Nelson-Class, Medical tent June 15.

Vince's eyes slowly open as he tries to regain himself before he sprung up with a shout.

"I'm not down yet! Where-" Looking around, he notices he wasn't in the cockpit anymore. Instead, he was in bed. Lifting the covers off his body, he felt a slight sting in his stomach. Looking down, he notices he had bandages around his lower torso, yet it didn't hurt as bad as it would seem. Standing up, Vince looked towards the door and started to make his way towards it, only for the doctor to walk in with a needle in his hand.

"Oh, Lieutenant Gray, I'm surprised you're up so early. How's your wound feeling?"

"I... I feel fine. It stings a bit, though."

"Hmm, I've checked your body, and you were punctured in the lower part of your torso. Thankfully it missed any important areas. You aren't sore or anything?"

"No, like I said, just stings."

"You're a tough one. I'll give you that... I wonder if miss Hayes has anything to do with that," The doctor chuckles, to which Vince smiles brightly in response.

"Part of it, but mostly it is because of my sister, Laya Gray. She's the main reason why I'm as tough as I am... I always had to fight her fights for her," Vince lightly laughs at remembering his sister, putting on his uniform.

"Oh? How is your sister now?"

"Last I heard from her. We were boarding this ship with our machines. I think she went to the moon to go to mechanics school or something. I hope she's doing alright," Vince finished putting on his uniform and started to walk towards the door taking in a deep breath before he continued.

"I see... Oh! Repairs are being made for your machine as well as upgrades almost immediately, so you can go check that out!"

"Right, thanks again doc," as he says this, the door opens, and right in front of him was the sleeping beauty named Sabina. Floating in the hall with her knees tucked into her chest. Letting out a low chuckle, Vince grips her shoulder leaned in with a smile, kissing her forehead. Waking up from the wetness on her head, she looks up, and her eyes sparkled with joy as she moves herself to jump onto her lover.

"I was scared! How is the injury?"

"It's minor. I'm heading to the Hanger. Want to come?" Vince asks as he started to walk there. Without saying a word, Sabina nodded and started to follow him as they walked into the halls.

Orb, inside the hanger.

"Damn, I don't know if we can hold on for much longer than we already have," Aarav smashed his fist into the wall he was leaning on.

"Hey, calm down, we might have a way to-"

"If there were a way... we would've been informed about it already, don't you think?" Aarav turned his attention towards the Astray pilot named Chris.

"Yeah, but-"

"We'll fight anyway... That's what we're here for to defend our homeland," Asagi said as she stepped out of her machine.

"No, I see, you're very patriotic... Just remember, living is better than dying."

"What was that?!"

"Don't get too caught up and protecting your homeland that you lose the point in the fight. To protect Orb's people and the secrets it holds, Orb will be fine as long as its people are here," Aarav looks up towards her, not wavering even in his voice.

Asagi clenches her fist but realizes he has a point, opting to let her anger seemer down for a second.

"All Pilots, please report to the Hanger! I repeat, all pilots, please report to the hanger!"

With the announcement made, those who could still fight in mobile suits walk over towards the side where they'll meet personally with representative Atha. However, Aarav had a hunch on the plan being of them retreating to space. As the talk went on, the Representative and Cagali, his daughter, went through with the plan and how The representative would destroy Orb's mass driver and important facilities at the end of the battle.

"We hope you all will continue to live and fight with ord after this day!" Representative Atha said as he started to walk off the stage until he meets eyes with Aarav, who only stared at him with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall. While the others saluted, he didn't, only giving him a nod. Though he did not react, it was enough to Aarav that he looked his way. With the meeting dismissed, Aarav pushed himself off the wall and started to walk towards his machine.

"Hey! You think we'll stand a chance?"

"Of escaping? Yeah, especially with three Gundams on our side. But I have an important mission for you, can you get my daughter for me? I'll be held up here, and I know she's scared... take her to the evacuation center so that she won't get lost. I don't trust the people she's with to be coordinated that well to dodge debris," Aarav chuckled, earning a laugh from Chris as well.

"Yes, sir! You can count on me!" Chris saluted as Aarav handed him the address. Dashing off to a buggy, Chris speed away from the hanger as the night slowly came to an end, hour by hour.

Boaz, Zaft's base.

"We got here sooner than expected..." Nassir said as he looked up form the table, studying the Bases layouts.

"You think they'll let us launch?" Damon turned his head towards the door, seeing a mechanic knocking on it.

"I doubt it. Our machines weren't exactly in the best fighting state-"

"Excuse me, sir! Your Gundam has been completed!"

"Eh?!" Abela and Damon looked over towards the engineer.

"The top brass made sure to have spare parts in case the enemy damaged your machine, sir."

"So... They foresaw my defeat?" Nassir couldn't help but feel himself being insulted by the chain of command.

"I wouldn't say that, sir..." The mechanic said in a low tone, earning a glare from the Pilot.

"Where is it? I'll head out immediately."

"But sir!" Abela said as he walked out the room.

"It's fine. He'll probably crush that pilot!"

"Don't underestimate the ability of the enemy just because they're naturals."

Hanger

"All systems green, this is Nassir Hanlon, Wolverine, Launching!" The black and gold mobile suit launched took off towards the sea of stars, it's blue hue following him as he flew across.

Unknown base.

Shane looked on as his mobile suit was finally placed back into the mobile armor, attaching itself towards the larger scaled weapon.

"All weapons are refilled and restocked, ready for launch!" A female voice called out to him.

"Alright, Hey, Zack, James, and Zhang, we're going out, don't die out there!" Shane's machine slowly raised off the ground as the gravity dropped to zero, launching into space.

Nelson class, Hanger.

"Alright, I'm heading back towards the bridge. If you're as fine as you say, I guess I should leave it to you," Sabina leaned forward and smooches Vince on his lips before pushing off towards the door. Once she left, Vince turned his head towards his machine. Its purely white body shined in the light, a horn sticking out of its forehead above the Main camera in the middle of the forehead.

"We put oil on the joints as not to cause any strain on them. It should move a lot faster now. Along with that, we gave the machine Gatling guns in the forearm, covered by that armor there," The mechanic pointed towards the armor plate covering the top of the forearm.

"Wait, there's no shield?"

"We don't see no use in that, seeing as you have a wider range of boosters around the suit."

"I see. Is it ready for launch?"

"At any point, you wanted to!"

Vince said nothing but hope up towards the cockpit, the weightless gravity guiding him to where he wants to go. Stopping himself and getting into the cockpit, closing the hatch, he checked all systems, pressing the power button and causing the machine's visor to light up blue as it activates. On the main camera, it slides down onto the visor for better precision accuracy while sniping.

"Vince Gray, Sniper Custom, launching!" Vince pressed his foot on the right pedal while bracing himself for the catapult launching him into space. Throughout his unit, thrusters though small, have been placed even on his backpack giving him a total of 20 thrusters total all around. His main boosters are the four on the back, while four on each leg are small like verniers. With that being said, the other thrusters could be used, depending on whatever direction Vince wants to go.

The mechanics, however, didn't come up with this idea. Instead, Vince did. They just executed it to perfection. Flying out into space, the white unit spun around to test the mobility, flying around, the machine response was quick, and the speed was increased thanks to the extra thrusters drastically.

T...This thing!

"Tch!" Vince pushed down on the pedal to go faster, causing the blue hue to turn into a white one slowly. Stopping on a dime and aiming his rifle, then rushing to the side, putting it away while popping the armor that covered the Gatling gun and aimed with it. Putting away his weapons, Vince let out a sigh as he smiled a little. "This thing is dangerous..."

Turning around, he was about to return to the ship until an alarm went off on his sensors. Entering snipping mode, the machine's camera picked up four mobile suits heading their way. Zooming in, he notices a type of charge up from the larger mobile armor's beam weapon, queuing him in that it was the beam cannon. Gritting his teeth.

"Enemy locked on!" A crew member called out.

"What?! Are they aiming for Vince?!" The captain clentched his fist.

"Vince told me the enemy's location! Portside! We don't have much time!" Sabina stood from her seat.

"Right! Quickly! Descend, but maintain our current course! We have to break away into our territory! Once we made it, the enemy won't even think twice about chasing us!" Once the order is given, the Ships verniers pushed the body of the massive craft downward. Vince kept his eyes peeled as he looked out for a beam until a sudden light flickered. The second it did, a large beam came rushing towards him, though he was able to dodge the attack, thanks to his machines thrusters and his reaction time. Taking out his sniper, Vince aimed with the sniper mode and fires towards the group of four, though his first shot was blocked by a Ginn with a shield, absorbing the hit.

Clenching his controls, Vince flew away from the ship, giving them space and an opportunity to escape.

"Vince! What are you-?!"

"Trust me!" Vince shut off his communication log and shot out four dummies with verniers on them, moving all around his area, the replica of his unit. Boosting behind a floating piece of debris, He entered snipping mode again and readied his weapon.

Unknown area, outside Earth Alliance's territory.

Nassir flew through the now destroyed battlefield that once occurred during the war. Moving through with ease, Nassir looked around the area, only to feel a sudden sensation telling him to look up. Once he did, he saw a Ginn fly above him, holding his shield up.

"Look out!" Nassir rushed up to defend the pilot only to see the long-range beam hit through the cockpit. Damn! Is this guy really?!-Hmph! A feeling struck his nerve, moving his machine back down in time for a beam to travel from a different direction, skimming past the main camera's forehead. A comrade wasn't as lucky as him, as the beam hit the head of a High-mobility type GINN.

"Damn! He took out two of us already! Zhang! Stay on your toes!" Shane told his ally as he darts through the debris, looking for the white unit.

"Shane! Don't lose your cool during battle! Get a lock on the enemy! You should know this!"

"Nassir?" Shane slowed his mobile armor down to get a better reading.

"What type of unit are we dealing with?" Nassir stopped his machine and looked around, hoping to sense anything.

"The machine's a sniper unit, but he's more than that, the pilot... this natural is different," Shane looked around for any sign of movement.

"I see." Nassir closed his eyes before opening them, boosting himself up. "Fire in that direction!" Opening fire, he saw a white glint in the sun's rays, seeing it move from the initial shot. "Now!"

"Roger!" Shane took his beam cannon and fired it spraying melted rays across the damaged area, causing explosions. The problem with that is that they're blinded from the light. Gritting his teeth, Nassir held up his shield in an attempt to shield himself.

"Captain!" Zhang rushed forward towards his exposed side, tanking the hit in the reactor.

"What?!"

"Behind us!?" Shane turned around, seeing the white-horned unit fly towards, firing off two more shots. Nassir held up his shield, tanking the hits before throwing away the protection.

"There you are!" The two machines put away their rifles and ignite a beam saber in their left hand, slashing vertically, though the blades cancel out, causing the two to bypass each other. Turning around with ease, Nassir smiled as he moved in again, seeing the horned unit do the same, only for its verniers to kick in, stopping the pilot in his tracks, a smart decision as Shane open fire on him where he would have been from above. Moving back, the white unit boost upwards, engaging in a firefight with Shane.

Nassir rushes in, seeing the white unit destroy many missiles, though the last one left him blind. Nassir's claw sabers release from the knuckles coming in from behind the horned unit in the right-hand slicing horizontally, though the horned suit boosts upwards, making Nassir miss his attack. This shocks Nassir as he moved his machine to look towards the white unit stopping his movement with his verniers before moving in again, slicing downward.

The white unit weaved back, then thrusts forward, throwing a left hook towards the black and gold Gundam in the face, sending him floating back stunned a little from the boldness of this pilot's attack. Moving back a little, The white unit Gatling gun in the arms revealed themselves ready to fire. However, Shane flew from above again, shooting at the white mobile suit, causing the pilot to back down and move away from the beams. Shane shot the beam cannon at half the power as he flew in closer, draining most of his suit's energy, causing the system to go into the red.

Dodging the attack, the mobile armor detached itself from the extra weight and ad speed towards the white suit at full speed. The horned unit ascended from the thrusters, tossing his beam saber into his right hand. The white unit moves to fight Shane. Nassir moved from behind as the two made a bypass again, their beam sabers canceling out the other. He slashes down using his beam saber, only for the Horned unit to respond accordingly, blocking the attack with his melee weapon.

Pushing down, Nassir quickly sidekick the side of the horned unit. Once he made contact, the white mobile suit grabbed hold of his leg and swung him down.

"Hggg!" Nassir clenches his teeth as he stops himself form the freefall. Stopping with his main thrusters at full power. Putting away the saber, and taking out the rifle, a sensation tingle through his mind, aiming and firing. The beam traveled in slow motion. The white-horned unit thrusters pushed him to the side, allowing enough movement to doge the second shot. However, the third would hit dead in the center. Right as it was about to hit, the beam saber activates, dissolving the attack.

"Damn you! Vince!" Shane rushes in, detaching the four extra arms and using them as throwing objects. The white unit adjusts his position and fires the Gatling gun in the forearm, shooting down each projectile. The explosions went off with each hit. Nassir saw his movements and began laying support fire towards the white unit, which moved side to side, barely dodging his shots.

The pilot's reaction time is slower! Is it possible we're wearing him down?!

As the white unit struggles to dodge the attacks, Shane barreled down, stabbing for the cockpit. The white unit's head looks up but couldn't react in time as its verniers started up. Nassir suddenly lost the feeling of victory as a beam shot clear through Shanes right arm, causing an explosion to push the white unit's machine back. Upon the destruction, Nassir smirks and activates his beam claws rushing forward.

"Shane, head back! I'll hold these guys off!" The beams suddenly cause a tingle down his spine, making him move from side to side, dodging the attacks with ease while closing in on the white unit, who seems unresponsive. However, that didn't matter as a strike dagger darts in front and held up his shield, tanking the hit for him. However, the beam claw melts right through, almost reaching the suit's chest area. Dragging the claw down, his enemy lets go of his shield and follows up with an attempted kick. However, his attack was futile, ducking underneath, boosting forward, then spinning, slicing the suit through the stomach in half, with the first unit out of the way, another Dagger with Gunbarrels attached to its back attacks Nassir.

Moving from side to side, his spatial awareness came in handy as he saw the movements of the Gunbarrel moving in to attack him.

There! Nassir moves his machines in time to dodge an attack from behind, turning around to fire a beam. Right as he did that, Nassir smirks and immediately turned back around, shooting at the second one right in the middle. "Nice try!" Putting away his beam rifle, he thrust form side to side, making it hard for the Dagger pilot to get a good lock on. Igniting a beam saber from his backpack, Nassir stops his machines and moves himself to go underneath. The second he did, Wolverine's body moves to go horizontally, holding the weapon to cut through the last Gunbarrel, making it explode.

"That movement!" The Dagger's pilot moves in, grabbing hold of the beam saber, both slashing horizontally, making the blades cancel out, erupting particles. Turning around, Nassir put away his weapon and grabs the beam rifle shooting at the Dagger. The pilot uses Nassir's tactic, bouncing around, not giving him a good chance to lock on. Lifting the beam rifle, Nassir watches as he retrieves his ally and rushes away from the debris belt.

"He's good and knows how to retreat... I guess they don't need Deeraj to help them at all," Nassir turns around and cruise back towards Shane. The two return to the small base on a meteor that ZAFT brought in as a base. Though it's small, it's used for quick repairs to mobile suits and whatever ship passes by.

"It seems our enemy mad it into their territory."

"Did you at least finish him off?!" Shane looks over with intense eyes

"Huh? Him? Oh, The dagger kept me occupied long enough to retrieve the white unit... He's a tough one. I wonder how he responded so quickly..."

"He's dangerous. We have to kill him the next time-"

"Eh? You're saying you need my help to take the horned unit down? You want him dead? And not by your own hands?"

"I-Yeah! Of course, I want to do it with my own hands! It's just..."

"You almost had him that last time, you'll beat him soon, you take care of him, then I'll destroy the ship... Sound like a plan?"

"No! We'll discuss this with the others!"

"I'm not sure throwing away our soldiers just for one ship is smart... We'll go just you and me," Nassir finished changing his clothes and went to pat Sahne on his back. "Just don't die out there."

Orb, the morning of June 16

"Hey!" Erica called to Aarav, who was sitting on the railing just outside the mobile suit's cockpit. "Can't sleep?"

"No, not really, It's just... throughout all this, I can't stop thinking about my brother..."

"The newtype of earth alliance..."

"Eh? Newtype?"

"He's popular, more or less, almost as dangerous as you!"

"Pheh, if that's true, then He shouldn't be that easy to beat..."

"You think he could be out there?" Erica took a beer and hands him the can.

"Thank you... Yeah... what if he was-" Erica slaps his head lightly with the cold can in her hand before taking a sip of it.

"If he was, I'm sure our forces wouldn't last as long as it has, considering his track record..."

"Eh? You keep up with the war?"

"No, just him, look," Erica hands him a tablet, showing a white, dark orange, and silver machine staring at the camera, holding up what appears to be a rifle. "That's his machine... and that's when he was fighting against multiple enemies at once... Your brother is strong, so don't worry about him, instead focus on this fight to live for your daughter!"

"Heh, yeah, your right. I should try and get some rest, even if it's a cat nap."

"Oh, here! For when you wake up, I'm counting on you!" Erica turns and walks away from the man.

"Yeah... Alright!"Getting up, Aarav begins to make last-minute adjustments to his machine before finishing up then taking a nap in the cockpit. Though it was cut short as alarms started to blare around the base, making Aarav wake up with a slight sigh, yet he smiles in excitement. "Who am I killing next!?"

Missiles rain through the sky as Strike daggers follow suit, shooting at the base, causing many hangers to be destroyed.

"Tch! Give us a minute, will you!" Aarav activates his machine and moves it out of its hinges. Grabbing a bazooka and a shield, rushing out of the smoke-covered doors, ramming into an unsuspecting Dagger. Landing on the ground, Aarav immediately took the bazooka and fired it into the side of the other Dagger before raising his shield and stabbing it many times in the chest making oil spill and squirt out as if it was blood.

"It's that Astray again!" A dagger pilot turns his head and fires his beam rifle. Moving his shield to tank in most of the hits, Aarav moves to the side, dodging the next beam, and fires the bazooka hitting the head of his foe. Stopping himself on his feet, causing dirt and debris to rise, obscuring their view.

"What?! He disappeared!"

"He couldn't have gone far! Wait? Above-" The second Dagger pilot attempted to say only for a shield to stab the stomach area, crushing the pilot inside. With one down, Aarav moves his Astray and fires another shell into the torso of the unsuspecting enemy. Landing on his feet, he retrieved his shield and went in for more, taking out six more Daggers, running out of Bazooka ammo.

"One more shell left... What is that? A ship? Your mine!" Aarav hovers off the ground and rushes towards the ocean. In his way were two more Daggers. Thinking quickly, Aarav puts away his bazooka and retrieves his beam sabers throwing them into the chest area of the body of the machine, making them explode after a few seconds. Now above water, the ace retrieves his bazooka and dodges whatever missile came his way before getting into range. However, a missile was on a colliding course, so he raised his shield, tanking the hit and causing an explosion.

"A direct hit!"

"Yes!"

"Wait, something's below us!"

"What?!" The captain shouted as the ship suddenly shook from an explosion underneath.

"We are hit from the bottom!"

"Damage is too much! Where going under!"

Aarav emerges form the water right next to the next ship and slams his shield into the bridge. Taking it out, he turns to see another ship aiming at him, so he threw his now empty Bazooka onto the deck of the ship, causing the metal to scrap up and fling everywhere, leaving the crew inside both confused and terrified as the shadow of his suit coming down on top of the ship made them lookup. There was nothing they could do as Aarav stomps onto the bridge as he lands, causing a mini-explosion before a bigger one, making the ship sink. Hovering back onto the sea, Aarav made his way back onto land and retreated for more resupplying. Though the enemy did the same.

"Damn It looks like we won't survive another bout!"

"All Astray Pilots, please board the shuttle with your suits!"

Aarav looks out the cockpit and clenches his teeth, but orders are orders. Once the repairs were done, he moves towards the shuttle as commanded. The battle of Orb resulted in a loss for both sides. Earth Alliance didn't get their mass driver, and Orb lost their homeland, there were no clear winners, as they headed to space.

Vicotria base.

"Sir, repairs are done to Awaken!"

"Good, inform commander Young immediately... he'll be the key reason why we win this battle.