"It is better to have a lion at the head of an army of sheep, than a sheep at the head of an army of lions"
-- Daniel Defoe

With a Blinding Light

I.

Danny Editor shuffled uneasily as the green eyes scanned over a set of papers. He didn't know what scared him more about the red head in front of him, the fact that she was a Possible, or the fact that she was one of the top aces in the entire colonial fleet. For God sake, she was the one who killed Amuro Ray, after all and he'd heard some scary stories about that UN pilot.

"I see you've taken part in a few engagements in the past, the most recent being with a UN force near Earth orbit." He frowned as she continued to read, not happy that his sum total of battle experience was reduced down to a 'few engagements'. He might have only been a nineteen year old kid in her eyes but she wasn't that much older then him. A guy could get easily offended being treated that way.

Taking a deep calming breath he straightened his shoulders, and his dark eyes staring over the top of her head. "Thirteen confirmed enemy kills to date as well, ma'am." He couldn't help beam with pride at that one. After all, three of them had been GM customs.

His face fell, though, when he noted the less then impressed expression on his commanding officer's face. "That's nice." His dark face went a few shades darker when he heard some of the flight crew snicker behind him. Clutching the helmet in his hand tightly he again cursed his fate that she had decided to check out her new wingman's spec's right in front of everyone else.

His other hand rose to rub against the black curly hair on his head which he had inherited from his mother. His father traits were evident in his nose. His father's light red hair had not been a trait he had inherited thankfully since he found that he hated red heads. A coincidence to be sure that his commanding officer happened to be one. Staring down at his mocha colored skin he wished for once that he had the ability to disappear. Anything to get away from this assignment.

"You are aware of the fact that you are a replacement?" He nodded quickly. "Good then stay out of my way and try not to get killed."

"Yes Ma'am." Hastily saluting the ice queen herself, he watched as she walked away. Finally he allowed himself to relax.

"She giving you a hard time?" Turing around he saw a rather large black man waving a wrench in the direction Ms. Possible had just passed while a blond haired kid sitting next to the Black man snickered. The blond haired kid quieted down as he wiped away the oil on his face his blue eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth.

"Is she always this bad?"

The older mechanic shrugged and leaned back against the wall behind him. "Pretty much. Sweet ass though."

Turning around Danny watched as she disappeared around a corner. "That is the truth."

II.

Ron stared up at the large black suit in front of him. His eyes traced over the finely worked material studying each and every part of it. This is what kept him alive on the battlefield and what got him home in the end. He stiffened in surprise when he felt a set of hand circle around his waist and relaxed when he felt the familiar warmth. Letting out a sigh he turned back looking into that face he knew so well now.

"You ok Bonnie?"

She gave him a small smile looking into his eyes. "Just a little worried that's all."

"It'll be fine. It's not like I haven't done stuff like this before." He gave her his best smile knowing she always seemed to relax more. It earned him an even tighter squeeze instead.

"Just be careful ok."

"Always am."

III.

Kim performed a last minute check on her suit's systems making sure everything worked as expected. Smiling to herself she flipped a few remaining switches starting her suit's reactor up.

Turning around she pressed her communication button opening the line with her new wingman in his Aries custom mech. "You ready kid?"

"Yes Ma'am. Oh by the way my call sign is Loki." Kim almost laughed at that. Real cute. "It's because when I was training I always caused mayhem and mischief, and it stuck. Besides it's nice for the enemy to know the dark God is among them." Chuckling Kim settled back in her seat content to allow the young kid to have his call-sign. It was kind of cute after all.

"Alright 'Loki' just follow my lead and get out of the way when the fighting starts. I don't want you getting in the way after all."

"Don't worry, I wouldn't dream of it."

Nodding her head Kim stepped onto the catapult ready to launch.

IV.

Ron's hand reached up again to fiddle with his helmet one more time. He knew it was secure but for some reason he just felt more comfortable checking it over. 'Come on Stoppable your not some green recruit. Calm down it'll be just like any other battle.'

Taking a deep breath he walked the unit over to the catapult setting it up for launch. He heard the slight crackle of the radio when the unit was in place. "You ready kid?"

A quick glance to his side showed the major's suit grabbing a beam rifle off of the side of the wall. Giving the major a thumbs up he pressed his own com button to respond. "Ready and willing sir."

"Good, then let's get this party started."

V.

Commander Josh Mankey checked the readings on his screen again. He could feel his heart hammering a mile a minute as he checked again that the placement was going correctly. After all it wasn't every day they directly assaulted an unconquerable fortress with only the hope of an un-tested weapon to carry them through.

"Sir, our area is secure and installation is continuing as planned."

The older captain continued to study the screen in front of him as the flashes of light showed the decoy force had meet the enemy. Raising his hand the captain gently stroked his chin. "Good. Carry on then."

Josh sighed as he turned back to his screen. It was nerve racking to watch the delicate mirrors being set up but it was necessary. After all one screw up could result in defeat.

VI.

"Admiral Senior, the UN forces have launched their attack." Senior Senior looked up from the map, a frown on his face. He stared back down at the marks representing the gathered forces.

"Their primary force is still holding their position correct?"

"Yes sir."

Rubbing his chin he stared down at the map. It didn't take a genius to figure out this was a trap. The question was 'what type?' "Confirm again who is in charge of the primary force and the secondary force currently attacking us."

The young intelligence officer started to type in a few quick commands before turning back around. "Again sir, Admiral Mayes is commanding the primary force which is composed mostly of the American second and third fleets. Admiral Director commands the smaller secondary force composed of a mix of UN and American ships."

"Thank you." Staring back down he again looked at the line of ships that had yet to move. Why would they send in a smaller force to attack and not move in themselves? "Do we have any images of the enemy's primary force."

"No sir due to interference we can not get any clear images. We have sent a few mobile suit groups forward to perform some recon but we doubt they'll get close enough."

Nodding he stared again at the force. Should he squash the smaller force or spilt his forces and deal with both? 'Admiral Mayes isn't the type to sit idly by while the battle goes on. That means he is either waiting for us to present our back or he wants us to attack.' Memories of the last time the Americans had pulled the trick of waiting for their enemy to attack came to mind. The entire attack had been shattered easily when the withdrawing American ships had led the enemy straight into a mine field. Unable to advance forward the Colonial fleet had been chopped to pieces. Would they attempt the same thing again?

Standing back up he decided caution would be the best course of action. "Send the heavy battleships Subeta, Toku, and Uma forward to reinforce our forces currently engaging the secondary force. That should give our forces numerical and fire superiority. The rest of the fleet will hold here." At least this way they could use the fortress to counter whatever the Americans and the UN were thinking. Admiral Mayes would have to advance forward if he wanted to win this day.

VII.

The bloody battle was now officially in full swing. It had only been about ten minutes but it had felt like an hour. Cursing under his breath Ron pulled up hard on the control forcing his mobile suit to jerk back and out of the way of a Rick Dias streaking by. Raising his beam rifle he awarded the pesky enemy with a shot to the back. Not bothering to confirm the insured death, Ron pushed hard on his controls streaking towards the nearby destroyer. Flying in at a steep angle he unloaded with his rifle watching in almost sick fascination as the multiple beams penetrated the ships vitals. Pulling away he looked for another target.

"This is the Vincita we have taken heavy damage and..." Listening with a detached interest he noted the death of the battleship. It was the third to go down in this short period of time.

"Come on guys we're getting chopped to pieces out here." Unloading with his rifle he took out a group of Zakus moving in to intercept when his eye caught a rather interesting prize.

About a quarter of a kilometer away nearly obscured by its screening destroyers and cruisers was one of the heavy battleships the colonist seemed to love so much. The huge monster supported guns rivaled by few on the battlefield and, like its sister ships, tended to exert dominance over any ship foolish enough to get in its way. Both sides only had a handful of these heavy battleships and Ron figured that taking one out would help even the odds a little.

"Major, this is Nemesis, I'm moving in to bag me a big one."

"Roger kid, keep doing what you do best." Ron had to laugh at that, after all, his entire job was to get among the enemy and make them wish they had never gotten into their suits that day. The Major often dragged behind Ron trying to deal with the occasional lucky survivor that escaped his gun sights.

'Well enough time to reflect let's add another ship to my record.' Putting his engines to full military power, he shot straight towards the battleship avoiding enemy fire. Even he didn't know how he managed to weave his way through the hail of fire coming towards him, but in a matter of seconds he had managed. Coming through the screening ships he could see the massive ship's smaller guns start to train in his directions. He was close enough now to read the name. "So we meet at last Toku."

Moving in along the ship he drew the beam saber attached to his back and activated it. Stabbing the weapon into the side he watched as the blade cut through the hull. Deciding he wanted a rather large hole he put his engine on half power and moved forward slicing the hull apart. Once done he rose to about the level of the bridge and fired three times into it. "There, that should confuse you a bit."

The escorting ships by this point had decided that hitting the battleship would be better then allowing him to continue what he was doing. He could see the small tracers of beam fire impacting their fellow vessel as they attempted to land a hit on his weaving suit. The enemy mobile suits were also on the way, but they were already too late.

Returning to where he was before, he paused long enough to empty the beam rifles current charge into the ship's exposed internals. The ship's outer haul might have been able to withstand the blasts but the much softer inner shell gave away quickly. This resulted in the massive behemoth literally burning from the inside as pieces of equipment exploded. Firing one last shot, he activated the rear thrusters putting vital distance between himself and the ship. Flipping around, he hit full military power, and got the heck out of there replacing his beam rifle's spent pack with a fresh one. His sensors reported the death of the ship as its internal reactor finally went critical. "A booyah is defiantly in order"

The smile on his face died quickly as he went back to work. He knew he shouldn't think about the sailors and pilots who had just died. He knew it would only mess up his ability to perform so he blocked it from his mind. His job was to kill the enemy, not feeling bad for them. Maybe in his younger days but not now. Now they were nothing but numbers to add to his score.

Forcing his mobile suit in a steep climb he could feel the G-forces pressing against his body. Flipping around, he came down on one of the shocked cruisers nearby, and in haste, rained death down upon it.

VIII.

Kim cursed as the green GM custom again narrowly dodged her fire. She could still hear the taunting voice on the other side as she rolled her Gundam away from the returning fire. 'Why can't I kill this bitch? It's not like she's got some impressive suit yet she's always dodging me.'

A light came on again indicating laser communications had been established. "What's wrong Prince..." Rolling away she cut off the communication line again as she fired at the mobile suit.

Hitting her own communication button she hailed her wing man. "Loki, I need you to distract this green mobile suit for me."

"No can do Blue Fox, I've got my own problems." Cursing Kim looked towards her side seeing the young kid dodging the fire from the pursing GMs. One of them disappeared as he put a shot through it before again having to weave away from fire.

'Just great!' Again turning towards the more present threat she unloaded on the area attempting for a kill. It was going to be one of those types of battles.

IX.

Ron studied the image in front of him as two unknown suits approached. From their make they appeared to be Gundams but he had never seen the type before. One of the suits carried a massive rifle in the front while the other sported an over sized shield. It didn't take a genius to figure out what their intended roles were.

'Alright Stoppable just take these guys out quickly and get back to the fight. After all Bon-Bon would kill me if I scratched this suit up.' Moving forward Ron made sure the shield's energy was at full still. He had a feeling he was going to test its combat effectiveness very soon.

He wasn't even within beam shot range when the offensive mobile suit stopped and raised its rifle. Dismissing its ability to hit him at this range Ron maxed out his engines, intent on closing the distance. Needless to say he was caught off guard as the beam of light emerged from the rifle and headed directly towards him. Now beam fire is slower then the speed of light which is why a pilot is able to see it as it approached. The fact though is it wasn't that much slower and with his mobile suit maxed out on speed he was quickly approaching it. With nothing to do but raise his shield, Ron let out a silent prayer.

He felt the impact of the beam mere moments after getting his shield up. The suit shuddered as it ran into the very powerful beam and then continued forward. No other sign of damage could be seen. "Felix, I owe you a drink when I get back!" A smile on his face Ron now opened up with his own rifle being within firing distance of the enemy.

The defensive mobile suit, since it carried the shield it must be that, moved right in front of his beam fire. To his disappointment the beam dissipated just like the enemy's earlier shot. "Well...that's not good."

Deciding to try to confuse the enemy he twisted his mobile suit upwards narrowly avoiding the return fire from the other mobile suit. Opening up with his beam gun he arched over the two mobile suits concentrating his fire down upon both of them. When the defensive suit perfectly blocked each incoming shot and even allowed its pal to return fire he knew he was in trouble. 'Well when guns fail go to the sword.' With that, he pulled out his beam saber and charged.

Down his suit went heading straight for the defensive mobile suit with the intent of hacking through its shield. He had to jerk hard to the right when the other mobile suit opened up again on him and used his shield to block the second blast. By this time both mobile suits had backed away a good distance and continued to fire upon him. 'Alright scratch the sword. Time to use that trick again.'

Jerking his suit to the side he swung wide around the enemy suits before hitting a certain button on his suit. A button which he had Felix modify a while back to input a certain command few would ever use. He counted on the fact that the enemy wouldn't expect it either.

The suit shuddered slightly as multiple objects suddenly launched from it. These objects being phosphorous Flash RPG's which now streaked away as Ron closed his eyes tightly. 'One...Two...Three.' On the count of three all of them suddenly exploded bathing the nearby area with a blinding light.

Opening his eyes, Ron could still see his suit had yet to recover from the overload to its optical sensor. Cutting off from his arc, he headed straight towards the enemy feeling where they would be. It was a crazy way to put it, but that was the closest he could come to what he was attempting. After all, this was just like the last time he had used this same move back when he still had only a GM. That move had allowed him to kill three squads within that time frame. Raising the rifle and firing he knew he added one more successful kill to that tactic before the shot had even left the rifle.

'Well time to finish off the other one.' Reaching to draw his beam saber, he suddenly doubled over in pain instead. A white hot flash hit him in the nerves as he felt like throwing up inside the cockpit. Never before had he felt something like this. It felt like he was burning alive and he could feel the tears running down his face as he gasped for air. He didn't know how long he stayed like that but when he looked back up he could see the defensive mobile suit charging forward its shield forgotten and wielding a red glowing beam saber.

The next motion could be described as the easiest and sickest thing he ever did in his life. Without a second thought he finished drawing his sword and twisted his mobile suit which allowed the enemy to pass by him. As the suit cleared, he shoved his own beam saber into its back and through the cock pit. Again he felt that same burning alive sensation and again he lay in his suit gasping for air.

X.

Kim pulled her beam saber out of the back of a nearby GM, which had the misfortune of getting to close, as she silently cursed her luck. The Green enemy mobile suit had managed to draw her into this pointless engagement far from the enemy fleet and every time she tried to break free, it would appear again. Always dodging and sniping at her when she tried to move forward it was slowly driving her crazy. Where was her wingman at a time like this!

"Alright Possible lets..." She suddenly felt pain like she had never felt before. The sensation of burning that traveled through her body made her want to scream and throw up at the same time. Looking with wide open eyes all she could think about was her brother Jim. 'Why Jim?'

Her thoughts were interrupted as the Green suit attacked again. Dodging to her left Kim opened up on it grunting when it again dodged her fire. Scanning for her wingman she finally saw the red mobile suit break through the GMs nearby and move towards her.

"Alright Loki, I want you to hit the suit now!"

"I'll try Ma'am." She watched as her wingman moved forward ready to trap the enemy in a combined attack. Smiling, she put up enough fire to distract the enemy.

'Soon you'll...' She screamed this time when she felt the hot burning sensation hit her. Deep down inside something screamed at her to respond. 'Respond to what! Dear God what is this!'

Gasping through the pain she scanned the nearby stars until her eyes focused on one point. Without a second thought, she shoved her throttle to full and streaked towards it. She didn't know how she dodged the enemy fire since she focused only on that dot but she just did. She needed to get there. Something was wrong and she needed to know what.

It was little over a minute before she finally got to her destination. What she saw made her blood run cold as the remains of her brother's mobile suit floated nearby. Scanning for an escape pod she noted the black Gundam floating nearby its eyes blazing green.

"Nemesis!" With that she drew her beam saber and charged.

XI.

"Admiral Mayes the array is in place. Waiting for your command."

Sighing Steven Mayes stared at the flashing lights off to the side. Soon he would commit an act that would cause countless others to join those who died within those flashes. "Begin final alignment."

"Yes sir!"

Looking down he saw as the bridge crew typed away on the terminal they currently were on. "Alignment at 53 percent...54...55..." Tuning out the counting Mayes stared ahead. With this one shot the fortress will fall.

Pushing the button on his chair he issued the one last critical order he had to give before the final blow would be struck. "All ships move away from the fire area. Repeat, all ships move away from the firing area."

He watched as the numbers on his screen ticked by and the ensign below continued to read off the status report. It seemed like an hour but in reality it was only a matter of minutes. His console showed that the defensive fleet around the array was clear and he hoped the decoy force had not penetrated far enough in to be within the firing field. "83...84, Sir the beam is now focused enough to be combat ready."

He didn't need the ensign to tell him that. He, like everyone else in the fleet, could see the bright blinding flash as the massive beam of light reflected off the asteroid ahead. The fleet protecting the front of the fortress already gone as the reinforced outer surface of the asteroid started to melt.

"Halt the attack within thirty seconds."

"Yes sir!"

With sick fascination he watched as the flash continued to grow brighter. He was snapped back to attention when the ensign called back to him. "Beginning to change array alignment now...sir array is no longer emitting a combat effective beam."

Hitting the button again he prepared to enter the battle. "All ships advance at combat speed."

'Kind of funny that the most deadly weapon of this war is nothing more then focused light.'

The sight of the chucking Admiral drew a few concern looks before the young people gathered on the bridge before they turned back to their duties. They had a fortress to capture after all and with the majority of its defending fleet gone it would now be a cake walk. Probably one of the greatest battles of the war was winding down as victory became clear but things still needed to be done.

To be continued...

A/N: There you go the Americans win yet again! Anyway this battle was modeled after the battle of Solomon in the original Gundam series. If you liked the idea of the Solar Array, it's what the Americans used, then you'll want to check out the series that introduced it. After all nothing says killing power then the act of using natural sun light as a weapon.

On other notes SSS performed what we like to call a military blunder. It doesn't always pay to be cautious and this is one of those cases. Thus victory of this fight goes to the UN and all that's left to be settled is if Kim and Ron kill each other in this chapter. Only time will tell. By the way yes Ron did just kill Kim brothers. That kind of sucked. Those of you who know the Gundam universe have probably figured out what Kim and Ron are by this point. Those how haven't I'll explain it in the next chapter. Not the story mind you because the UN and the colonist don't have a clue. Well maybe a clue but not a good one. The reason I'll explain it is it will have an effect on Ron personal life. You'll know what I'm talking about when it happens.

Anyway I'm going to start work on the next chapter and hope you'll enjoy it. Everyone give a shout out to our new editor.

Editor: I guess this is where I put a little say into the mix. I'm just here to read over it a few times and make minor edits to it. We all know what it is to read the story after typing it, thinking its great, then we read it on the internet, and we're like wow ok that's wrong. So I am printing it out and being an English teacher for Surfrost. But a few things I am adding in are "Full military power", which in translation is full afterburners, and that I am here to make things prettier. But this is the guy that is the heir to throne Classic Cowboy now resides on. Just wait. (Surforst : He lies ClassicCowboy. No need to off this upstart author.)

Sailing king and Roaming Gnome

He's now responsible for any mistakes that occur. Bother him.

SK: I also want the glory to.

Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam or Kim Possible. I do own Nemesis but I don't think it's worth anything. I'll trade it for a nickel.