Phase 6:

Location: E.S.F.S. White Base. December 26, 0079. Time: 1400.

Inside Bight's quarters he was talking to Captain Bluestone. He was surprised that Bluestone had survived after examining the recordings of the battle.

Bluestone appeared to be rather young, sort of his age Bright thought. Hair as black as night, one arm in a sling and a gauge bandage covered one eye and wrapped around his head.

"Anyhow" said Bluestone, "I'd like to once again thank you for your assistance in this matter. Did you show the recordings to your crew?"

Bright replied, "I only showed them to a few. I don't want to create a mass panic."

"Who exactly did you show them to?" asked Bluestone.

"Just the bridge crew and the pilots." answered Bright. "By the way, I noticed that the ship you commanded was a carrier. Do you think we can salvage any mobile suits from it?"

Bluestone nodded and said, "I've already gone over that following the initial attack on Zeon. All we have left is two MS-14J's and an MS-18."

"I'm not familiar with those models, are they new?" asked Bright.

"Yes, the 14J's are the most powerful of the 14 line, and the MS-18 is a fast heavy assault type. Not very good range, but one shot from that sucker will blow a hole in a Columbus Transport." explained Bluestone.

"We are already transferring them over to your ship is that is o.k."

Bright simply nodded. "Agreed."

A door opened and Marker handed Bright a piece of paper. "This just came from Jaburo."

Bright nodded and dismissed Marker and began to read the transmission.

Bluestone said, "So what does it say?"

"Temporary cease fire and an alliance declared…All space based units are to pull back and form defensive perimeter using satellite orbital paths 1 and 2."

Bluestone said, "Makes sense Side orbits 1 and 2 contain a lot of debris from the beginning of the war. Especially the ruins of Side 5. Still, judging by the power the extra-terrestrials seem to have, I doubt the debris will work well as a shield. Anything else?"

"Yes" said Bright grimly, "All units have been given permission to utilize nuclear weapons."

Bluestone asked, "Do you have any abroad?"

Bright replied, "No, but their sending a Columbus to us from Side 6 loaded with them."

Bluestone remarked, "I'm very appalled by the fact that your using a cluster of neutral colonies as a shield to hide such a arsenals. However, that white demon you call Gundam was developed in a colony using civilians as a shield, so I'm not that surprised. Are they shipping anything else besides nukes?"

Bright answered, "more medical supplies for your men and one classified MS unit. While we are on the topic, I actually agree with you on the issue of using civilians as shields. As a matter of fact the entire crew of this ship were civilians. Once the Federation found out they told them they either had to become a permanent crew or face prison."

Bluestone smiled, "that kind of stuff is half the reason I joined Zeon. Believe it or not I was born on Earth.

My father and brother were politicians pushing for colonial reform. However, some corrupt bastard managed to use their politics to frame them for treason. They were executed after a totally half baked show trial. The same person who framed them later was elected as head of the Oceanic District. But enough about me. So what about you, how did you get involved in all this?"

Meanwhile down in the hanger, Kai and Hayato were helping transfer the remaining supplies off the Zeon ships. A voice yelled, "Careful with that! That MS is state of the art. Try not to bump into those casesthat bazooka ammunition is highly volatile."

Kai said, "Yea, Yea, I heard you." He then muttered, "Like it's going to do any good, we're all going to be blown to hell anyway."

"O.K. set that crate down there. Good. That's the last of all the salvageable supplies. Do you think you two could give me a hand with these energy rifles? They're useable but I need assistance in realigning the lenses."

Kai said, "Don't ask meask Hayato or one of the mechanics, they're usually good at that kind of stuff."

Hayato then said to Kai, "I don't know a thing about Zeon weaponry."

A Zeon mechanic who had been talking to them replied, "Well it looks like you are about to get a crash course kid. Don't worry it's not too hard. I'll adjust the lenses, you monitor the computer and tell me when the lenses is at optimal alignment. O.K.?"

Hayato nodded and as he went off with the mechanic he thought, I wonder what happened to Amuro, I haven't seen him since the recordings were shown.

In another part of the ship, Amuro was sitting at a cafeteria table with his head down on the table. Outside the door he could hear moaning from all the wounded. One voice yelled out "Remember if we can't patch him up within one hour just pump him full of morphine and let him go. Our supplies and personnel are way too limited for major procedures."

Amuro looked out the porthole. He remembered something he had asked his father long ago, just after they had moved to Side 7 Father do you think there is more than just us out there? Of course, his father always buried in his research replied bluntly, "Yeh, why not. It's a pretty big universe after all." Of course in his wildest imaginations he would never have thought that the first contact with extraterrestrials would turn out to be so overwhelmingly hostile.

The videos Amuro and the rest had seen showed "beings" who considered all other life disposable. How else could a rationale person explain destroying an entire colony cluster and over two hundred million people. Of course the Federation and Zeon had done a similar extermination at the beginning of the war, but at least they had remorse for their actions and had never repeated such an act.

Someone peeked into the cafeteria and said, "Hey kid." Amuro looked up to see a Zeon medic covered in so much blood it was sickening. "I could use a hand out here." Amuro followed the medic to a small room that was being used as a temporary surgery suite. There was a patient on the table still in his torn space suit.

"I need help here, we picked this guy and several others from a civilian ship that managed to escape. He's suffering from massive dehydration. Can you hook up several I.V.'s with saline, while I get this suit off him to check for other wounds. Everyone else is too busy working on other survivors."

Amuro nodded and started to cut the suit from the man. The Zeon medic said, "So what do you usually do on this ship kid?"

Amuro not wanting to give much away said, "A little bit of everything, I suppose."

The doc said, "Yea, same here. Well well, would you look at this. Our patient seems to be a major." The doc was holding up a rank badge that had been cut off of the space suit. "O.K. now would you help me remove the helmet, its jammed on pretty tight."

Both Amuro and the doctor grabbed the helmet and on the count of three yanked it clear off. The doc took one look at the patient's face and exclaimed, "Holy Shit It's Johnny Ridden!"

Amuro was confused and asked who Johnny Ridden was. The doc said, "Has the crew of this ship been hiding under a rock? He's the second best pilot in all of Zeon. Only Captain Char is better. Wonder what the hell happened to him?"

Amuro asked, "Is he really that good?"

The doc nodded and replied, "Yeah, some of my friends think he can taken out the gundam in a fair fight, but that things like the grim reaper, any one who gets a glimpse of it dies. It's pilot must be one cold blooded psycho to fight with such skill and brutality. Hey, wait where are you going?"

Amuro floated down the hall thinking is that how the enemy perceives me? Am I really a cold emotional-less killing machine? As he continued to ponder this there was an announcement over the speaker All available hands to docking bay. Columbus supply ships have docked and assistance is needed in unloading.

Amuro quickly snapped his helmet to his space suit and went through the air lock into the docking bay. There were dozens of people already off loading crates with radiation symbols on their side. Amuro grimly muttered to himself, "Of course, if the aliens are willing to do it why wouldn't the Federation?" Someone tapped him on his shoulder and he spun around to see a Federation engineer.

"Excuse meI'm looking forhe then flipped through some papers Ensign Amuro Ray."

Amuro nodded and said, "I'm him."

The Engineer took one close look at him and said, "Kid quit joking, where is he?"

Amuro quickly showed him his I.D. and the engineer backed up and said, "I'm sorry, never imagined the pilot of gundam to be a kid. Sign here, here, and here."

While, he was signing the forms he asked, "What's going on?"

"New mobile suit, built especially for you." replied the engineer. "Something to keep up with your enhanced reflexes." He then pointed down off the balcony to a mobile suite that was being transferred in. Armuro couldn't believe it. The suit was huge. The engineer said, "The RX-78-N1 the first mobile suit we ever designed for newtypes. Things equipped with two beam sabers, a pair of head mounted Vulcan's, a pair of armor piercing cannons one mounted in each arm, magnet coated near zero friction joints and the ability to carry any mobile suit weapon currently on the field."

Amuro looked at it and asked, "Where is the head?"

The engineer said, "Oh that! Some Zeon suicide soldier broke into our facility and attacked using only a heat hawk. He managed to chop off the head only to get a whole blown through by one of the armor piercing cannons. Don't worry, our mechanics are removing the head from your original gundam and are mounting it on this one. Speaking of the original, we've been asked to transfer it to a classified unit. So what do you think?"

Amuro continued to stare at the N1 and asked, "Does the Federation really feel I'm that valuable?"

The engineer took one look at him and said, "Are you kidding kid? There are some who feel you are irreplaceable. I mean if what I hear is true not only did you shoot down an nuclear missile at Odessa, but you completely destroyed the Black Tri-Stars and obliterated everything the legendary Red Comet has sent after you."

Amuro floated back through the air lock. Considering what the Zeon medic and the engineer just said he had definitely a lot to think about.

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Next: Preparation Zeon side.

Rave Drifter