Mobile Suit Gundam Alpha

by Wing Zero Alpha

In the distant future, mankind has expanded to the stars and populated much of the galaxy. But despite these advancements, man is not at peace, and soon after, the Galactic War emerges...

6. Chapter VI: Stardust Battlefield

"Caution should be exercised in the use of force. Too little force, and you will be overcome by your opponent. Too much force, and your aggression will rebound against you, as well as be invariably multiplied in ferocity when your opponent retaliates."
- Kycilia Zabi

Chapter VI: Stardust Battlefield

Juno System
July 1, GC 379

Shiro roared as he continued his fight, charging his Guncannon through the mass of Zakus and shooting beams at anything unfriendly. The green, mono-eyed giants were just as quick to shoot back, raining beam machine gun and bazooka fire at his team's direction. However, whereas any other Guncannon pilot would have succumbed to the storm of yellow beams, Shiro, having took part in the war since the beginning, weaved his own gunmetal grey and navy blue machine around the beams with a practiced hand, all the while Kiki and Michel's own Troopers continued to remain close by and support him. And all around them, more and more Zeon mobile suits were obliterated.

Compared to the usual suspects of the Guncannon line, Shiro's Guncannon Stormer was a different beast altogether, and its performance against the Zakus showed it. Having been designed and manufactured just after the war's beginning, the Stormer was the first, and so far only, Guncannon meant specifically to fight other mobile suits, especially the Zaku. For this purpose, it naturally boasted improved speed and maneuverability, which didn't quite match the Zaku's but still was higher than that of a standard Guncannon's. As well, it replaced the original shoulder guns with a pair of six-barreled beam gatling cannons, which were less powerful in terms of raw firepower than the former, but possessed a firing rate that was twice that of a Zaku's machine gun. All of that read out, the Stormer had been the Federation's number one mobile suit killer until the Gundams' debut, and even now it was an effective weapon as Shiro was demonstrating.

Of course, the Stormer's current performance wasn't just due to its capabilities, but also by how much its pilot was driving it. To put it succinctly, Shiro was enraged, far more than one would have expected him to be. The destruction of Juno had hit every member of the present Earth fleet hard, but none so much as Shiro Amada, the last survivor of the planet Hera.

Even as he continued his slaughter, the image of Juno's destruction flashed in and out Shiro's mind, alongside Hera's own destruction. He could still remember that day, as he floated helplessly within his ruined Trooper, watching as the Zeon colony laser fired and obliterated his homeworld, the world he and many other had fought hard to defend, leaving no trace behind. In his mind he had watched his family and loved ones die in the flash as the entire planet exploded around them, punctuated by Shiro's helpless screams before and after the act. Now that same act had been carried out once more, and its effect was such that Shiro had nearly broken down in the aftermath; it was only through Commander Law verbally reaching out to him that he managed to retain himself. And even then, it had only been through his speech to him and the rest of the 13th Carrier Assault Group that he hadn't completely lost it.

As he hurtled towards additional Zeon mobile suits, Shiro dropped his crosshairs over the first on he spotted and fired his beam rifle. The Zaku turned to deflect the shot, but Shiro had been faster on the draw; as such, the green mobile suit only succeeded in turning into the shot, so it could drill through the cockpit block. By the time it exploded, Shiro was already shooting at other Zakus, switching between his rifle and gatling cannons respectively. Not far from him, Kiki came charging in with her beam cannons, managing to destroy a Zaku of her own, while Michel took potshots at a whole team, managing to score one as well. The other two soon wounded up falling to the rain of Shiro's gatling cannons.

"Not so fun fighting things that shoot back, is it!?" Kiki bellowed as she fired more beam rifle shots at an assortment of targets. "Zeek scum!"

"Keep it together Shrike Five." Shiro spoke, both toward Kiki and to himself. As much as his rage was driving him, he didn't want to get sloppy; that was the mark of death for a Guncannon pilot. That being said though, he couldn't quite drown out his own anger, even as he gave the command.

On the other side, the usually well mannered and soft spoken Michel let out a battle cry of his own as he gunned down another Zaku with both his cannons, rifle and vulcans. This caused the other two of that team to both maneuver against him, but Michel proved to be a more elusive target, managing to gun his thrusters and evade their attacks in zero-gravity leap. In response, he fired additional beam rifle shots, managing to blast the left arm off of one before either Zeon suit raised its beam shield to deflect. Unfortunately for the Zeon pilots, that maneuver left them open to another barrage on Shiro's part, resulting in their being torn apart systematically.

Despite those impressive kills, the second team of Shrike Squadron was far from done, their collective bloodlust (especially Shiro's) far from sated. Pushing his Stormer to its maximum speed, such that Kiki and Michel both had trouble keeping up, Shiro looped up over another group of Zakus, firing both his gatling cannons and beam rifle in rapid succession as he flew over them. His shots did little more than to scatter them, but that was what Shiro intended, as it allowed him to snipe one Zaku after another with more practiced beam rifle shots. It was only when the Zakus maneuvered to avoid his shots more efficiently did he switch back to his gatling cannons and overwhelmed them with sheer beam fire, to the point that they couldn't maneuver. By the time the Zaku pilots began treating him as a viable threat, Shiro had already gunned down six of them singlehandedly.

Before he could continue his assault, Shiro caught sight of another Zaku coming in against his right, beam axe raised to strike. Momentarily wishing he had a beam saber to fight back with, Shiro spun his Guncannon around, simultaneously activating his beam shield. As he spun, he raised the shield up to deflect the Zakus initial strike with his left arm, and then brought his right arm, and beam rifle to bare. Before the Zaku could recover, he launched a single beam into the cockpit and then shot away, allowing the Zaku to explode. That still left several more to contend with, but by that point Kiki and Michel had reached his position and were attacking with equal ferocity.

All throughout Shiro felt his whole being rage with a ferocity he had not felt in years. The Zeon had destroyed another world before his eyes, and for that he would kill as many of them as he possibly could, their genetic and technical superiorities be damned. He was not just a warrior this time around; he was an avenger, guided by both the memories of his homeworld and the memories, few as they were, of this world. And for their arrogance, the Zeon would regret his presence before he sent them to Hell.

And yet, as he spiraled around another Zaku and sprayed its back with gatling fire, Shiro felt himself reach out and grasped the middle of his normal suit. The exact area where his pocket chrono laid. How can she be...!?

"Shrike Four behind you!" Shiro heard Michel shout over the comm. Twisting his Guncannon's head around, he watched as another team of Zakus came streaking in toward him. This time all three were brandishing their beam axes, and despite Kiki and Michel's best efforts, nothing was touching them.

Glowering back at the Zakus with hate, Shiro again gunned his thrusters to maximum and shot at the Zakus with near equal velocity. When he came up to the first unit, he immediately side dashed from its downward swing, then smashed his own rifle but into its back, sending it flying forward and opening it up for a following beam rifle shot. By the time that was accomplished, the second was already upon him, to which Shiro shot upward to avoid its own slash attack, then twisted his Guncannon around in mid-velocity and fired another beam rifle shot overhead. The shot instantly drilled through the Zaku's scalp, blasted downward through the Apollo Reactor and the cockpit area, and then exited the crotch. The stricken suit detonated not long after.

How can she be...!? Shiro's mind rambled as remembered himself on another battlefield, having abandoned his ruined Guncannon after finishing a duel with a light blue and gold tinted Zaku.

When the third unit came up, Shiro quickly reoriented his Guncannon and fired another rifle shot. Much to his surprise however, the Zaku deftly avoided his attack, and then did the same with his follow up gatling cannon blasts. It was then that Shiro noticed the Zaku bore a commander's fin; clearly its pilot held experience, just like him.

This theory was soon proven as the Zaku stepped up its assault, narrowly evading shots from Kiki and Michel as it slashed at Shiro's Stormer. With a practiced hand, Shiro was just as deft at evading its axe attacks, then jetting upward as his opponent backflipped and fired a set of missiles at him. Quickly gunning down the missiles with his vulcans, returned fire with his beam rifle, only for the Zaku to dash around his shots, firing back as well with its machine gun. With that, the battle soon became a running gun duel, with both Federation and Zeon mobile suits weaving in and out of the battle zone, trying to gain a bead on the other, all the while Kiki and Michel were hindered by other units.

How can she be...!? Shiro's mind exclaimed again as he remembered himself floating through the wreckage of a Chicago-class cruiser, beam pistol clutched in his hands, exchanging fire with a Zeon pilot dressed in an equally light blue and gold normal suit.

Shiro knew he was roughly even with the Zeek pilot; both had similar skill levels, and while the Zaku had superior speed and mobility, Shiro had a much greater edge in firepower. The Zeon pilot seemed to understand the latter, as he attempted to cross the gap several times and engage up close with its axe once more, but the constant fire from Shiro's gatling cannons kept it from doing so. That said however, as Shiro put his Stormer into more and more high speed maneuvers, he knew he couldn't keep up that field of fire forever, and that if he didn't kill the Zeek soon, he or she would eventually slip through a butcher him.

That nearly came to pass as the Zaku pilot executed a spiral maneuver, looping around to throw off Shiro's aim, allowing it to come in with its axe. It was only due to Shiro's instinct that he was able to raise his beam shield on time, deflecting the initial strike, and then the second and the third. When the fourth came he attempted to raise his beam rifle and shoot the "highborn" at point blank, but the Zaku's attack came with such ferocity that Shiro was forced to retain his shield.

How can she be...!? Shiro's went on as he remembered himself in a sealed, still oxygenated portion of the cruiser, his helmet off, sitting beside a silver haired, dark eyed woman.

Eventually however, Shiro gained an edge. After deflecting another strike, Shiro had his Guncannon feign recoiling from the shock, in such a manner that it seemed like he had been knocked back several meters. Seeing the opportunity, the Zeon pilot charged in for the kill, circling around to slash the insipient Stormer across the back. Unfortunately for the Zeon, Shiro had long predicted that tactic, and so snap-angled the Stormer as the Zeon closed in, such that his back thrusters were facing the Zeon suit. Thus when the Zeon soon came in for the strike, Shiro ignited his thrusters at point blank, throwing the Zeon suit back from the force and momentarily blinding pilot.

With that, Shiro used the same force to twist his Guncannon around, from which he rained gatling cannon fire across the Zeon mobile suit. In a torrent of magenta rain, the Zeon suit was ripped apart, all the while Shiro roared as he held down on the trigger.

Upon doing so, he at last remembered himself, along with that same woman, floating aimlessly through the void of space in each other's arms.

How can she be one of you!? he mentally bellowed at the dying Zaku, one hand again clutching the pocket chrono against his chest while the other held down the trigger. The flash of the Zaku giving into its wounds was the only response that came.

"Commander!" Kiki shouted as she and Michel again flew up to realign with him, apparently having heard Shiro over the radio.

Shiro took a few breaths before answered. "I'm fine." he lied, his rage still burning through him like an inferno. "Let's go."

With that, the three Guncannons took off for additional targets.

---

Chaos and destruction reigning around him still, Sleggar continued to do what he did best, lancing another beam through yet another Zaku and watching it result in yet another explosion. From the side, its partner immediately attempted to avenge his comrade's death, but Sleggar had no issue dodging its axe strike, and then ripping it across the side with his vulcans. And as for the third, it attempted to turn away and flee, but was blasted apart by a nearby Guncannon team, which streaked by Unit Beta while passing into the melee.

Sleggar used that brief moment to catch his breath, feeling as though he had been fighting for hours. It might as well had been, as the battle was still going on at full, with neither side making headway; this in itself was a good thing, as it meant the Zeon were no closer to wiping out the Second Fleet than vice versa. All around him, Sleggar could see Guncannons of all shapes and sizes continue to do battle with the various Zakus, both standard and ace/commander custom types, all the while the warships closed in on each other. And though the Zeeks retained their technical and biological superiorities, the Federation pilots and crews were far more driven over the deaths of their friends and comrades on Juno. All in all, the battle remained even, though the Zeon were slowly gaining the vantage, much to Sleggar's ire.

Quickly rejoining the onslaught, Sleggar pushed his Gundam up to full speed and set course for another pack of Zakus. In turn, the Zakus easily spotted Sleggar's approach and started to fire at him with their beam machine guns, but Sleggar was moving too fast for them to get a clean lock on. After expertly evading their fire, Sleggar wasted no time in leveling his own crosshairs on one of the Zakus and firing off a single bolt, the resulting beam leaping forth from his rifle and catching his target in the torso. In a strange twist, the beam had failed to touch the mobile suit's Apollo Reactor, and as such the Zaku didn't detonate, instead spiraling away madly from the loss of its pilot. That was satisfying enough for Sleggar, who gunned down another Zaku right after, this time causing a detonation.

Much to Sleggar's minor surprise, the other Zakus didn't back down; instead they attempted to flank him at all angles, firing their machine guns and bazookas in sync. Reacting instantly, Sleggar twisted and maneuvered around each blast, returning fire with his vulcans but failing to hit anything; the Zakus were coordinating their maneuvers too efficiently. Fortunately that wouldn't last long, as Sleggar quickly spotted the unit bearing telltale commander fin. As luck would have it, that unit, and several others within the pack, were now flying at him en masse. Clearly they wanted to overwhelm him all at once.

In reaction to that, Sleggar quickly withdrew his beam rifle and replaced it with his beam saber, drawing the energy blade with certain flourish. From there, he hurtled against nearest Zaku, twisting his Gundam around to deftly avoid its beam machine gun attack, then cutting said machine gun in half before flying around and slashing the Zaku across the back. He then banked to avoid the second Unit's beam bazooka attack, to which he reversed the saber so he could smack the hand-held beam cannon upward with the hilt, before bringing the sword end around to slash the Zakus arms off and then finally impale the cockpit. Two more Zakus came at him with their machine guns blazing, but once again Sleggar was faster, bringing Unit Beta upon both of them, one after another, and dispatching them with well placed cuts to the cockpit.

Sleggar dispatched several more Zakus from there, one slash after another. However, it wasn't long before the command unit, which he had been able to strike up to this point, charged in, switching its own machine gun out for its beam axe. It shot after Unit Beta, taking a swipe up at the Gundam up close, but Sleggar brought his beam saber up and blocked the attack in time. He then backed off slightly to launch a series of jabs at his opponent, but the enemy pilot was quick to go on the evasive, dodging each jab with ease. The enemy pilot then slashed his axe in an attempt to behead Unit Beta, but Sleggar had no problem ducking that and counterattacking with his vulcans, which in turn forced the Zaku to duck behind its beam shield.

To Sleggar's surprise, the Zaku, rather than fall back from the vulcan fire, actually barged through the blasts with its beam shield at the front, moving slam into Unit Beta. Sleggar responded by banking to the left, and then dodging the following beam axe slash by a hair. From there, he lashed out with his left gauntlet and obliterated the right hand and beam axe altogether. The Zaku pilot attempted to counter this by lining up for a point-blank missile shot, but Sleggar was quicker, smacking the Zaku's head around with a roundhouse kick to knock it out of its equilibrium. He then promptly finished it off with a spin slash, bifurcating the Zeon mobile suit and jetting back before both ends exploded.

"See you in hell, 'highborn.'" Sleggar coldly snarled as the glow of the blast died from his monitor. The battle was still playing out, as was Sleggar's own wrath. The sight of Juno's remnants in the distance only emphasized it.

Just then his sensors beeped in warning. Another wave of Zeon mobile suits was moving into range. In fact, as Sleggar turned Unit Beta's head toward that vector, he also saw that the Zeon fleet, still trading fire with their Earth adversaries, was also moving into the battle right behind them. Sleggar sneered at that. Typical Zeon tactics, he noted; sending in the Zakus to barge a way through the Guncannons, thereby allowing the warships to passthrough the melee and overwhelm the Earth fleet. And with the Zeon fleet's greater numbers, it would be all too easy for them to envelope Wakkein's force and obliterate them.

Big mistake driving in like that! Sleggar thought as he stowed his beam saber and launched Unit Beta toward the Zeon force. He then switched his comm. to fleet wide. "This is Shrike Leader! I'm moving in against the enemy ships! All mobile suit teams on me!" he then narrowed his gaze as he added. "We're going to break through that fleet!"

Upon his signal, countless numbers of Guncannons took formation behind Unit Beta, following it toward the Zeon. The Zakus were quick to notice their sudden assault and did all they could to force the Federal MS away. Unfortunately for the Zeon however, the Earth mobile suits were undeterred, and though many were shot down, they continued on their advance toward the main Zeon fleet. Soon enough, Unit Beta and the Guncannons were upon the enemy ships, raining fire upon whatever vessel lay within their grasp.

As he himself flew over, Sleggar looked upon the Zeon fleet, which consisted of seemingly countless Musaka-class cruisers and fair number of Rewloola-class battlecruisers, with interest. It was arrayed in a precise attack formation, and in spite of the incoming Federation mobile suits, continued pushing forward en masse. And yet, even as the green warships filled the space around them with beam phalanx and missile fire, the ace knew they would not hold out. Indeed, as much as the Guncannon was an inferior dogfighter, it was second to none as a ship killer. And that was not dismissing what the Gundam could do in that area.

Immediately he set his sights on a Musaka, which was already firing up at him with its phalanx emplacements. Dodging the fire with near effortlessness, Sleggar dove Unit Beta over the cruiser, systematically returning fire with his hyper beam rifle. After obliterating the main bow beam cannons, the hangars and catapult decks as well as several of the phalanx emplacements in one pass, Sleggear brought the Gundam up and over the cruiser's bridge. Dropping down and touching upon the bridge's top, Sleggar let out a single beam rifle shot, destroying the entire tower in one go. Three more shots into the stern later, the entire hull buckled and the cruiser detonated in a great explosion.

With that done, Sleggar shifted targets to another Musaka, this time dropping down and flying under the green cruiser. Once more evading the phalanx and missile fire, he twisted up and launched several beams into its belly, taking out everything from the underside beam cannon turret to the wings and spherical generators. Several shots in, the Musaka began to list port, several explosions occurring throughout its hull. One large explosion later, it broke into five pieces, all floating away at different vectors.

Unfortunately he didn't have time to pause, as his sensors once more beeped in warning, causing him to instinctively evade as a series of yellow beam cannon shots blasted by him. Turning around to see the source, Sleggar's eyes took on even deeper vehemence. This time, his attacker was a Rewloola.

Its crew determined and quite driven to destroy their unknown target, the battlecruiser instantly launched an additional number of beam cannon shots with accompanying missile fire toward the blue mobile suit. Unfortunately for them however, Sleggar once again had no issue dodging them. A rookie pilot might have been intimidated, but to him the Rewloola was just one up from the Musaka; in other words, just a bigger target. One that he had already killed a number of to this point.

When he got close enough, he shot up over the battlecruiser, now avoiding phalanx fire, before coming to a brief halt over the middle. From there, he switched his hyper beam rifle to its titular hyper mode, angled it down toward the ship and pulled the trigger. An instant later, a massive magenta beam launched out from the rifle and blasted square through the battlecruiser, leaving a large hole in its center and causing secondary explosions to rock throughout the ship. The remainder exploded not long after.

---

Zeon Rewloola-class battlecruiser Rwaden
Juno System

"The Roelcke has been sunk!" an operator called out to the rest of the bridge, effectively highlighting the tension that had now completely encompassed it.

"Maintain advance and increase barrage!" Delaz shouted, both to do just those and to keep his crew focused. "Recall additional teams for fleet defense!"

No sooner than he had shouted that order, another flash erupted, this one much closer to the Rwaden, signaling the death of another cruiser. At that, the crew continued to work, but the tension remained. Though everyone on the Rwaden, and likely the rest of the fleet, had known the possibility of the Feddies moving to fight them, it was safe to say only a select few knew how hard they would do so. Those few, in turn, were men and women that had fought the Feddies in these circumstances before; in the wake of great destruction and the loss of "innocent" life. Aside from that select number, the rest of Delaz's fleet had been nearly unprepared for the lowborns' collective wrath, and were still reeling in shock over the intensity of their attacks.

For Delaz himself, that, like the loss of that one battlecruiser, was of little concern. In spite of what Gato had stated earlier, he had suspected the Feddies would respond this way; after all, they had nothing to lose now except their own lives. As such, he had molded his strategy around this very possibility, and the result spoke for itself: the Feddies were doing all in their power to hurt his taskforce, but they could not keep it from driving forward as it was now, ensuring that the battle would become a full out melee between both mobile suit and warship. A melee in which the Zeon, with their superior numbers and close-combat skills, would hold complete advantage. Thus, if the tide continued in his direction, Wakkein and his pitiful remnants would be reduced to stardust in little under an hour's time.

That being said, there was one element that Delaz hadn't anticipated, besides that thrice damned Trojan Horse: the three new model mobile suits within Wakkein's lineup. At first he didn't know what to make of them; he had heard rumors that the Feddies had been experimenting with a new mobile suit line outside the Guncannon and Guntank, but he had figured that any machine produced by the lowborn engineers of the Federation would be inherently inferior. But then he saw one, specifically the white one with the stylized red 'A' on its left shoulder, launch out of formation and barrel into his own mobile suit forces; not only did the enemy mobile suit not get shot down from the start, but it actually attacked with such power and ferocity, that it had disrupted the Zakus' advance, which the other Feddie units immediately capitalized on with their own counterattack.

Speaking of that, Delaz watched with growing ire as one of those suits, the blue one, which held the insignia of the Eagle of Arcturus on its shoulder, singlehandedly destroy another cruiser with only a few beam rifle shots before launching away toward another target. Delaz silently cursed that machine. It was bad enough that the three new models were, by themselves, faster and more powerful than any mobile suit seen up to this point, but two of them had to be piloted by the Federation's top aces. And as for the white one, it was still cutting through his forces, only slowing down at select periods of time.

Just what are these monstrosities the Feddies have created? Delaz wondered, as he brought up a holodisplay in front of him, from which he shifted through three different windows, each showing one of the new models. While the white and blue ones were continuing to fight through the main lines, he saw that the red one, the one that held the Valkyrie of Riah's sigil, was still fighting Gato.

"Enemy ships at seven thousand and closing fast!" one of the operators shouted out. Indeed, the Federation ships looked a lot closer now, and as Delaz saw, their barrages were becoming a lot more frequent. It wouldn't be long before the two fleets converged and entered melee range themselves.

Seeing those closing grey and blue ships, Delaz couldn't help but smirk. Try as they might, the lowborn Feddies were a long way from stopping him, much less surviving the battle. "All ships, reload missile tubes and prepare for mass launch on my mark!" he commanded. "Once the enemy formation is broken, advance for point blank engagement!"

---

Just barely raising his right arm in time, Gato managed to deflect the saber strike with his axe. He managed to do the same with the following strike as well, and then the third, and the fourth, but once more only through sheer reaction speed and timing. Through clenched teeth, he countered with an axe attack of his own, but by then the red mobile suit jetted back, evading the blow entirely, and then counter in turn with its vulcans. By the time Gato raised his shield to deflect the spray, the red unit was on the move, coming at him from the right side; only Gato's instinct and reflexes prevented his Zaku from bifurcated. Unfortunately however, he could not prevent the Feddie mobile suit from slashing off one of the left shoulder spikes.

"Goddamn it!" Gato roared out in a mixture of frustration and growing anger. He was being pushed back; against all odds and likelihoods, the Valkyrie of Riah had forced him onto the defensive and was keeping him there. Against her furious yet pinpoint accurate attacks combined with the sheer speed of her machine, it was all Gato could do to deflect her saber strikes and get away with minor damage, while any counterattack he attempted was either rapidly deflected or evaded, with the Valkyrie returning to the offensive thereafter. The number of scars and cuts his Zaku was now sporting was testament to that status.

Yet again did he try to attack, and yet again did his opponent evade the slash entirely, then fly up and over his Zaku at a speed that should have broken the lowborn pilot within, only to twist around and slash at Gato's back. Gato, in turn, just managed to bring his shield around in time to deflect what turned out to be the initial attack, while the second one cut across his Zaku's torso; only by jetting back himself did he evade getting his cockpit cut into.

Impossible! Gato's roared in the midst of the fight. Of all the Federation pilots, dead and alive, that he had fought up to this point, he had never, ever encountered one so fast, nor held such technique. By all facts and logic, a lowborn pilot like Sayla Mass shouldn't have been able to fight in such a manner, let alone dominate the fight against one of Zeon's foremost aces. Just by those same facts and logic, a highborn like Gato should have finished her by now, or at the very least been progressing toward that point. And yet facts and logic be damned, it was he who was being pushed back, something Gato, for all of his superior mental functions, could not even comprehend.

And the worst part was, as he parried another saber blow meant for his cockpit, Gato knew it wasn't because of that mobile suit. While he did not know the exact capabilities of that new model beyond the sheer speed and responsiveness it was displaying, Gato knew a true ace when he saw one. A pilot whose speed, power and technique were such that they could dominate any fight, regardless of whether they were piloting a superior new model or an old, broken down Guncannon. The Valkyrie of Riah, as she was proving now, was one such ace, perhaps the best Gato had ever seen. The tales surrounding the Battle of Riah, and the Valkyrie slaying Admiral Sasro in one on one battle, were fast becoming truth before Gato's eyes.

This is madness! Gato's mind just barely managed to process as Sayla repeatedly slashed against Gato's shield before jetting up and moving to strike him down the middle. Only through another split-second maneuver did Gato manage to keep his Zaku from being cut down.

For her part, amidst her seemingly endless wrath and bloodlust, the Nightmare of Solomon's turmoil bemused Sayla. The pompous, arrogant little zealot could not for the life of him believe a "lowborn" was forcing him back, much less to such an extent that he could barely keep up. And try as he might to hide his emotions and focus on the battle, it was no hard effort for Sayla's special senses to pick up on his confusion and growing despair. For her, it was almost palatable.

Even so, she had to admit Gato was a good pilot. Nowhere near her brother's league, but still better than the average Zeon. The fact she hadn't killed him yet, despite her superior machine and her special senses, showed that he lived up to his famous epithet. That being said however, the Nightmare of Solomon was still no real match for her; Gato was only delaying the inevitable in this fight, rather than working his way toward triumph. The more the battle went on, and the more wounds his Zaku took, the more it was evident that Sayla would be the victor, much to the Zeon pilot's exasperation and the Federation pilot's bemusement.

At the same time, Gato's growing despair wasn't the only thing she noticed during the fight. As she flitted to and from, attacking and evading at each passing moment, Sayla couldn't help but feel something strange about her machine. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it seemed like Unit Gamma was responding to her commands extremely fast; far faster than any other mobile suit she had piloted. In fact, if Sayla didn't know any better, she could have sworn Unit Gamma was following her commands well before she inputted them through the control system. As if the Gundam, through means that she could not be sure of, was not just responding to her physical movements, but her very thoughts as well.

However, that feeling, as strange and potentially unnerving as it was, remained a secondary matter. For the moment, she had a Zeon ace to slaughter. Solomon's Nightmare had stained the universe with its disgusting existence long enough.

"Is this it?" the Federation ace questioned, in a strange mixture of mirth and fury, toward the beaten and scarred blue and green Zaku. "Is this all the great Nightmare of Solomon is capable of?"

She then gunned her thrusters and shot forward, again slashing at her prey. "Is this all the mighty Anavel Gato, Hero of Zeon and Loyal Servant of Emperor Gihren, can do against me?"

"You..." Gato snarled back as he brought his axe to bare. "You're nothing! You're just another Feddie, like those I butchered at Solomon, and Kiev, and Zanzibar," the Zeon ace glowered as he attempted to counterattack. "You're no different from any other lowborn I've cut down!"

"Oh but I am." Sayla replied with growing bemusement as she easily deflected his attack and responded in kind. "You were only up against novices in those battles; inexperienced men and women who knew not their enemy nor their own capabilities. Now you face a true warrior, one who has fought and slain many like yourself."

She grinned dominantly as she continued pressing the attack, with her Gundam and Gato's Zaku continuing to fly about the battlefield, now around the wreckage of other mobile suits. "And I must say I'm not impressed." Sayla stated as she lashed out at the Zaku's head, leaving another great gouge along its side. "For a soldier of Zeon, you are severely lacking."

Gato growled as he again slashed at her. "Your offense is inelegant." Sayla replied as she knocked away the following axe attacks. "Your defense is weak and open." she exclaimed as she jetted around at Gato's right and kicked him away. "Your counters are predictable." she continued as she dodged another axe attack.

She then raised her sword, deflecting Gato's overhead attack. "And you are completely controlled by your emotions, instead of completely controlling them." she finished as she broke the blade lock, throwing back the axe and then making another slash at the Zaku's torso. Again Gato managed to evade, but only by the barest moments. "All common traits of an inferior."

"Silence!" Gato bellowed as he launched another spray of missiles. However, such an act only served to emphasize Sayla's point, as Unit Gamma easily flitted around, once again using its vulcans to shoot down the missiles.

The smirk Sayla was now wearing was nothing short of cruel. "I suppose I shouldn't have expected much." she continued in mock disappointment, once more clashing her saber against the Zaku's axe, with Gato just barely keeping up with her. Though the Zeon was fighting hard, it was even clearer now that Sayla was dominant. "After all, the House of Gato has always been filled with peasants and weaklings."

That one hit home, as Gato's eyes suddenly widened in additional rage. "You...!" he snarled as he pressed the attack. "Don't you dare speak of my family...!"

"Why not?" Sayla shot back, both in words and with her vulcans, forcing Gato to again duck behind his shield. "Their history is well documented, is it not?" she continued as they clashed blades yet again. "An entire line of failures and incompetents, stemming from one of the greatest displays of stupidity to ever befall the Empire. So much so that only through becoming Gihren's slaves could grandeur be restored to you."

Sayla's smirk only grew bigger as she watched Gato's ire increase tenfold. Indeed, the Gatos, while being one of the earlier Houses to emerge after the Empire's founding, became a pariah after one of their ancestors, a planetary governor, had so badly mismanaged the industrial sector of their homeworld that it exploded right under them. After that event, dubbed the Bieutar Incident, the House of Gato's reputation was forever tarnished, such that its members would spend generations trying (and failing) to reestablish their hold in Zeon. Only in recent times, through the Gatos' support of Gihren's regime, could some level of prominence be restored to them.

"I suppose that's the real reason you're so loyal to Gihren..." she called out to Gato's ever growing ire. "...because, if Zeon had remained under its true rulership, a sub-being like you would have never seen the inside of a mobile suit, let alone be inducted into the military."

Again Gato roared and attacked. This time however, his attack was poorly timed, and the result was Sayla not only evading it entirely, but also launching herself forward and cleaving off the Zaku's left arm. Completely severed, the limb floated away while the Gundam arced back and clashed her sword against Gato's axe once more. "Temper temper." Sayla chided, as both Gundam and Zaku exchanged attacks. "Once again lacking for one of Zeon's finest."

Gato gritted his teeth as fought back, his mind racing to find ways to defend himself. Additionally, he found himself taken back for another reason; not only was Sayla Mass an excellent mobile suit pilot, but she knew much, too much, about Zeon's social structure. She even knew about the House of Gato's disgrace and its recent pact with the Zabis, two things no outsider would have knowledge of. And most importantly, through both her words and her form, she projected power. Power that Gato knew could not have existed within a mere denizen of the Earth Federation.

Along that line, Delaz's earlier words came to his mind. That traitors existed in Zeon.

And once more, Gato refused to believe it. It was just too impossible, no matter what he saw before him. "You...you're no mere lowborn...!" he found himself calling out in the midst of his thoughts. "WHO ARE YOU!?"

"Me?" Sayla answered with a cold laugh. "I'm Zeon's Reckoning." she replied, again deflecting Gato's axe. "And your worst...nightmare."

The battle between the two aces only continued from there.

---

With a great bellow, Amuro destroyed yet another Zaku with a shot of his hyper beam rifle. Its two wingmates naturally didn't take well to that, and so launched around the explosion, firing their machine guns in tandem to try and box the Gundam in. Unfortunately for them, Amuro had foreseen their attack, and so launched the Gundam around their shots, moving to the right side of one and obliterating it with another beam rifle shot, and then maneuvering again to shoot the last one in the back. Amuro took but one more moment to glower at the flash of the last explosion, and then shot off for other targets.

Even now, through all the carnage and destruction, the screams continued to echo throughout Amuro's mind. With haunting pitch, the death cries of an entire population, numbering within the billions, sung out in a dark and foreboding chorus within Amuro's consciousness, all the while the last remnants of their memories and beings (perhaps even their souls) remained etched within Amuro's psyche like scratches on a window pane. Together, the screams and the presences were endless; an infinite stream of pain and confusion forcing itself through Amuro like a bloodstream, showing no sign whatsoever of slowing or ending. And no matter how many Zakus he killed, no matter how much he committed himself to the battle, the Gundam pilot could not force them out. All he could do was continue to fight in seeming futility, both against the Zeon and the screams.

If there was any respite to be had, it was that the Zeon were not so hard to kill. Whether it was due to his growing skills, or due to his completely surrendering himself to his instincts and his special senses, Amuro had little issue wading through the battlefield and killing every Zaku he came across. He was death incarnate, such that even the Zeon recognized him as such, as Amuro's special senses picked up.

Once more, Amuro's sensors beeped in warning: six more Zakus came streaking at him now. In an instant later, the bazooka wielding units, of which there were two, fired on him, with their beam machine guns wielding brethren following up not long after. Instincts again taking over, Amuro banked and dodged each blast with practiced grace before cutting his thrusters back to full bore and closing the distance.

Up front he fired a double shot, killing two Zakus at the front of the formation, then closing the gap on a third and obliterating it with a vulcan spray. During that, one of the others attempted to strike him in the back with a beam axe, but Amuro was quicker in raising his shield, deflecting the blow and knocking it away while twisting the Gundam around to fire a point blank shot through the cockpit. From there, he shot upward to avoid another bazooka shot, which he repaid by firing his beam rifle through that unit, detonating it as well. And finally there was the sixth and final unit, which could only remain and spray Unit Alpha with all out machine gun and missile fire, its pilot resigned to die fighting. Amuro obliged him by evading his attacks, closing the gap and smashing his left hand against the Zaku's upper torso, from which he fired a gauntlet shot all the way through and out the Zaku's back. Withdrawing the hand soon after, Amuro jetted away as the stricken Zaku detonated.

But that wasn't enough. Nowhere near enough for Amuro Ray. Gaining a lock on another Zaku, this one not yet aware of his presence, his beam rifle again spat out hatred that streaked across the void and slammed into its target, causing another flicker of light to erupt amidst the field. Another light soon followed as Amuro streaked through the void, followed by another and then another, while whatever counterfire came was quickly and easily evaded. To the outside, it seemed as though an entire line of lights had erupted through space, trailing behind a white comet of pure rage.

And then Amuro felt a new feeling of warning enter his mind: three nearby Musaka-class cruisers were now targeting him, their upper deck mounted beam cannons twisting to face him. Jetting upward to avoid the initial shots, and then banking around to avoid the follow ups, Amuro quickly shifted targets toward the angular, evil looking cruisers. It would be his first time taking on capital ships, but he wasn't worried. Or more specifically he was too enraged to be worried.

Twisting around the neon yellow blasts with furor, Amuro descended upon the first Musaka like a bird of prey upon a rodent. Up front he took out the two dorsal turrets with pinpoint shots, then blasted off the beak like bow tip and laced shots through the rest of the hull. Even with so few shots Amuro felt his attacks having effect; from his detecting the crew's panic to lights flickering from power fluctuations to moments where the cruiser was freely drifting, he knew he was already having an effect. He then spiraled underneath, obliterated the ventral cannon turret, then blasted additional shots into the underbelly, specifically around the area that, through his special senses, he found the engine room was located. From there, additional explosions rocked the entire cruiser, which were only punctuated when Amuro shot up from the cruiser's stern, twisted around and fired two more shots into engine pod. From there the cruiser exploded entirely.

The first Musaka's death instantly caused its partners escorts to intensify their fire against the white mobile suit, such that it seemed as though space were filled with phalanx and missile fire. Again however, Amuro had no issue dodging, his special senses now in overdrive and Unit Alpha responding perfectly to his commands. He quickly regunned his thrusters and flashed toward the second Zeon cruiser, so fast in fact that he appeared as a white blur to the bewildered Zeon crews.

Shooting over the bow of the second cruiser, he made his way over toward the bridge, halting only when he was right in front of it. The bridge crew, naturally, could only look back at him in shock and despair, totally caught off guard by the power of the Federation's new model; that despair was only emphasized further upon Amuro flashing the Gundam's neon yellow eyes. Little over a second later, Amuro unleashed his vulcans into the bridge, slaughtering the entire bridge crew in a series of rapid fire beams. He then shot around the bridge tower and fired more shots down into the center hull, again targeting the engine room and the apollo reactor therein, causing power to fluctuate throughout the ship and the hull to buckle. Several shots later, the Musaka joined its comrade in oblivion.

"And now for you." Amuro growled toward the third Musaka, which was now firing at him wildly and desperately. Yet again Amuro had no problems evading that fire, from which he flashed over the cruiser once before shooting up and around toward the bow. Once he was directly in front of the ship, Amuro put his thrusters to full power and began his attack.

Charging for the prow of the cruiser, Amuro pulled hard right on his rakers, sending Unit Alpha into a wide counterclockwise spiral flight pattern. The cruiser's phalanxes attempted to track him, but whether they were on automatic or being directly controlled, Amuro was moving way too fast for them to get a fix. Now appearing as a white cyclone against the void, Amuro used the rotation to swoop from one side of the Musaka to the other, firing beam rifle shot after beam rifle shot into areas that his special senses isolated as weapon locations or power centers. Again he could tell his attacks had effect, as lights quickly dimmed throughout the cruiser and the engines fluctuated wildly, causing the Zeon ship to list forward into a drift. Once he was over the aft, Amuro brought his rifle around and fired a single finishing shot into the Musaka's "ass". The result was nothing short of spectacular as the helpless cruiser simply came apart in a shower of flame.

The fire soon dying away, Amuro turned Unit Alpha around and began to search for new targets. By this point, it were as though Amuro had lost all perception of his conscious self. Now, he felt as though he had somehow transcended all known forms of thought and perception.

He no longer saw through his physical eyes, but completely through his extrasenses. And while Unit Alpha's comm. system continued to pick up transmissions, he did not hear them through his ears so much as he "perceived" them within himself, alongside the images of their originators. As well, he no longer felt his hands and fingers around the controls; rather, it was as if Unit Alpha's limbs were his own, such that they moved along with his will and mental command. And most importantly, he no longer observed the battlefield through the cockpit panoramic monitor, but beheld it through his own sentience. All the while the screams, and his own rage and anguish, refused to die down.

As all of this occurred, distinct lines along Unit Alpha's chassis began to glow and shimmer.

It wasn't long before his sensors again warned him of incoming Zakus, who were already in firing range. Reacting instantly, Amuro turned Unit Alpha around and charged back into the battle, letting out a bellowing roar, partly against the Zeon and partly against the screams, as he did.

---

Federation Lexington-class fleetcarrier Ark Royal
Juno System

With another burst of beam fire from the Ark Royal's six bow mounted turrets, another pair of Musaka-class cruisers were struck and obliterated. Unfortunately the destruction of those two cruisers were largely irrelevant, as there were many more Zeon ships, who in turn fired back at the fleetcarrier with fair abandon. In regard to that, Bright subconsciously grimaced as one of those beams nearly struck the bridge, but ended up missing along the starboard side. His luck, and his ship's luck, were holding out for the time being, but Bright wasn't sure how long either would remain within this realm of chaos.

By now, the two fleets were merging into each other, causing the fight transition from a straight forward exchange into an all out melee. All across the bridge monitor and viewport, Bright watched as Zeon and Federation ship, Chicago and Musaka cruisers, Montana and Rewloola battlecruisers and a seemingly infinite number of Guncannons and Zakus converged on one another, mixing together as grey and green silhouettes against the darkness of space. Beams and missiles were coming from every angle now, while the Ark Royal's eight beam cannon turrets and various beam phalanx emplacements twisted on their mounts and fired at every target that was in reach. All in all, the Battle of Juno may not have been as intense as Arcturus, Riah or several others, but from Bright's perspective there was little difference.

Of course, the transition of the battle also changed the order of priorities. As Juno no longer existed, the Zeon were obviously no longer concerned about slipping past the Federation fleet. Instead, their objective was not to outmaneuver and overwhelm the Federal battlegroup with its superior numbers. At least, that's what Bright would have done if he were Delaz. Fortunately, Wakkein had anticipated that, and was already transmitting orders from the Magellan to circumvent that on the capital ship level; the mobile suits remained under the direction of the Ark Royal's CDC, and Bright generally allowed Lieutenant Anderson to retain command unless he was directly needed. As such, Bright retained his focus on he and his ship and crew surviving the battle, so that they could continue on their original course to Earth.

"Evade, z plus ten thousand meters!" Bright shouted to the helm, with Katz acting instantly upon the command. No more than a second later, the Ark Royal climbed up and over the Musakas that had positioned themselves in front of her, while her two underbelly mounted beam cannon turrets unleashed their fury. One of the Musakas was quickly obliterated, allowing the Ark Royal to sail over the rest, the warships trading beams at near point blank range.

"Rewloola at one-one-eight, mark four-two-seven! It's closing on us!" Omar shouted from the sensor station. Immediately he placed an image of the green dagger-shaped battlecruiser on the main monitor, just as the forward tips of its own bow beam cannon turrets began to light up. A moment later, they fired, causing the entire ship to rock.

"Cannons one and five, return fire!" Mirai shouted from her seat. Upon that order, the Ark Royal's two portside upper and lower mounted bow cannons let out their song, sending magenta beams straight into the green battlecruiser. Unlike the Musaka, the Rewloola was well armored and designed to take a heavy beating; as such, despite the massive explosions that rocked the battlecruiser, her main hull held against the Ark Royal's fury, while her four remaining bow turrets returned fire alongside a missile strike.

Again the Ark Royal rocked against the beam cannon shots, though she held firm. Alongside, her beam phalanx turrets were quick in shooting down the missiles. From there came the Ark Royal's second salvo, which obliterated the entire bow portion of the Zeon ship up to the hangar decks, as well as detonated the spherical outer generators on either side of the top. Secondary explosions soon erupted as a result, while the battlecruiser listed into a drift.

However, Bright noticed that the battlecruiser was not dead yet, as its engines soon reengaged. At first Bright was confused at that, as the vessel no longer had any bow mounted guns. However, that moment of confusion was brief, as Bright quickly realized what was happening. She's going to ram us! "Hard to port!" he quickly shouted. "All guns, target enemy battlecruiser! Fire!"

Once more Katz was on the move in barely a second's time, reangling the Ark Royal's dual bow toward the charging battlecruiser. Likewise, Omar centered all six of the Ark Royal's bow cannons on the battlecruiser and put them on continuous fire, the result being that entire field of space becoming filled with magenta energy.

Unfortunately though, the stricken battlecruiser was moving at such a high velocity and presented such a small target profile that both the automated fire control system and Omar were having difficulty landing shots, all the while the burning ship picked up speed. The Ark Royal's tactical officer tried to get around this by firing missiles, but only eight tubes were loaded at that point, and though all the missiles hit and caused considerable damage, the Rewloola only continued to close in. Even as she drew closer and allowed the main cannons to at last gain a solid lock on her, resulting with her broken hull being further reduced by beam fire, the Rewloola's charge would not be broken.

Then at last, one of the Ark Royal's shots broke through and struck the already critical apollo reactor, causing it detonate and take what little remained of the ship with it. Though minor fragments managed to strike the Ark Royal after, the damage was negligible, and the crew took a small moment to breath. They were alive for the time being.

Suddenly, Omar's monitor beeped, causing the officer to look on in surprise. "Captain, I think I found the Rwaden!" Both Bright and Mirai looked up as Omar continued. "It's a little scarce, but sensors have a seventy-three percent match on her energy signature!"

"Put it on the main monitor!" Bright ordered immediately. A minute later, a full tacscreen emerged on the bridge's central monitor, in which one of the green dots representing Zeon ships was highlighted. As Bright saw, that particular ship was further back in the fleet, surrounded by a large number of escorts. Just like any other command ship would have been. "Send this data to the flagship immediately! And set a course for intercept!"

"Four more Musakas and a Zaku force coming in, starboard bow!" Omar shouted out in warning. "The Musakas are launching missiles!"

Bright sneered at that. Even though they now had a positive ID on Delaz's flagship, they had no way of reaching it for the moment. Not that taking it out would end the battle; things were never that easy. "Evade! Step up the phalanx fire!"

---

Sleggar grimaced as a beam smashed into his Unit Beta's left beam shield, responding with his beam rifle at the next opportunity. The Zaku succeeded in avoiding a killing blow but still had its left leg severed at the knee. Sensing an opportunity there, Sleggar throttled his Gundam to full power and shoulder barged the damaged Zaku with such force he was sure the Zeek pilot's teeth rattled. From there, clamped his left beam gauntlet upon the Zaku's cockpit and let loose a single beam, killing the pilot instantly. However, just as Sleggar flew away and the Zaku detonated, several more appeared to take its place. "Don't you Zeek bastards ever die!?" he shouted in furor as he fired back with his beam rifle.

To his side, the Guncannon force that had been supporting for the last several minutes came streaking in, each firing their respective shoulder guns at the oncoming Zeon. Unfortunately their shots only managed to destroy two Zakus, with the rest easily regrouping and returning fire. Instinctively Sleggar threw Unit Beta into evasion, the Guncannons all following him. Unfortunately, three were cut down by the yellow beam fire regardless, and one ended up losing its head from a glancing blow. Sleggar responded by snapping off two shots that claimed two more Zakus, but even he could not keep the rest from bridging the gap and engaging at close-range, the Guncannon's primary weakpoint.

Damn it! he thought with anguish as he attempted to give chase, taking down one Zaku after another. But even with all his skill and the power of the Gundam, Sleggar was just one unit, and there were multiple Zakus. As such, he could not keep all of them off his allies any more than he could be in two or three places at once. The result spoke of itself as the Zakus intercepted the Guncannons and dispatched them with their machine guns or beam axes at near point blank, all the while flitting around the Guncannons fire with ease. The Stormers of the group managed to take down one or two, their gatling cannons proving most effective, but even they could not keep up with their adversaries' mobility.

Sleggar grimaced as the screams erupted over the comlink. Of course the Zeeks would go after the weaker ones first. he thought derisively. Fortunately, that meant they were preoccupied, allowing Sleggar to slip in and gun them down one by one. However, this only lasted for a brief moment as more Zakus came charging in to support their comrades, with one brandishing its beam axe and charging Unit Beta. Unable to maneuver in time, Sleggar reengaged his beam shield and deflected the attack, then responded by firing his vulcans. Much to his surprise however, the Zaku pilot veered up and over the vulcan blasts, brought his machine gun back out and fired back. Again a split-second activation of his beam shield saved Sleggar from taking damage, but it also left him open to be tackled by several more Zakus, who held him down and leaving him open to a vertical chop from the first.

Bellowing a roar of pure rage, Sleggar flexed Unit Beta's arms outward and threw off the Zakus holding him, allowing him to switch out his beam rifle for a beam saber, just as the first was about to make contact. In a swift slashing motion Sleggar hacked off the Zaku's arm right arm and then proceeded to cut the Zeon mobile suit in half along its waist. From there, he ignited his thrusters and launched into each Zaku, one after another, leaving behind only divided pieces and superheated edges in his wake.

In the middle of his carnage however, he just barely noticed one Zaku move behind him and line up for a machine gun shot. Sleggar quickly twisted around while reclaiming his beam rifle, moving to beat the Zeek at his own game in a classic draw. That's when something spectacular occurred.

Just as he leveled his beam rifle, another magenta color beam shot out from the distance and blasted the Zaku in the back, exited and shot over Unit Beta's right shoulder. Through the resulting fire, the cast white form of Unit Alpha barreled onto the scene, appearing as an avenging angel as it went on the offensive. Without ever breaking its momentum, the Gundam streaked through space and fired beam shot after beam shot into each and every Zaku within the vicinity, attacking from angles that should have been impossible for its rookie pilot.

Holy shit...! Sleggar thought in complete astonishment as more and more Zakus fell around him. Is that Amuro!?

Through the onslaught, one Zaku managed to move in behind Unit Alpha, beam axe engaged and ready to strike. The white Gundam responded by drawing its left beam saber and executing a full three hundred sixty degree spin, with the resulting slash cleaving the Zaku into at the waist. It continued its attack from there, switching between the beam rifle in the right hand and the beam saber in the left, with no Zaku standing in its way.

As Amuro kept up his attack and Sleggar moved to join him, the Commander noticed that his subordinate took care to avoid hitting any of the Guncannons that were in the vicinity. Indeed, Amuro's attacks were clear and precise, destroying enemies and narrowly missing allies throughout their originator's flight. Every Zaku was destroyed with little more than a singular motion, and every Guncannon was left undamaged as the white Gundam went blazing by, no matter how close the other Earth mobile suits were to its targets. Sleggar soon realized the only other individual he had seen fight like that was Sayla.

Just then several more yellow beams came streaking in, causing both Gundams to turn to their origin. Sleggar gritted his teeth as another Rewloola-class came blasting in. They just kept coming it seemed. "Shrike Three, let's..."

He never got to finish his sentence as Unit Alpha reignited its thrusters and shot after the Zeon battlecruiser, narrowly evading its fire as it flew. Sleggar started to worry. Mobile suits were one thing, but ships were an entirely different field of combat. A field Amuro had no experience in. "Shrike Three, wait!"

No response came, as Unit Alpha simply continued its assault. Flitting and banking around the beams and missiles, the white mobile suit was soon over the battlecruiser, where it took aim with its beam rifle and began firing. At first, it seemed as though Unit Alpha was shooting at a random part of the Rewloola's bow. But then, much to Sleggar's surprise, that area of the ship rocked with a massive explosion, one that shook the entire ship. Amuro followed that up with three or four more shots to different areas, each of which resulted in a crippling explosion that buckled the entire hull of the battlecruiser.

Then, just as Unit Alpha settled on an area toward the aft of the gravely wounded battlecruiser, Sleggar's sharp eye caught something. Though it was brief, he thought he saw thin shimmering lines running along Unit Alpha's right shoulder. What is that...!?

Target acquired, the white Gundam let loose one final beam shot, which blasted through the Rewloola's already weakened armor and hit dead center in what could only be the Zeon ship's main reactor, as the resulting explosion was no less than spectacular. It was then that it occurred to Sleggar; Amuro had been able to detect the power distribution areas of the warship and had specifically targeted them, effectively destroying a whole Zeon warship with only a few beam shots.

However, as Sleggar looked past the explosion toward Unit Alpha, that occurrence was merely a side thought. Cast against the flare of the explosion, he saw that the Gundam's entire body was covered with those lines, which shimmered and pulsated like flickering stars in the night sky. And that wasn't all; Sleggar, wondering for a brief moment if he was getting delusional, thought he saw a transparent white "aura" surrounding Unit Alpha, like a cloud or an energy field.

Thus, when the Gundam reoriented itself from its shot, in which case its yellow eyes were looking toward Unit Beta's, the mobile suit took on an entirely different image. Rather than the avenging angel it was before, the Gundam took on the visage of a demon. Or an unholy spirit.

No... Sleggar thought, his eyes completely fixed on the mobile suit in that brief moment. Even he could not keep himself from feeling terror toward the sight before him. A White Devil.

Before he could say another word, much less communicate too Amuro, Unit Alpha launched away at full thruster power, shooting off through the battlefield for more prey. And in the wake of its trail, additional explosions followed.

---

Zeon Rewloola-class battlecruiser Rwaden
Juno System

What...What is this...? Delaz mentally, feeling complete astonishment beginning to overtake him. The rest of the bridge crew shared his astonishment, and accompanying despair, as they looked up and observed the main monitor.

Upon the bridge's central viewscreen, a tacscreen lining the current battle was interposed. The Zeon forces were, naturally, outlined in green while the Federation forces were outlined in blue. Along that line was the element that had captured everyone's attention: a single blue dot moving through and wiping out line after line of green dots, at such speed that it seemed to be unstoppable. The accompanying image screens, displaying the said unit, which was the white new model that had broken through the lines before, slaughtering any Zaku or ship that it came across.

As Delaz kept watch over that screen and those images, he, for the first time in the entire battle, began to fear the worst possible outcome. From the onset, that white mobile suit, and the blue and red units alongside, had been clear threat to the entire operation, but at the very least the sheer numbers of Zakus and warships had kept them all contained. As powerful as they were, even they could not break through sheer legions of Zakus all at once, and though they had inflicted a fair amount of damage to his forces, they were unable to disrupt his advance, much less turn the tide of the battle to Wakkein's favor.

Now however, things were different. While the blue unit was still being held back, and the red unit was still engaged against Gato, the white unit was moving completely unhindered through Delaz's ranks and butchering them en masse. It didn't matter what the target was; mobile suit, cruiser, battlecruiser, they were all destroyed with equal timing and ferocity. In fact, it was precisely the speed in which the white mobile suit destroyed its targets that made Delaz feel fear; such a rapid display of the destruction should have been impossible for a lowborn, or a Zeon. It seemed almost inhuman.

And that wasn't the worst of it. From behind the white mobile suit, the other blue dots began to move through the newly formed cracks in the Zeon battle formation, caused by both Unit Alpha's reign of destruction and the Zeon force's own confusion over it. And just like the latter, they were picking up speed as they did so.

Damn it, the Feddies are pressing their advantage! Delaz realized derisively as he regained control over himself. He could not allow that even in the slightest; if the Feddies pressed on as they were now, his fleet would take unrecoverable losses, and the battle just may turn toward Earth's gain. "Order all forces to maintain formation at all costs!" he shouted to the operator. "Do not let the lowborn scum break through!"

The operator could only shake his head in frustration. "Sir, there's too much commotion over all channels! My transmissions aren't getting through!" he replied.

Delaz seethed with anger. "Then use the broadband! I don't care if the Feddies hear it too!" he shouted back. The battle had gone too far, and too smoothly, for this to happen. Yes, Juno was destroyed, but that didn't mean he was going to hand the Federation a victory, even a pyrrhic one.

Suddenly, the Rwaden rocked as a surge of beam cannon fire came charging off its bow, destroying two of its escorts in the process. Delaz gripped his chair as he looked over to see the pinprick lights of ships in the distance, moving to intercept his force, though they were too far out for him to tell which type. Even so, he had a sinking feeling on what that taskforce was.

"Five enemy ships incoming!" the sensor operator shouted hurriedly. "The lead ship...it's the Magellan!" The main monitor zoomed in to verify this, depicting an Montana-class battlecruiser leading on a quartet of Chicagos in firing at Delaz's personal force.

Despite his disposition at the changing tide, Delaz smirked at that. So you want to come at me personally Wakkein? Interesting. he thought to himself.

"We're being hailed." the comm. operator announced as another one of the Rwaden's escorts exploded in the background. Completely undeterred by the support ship's destruction, Delaz gave the nod. It was unorthodox to communicate with the enemy commander in the middle of battle, but he couldn't help himself.

Soon enough, the image of a Federal Forces Admiral with blonde hair and a scowl took up the main monitor. "Well well, Admiral Wakkein I presume." Delaz addressed the image almost gingerly. "I do not suppose you are signaling your surrender."

"Hardly Zeon scum." Wakkein snapped back while the Magellan rumbled around him from the Rwaden's return fire. "I just wanted to see your face at least once, before I descend your ass to Hell."

Delaz sniffed at that. Only you lowborn vermin would believe such a place as Hell actually exists. he thought derisively. "Feeling your losses I see." Delaz went on, enjoying the sight of the opposing Admiral's scowl deepening. "It is to be expected, having lost both the planet you were defending as well as the bulk of your forces over a single miscalculation. As a commander, you must feel well and truly shamed over your incompetence."

If Wakkein was stung over Delaz's taunts, the admiral didn't show it. "Not as much as your pissant emperor is going to be when he loses this war." he replied in turn, causing Delaz's eyebrow to twitch. "But for the moment, I'll settle for killing you and avenging the billions you slaughtered."

Delaz smirked. In spite of all that was happening in the battle at large, he simply could not refuse a duel challenge from an enemy commander. "Very well, I accept your challenge." he said, his gaze narrowing into Wakkein's. "Let us see who triumphs, Feddie."

"With pleasure Zeek!" Wakkein shouted back as the guns of both the Rwaden and the Magellan, as well as their respective support ships, rang out once more.

---

Feeling a sudden surge of pressure spark in her mind, Sayla felt her eyes widen and her gaze momentarily turn to her left side. Where the main battlefield remained in motion. This feeling...is that Lieutenant Ray?

Before she could look into the pressure any further however, she picked up the more pressing threat of Gato renewing his attack. Twisting around, Sayla brought her saber up, deflecting the latest blow from the Zeon's beam axe, then counterattacked. Yet again did Gato manage to evade the blow by a bare margin, the saber tip cutting into the Zaku's torso armor, or what remained of it anyway, as Gato put his thrusters in reverse. Sayla responded by putting more power into her Gundam's thrusters and moving into pursuit, with the Nightmare of Solomon, as wounded as his mobile suit was, more than willing to continue the fight. As such, the two mobile suits returned crisscrossing throughout space and exchanging repeated sword and axe strikes.

As they continued to fly about, Sayla took note of the current state of Gato's Zaku, which through the course of the battle had been systematically reduced. Both legs, while still present, were cut and broken in almost every area, with the thrusters within them barely operating. The center torso was so deeply cut that it wouldn't have taken much more to expose the cockpit, while the left torso had been utterly butchered, the latter being a deliberate attack to remove Gato's rose and crossed swords emblem and infuriate the ace further. Obviously the right arm and accompanying beam axe remained as well, but said arm was also missing glaring chunks from the continuous strings of bare second evasions, almost reducing it to a skeleton-like state. And finally, while Sayla had allowed the Zaku to retain its head (for the time being), it too had been cut apart, to the point that the mono-eye was now firmly exposed, the helmet piece mostly "scalped", and with it the commander's antennae now a severed stump. All in all, Anavel Gato's custom Zaku now little more than an undead parody of a mobile suit, only gaining more and more wounds with each passing moment.

He's persistent, I'll give him that much. Sayla though with dark amusement the said the ruined Zaku struggled to keep up with her yet untouched Gundam. A weakling, but a persistent weakling to be sure.

Despite the Nightmare of Solomon's valiant efforts, his continued resistance was more comical than inspiring. Gato was almost literally breaking his, and his mobile suit's, back trying to simply wound her, and yet her Gundam remained undamaged. And as if that weren't bad enough, Gato was still overturning his mind on how a "lowborn wench" could be more skilled than him (not that he would verbally admit it), let alone be capable of reducing his mobile suit to such a state. He no longer even bothered trying to disguise his ire, not that he could have against Sayla's power.

As they crossed sword and axe again, Sayla decided to twist the dagger that much more. "My compliments, Nightmare of Solomon." she spoke, her voice retaining its sardonic and mocking tone. "Not many are capable of fighting in such a...modest state of form."

Gato snarled back, feeling more wounded in pride now than he had ever been before. "We highborn always fight to the end!" he shouted as she executed another axe attack, which Sayla parried. "Victory will be mine yet, wench!"

Sayla resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Not only had Gato's Zaku been reduced through the course of their fight, but Gato's dialogue as well. It was amazing what some would say to cover a broken ego. "Come now, Nightmare of Solomon, let's be realistic."

She then counterattacked, again taking off a chunk of Gato's Zaku as he moved to evade. "Your mobile suit is in shambles, you yourself are wounded..." she said, referring to Gato's now cracked helmet and the trickled down his face, a result of a portion of his panoramic monitor exploding. "...and you have yet to so much as leave a mark on my mobile suit. Tell me, what possibility for victory do you have to hope for?"

Gato glowered as Sayla's beam saber cut off a massive part of his mobile suit's right arm. "My determination..." he said, before raising his voice as he forced back the attack. "...to bring glory unto Zeon!"

Again Sayla resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Not that she could have as she was too concentrated on deflecting the resultant flurry of axe attacks, parrying or evading one strike after another. As inane as Gato's dialogue was, his determination to win remained, even though it had long occurred to him that he was outmatched (again not that he would ever admit it). In that regard, Sayla partly wondered if Gato were now focusing on keeping her away from the main battle for as long as he could, as opposed to actually defeating her.

Or more precisely, Sayla wondered if he were simply delaying his suicide charge, his "secret" final tactic in which he would charge whatever remained of his Zaku into Unit Gamma and activate the self-destruct system, all in the hope of taking her with him into the afterlife. Sayla didn't need her special powers to know Gato was planning that; it was only logical someone as driven by patriotism as the Nightmare of Solomon would fight to take at least one enemy with him unto death. In fact, assuming Sayla didn't kill Gato here, she could see him flying his machine into the hull of a cruiser or infiltrating an Earth station to blow himself up later down the line. It was all too obvious.

It wasn't long before Gato made another grievous error in his fighting technique, attempting to chop into Unit Gamma's shoulder from overhead. Sayla easily knocked the axe blade back up, then counter-slashed, the result being the Zaku now losing its right leg. Gato visibly grimaced at that, as the legs contained some of the Zaku's thrusters, and as such mobility was severely cut down. Not that he had been able to keep up with that strange Federation model all this time.

He attempted to fly back, but Sayla pressed the advantage, cutting off a large portion of the Zaku's head in her next swing, reducing it to about two-thirds its usual size and effectively "fixing" the mono-eye in the center. When Gato attempted to counterattack that, Sayla retaliated by slashing off the left leg as well. From there, it was all too simple to cut off the remaining arm, depriving the Zaku of its remaining weapon as well, much to the Nightmare of Solomon's detriment.

Flying past her opponent's now thoroughly reduced mobile suit and gracefully turning around, Sayla flashed a cruel smirk as she felt Gato's features twist with rage and indignation. "It appears the glory is mine, Nightmare of Solomon." she said, pointing her saber at her opponent, whose mobile suit was now little more than a floating torso with two thirds a head. "I wonder what your beloved emperor would think of you now."

A muted growl and a wrathful glare were the only response Sayla received, so she went on. "Do you wish to die with some level of dignity..." she said, her smirk growing even darker. "...or as a true lowborn?"

The fury in Gato's eyes tripled at that. Though it was not widely known, the term "lowborn" wasn't necessarily limited to non-augmented humans; it was originally meant to denote any creature of clear inferiority. When used upon a Zeon, it was considered the ultimate insult, something that usually inspired violence thereafter.

Thus, alongside the flash of the Zaku's mono-eye, was Gato's response. "You Federation whore!" he shouted as he activated his Zaku's self-destruct sequence, the timer appearing on his dashboard monitor. "I WILL TAKE YOU WITH ME!" he bellowed as he then put his mobile suit's thrusters, the ones remaining anyway, into full burn, sending his dying mobile suit headlong toward the crimson monstrosity.

Sayla frowned, almost disappointed. "So the latter then." she exclaimed as she put Unit Gamma back into motion. Crossing the distance faster than Gato could react, Sayla once again shot past the Zaku, twisted around and slashed it across its back, destroying the Zaku's remaining thrusters as well as the detonation circuitry for its self-destruct system. With that, the countdown was halted, an "ERROR" message appearing over Gato's screen, while Sayla followed up by kicking the ruined torso away. She then promptly finished it off with a spray of vulcan fire, causing it to explode in a fiery mess.

What Sayla didn't expect, however, was for Gato, instinct and honed reflexes again kicking in, to activate his ejection system right before Sayla destroyed his Zaku's remnants. Thus, just as the Federal Forces ace pulled down on the trigger, the Zaku's ruined chest plate flung open and shot off the originally concealed cockpit pod into space, right before the magenta beams connected and obliterated it.

So much for dying "gloriously" for Zeon. Sayla thought as she withdrew her beam saber and turned Unit Gamma's head, intent on carrying out her original exclamation and finishing off the Nightmare of Solomon once and for all. Her picking up Gato's vocal and mental outcry against his inevitable fate just made the act all the more pleasing.

At least, it would have been had Sayla not again felt warning spark in her head. Throwing Unit Gamma into quick evasion, she watched as a squad of plain green Zakus came charging in, firing their beam machine guns at her. Forced to return fire with her beam rifle, in which she struck down several units, Sayla could only watch as one of the Zakus just managed to evade her fire (losing its left leg in the process), move onto grasp Gato's cockpit pod, and then shoot away into the distance while its comrades covered its retreat.

As she watched the Zaku grow further and further away, Sayla considered wading through the rest and pursuing, but ultimately decided there was no need. Yes Anavel Gato was still alive, but that was hardly an issue. The ace was left mentally fractured from fighting a superior opponent for the first time, his pride grievously wounded and his spirit broken. Killing him at this point would be more an act of mercy than anything else.

Besides... Sayla thought, as she, while fighting the other Zakus, looked back toward the still continuing main battle. Where that pressure remained. ...there are more important tasks at hand.

With that, she gunned her thrusters to maximum and launched back toward the heart of the engagement, her Zeon attackers giving chase but struggling to keep up with her Gundam's speed.

---

"What the hell is that thing!?"

"I can't hit it...! It's dodging all my attacks...!"

"Is that thing even human...!?"

"It's...It's a monster...!"

By now it seemed as though the outcries had merged into one singular voice, speaking out in fear of the "monster" slaughtering the Zeon forces. That voice was nowhere near as "loud" as the screams, but they stood out in his consciousness regardless. Some of the speakers were even fleeing before his approach; not that it mattered, as his Gundam was much faster than their Zakus, and the capital ships had no hope of evading him. Such as it was now, as Amuro blasted his left hand gauntlet through another Zaku at the waist and then struck down two more with the beam rifle in his right, all the while keeping up his velocity around the various warships. One after another, presences of human lives vanished around him like puffs of smoke

Passing over a wounded Chicago-class cruiser, which had ended up caught in the crossfire of a pair of Musakas, Amuro took aim and fired upon the various Zakus swarming the ship, striking each and every one of them with now completely precise aim. Several Zakus immediately broke off rather than fight him, but many more turned around and moved to intercept. Like almost every other Zaku group Amuro had encountered up to now, they figured their superior numbers would give them an edge against the "lowborn" monstrosity. Needless to say, Amuro was more than happy to prove otherwise.

Firing off several more beam and striking down more Zakus in the process, Amuro charged back at the incoming formation, raining additional shots as he closed the distance. One Zaku, was somewhat hotheaded even by Zeek standards, shot ahead of the others and attempted to attack him up close with its beam axe. Amuro replied by simply evading the blow and then elbowing the Zaku in the back of the head, right before shooting it through the back with his beam rifle. Three more came up after that, two firing at him with machine guns and the other with a bazooka, putting Amuro on the evasive for a brief moment. He returned fire soon enough, obliterating the two machine gun units in one shot each and then destroying the second by shooting its bazooka, causing it to explode and take the upper portion of the unit with it. He would have made a follow up attack from there, but the pilot was already dead, so he let the remains float away aimlessly.

From there Amuro launched toward the two Musakas, shooting down their escort mobile suits as they went. As he did, the Chicago attempted to reorient itself and support him by firing its main cannons, but it only left itself open to a responding barrage, which obliterating the cruiser completely. Amuro was undeterred at that; though allies were killed, and the pain of their collective deaths was particularly striking, he was too concentrated on taking out the enemy himself. Besides, compared to the billions that died on Juno, and their continuous screams in his mind, the death of a Chicago crew was little more than a momentary discomfort. Needless to say, Amuro would not reflect on how far he had come from his days in Antillia, where the individual deaths of a small military base and a handful of colonists had grievously effect him, until much later. And even then, he would not be able to figure out if he had grown or had fallen.

Coming up to the nearest Musaka, Amuro went to work destroying its main armaments and phalanx emplacements, leaving the ship vulnerable to his follow up attacks. He then made a move to strike its power centers as he had before, but decided that he would do something a little different here, especially when he noticed it was very close to the other cruiser. Flying up and over the Zeon warship, all the while firing shots into certain places (including the bridge tower), he moved behind its port engine block and fired several more shots into it, causing the entire block to explode in only a few moments. As a result of half its main propulsion being cut off and its helm being lost, the Musaka began to list port, her backup crews unable to regain control of her. This in itself put her in a collision course with the other cruiser, which despite the valiant efforts of her own crew which included shooting at its mindless comrade with her main guns, would be unable to evade or prevent.

The result was nothing short of spectacular, with the first Musaka plowing into the second, breaking the latter in half and sending fragments of either ships in all directions. Amuro could even "feel" a few crew members being caught in the vacuum, drawn out of their ships into void of space. It was a horrible way to die to be sure, but once more the Zeon deserved whatever happened to them. Either way he didn't consciously dwell on it for too long, as there were more enemies out there.

Those enemies soon made themselves known as another legion of Zakus came flying in, supported by several Musaka-class cruisers as well as another Rewloola this time around, all with their weapons blazing. As he evaded, Amuro couldn't help but listen into the chatter; it was here that he realized that an enemy commander had specifically ordered this group to target him. The toll he was enacting on the Zeon for Juno was becoming more and more noticeable, such that they were diverting more of their fleet to come after him. Not that it mattered to Amuro either way, as he simply turned and returned fire with his hyper beam rifle, shooting down more Zakus as the force drew closer.

"Will you all just die already!?" Amuro heard himself bellow with rage as another Zaku lunged with its beam axe, only for Amuro to destroy its head with a gauntlet shot and then finish it off with a beam rifle shot to the back. And when another came up, he responded by slamming the handle of his beam rifle into its faceplate, destroying its mono-eye and then finishing it off with his vulcans. At this point the Zeon were so easy to kill he didn't even need to draw his beam saber to fight at close-range, but at the same time there were still so many of them.

Thus, Amuro was so concentrated on the Zeon in front of him that he barely noticed the activity behind him. Before Amuro realized it, a torrent of beam fire erupted from behind him, cutting down the majority of the Zakus and damaging the ships as well. Emerging on the scene like an archaic calvary, Amuro watched as a force of several Guncannons, three Chicagos and a Montana joined the battle, flying up to support him in attacking the beams. "Our thanks to you Shrike Three!" one of the Guncannon Commander pilots shouted as he flew past. "This is where the payback really begins!"

It wasn't just there either; Amuro's senses easily picked up on the other Federation ships and mobile suits rallying together for a massive counterattack. It was then Amuro realized what had happened. The Zeon had ended up becoming so concentrated on him, as well as Sleggar and several others, rampaging through their ranks, that his side had taken the opportunity to reorganize and prepare a counterattack. From there, what had begun as a few independent attacks to soften the Zeon formation had now developed into an all out offensive, with the Federal Forces, for the first time in the battle, driving back against the Zeon. And as Amuro watched, and felt, the smaller group move forward against their still superior numbered Zeon opponents, he could see it was working out effectively.

However, none of it held any bearing on Amuro himself, aside from feeling more and more Zeon disappearing into the void. Thus, he gunned his thrusters and moved to rejoin the offensive, shooting down several Zakus and another Musaka as he went.

---

Federation Montana-class battlecruiser Magellan
Juno System

"Heh heh heh, payback's a bitch, huh Delaz!?" Wakkein exclaimed as he stole a glance toward one of the side monitors, which showed a tacscreen of the entire battle in motion. Though it had taken a bit of time to execute, the counteroffensive was now well on its way toward rolling over the Zeeks, with the blue dots of the Federal Forces beginning to overwhelm the green dots of Zeon in virtually every area. Indeed, Wakkein's thought line was very much apt; he only wished he could see the look on Delaz's face, assuming he even saw the shift in the battle.

The latter was very much unlikely at this point, as the crews of the Rwaden and the Magellan were entirely concentrated on their current battle, with both ships maneuvering about space and firing at each other with their main guns. Though the Rwaden was technically faster and better armed for ship-to-ship combat, the Magellan was more heavily armored and could make use of her whole beam cannon allotment from virtually any angle. With both ships' mobile suit teams deployed elsewhere and their escorts either destroyed or disabled, the battle had turned into a classic duel between capital ships, something that was rarely seen in the modern era. Wakkein would have almost felt nostalgic if he hadn't been concentrated on surviving.

Naturally, there was more to this little duel than a classic showdown between Admirals. So long as Delaz was focused on fighting for his life, or even trying to take down his opposite number directly, he would be distracted from commanding his minions. And though Wakkein knew that, in lieu of their Admiral, overall command would break down to the senior most Zeek squadron commander, Wakkein was counting on him or her being nowhere near Delaz's level of brilliance. So far that seemed to be playing out, as the Earth counterattack was proving. With any luck, Delaz was literally beating himself up trying to sink the insipient Montana-class battlecruiser, all the while his flunkies fell around him.

And with even more luck, he'll also be dead in the next few minutes. Wakkein mused as his ship rumbled around him from the latest attacks from his opponent.

"Missiles incoming!" the sensor operator shouted in warning.

There was no point to that, as Wakkein could see the telltale smoke trails emanating from the battlecruiser's bow. "Evade, hard to port!" Wakkein shouted back. "Unmask phalanx!"

The Magellan's bridge crew were quick to react to his orders, turning the Earth warship around and allowing her smaller phalanx turrets to shoot down the missiles. In response, she also fired back with her own beam cannons, with one scoring a hit on the Rwaden's starboard prow. However, the Zeon warship was far from out of the fight, to which she herself turned around and fired all six of her bow cannons, striking several points along the Magellan's starboard side.

The entire ship rumbled under the power of the beam cannon shots, while monitors exploded and sparks flew across the bridge. Wakkein himself was forced to grasp his chair, lest the force of the explosions throw him off. "Status of our own launchers!?"

"Still operational!" the weapons officer replied as he looked over his display. "Now loaded!"

"Fire them! And follow it up with another barrage!" Wakkein shouted back as he glared back toward the green warship. Soon enough, the missiles emerged from the Magellan's bow tubes and made their way toward the Rwaden, which responded by moving into evasion and putting up a screen with its own phalanx. However, the enemy helmsman made a mistake there; in attempting to maneuver, he or she ended up bearing the Rwaden's port side right in front of the Magellan's line of fire. Thus, all three of the Magellan's bow oriented cannons scored hits, causing visible fire to erupt from the Zeon ship.

However, as damaged as she was, the Zeon battlecruiser was not done yet, and it wasn't long before she re-angled herself and returned fire with her bow cannons. Fortunately the Magellan's own helmsman was more astute than his Zeek counterpart, and had already put the larger ship into evasion in anticipation of the attack. As such, only two of the neon yellow beams struck the Magellan as she turned, all while the Earth vessel returned fire with her own magenta colored beam shots. The Rwaden visibly rocked from that return fire, with one beam even striking the side of the bridge tower.

---

Zeon Rewloola-class battlecruiser Rwaden
Juno System

Wiping the blood off his cheek, Delaz quickly reoriented himself upon his chair. By some miracle, the beam cannon shot that would have taken out the Rwaden's bridge had only been a graze, and so the bridge remained intact. That being said however, damage was still done as monitors had exploded and shrapnel had flown, one of which had cut Delaz across his face. He was luckier than most however, as several of the bridge crew had been more grievously wounded.

"Maintain fire! I want that ship destroyed at once!" Delaz bellowed to the gunnery stations, glaring at the flickering image of the Magellan on the main monitor. He watched as the Rwaden fired at the enemy ship once more, but failed to strike any significant hits, as the grey and navy blue battlecruiser turned and began to encircle again. Delaz knew why his ship's fire was not connecting; by a sheer stroke of luck, the Magellan's initial barrage had damaged the Rwaden's targeting system, and so she had been struggling to gain hits throughout the fight, all the while the Magellan continued to rain pummel her.

And then the Magellan fired again, causing the Rwaden to once again rock from the force. More explosions and shattered monitors sounded, alongside sparks flying in all directions. This time however, Delaz managed to remain in his seat, as well as keep from getting wounded again. Unfortunately that was the only good fortune that came of it, as he soon found out.

"Our main reactor's taken a hit!" one of the operators reported. "Power now at ninety-three percent and falling! Weapons will not remain active for much longer!"

"Can you engage emergency power!?" Captain Yuri Hasler, the Rwaden's captain, demanded just as his ship rumbled from another blow. If the Rwaden lost power now, then there was no way it would survive the next few minutes, as the Feddies clearly held no interest in observing the Mars Convention.

"It's engaged, but it won't be enough to keep us in the fight!" the operator replied in near anxiety. It was obvious he, and by extension the rest of the Rwaden's crew knew what would happen if their ship became disabled.

"Divert all available power to weapons and engines! I don't care if you have to siphon off life support to do it!" Hasler ordered in turn.

Clasping his hands together under his nose, Delaz's hawk-like eyes remained on his opponent, as well as another screen at the side. Despite what Wakkein was thinking, Delaz wasn't a fool; he knew the opposing admiral was trying (and succeeding unfortunately) to keep him out from commanding the battle with this little standoff. Just as he also knew that the Earth fleet had just launched a massive counteroffensive that was doing serious damage to his forces, whom were struggling to meet their enemy head on.

Wakkein isn't as much an imbecile as I took him for. Delaz thought with gritted teeth. He had to step back in and get things under control, but he couldn't do that with the Magellan bombarding his ship. Like it or not, the only possibility of turning the battle back around and winning outright laid in sinking the enemy flagship then and there. And in order to do that, he needed an opening.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. Eyes remaining on target, Delaz watched as the Magellan began to descend toward a level underneath the Rwaden. Clearly Wakkein was moving to target his battlecruiser's underside. That's it!

"All ahead full!" Delaz ordered to the helmsman. "Take us over the Magellan with all speed!"

"That will leave us open to her top guns!" Yuri warned.

Delaz's response to that was a dark smile. "Not as much as she will be open to our guns."

---

Federation Montana-class battlecruiser Magellan
Juno System

What's she doing? Wakkein thought with an arched eyebrow as he watched the Rwaden, having turned herself to face the Magellan, ignite her main engines and went to full burn, sending it on an overhead pass toward her opponent. At first Wakkein wondered if the Zeeks had all gone insane; such a maneuver would only leave the Rwaden open much earlier than if she had gone into evasion. However, he remembered who his opponent was and, more importantly, what one could do with a warship that could move in three dimensions.

As such, Wakkein's eyes lit up with realization at the enemy ship's maneuver. "Evade, hard to starboard! All ahead full!"

Too late did Wakkein shout that order. Before the helmsman could react, the Rwaden, maintaining its velocity, rolled to port, presenting her flank over the Magellan as the two ships intersected. This not only lessened her targeting profile to the Magellan's top mounted guns, but also unmasked all four of her port side turrets, which immediately rotated to meet the passing Federation ship.

Thus, as the two ships came together, the Rwaden's guns open fired at near point blank range, obliterating a fair portion of the Magellan's dorsal armor as well as both of her top bow angled turrets and several of her phalanx. And when the Rwaden passed over completely, she angled her stern so that her aft turret could fire at her opponent's backside. The secondary barrage struck several of the Magellan's main engine thrusters and even reached into her engine room, causing the engines that remained active to flicker out as well, in turn forcing the Magellan into a drift.

Pulling himself up from the ground, Wakkein staggered back from the floor, feeling as though he had been struck by Halley's Comet. Pulling himself back in the chair, he looked out over his broken bridge, which was now littered with debris and more than one dead body. "Damage Report!"

"Main engines and weapons are offline!" someone shouted in warning. "Hull breaches reported on Decks Seven, Nine and Twelve!"

"The Rwaden's turning around!" the sensor operator, who had barely survived a piece of the ceiling falling on top of him, shouted in warning.

"Are there any other ships in range!?" Wakkein shouted back as he looked back at the operator.

"I can't tell! Long-range sensors are offline!" the operator responded, before giving off a grim expression. "I wouldn't place my bets on it, sir."

As such, Wakkein could only look back on his bridge's static filled main monitor, where he saw the faint image of the Rwaden turning to bring her bow cannons to bear. He had no doubts on what would happen next.

---

Zeon Rewloola-class battlecruiser Rwaden
Juno System

"Finish her!" Delaz shouted, with such timber that it seemed like the bridge would shake apart around him. Though the gunnery officer wasn't in his line of sight, he could feel the young Lieutenant's grin as his finger moved to tap the associated key.

And that was when the Rwaden shook once again, with explosions sounding around her.

---

Federation Montana-class battlecruiser Magellan
Juno System

With visible astonishment, Wakkein and the Magellan's bridge crew gaped as a series of magenta beams slammed into the Rwaden from above her, wiping out her top placed bow cannons, accompanying hangar deck and catapult and several of her outer generators. Coming in from that exact angle, a small force of ships, led by the equine form of the Ark Royal, made itself known, their beam cannons blazing away with accompanying missile fire.

Well I'll be damned. Wakkein thought, completely taken back by the fleetcarrier's sudden appearance. Though the Zeon battlecruiser attempted to return fire with her remaining aft cannon, she could not hold up to that sheer level of firepower. As such, it was all the Rwaden could do to limp away, using her aft cannons to cover her retreat while her remaining phalanx shot down the missiles. Unfortunately for the Zeon, their AA screen was not so strong, and several of the missiles ended up striking their target. Only by some twisted miracle did the Zeek ship hold together.

However, before the Earth ships could pursue, another group of Musakas also made themselves known, firing back at the Federals as their wounded flagship pulled itself away from the onslaught. Thus began another fight between Federal and Imperial vessels, with their intended targets obscured by the rampant fire. In the middle of the fighting, the Ark Royal moved itself alongside the Magellan and engaged a tractor beam, pulling the disabled Montana away from the new engagement.

Seeing this all play out, Wakkein shot his sensor operator a small look. "Lieutenant, if we ever return to Earth, I'm not taking you to Vegas." the operator's only reply was slouching in his chair, looking as though he were going to collapse on the spot.

"The Ark Royal's hailing us!" the comm. operator, who had just managed to recover his post from the damage done earlier, spoke up.

"Put it on." Wakkein replied, himself too beaten up to feel anything but relief. He would have ordered the Ark Royal to pursue Delaz, but with his own ship so severely damaged, he and his crew needed all the aid they could get.

Bright Noa's image soon flickered to existence. "Ark Royal to Magellan, sorry we're late." the commander spoke without even a hint of gloating. "We had to kill a lot of Zeon to get out this far."

Wakkein let out a 'heh' at that. "As the saying goes, better late than never Commander." he replied, noticing several scorch marks along the Ark Royal's hull; indeed she had been fighting. "How's the fight going?"

"Sir?" Bright asked, not understanding what the admiral meant.

"Our long-range sensors are down, so we can't monitor anything outside immediate range." Wakkein clarified.

Bright nodded in confirmation, understanding now. "The Zeon are still fighting hard, but we're driving them back. Over half their fleet has been wiped out and many more are going down as we speak." the commander offered a grim smile. "If we keep this momentum Admiral, it will be our victory."

On the tactical level at least. Wakkein thought but didn't say; he knew Bright realized it as well. Juno's remnants weren't that far away. "Let's hope it stays that way then." Wakkein replied as he adjusted himself. "Though I doubt Delaz is quite finished."

---

Zeon Rewloola-class battlecruiser Rwaden
Juno System

With a great pull, the wounded but still very much alive Delaz lifted the massive piece of debris, something he wouldn't have been able to lift if he had not been Zeon, off of the fallen Yuri Hasler. With a fair amount of effort, he pulled the debris up at a fair height and then tossed it aside, right before kneeling down to check upon the stricken officer. "Yuri." he spoke softly, looking over the man's wounds.

"Just a scratch, Admiral." Hasler breathed with an ironic smirk. As far as Delaz could tell, he wasn't dying, but as one could tell from the captain's uniform, he was cut and broken in several places. In that regard, Hasler was truly fortunate, as the Rwaden's bridge was now littered with dead bodies, the result of the multiple explosions that had erupted from the last barrage.

As such, Delaz nodded. "You'll live." he said as he helped the man back up and brought him over to a chair. That is, if we were to get out of this alive. the Admiral thought darkly.

As the few functioning screens displayed, things had truly fallen apart. Delaz could only watch as the Feddies overwhelmed his fleet in virtually every area, with various warships and Zakus falling against the constant onslaught. The tacscreen, which had remained on the barely function main monitor, now showed that the Feddies were not only driving his forces back at great speed, but had taken out most of the squadron command ships, effectively reducing Delaz's fleet to a brainless mob. Even if he could somehow rally them, which he doubted he could do with the state his flagship was in, his numbers were dropping so fast that the Feddies would overpower them regardless.

That only left one option that could bring complete victory. Not allow Delaz and his forces to survive, but allow them to accomplish all objectives; yes, the enemy base had been destroyed, but if he wished to eliminate the enemy commander and the rest of his forces (as he had set out to do from the beginning) once and for all, then he would have to make a dire choice. The Admiral naturally didn't want to do it, but he wanted to return to Zeon and stand before his emperor with only a half victory even less. He also knew that His Majesty, if he had been there now, would have encouraged him to do what needed to be done so that the Empire could fully triumph.

Thus, Delaz, after clearing away some debris, returned to his chair and looked toward the helmsman, who was one of the few bridge crewman still alive. "Engine status." he said as he engaged the personal holoemitter in his chair, materializing a holoscreen control panel in front of him.

"Main engines are offline." the ensign reported as he looked over the damage report. "Warp drive, however, remains operational."

Delaz nodded at that. The only way we can evade is if we departed the battlefield entirely, and that's not an option. he thought grimly, knowing what would happen as he tapped a few keys. "Plot us a course back to Zeon, as close as you can get us, but do not engage." Delaz stipulated. "We will only do so if the worst were to occur."

The ensign didn't like the sound of that. "If I may ask sir, what exactly would the 'worst' be?"

After a few keystrokes, Delaz came down to one last key, which flashed red as if in warning. As he looked over the button, he turned toward the main monitor where he saw another vidwindow: that of the Ark Royal towing the Magellan into the background. Though it was moving back toward the rear lines, the ship was still well within the center of the battlefield; the ideal position to be when Delaz played this last hand.

"Failure to bring glory to our Fatherworld, young one." Delaz stated grimly as he hit the key. "Sieg Zeon."

---

Federation Lexington-class fleetcarrier Ark Royal
Juno System

Omar blinked as a new reading appeared on his display. "Captain, we have a problem!" he shouted, gaining Bright and Mirai's attention. "I'm picking up new power fluctuations within the laser." he looked back with a grave look in his eyes. "I think the Zeeks just reactivated it."

"Put it on the main monitor!" Bright immediately ordered. A second later, the image of the colony laser was presented, with its maw slowly becoming aglow with energy build up. As well, Bright could see that it was visibly adjusting itself for its new target, which Bright didn't need to guess at. It's aiming for the Magellan, and us with it!

"What the hell is Delaz thinking!?" Mirai exclaimed as her eyes widened. "We're right in the middle of the field; he'll be taking out his own ships with us!"

"And his own flagship too!" Ryu added, before putting another tacscreen on the monitor, this time showing the firing range of the laser and all ships within its vicinity. Amongst the various warships, including the Ark Royal and the Magellan, the Rwaden also laid within the laser's reach.

Bright's eyes turned into a glare at that. "So Delaz wishes to sacrifice himself as well." he muttered under his breath. It was a typical act for a Zeon, especially one as fanatical as Delaz was reputed. "Can we evade it?" he asked toward Katz.

"Negative Captain!" Katz called out with growing anxiety. "Even if I could get us out of range, that thing is deliberately tracking us!"

The next thing Bright saw was another vidwindow appearing on the main monitor, displaying the Magellan's shattered bridge and her commander. "Bright, are you reading that!?" Wakkein asked up front.

Bright raised an eyebrow. "I thought your long-range sensors were..."

"We just got them back online." Wakkein clarified, before getting to the main point. "There's not much time. Drop your tractor beam and get your ass out of here!"

Mirai almost blanched at that. "If we do that Admiral, we abandon you to die!"

A bitter laugh was the initial response. "I'm already dead Commander Yashima, and so is everyone who's with me. There's no reason for you all to die as well!" Wakkein countered. "And even more, you have your own mission, don't you? You have to get those mobile suits to Earth as Admiral Revil stipulated!"

Bright didn't have to look around to feel the eyes on him, both from the vidscreen. "This is a direct order!" Wakkein prodded on against Bright's silence. "Drop your tractor beam and get as far away as you can! Now!"

At that, Bright shook his head as his ship rumbled again from a stray shot. "I'm sorry Admiral, it seems your signal's fading." he replied blandly, using the interference to his advantage. "We'll attempt reestablishing contact later. Ark Royal out."

"Bright!" Wakkein shouted, just as Kikka, knowing what her commander meant, cut the transmission.

Bright's eyes narrowed at where the Admiral's image had been. Even if I did leave you to die, which would be in poor form Admiral, the only way to evade that thing now would be to go to warp immediately. And that would mean abandoning my mobile suits, including the Gundams, to die as well. he thought, having purposely kept his tongue in check from Wakkein. No way that's going to happen, sir.

Of course, that still left one question, which the bridge crew, as concentrated on their assignments as they were, awaited: what did they do now? As Bright's mind raced to come up with an answer, the glow in the laser grew ever brighter.

---

"You have got to be kidding me!" Sleggar bellowed as he blasted another Zaku through the cockpit with a point blank gauntlet shot, then climbing away as it detonated. Off in the distance, he saw the laser's maw grow more and more alight, not unlike another doomsday machine from a certain "ancient" series he used to watch. "You bastards are going to fire that thing again!?"

"Commander!" Shiro shouted urgently as his Stormer, alongside Kiki and Michel's Troopers, pulled up alongside Unit Beta and joined it in striking down Zeon mobile suits. "How the hell are we going to stop that thing!?"

"That's a good question Shrike Four." Sleggar said as he redrew a beam saber and cleaved another Zaku into, one of its halves colliding with one of its friends in the back. Sleggar then twisted around and finished off that unit with his vulcans. Of course, how would we even reach it through this mess!?

"Better yet, what the hell are these bastards doing!?" Michel yelled as he unleashed his cannons, beam rifle and vulcans at once, sending a surge of firepower against the Zakus in front of him. Two Zakus were destroyed in the barrage, but more swooped in around the explosions. "Don't they realize they're in the line of fire!?"

"They don't care, Six! As far as they're concerned, they're dying for their fucking 'Fatherworld'!" Kiki shouted back as she tackled another Zaku with her beam shield and then fired her cannons at point-blank range, flitting away before it exploded. "And if they can take us with them, then so much the better! Goddamn Zeeks!"

Sleggar didn't have to take his subordinate's word for it, as he could see it for himself. As he looked around to the various angles of the battlefield, he saw Zakus and green warships continuing to fight against their Federation counterparts while making no effort to flee the battlefield; from Zakus pursuing retreating Guncannons and forcing them back into the fire zone to the various Musakas and Rewloolas laying down barrages on the Chicagos and Montanas to keep them in place, the Zeon were doing all they could to ensure no one left the battle alive. And for those that were outside the zone, the Zeon units herded them like cattle back into the line of fire, performing elaborate formations and maneuvers for that very purpose. As far as they were concerned now, the Zeeks were no longer fighting to win, but rather to die taking their hated foes with them, and they were as motivated toward this endeavor as Earth units were in avenging Juno.

And even then, the Zeon had nothing much to fear, as even when unhindered it was doubtful Sleggar's side could stop the laser. Aside from the Gundams, every unit in the Federation's inventory was too slow to reach the laser in time, and even though Sleggar, or Sayla and Amuro, could likely reach it through their mobile suits' sheer speed, how could they destroy something that large with their present weapons? Even if Sleggar had taken a bazooka with him into the battle, he doubted he could do any more than pierce the laser's exterior.

Sleggar growled in frustration at the whole scenario. Damn it, it can't end like this! he thought as he was forced to shoot down more Zakus, his mind racing to come up with a solution but finding none. All that while the enemy superweapon grew more and more in power.

---

Amuro had just finished obliterating another Musaka when he picked up the laser's reactivation; not just from his sensors and the escalation in comm. chatter, but also through his special senses. Like a sun over a gaping desert, he could feel heat and light emanate from the green behemoth's maw, the same glowing pattern of death and destruction that was building up for release. And along with its reactivation, Amuro felt the screams in his mind grow louder, as if he were reliving the death throes of Juno all over again, such that the Gundam pilot instinctively placed his hands against his helmet in a vain effort to silence them. Enduring the strain, Amuro forced his head, and Unit Alpha's head with it, to turn toward the distant laser, his panoramic monitor's digitized glare emanating off his helmet faceplate.

"Not again...! I won't let you fire again...!" Amuro growled through his anguish toward the enemy superweapon. Forcing his hands back onto the controls, he ignited his thrusters and put the Gundam back into flight, moving straight at the laser. So concentrated on it that, beside the fact he hadn't even devised a means of destroying it, he forwent any Zeon units in his way, maneuvering around them with little regard.

The light of the colony laser only grew brighter, as if accepting Amuro's challenge of defiance. At that, Amuro reached out with his special senses, extending them across the void of space until they encompassed the green cylinder, already picking upon its design and internal structure. As he ran through its form, Amuro's mind instantly ran through each part of the laser, analyzing and identifying each mechanism through shape and function (both individual and toward the whole). And as he did, Amuro felt no hindrance nor uncertainty toward his task; engineering was his field of choice and machines his specialty, each a part of a universe that he lorded over with complete dominion. Though he struggled with humanity, there was very little he did not understand about technology, and while Zeon technology, especially as something as large and imposing as the laser, was somewhat foreign to him, it still followed the same fundamentals and physical laws as any other device Amuro had encountered.

And chief among those fundamentals and physical laws was an inevitability that Amuro was about to exploit. No machine was perfect; there was always a flaw so dire that it could destroy the machine as a whole if and when invoked. The trick now was to find and identify that flaw, before the laser could fire.

Where is it...!? Amuro thought with growing aggression as he mentally shifted through the laser's various mechanics, all the while dodging and evading whatever enemy machine attempted to stop him. The former was proving to be an arduous task, as the laser was a large and complex machine with much in the way of individual parts and features, and it didn't help that a good portion of them functioned far more differently than anything made within the Federation. It helped even less that Amuro was on the timer, and that he had to effectively "rush" through the beast; the laser would fire in only minutes' time, and so Amuro couldn't afford a more thorough scan of each and every part.

And then he found it. A power distribution conduit that flowed too close to the outer hull, which transferred energy from the laser's core to the outer maw. If he hit it with his beam rifle at full power, he could cause a fluctuation so powerful that it would create a chain reaction throughout the rest of the frame. And as Amuro saw, the conduit was closest to the relative "underside" of the laser, well within reach of his main weapon's penetration power.

As such, Amuro felt himself focus, both physically and spiritually, even more on the laser and its glaring flaw. He now had his target. The trick was to reach it in the next few minutes, which he more than intended as he put his Gundam's thrusters to absolute burn.

---

Federation Lexington-class fleetcarrier Ark Royal
Juno System

"What the-!?" Kikka exclaimed as she looked over her readings. She double checked her display before reporting it. "Shrike Three is flying at the laser!"

"What!?" Mirai exclaimed, looking over to Kikka's station in alarm.

"Onscreen!" Bright ordered, having been caught surprised as much as everyone else.

Sure enough, the main monitor displayed the pure white form of Gundam Unit Alpha flying toward the much larger colony laser, at a such speed that it was not only evading the incoming Zakus, but easily outrunning the ones attempting to pursue it as well. Even as several Zeon ships launched a barrage of missiles to keep it back, Unit Alpha simply banked and twisted around them without losing velocity; it didn't even use its vulcans to shoot down the missiles.

As the bridge crew watched this turn out, Mirai turned to Bright. "What the hell is he doing?" she exclaimed anxiously.

The only answer she received from her captain was his completely astonished gaze remaining on the monitor. For the first time in the entire battle, even after the colony laser began to recharge, Bright could only sit back and watch it all happen.

---

"What the hell!?" Kiki exclaimed as she forced her Guncannon into a bank, just barely avoiding the on charging Gundam. As she reoriented herself, she, alongside Michel and their respective superiors, could only watch as the high performance mobile suit continued on. Such was its flight that the Zakus had long since turned their attention away from them and were now attempting, in vain, to pursue.

"Shrike Three, what are you doing!?" Shiro called out, only to be greeted by silence. "Shrike Three, respond!"

"Let him go." Sleggar replied, reaching Unit Beta's left arm out to visibly stop his subordinate. "He's going to take care of that thing once and for all."

The other three pilots looked at their commander's mobile suit as if it had grown a second head. "How!?" Michel let out, totally confused. "He's just one unit! We would need a fleet to destroy that thing!"

Shiro, however, was more hopeful. "Are you sure Commander?" he asked, almost afraid to actually believe. He, more than anyone, wanted that monstrosity destroyed. And not just so they would all survive.

"No more sure than you are Shrike Four." Sleggar coolly answered. "But all the same, I have that feeling..."

That said, Sleggar continued to watch the white Gundam, which through a magnified window he could see was still aglow with energy lines and an outlining aura, move on toward the enemy superweapon. "Go get 'em kid." he exclaimed with a smirk.

---

Now completely through the battlefield, with the pursuing mobile suits long since falling behind, Amuro Ray flew onward toward the colony laser. Through sheer will, his eyes never left the laser's glowing maw, which grew brighter and brighter with each passing second, nor did he lose track of his intended target. Not even the sheer g-forces he physically endured, which only grew more intense as he put more power into his Gundam's thrusters, were enough to take his attention away from the task at hand, much less stop him in his tracks.

Unfortunately, Amuro soon realized, it wouldn't be so easy. So concentrated was he on the laser that he had overlooked the small Zeon fleet that had surrounded it, which were systematically decloaking and opening fire upon his approach. Delaz, if that was the enemy commander's name, had apparently left a small contingent of ships and mobile suits behind to guard the behemoth, just in case any Earth units slipped through. As such, a series of yellow beams rained toward Amuro, forcing him back onto the evasive.

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS!" he roared, maneuvering Unit Alpha around each blast as he did before. Though he managed to keep ahead of them, the Zeon barrage was much more coordinated and finely timed than what he had to deal with before, such that Amuro had to spend more energy maneuvering all the while maintaining his velocity. Helping even less was that, through the barrage, additional numbers of Zakus were storming forward, moving to intercept the speeding Gundam and hold it back long enough for the laser to fire.

Against them, Amuro pulled up his beam rifle and fired several shots, shooting down a few Zakus, but not enough to break through the line. Even as he took down several of them, there was still abundant numbers remaining, which were continually supplemented as more kept decloaking and flying out. He had to alter his flight path or risk getting shot down, but to do so would be to break his velocity and lose several precious seconds, which was exactly what the Zeeks were counting on. Amuro felt his teeth grit at that, all the while the collective image of the cyclopean titans grew larger in his monitor, more so than even the laser.

Then, just as Amuro blinked, a single magenta beam shot out from behind him and took out one Zaku, and then another, and then another. Suddenly feeling a familiar presence approaching, Amuro watched as the crimson form of Gundam Unit Gamma pulled up alongside his own suit, adding its own beam rifle fire to his. "Shrike Three, I have you covered!" Sayla shouted as she stepped up her assault. "Go!"

Hearing that through both the comm. circuit and through his special senses, Amuro refocused on his objective and fired a torrent of beams at the Zeon, with Sayla adding hers for support. Through their combined efforts the wall of Zakus were forced to scatter, allowing the two Gundams to pass through without breaking their flight paths nor their velocity.

As they got closer, the Zeon warships intensified their own fire, even adding missile barrages for effect. As such, Sayla pulled Unit Gamma in front of its sibling and fired a rapid barrage of beams, shooting down whatever missiles were close to striking her wingmate, all so that Amuro could remain on his present flight. Then, when she was close enough, Sayla broke away and dove after the enemy ships, taking them out one after another so that they hindered Unit Alpha no longer. With no remaining obstacles, Amuro moved on toward his objective.

Now so close to the laser that the light was literally filling his main monitor, Amuro was forced to close his eyes and concentrate on his special senses. Changing his flight path, he dove "underneath" the laser, past the gaping maw and moving along the superweapon's relative belly. Once he reached a certain point, he quickly cut down his thrusters and slowed down, timing his deceleration so that by the time he came to a complete stop he was right underneath the conduit.

Thus dropping out of his flight, Amuro twisted his Gundam around, spreading its legs out to balance it through AMBAC motion, and then raising his right arm and hyper beam rifle overhead. From there, Amuro switched his main weapon into its hyper mode and, letting out another roar of fury, fired upward.

All that remained after was a flash of light.