The entrance to Sheldon Air Force Base in San Diego hadn't changed all that much since Mwu had left the school six and a half years earlier. There was a new sign posted at the entrance marked with gold letters to mark it's name and the bases head official. Before it had become a sanctioned Air Base, Sheldon had been the most celebrated pilot's academy in the world. It was where Mwu had learned to fly mobile armors and jet planes alongside his friends Hugh Swanson and Frank Barkhesh.

Mwu drove his jeep through the gates and onto the base's premises. In the few days since he had left Sacramento, he'd been informed over the phone of his promotion to Commander. There was no grand festival to celebrate this, and that was pretty much how Mwu wanted it. Grand ceremonies were overrated in his mind.

As he drove past the hangers which housed planes for the Alliance, he remembered a day that he would never forget.

-Flashback-

"Hey Mwu, you boys just about ready to come down now? You've been up for almost forty minutes." That was Frank Barkhesh on the ground with other members of his class.

"Don't ask them that! This is getting entertaining." That was Stevy Barrington, a freshmen in his first year at the academy while Mwu, Hugh and Frank were seniors. "If they get killed, you won't have to take the fall for it."

"Shut up, Stevy"

"HEY FRANK!"

Frank turned around and saw his teacher, Prof. Namora marching towards him.

"Where's Mwu and Hugh?"

"Still training sir."

Over the base, Mwu flew his skygrasper in a tight port loop over the main hangars at the base. "All right Hugh, let's show these boys how to do this. Let's play some chicken, you with me?"

In the other skygrasper, Hugh Swanson made a starboard loop over the others hangars. In his fresh, English accent he replied, "Mwu this isn't simulation, these are real planes. Now I'm not playing chicken with you, no way."

"Come on, don't be a baby now Hugh."

"I'm not doin' it Mwu."

"Well you can either play or you can hit me 'cause I'm coming right at you."

The planes finished their loops and now were headed straight for each other. On the ground, the pilots waited to see what the two friends would do now. Namora said "What the...?"

Frank looked worried "Oh, boy..."

"Man, why you always bustin' my ass Mwu? Hunnh. Which way you goin'?"

"Oh...oh, I don't know? I...guess we'll go left."

"O.K. we're going left, right?"

"Right?"

"Well, right like we're goin' right, or right like we're goin' left?"

"Well, I don't know now you got me all mixed up!"

The planes were now closing in fast. Frank shut his eyes bracing for the impact that was sure to befall his friends.

At the last minute, Hugh yelled "Ghyaah, WE'RE GOIN' RIGHT! RIGHTIE-TIGHTIE!!"

Both men groaned as they jerked their planes right, barely missing each other by inches. Over the radio, Frank could here his two friends whooping for joy after they had just pulled an amazing flying stunt. He looked over to his teacher expecting him to be full of rage. However, Namora was smiling.

Behind him another student was surprised to see his teacher laughing.

"Professor, aren't you going to punish them for misusing Alliance military aircraft?"

"Azrael, after seeing them pull something like that I'm more proud than angry. Just none of the rest of you ever try that all right!"

"Yes, sir" everyone said in unison.

-End Flashback-

Mwu and Hugh had been appropriately punished for their little stunt, but still neither regretted it in the six years that had passed since. They had remained friends through letters and occassional meeting with one another, but Mwu still hadn't seen Hugh in almost a year and a half because of the war.

Something caught Mwu's ear. He turned up the radio in the jeep and heard a female voice saying something interesting. "...the newest Earth Alliance battleship the Dominion is scheduled for commissioning next month, but with the ship already complete many members of the Inner Council have already toured the ship. Admiral Sutherland says that the ship has more than enough firepower to take on a flotilla of enemy mobile suits and its hangar is more than twice the size of its nearest competetor, that of the Archangel. Sutherland also was quoted saying-"

Geez, Mwu thought, what a surprise. Stupid morons in the council still think battleships'll win the war.

Mwu pulled up to the front entrance of the base's main compound where a soldier stood waiting. Mwu exited the jeep with the shoulder bag he'd taken with him. He took out his I.D. and presented it to the soldier. The man was just a kid, probably not older than seventeen. It's a pity, he thought, kids like him will probably never live to see adulthood. The look on the kid's face when he saw Mwu's I.D. told Mwu the kid knew who he was.

The soldier saluted and Mwu returned it. "Yes, sir. Colonel Namora's waiting in his office for you."

Hunngh, he hasn't been back here in three years and it's still his office.

Mwu walked through the maze of corridors that represented the base's high value. Sitting on the coast of the Pacific, Sheldon offered a perfect launching pad for bombers and mobile armors to launch raids on the ZAFT bases in Mexico and South America. All of the rooms that had used to house the students at the school had been converted into intelligence rooms where teams of decryptors worked over the enemy's coded messages to cypher out ZAFT's next target. Mwu tilted the sunglasses he wore over his eyes, which made him look more official in his mind, and stepped in front of the door where his former teacher waited. He looked himself over, took a deep breath, made sure he had everything he needed, and opened the door.

"'Bout time you showed up. We thought you were as late as you were to class."

Mwu jumped as soon as he heard that voice. The English accent stood out among anyone Mwu had ever met.

"HUGH!! What the hell are you doin' here? I thought you were off with 6th fleet in orbit."

The man who stood up to shake Mwu's hand was several inches taller than Mwu, with the same blonde hair and sharp features that had made him very attractive when he was younger. He wore the same Alliance uniform with the collar undone and sleeves rolled up. What surprised Mwu also was the insignia which he wore on his shoulder.

"When did you become Commander?"

"Ehh...last week. Council figured I deserved it after all I did."

"Hungh...yeah. After all you've done I'm surprised you're not higher in rank than me."

"Why does Hugh get all the attention and I'm always left out in the cold?"

Mwu's mood skyrocketed when he heard that voice. Sitting to his right, on the same old couch Colonel Namora had had back at the academy, was Frank Barkhesh. His autumn colored hair and mustache remained intact from the school days and he hadn't grown all that much since then, which made him shorter than Mwu and Hugh.

"FRANK!!"

"Hey, buddy"

The two embraced and patted each other on the back. Frank was now a lieutenant in the fleet and had been in Alaska when the attack took place and was one of the few survivors to escape, as Mwu had later learned.

"Geez, I expected all this to just be me and the old man. This is great! I haven't seen you guys in years. God, do I have stories to tell you."

"I'm afraid that will have to wait 'til later Commander."

The chair in front of Mwu rotated to face him and in it sat his teacher, mentor, and frankly, his idol, John Namora. His hair was still as jet-black as Mwu remembered, with lines of silver now peaking through due to his later years. Colonel Namora was now 45, while Mwu and Hugh were 28 and Frank was 29.

Colonel Namora smiled at Mwu and his friends as he got up out of his seat. "I'm going to pretend that 'old man' comment didn't come out, alright Mwu." After Mwu nodded, Namora continued. "Guys, the reason you were promoted the last week was because I needed officers for this mission. Unfortunately, the ones the Council wanted to equip me with didn't exactly fit the criteria I wanted. So I chose you three. You are undoubtedly the best pilots I have ever had the privelege of flying with."

"Well...thank you sir" That was Frank.

"You guys received the letters?"

"Yes, sir" the three said in unison as they presented the brown envelopes to the Colonel.

"Great. Now the one thing I want to clarify is this. This mission is TOP SECRET. That means no one outside of this base knows about it. And I mean nobody. Do I make myself clear?" All three nodded. "Good. The rest of the crews will arrive tomorrow. Your jobs will be to assist me with the training of these men, along with making sure they don't do anything that will get themselves killed. Understand?"

"Yes, sir"

"Good. Now, I believe I've been as serious as much as I can today," Namora said with a smile. "Who's up for a beer and some stories"

Mwu's face lit up with a smile. Boy I can't wait to tell these guys what's happened to me. They'll laugh their asses off.

Azrael sat in his office in New York awaiting the report of his liason officer, Captain Rutherford. He hoped his people hadn't screwed this up. He was sick of having to deal with la Flaga and the others over and over again.

Finally Rutherford entered and saluted.

"Everything going as planned Captain?"

"Yes, sir. la Flaga, Swanson, and Barkhesh all arrived at the base this morning. It's believed everyone else we included is also on their way."

"Excellent. Instruct Richards to procede with, 'modifying' the planes."

"Yes, sir"

Azrael knew that now, there was absolutely nobody who would stand in his way when this project was completed.