Mobile Suit Gundam Century's Dawn
The calendar of the Universal Century has reached the year 300. The Earth has fallen into a state of disarray due to a
war against an organization of countries who are seeking total world domination. Even though the Earth Federation has
numbers on their side, they are being overwhelmed by the battle-hardened soldiers of the Alliance of Middle-Eastern
Countries. This is because they had one advantage: strange humanoid machines that could devastate entire platoons
with a single strafe. To make matters worse, the Colonies have severed all diplomatic and economic ties.
Now, one ship will reawaken an ancient power that will turn the tides in this Century Dawn War.
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The Zakus attacked the small town of Scatterhaven hoping to draw out the Exalon. Koshiro and Paiyako, two children, are
forced to watch as the battle destroys their home town. Mileena, outraged over the death of Naram, turns on Koshiro.
But Koshiro is saved by Lee in the Exalon's Core Fighter. The two take off but are pursued by half the Zakus.
[Title: The Facility]
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The Core Fighter groaned as Lee struggled to dodge another round of machine gun fire. In the back, Koshiro gripped the
sides of his seat. Was this all a dream? Had Scatterhaven really been destroyed by the Federation and the Zakus?
Why was he being aided by one of them? Was Paiyako all right? Questions like these ran circles around his mind.
Lee grunted. She didn't expect such heavy retaliation from the AMEC's Zaku army and that was just for them.
Imagine how hard it is for the Exalon.
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The Exalon wasn't faring much better. The Zaku's fire had them forced on the ground.
"People, if any of you have any ideas, I'd certainly like to hear them."
"I do," Tasha called out. "A sonic disruption pulse. It should scramble their circuitry enough to disable them for a
moment."
"And while they're disoriented, we make a break for it," Victor concluded.
"Great but how do we send it out?" Muro asked.
"The communication system," Henry Kozuko shouted.
"But what about the Minovsky Particles?" Muro pointed out.
"We only need line of site for the pulse to work," Tasha told her.
"Well I'm not too fond of such unorthodox maneuvers," Noah Lucas began. "But let's do it."
"Cover your ears," Tasha warned as she activated it.
Outside, a loud screach echoed through the valley of what was once Scatterhaven. The mono eyeson the Zakus fizzled and
broke. Zakus began falling over.
"Oh shoot," Rashad muttered just as the pulse fried his controls.
"Take off," Lucas ordered. The Exalon rose into the sky and streeked off towards the northeast.
"Looks like we lost them," Rashad muttered unaware that another ship was entering the area.
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Lee banked away from a Zaku only to come face-to-cockpit with another.
"Looks like we have no choice," Lee said. "Get ready to eject," she announced to Koshiro.
"What?!" But Lee already hit the ejection button. The Core Fighter's hatch popped open and the two seats burst from the
Core Fighter. A parachute popped open from the back of the seat as Koshiro and Lee held onto their seat belts. The two
parachutes touched the ground and the Core Fighter itself slammed into the chest of Mileena's Zaku and exploded. However,
all it did was cause the Zaku to fall on its butt
Koshiro climbed out from underneath his parachute. "That was crazy!" He cried. He looked at the other parachute as the
pilot poked her now helmet-less head and the rest of her out from under the parachute. Koshiro got a good look at the
pilot. As he guessed, it was a female with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Her face was rugged yet possessed
a natural beauty to it.
The hatch of the Zaku that the Core Fighter hit opened, and Mileena, minus her helmet, peeked out.
"Hey, you're one of the pilots who stopped by Scatterhaven asking around for the Federation base," Koshiro accused
getting a surprised reaction from Lee.
Mileena pointed at them. "You were responsible for the death of Naram. You will pay." And then she disappeared back into
her Zaku.
"What did she mean by we were responsible for the death of Naram?" Lee asked.
"You got me."
"Well if we don't high-tail it, she'll get us." Koshiro and Lee ran towards the mountain, but Mileena was quicker,
cutting them off.
"Mileena, wait," the Base Commander said as he and the others landed. "We need them alive if we're going to find out
the Earth Federation's plans are!"
"Get it from somebody else, sir," Mileena snapped. "Someone will die today and it won't be me."
Koshiro and Lee used the opportunity to run away. Suddenly Koshiro spotted a square-shaped cave entrance. He grabbed
Lee's wrist and led her to the entrance.
"Bad move," the Base Commander called out as he fired his machine gun. The bullets caused a cave in, trapping Lee and
Koshiro in the cave. "There, Mileena. Naram has been avenged. They will die slow and painful deaths in that cave."
Mileena didn't say anything. She wanted to be the one who avenges Naram's death. Oh well, at least their death will be
slow, unlike Naram, who was given the luxury of a quick death.
Inside the cave, Koshiro pushed with all his might in an attempt to free them but it was no use.
"Save your strength," Lee said as she took out a pen flashlight and turned it on. "Just relax."
Koshiro turned towards her. If the light was trained on him, Lee would've saw the face of a furious boy.
"Relax?! You have some nerv telling me to relax after all you did. First you show up in my hometown and destroy it..."
"It wasn't our intention to destroy it," Lee argued.
"Oh sure, just like it wasn't your intention to kidnap me."
"You chose to come with me, remember? And besides, the Commander wanted me to save you."
Koshiro held out his arms to include the cave and said in a very sarcastic voice, "oh yeah, I feel real safe here."
"Look, when my ship realizes that I haven't reported in, they'll come looking for us. Let's try to make the best of it."
"And how am I suppose to do that?" Koshiro asked. Lee went up to the wall and slid her hand along it.
"This wall is smooth, there's no way it could've been made naturally. It must've been made by humans."
"So?"
Lee turned towards him. "If humans did make this, then they must've made an alternate escape route in case of a cave in.
Perhaps if we follow this tunnel, we can find it."
"Look, lady, there's no way to tell if this WAS made by man. So maybe we should just stay here until the U.S.S. Crapstein
comes to look for us."
Lee turned towards him with a wary look. It was the kind of look a mother would give a child who just asked an extremely
stupid question like 'am I going home?' Finally, she said, "Lee."
"Huh?"
"My name. If you're going to insult me, you might as well insult me using my name. It's Lee, Lee Moshiro. And you
are...?"
He paused before replying, "Koshiro Anaka."
"Nice to meet you, Koshiro." And then she turned and walked into the cave. Koshiro contimplated his options: he could
follow this Lee woman into certain death or he could stay here where it was safe. Then again, if she did find a way out,
she could tell the crew that he died and then he would really be screwed.
Koshiro swallowed his pride and followed her.
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With Lee gone, Muro Okawa was at the communication system. Right now, she was trying to contact the Core Fighter and Lee.
"Exalon to Core Fighter, respond... Core Fighter, come in... Lee, can you hear me?" Muro looked up at Commander Lucas
and shook her head. "Nothing."
Lucas nodded. "Keep trying."
The Exalon had touched down about fifty miles from the former town of Scatterhaven. They were emitting Minovsky Particles
so that the scanners wouldn't be able to pick them up.
Lucas looked up at the Twins. "Any sign of the Core Fighter's transponder signal?"
"Nothing here either, Commander," Tasha replied.
Lucas sighed. It was way pass the deadline they set in their last communication with Lee.
"Commander Lucas," Victor called from his station. "I think I have something." Lucas raised his head towards Victors'
control station. "I've extrapolated the Core Fighter's flight path." He pointed on the overhead grid map to an area
right above him. "Assuming they've been forced down by Zakus, this could be as far as they could get. Any closer and
they'd crash into the mountains."
"Then that's where we're heading. Muro, back to helm, we're going Core hunting." Muro got up from the communication
station and returned to her original position. The Exalon took off again, this time following the path of the Core
Fighter.
"I'm detecting something," Victor called out after a while. "There's something metallic five kilometers port-side."
"Land," Lucas ordered. "Muro, Henry, come with me." The Exalon landed and its loading bay opened. A jeep containing
the three officers exited. They drove until they found a red and blue pile of rubble.
"No doubt about it," Henry said. "It's the Core Fighter."
"Does that mean..." Muro didn't want to finish the sentence. Was Lee really dead? What about the kid, was he dead too?
Or was he captured by the AMEC army?
"Hold on," Commander Lucas called. "Look at this." Muro and Henry went over to where Commander Lucas was and saw two
parachutes crumpled up on the ground. "Henry, get Tasha and get some scanning equipment out here. They must be around
here somewhere."
Unknown to the crew of the Exalon, AMEC had left a scout behind to monitor anyone who would've wandered into the area,
like the Exalon.
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The Base Commander was discussing different locations of the Exalon with Mileena when a soldier came in. After saluting,
the soldier said, "We've just received a message from Cat's Eye One. The Feddy ship landed near where we destroyed that
small fighter."
Mileena slammed her fist on her palm. "I knew it, those two must've survived and now they called their ship to pick them
up. You should've let me destroy them when we had the chance."
"Calm down, Mileena. I doubt that they have confirmation of whether or not they are alive. At any rate, this is our time
to strike."
"And now you'll have the right resources," a new voice came in. Everybody turned to see a tall dark-skinned man walk in.
He had short black dreadlocks and was dressed in a Captain's uniform. With him was Rashad, and a small white skin boy
with shaggy black hair and brown eyes wearing an olive-green jumpsuit.
"I am Captain Ferdinand Garrett of the Zeon," he introduced. "Are you in charge of this area?"
"Yes, sir," the Commander saluted.
"We just picked up the rest of your boys from the battlefield. This young man..." Garrett gestured to Rashad.
"Was kind enough to inform us of what's been going on."
All the AMEC officers know of the Zeon. It was just one of many attack ships that made up of the main Desert Army Fleet.
It armor was so thick that it could survive the vacuum of space. The forest green vehicle looked like that of a battleship
but it had two wings that tilted downward.
The Base Commander crossed his arms. "I'm surprised that Command sent its pride and joy to deal with something as
trivial as this."
"When the target is the most important ship in the Federation fleet, nothing but the best will do," Garrett countered.
"Allow me to introduce Ben Hoshum."
The Base Commander stared at the boy. "I've heard of you," he said. "They call you the Dark Messiah, because you've been
known to save people by annihilating the enemy." Ben just crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if he was
uninterested in what was going on.
Garrett took over. "We shall take over the task of destroying the Pegasus-class."
"Commander, he can't be serious!" Mileena protested.
Garrett handed the Base Commander some papers. "These orders say I have permission to assume command of the operation.
I suggest that you honor them, they come from Second Prime Minister Howard himself."
"Commander!"
"Orders from such high up must be honored," the Base Commander commented. He saluted Garrett again. "Permission to
turn command over to you."
Garrett saluted back. "Granted. Thank you, Commander. You are relieved of command." The Base Commander turned and
marched right out of the tent. Mileena ran after him.
"Commander, you can't let that arrogant blowhard take command," she protested. "Are you going to let him walk all over
you like some rabid dog?"
The Base Commander turned to face her with a scowl on his face. "His orders came from Second Prime Minister Howard.
Nobody dares question his orders except the Prime Minister herself. To deny orders from him would be consider not only
an act of treason, but a gesture of suicide!"
"No! Nobody will keep me from my revenge, not even headquarters." Mileena ran off to her Zaku.
"Mileena, wait!" The Base Commander turned and ran back into the tent. "Sound the alarm, we have a deserter!"
"Calm down, Commander," Captain Garrett said. "One deserter does not make the difference in a war. She will either be
beneficial to us in destroying the Pegasus-Class or when we make our attack, she will get caught in the crossfire.
Either way is no loss for us."
The Base Commander and Rashad frowned. Garrett apparently cared as much about fellow soldiers as he does about an old
pair of sneakers.
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Lee heard a rock break off from the wall behind her. She shined the flashlight right in Koshiro's face.
"Can you make some more noise?" She asked sarcastically. "I think there are still some colonies who haven't heard you."
"Oh give me a break," Koshiro argued. "It's not like..."
Lee slapped her hand over his mouth. "Ssshhh," she hissed. She gestured to ahead of them. A faint glow was coming
from down the passageway.
Koshiro pulled her hand away and quietly asked, "What is it?"
"Don't know," Lee replied. "Let's check it out." The two slid along the walls until the light got brighter and brighter.
Koshiro and Lee came out into a huge underground loading bay. It was about as big as a football field. The ground was a
smooth metallic surface. A catwalk led around the entire area. Bright lights shone from the ceiling.
They were stunned by that, but not as stunned as they were when they saw what was in the center of the bay. A large
humanoid robot bended down on one knee, his left arm resting on the same knee, his head lowered like he was in some sort
of thinker position. The head had what looked like gun barrels on each side of the forehead. It had no eyes, just two dark
eye slits. In place of a mouth was some sort of metal mask. A large crest was at the center of its forehead. The body
was rectangular and gray. Two vents on each side of what looked like some sort of door. The left arm had an arm band
with the registry RX-83 on it. His back had some sort of pack on it with two large metal poles sticking out the top.
Other than that, there was nothing remarkable about it.
Behind it was another robot. This one looked more like a giant football player with two cannon barrels on its shoulders.
Although it was shorter and detailed differently from the first one, it was clear that they were made the same. Both were
stark white.
"My God, what are these thing?" Lee asked.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Koshiro replied mimicing her tone of voice. Lee looked around and spotted an elevator.
She took Koshiro by the hand and led him to the elevator. They rode down and came out into the lower bay.
They carefully approached the first giant robot, the one down on one knee. Koshiro walked around it while Lee slid her
hand along its smooth metal surface.
"It looks just like the robots that attacked us," Koshiro observed. "You think this is some sort of production facility?"
"Might explain why they're so interested in this area," Lee agreed.
Koshiro looked around and spotted a door off to the side. He carefully went through it. He discovered a control room.
A control panel and monitor screen covered one side. There was another door off to the right. Koshiro laid his hand
along a wall and accidentally hit a light switch.
"Lee," he called. "Look at this." She joined him in the control room.
"Maybe there's something in here," she said as she turned on the computer. Immediately, a strange symbol came on the
screen. It looked like Earth with a blue ring running diagonally around it. "Oh my God! That's the Earth Federation
symbol!"
"That must mean this was being produced by the Earth Federation, but why haven't they sent itinto mass production?"
Koshiro asked.
"I'm not... wait, look at the bottom of the screen." Towards the bottom of the screen was a date: UC-0083.
"Double-O-Eighty-Three?" Lee read? "This facility must've been abandoned by the Federation for over two hundred years."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but it looks like they were put into storage."
Reading a document in the computer's database explained that the Earth Federation had been developing these Mobile
Suits for a long time. When funding stopped for some unknown reason, they were put into storage, or so that's what the
document claimed.
"Do these robots have a name?" Koshiro asked.
"They're not robots, they're Mobile Suits," Lee corrected, reading from the screen. She then checked the computer.
After reading the information, she slowly turned towards Koshiro. "The name is Gundam."
Koshiro looked at her confused. "Gundam? That's a funny name."
"Yeah, I agree."
Suddenly a proximity alarm went off. A new screen opened up and it showed the Exalon.
"That's my ship, the Exalon!" Lee said excitedly. Then frowned. "What's that..." She pressed a couple of buttons.
The screen zoomed in on a Zaku flying towards them.
"It's one of those ro... Mobile Suits that attacked Scatterhaven," Lee said. "We have to warn the..." When she turned
around she discovered that she was the only one in the room. "Hey, Koshiro? Where did you go?" She left the control
room and spotted Koshiro staring at the Gundam in the thinker position. Suddenly the hand lowered in front of him.
A hatch in the stomach area folded down to reveal a cockpit chair. Slowly, Koshiro stepped onto the Gundam's hand. The
hand raised itself so that it was level with the stomach area.
"Koshiro, what are you doing?" Lee asked. "Get down from there immediately!" But Koshiro was already disappearing inside
the stomach.
Inside was a simple chair. When Koshiro sat in it, the outer hatch closed and a second hatch slid in front of Koshiro.
The controls were raised from an area beneath the chair. Two control levers, two pedals, and various buttons.
In front of Lee's eyes, the Gundam as well as the floor underneath it began moving. An entire wall opened up to reveal
a track leading upward.
"Koshiro, please be careful," Lee said quietly.
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Mileena's Zaku attacks the Exalon in furious rage. Koshiro demonstrates the superiority of the Gundam by defeating her
in battle. Soon, reinforcements arrive but they're more interested in attacking the Gundam then helping Mileena.
Next episode: Gundam's Wraith.
The Zakus feel the fury of the B-Gundam.
The calendar of the Universal Century has reached the year 300. The Earth has fallen into a state of disarray due to a
war against an organization of countries who are seeking total world domination. Even though the Earth Federation has
numbers on their side, they are being overwhelmed by the battle-hardened soldiers of the Alliance of Middle-Eastern
Countries. This is because they had one advantage: strange humanoid machines that could devastate entire platoons
with a single strafe. To make matters worse, the Colonies have severed all diplomatic and economic ties.
Now, one ship will reawaken an ancient power that will turn the tides in this Century Dawn War.
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The Zakus attacked the small town of Scatterhaven hoping to draw out the Exalon. Koshiro and Paiyako, two children, are
forced to watch as the battle destroys their home town. Mileena, outraged over the death of Naram, turns on Koshiro.
But Koshiro is saved by Lee in the Exalon's Core Fighter. The two take off but are pursued by half the Zakus.
[Title: The Facility]
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The Core Fighter groaned as Lee struggled to dodge another round of machine gun fire. In the back, Koshiro gripped the
sides of his seat. Was this all a dream? Had Scatterhaven really been destroyed by the Federation and the Zakus?
Why was he being aided by one of them? Was Paiyako all right? Questions like these ran circles around his mind.
Lee grunted. She didn't expect such heavy retaliation from the AMEC's Zaku army and that was just for them.
Imagine how hard it is for the Exalon.
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The Exalon wasn't faring much better. The Zaku's fire had them forced on the ground.
"People, if any of you have any ideas, I'd certainly like to hear them."
"I do," Tasha called out. "A sonic disruption pulse. It should scramble their circuitry enough to disable them for a
moment."
"And while they're disoriented, we make a break for it," Victor concluded.
"Great but how do we send it out?" Muro asked.
"The communication system," Henry Kozuko shouted.
"But what about the Minovsky Particles?" Muro pointed out.
"We only need line of site for the pulse to work," Tasha told her.
"Well I'm not too fond of such unorthodox maneuvers," Noah Lucas began. "But let's do it."
"Cover your ears," Tasha warned as she activated it.
Outside, a loud screach echoed through the valley of what was once Scatterhaven. The mono eyeson the Zakus fizzled and
broke. Zakus began falling over.
"Oh shoot," Rashad muttered just as the pulse fried his controls.
"Take off," Lucas ordered. The Exalon rose into the sky and streeked off towards the northeast.
"Looks like we lost them," Rashad muttered unaware that another ship was entering the area.
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Lee banked away from a Zaku only to come face-to-cockpit with another.
"Looks like we have no choice," Lee said. "Get ready to eject," she announced to Koshiro.
"What?!" But Lee already hit the ejection button. The Core Fighter's hatch popped open and the two seats burst from the
Core Fighter. A parachute popped open from the back of the seat as Koshiro and Lee held onto their seat belts. The two
parachutes touched the ground and the Core Fighter itself slammed into the chest of Mileena's Zaku and exploded. However,
all it did was cause the Zaku to fall on its butt
Koshiro climbed out from underneath his parachute. "That was crazy!" He cried. He looked at the other parachute as the
pilot poked her now helmet-less head and the rest of her out from under the parachute. Koshiro got a good look at the
pilot. As he guessed, it was a female with shoulder-length blonde hair and blue eyes. Her face was rugged yet possessed
a natural beauty to it.
The hatch of the Zaku that the Core Fighter hit opened, and Mileena, minus her helmet, peeked out.
"Hey, you're one of the pilots who stopped by Scatterhaven asking around for the Federation base," Koshiro accused
getting a surprised reaction from Lee.
Mileena pointed at them. "You were responsible for the death of Naram. You will pay." And then she disappeared back into
her Zaku.
"What did she mean by we were responsible for the death of Naram?" Lee asked.
"You got me."
"Well if we don't high-tail it, she'll get us." Koshiro and Lee ran towards the mountain, but Mileena was quicker,
cutting them off.
"Mileena, wait," the Base Commander said as he and the others landed. "We need them alive if we're going to find out
the Earth Federation's plans are!"
"Get it from somebody else, sir," Mileena snapped. "Someone will die today and it won't be me."
Koshiro and Lee used the opportunity to run away. Suddenly Koshiro spotted a square-shaped cave entrance. He grabbed
Lee's wrist and led her to the entrance.
"Bad move," the Base Commander called out as he fired his machine gun. The bullets caused a cave in, trapping Lee and
Koshiro in the cave. "There, Mileena. Naram has been avenged. They will die slow and painful deaths in that cave."
Mileena didn't say anything. She wanted to be the one who avenges Naram's death. Oh well, at least their death will be
slow, unlike Naram, who was given the luxury of a quick death.
Inside the cave, Koshiro pushed with all his might in an attempt to free them but it was no use.
"Save your strength," Lee said as she took out a pen flashlight and turned it on. "Just relax."
Koshiro turned towards her. If the light was trained on him, Lee would've saw the face of a furious boy.
"Relax?! You have some nerv telling me to relax after all you did. First you show up in my hometown and destroy it..."
"It wasn't our intention to destroy it," Lee argued.
"Oh sure, just like it wasn't your intention to kidnap me."
"You chose to come with me, remember? And besides, the Commander wanted me to save you."
Koshiro held out his arms to include the cave and said in a very sarcastic voice, "oh yeah, I feel real safe here."
"Look, when my ship realizes that I haven't reported in, they'll come looking for us. Let's try to make the best of it."
"And how am I suppose to do that?" Koshiro asked. Lee went up to the wall and slid her hand along it.
"This wall is smooth, there's no way it could've been made naturally. It must've been made by humans."
"So?"
Lee turned towards him. "If humans did make this, then they must've made an alternate escape route in case of a cave in.
Perhaps if we follow this tunnel, we can find it."
"Look, lady, there's no way to tell if this WAS made by man. So maybe we should just stay here until the U.S.S. Crapstein
comes to look for us."
Lee turned towards him with a wary look. It was the kind of look a mother would give a child who just asked an extremely
stupid question like 'am I going home?' Finally, she said, "Lee."
"Huh?"
"My name. If you're going to insult me, you might as well insult me using my name. It's Lee, Lee Moshiro. And you
are...?"
He paused before replying, "Koshiro Anaka."
"Nice to meet you, Koshiro." And then she turned and walked into the cave. Koshiro contimplated his options: he could
follow this Lee woman into certain death or he could stay here where it was safe. Then again, if she did find a way out,
she could tell the crew that he died and then he would really be screwed.
Koshiro swallowed his pride and followed her.
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With Lee gone, Muro Okawa was at the communication system. Right now, she was trying to contact the Core Fighter and Lee.
"Exalon to Core Fighter, respond... Core Fighter, come in... Lee, can you hear me?" Muro looked up at Commander Lucas
and shook her head. "Nothing."
Lucas nodded. "Keep trying."
The Exalon had touched down about fifty miles from the former town of Scatterhaven. They were emitting Minovsky Particles
so that the scanners wouldn't be able to pick them up.
Lucas looked up at the Twins. "Any sign of the Core Fighter's transponder signal?"
"Nothing here either, Commander," Tasha replied.
Lucas sighed. It was way pass the deadline they set in their last communication with Lee.
"Commander Lucas," Victor called from his station. "I think I have something." Lucas raised his head towards Victors'
control station. "I've extrapolated the Core Fighter's flight path." He pointed on the overhead grid map to an area
right above him. "Assuming they've been forced down by Zakus, this could be as far as they could get. Any closer and
they'd crash into the mountains."
"Then that's where we're heading. Muro, back to helm, we're going Core hunting." Muro got up from the communication
station and returned to her original position. The Exalon took off again, this time following the path of the Core
Fighter.
"I'm detecting something," Victor called out after a while. "There's something metallic five kilometers port-side."
"Land," Lucas ordered. "Muro, Henry, come with me." The Exalon landed and its loading bay opened. A jeep containing
the three officers exited. They drove until they found a red and blue pile of rubble.
"No doubt about it," Henry said. "It's the Core Fighter."
"Does that mean..." Muro didn't want to finish the sentence. Was Lee really dead? What about the kid, was he dead too?
Or was he captured by the AMEC army?
"Hold on," Commander Lucas called. "Look at this." Muro and Henry went over to where Commander Lucas was and saw two
parachutes crumpled up on the ground. "Henry, get Tasha and get some scanning equipment out here. They must be around
here somewhere."
Unknown to the crew of the Exalon, AMEC had left a scout behind to monitor anyone who would've wandered into the area,
like the Exalon.
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The Base Commander was discussing different locations of the Exalon with Mileena when a soldier came in. After saluting,
the soldier said, "We've just received a message from Cat's Eye One. The Feddy ship landed near where we destroyed that
small fighter."
Mileena slammed her fist on her palm. "I knew it, those two must've survived and now they called their ship to pick them
up. You should've let me destroy them when we had the chance."
"Calm down, Mileena. I doubt that they have confirmation of whether or not they are alive. At any rate, this is our time
to strike."
"And now you'll have the right resources," a new voice came in. Everybody turned to see a tall dark-skinned man walk in.
He had short black dreadlocks and was dressed in a Captain's uniform. With him was Rashad, and a small white skin boy
with shaggy black hair and brown eyes wearing an olive-green jumpsuit.
"I am Captain Ferdinand Garrett of the Zeon," he introduced. "Are you in charge of this area?"
"Yes, sir," the Commander saluted.
"We just picked up the rest of your boys from the battlefield. This young man..." Garrett gestured to Rashad.
"Was kind enough to inform us of what's been going on."
All the AMEC officers know of the Zeon. It was just one of many attack ships that made up of the main Desert Army Fleet.
It armor was so thick that it could survive the vacuum of space. The forest green vehicle looked like that of a battleship
but it had two wings that tilted downward.
The Base Commander crossed his arms. "I'm surprised that Command sent its pride and joy to deal with something as
trivial as this."
"When the target is the most important ship in the Federation fleet, nothing but the best will do," Garrett countered.
"Allow me to introduce Ben Hoshum."
The Base Commander stared at the boy. "I've heard of you," he said. "They call you the Dark Messiah, because you've been
known to save people by annihilating the enemy." Ben just crossed his arms and closed his eyes as if he was
uninterested in what was going on.
Garrett took over. "We shall take over the task of destroying the Pegasus-class."
"Commander, he can't be serious!" Mileena protested.
Garrett handed the Base Commander some papers. "These orders say I have permission to assume command of the operation.
I suggest that you honor them, they come from Second Prime Minister Howard himself."
"Commander!"
"Orders from such high up must be honored," the Base Commander commented. He saluted Garrett again. "Permission to
turn command over to you."
Garrett saluted back. "Granted. Thank you, Commander. You are relieved of command." The Base Commander turned and
marched right out of the tent. Mileena ran after him.
"Commander, you can't let that arrogant blowhard take command," she protested. "Are you going to let him walk all over
you like some rabid dog?"
The Base Commander turned to face her with a scowl on his face. "His orders came from Second Prime Minister Howard.
Nobody dares question his orders except the Prime Minister herself. To deny orders from him would be consider not only
an act of treason, but a gesture of suicide!"
"No! Nobody will keep me from my revenge, not even headquarters." Mileena ran off to her Zaku.
"Mileena, wait!" The Base Commander turned and ran back into the tent. "Sound the alarm, we have a deserter!"
"Calm down, Commander," Captain Garrett said. "One deserter does not make the difference in a war. She will either be
beneficial to us in destroying the Pegasus-Class or when we make our attack, she will get caught in the crossfire.
Either way is no loss for us."
The Base Commander and Rashad frowned. Garrett apparently cared as much about fellow soldiers as he does about an old
pair of sneakers.
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Lee heard a rock break off from the wall behind her. She shined the flashlight right in Koshiro's face.
"Can you make some more noise?" She asked sarcastically. "I think there are still some colonies who haven't heard you."
"Oh give me a break," Koshiro argued. "It's not like..."
Lee slapped her hand over his mouth. "Ssshhh," she hissed. She gestured to ahead of them. A faint glow was coming
from down the passageway.
Koshiro pulled her hand away and quietly asked, "What is it?"
"Don't know," Lee replied. "Let's check it out." The two slid along the walls until the light got brighter and brighter.
Koshiro and Lee came out into a huge underground loading bay. It was about as big as a football field. The ground was a
smooth metallic surface. A catwalk led around the entire area. Bright lights shone from the ceiling.
They were stunned by that, but not as stunned as they were when they saw what was in the center of the bay. A large
humanoid robot bended down on one knee, his left arm resting on the same knee, his head lowered like he was in some sort
of thinker position. The head had what looked like gun barrels on each side of the forehead. It had no eyes, just two dark
eye slits. In place of a mouth was some sort of metal mask. A large crest was at the center of its forehead. The body
was rectangular and gray. Two vents on each side of what looked like some sort of door. The left arm had an arm band
with the registry RX-83 on it. His back had some sort of pack on it with two large metal poles sticking out the top.
Other than that, there was nothing remarkable about it.
Behind it was another robot. This one looked more like a giant football player with two cannon barrels on its shoulders.
Although it was shorter and detailed differently from the first one, it was clear that they were made the same. Both were
stark white.
"My God, what are these thing?" Lee asked.
"I was hoping you could tell me," Koshiro replied mimicing her tone of voice. Lee looked around and spotted an elevator.
She took Koshiro by the hand and led him to the elevator. They rode down and came out into the lower bay.
They carefully approached the first giant robot, the one down on one knee. Koshiro walked around it while Lee slid her
hand along its smooth metal surface.
"It looks just like the robots that attacked us," Koshiro observed. "You think this is some sort of production facility?"
"Might explain why they're so interested in this area," Lee agreed.
Koshiro looked around and spotted a door off to the side. He carefully went through it. He discovered a control room.
A control panel and monitor screen covered one side. There was another door off to the right. Koshiro laid his hand
along a wall and accidentally hit a light switch.
"Lee," he called. "Look at this." She joined him in the control room.
"Maybe there's something in here," she said as she turned on the computer. Immediately, a strange symbol came on the
screen. It looked like Earth with a blue ring running diagonally around it. "Oh my God! That's the Earth Federation
symbol!"
"That must mean this was being produced by the Earth Federation, but why haven't they sent itinto mass production?"
Koshiro asked.
"I'm not... wait, look at the bottom of the screen." Towards the bottom of the screen was a date: UC-0083.
"Double-O-Eighty-Three?" Lee read? "This facility must've been abandoned by the Federation for over two hundred years."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but it looks like they were put into storage."
Reading a document in the computer's database explained that the Earth Federation had been developing these Mobile
Suits for a long time. When funding stopped for some unknown reason, they were put into storage, or so that's what the
document claimed.
"Do these robots have a name?" Koshiro asked.
"They're not robots, they're Mobile Suits," Lee corrected, reading from the screen. She then checked the computer.
After reading the information, she slowly turned towards Koshiro. "The name is Gundam."
Koshiro looked at her confused. "Gundam? That's a funny name."
"Yeah, I agree."
Suddenly a proximity alarm went off. A new screen opened up and it showed the Exalon.
"That's my ship, the Exalon!" Lee said excitedly. Then frowned. "What's that..." She pressed a couple of buttons.
The screen zoomed in on a Zaku flying towards them.
"It's one of those ro... Mobile Suits that attacked Scatterhaven," Lee said. "We have to warn the..." When she turned
around she discovered that she was the only one in the room. "Hey, Koshiro? Where did you go?" She left the control
room and spotted Koshiro staring at the Gundam in the thinker position. Suddenly the hand lowered in front of him.
A hatch in the stomach area folded down to reveal a cockpit chair. Slowly, Koshiro stepped onto the Gundam's hand. The
hand raised itself so that it was level with the stomach area.
"Koshiro, what are you doing?" Lee asked. "Get down from there immediately!" But Koshiro was already disappearing inside
the stomach.
Inside was a simple chair. When Koshiro sat in it, the outer hatch closed and a second hatch slid in front of Koshiro.
The controls were raised from an area beneath the chair. Two control levers, two pedals, and various buttons.
In front of Lee's eyes, the Gundam as well as the floor underneath it began moving. An entire wall opened up to reveal
a track leading upward.
"Koshiro, please be careful," Lee said quietly.
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Mileena's Zaku attacks the Exalon in furious rage. Koshiro demonstrates the superiority of the Gundam by defeating her
in battle. Soon, reinforcements arrive but they're more interested in attacking the Gundam then helping Mileena.
Next episode: Gundam's Wraith.
The Zakus feel the fury of the B-Gundam.