Disclaimer: I don't own any of Gundam or Ace Combat 5. I'll be using bits and pieces from Ace Combat 5 to write this, but there will be no real influence from AC5 on this story. Generally only names and comments will be used.

"At First it appears as a Dark Demon"

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Historical Notes on the Free Atlantians

By Mirillia Haw

October 15th, 110 C.E.

"The Free Atlantic Federation Forces, commonly referred to as the Free Atlantians, is a misleading name. The Free Atlantians started with Californians from the west coast of the Atlantic Federation, namely as implied that they were from the state California of the former United States of America, who openly denounced the government of the Atlantic Federation as Impearlistic Fascists and murders of the innocence of humanity and thus rebelled by defection to the Orb Union and later the Triple Ship Alliance. The results were disastrous for the Atlantic Federation that has been trying since the end of the 2nd Space War in Cosmic Era Year 75 to avoid and drop the issue of the "Worst Administration of the Atlantic Federation" to date. Though many argue that these heroes will be forgotten and every attempt is being made to acknowledge these heroes by those who believed that they did right and followed their sworn oaths to the letter.

Among these leaders is Uzumi Yula Atha-Zala, the son of Lady Cagalli Yula Atha and Lord Athrun Zala of the Orb Union, is attempting to find a place of honor and remembrance of these fallen heroes who now litter the aged battlefields of the 1st and 2nd Space Wars. Even the Junk Guild has begun work to salvage and recover all artifacts pertaining to these heroes. Even my old friend and fellow shipmate, Colonel Kira Yamato (ret.), of the Orb National Royal Guard and twin brother of Lady Cagalli, is also trying to find any and all information and backgrounds related to the Free Atlantians and most especially their leader Colonel Pete Jackson "The Ghost of Burma Ridge." The said infamous commander, whose leg-infantry defeated a numerical superior force of ZAFT Mobile Suits and Agiles shortly after the start ZAFT military campaign to capture Kaohsiung Mass Driver, Taiwan, Republic of East Asia."

June 14th, 70th Year of the Cosmic Era

As the sun was setting in the east, a large force of Zodiac Alliance Freedom Treaty, ZAFT, mobile suit GINNs and CQUEs began to move forth with the support of 234 Agiles flying top cover. The mobile suits numbered an impressive 578 mobile suits followed by support teams. They were to meet up with a force of 273 GINNs and BuCUEs with 179 Agiles at a point known as Burma Ridge, a former part of the Burma Road of World War 2 linage. Unfortunately for the ZAFT forces, they were to never get to their objectives of Taoshuing and Hong Kong Sectors, then onto Kaohsiung Mass Driver.

Almost from the get go, they fell under attack. Both columns ran into intense fire from a force of the newly arrived 132nd Infantry Division, Atlantic Federation. With the 132nd Div. were the Republic of East Asia's 5th and 16th Republican Guard Divisions and the 9th East Asian Corps made up of the 1st, 2nd, 29th, and 59th Infantry Divisions along with the 53rd and 63rd Armored Divisions and the 505th Armored Infantry Division. As impressive as the sound of the force, only the 132nd had any fight in it. The 5th and 16th Divisions fled almost immediately, though the 132nd never faulted them for it as they had been nearly depleted in an earlier failed assault and of the 9th Corps, only the 1st and the 29th were combat worthy. As for the 505th, they were 11 kilometers behind enemy lines and were completely cut off.

The 505th AID made a grand stand with its remaining personnel at their position, but they were eventually forced to surrender after only 3 hrs of hard fighting had nearly killed or wounded all the survivors and the loss of all their heavy weapons and the expenditure of their last rounds. The 2nd Division held for an hour, before they were flanked and forced to retreat and the 59th just simply vanished. The 132nd along with the 1st and 29th Divisions fought back, but were eventually driven back, except a small force of 239 men and 23 officers of 132nd Division's 999th Battalion, 6049th Regiment were caught off from the main body atop Burma Ridge. Of the 23 officers, only one captain and three 1st Lieutenants were left to constitute the unit's command staff, among them a raw 1st Lieutenant Peter Jon Jackson assigned the River Line of Burma Ridge.

The trapped unit immediately turned down offers of surrender and fought back, calling themselves "The Trashed Bashed Beatniks of Burma Ridge." Immediately the ZAFT forces began an attempt to take the ridge with only 48 GINNs, 32 CQUEs, and 58 BuCUEs with 107 Agiles for air support, only to be stop dead by the Beatniks. The 29th Division had discovered that the terrain did not favor BuCUEs and had told the 132nd upon its arrival. The Beatniks used this fact to lay traps and ambushes for the four-legged mobile suits. 1LT Pete Jackson used his anti-air and tank teams to best affect here. The resulting fighting between Jackson's leg-infantry and ZAFT's Teams Haiden, Archer, and Zukav with the 102nd Air Support Team was disastrous for the ZAFT forces.

The BuCUEs of Team Haiden walked right into a coordinated fire cauldron of anti-tank missiles and guns that tore wholes into their formation. Team Leader Kai Haiden ordered his pilots to jump out of the river valley they were in and break into the open ground behind Burma Ridge, but powerful cables were shot above the attack group effectively creating a net over the now trapped BuCUEs to the ground where they were getting pummeled from the anti-armor teams in the hills. When they called for the Agiles of the 102nd, they flew into a hellish nightmare of small arms and anti-air fire that wiped out the 1st and 3rd Sections while devastating the 4th Section.

Soon the 24 GINNs and 16 CQUEs of Team Zukav, led by Team Leader Anthony Zukav, arrived with the 2nd and 5th Sections of the 102nd AST, only to find that they were too late. The BuCUEs of Team Haiden lay in ruins. Barely 11 minutes had passed between the start of the engagement and the arrival of the Team Zukav, but the BuCUEs remains lay before them. Then the 2nd and 5th Sections came under intense AA fire from the surrounding heights that lasted no more than a minute or two, but both sections had vanished, replaced with falling debris. There were no parachutes to be seen, in fact the only survivors now of the 102nd was the remnants of 4th Section and the 6th Section flying top cover for Team Archer. Then the radio came alive with Team Archer's battle cries for help.

"This is Archer 15! Our air-cover gone and we're trapped in a ravine! Team….AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Archer 17 here! We lost…. WHAT? I'm…AAAHHHH!"

"Our leaders are dead! Retreat! Retreat!"

"I'm caught in trip wire at the back! We've got to go forward! DAMN! I can't cut free! What? Enemy….. Someone help….."

"Archer 23's dead!"

"Move Forward! Move……."

"Somebody! Help….."

"Team Zukav! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? ARGH!"

Team Zukav turned to go rescue their commands only to once again to have the river valley of life turned into a river valley of death. The BuCUEs behind them came alive and firing their missiles and their cannons at the backs of Team Zukav. 1LT. Jackson's men had captured the few remaining operation BuCUEs and had quickly learned how to operate the weapons. Since the BuCUEs could not move, the gunners knew they were sitting targets, but with anti-armor teams firing from the hills, the ZAFT mobile suits didn't last long.

Three days after that victory the Beatniks were hit hard by ZAFT forces. Of the 23 officers, only Jackson was left. Of the 239 enlisted men, only 45 were left with ammo and weapons near depletion. Jackson chose to continue the fight by moving around and launching raids on the ZAFT troops, effectively pinning down the whole attack force. After twenty-two days of intense hit and run raids, reaching a number of five raids per day scattered all across the ridge and the surrounding area, the Eurasian Federation 17th Armored Corps with the East Republic 53rd and 79th Armored Corps of the 6th Earth Alliance Army mounted a counterattack that led to the 4th Atlantic Federation and 2nd East Republic Armies breaking through to the remaining Beatniks. Amazingly, of the 46 survivors of the original 262 officers and enlisted men, all 46 walked out under their own power to meet the transports that would take them to the rear. With them, marched 2,374 Prisoners of War (POWs), most still in shock by the tactics "The Trashed Bashed Beatniks of Burma Ridge" had used.

Though they won the battle and the campaign, Kaohsiung still fell to the ZAFT forces with a new drop operation and campaign on January 15th, 71 C.E. First Lieutenant Peter Jon Jackson was promoted to the rank of Captain for his heroics on July 31st, 70 C.E. and then assigned to fighting with the rest of his Beatniks and as they were all that was left of the 132nd Infantry Division's fighting strength to the European Front to stop ZAFT attacks towards Madrid with the 242nd Infantry Division of the Atlantic Federation. Here, word of his exploits in the Asian Front spread like wild fire. ZAFT troops began to call him the "Burma Ridge Tiger" after he led Beatnik Company of the 1004th Battalion, 5678th Regiment, 242nd Division in a series of rapid hit and run raids all the way back to the ZAFT Gibraltar Base. Though many called him the "Burma Ridge Tiger," others began to call him a ghost and the title of "Ghost of Burma Ridge" became widely accepted. Then after April 15th, 71 C.E., he vanished. That is until he reappeared at JOSH-A, Alaska, Atlantic Federation as Lieutenant Colonel Peter Jon Jackson along with his promoted Beatniks.