Chapter 5

"Exiting jumpspace in 3, 2, 1, entering real time, now" informed the pilot at the controls.
"Good," replied the captain, sipping on his coffee mug.
Cmdr. Brandt released his death grip on his seat, feeling his heart sink back down in his chest.
"Did you like the ride?" questioned the captain, handing Brandt a cup of coffee.
"Definitely different," he answered, setting the cup down, allowing it to magnetically attach to the armrest.
"Takes a while to get used to," replied the captain with a chuckle.
Brandt stood up with his mug, looking out the bridge's massive viewport, observing what was before him.
"Well," commented Brandt, "they seem to be making the repairs to the Mars facility and begin using it as a base."
"Seems that way," replied the captain. "Anyways, this is a far as we can go, you must take your battalion and be on your way."
"So soon?" questioned Brandt, enjoying his stay aboard the cruiser. "I do need to see how your "gift" performs in the heat of battle."
"Alright, since your mobile suits are already in transports, just load up your men and you can be on your way," replied the captain, heading for his seat on the bridge.
Brandt walked to the hatch, letting it whoosh open, and drifted through.

"Who the hell are you?" questioned Rush, still trying to reactivate his mobile suit.
"No time for small talk," she replied, raising the arm of her Gundam.
The armor of the forearm folded back, and a 60mm 3-barreled Vulcan rose up, and begun rotating. A tongue of flame came forth from the gun, spraying a line of bullets into 3 of the enemy suits, littering the landscape with scraps of metal. The remaining 5 suits took aim with their rifles and opened fire, only to miss the agile suit as it jumped into the air and hit its thrusters. The Gundam flew straight for one of the suits, throwing out a whip-like device, wrapping it around the suit, and tightened it, ripping it in half at the waist. Rush was amazed at this suits abilities, and the pilot wasn't half bad, to him anyways.
"Forget this," she said, landing the suit, taking up a wide stance. A piece on the back folded over the shoulder and telescoped out, forming a particle cannon. She fired the statically charged particles, completely obliterating the enemy suits into a cloud of smoke and dust. She folded the weapon back and turned to Rush.
"Not bad, eh?" she said, playfully, "Try using a different start code, same bug is in my suit from time to time."
Rush did so, rekeying the system, and the suit came to life.
"I may be a girl," she informed, "but I know my stuff."
Rush was not amused, keeping to himself.
"What's wrong, did I steal your thunder?" she asked, mockingly
"You could have came sooner and stopped the slaughter that happened," he replied, looking over the field, covered in the remains of the Leos and Zakus.
"I saved you, I got here as fast as this suit would go," she defended herself.
"Whatever," commented Rush, "just follow me, base is about 4 clicks that way," he informed, pointing his suit's hand to the east.
"Lead the way," she said, obeyingly.

Brandt's battalion had just arrived at the Mars facility to get resupplied for the trip to Earth. He knew it would take at least 9 days, maybe more if they ran into any trouble.
"How are things here?" questioned Brandt, talking to a Lt.
"We haven't had any problems after the takeover, Sir," informed the Lt.
"Where is the nearest Side still owned by the USC?" he asked, looking down in the bay as they loaded the mobile suit containers into the ships.
"Side 7 is," replied the Lt, pointing out the viewport to a cluster of colonies that were heavily guarded.
"I require any available mobile suits this facility has," requested Brandt.
"What?" replied the Lt. "You aren't thinking of attacking Side 7 by yourself, are you?"
"Yes," said Brandt, coolly, "They have been a nusciance for far too long."
"Sir, it would take a whole armada of cruisers, which are all on duty elsewhere, to take Side 7, and you are attacking with only 4 cruisers?" said the Lt.
"Do it, I am a superior officer that has given you a command, unless you want court martialed for insubordination," informed Brandt, staring directly into the Lt.'s eyes.
"Yes, Sir," obeyed the Lt., going to the control center in the middle of the complex.
"Now to see how my suit fairs in a skirmish," thought Brandt, walking down the corridor to the elevator.

Rush and his new mysterious friend came into view of the camp, walking in their suits.
"So," questioned the girl, "why were you selected to be a Gundam pilot."
"I'd rather not talk about it," replied Rush, remembering the tragedy.
"My father was at the Mars facility when the EMF begun their attack," she informed, "and his friend, Dr. Ciao, took me on as one of his own, and he trained me and built my suit, Gundam Cydra."
Rush decided to open up to here since the were in common.
"One of the 50 cruisers sent to Mars to besiege the facility was mine, the Armedia," said Rush, "and none of them made it back. Since I was in MS training, I couldn't go with them, so I completed the course with high scores, and wound up piloting this, Gundam Dreadnought."
They positioned their suits in the area where all the mobile suits are placed in the maintenance area. Rush opened the cockpit hatch to his suit and stepped out, getting a look at the female pilot. She was about as tall as he was, brown hair, braided in the back, brown eyes, almost a gold color, and she wore not much of a uniform, but it was the same colors as his, a dark, reddish-purple. She had the same boots and gloves as he did also. Rush just looked at here, studying her, as he lowered himself down on the retractable wire lift.