Autumn leaned his head back into his cockpit chair. He cupped his hands around his face and took a deep breath, his hands were still trembling. The air hung heavy with the smell of spent shell casings and fuel. His mind was racing but his body appeared calm and collected. He was knocked out of his trance by someone banging on the cockpit entrance. Autumn quickly shuffled with the controls and opened the cockpit door. His friend Wally was floating right outside. The noise from the hanger bay broke his cockpit's eerie silence.
"You ready?" asked Wally with a smile as he floated inside.
Autumn swallowed before answering, "Yeah, at least I think so." he said as his voice shook a little.
"You're scared aren't you?" asked Wally seeming concerned.
Autumn spoke up, "How can I not be? This is our first time seeing real combat and our training wasn't exactly what one would call high quality." he said taking his gloves off and setting them on his control console. Of course they didn't remain there for long, the lack of gravity in the chamber caused them to eventually float about the cockpit.
"It's better than living in the poor slums that we came from. This is a golden opportunity. We could be heroes!" said Wally patting Autumn's shoulder. Autumn didn't answer, all he could do was look down at his hands.
Wally didn't need an answer, "I can see you need me to leave you alone, We'll be fine! Don't worry about it. I'll have your back." Says Wally as he pushes himself out of the Zaku II.
Autumn looks up at Wally, "Don't get cocky!" shouts Autumn with a smile on his face.
Wally sits himself into his old Zaku I, "Too late!" he shouts back as the cockpit seals shut. Autumn does the same with his mobile suit.
Autumn's Zaku II wasn't always his, it belonged to another pilot before him. The previous pilot was killed by a piece of debris during combat so the whole torso had to be replaced. Before he was killed, the last pilot painted a shark mouth and teeth on the side of the Zaku's helmet which has already started to fade. The Zaku's mono-eye flares to life with the rest of Autumn's team. The team leader, who pilots a heavily armored Dom, comes on over the team's coms. "Soldiers of Zeon! We are here to crush the dreaded Earth Federation and take the Thunderbolt Sector! I have full faith in your abilities to serve Zeon and even if you die out there know that you served the Principality well! I see no need for this speech to be long as you all know our mission. This fleet desperately needs supplies and we will be here to give it to them. Sieg Zeon!". Autumn rolls his eyes, he always saw through the Zeon propaganda, though he never considered himself treasonous to the cause. One by one each of the mobile suits launch out of the hanger bay and soon all of them are well on their way to their objective.
Wally's Zaku I slowly takes position behind a piece of debris overlooking the target. The target is a destroyed Magellen class battleship which still has vital fuel and ammunition that the Zeon fleet desperately needs. The team leader comes on over the coms, "Wally and Autumn, you two stay on over watch while the rest of us head inside." he says as his Dom and three other Zaku II's drift toward the warship. Autumn's Zaku perches itself on top of a destroyed gun turret and cocks it's large machine gun. Some time passes as the Zaku II's mono-eye scans from left to right taking in the environment.
"Do you see that? Are those stars moving?" asks Wally as his Zaku I examines some debris above them.
Autumn's Zaku moves it's large mono-eye to get a better view. "Those aren't stars...Those are mobile suits!" He shouts.
In the distance, four Thunderbolt configured GMs speed toward the wreckage blocking debris chunks with their two large shields. The Zaku lifts it's large machine gun and opens fire on the incoming targets. The rugged machine gun clangs in the darkness of space as the large shells leave the barrel. Wally's Zaku I soon follows suit. The shots bounce off the GM's shields sending sparks flying through the darkness. The Federation mobile suits soon open fire with their scatter guns.
Inside the ship, the Dom and the other Zakus make their way to the engine room by cutting through large amounts of metal using the Dom's heat saber. The long heat saber melts through the ships hull with ease. The three other Zakus stand watch over their commander. As the Dom cuts it's way through the thick metal, a small explosion rocks the derelict ship.
The commander immediately gets on the coms. "Wally and Autumn, What's going on out there?!" he shouts.
Outside the ship, the GM's have taken position on top of the crippled battleship and are firing up at Wally and Autumn's mobile suits. "Four Fed mobile suits are on top of the ship, we have the situation under control for now! Just please hurry up!" says Wally back to the commander returning fire.
Wally leans out from behind cover and takes a few shots at the GMs. One of the rounds impacts a GM's shoulder. The mobile suit stumbles back before regaining balance and firing back. Before he can duck back into cover, a stray beam hits one of the Zaku I's hands melting it and some of the forearm away. Wally takes shelter behind the floating debris. One of the GMs deploys it's beam saber and cuts a hole in the battleship's hull. Two of the GMs head inside the ship while the other two continue to suppress Wally and Autumn.
"Autumn! I'm hit! I've lost one of my manipulators! I can't aim my weapon properly!" says Wally attempting to fire his machine gun with one arm but the recoil proves too much to control causing Wally to miss his shots.
Autumn pulls back into cover for a moment and thinks. "Follow my lead! Give me cover!" Autumn says as he deploys his heat hawk axe and charges toward the GMs.
"Sir, above you!" shouts one of the Zaku pilots inside the ship. A large piece of metal is kicked down on top of the Dom. Two GMs jump down through the hole and quickly dispatch two of the Zakus with ease. The third Zaku lunges forward with it's axe drawn and takes a slice at one of the GM's arms. The GM deploys it's beam saber and quickly cuts off the Zaku hand that's holding the axe. The Dom pushes the large piece of metal off of it's back and activates it's heat saber. It swings the burning metal down onto the head of one of the GM's. The head melts away almost instantly as the saber plunges down into the cockpit burning away the pilot and most of the torso of the mobile suit. The other GM fires it's scatter gun at the Dom but is pulled away by the remaining armless Zaku. The Zaku starts beating on the GM with it's remaining arm. The GM struggles to escape from the iron grip of the desperate and damaged mobile suit. The Dom lunges forward and thrusts it's fist at the GM's torso. The impact dents all the outer armor, it punches again and this time it's fist crushes the cockpit. The GM stops struggling and goes limp.
Autumn swung his axe down into one of the GM's shoulders. He pulled his axe back to go for another blow, but the GM ignited it's beam saber and countered his attack. Autumn retreated back a few meters before lunging forward again. The two weapons clashed once more shooting sparks over both of the mobile suits. At this point Autumn was breathing heavily, his hands were trembling at the controls. The GM kicked away his Zaku sending Autumn shaking around the cockpit. The GM upholstered it's scatter gun and fired dozens of shots at the Zaku. The beams scorched the Zaku's armor revealing the sensitive innards beneath. Autumn used his thrusters and shot back down onto the surface of the ship. Autumn threw one of his machine gun drums at the GM. The empty drum smashed into the GM's head shattering the eye sensors blinding the pilot. Autumn thrusted forward and pinned down the GM. He ripped off the armor plates on the front torso revealing the cockpit. He tore off the cockpit door but stopped dead in his tracks. The pilot inside of the GM was cowering in fear, Autumn looked down at the pilot who seemed no older than twelve years old. The child looked up at the dark green mobile suit standing over him in pure fear. Autumn let go of the disabled mobile suit and stopped for a moment. Wally pushed Autumn out of the way and stepped his large Zaku I's foot onto the GM cockpit. Autumn let out the most ear splitting scream he'd ever let out in his life. The cockpit was nothing more than twisted metal and red paste. Behind Wally was his commander and the one remaining Zaku from inside the ship. The Dom was holding a large container of what looked to be fuel. Their mission was a success. "Let's get back to the ship" said the commander over the coms. The trip back was completely silent.
When the team got back to the ship, Autumn exited his mobile suit and hunted Wally down. Wally turned to Autumn with a smile on his face but was immediately met with a hard punch to the face.
"What the hell?!" shouted Wally turning to Autumn with his fists clenched.
"That was a kid you killed! In that broken down GM!" shouted Autumn with tears welling up in his eyes.
"It was a Fed! If I didn't kill him he would've done the same to you!" Wally responded as he got closer to Autumn.
"Oh so you can see the future now huh!? How do you know that?!" Said Autumn grabbing the rim of Wally's helmet.
"If you're gonna do something then do it! I just did what was best for Zeon! Have you lost your loyalty?!" shouted Wally pushing Autumn off of him.
"I'd rather lose my loyalty then lose my humanity!" Screamed Autumn wiping his eyes. The two enraged pilots started exchanging blows and kicks with one another. By this point many of the workers in the hanger had formed a mob around the two and were cheering the fight on.
"Enough!" shouted their team commander exiting his Dom. The hanger bay was completely silent, everyone nearby was observing the heated argument. Even the mobile suit repair teams had stopped their noisy work to watch. Both Autumn and Wally immediately went to attention. The commander grabs Autumn's collar and slaps him across the face.
"I have no place for someone who can't make good decisions in battle on my team! Child or not they are the enemy, they are here to kill us and we are here to kill them. I don't want any more irrational decisions being made out there Autumn, or I'll have you sent back to the slums we found you in." said the commander. Both he and Wally walked away from Autumn leaving him alone next to his Zaku. Everyone in the hanger bay went back to the business they were working on before. Autumn went and closed himself inside his Zaku. He wiped his now bloody nose on the sleeve of his flight suit. He took a deep breath, but all he could do was sob...