February 5th C.E. 71

"Well, I guess this is it then," Cleo said as she and the rest of the crew stood in the hanger as Deeraj had his things packed and ready to move out. It has been three days since the order was given to Snowfallto go search for the lone ship called Archangel, and at one coast of losing one of their main protectors for a little while. And by a little while, the machine is scheduled to be released and done by April, but it's in February, and war is unpredictable. There is no guarantee that they'll survive for that long.

"Is there any way to talk him out of this?" Deeraj asked as he and the captain looked each other in the eyes.

"I'm afraid not. It seems he wants us to catch up with the new ship already, so we have to hurry."

"I see..."

"Hey, we'll be able to see each other in a couple of months, kay? Have faith in us a little."

"I do. It's just... A core fighter won't really do much to a GINN besides aggravate it, unless-"

"I've made sure to readjust the ammo to better suit defending and attacking with my own core fighter sir, thank you for the concern!" Isa walked up to him with a poked-out tongue. His older sister walked up to him with her hand raised, giving him a handshake before walking back to what she was doing. Cleo let out a sigh as she walked up a little closer giving the pilot the go-ahead to hug her, not that he needed it as he was one step ahead of her, taking her in a long embrace. Her scent was intoxicating to him. He wanted to stay like that forever, as well, as she buried her face into his neck. However, the moment couldn't last forever, as there was a whistle from one of the lead engineers on the moon that doesn't work for the military but is excepting the job because it pays well. The two pulled away and leaned in for a small kiss before the pilot left off the ship. The captain said nothing but stared as the door closed on her as she watched the man she loves getting into the car with a light blue with a bit of dyed pink-colored tipped hair girl drove them off.

"Alright! Let's hurry! We have to make it on schedule or else!" Cleo snapped back to reality as she started to walk off back towards the bridge, determination in her eyes.

Deeraj looked back at the ship as its engines slowly started up. The engineer noticed this and turned her head with a curious glance.

"You should be proud, but, instead..."

"I... Just have an uneasy feeling about this,"

"You probably paranoid! You've been protecting that place this whole war, right?" She asked as the male straighten himself up and then smiled as he looked towards her.

"Right, I haven't seen you in a while," reaching with his hand, he ruffled the light blue-haired woman's hair causing her to swerve a little.

"Hey! Stop that! Do you have any idea how long this took?!"

"I don't care!" Deeraj shouted back as she continued to swerve from him, patting her head, with her trying to duck and dodge the whole way through.

Hours later, inside the base factory.

"I can't believe you really messed up my hair," the blue-haired woman said as she combed it while looking through the mirror.

"Eh, you've managed, right?" Deeraj got out of the jeep-like car and closed the door, looking up, there was the inner frame of a mobile suit, its gray skeleton standing upright.

"You like what you see?"

"It looks like it could collapse..."

"Yeah, cause we're not finished with it. Tell me, what exactly do YOU want in a mobile suit? I think I know you well enough, but either way," The woman asked as she walked forward and leaned on the hood of the jeep, looking over towards her long-time friend.

"Your saying I have a say so on the mobile suit?"

"Of course, it's yours and yours only. So why can't you?"

"I see... Well, let's get started then," Deeraj said as he walked closer towards the unfinished machine. As he walked, Malik, the blue-haired woman, lead the way towards another woman with short white hair that comes over her forehead as a ban covering almost one eye. She turned around, and then something struck his nerve, a feeling, tingling in fact as he and the woman stopped what they were doing, looking at each other. The sensation lasted for a second, though it was enough for the other to understand what the other was feeling and knowing who the other was. Their eyes locked as Malik stopped in front of the woman, turning towards Deeraj.

"This is-"

"N...Nomi..." Deeraj cut her off as the short-haired woman let the clipboard she held slowly went to her side. The two only stared at each other.

"I see that this is a real thing then. I'm sure you've figured out already that she's a newtype too. We've been using her because she's the same as you. To get an idea on how we'd want this machine to fit you."

"Nice to finally meet the Newtype of Earth Alliance. I heard you scored big with 300 mobile suits. Congratulations, you make the Alliance proud, I hear," Nomi said as she walked up towards him and shook his hand.

"Well, you two can get to know each other a lot more while we build this machine!"

February 12, C.E. Unknown area

Snowfall floated through space. A week has passed since their departure, and slowly but surely, they've made their way towards earth. The ship has been running fine and has yet to run into problems form ZAFT members trying to attack and take out little patrols. Or at least at first, now Isa was launched after Their sensors found a scout GINN somewhere in the wreckage of another battle they were traveling through.

"Stay on high alert. We have a target on our back after losing our main defensive force," Cleo said as she sat in the captain's seat, her eyes observing the open sea of stars. The bridge was on edge as Isa returned with little to no damage appearing to have shot down the scout.

"I'll stay out. They've more than likely sent the message off already."

"Roger, stay safe out there!"

"Roger!" Isa circled the ship's bridge before flying next to it, conserving her fuel until it's time for a fight. There was an eerie silence as they waited, observing, but that silence was broken as a barrage of missiles flew their way. Isa flew ahead and shot down three of four missiles as the last one broke through. Grunting, she stopped her thrusters and made a quick turn, then using full throttle, she rushed, firing off a missile, intercepting all of them.

"Stay vigilant! We read a second larger wave! Intercept them with our own! Isa, get whatever you can from hitting vital spots!" Cleo commanded, and as ordered, the ship members followed, firing off their own seat of missiles, intercepting most of them with Isa doing her best destroying those that got too close. "Pinpoint the target and increase to maximum combat speed! We're seating ducks if we stay in the same spot."

Isa followed the ship and went in front of the hanger.

"Jay! Equip the sword and Gatling gun! I sense that they'll be coming for us for real now," Isa used the guided lines to attached herself onto the arms of the hanger so they can do their work. In a short time, she was ready to sortie again, launching back off into space.

"Isa, stay close to us. If there's a mobile suit, deal with it accordingly," Cleo ordered as she hunched up, looking through the waves of stars before she felt a tingle in her head. "Evade to the left! Counterfire with our main canon, Aim at this set coordinates!"

Isa followed Snowfall's sudden evasive maneuvers and with good reason. ZAFT space ship fired a mega beam cannon at their position. It grazed the pure white battleship thanks to Cleo's command, and right after, they fired off a large red-ray out into space. It was subtle, but a small explosion went off, along with three blue lights possible mobile suits. Then right after, Snowfall releases its second wave of rockets hurling towards the enemy spacecraft. Isa stayed her course, waiting on the move of the three mobile suits. If they got too close, she'd deal with them accordingly, clenching her controls. The missiles exploded a little earlier than expected. They had slowly got up and closed into the ZAFT ship. Once they did, Isa flew forward, gunning for the anti-ship GINN first, hitting the fire button, making the Gatling gun start-up before unleashing a hell of bullets into the legs of the Mobile suit, cleaving it lean off. Flying past, the Ginn struggled slightly to regain balance but did so nevertheless, using its backpack thrusters to do so.

Isa circled before spinning away from bullets form the purple suit. As they got closer, Isa pushed her control stick down, dipping under the sword swing, barely dodging the attack making the purple machine turn around to Isa's space fighter tilt to the side, an anti-ship sword with a beam along the edge shout out, cleaving right through the torso of the machine. Though the anti-ship beam sword cut it in half, the mobile suit managed to fire off a couple of shots into Snowfalls' side, making a slight explosion. With one taken down, her next objective was the other two, but the black and gold one made light work of Snowfalls defensive weapons using its speed to its advantage. Isa grunted and fried off her Gatling gun towards the Black and gold GINN, making it fly off before the bullets could reach it, aiming towards Isa again. Isa felt the pressure from the Suit and moved in time to dodge a shell coming out of the bazooka it was holding. Missing its initial shot, it flew upwards again, aiming to where she was going.

Isa felt a sudden force push her craft to the left. It was the purple suit from before ramming into the side of her. Struggling to get herself under control, there was another explosion as the ZAFT carrier, though missing an engine, did easy work to Snowfall.

"Dammit! We're being pounded on! Aim out ant-mobile suit guns! Help Isa out as much as possible!"

Damn! Can I not take out a ship and two GINNs?! Was my little brother doing all the work from the start?! Damnit all! I will survive! With newfound motivation, she activated her seed mode, feeling a calming wave come over her. Taking control of the craft once more, she let out missiles onto the vicinity and used a rope to swing herself around Snowfall. Cutting with the anti-ship sword, it put the two Ginns away, at least for a start. Detaching herself, she circled a flurry of bullets out, hitting the Balck and gold Ginn as it tried to dodge most of the shots. Still, the thruster slowly went out, and as it would appear, his suit was railed in bullets, causing it to lose its power to move. She went for the Purple GINN, only for it to not be around until she looked up with one out of the way. By the time she looked up, it was already too late. There was nothing for her to do. She couldn't block the descending machine, make a quick enough adjustment to slice through the leg of the suit.

...Raj! I'm sorry!

The purple GINN slammed its knee into the spacecraft's cockpit, crushing Isa like a bug inside. Flying through it, the fighter exploded from the massive amount of damage done to it, leaving Snowfall that had just fired off its cannon through the side of the ZAFT's ship, making the ship explode, pushing the white ship away. Turning towards her immobilized partner, she grabbed hold of him and flew him towards the now defenseless ship.

"We've lost our main cannon from the shrapnel! We're-" Before he could finish that sentence, the gold and black GINN stared directly in their face holding up its bazooka.

"How?!" Cleo stood from her seat, clear and visible fear on her face. Deeraj! Please help me! The black and gold Suit opened fire, allowing the recoil pushes his machine back, hitting directly in the bridge, causing the white ship to explode upon itself slowly. Abela took hold of Nassir as he huffed and puffed as Isa's shoots heavily damaged his machine again.

"Let's go home," Abela said with a smile on her lips.

"R-right."

Ptolemause base

Deeraj stopped what he was doing. The feeling of death and all those he cared for were gone. It was a jarring feeling, one he didn't need to be around them to feel. Dropping his helmet, as he was going to the testing area, he felt the strength in his legs falter, making him fall to the ground on his knees. The feeling of crying suddenly urge up his throat, but he held it back. As he fought back the tears, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Nomi, there with a sympathetic look. Without thinking, he grabbed hold of her and hugged her. Feeling the emotions surge into her, she let him, hugging the Ace back with no hesitation. Their newtype powers allowing the other to understand what the other is going through. Neither having to say a word as they shared that moment, growing their feelings for each other further than before.

Over the past couple of days, the two Newtypes have been spending a lot of time together, mostly because they're working on a mobile suit design, but apart from that, they were just happy that they found someone like themselves. This ultimately leads to them spending a lot of time even after they've worked on the mobile suit. They've spent time together after the fact. Malik calls them their dates to tease the young duo, but neither was opposed to the idea, though held off because of his relationship with the now-late captain of the battleship Snowfall.

"It's ok. We lose those we don't wish to during times of war," Nomi said as she leaned her head on his dreadlocks letting his scent take her in.

"I know this... It doesn't change that it hurts still."

"Take as much time as you need," Nomi said as she stroked the tips of his dreads.

"Thank you."

Orb

"So that's what we were missing?" Erica asked as a young brown-haired boy went to work for the OS for naturals.

"Damn, why we couldn't think of that?" Aarav asked as he pushed himself off the wall, walking forward a little, arms crossed.

"It must've slipped our mind, but we're grateful for your help," Erica said with a smile, tilting her head slightly.

"It's ok," the brown-haired boy named Kira Yamato said as he finished up with the last of the adjustments. After a few more minutes, the teenager finished and applied it to the Astray's inside, making them move far better than any other time beforehand.

"Amazing," Aarav couldn't help but let out a breath as he looked at the female test pilot do her thing. Walking out of the room with Kira, he looked at the young boy and raised a brow. "You know, out of my many years of piloting mobile suits, I could never figure out how to make that thing move for Naturals, but you've managed to figure it out within a matter of hours..."

"It was most of you guys' work really, despite it all, it only took little adjustments from the things you guys have already had on the OS."

"I see."

The two continued to walk along the halls, with Aarav thinking. "Say, do you think that your next destination will be safe?"

"Eh?"

"Weird question... Forget I asked," Aarav said as he kept the same pace, an awkward laugh.

"What... What did you mean?" Kira asked with great anticipation.

"I'm just wondering before you leave, your parents are here, why not visit them?" Aarav asked as he looked towards the young coordinator. Kira only looked forward, hardening his stare.

"Because... I'm not ready yet, there's so much I want to ask them, but its mostly of anger-"

"Kira... The last time I saw my parents was when they sent me here to Orb because they didn't want me to go to war. Well, life is funny, and here I am, finding myself about to go to war anyway. I hated them for a long time... But I could never express myself, as they were killed in an Earth Alliance and ZAFT battle, destroying their base of operations they were working on. I say this to tell you. There's no time like the present. No matter how ready you are, the truth will come out to you eventually, whether you like it or not. So go see your parents cause it may be the very last time you'd see them again."

Kira clenched his fist a little before releasing them, thinking about the idea that Aarav presented to him. The older male turned to the right and stopped mid-walk turning his head to face the teen again.

"You're in a war! Stop acting selfishly and forcing your opinions on others! Talk it out, and you'll see what the other is thinking, then you can do as you please, take my words carefully."

With those final words, he walked off, leaving Kira to walk a little bit forward, feeling his pet bird fly off his shoulder.

Plants

"Nassir Holan! You've been promoted since you brought down the ship and machine. That's been a pain on our sides since the beginning of the war. Congratulations!"

The applause from the higher-ups filled the room with Nassir saluting his thanks.

"Thank you, sir," Nassir said.

"We'll present to you the new mobile suit we've made as to the next step in our beam weaponry, depending on his well you'll perform. We might be on to something," The general took the young man and pat his shoulder. Walking him towards the hanger, a smile on his face. Walking into the hanger, there was a machine with a single v on its forehead. Its body was mostly gray, a most definite sign of phase shift. The machine stood at least 18 meters tall, and its face had a Gundam look but more to the ZAFT-like ways, with the head being more GINN but Orb-like at the same time.

"This is Gundam Wolverine. It's mostly a melee type, the first mobile suit by ZAFT of this kind. So it only depends on you if we decide to go through with this."

Nassir looked up at the Gundam and walked towards it, his body tensing as he reached the lifter.

"Good luck, and treat the suit well!"

Hopping into the cockpit, Nassir started up Wolverine, causing the phase shift to activate, making the color change from gray to his signature black and gold, with white eyes lighting up. On his back were two beam sabers situated on the sides for easy access, and on the back, the skirt is where his beam rifle would go if not in use, as standard by most MS's.

"Nassir Holan, Launching!" Nassir stepped down on the pedals after making some final adjustments using the thruster to boost out o the upward hall. A blue hue making a line as he launched off into space.

April 5th, Ptolemause Hanger base

After almost a year of the engineers working on it and three working with its intended pilot, the prototype transforming winged Gundam was finally completed. Its name being Awaken, the second transforming mobile suit, the first with magnetic coating throughout the entire body. The Gundam itself is Wing Gundam from Gundam Wing, but it's the Endless walts version instead of the regular version. It comes equipped with two beam sabers, a shield, and a sniper rifle extending depending on its mode. The shots last for five before it overheats. It has a buster rifle mode that only fires three shots, as pre the original.

Deeraj walked towards the white and light gray, silver machine as it stood waiting for its pilot. Getting on its lift, Deeraj started the machine up it having a clear 360 view, the first of its kind. The machine took a few steps forward and slightly used its thrusters to hover off the ground. Once off the ground, it transformed into its bird mode, a clean fit in the hanger. Deeraj looked over on the camera with preparations complete as it zoomed in on Malik and Nomi waving at his smiles and celebrations being heard throughout the hanger. Waving back, the Newtype focused his mind and gripped the controls tensing his body.

"Deeraj Young, Joining the fight!" After he said that, the thrusters did their work, boosting him to incredible speeds, speeding through the hanger, causing a massive amount of air to be flung around, and pushing some people back. As some held onto the railing, the Mobile suit flew out of the hanger with a blue hue slowly turning white, making it seem as if it was ablur flying through the stars.

Be careful, my soul. Nomi's thought was clear to Deeraj pushing the thrusters to their maximum, towards a fleet near the Debris that was in a crisis, as they were being torn apart by GINNs. It was time for their Ace to return to the field.