Author Note One

Usual reminder about canon scenes

"Regular speech"

'Thought'

"Soma/Hallelujah speech"

Hanger in Lagrange 3 Base

Allelujah made his way to an empty breakroom, realizing this conversation would be better done in private. He asked Hallelujah, "How are you back? I thought you were dead!"

Allelujah could feel Hallelujah rolling his eyes, "When that bitch of a soldier hit the cockpit, she must have put me in some kind of coma. It probably would be hard to kill a mind as tough as me. In any case, I felt a surge of quantum waves hit me all of a sudden, waking me up."

Allelujah smiled at that, "Hey, don't talk about her like that!"

Hallelujah responded snappily, "Well look who grew a spine! Cut me a break, I was in a coma for five years. It feels like I have a splitting headache right now."

Allelujah ignored the insult, "How do you feel besides that?"

"Despite being happy to be awake, I feel weak. The coma must have done a number on my skills and reflexes. My quantum brianwaves are a bit on the weaker side, though still better than your level of them."

Allelujah just rolled his eyes at the insult. He hadn't realized how much he missed the crazy other voice in his head. Despite Hallelujah's rough edges, he really did care. He asked curiously, "So does that mean you won't be able to help much in battle?"

In an annoyed and frustrated tone, Hallelujah answered him, "You hit the target in one. I will get better as time passes or if I get hit with another large waves of particles like just now, but for now all I can do is let you have access to slightly more brainwaves, enough to actually actively use them."

Allelujah responded like Hallelujah had two heads, "You are going to let me use some of them? That seems unlike you."

Hallelujah huffed, "Do you want them or not? I think we have moved beyond our old relationship. I took a bullet for you, which I regret a little since it put me in a damn coma. I understand you want to survive as much as me, so I have no problem with letting you use them.

Allelujah shrugged his shoulders, "I guess I do. It's nice to see you didn't forget about that bit after you got shot. I will say it is nice to have you back."

Hallelujah bristled a little, "Don't get mushy on me. It's mainly for survival. I want to survive, so you have to survive. But I did miss being back, though the coma was sort of a long nap, which was nice in its own way. But now that I'm back, tell me what's happened. I'm a bit out of the loop."

Allelujah spent the next couple minutes going over the events preceding and after his rescue, and he noticed Hallelujah seemed particularly interested in the events surrounding Marie and Soma. After he finished, Hallelujah said with gruff tone, "I see you got your girl then. If you ever use your brainwaves to connect with hers, leave me out of it. I don't need any of that mushy shit."

Allelujah laughed at that, not sure he even knows how to. His voice became more serious, "By the way, I don't begrudge you holding that info from me about knowing it was Marie. If I did, I wouldn't have fought as well against her."

Hallelujah gave a dry laugh, "Thank you for acknowledging that. I wasn't always the bad guy last time."

"Just most of the time."

"I usually had a reason. I didn't tell you back then because we didn't exactly get along."

Allelujah nodded at that, "But now we can work together better?"

Hallelujah spoke in a fake sounding conciliatory tone, "Now that I know you want to survive, I don't need to intercede on your behalf. I'm fine in my little corner of your mind for the time being, especially in the state I'm currently in. I do have one request."

"And that is?"

Allelujah could hear the sadistic tone in Hallelujah's voice, "I want to have a word with the soldier girl."

Allelujah crossed his arms, "No violence. She's still a part of my girlfriend."

Hallelujah mentally rolled his eyes, "I know not to hurt her. I'm not an idiot. I just want to have a chat with the woman who put me in a coma. That's all."

Allelujah thought for a second, and replied evenly, "Ok. But the second I feel you have any violent intentions, I'm taking control again."

"Fine, fine. Now let's get out of this room. I want to see a little."

Allelujah smiled at that comment. Despite his many negative qualities, Hallelujah wasn't a completely awful person, just an acquired taste outside of the battlefield. But with him back, he could fight better, and he felt complete. Marie would definitely be interested in hearing about this. Also, they should probably find a quiet room for the two to argue.

Ptolemy Medical Bay

Sumeragi stood worriedly watching Lasse looking at the result of the medical scan. She had recently read Lasse's previous medical reports and the results were something that she wasn't comfortable with. 'How can he be willing to keep going despite what the GN particles are doing to him?' Knowing she had to say something, she spoke to Lasse through the glass, "I looked at your medical info. If you keep pushing yourself like this-"

Lasse looked away from the results, a small smile on his face, "I have no intention of leaving the ship now. Let's just take it one day at a time."

A look of worry was etched into Sumeragi's face, "But-"

She was then interrupted by Feldt's face appearing on the glass in front of her. Feldt spoke succinctly, "Ms. Sumeragi, our observation system detected an abnormal heat signature on earth."

Sumeragi asked curiously, "Are you sure about that?"

"Please come to the bridge immediately. It will be easier to show you."

"I'll be right there." Sumeragi looked at Lasse, who nodded. They both made their way to the bridge, where eventually the crew, along with Anew, was gathered. Feldt, in her regular seat, projected what looked like a giant hole on the earth for everyone to see. The crew looked at it curiously, wondering what was up with it. Sumeragi focused on it and realized what it was. With some surprise in her voice, she said, "This was caused by a satellite weapon."

Feldt spoke up in response, "It was probably a device that used a solar power system, but we still don't have much information about it."

Lasse looked up at Feldt, "What was the target?"

"The capital of Suille."

Setsuna looked grimly at the image which was most likely a major settlement of the country, "Not Suille." 'Hasn't the middle east gone through enough?'

A thought came to Tieria. 'Was this the A-Laws? Or was this Ribbons?' He knew he had been sitting on this information for a while, doing nothing with it. 'Should I share this with the crew?' Balling up his fists, he knew the answer. He looked again at the destruction the innovators were willing to cause and knew he shouldn't keep it a secret anymore. 'They need to know.'

Allelujah gave Sumeragi a serious look. She sighed, getting the message, and she spoke with conviction, "Ok. As soon as repairs and resupply are done, the Ptolemy will head out and destroy the Federation's satellite weapon!"

Tieria spoke up desperately as she finished her sentence, "Wait a moment!" Everyone looked at Tieria, confused by his outburst. He continued in a more even tone, "Before we go, there is something you should know. The Federation is being manipulated by a secret group that wants to control the whole world."

Ian looked at him with confusion, "Secret group wanting to control the world?"

Lyle jumped in, his voice having a hard edge, "And how did you happen to come across this information?"

Tieria looked at the Irishman in the eyes, "Because I met them." Tieria then told the group what happened at the party and his meeting with ribbons. He felt relieved to get this information off his chest. It had been weighing him down for the past week or so since he learned about it. Setsuna looked at Tieria, realizing this was what he didn't answer when he asked about what he found after the party.

The first one to speak up was Setsuna, who was processing the information for himself, "Living terminals for Veda?"

Lyle spoke up next, "So these are the bastards controlling the A-Laws then?"

Ian added to both of those points, "And these people have control over Veda."

Allelujah, realizing the full implications of this, interjected, "So that means five years ago when we started our armed interventions, they were interfering?"

Sumeragi looked down in contemplation, "They must have been behind team trinity and the UN getting the Pseudo-GN drives."

Lasse spoke bluntly, "You know what this means. These guys went and changed Aeolia's plan."

Feldt came to her own realization at that, her voice a bit empty, "And because of them, Lockon, Chris and the others…"

Lyle gave Tieria a hard look, "Why wait until now to tell us something so important?"

Tieria gave him a look of slight regret, "They said they were the ones continuing Aeolia's plan. If that's true, then there is a chance that we are the ones going against the plan."

Allelujah spoke up with resolve, "How can that be? How can real peace be achieved by killing thousands of innocent people?"

Setsuna's low tones caught everyone's attention, "The innovators changed the world for their own desires and are using the A-Laws as their tool to secure their vision of the future. We will eliminate them both, for the good of humanity." The crew looked at Setsuna with appreciation, his presence bolstering their confidence. However, Feldt looked at him with wide, worried eyes. 'Please don't risk yourself so much.'

The majority of the crew, with the exception of Feldt, Sumeragi and Tieria all voiced their approval of Setsuna's idea. Sumeragi looked contemplatively at him while Feldt continued to look on him worried. Tieria spoke up, desperation in his voice, "Wait, everyone! I'm-"

He was interrupted by Sumeragi putting a hand on his shoulder and giving him a smile, "I know what you are trying to say, but what's important is destroying the satellite weapon." He looked at her warmly and she continued, "No matter what, you are one of us." She looked to everyone else, "We leave as soon as repairs and resupply is done, so enjoy what free time you have here. We will be busy after we leave."

The crew nodded to her, dispersing throughout the ship and station. As Setsuna was about to leave, he heard Feldt call out to him in a quiet voice, "Hey Setsuna..." 'This is my chance.' She could feel her nerves beginning to give out.

He turned to face her, and he asked with a concerned voice, "Is there something wrong?" Setsuna could see her looking down at her keyboard, avoiding looking at him.

Feldt's nerves frayed, and her words died on her tongue, along with her confidence. 'What if he doesn't like me? What if I mess it up? What if he doesn't answer me?' After a second, she just said, "Good luck out there."

He gave her a warm smile, filling her with happiness as well as more nervousness, "Thank you. I'll talk to you another time." She watched him leave the bridge, feeling despondent. 'Why can't I say it? Why can't I tell him how I feel?' What she didn't notice was Sumeragi give her a curious look at that interaction. 'What is happening with those two?'

Allelujah's Room

As Allelujah led Marie to his room, she could detect something was odd with him. Not bad necessarily, but something was definitely different. When she first saw him on the bridge, he seemed happier somehow, like he had found something he was looking for. Allelujah had told her he wanted to talk with her about something, but it would be best in private. 'What would he need to talk about in private?'

As they entered the room and the door closed behind her, she felt a brainwave of affection from Allelujah in her mind. 'Since when could he do that?' She stared at him in shock for several seconds, before asking, "When did you gain the ability to do that? I thought that you couldn't access your brainwaves without…" She tapered off, realizing what had happened.

Allelujah gave her a happy smile, "After that strange wave of particles hit me, it woke up Hallelujah from what basically was a coma he was in. I had assumed he was dead but was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't."

Marie clasped her hands together in happiness, "That's great! And it seems that you can use your brainwaves again. I assume Hallelujah has something to do with that?" Allelujah gave her a nod. She looked at him curiously, "Do you know what happened at the base when that happened? When I was looking at the Ptolemy, both Soma and I got a vision of some kind of laser hitting the ground and a large dust and debris storm from that hitting the Colonel's ship. Contextually we know what happened now, but how could I and Soma have seen that? It's very far away."

"Based on what Hallelujah told me, it was a concentrated wave of quantum particles. Based on this waking him up, I don't think we've seen that sort of concentrated wave like that before. My only guess is it came from Setsuna's test."

She nodded at, "That makes sense. Whatever you guys were testing, it must have been powerful to release that many particles. I never heard of that in all my time back on earth." She sent her love with brainwaves to Allelujah, testing this new ability. She quickly received the same thing back, causing her to blush. 'I didn't realize how nice that this would be.' She wrapped her arms around him, just wanting to sit in the comfortable silence, soaking in her own happiness that she can just be here with him. Allelujah wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in closer.

After a little bit of time had passed, Marie heard Soma's voice speak to her impatiently, "Remember what you promised me?"

Marie internally sighed. Of course she remembered. 'Did she have to ruin the moment?' She looked up at Allelujah, "I promised Soma that if you ever got Hallelujah back, that I would let her talk to him. Do you mind?"

Allelujah chuckled, Marie feeling the vibrations as he did so, "Hallelujah asked the same of me with Soma. It's funny both of them wanted to talk to each other. He agreed to play fair and not try to kill her. Is Soma the same?"

Marie felt a great deal of annoyance and frustration, but got a begrudging, "Yes." Marie nodded up at Allelujah. He gave a heavy sigh.

The two of them broke their embrace reluctantly and stood apart from each other, preparing for the headache of an argument that was about to happen. They signaled to their other halves and felt as Soma and Hallelujah took control. Soma was the first to start talking. Her tone was angry and spiteful, "How dare you come back subject E57! You killed so many of my comrades!"

Hallelujah looked unphased by that, "Is this really what you are going to go on about? You killed my friend this or you killed my comrades that? I don't regret surviving, especially after they wanted to capture us."

Soma felt anger pulse in her system and gave him a death glare, "If I hadn't promised Marie I wouldn't kill her boyfriend, I would have killed you already. How could you have been so sadistic towards those people? What did you gain?"

Hallelujah gave her a smirk, enjoying the sight of her intense glare, "They fought in battle and lost. I don't have to care what happens to them really, though the one guy who held us off after you escaped during the mission where you almost captured me was the only target of my anger at the time, so…"

Soma stepped up to him and grabbed him by the collar, "His name was Lieutenant Ming! He died saving us. Don't you dare insult his memory!" Hallelujah seemed unafraid of the white-haired soldier attempting to threaten him.

A retort began to form but was quickly stopped when he felt Allelujah send him a stern warning. 'Fine, I'll play nice.' He sighed and replied, "Calm down woman! I have been warned to play nice, so I'll stop." Soma blinked, surprised as she let go of her hold on his shirt collar. 'Him being agreeable? This has to be a trick.' Hallelujah continued, his voice containing some form sincerity, "You don't like me and I don't like you. We probably won't ever like each other, but unfortunately the bodies we are in are tied together romantically, so we will have to tolerate each other. How about we agree to let bygones be bygones and just let the other two be happy?"

Soma thought for a second before nodding, "I can begrudgingly work under that, but if you ever hurt the Colonel, I will kill you again."

Hallelujah rolled his eyes, "I still don't understand your attachment to that man, but that's fine. It's not like Allelujah would agree to kill him anyway. I also don't want to get shot by you again."

Both of them faded back into their hosts head, allowing Marie and Allelujah to take back over. Marie spoke up first, "That went better than I expected. I thought Hallelujah would be more aggressive."

Hallelujah shook his head as he chuckled, "He's calmed down a bit since we managed to come to an agreement. He knows how much you mean to me."

Marie grabbed his hand and intertwined their fingers. Both of them were complete and with a tentative peace between the other two personalities, they were both free of worry. She pulled him into a deep kiss and after it broke, she said in a coy tone, "We have some time to burn."

Allelujah gave her a smirk and pulled her into another kiss, dragging her onto the bed. No more words were spoken for a while between them.

The Ptolemy

After exploring the base a little, Lyle had found his way back to the Ptolemy, looking for Anew. Unfortunately, he had not had time to get to talk to her since his arrival and after that space laser, he might not have a lot of time. He knew she was on the ship somewhere overseeing the transfer of gear, but where was the question. He eventually found her in the hanger control center. He entered casually, seeing her typing at a console. He floated up next to her, asking, "It looked like both my machine and Tieria's have had system upgrades."

Anew, focusing on the transferring of the Gun Archer and 0 Raiser into the Ptolemy, replied evenly, "Mrs. Vashti has put a lot of trust in you guys. We are expecting good results."

Lyle could see the 0 Raiser being moved over and with a curious voice, asked, "So is the 0 Raiser ready to go?"

"Not just yet. It is being transferred to the Ptolemaios, so it can be adjusted to the 00's trans-am."

Lyle looked down at the ground, smile coming to his face. In a playful voice, he asked, "I guess this is goodbye? I would have liked to spend more time with you."

He looked back up and was surprised to see her turn to face him, her giving him a smirk, "This isn't goodbye." His surprised look continued. Anew continued, "I'm going to be joining the crew of the Ptolemy thanks to Mr. Vashti's recommendation."

Lyle grinned at that, "Well that's good to hear." 'I could kiss you right now Ian!'

Anew returned the smile, "And it will be good to get to know you and the rest of the crew more."

He could see a gleam in her eye as she said you. 'So, she was flirting back? Maybe I do have a chance.' He happily responded, "I'm certain most of the crew would love another person along with us. Do you need any help here?"

She shook her head at that, "The transfer process is almost done. After this I am headed to the bridge." She watched as the 0 Raiser was finally fully transferred over when she suddenly felt something pass through her head. Red eyes flashed in her mind for second before disappearing.

Lyle noticed Anew was staring blankly into the hanger. Lyle called out confused, "Anew?" He then saw her shake her head and regain her faculties. Lyle asked, "Shouldn't you be making your way to the bridge? Is something wrong?"

Despite being caught by surprise by what just happened, she replied in a slightly shaken voice, "No, nothing's wrong."

Lyle looked at her sympathetically, knowing the feeling of taking a new role with a new group of people, "You nervous about this?"

With a warm smile, she responded, "A little, but I can fake it." She blushed slightly, hearing the sympathy in Lyle's voice and Lyle's heart raced a little seeing her smile.

Lyle headed to the door, "Let's get going." Anew nodded and followed him out of the room, headed to the bridge.

Hallways of the Ptolemy

A few hours into the wait, Setsuna anxiously wandered the halls. He had never enjoyed the calm before the storm. Too many things to think about and worry about. Too many potential things that can happen. As he was focused on his thoughts, he accidentally bumped into Saji, who had been floating the hallway just waiting for the inevitable battle. Saji turned to face Setsuna, a contemplative look on his face, "Sorry Setsuna, I didn't realize I was in the way."

Setsuna waved that off, "It's not your fault. I wasn't looking where I was going."

Saji looked down at the ground, then back up at Setsuna, a determined look on his face, "Setsuna, I've decided to stay onboard the Ptolemy."

Setsuna looked at him, tilting his head slightly in curiosity, "You are certain of that?"

Saji nodded, "I'm not sure how exactly, but there has to be something I can do to help that isn't fighting."

Setsuna could respect that. He fought so other people didn't have to. 'It's what I do, what I only need to do.' Yet that previously consistent thought of his had been shaken up by recent interactions with a certain pink-haired crew member. 'No, there is a battle coming up. I have to focus on that.'

Setsuna was certain Saji would be given something to do by Sumeragi. But all thoughts about that were disrupted by the sound of explosions and rocking of the base. Both Saji and Setsuna looked around in confusion. In a confused state, Saji asked, "Wh-What is that?"

Setsuna replied more firmly, but still confused, "An attack?" He looked at Saji and in a commanding tone, said, "Saji, we need to suit up. You should head to the bridge." Saji nodded and headed to the bridge, with Setsuna heading to the hanger to suit up and get in the 00. 'I hope the 0 Raiser is ready.'

Bridge of the Ptolemy

Feldt looked at the scanners, gathering info on the situation. What she saw was not good. She called out to Sumeragi, "We are under attack from three sides!"

Sumergai looked contemplative as she looked out the windows of the bridge, "We were one step too slow." 'This must be led by Kati. This battle isn't going to be easy.'

Lasse asked curiously, "What is the enemy strength?"

Feldt looked through her sensors, but she couldn't find anything. She had a gut feeling it was significant though. She reported, "Unknown. I can't see much out there."

Sumeragi spoke up as the rest of the bridge crew, including Saji and Marie, arrived, "Everyone, helmets on! Anew, take the helm." Anew responded affirmatively to that order.

Lasse sighed in relief, "Thank you Anew. Now I can focus on firing."

While that happened, Feldt looked at the Saji and Marie and told them, "Take the auxiliary seats and hold on tight."

Sumeragi looked at Feldt, "Are the pilots in position in the hanger?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Then send out the order to cancel the resupply and have the Ptolemy emergency launch. We'll draw the enemy attention towards us."

The crew complied with her orders and the ship rapidly detached from the anchor arms, putting GN field to maximum as the backed out of the base. The gundams launched from the ship, heading out to engage the enemy and protect the ship as it emerged. As the ship exited the exploding asteroid, Sumeragi sent out an order, "Allelujah, escort the shuttles to safety."

Allelujah sent a roger in response and in his mind he heard Hallelujah, "My first time in combat again and we have to escort civilians? I wanted some excitement!"

Allelujah replied to him evenly, "Those people need to be protected. And besides, you aren't much help at this point."

"You didn't need to say it so bluntly. But fine. I want the blood of my enemies soon though."

Allelujah rolled his eyes, "Don't worry. We'll have plenty of fights after this." The Arios, with the Gun Archer attached on top, headed towards the transports, hoping the three other gundams would be enough for now.

With the 00

Setsuna flew towards the enemy worried. 'The 0 Raiser needs more time.' His experience had shown him that the Ahead with the right pilot could be a challenge. 'I need the 0 Raiser.' As he and the rest headed into a group of asteroids, he suddenly saw movement nearby as mobile suits ripped off large cloaks, revealing twelve A-Laws mobile suits. 'They must have cloaked their heat sources.' Setsuna heard Sumeragi order, "Setsuna, intercept them!"

He complied with the order, dashing towards the enemy, taking out a GN-X with a few blasts, leaving an explosion in his wake. He was quickly met by one of the Aheads, who clashed its beam saber with his blade holding him in place. The enemy then pulled back for after a few seconds. 'Why is it pulling back?' His question was answered a few seconds later when a large electric shock came travelling through his suit, leaving him in immense pain. 'Go-got to fight it.' He saw the formation fly past him, being unable to engage them. He saw a device generating the electricity. 'Ha-have to de-destroy that.'

After a minute or so, Setsuna was able to gather the strength to move enough to slice through the device that was generating the electricity. He could still feel some of the aftershock of the device, but he was now able to move. He looked towards the Ptolemy, which was far in the distance, but was interrupted by the sight of two Aheads, one normal piloted by Zinin and the custom Ahead piloted by Andrei. 'Reinforcements?' The normal one charged him, keeping him engaged in melee and the other provided fire support. 'Wait, I know this form. This is the same pilot as the one at Proud.' This fight would not be easy, knowing this was the same pilot who could fight him and Tieria fairly evenly. The 00 managed to push back the enemy suit and began to charge the other Ahead but was forcibly engaged by the melee suit. 'I need to clear out the other suit to have a chance.' Unfortunately, the pattern seemed to repeat every time he tried. 'I need the 0 Raiser. I can't keep up this fight long, especially with so many enemies attacking the Ptolemy.'

With the Seravee

Tieria noticed that despite the 00 being sent to engage the enemy, the formation continued to move towards the ship. 'I hope you are ok Setsuna.' Hearing the order to engage the enemy, he opened fire with his shoulder mounted cannons, unleashing a large pink blast headed towards the center of the formation. However, as the blast would have hit an asteroid, said asteroid disintegrated in front of Tieria's eyes, revealing the mobile suit that Setsuna fought right before they had arrived at the base. The suit then deflected blast away from the A-Laws formation using its shoulder, leaving them and the rest of the formation unharmed. Tieria looked at the sight in shock. 'How could it deflect an attack of that power? That's impossible!'

He didn't have much time to react as the machine charged him at a rapid pace, extending the beams out of its hand. He only had time to send out one blast before the machine was on him, knocking him back. He realized Lyle would be forced to engage the main enemy formation on his own. 'I'm sorry everyone, this suit needs my full attention.' Just as he was pulling out his beam saber to engage the purple suit in melee, he saw a large orange beam of energy heading towards the ship, hitting the starboard side, leaving a massive hole as it pierced through the GN field. 'What type of firepower is that to go through a GN field?

He didn't have much time to worry about the ship, however. The suit he was facing pulled back, preparing to charge him again, giving Tieria some distance to work with. He tried with no luck to hit the machine as it charged him, he was forced to drop his blasters as the machine grappled him, both of their suits grabbing each other's hands. Tieria spoke to the enemy pilot, "Trying to overpower the Seravee?" Tieria was certain he could win in a battle of strength.

However, as he tried to crush the hands of the purple suit, he felt the Seravee being overpowered, its hands sending out sparks as they were slowly being crushed by the grip of the enemy. 'What strength does this machine have? It must be one of them!' He began to get moved back. As a last ditch move, Tieria fired the two retractable cannons, as they rose from his back, over at the innovator suit, hoping to drive it away. The machine dropped their grip and retreated, moving to where the 00 was. Tieria gave a sigh of relief. 'Of course the innovators are out on the battlefield. I hope Setsuna can handle that suit.' He moved back closer to the ship to assist Lyle in holding off the bulk of the forces.

On the Bridge

Reeling from the shock, Feldt looked at the damage report. She called out to Sumeragi, "Hanger 3 took a direct hit!"

Mileina called out in horror, "My dad!" She could feel tears beginning to form.

Feldt continued, fear in her voice, "Unable to make contact with hanger 3! Unable to bring up visual!"

In a commanding tone, Sumeragi tried to control the situation, turning to face Feldt, "Feldt, Saji. I need you to go check on Ian in hanger 3."

Feldt called out, "But what about my station?" She was worried about Ian, but who could fill her role at this moment?

Sumeragi turned to face Marie, "Can you operate the sensors, Marie?" Marie nodded in confirmation. Sumeragi turned to face Feldt again, "You might need two people to get Ian to medical. I'm sending you because I fully trust you."

Feldt nodded at that, and her seat lowered to the ground, Marie standing ready to get on it. She got out, helping Marie in. She looked at Saji, who had red haro in his arms, and the two made their way to the hanger, to assess the extent of the damage. When they reached the hanger, the found the hallway leading up to it was charred and blackened slightly and the door didn't work. The two of them shoved the door open and when they entered the room, haro floating behind them, it was a mess. There was a massive hole where the blast had hit and the metal in the room was melted and warped. Feldt gasped as she saw Ian's body floating in the middle of the room. The two moved towards him, trying to check on his condition. They saw he looked mostly unharmed physicially and there were no obvious holes in his suit, but they had no way to tell the full extent of his damage at this moment. When they reached him, Saji said to him desperately, "Mr. Ian, are you ok?"

Ian opened his eyes painfully, looking at the Japanese man and the pink-haired girl. He grunted with shallow breath, "I finished all of the adjustments to the 0 Raiser."

Feldt asked, "The 0 Raiser?" She and Saji looked over to see it looked completely undamaged, which surprised both of them.

Ian looked at both of them, "One of you take it to the 00." Ian's eyes closed as he began to breath steady, shallow breaths.

Saji looked at Feldt, and in a serious tone, stated, "You take it. I'll get Ian to medical."

Feldt looked at him in surprise, "But I'm-"

He looked her right in the eyes, "I owe Mr. Ian for helping find something to do on this ship. I will take him to medical."

Feldt's thoughts were a rush. On one hand, she belonged on the bridge and had done that her entire career. It was comfortable to her. On the other hand, her parent's path as pilots called out to her. 'What do I do?'

Saji could see her hesitating. He knew they didn't have time for hesitation, "Setsuna needs this machine. I don't know if we can win if he doesn't get it. We will probably die if we can't win now."

Hearing a reminder of the stakes brought it all into perspective for her. 'The crew needs this. Setsuna needs this.' She looked at Saji still a bit conflicted but convinced, her voice stuttering slightly, "I-I don't know how to pilot." Saji pointed to red haro, floating happily, seemingly oblivious to the destruction.

"Take red haro. I'm pretty sure they can do basic piloting." Feldt nodded at Saji's words. She knew in a pinch the machines could act as pilots, though they couldn't match the skills of a human one. She grabbed the haro.

Steeling her nerves, she floated towards the 0 Raiser. She looked over at Saji, who was beginning to take Ian out of the hanger. He gave her a thumbs up. As she entered the cockpit, she put red haro in the round slot and watched at the displays turned on as the 0 Raiser powered up. Internally, she reassured herself 'You can do this. My parents were pilots and I can follow in their footsteps. I can handle this.' While she tried to calm down, she could still feel her hands shaking from her nervousness. She opened up communications with the bridge, "This is Feldt. I'm taking the Raiser to the 00."

Sumeragi looked at her in shock, "Why are you-"

"Ian told us one of us needed to get this to Setsuna and Saji is taking him to medical. Haro is here to help me."

Sumeragi thought for a second and then responded, "Tieria and Lockon will cover you. Make sure you get to the 00 safely." Feldt could hear the slight fear in her voice at potentially losing another crew member. Before communications closed, Sumeragi said one last thing, "Good luck." She blasted out of the hanger, heading towards the 00, already feeling the protection of the ship being stripped away from her. She was entering an unknown world to her, she knew what needed to be done. And as she blasted past the A-Laws suits, being covered by Lyle and Tieria, the shaking of her hands reduced somewhat, though her nerves were still a bit frayed.

With the 00

Andrei and Zinin were handily keeping the 00 busy. Setsuna was getting frustrated with their efforts at keep him at bay. 'I need to get back to the Ptolemy! If only I had the 0 Raiser!' Suddenly Setsuna saw a friendly signal on his radar marking it as the 0 Raiser. 'Finally!'

As the machine approached the battle between the three mobile suits, Andrei called out to Zinin, "Captain! Unknown enemy!"

Zinin thought about the situation, and then in a commanding voice said, "Go deal with this new enemy. I'll handle the double powered one." Andrei opened up fire on the 0 Raiser, which managed to dodge out of the way with erratic maneuvers.

Inside the cockpit, Feldt was beginning to feel fear creep in. She had no one to cover for her and Setsuna was busy. She tried to calm herself down as her heart was racing and her adrenaline was pumping. A blast passed close by the cockpit, causing her to jump. 'Stay calm. Setsuna will keep me safe. Just hold on.' Setsuna saw the plight of the 0 Raiser and kicked Zanin away, rushing towards the 0 Raiser to dock with it. He was interrupted by Andrei attempting to bar his way, but the raven-haired pilot threw his ignited beam saber at him, hoping to catch the Ahead by surprise. Andrei dodged out of the way and Setsuna closed the distance to the Raiser, activating docking mode.

In the 0 Raiser, Feldt heard red haro yell out, "0 Raiser, docking mode! 0 Raiser, docking mode!" She could feel the ship come to a halt and then a sound of the two machines attaching. 'Thank you Setsuna.' Setsuna could feel the power flowing through the machine. This was the 00 Raiser. It felt complete. He could do this now. He could win.

He opened up communications to the 0 Raiser, curious as to who was piloting. He was shocked to see Feldt sitting in the pilot seat. 'What is she doing here? It's dangerous!' She gave him a relieved smile, her heart rate decreasing and her sense of safety was more secure. She shakily spoke first, gratitude in her voice, "Thank you. I don't know how much longer I could have dodged all that."

'I'll ask her later.' He also spoke with gratitude, "Good job getting this out here. Now hold on, it might get rough."

She blushed slightly and began asking, "What do you mean-" Her words died when Setsuna rushed forward and she felt the G forces pushing on her, forcing her back into her seat. She grunted in pain as he pushed the machine to its limit, Feldt barely noticing the system fully integrating as he sped up. 'Just let Setsuna do all the work now. He knows what to do.' She gritted her teeth, preparing for other intense maneuvers.

Setsuna rushed past the two enemy mobile suits, hoping they would follow him as he maneuvered through asteroids. Andrei and Zanin were shocked by the new speed and maneuverability of the 00. Andrei thought to himself, 'What did that machine do to it?' When Setsuna saw that both were following him, he hugged the side of one of the larger asteroids, using the gravity of it to shoot him faster around it, catching up behind with the Ahead piloted by Zanin. 'I'll destroy them. Those that corrupt this world.' Zanin turned around just in time to see the blade cut through his machine, destroying the cockpit with him inside it. Setsuna watched the suit blow up then began traveling at full speed back to the Ptolemy, which he saw in the distance in the middle of a large battle. He spoke to Feldt with urgency, "What is the situation with the Ptolemy?"

She replied, her voice more under control than before, "Enemy forces are surrounding the ship, but the suits are unable to get through the GN field. Tieria and Lyle are holding them off for now, but there seems to be something on the battlefield able to pierce through the GN field. It's already caused massive damage to hanger 3. I don't know if the ship can take another hit like that."

Setsuna processed the information and realized the situation was worse than he thought. He needed to get back fast. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted the suit he had engaged before they made it to the Celestial Being base. 'I don't have time for you.' He called out a warning to Feldt, "I'm activating trans-am." She braced for the speed boost as she saw her display turn red, indicating trans-am had activated. What neither of them noticed was as it activated, two rings formed near the engines.

Suddenly both of them found themselves floating in multicolored space. Setsuna, who realized he was naked, but too confused to react about that at this point, looked around before his eyes met Feldt's sea green ones. She also seemed to be naked, but was in the same boat as him. In a tone of confusion and worry, she called out, "Setsuna? What's going on?" One strange thing Setsuna felt from her as she said his name was longing and affection. 'What is this place? Why can I sense that?'

He responded to her equally confused, but tried to reassure her a little, "I have no idea, Feldt. But I think we are safe." Feldt look at him and beyond the surface, felt something strange. It was almost like he was a cloudy day, the sun wanting to peek through and shine brightly, but it couldn't. She shook her head. 'What did that mean? Why can I feel that from Setsuna?'

Author Note Two

So to start with the big change, Feldt is now the pilot of the 0 Raiser. This was actually a thing I thought of in the last two weeks or so. I realized Saji didn't have the same narrative need to pilot in my version of the story since Louise was not part of the A-Laws. But then I realized Feldt actually had a decent reason to be a pilot. Beyond normal shipping stuff, Feldt's parents were gundam pilots. Feldt also had to watch people she cared about die and she could only helplessly watch them die. Her piloting meant she could experience what her parents did and be in a position to be proactive in defending the crew and everyone she cares about. It's something that I thought would be more interesting, since this is an AU. I hope you guys like the change and are excited to see more. I do have stuff planned for Saji, so he isn't going to be dropped or anything.

The next change is sort of related to the one from last week, but I just love the idea of bickering between Hallelujah and Soma. It's something I am looking forward to writing more.

Thank you to all those who favorited, followed, kudo'd and gave legit reviews to my story. It makes me happy to see you guys enjoying my story. I'll see you guys in the next chapter!