards the hanger the units entered. "They're an independant group called the Red Army, they've agreed to help hold off the feddie forces while we escape." Goya said, "Their reputation is quite good, almost fifty feddie suits shot down in less than a month"
"Can we trust them and aren't they asking for anything in return?" Minerva asked.
"Yeah we can trust them, I dated their leader in high school" Goya said, blushing slightly, "And they're steadfast supporters of Zeon so they offered it for free."
"Calling in favors from an old flame eh" Minerva giggled, teasing the older woman, "I never thought you had it in you"
"Shut up, he's married now!" Goya laughed, coming to the door to the hangar, "It looks like the hangar's been pressurized again, let's go in"
Minerva and Goya entered the hangar just as the members of the Red Army were climbing out of their suits.
"Goya!" One of the pilots exclaimed, briskly walking over and removing his helmet to reveal the face of a man in his forties with a bushy white beard and greying hair, "I see age has treated you much better than it has me"
"Ruutu, It has been a long time, You don't know how much it means to us that you're helping us" Goya said, hugging Ruutu tightly then turning to Minerva, "And this is Lady Minerva Zabi"
"It is a pleasure Miss Zabi" Ruutu said, kneeling and kissing Minervas hand, making her blush slightly, "It is an honor being asked to defend you"
"Um.. Thank you?" Minerva said.
"So who's the pilot still outside?" Goya asked.
"That is my son" Ruutu said, "He's probably taking a nap right now, the lazy bum, making sure he's well rested for the battle tomorrow, he's easily the best pilot in our force."
"Then why doesn't land, we can give him some quarters to rest in" Minerva said, "How old is he anyways?"
"He loves that suit, he spends hours tuning it up and modifying it, He's never been beaten in hand to hand combat" Ruutu said, "Oh, and he just turned sixteen last week"
"Finally some one my own age!" Minerva exclaimed.
"He'll probably feel the same way, for the past year we've been constantly terrorizing the feds" Ruutu laughed, "They've put a bounty on our heads so large that even the richest people on earth are hunting for us!"
"Whoa, even we don't have a bounty on our heads" Goya laughed, "What did you do to piss them off so much?"
"My son, Matt, got bored and blew up a few battleships, and we took out a top earth official with one of them" Ruutu said, "They never knew what hit them"
"Well, if you need anything then feel free to ask" Goya said, turning to Minerva, "I think it's time for your mobile suit training, shall we?"
"Alright" Minerva said, waving to the members of the Red Army, "Bye! Thank you!"
"Our pleasure, and I mean it, we enjoy beating up the feds" Ruutu laughed.
Some time later a pair of Zaku II suits launched. One was painted the standard green and the other was painted a royal purple, as was Minervas favorite colour. The two suits walked along the asteroid until they came to a large open spot they always used as a training ground.
"What say we just duke it out hand to hand today." Goya said.
"Fine, I'll beat you easily" Minerva said, picking a rock up off the ground.
"None of that!" Goya snapped, "No rocks this time!"
"Fine, be no fun" Minerva said, tossing the rock behind her, "Bring it on!"
The rock flew through the zero gravity across the surface until it came in contact with an object, the final red mobile suit that was tethered to the surface. The suit shook, violently rousing it's pilot from his slumber.
"What the hell!" Matt exclaimed, pulling his helmet back on and activating the monitors in his cockpit, "I couldn't have slept that long!"
The eyes on his suit lit up red and the tether pulled it down to the surface of the asteroid. He scanned around and located where the rock had come from.
"Two Zakus, couldn't be enemies, I wonder what's up" Matt said, directing his suit towards where Goya and Minerva were practicing.
"This is Red Army unit Prime Kossack, who is pilotting the two Zakus?" Matt asked the Zeon command center.
"Well now Prime Kossack, that would be Lady Minerva and Commander Goya, why do you ask?" The Zeon Command center replied.
"Because they woke me up" Matt replied, firing his verniers and skimming across the landscape towards the two women.
"You keep getting a lot better, I wouldn't be surprised if you were a new type" Goya said to Minerva.
"I bet I could take out the entire Black Dragon squad now" Minerva laughed, her joy cut off suddenly when her Zaku shuddered from an explosion right beside it.
"We're under attack!" Minerva screamed, drawing her Zaku's machine gun.
"Time to put your training to the test." Goya exclaimed, trying to communicate with the command center, "Comms are jammed!"
Minerva caught a glimpse of a mobile suit dashing around and opened fire. The shots missed the suit and kicked up a bunch of dust.
"We're sitting ducks in these old clunkers!" Goya exclaimed. The two aimed their weapons into the dust and awaited any sign of the other mobile suit.
"You can't even come near to hitting me and you expect to be able to take out the Black Dragons?" The other mobile suit pilot said, appearing behind Minerva and grabbing her suits arms and immobilizing her, "The only time I've ever been beaten was by them."
"Matt" Goya said, "Your father told us you've never been beaten"
"Not by regular forces" Matt said, letting go of Minerva's Zaku, "I remember that day well, I was just mopping up the remains of a squad that was sent to ambush us, my father and the rest of the army returned to base feeling confident in my abilities. Just as I destroyed the last GM III I was ambushed by four black mobile suits. I had never seen the design before, I later found out they were custom made suits. Before I could get a shot off they swarmed me, hitting me from all sides. They didn't want to kill me, they wanted to send a message to the rest of the group, they're coming for us"
"So have you engaged them since?" Minerva asked, jumping back beside Goya.
"No, I'll tell you the truth, we're actually afraid of them" Matt said, "We're probably more skilled than them, but their suits are far superior to anything we've ever seen"
"I hope they don't attack us" Goya said, "Then we wouldn't have a chance"
"Don't worry, as long as we're around you'll be safe" Matt said, turning his suit, "I'm going in so I can sleep without having rocks thrown at me"
"Sorry" Minerva giggled, turning to Goya, "Maybe we should go in"
"You're right, load the mobile suits up on the transports and get ready to leave at a moments notice." Goya said, turning her Zaku and heading back to the base.
"Hey Matt, have a good nap?" Ruutu asked.
"Until I was hit by a rock thrown by Miss Zabi and your old flame" Matt said, being lowered down.
"Aw, poor baby" Vash, one of the three female pilots in the Red Army said, "Teach you to be lazy"
"If I can recall I saved your ass several times just this week" Matt said, slapping her butt as he walked by.
"Hey! You little!" Vash started as everyone else just laughed at her.
"You can never insult him and get away with it Vash" Franz, another Red Army member said, "Hell, everyone's had to cover your ass more than once lately."
"Shut up" Vash said, grabbing a couple of bottles of beer out of a cooler, "Hey Matt, catch"
"Feddie legal drinking age kiss my ass!" Matt said, popping the cap off and downing a portion of the beer, "Here's to the destruction of another feddie force!"
"Aye!" The other members cheered, downing their drinks and turning on some lively music.
"Well the suits are all loaded up and everything is set for our departure" Goya said, "You should head back to your room and get to sleep" "You're right, It's not a good thing to be asleep when you're supposed to be leading your people" Minerva said, "I'll see you again in the morning."
"Good night Min" Goya said.
Minerva walked through the base towards her room, passing by Zeon soldiers who were rushing to get everything onto transports. As she walked by the doors to the Red Army's hangar she heard a lot of noise and commotion. She decided to see what the noise was and opened the doors. Her eyes went wide at what she saw.
"What the hell is going on in here!" Minerva exclaimed, stepping inside only to be grabbed from behind, "Hey!"
"I have a hostage! You'll never beat me!" Matt exclaimed, using Minerva as a shield and holding a gun at the other Red army member. "Ahh!" Minerva screamed, not knowing what was going on.
"Come on, that's cheating!" Ruutu said, floating to the ground wearing an odd looking pack on his chest.
"Yeah, no hostages" Vash said, floating beside Ruutu along with the rest of the Red Army.
"Meh, now I have you where I want you" Matt laughed, rapidly pulling the trigger on the gun making it emit a cartoony laser blast sound then made each pack worn by another person make an exploding sound, "I win"
"No you cheated" Franz said, "Lady Minerva is an innocent bystander, she wasn't playing."
"Aw she doesn't mind" Matt said, throwing his arm around Minervas shoulder, only then noticing she was standing there with a stunned look on her face, "Um hello? Wakey wakey"
"What the hell is going on here!" Minerva screamed, making Matt stumble back, dropping his gun and holding his ears.
"Ow!" Matt exclaimed, "What the hell was that for!"
"Who do you think you are holding me hostage!" Minerva screamed, "Even if you're just playing a game!"
"Geeze! Sorry" Matt said, backing up a bit, "You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I should shoot you in the head!" Minerva said, picking the gun up on the floor and aiming it at his head.
"Um.. That's a toy" Matt said.
"I know" Minerva said, a grin coming over her scowl as she aimed it at his chest and pulled the trigger, "You lose!"
"Nice acting" Ruutu said, tossing a pack and gun to Minerva, "Care to join us?"
"I'd love to! It's nice to see some excitement, it's always so formal around here" Minerva said, putting the pack on and handing Matt his gun back, "Free for all?"
"As always" Vash said, resetting her pack and gun.
"I wonder where Min could be, she said she was going to her quarters but they're empty." Goya said, walking through the base. Her attention was drawn to the Red Army's hangar when she could have sworn she heard Minervas voice. Goya entered the hangar and dropped to the floor as Minerva blew past her laughing her head off.
"What the!" Goya exclaimed standing up to see thirteen people, most adults, acting like children playing laser tag, "Minerva! You're supposed to be in bed!"
"Time out!" Matt yelled.
"Oh come on Goya, I'm having the most fun I've had in years" Minerva said, floating to the ground, "Nothing wrong with that is there?" "I guess not" Goya said, grabbing the last pack, "I'm in!"
After an hour or so of playing the laser tag game many of the Red Army soldiers retired to bed for the night. Soon only Ruutu, Goya, Matt and Minerva were still awake.
"I heard your wife was killed." Goya said, sipping a drink with Ruutu.
"Yes, most unfortunate, it was during one of the attempted uprisings, she was on her way home from the market when the Feds took her into custody and had her shot, claiming she was a terrorist." Ruutu said, "That's what mainly encouraged me to form the Red Army."
"I was married too for a while, but he was killed during the one year war." Goya said, "But he went out with a bang, took at least a dozen Feddie suits and a battleship with him."
"Always a good way to go." Ruutu said, looking over at the Prime Kossack suit, "What do you suppose the two of them are talking about?"
"Who knows." Goya said, "All that really matters to me is Minerva seems happier than she's ever been."
"So after the move what are you going to do?" Minvera asked, sitting beside Matt on the head of the Prime Kossack.
"Same thing we always do, find Feddies, and blow them up." Matt said, "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I was just hoping you'd consider sticking around so I'd have some one closer to my age to be with." Minerva said, "It's no fun being around people twice my age or older all the time."
"You do know the next youngest member of the Red Army is Vash and she's 23 right?" Matt chuckled, "I'm sure I could find plenty of time to visit."
"That would be great." Minerva said.
"Minerva!" Goya called, "It's getting really late, time to go!"
"Well, like she said." Minerva said, "Good luck tomorrow."
"Sleep well." Matt said, standing up.
"You too." Minerva said, suddenly giving him a peck on the cheek before hopping off the suit and floating towards the ground.
Matt watched as she and Goya left then floated down himself. His father had already retired to bed and he walked past the sleeping forms of the other Red Army members to his bed.
"Well, looks like little Matt has a little girlfriend." Vash said, looking over from her bed.
"You must be so disappointed I'm not longer availible." Matt smirked.
"Yeah, if you were a couple of years older I'd go for you in a second." Vash said sarcastically, "And I could do things to you she'd never be able to."
"Really." Matt said, flopping down beside her, "Prove it and maybe I'll consider you."
"Hey! Get out of my bed!" Vash exclaimed, trying to push Matt out, "Get out!"
"Aw, I thought you loved me." Matt laughed and hopped off the bed and headed to his own, leaving Vash scowling at him.
The next morning Minerva awoke to a start as the entire base shuddered and alarms started blaring.
"Prepare to evacuate!" a voice came over the loud speaker as Goya burst in.
"Hurry Min! The attack's started!" Goya exclaimed, "We have to get out of here!"
"I'm glad I slept in my clothes!" Minerva said, leaping out of bed and running out with Goya. They ran past a window and could see the Red Army mobile suits taking off and engaging the Federation GMs.
"It's a good thing most of the supplies were sent off last night, the Feds are trying to blockade the asteroid." Goya said, "I hope we can get through."
The Red Army mobile suits flew in formation head on to the Federation forces. One of the suits suddenly dropped out of the formation and dropped down into a rocky outcropping near Minerva's shuttle launch ramp.
"I know you're out there." Matt said, cutting the power to his suit and making himself undetectable, "I'm not afraid, I'm better than you all combined and I will prove it."
"Ruutu to Red Army, let's jam their comms." Ruutu said, popping a disc into a drive on his chair. Suddenly all the communication lines were filled with nothing but heavy metal music. Swarms of Jeagans and GMIII's flew at the eleven red mobile suits and the battle began.
"Are we go to launch?" Goya asked the pilot of the shuttle.
"Yes ma'am, except we have a group of cruisers scanning for us and ready to intercept us." The pilot said.
"We'll worry about that when we're enroute." Goya said, returning to her seat.
"What's happening?" Minerva asked.
"Things are going to be bumpy." Goya said as the shuttle took off.
"That's seven!" Ruutu laughed as he blew up another Federation suit. Suddenly a horrified look came over his face as he saw two of his comrades explode. Four black mobile suits zipped around the battlefield. One of them broke away and charged at Minerva's transport
"You'll pay for this!" Ruutu screamed, charging the remaining three Black Dragons along with the remaining Red Army members.
"Oh no!" Minerva screamed, seeing the Black Dragon charging at them.
"Heaven help us." Goya said, shutting her eyes.
"I knew it." Matt said, Returning to full power and jettisoning his beam rifle and chain gun, "Prime Kossack Full Charge!"
The Prime Kossacks verniers began to glow as ports on it's legs and torso began to open and glow as well. From the forearms emerged a pair of energy blades. The Prime Kossack blasted away from the surface. It flew at almost three times normal speed towards the Black Dragon. Before the black suit could react the Prime Kossack slammed into it and cut into the cockpit, killing the pilot. Matt swung around and decapitated the immobile suit then cut an arm off before leaving it to float, dead in space.
"Whoo! Go Matt!" Minerva cheered as Goya and the other passengers on the shuttle sighed with relief and then joined in. A Mega Particle blast suddenly whizzed by the shuttle and caught Matt's attention. The Prime Kossack rocketed toward the group of cruisers blocking the shuttles path. One by one the Kossack cut into them and caused their reactors to breach and explode. Suddenly, the heavy metal music that filled the radio waves dissappeared .
"The hell?" Matt asked himself, bringing his suit around and looking out towards the main battle.
"I did my best, goodbye..." Ruutu's voice came over the radio line then suddenly turned to static sound as a large bright explosion could be seen.
"No!" Matt exclaimed, charging his suit towards the explosion. Before he got half way there he was met by a pair of Black Dragons with beam sabers drawn, "You're dead!"
The Prime Kossack and the two Black Dragons engaged in a fierce melee. Matt fended off blows from both the suits. He saw an opening and stabbed one of his blades into the shoulder joint of one of the Black Dragons. The third Black Dragon arrived on the scene at that time and sliced into the Prime Kossacks arm. Matt flew back, now with only one blade to defend himself. The two undamaged Black Dragons converged on the Prime Kossack. Matt deactivated his blade, knowing it was hopeless to continue. He had done his job, Minerva's transport was safely away and cloaked.
"How many people can say they died after disabling two of the Black Dragons?" Matt's voice came in over the speakers in Minerva's shuttle, "But I'll be back..."
"No!" Minerva exclaimed as the comm line cut out and there was a bright explosion off in the distance. "No..."
Minerva lived in a secret asteroid base called Gamma for four years. The Federation tracked her down again when she had just turned fourteen...
"What do you mean pack up and get ready to leave! I don't want to have to run away again!" Minerva exclaimed, "Why can't we fight the damned feddies off!"
"Our forces are crippled and outdated. We don't have the resources to upgrade our Mobile suits." Goya, the female officer who had acted as an adoptive mother to Minerva for her entire life said, "It's estimated that the Federation attack force will be here by tomorrow afternoon, we leave tomorrow morning for the asteroid Vega"
"I'm tired of hopping from one asteroid to another! Why not hide in a colony for once, there has to be some that are still sympathetic to our cause" Minerva said, "Then maybe I can meet some people my own age instead of being around people all at least fifteen years older than me"
"There are colonies that are symathetic to us but the Federation is constantly watching them" Goya said, looking out the window, "But that doesn't stop them completely from helping us as much as they can, take a look"
Minerva looked out and saw a force of a dozen strange mobile suits landing on the surface of the asteroid. The mobile suits looked like a cross between a GM and a Gelgoog and all were painted blood red. Each carried a single long range beam rifle and a multibarrel chain gun as their primary armament. Eleven of the suits landed and began to enter an unused hanger while one fired a tether into the surface of the asteroid and just floated in space.
"Who are they?" Minerva asked, following Goya out of her room and towards the hanger the units entered. "They're an independant group called the Red Army, they've agreed to help hold off the feddie forces while we escape." Goya said, "Their reputation is quite good, almost fifty feddie suits shot down in less than a month"
"Can we trust them and aren't they asking for anything in return?" Minerva asked.
"Yeah we can trust them, I dated their leader in high school" Goya said, blushing slightly, "And they're steadfast supporters of Zeon so they offered it for free."
"Calling in favors from an old flame eh" Minerva giggled, teasing the older woman, "I never thought you had it in you"
"Shut up, he's married now!" Goya laughed, coming to the door to the hangar, "It looks like the hangar's been pressurized again, let's go in"
Minerva and Goya entered the hangar just as the members of the Red Army were climbing out of their suits.
"Goya!" One of the pilots exclaimed, briskly walking over and removing his helmet to reveal the face of a man in his forties with a bushy white beard and greying hair, "I see age has treated you much better than it has me"
"Ruutu, It has been a long time, You don't know how much it means to us that you're helping us" Goya said, hugging Ruutu tightly then turning to Minerva, "And this is Lady Minerva Zabi"
"It is a pleasure Miss Zabi" Ruutu said, kneeling and kissing Minervas hand, making her blush slightly, "It is an honor being asked to defend you"
"Um.. Thank you?" Minerva said.
"So who's the pilot still outside?" Goya asked.
"That is my son" Ruutu said, "He's probably taking a nap right now, the lazy bum, making sure he's well rested for the battle tomorrow, he's easily the best pilot in our force."
"Then why doesn't land, we can give him some quarters to rest in" Minerva said, "How old is he anyways?"
"He loves that suit, he spends hours tuning it up and modifying it, He's never been beaten in hand to hand combat" Ruutu said, "Oh, and he just turned sixteen last week"
"Finally some one my own age!" Minerva exclaimed.
"He'll probably feel the same way, for the past year we've been constantly terrorizing the feds" Ruutu laughed, "They've put a bounty on our heads so large that even the richest people on earth are hunting for us!"
"Whoa, even we don't have a bounty on our heads" Goya laughed, "What did you do to piss them off so much?"
"My son, Matt, got bored and blew up a few battleships, and we took out a top earth official with one of them" Ruutu said, "They never knew what hit them"
"Well, if you need anything then feel free to ask" Goya said, turning to Minerva, "I think it's time for your mobile suit training, shall we?"
"Alright" Minerva said, waving to the members of the Red Army, "Bye! Thank you!"
"Our pleasure, and I mean it, we enjoy beating up the feds" Ruutu laughed.
Some time later a pair of Zaku II suits launched. One was painted the standard green and the other was painted a royal purple, as was Minervas favorite colour. The two suits walked along the asteroid until they came to a large open spot they always used as a training ground.
"What say we just duke it out hand to hand today." Goya said.
"Fine, I'll beat you easily" Minerva said, picking a rock up off the ground.
"None of that!" Goya snapped, "No rocks this time!"
"Fine, be no fun" Minerva said, tossing the rock behind her, "Bring it on!"
The rock flew through the zero gravity across the surface until it came in contact with an object, the final red mobile suit that was tethered to the surface. The suit shook, violently rousing it's pilot from his slumber.
"What the hell!" Matt exclaimed, pulling his helmet back on and activating the monitors in his cockpit, "I couldn't have slept that long!"
The eyes on his suit lit up red and the tether pulled it down to the surface of the asteroid. He scanned around and located where the rock had come from.
"Two Zakus, couldn't be enemies, I wonder what's up" Matt said, directing his suit towards where Goya and Minerva were practicing.
"This is Red Army unit Prime Kossack, who is pilotting the two Zakus?" Matt asked the Zeon command center.
"Well now Prime Kossack, that would be Lady Minerva and Commander Goya, why do you ask?" The Zeon Command center replied.
"Because they woke me up" Matt replied, firing his verniers and skimming across the landscape towards the two women.
"You keep getting a lot better, I wouldn't be surprised if you were a new type" Goya said to Minerva.
"I bet I could take out the entire Black Dragon squad now" Minerva laughed, her joy cut off suddenly when her Zaku shuddered from an explosion right beside it.
"We're under attack!" Minerva screamed, drawing her Zaku's machine gun.
"Time to put your training to the test." Goya exclaimed, trying to communicate with the command center, "Comms are jammed!"
Minerva caught a glimpse of a mobile suit dashing around and opened fire. The shots missed the suit and kicked up a bunch of dust.
"We're sitting ducks in these old clunkers!" Goya exclaimed. The two aimed their weapons into the dust and awaited any sign of the other mobile suit.
"You can't even come near to hitting me and you expect to be able to take out the Black Dragons?" The other mobile suit pilot said, appearing behind Minerva and grabbing her suits arms and immobilizing her, "The only time I've ever been beaten was by them."
"Matt" Goya said, "Your father told us you've never been beaten"
"Not by regular forces" Matt said, letting go of Minerva's Zaku, "I remember that day well, I was just mopping up the remains of a squad that was sent to ambush us, my father and the rest of the army returned to base feeling confident in my abilities. Just as I destroyed the last GM III I was ambushed by four black mobile suits. I had never seen the design before, I later found out they were custom made suits. Before I could get a shot off they swarmed me, hitting me from all sides. They didn't want to kill me, they wanted to send a message to the rest of the group, they're coming for us"
"So have you engaged them since?" Minerva asked, jumping back beside Goya.
"No, I'll tell you the truth, we're actually afraid of them" Matt said, "We're probably more skilled than them, but their suits are far superior to anything we've ever seen"
"I hope they don't attack us" Goya said, "Then we wouldn't have a chance"
"Don't worry, as long as we're around you'll be safe" Matt said, turning his suit, "I'm going in so I can sleep without having rocks thrown at me"
"Sorry" Minerva giggled, turning to Goya, "Maybe we should go in"
"You're right, load the mobile suits up on the transports and get ready to leave at a moments notice." Goya said, turning her Zaku and heading back to the base.
"Hey Matt, have a good nap?" Ruutu asked.
"Until I was hit by a rock thrown by Miss Zabi and your old flame" Matt said, being lowered down.
"Aw, poor baby" Vash, one of the three female pilots in the Red Army said, "Teach you to be lazy"
"If I can recall I saved your ass several times just this week" Matt said, slapping her butt as he walked by.
"Hey! You little!" Vash started as everyone else just laughed at her.
"You can never insult him and get away with it Vash" Franz, another Red Army member said, "Hell, everyone's had to cover your ass more than once lately."
"Shut up" Vash said, grabbing a couple of bottles of beer out of a cooler, "Hey Matt, catch"
"Feddie legal drinking age kiss my ass!" Matt said, popping the cap off and downing a portion of the beer, "Here's to the destruction of another feddie force!"
"Aye!" The other members cheered, downing their drinks and turning on some lively music.
"Well the suits are all loaded up and everything is set for our departure" Goya said, "You should head back to your room and get to sleep" "You're right, It's not a good thing to be asleep when you're supposed to be leading your people" Minerva said, "I'll see you again in the morning."
"Good night Min" Goya said.
Minerva walked through the base towards her room, passing by Zeon soldiers who were rushing to get everything onto transports. As she walked by the doors to the Red Army's hangar she heard a lot of noise and commotion. She decided to see what the noise was and opened the doors. Her eyes went wide at what she saw.
"What the hell is going on in here!" Minerva exclaimed, stepping inside only to be grabbed from behind, "Hey!"
"I have a hostage! You'll never beat me!" Matt exclaimed, using Minerva as a shield and holding a gun at the other Red army member. "Ahh!" Minerva screamed, not knowing what was going on.
"Come on, that's cheating!" Ruutu said, floating to the ground wearing an odd looking pack on his chest.
"Yeah, no hostages" Vash said, floating beside Ruutu along with the rest of the Red Army.
"Meh, now I have you where I want you" Matt laughed, rapidly pulling the trigger on the gun making it emit a cartoony laser blast sound then made each pack worn by another person make an exploding sound, "I win"
"No you cheated" Franz said, "Lady Minerva is an innocent bystander, she wasn't playing."
"Aw she doesn't mind" Matt said, throwing his arm around Minervas shoulder, only then noticing she was standing there with a stunned look on her face, "Um hello? Wakey wakey"
"What the hell is going on here!" Minerva screamed, making Matt stumble back, dropping his gun and holding his ears.
"Ow!" Matt exclaimed, "What the hell was that for!"
"Who do you think you are holding me hostage!" Minerva screamed, "Even if you're just playing a game!"
"Geeze! Sorry" Matt said, backing up a bit, "You just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I should shoot you in the head!" Minerva said, picking the gun up on the floor and aiming it at his head.
"Um.. That's a toy" Matt said.
"I know" Minerva said, a grin coming over her scowl as she aimed it at his chest and pulled the trigger, "You lose!"
"Nice acting" Ruutu said, tossing a pack and gun to Minerva, "Care to join us?"
"I'd love to! It's nice to see some excitement, it's always so formal around here" Minerva said, putting the pack on and handing Matt his gun back, "Free for all?"
"As always" Vash said, resetting her pack and gun.
"I wonder where Min could be, she said she was going to her quarters but they're empty." Goya said, walking through the base. Her attention was drawn to the Red Army's hangar when she could have sworn she heard Minervas voice. Goya entered the hangar and dropped to the floor as Minerva blew past her laughing her head off.
"What the!" Goya exclaimed standing up to see thirteen people, most adults, acting like children playing laser tag, "Minerva! You're supposed to be in bed!"
"Time out!" Matt yelled.
"Oh come on Goya, I'm having the most fun I've had in years" Minerva said, floating to the ground, "Nothing wrong with that is there?" "I guess not" Goya said, grabbing the last pack, "I'm in!"
After an hour or so of playing the laser tag game many of the Red Army soldiers retired to bed for the night. Soon only Ruutu, Goya, Matt and Minerva were still awake.
"I heard your wife was killed." Goya said, sipping a drink with Ruutu.
"Yes, most unfortunate, it was during one of the attempted uprisings, she was on her way home from the market when the Feds took her into custody and had her shot, claiming she was a terrorist." Ruutu said, "That's what mainly encouraged me to form the Red Army."
"I was married too for a while, but he was killed during the one year war." Goya said, "But he went out with a bang, took at least a dozen Feddie suits and a battleship with him."
"Always a good way to go." Ruutu said, looking over at the Prime Kossack suit, "What do you suppose the two of them are talking about?"
"Who knows." Goya said, "All that really matters to me is Minerva seems happier than she's ever been."
"So after the move what are you going to do?" Minvera asked, sitting beside Matt on the head of the Prime Kossack.
"Same thing we always do, find Feddies, and blow them up." Matt said, "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, I was just hoping you'd consider sticking around so I'd have some one closer to my age to be with." Minerva said, "It's no fun being around people twice my age or older all the time."
"You do know the next youngest member of the Red Army is Vash and she's 23 right?" Matt chuckled, "I'm sure I could find plenty of time to visit."
"That would be great." Minerva said.
"Minerva!" Goya called, "It's getting really late, time to go!"
"Well, like she said." Minerva said, "Good luck tomorrow."
"Sleep well." Matt said, standing up.
"You too." Minerva said, suddenly giving him a peck on the cheek before hopping off the suit and floating towards the ground.
Matt watched as she and Goya left then floated down himself. His father had already retired to bed and he walked past the sleeping forms of the other Red Army members to his bed.
"Well, looks like little Matt has a little girlfriend." Vash said, looking over from her bed.
"You must be so disappointed I'm not longer availible." Matt smirked.
"Yeah, if you were a couple of years older I'd go for you in a second." Vash said sarcastically, "And I could do things to you she'd never be able to."
"Really." Matt said, flopping down beside her, "Prove it and maybe I'll consider you."
"Hey! Get out of my bed!" Vash exclaimed, trying to push Matt out, "Get out!"
"Aw, I thought you loved me." Matt laughed and hopped off the bed and headed to his own, leaving Vash scowling at him.
The next morning Minerva awoke to a start as the entire base shuddered and alarms started blaring.
"Prepare to evacuate!" a voice came over the loud speaker as Goya burst in.
"Hurry Min! The attack's started!" Goya exclaimed, "We have to get out of here!"
"I'm glad I slept in my clothes!" Minerva said, leaping out of bed and running out with Goya. They ran past a window and could see the Red Army mobile suits taking off and engaging the Federation GMs.
"It's a good thing most of the supplies were sent off last night, the Feds are trying to blockade the asteroid." Goya said, "I hope we can get through."
The Red Army mobile suits flew in formation head on to the Federation forces. One of the suits suddenly dropped out of the formation and dropped down into a rocky outcropping near Minerva's shuttle launch ramp.
"I know you're out there." Matt said, cutting the power to his suit and making himself undetectable, "I'm not afraid, I'm better than you all combined and I will prove it."
"Ruutu to Red Army, let's jam their comms." Ruutu said, popping a disc into a drive on his chair. Suddenly all the communication lines were filled with nothing but heavy metal music. Swarms of Jeagans and GMIII's flew at the eleven red mobile suits and the battle began.
"Are we go to launch?" Goya asked the pilot of the shuttle.
"Yes ma'am, except we have a group of cruisers scanning for us and ready to intercept us." The pilot said.
"We'll worry about that when we're enroute." Goya said, returning to her seat.
"What's happening?" Minerva asked.
"Things are going to be bumpy." Goya said as the shuttle took off.
"That's seven!" Ruutu laughed as he blew up another Federation suit. Suddenly a horrified look came over his face as he saw two of his comrades explode. Four black mobile suits zipped around the battlefield. One of them broke away and charged at Minerva's transport
"You'll pay for this!" Ruutu screamed, charging the remaining three Black Dragons along with the remaining Red Army members.
"Oh no!" Minerva screamed, seeing the Black Dragon charging at them.
"Heaven help us." Goya said, shutting her eyes.
"I knew it." Matt said, Returning to full power and jettisoning his beam rifle and chain gun, "Prime Kossack Full Charge!"
The Prime Kossacks verniers began to glow as ports on it's legs and torso began to open and glow as well. From the forearms emerged a pair of energy blades. The Prime Kossack blasted away from the surface. It flew at almost three times normal speed towards the Black Dragon. Before the black suit could react the Prime Kossack slammed into it and cut into the cockpit, killing the pilot. Matt swung around and decapitated the immobile suit then cut an arm off before leaving it to float, dead in space.
"Whoo! Go Matt!" Minerva cheered as Goya and the other passengers on the shuttle sighed with relief and then joined in. A Mega Particle blast suddenly whizzed by the shuttle and caught Matt's attention. The Prime Kossack rocketed toward the group of cruisers blocking the shuttles path. One by one the Kossack cut into them and caused their reactors to breach and explode. Suddenly, the heavy metal music that filled the radio waves dissappeared .
"The hell?" Matt asked himself, bringing his suit around and looking out towards the main battle.
"I did my best, goodbye..." Ruutu's voice came over the radio line then suddenly turned to static sound as a large bright explosion could be seen.
"No!" Matt exclaimed, charging his suit towards the explosion. Before he got half way there he was met by a pair of Black Dragons with beam sabers drawn, "You're dead!"
The Prime Kossack and the two Black Dragons engaged in a fierce melee. Matt fended off blows from both the suits. He saw an opening and stabbed one of his blades into the shoulder joint of one of the Black Dragons. The third Black Dragon arrived on the scene at that time and sliced into the Prime Kossacks arm. Matt flew back, now with only one blade to defend himself. The two undamaged Black Dragons converged on the Prime Kossack. Matt deactivated his blade, knowing it was hopeless to continue. He had done his job, Minerva's transport was safely away and cloaked.
"How many people can say they died after disabling two of the Black Dragons?" Matt's voice came in over the speakers in Minerva's shuttle, "But I'll be back..."
"No!" Minerva exclaimed as the comm line cut out and there was a bright explosion off in the distance. "No..."