Okay I bet you're all wondering what's going on here. How can Mirai be posting a new chapter when the story finished in chapter 3? Well its simple really I've decided to carry on with The Beast and including its sequel creating one medium sized fic rather than two separate small fics. Whether this will turn out to be a good idea or not I haven't a clue but it should be fun finding out

AEUG 'Forrestal'-type Salamis heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit
20th August UC 0087

Captain Alexander Jellico found the total lack of new information from the AEUG's command centre in Granada very depressing. As far as he knew the Titans still held Von Braun and, despite the presence of both the Argama and Radish in the area, it didn't look like they could be removed by force. The idea of assaulting the Lunar metropolis was repulsive at best and down right horrifying at worst. Alexander knew that any attack the AEUG tried would result in countless civilian casualties, which was exactly what the Titans wanted. Trying to make the AEUG look like the villains was probably their only chance to swing the opinion of the colonies in their favour. Alexander didn't believe that this strategy would actually work; the Titans had built up such a bad reputation over the years that they were unredeemable.

The sound of the hatch to the bridge opening caused Alexander to look up from the status report he'd been idly reading. He peered around his command chair to see the scruffy looking brown haired Lieutenant James Keffer float onto the bridge.

"Good afternoon Lieutenant," said Alexander, "How's Ensign Baylies?"

"He's stable but there's not much more the Doc can do for him here," replied James as he floated to a stop next to the captain's command chair. "The chances of him being able to pilot again are slim."

"That's a real shame," said Alexander with sadness in his voice, "We need good pilots like him, now more than ever."

"Nothing new from Von Braun?" asked the mobile suit pilot.

Alexander simply shrugged. "I haven't heard anything; neither Granada nor Amman nor Von Braun is responding to my messages," replied Alexander. "I sent some men to check our equipment but I don't remember it being reported as damaged."

"I guess we'll just have to ask around when we reach Amman," said James. He cast his gaze over the myriad of wall mounted monitors that filled the wall space either side of the command chair. "Any sign of the Titans?"

"Again nothing," replied the captain with a dejected tone in his voice. "You'd think there would be more ships about but its ghostly quiet out there."

"I'd rather we not run into any enemies right now Captain," said James in an equally dejected tone. "The Full Armour Gundam Mk II isn't combat worthy since it's only got one arm. Baylies GM II is trashed beyond our ability to repair it, not that it's really worth repairing anyway. So that leaves just Lieutenant Cole's Sniper Custom and Ensign Raynor's improvised Nemo Cannon. A determined enemy attack will sink us in no time at all."

"Well you're nice and cheery today aren't you," commented Alexander, "Don't worry nothing will happen." He suddenly felt very tired and longed for the relative safety of the Lunar city Amman.

"The last time you said that we had that beastly thing turn up a day later," replied James with a half smile on his face. "I think you're turning into a jinx Sir."

"Me a jinx? Surely not," laughed the captain. "I'll have you know I'm the focal point for a zone of pure luck. I've never been bested in a major battle; from British to Stardust."

"Yeah but you were bested in a minor battle which resulted in the Valiant being trashed," sniped James. "Although that little cock-up did result in our lovely new refitted Valiant."

"Oh come now James there was extenuating circumstances for that one," reproached Alexander, "We both agreed not to shoot to kill; they were Federation Space Forces not Titans. It was just that they weren't reading from the same page of the script that we were."

EFSF Salamis Kai cruiser Endeavour, Lunar Orbit

Earth Federation Space Forces Lieutenant Junior Grade David Saxon didn't like the current situation. By chance the cruiser he was stationed on had stumbled upon an odd looking AEUG cruiser. The Endeavour was hugging the Lunar surface while the AEUG cruiser had travelling on a high orbital path. Apparently the enemy ship had failed to notice the Federal vessel.

"What do you think Lieutenant?" asked Commander Timothy Dale, the Endeavour's captain.

David turned to face his commanding officer. "I don't know Sir," he replied. "It looks damaged but that bulking front section could be an expanded hanger."

Dale grunted and went back to staring at the fuzzy images of his prey. "The new diktat from the Titans orders us to engage any AEUG vessel we come across."

"We could just ignore them," suggested David. He didn't agree with the methods the AEUG were using, but he did think the Titans had gone too far. "The Titans needn't know we spotted this ship."

"And how do you know they don't have some informants on this ship?" said the Commander. "No it's too risky; we'll have to fight them."

"I don't like it but I agree Sir,"

"Don't worry Lieutenant we just have to be patient," said Dale stoically. "The Titans will get their comeuppance eventually. The Federation Forces just have to wait for the Titans and the AEUG to exhaust each other fighting. Then we'll move in and clean up what's left."

"Assuming the Titans don't dragoon every Federation Forces unit into their fight," commented David.

"It's a simple fact that the Federation Forces are large enough to allow units to be gobbled up by both the Titans and AEUG. There will always be enough remaining to defeat both of them," declared Dale. The commander loosened his captain's jacket slightly; he took out a handkerchief and blew his nose. "Deploy your squad Lieutenant just don't try too hard."

A wry smile crossed David's face, "Have no fear Sir, we won't cause them too much trouble."

The hanger technicians already had his Hizack going through its start-up procedure when David Saxon kicked off from the gantry above the hanger. He used one of the shoulder spikes to change his directions and float down to the open cockpit hatch. To David the blue Federation Forces colour scheme didn't look right on the Zeonic-style Hizack. The green of the Titans model seems to suit the mobile suit better in his opinion. In the grand scheme of things the colour of his mobile suit didn't really matter a great deal, what really mattered was how the machine performed. In that respect the Hizack was average at best and was quickly being outstripped by newer machines; however it was still one of the better mobile suits in the Earth Federation Forces arsenal.

David plonked himself into his linear floating seat and ran his gaze over the Hizacks status readings. Everything looked okay so he gave the thumbs up signal to the hanger technician that was hovering by his cockpit hatch. The technicians floated away and the hatched locked tight with the last section of the panoramic screen coming online.

"Glad you could join us boss," boomed through the speakers built into David's pilot suits helmet. He instantly recognised the feminine tones of his American subordinate Lilly Grace. "I thought we were going to have to leave without you."

"What's the rush?" voiced Herman Berger. "You actually want to help those Titan dogs by fighting the AEUG?"

"Of course not," snapped Grace, "I just want to play with the AEUG a bit, see what they fight like."

Herman grunted in disgust. "Can't you take anything seriously?"

"Would you two stop bickering?" barked David, "It's like being stuck with a pair of children."

"Sorry Sir," replied the two subordinates.

"Good. Now be careful out there we just want to rough up the AEUG a little bit," stated David. "I don't want to hurt them but we will if we have too."

He hit a switch on his console that released the last of the locking clamps on the storage bed to which his Hizack was affixed. David set the blue machine in motion and it slowly began making its way to the mobile suit elevator at the rear of the hanger. Once he reached the elevator he moved the Hizack's arm and pressed the wall mounted switch that activated the elevator. In turn both Herman Berger and Lilly Grace freed themselves from their storage beds and waited for the mobile suit elevator to reset itself.

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit

"Captain three objects approaching in attack formation from the aft! Size and speed suggests mobile suits, type unknown," yelled the Valiant's radar operator.

"What the hell?" yelled Alexander Jellico. He tried to jump out of his command chair but his waist harness prevented him from getting far. "Where the bloody hell did they come from? Find their cruiser now!"

"It's directly behind us Sir," reported the rather embarrassed chief petty officer in charge of visual observation. "She's a Salamis Kai, I think she's the Endeavour Sir."

"The Endeavour? She's a Federation Space Forces ship why is she attacking us?" Alexander wondered aloud. "Damn those Titans, they're getting the regular forces to do their dirty work even when they aren't there."

"Enemy mobile suit type confirms," reported the observer chief. "Three Hizacks in Federation Forces colours; armament appears to be machineguns."

Alexander grabbed the communications handset from its recess on his command chair. "Level one battle stations; I repeat level one battle stations. All available mobile suits scramble!"

Lieutenant Marcus Cole's GM Sniper Custom came to a stop on the Valiant's mobile suit elevator. Besides the green GM was the kit bashed Nemo Cannon of Lieutenant Junior Grade Jason Raynor. Clasped in the Sniper Custom's hands was beam launcher Cole was using as a fairly crude sniper rifle. He'd heard rumours that Anaheim was developing a sniper type Nemo complete with a powerful beam smart gun. Naturally he knew the chances of him getting one were pretty slim but he could still dream. His GM's arm extended and activated the elevator controls.

"Listen up you two," barked James Keffer over both the GM's and Nemo's radios. "We've got a trio of Federal punks in Hizacks out there. Try to disable them but you're authorised to take them out there's a chance could destroy the Valiant or yourselves."

"Affirmative Sir," replied Marcus.

"Don't worry Sir we'll just scare them off," said Jason Raynor. "Compared with that monster these guys are nothing."

"Don't get cocky Raynor," chided Marcus. "We of all people should know not to underestimate the Federation Forces."

"Yes Sir," replied Jason sullenly.

The elevator reached the launch deck and came to a stop. Marcus was the first to make a move and his GM clambered onto the launch catapult. The catapult flung the GM Sniper Custom away from the deck and immediately reset itself in order to launch Raynor's Nemo Cannon.

"Mobile suit launch confirmed! They're scattering minovsky particles," yelled Herman Berger over the squadron's communications channel.

David Saxon brought up two enlarged images of the approaching AEUG mobile suits. "That's a GM Sniper Custom? What the hell is one of them doing out here?"

"Looks like the AEUG is getting desperate to use something that old," commented Lilly Grace. "The other one is one of those Nemo we've heard about, looks odd though. I' not getting a clear picture of it there must be something wrong with my computer."

"It's not your computer," said David. "Mine's not clear either; it must be a new model."

Suddenly a pink pinprick of light exploded from the GM Sniper Custom and came hurtling towards David's Hizack. He was barely able to avoid the mega particle beam in time.

"Bloody hell!" he cried, "That thing is packing some serious firepower!" He kicked his Hizack to full throttle and started zigzagging his course to make it harder for the sniper to hit. "Grace, Berger you take the Nemo. I'll deal with the GM."

"Yes Sir!" was the reply from both his subordinates.

As he pulled away from Grace and Berger's Hizacks the effects of the minovsky particles rendered the radio useless. David readied his machinegun but he knew he was still way out of range, for the time being the sniper had the advantage with the range. However the area of space was totally devoid of cover which meant the sniper couldn't hide and take pot-shots. Another mega particle beam came sailing through space but David was able to avoid it fairly easily.

As soon as he came into range he let rip with a short burst from his 120mm machinegun; however the sniper was able to slip out of the way at the last moment. "Not bad for an old machine but don't think that means I'll go easy on you!"

The Hizacks of Lilly Grace and Herman Berger attempted to bracket the Nemo but the green mobile suit was proving a tricky one to catch. While not very agile the two Federation Forces pilots soon found out the reason their computers hadn't identified the Nemo properly was because of the cannons attached to its backpack.

"Come on Grace keep up!" yelled Herman as he cut across the Nemo's flight path letting rip with his machinegun as he did so. He scored repeated hits right across the Nemo's torso but the AEUG machine shrugged them off easily. "No way? That thing's got Gundarium armour?" Not letting himself get distracted for too long he instantly started jinking to avoid the expected counterattack. Sure enough both barrels of the Nemo's cannons sent a double helping of mega particles chasing after his Hizack.

In an attempt to draw the Nemo's attention away from her partner Lilly Grace came screaming in from the opposite direction. Her machinegun was blaring away even though she knew it was more or less useless against an opponent encased in Gundarium. As the Nemo began to turn to face her she knew she'd achieved her goal. Deciding that this was a good time to change tactics she tossed her machinegun at the Nemo and drew her beam sabre; this battle would be decided in close combat.

The Nemo tried to bring its beam rifle around but Lilly moved in quickly and sliced the rifle in half. The damaged weapon promptly exploded, a few seconds after the Nemo threw it away, and half blinding all the pilots near it. Lilly recovered quickest and took a few swift swipes at the Nemo with her sabre. The Nemo tried to back away entirely but was hemmed in by a volley of machinegun fire from Herman's Hizack which had crept up behind him. Lilly went in for a thrusting jab and the Nemo desperately tried to evade to the left. To Lilly's relief the Nemo hadn't quite managed to get away and it was not sporting a nasty gash on its left side waist armour plating. The Nemo pilot took advantage of the momentary pause in combat to use his mobile suit's fists in a hammer blow against Lilly's Hizack. She was able to pull her mobile suit away just before the Nemo levelled its beam cannons and fired. The blast completely tore away her Hizack's right arm and part of its backpack.

David was surprised by how much trouble the GM Sniper Custom was causing him. Everything he'd learnt at the academy, and later on active services, told him that his Hizack should easily out perform a measly GM Sniper Custom. It seemed clear to him now that these mobile suits were piloted by veterans, and good ones at that. He was also worried about how only two AEUG mobile suits had been launched even a standard Salamis Kai carried at least three mobile suits. Perhaps this ship really had been damaged in battle and lost most of its mobile suit team. David hoped they'd managed to take out plenty of Titans before the end. Commander Dale might believe in waiting for the AEUG and Titans to exhaust themselves but he thought that a more proactive approach was needed.

The GM fired its beam launcher again and David wasn't able to totally avoid it. The beam caught his spiked shoulder armour and ripped it off. Wanting to return the favour David emptied his machineguns ammunition drum at the GM. Most of the hail of bullets went wide but a few managed to hit the GM's left leg and penetrate the titanium alloy armour.

Suddenly there was a hail of beam rifle fire that seemed to saturate the area around David's Hizack with mega particles. One beam blew off his Hizack's right forearm while another tore through its left leg. David started desperately searching for the source of these attacks. There were a trio of Nemos rising from a Salamis Kai cruiser and they were trying to get up close and personal with him. Thankfully the Endeavour fired off a set of retreat flares and began backing away from the pair of AEUG ships. David took this as his cue to beat a hasty retreat as well.

He quickly caught up with Grace and Berger and latched onto them and established a contact link with them. "Well do you know how they fight yet?"

"They fight well," declared Lilly with an almost amused tone to her voice. "It was fun, that pilot's got some skills. Did you have trouble with yours Sir?"

"He's a tough old bugger that's for sure."

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Lunar Orbit

Alexander breathed a sigh of relief. He'd definitely been surprised when the Redoubtable had suddenly appeared on the scene. The last he'd heard she was being refitted in Granada. He wasn't complaining of course the timely arrival of her mobile suit team had saved his pair of pilots.

"Can we get a transmission to the Redoubtable?" he asked his communications officer.

"Yes Sir,"

"Well get to it then," ordered Alexander. Moments later a flickering image of the Redoutable's captain appeared on one of the ceiling mounted monitors. "Hello Commander Reese it's good to see you. All I can do is offer my thanks."

"That's okay Captain. We spotted the commotion and just had to check it out." said the bearded young commander. "What happened to your mobile suit team? You only had two of them out there."

"The rigours of combat Commander; pray you never have to endure a mission like ours was," replied Alexander with grim conviction. "Naturally I can't disclose exactly what happened."

"You probably won't have heard yet," said Reese. "Von Braun has been liberated, the Titans pulled out after a battle with the Argama."

Upon hearing that nugget of information everyone on the Valiant's bridge brightened up. "That's excellent news!" said Alexander.

"That's why we had to rush the end of our refit," commented Reese. "They need us on a patrol. Even when you get into port don't expect a break."

"Thanks for the advice Commander," said Alexander. "We won't keep up, I'm sure you're anxious to get to your station."

AEUG heavy cruiser Valiant, Amman City Space Dock
21st August UC 0087

James Keffer sat on one of the many crates that littered the Valiant's hanger. He was in the middle of cleaning a set of circuit boards for Jason Raynor's Nemo Cannon. Orders had come from Anaheim that no one was to touch the Full Armour Gundam Mark II until one of their representatives arrived to take charge of it. Therefore with no mobile suit of his own and the replacement pilots not arriving for a few days James found himself with little to do. His reports of the incident in Side 4 had already been typed up and sent off to AEUG fleet headquarters; he suspected that it would go from there to the nearest waste bin but at least he'd sent it.

"Hey you pilot!" shouted a female voice. James looked around slightly bemused, he wasn't used to people calling him 'pilot'. He looked across the hanger to see a brown haired woman coming towards him; she was wearing the blue uniform of Anaheim Electronics. "I need to see Lieutenant Keffer immediately."

"What do you want him for?" asked James without giving anything away.

"I need to see him about that!" she snapped while she was pointing at the damaged Full Armour Gundam Mark II.

"Oh that," replied James.

"Yes that. He's trashed a valuable prototype without even having the decency to get some test data," seethed the Anaheim employee. "He's set the project back months and we'll never get the funding to finish it properly now."

"I wouldn't blame him for that if I were you," commented James. "He didn't have all the information he needed for the mission, if he had that this wouldn't have happened."

"And how you know that then, you a mind reader?" she remarked flippantly.

"No, I'm Lieutenant James Keffer, commander of the Valiant's mobile suit team," he said bluntly. "And you are?"

She was quite clearly stunned that she'd been ranting and raving someone to their face. It took her quite a while to recover. "C-Catherine Williamson, I worked on the Full Armour Gundam Mark II project."

"Well it's a nice enough machine if a little sluggish at times. Of course that's to be expected with all that bulky armour," he said as he went back to cleaning the circuit board. "I'd rather have my Rick Dias back, assuming you lot haven't given it to someone else."

"Why didn't you tell me you were Keffer straight away?" asked Catherine.

"I don't know who you are," replied James. "For all I know you could have been a Titans agent sent to assassinate me. Naturally that is unlikely, I don't think I've pissed them off that much yet."

"They could never do that! Not here on Lunar," she exclaimed in shock.

"You don't get out much do you?" asked James. "The Titans do whatever the hell they like; heck they invaded Von Braun easily enough. No where is safe from the Titians right now."

"I want to speak with the Captain," she declared. "I have his new orders."

"Okay," said James with an audible level of weariness in his voice. "I'll take you too him."

"You mean it's going to take at least a week to get our replacement mobile suits and pilots?" reiterated Alexander Jellico. He leaned back on the chair in his office and rubbed the bridge of his nose; it was going to be one of those days.

"Resources are stretched at the moment Captain," replied Catherine. "You chose an inconvenient time to loose all those mobile suits."

"Maybe if you idiots had told me what my men were walking into we wouldn't have this problem," snapped James. Captain Jellico's office was cramped at the best of times and now with three people in it was getting quite tight.

"Settle down Lieutenant," placated Alexander. "We've already been through that once."

"I'm sorry Captain but there's little I can do," said Catherine. "I can try to speed up delivery of the mobile suits, especially Lieutenant Keffer's Rick Dias but the pilots really aren't my department."

"Thank you Ms Williamson any assistance would be greatly appreciated," said Alexander as he stifled a yawn. "It looks like Commander Reese was wrong, we're going to be staying here a while."