Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front

by F-14 Tomcat Lover

In Cosmic Era 69, the Earth Alliance has replaced the destroyed United Nations and declares war on the space colonies of the PLANTS and Principality of Zeon. In response, Zeon has declared a war of independence for the space colonies. Nearly three years have passed and the war is in a stalemate. Can the new Earth Federation turn the tide with its new weapon called Gundam?

3. Vote to Attack

Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front

Chapter 3

Vote to Attack

XXXX

EFS White Base

XXXX

As Kira Yamato slept peacefully, medicated to get him to sleep peacefully and not feel the pain of his aggravated injuries, Marina Ismail couldn't help herself and began to toy with some of his brown hair. She always found it calming to do so. It was probably a feeling of longing. She was really an only child. Plus, after her ascension as Princess Royal of her country, she was somewhat even further isolated, by politics and status.

Then Kira stumbled into her life. Almost literally stumbled, given his wounds that he still carried. He was on a self-destructive path back then, but the two of them finding each other, save them both.

For him, it was finding family that was truly happy to have living relatives and genuinely caring for him.

For her, it was a release from that loneliness that she felt straggling her slowly, but surely.

As she contemplated that, she heard the PA ring out a tune followed by a distinctive whistle blow:

"Attention all hands and passengers," she recognized the voice as that of blonde French girl Sayla Mass, "We are now approaching Luna II and can expect to meet an escort in four hours time," she could hear a cheer from outside Kira's quarters, "The escort force will meet us as soon as we can get closer, they are currently being wary of additional hostile forces, but Luna II is the Earth Federation's unshakeable fortress, we need not fret danger for long," sounds of relief greeted Marina as she stepped out to check on the people, "The command crew would like to thank everyone for their cooperation through this trying time and promise of safety is merely around the next turn."

The sound of the whistle announcing the end was heard next before people began to excitedly talk about making it safely to Luna II.

XXXX

Up on the bridge, the situation was much different. The reality was, that there was no escort ships coming and the ship was much closer to Luna II. The EFS White Base of the Pegasus-class could easily make Luna II's military port in an hour. That was the easy part, same with getting in…

If they didn't have two glaring ships on their tail.

"So the Falmel picked up a Zeon Nazca -class warship then?" Officer Bright Noah inquired up to the sensor operators.

"Yes sir," the response from Oscar 'Marker' Dublin was unforgiving, "We believe it to be a Istvaeonic-class Destroyer, only a few are currently in service."

"Huh," Bright crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed at his uniform sleeve with one hand, "So a Germani then."

The volunteer helmswoman, Yashima Mirai frowned at hearing Bright. She didn't understand why he referred to the second Zeon ship by a different name. That made little sense to her, though she figured it had to be a military thing. Though, as if sensing her confusion, Bright spoke to her.

"Istvaeonic is the name of a Germanic Tribe and Germani is an old tongue that means German Tribes or thereabouts," he shrugged, early human history and ancient languages was not his strong point, "Plus it is easier to say than Istvaeonic."

"Oh," she replied now understanding the rationale behind the name difference.

They meant the same thing, but with different names. That made it easier for them to remember and she guessed that was one less thing on their minds. She remembered how easily frighten she was when she was first taking the White Base out of Side 7. So she could understand having one less thing to worry about.

"How different are the two ships?" Job Johns inquired from next to the Damage Control Station, as he was stretching from sitting on his butt for so long, though Bright gave a curious look, "I mean the difference between a Nazca and an Istvatonic, er, Istvananic, I mean, a-"

"Just call it a Germani," Marker supplied helpfully and Mirai got her reason for using the different name.

"Right, thanks, the Germani," Job managed to complete with minor embarrassment on his face.

"There are three actually," Cadet Operator Marker Clan, though it was an odd name, he was unrelated to 'Marker' Dublin, as he typed away some commands bringing up 3D represents of the Nazca-series, "You have your ZAFT Nazca-class Destroyer," the blue hulled ship was represented first, "Pretty basic, if powerfully so in terms of everything, though the fastest ship short of a Pegasus-class and the Enforcer's Archangel-class," Bright hushed an attempt to interrupt as Clan continued, "Then you have the Zeon Nazca-class," this ship was represented in a deep green, "Only differences here are increased missile payload and a central turret on the dorsal hull, typically taken from a Chivvy-class Heavy Cruiser, though a smaller turret from a Musai have been known to be attached as well, but in both events are noted for loss in speed," and then Clan brought up the lime green represented Germani ship, "This one is different though, and that is the Germani."

Cadet Officer Omar Fang picked up here as he stepped onto the bridge, "The Germani ship or real name Istvaeonic-class, are equipped with fewer missiles, increased AA and a pair of Musai-class gun turrets on the dorsal hull along with an increase length of 70 meters including space for an improved powerplant, better regulatory systems, and finally the ability to carry 12 mobile suits all without a loss of speed and armor."

Job gulped, now wishing he hadn't asked that question now.

"Strange for one to be operating this far and unescorted sir," Cadet Fang turned to Acting Captain Noah.

"Her escorts probably broke off to escort that cripple and her tow," Dublin responded reasonably, "Though that leaves why a Germani is so far from the Solomon-Boaz patrol line."

"It means there's more," Bright rubbed his chin now, as that made sense, "They probably have a few more built and finishing up their work ups even now."

Sayla Mass looked back from where she was helming the ship so Mirai could stretch and relax a bit. She was curious about something though.

"Doesn't the Federation have an analogue to the Germani?" she inquired, honestly curious as she had heard such a thing before.

"You mean the Salamis-class Light Cruisers we've refitted, right?" Bright turned to look back at her and she nodded, "Yeah, we call them loosely the Nelson-class Destroyer, but yeah we have them."

"What's that difference?" Mirai asked herself, seeing that Job had learned a lesson.

"They're actually Large Cruisers able to carry six mobile suits without loss in combat ability, they're actually equipped with Battlecruiser-grade ordnance and weapons as well as a more powerful powerplant and more AA weapon placements, but are currently scarce as the numbers are builts up," Bright stated without missing a beat.

"Then I guess it is only a matter of time," Mirai stated as she absorbed the information.

"Time till what?" Bright inquired distractedly.

"Until Char's next attack," Mirai stated and Bright merely 'hmmed' in response.

XXXX

Meanwhile, aboard the Musai-class FZMS Falmel, Oberstleutnant Char Anzable lost his temper while communicating with Generaladmiral Dolza Zabi.

"A Papua-class Supply Vessel?!" he shouted in anger as he slapped a hand down on the console before him, "You think an old wreck of a boat will have what we need?" he demanded angrily.

"Try to be realistic Char," Generaladmiral Zabi tried to calm his best field commander.

"I am, but-" Char began, but was cut off by the calm admiral.

"The sad truth is, is that we don't have the resources we had in the past," making a sweeping motion with his arm to indicate how serious the matter was, then held it in a close fist at his waist level, pointed out to the junior officer, "Char, I managed to scrounge up four Zakus, it'll be a tight fit, but you are to capture those mobile suits regardless of losses," the tone was somber, which told Char that the order came from Fuhrer Gihren Zabi and before Char could respond, the line was cut.

"Sir!" Char shouted with a salute, but it was clear he was still mad as he thought the matter over, 'I requested several ships and three Zakus for my ship and all I get is one ship and four Zakus for my ship and we still don't know the full capability of the Federation's new mobile suits and warship despite the thrashing we got at Side 7.'

Char bitterly remembered his request for nearly a dozen Zakus though he had worded it as a request for only half that number. He knew that would be an issue, but he felt the need for the firepower. The request was now moot. What with one ship destroyed and another under tow.

Sure it was nice to have an Istvaeonic for company. It carried a healthy, very healthy actually, number of Zakus onboard. But he had to send its escort back to the Vatherland after he lost the Battle of Side 7, escorting one of his damaged ships.

Once they had reached safe enough 'waters,' the remaining good ship, the Nord Albion, plus a pair of the escorts, FZMS Mecklenberg and FZMS Pomerania, would all return at top speed to assist them.

'Fat chance,' Char thought, knowing the three were still as fast as their ZAFT counterparts.

"At least he came through on the ZAFT reinforcements," an officer handed him the team name, "And a good one too."

Char merely nodded as he read the team name. He smiled a bit at the name, feeling some relief. This particular team had slightly modified ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Types and ZGMF-1017AS GINN Assault Types. He actually kind of liked working with the commander too. He was clinically dry, but he didn't bear the insufferable attitude common to ZAFT soldiers.

Commander Mikhail Coast, aka The Doctor.

Plus, the Coast Team had four ships since it was on long range recon.

'I feel better already,' Char thought as he viewed his ship's approach to Luna II, 'True, they're all Laurasia-class ships, but they are fresh from refit for improved AA and power regulation systems and a total refit to the hanger,' Char smirked, the drop pod was removed in favor of a lower hull attachment for the ability to carry eight mobile suits, though the report indicated that they only had 20 mobile suits total, but he would have 17 mobile suits, much better odds and greater numerical force.

'But will it be enough?' he thought, remembering how easily his Zakus and ships had been dispatched the last time.

XXXX

Unknown to the two ships, someone was watching from the shadows of a nearby, small asteroid and reporting to its boss everything it was seeing.

XXXX

Shirin Birkin was helping out with some of the work on the RX-79S Striker. After Kira reported it was still largely incomplete, members of the staff that had survived the destruction of the research base on Side 7 had set to work to change that. It wasn't easy going.

First thing they had to do, was pry the current Role Pack off. Much to their surprise, it hadn't sat correctly on the back and the intense heat from the vernier had welded a few sections to the body. Although a difficult task, it hadn't been beyond them and the damage was largely minor to the mobile suit and only needed some moderate repairs to the Role Pack.

Actually, she wondered why they called them that.

After that, it was simply resetting the joints to lock the pack into proper placement. For whatever reason, it hadn't been done already. So it was either looked over or it was likely not going to be used until final adjustments at Federation Headquarters Jaburo.

As of now, it was no longer an issue…

The alignment of systems, limbs, weapons, sights among other problems were issues.

"Alright!" a tech shouted, "All together!" and with that several members were braced against the deck and pulling with all their might to remove one of the temporary armor panels from the Striker's left shin.

Another problem was that Striker wasn't even fully armored. It had been a sheer miracle that none of the Zeon hits had landed in those weak spots. There were only a few, but plenty of them.

With a pop, the panel finally became free, having melted into place by the heat of use.

"Amuro! Amuro!" Shirin suddenly looked up to see that Germanic girl, Fraw Bow, looking for her friend again.

"He's in the Gundam!" she shouted up and the girl must have heard her, because she turned to Shirin and waved before continuing on.

"Amuro!" she called again.

"Over here Fraw Bow!" and Pilot Cadet Ryu Jose waved to her as the portly Puerto Rican stood next to the RX-78 Gundam, "He's in Gundam's cockpit."

"Again," the brunette girl stated rather than asked, though her tone was one of concern as she let go of the trolley and pushed off for Gundam, allowing Ryu to catch her outstretched hand and gently lower her to the catwalk.

With a nod and thanks, she moved over to the Gundam's cockpit. Haro, as always, was with her, clutching onto the tan travel bag she had with her. Looking into the cockpit, she found Amuro hard at work doing several things she couldn't begin to understand.

"Amuro," she began as she stepped up as Amuro busied himself working on various things in a hurried fashion, "I brought you food and clean clothes and I think you should take a break," Amuro only kept on working, "Your clothes are starting to smell and you're hardly eating," Fraw could see he was busying himself with writing something down, "You have to take time to eat!"

Amuro only turned his head, "Look I'm not hungry," and with that declared he ducked back down to-

"HEY!" Amuro protested as two of Marina's bodyguards grabbed Amuro and pulled him from the cockpit of Gundam, "What do you think you're doing?" he demanded indignantly, catching sight of Shirin standing on the catwalk.

"Lord Kira made it abundantly clear just how long you would have before being physically taken from Gundam," Shirin stated pointedly, "You need to rest or you will overwork yourself to a point you'll be unavailable due to fatigue when you will be most needed."

"What? Come on!" Amuro complained, he lacked the training to fight the guards in Zero Gravity, "I need to finish this to protect myself!"

"Lord Kira stated you would likely say that," Shirin merely smiled as Amuro blinked, "You're frightened, it is understandable," she indicated the two guards holding him, "So are they as they lack that natural skill to understand and pilot a mobile suit and thus their duty to protect Princess Marina now has to lay in your hands until we get to a safe port."

Amuro seemed to calm down as that hit home. He looked the two men over, they did seem unusually stiff for bodyguards, not that he had met many. He hadn't considered that. True, Mister Noah's words weren't bothering that much, not since Kira was there to support him, but now… he just… he was just plain afraid, but he really couldn't say what.

Death, yeah.

For Fraw's safety, yes.

Everyone else…

Yeah… he was scared.

"I-I understand, my apologies," Amuro was released at Shirin's signal.

"Very well, come along now," Shirin scrunched her nose up several meters away and began to open the distance, "You REALLY do smell you know."

Amuro blinked and then took a sniff of himself and wished he hadn't. He smelled like the jock strap at the bottom of an old locker found in a trash dump. Even the guards were keeping their hands from their person.

"HEY!" he protested again, "I'm not that bad!"

"Yes you are Amuro," Fraw deadpanned.

"Amuro smells, Amuro smells," Haro began while flapping its circular port covers like wings and Amuro suddenly had ideas involving sledge hammers for endurance testing Haro.

XXXX

Back up on the bridge of the White Base, Mirai was leaning against a section of the armored support between two viewports. Next to her, trying to stare out and not at her as she unknowingly cut a nice looking appearance with one arm under her surprisingly moderate bust and clutching a water bottle in her right hand, holding it close with the straw centimeters from her lips, Acting Captain Bright Noah stood with his feet shoulder width apart and arms clasped behind his back. He was leaning slightly to his left to cancel out some of the still felt inertial, the Federation wasn't that good quite yet, as he was took in the view of Luna II's pockmarked service.

Every so often, signs of the fighting, of the war, could be seen.

He chose to ignore it as he stood in companionable silence with Mirai.

"Why do you think Char's ships haven't attacked already Mister Noah?" she suddenly asked him, it was obvious that was bothering her and, in truth, so it did to him.

He probably would have downplayed it with something about Char being uncertain of White Base and its capabilities, which he was sure was a factor anyways. That wouldn't work here though. Not after ripping open two of his escorts, which he told the gunners, both military and civilian alike, that they had been right on the money and congratulated them on a job well done.

Now…

"I imagine he might actually be low on Mobile Suits," Bright admitted and then thought about it, "Possibly even other supplies."

"That's what I was thinking," she admitted, moving the bottle away from her a little and gaining Bright's full attention as he turned his head.

"Hmm…" he thought about it, "But."

"But what?" Mirai tilted her head in some confusion.

"It may be a ploy to make us think that," Bright stated, "He has another ship, they could have transferred more mobile suits and met with a supply ship," his gaze going back to the view outside, "That's a possibility that's been bugging me for some time now."

Suddenly there was a beep at a console and then Cadet Dublin began speaking, "There appears to be another ship approaching the Zeon ships."

"Reinforcements?" Mirai inquired at once.

"I can't be sure," 'Marker' Dublin replied as he began to work with Marker Clan, "But at these speeds, they will hook up in fifteen minutes."

"Maybe it is as Mirai said it was," Sayla opinionated from the helm.

Bright was not convinced, he had to be, "No, we can't assume anything," he stated, "What if its a ZAFT Nazca-class Destroyer, the Zeon model is known for being slower on the acceleration compared to the ZAFT model."

"But if they are bringing supplies and arms to Char's Musai, maybe now will be a good time for Amuro to attack them while their guard is down," Mirai stated, she didn't want to keep feeling Char's crosshairs on her back any longer.

"You want me to risk an attack?" Bright asked Mirai, not liking how she was questioning him, not that he blamed her.

"If they strike us again, what do you think our chances will be?" while she had been taught politics, it could apply here, to some degree.

"We don't have any experienced personnel on board, we will be completely exposed," nevertheless, Bright was taught to find a way to attack, to never stay on defense, "Operator, how long will it take to transfer supplies from ship to ship?"

Clan was on it and he smirked, "Speed, profile, and thermal sir confirm one Papua-class Supply Ship, but even so, if it is just weapons, I'd say about 10 minutes, maybe a little longer."

Bright turned away at hearing that. Papua-class Supply Ships were well laid out in theory. Yet for some strange reason, Zeon had made them internally oddball. They carried less than the design would suggest and could barely care for two ships at a time. The amount of supplies were also pitiful compared to Alliance and Federation Supply Ships.

"So 25 minutes," Bright stated, knowing because of deficiencies in the design, it was a sure bet.

"Why not ask the Captain?" Sayla tried to suggest helpfully, but seeing Bright acting the way he was had allowed some mirth to enter her voice and he called her on it.

"I don't think I like that tone, I'm the one in command now," Bright stated, looking at her before turning his head, "Hayato, what's your opinion?"

Turning from the weapon station to look over his shoulder, the short teen responded, "Well, however tough the opponent is, if he is off balance you can defeat him," he stated before adding, "So even a small guy has a chance of beating a big guy," then he put a sheepish smile on his face, "I learned that in Judo class," Hayato also admitted.

Bright brought a hand up to his chin. As he rubbed it, he weighed the pros and cons about an attack. True it was likely only one ship would need resupply…

'Wait, only one ship,' realized a fault in their planning, 'The other would be on picket, unless...'

"Operators," he called up to the Markers, "What is the movement of the Germani?"

"Yes sir," Dublin took a look and blinked, "It appears to be moving to make RV with the Papua-class as well."

"Confirmed from here," Clan added, "They might be low on supplies as well."

"Probably was part of a larger patrol, but now…" Bright 'hmmed' to himself as he rubbed his chin before deciding and turning, "Miss Yashima, call everyone to the bridge immediately and once they're here, open a shipwide!"

XXXX

Down in the hanger, Amuro had finally returned after taking a break. He was dressed as a Federation Space Naval Pilot. Fraw had taken his dirty clothes off to be washed. With Gundam still needing a little bit of touchup, he felt better about it. The hot shower had really cleared his head and the food allowed him to focus on the systems that mattered.

The Striker on the other hand… was only now having its armor, its real armor put on.

And he had to admit it really changed the appearance. Before, the Striker had looked like something used or discarded parts had been cobbled together, ironed out, and then painted to look like the Gundam.

Now, though, the Striker looked like it belonged unto a class itself. It's armor was sharper looking, even heavier than Gundam's own, but lighter than Guncannon. The paint was also darker, yet brighter. The head had a sharper four prong crest with the armor slightly pulled back to grant better vision to the 'eye' cameras. The shoulders had more durable plates added to them with purpose built locks to help connect to the role packs. The waist was also thinner with slightly wider hips, but he could see racks, locks, connections and even slides for knives. Additional thrusters were now added to the back of its legs and its twin prototype vernier were buffed out and replaced with more durable materials and locking systems to prevent another Role Pack from being melted to the body.

Even then, it was still largely undone.

Cables hung out as sections of armor floated nearby. Parts had been pulled and people climbed inside. The Striker even had a CIWS removed for care and work. Apparently Kira had forced it to fulfill all its coverage and that had been rather bad for it.

"Amuro!" Ryu called up on his way to his Core Fighter and the boy looked down to him, "We're gonna add the Folding Knives now!" he indicated where some techs were doing just that, "You'll have a pair of back up weapons," seeing Amuro heading for the manual, Ryu chuckled before calling back up, "They're a late addition," and again chuckled at the sour look on his face, "So the manual won't have them, you'll have to adjust the systems yourself."

"Right!" Amuro managed to call back, sighing as he climbed back into Gundam to make the changes.

He was scarcely finished, it was so minor, when the hanger was bathed in red lights and klaxons were blaring.

"What the?!" Job stuck his head out from one place where he hit and rubbing it, also sporting the cobalt blue coat and pure white trousers of a Federation soldier, but he had yellow instead of red piping to his uniform marking him as a member of the ship's crew.

The whistle from the PA began and then:

"ATTENTION EMERGENCY! ATTENTION EMERGENCY! ALL ABLE BODIED INDIVIDUALS REPORT TO THE BRIDGE! I REPEAT! ALL ABLE BODIED INDIVIDUALS REPORT TO THE BRIDGE! REGARDLESS OF AGE! ENGINEERS ARE EXCUSED!"

"Come on let's go!" Ryu pushed off from the Core Fighter and another cadet followed after him.

Amuro shrugged as Job shot by to join the sudden rush. Leaping off of Gundam, he joined the stream heading to the bridge. There weren't many, mostly elected representatives who were heading up to the bridge. Yet every able bodied crewman, soldier, technician, and more could be counted as they headed to the bridge.

'What's going on?' Amuro mentally asked in some confusion even as he side stepped to keep from stepping on the three small kids Fraw was taking care of as they joined the call to the bridge.

XXXX

In Kira's room, the young sleeping male stirred. Marina had blinked when the alarms had gone off and the ship was bathed off and on in red light. She noticed Kira stirring and his eyes slowly begin to open as she sat down next to his bed.

"Marina?" he asked groggily and she smiled giving him some water to drink to wet his throat.

"How are you feeling Kira?" she inquired softly and Kira suddenly blushed as his eyes widen and he turned his head in a rush confusing her, "Kira? What's wrong?"

"Marina…" he couldn't and tried his best to keep his head turned, "Marina, ah, you're, ah!"

"What is it Kira?" she asked confused, hopefully she wasn't sitting on a limb, as she leaned forward, trying to get him to face her.

"Marina," he seemed to get his voice focused, "You're naked."

Marina blinked once, then twice, and then looked down as realization dawned on as the memory came back. She had just finished showering when the klaxons began going off and the announcement was made. She originally -of course!- had a towel on, but now it appears to have fallen off. So Marina did what came natural to her at the moment.

"KYAAH!"

XXXX

"Is something wrong Princess Marina?" Shirin inquired before Bright could as they both noticed how red the princess' face was, "You're awfully red in the face."

"Ah!" the young woman gave a start, "I-I j-just s-said something in front of of K-Kira that w-was embarrassing a-and he he w-was actually awake," Marina lied, stuttering slightly as she spoke, going even more red and Shirin only sighed.

Marina could be terribly shy when she was presented with something mildly embarrassing. While Shirin would often tease her about it, in a big sisterly way, this she felt was something worse. That and she could have sworn she heard the younger woman screaming earlier.

"Alright, since everyone is gathered here and we don't have a whole lot of time to get everyone's opinion, Majority Vote will rule," Bright began before the crowd standing at the back of the bridge, there wasn't much room otherwise, "First, there are no reinforcements coming at this time," Bright admitted to a collective gasp of those who didn't know already, "We made that up for morale purposes and can make Luna II in under an hour at current speeds," he saw people take that in, "Second though, we have a 50-50 chance of pulling that off, those of you still in favor of making a run for Luna II," he turned his head left to right and back again, "Raise your hands."

In the crowd, a few raised their hands. A few old men, a mother with a small child in her arms, and one of the volunteer technicians.

Surprisingly, Kai Shiden, a grey haired coward with a coward's look to his face, was merely toying with his right arm. He must have hurt it or was playing the fence, but he looked like he was trying to make sure his right elbow was alright by moving his right arm in flexes.

"Okay, I see five hands," Bright finished the relatively easy count.

'That few,' Marina wondered noticing the same look in Mirai's eyes as she stood off to the side from Bright.

"Again, there is a 50-50 chance," Bright reiterated to everyone as he continued, "All those of you in favor of launching an attack."

The vote was overwhelming. Hayato, Ryu, the Markers, more than half the technicians, all of the remaining soldiers, nearly every volunteer, and a good number of the representatives all raised their hands. To Fraw Bow looking around, it was saddening to see and she was only glad-

Her thoughts stopped as the coward, Kai raised his hand. Seconds later, two of the children in the back spoke up agreeing. She could see that Mirai had her hand up, along with Sayla and Bright then raised his. Yet… He was giving Amuro a pointed look.

To his credit, Amuro was more interested in the collar of the coat. While it had been refitted to his body, the collar was proving to be a pain. Still, Bright Noah wasn't making it easy for him. So, without a word, he raised his hand and Bright nodded.

"Good," Bright put his hand down, "We've made our decision," and with his mind made up as well for a plan of attack, "We're attack them, Amuro to Gundam. Ryu to the Core Fighter. Prepare the Beam Cannons," then he remembered they now had three mobile suits, "Prepare the Guntank and put it on standby," unfortunately, they lacked pilots for it, "White Base come about 180 degrees," he ordered and the combat personnel hustled off to get ready.

XXXX

Outside of the great ship, the view of the White Base turning and coming about was spectacular. The ship turned somewhat more stiffly, but with confidence in its movement. The running lights that ran along the ship began to go off one by one as the ship maneuvered closer to Luna II's surface for the run on the Zeon ships.

XXXX

"Marina what's happening?" Kira asked as soon as the young princess had returned.

Though her face was still somewhat red, especially now, she turned to Kira and told him.

"We're moving in to attack the Zeon ships pursuing us," she told him and gently placed her hands on his shoulders to keep him from getting up, "Kira, you're hurt," she said and gently pushed him back down, but rather than simply sit back, she placed her head on his chest and simply let out a sigh, "Kira… why do people fight?"

Kira only let out his own sigh. He often wondered that himself. Especially now, after being on the battlefield himself. The question was eternal, the answer shrouded in secrecy.

"I can't say Marina," he felt her hands tighten, "For others I mean," and he saw her turn her head to peer into his eyes with confused ones, "Remember," he smiled, "I was on a path of self destruction. I just wanted to take my anger out. I hated being a Coordinator, hated being who I am," Kira reclined his head to stare up at the metal above him, "I wanted to destroy things, kill people, do things that I would normally never have done," he felt her face get buried in his chest again as her hands tighten, "But that was me and only me, my reasons… you know them," he brought a hand up to run through her hair, it felt like he was running his fingers through Shiho's brunette locks, such was the feel both had, and he smiled fondly, "Just as you know my reasons for turning away from that path, for embracing my life as a Coordinator and for finding honest work to live by now," suddenly moved to sit up, ignoring Marina's protests as he suddenly showed why he, as a Coordinator, was so much more robust and stronger than her as he lifted her up and sat her in his lap, gently holding her taller form closer, while placing a kiss on her cheek, "You, Marina Ismail, my beloved cousin, are a reason as well."

Marina merely sighed contently and allowed herself to sink into the warmth that Kira was offering.

XXXX

"Commander, we believe we've spotted the so called 'Trojan Horse,'" an officer reported a Mikhail Coast drifted up to the man.

Like many in the Coast Team, the man was professional. His uniform sharp and clean, his rank plaque in place, and his boots nice and shined. His hair was professionally cut and his small mustache was something one would expect from the days of the early steel pre-dreadnoughts of the late 19th Century AD.

"Hardly looks like a Trojan Horse to me," The Doctor responded dryly as he observed the data they were getting, "Well made, we're having a hard time nailing down its Thermal Signature," but even so, the Pegasus-class had a unique engine arrangement, "Looks similar to the one that the Reubin Team ran afoul of last week."

"Yes sir," the officer noted twirling one end of his mustache, remembering how the Reubin Team had been put to rout in very short order by a formation of only two Salamis-class ships and another 'Trojan Horse.'

Of course ZAFT was calling it as they saw it, a Pegasus.

Why Zeon was insisting on an unrelated name was just plain odd.

"What's its current course," Mikhail Coast didn't need to add that the current direction was away from Luna II's port.

"Straight for the Aznable Team commander," the woman observing their movements reported, "Unfortunately, they dropped low to avoid detection so as to resupply and we can't contact them until they rise back up."

"Time to intercept?" he asked next.

"At current speed, and that's fast by the way," the man over at the plot board began with an addition, "We won't make it in time, but we can still join the fighting at current speed, say an intercept of twenty minutes from now, though I expect the Zeon to be in a lot of hurt by then."

"Then continue on at current speed," Commander Coast knew that this close to Luna II they risk tripping a sensor or running into a minefield blindly if they increased speed.

Char would just have to hold out on his own until then.

Least they have a bigger battle to fight.

XXXX

"I'm not too sure about this suit," Marina cautiously pulled on the upper half as Shirin helped to lock it into place, "It feels so…" she paused trying to be nice about it, but in the end, "Wrong."

"It's a Federation Space Forces Armored Suit," Mirai supplied, having put hers on already, "Since we're not expected to be in the combat areas, we have to wear these since we will still be in the vulnerable areas."

"I know that, but…" Marina trailed off, not sure how she should feel wearing a military armored space suit.

She was perfectly fine wearing space suits, don't get her wrong. The standard models for heads of state varied from nation to nation, but one common feature was that they had armor built into them. Only difference from her normal one, aside from a more robust appearance compared to a slim appearance, was that this particular suit still had all the needed pockets and magnetic locks for weapons and ammo... even grenades. It was a suit design to go further into harm's way, the kind of harm's way called war.

And she was nearly a pacifist herself.

True she promoted peace, but even she knew there were times when the sword had to be drawn. It had made her well respected enough in Orb to gain support from that nation and gaining any support from the United Emirates of Orb was essentially a sign of strong leadership in the eyes of other nations. Since Orb also boasted a large number of Middle Eastern descent citizens -given the name of the nation, it shouldn't be a surprise-, it helped to solidify her power at home.

Still…

"Why don't they have suits for something less…" Marina began, but couldn't complete it.

"Violent?" Sayla stood in a full suit, even the helmet, though the plate was open.

Marina winced, but nodded as Sayla continued.

"They did, up until the Zakus started shooting up Side 7."

"Oh," Marina forgot that the ship was not only short handed, but was also undersupplied.

"You ladies ready?" Cadet Fang knocked and spoke from the other side of the door leading to their changing area.

"Just about," Mirai called back, locking her helmet in place, "We'll be there, don't worry."

"Roger that," and the cadet left to finish checking on things.

XXXX

Up in the forward areas, inside the main turret, Kai and Hayato were going through the manuals as they prepared the gun turret for battle.

"Ya know," Kai suddenly began, "If not for the fact I don't feel comfortable with the crosshairs on my back, I wouldn't have voted to attack."

Hayato blinked, but shrugged, "I'd prefer a straight fight to running, but as my Judo sensei said, 'There are few straight fights.'"

"Ain't that the truth," Kai stated while mentally cursing the damn coin he had flipped and told him to vote to attack.

XXXX

Kira lay in bed, looking up at the ceiling. Every instinct was screaming at him to join the attack. But he couldn't. His body was overstressed and he just wasn't able to.

He hated it.

Mirai, Shirin, and Marina were in danger and Amuro was too jumpy with Ryu and Bright simply not experienced.

It was a bad set up. Somehow, he knew they would pull it off, since Char Aznable wouldn't expect rank amateurs to attack him. Even if he was expecting an attack, the White Base's makeshift crew wouldn't be using correct military tactics and doctrines. As such he would be off balance during the fighting trying to figure things out.

That still didn't make it easy to simply lay there.

XXXX

As White Base began its advance, the hatch for the port hangar opened up. Inside the FF-X7 Core Fighter was locked into the linear catapult. Behind it, the blast shield raised itself. Then the fighter's engines came online, lightly glowing blue white in the zero cold of space.

"Ryu, the catapult is ready and the Core Fighter is cleared for launch at your discretion," Sayla radioed down from the bridge.

"Roger that," Ryu responded, hitting the ignition key that caused the engines to start to glow brighter and brighter until blue white flame back to spit out of the rear of the fighter as the catapult began to glow and crackle with energy from magnetic build up, "Thrust Power at 60, 70, 85, 120, ready for launch!"

The Shooter acknowledged and hit the release and with storm of released energy, the Core Fighter was launched out with enough force to push Ryu hard into his flight seat as the Core Fighter left a wake of energy and thermal smoke in its wake.

"The Core Fighter has been launched successfully," Sayla began once she got confirmation from Ryu that he was clear and in control, "Now Amuro, we need you to prepare for catapult launch if you can."

"Um yeah…" Amuro took a glance at the silent Striker, laying against its maintenance bay, before turning to concentrate on putting Gundam into the catapult shoes "I think so," as he stepped Gundam carefully into them and felt the automatic locks engage, holding Gundam into them, "Just like in the manual," he glanced down and turned a page to be sure he had everything right as Gundam crouched tightly holding its Hyper Bazooka and Gundam Shield, "Catapult Rig, check," he checked his gauges, seeing they were all green and clear, "Gundam's power levels… Normal," he flipped a couple more switches, "Gundam ready for launch," Amuro took a deep breath, "GO!"

The Shooter acknowledged as again, the building up of electromagnetic energy reached its point and was released with a storm of liberated energy.

XXXX

Gundam launched out, leaving its own trail of energy and thermal smoke in the void of space.

As Gundam sailed through the black void, it began to straighten up. Amuro reached up and flipped a couple of switches and then brought the control yokes around to center the Gundam as the Vernier came back to life with short, quick adjustments to join the Core Fighter as both machines flew low.

Sayla spoke to both pilots, "Proceed out to 10 kilometers and prepare to approach the enemy from behind behind the ridge."

XXXX

"Got it," Amuro confirmed as he calmed down a bit.

"Roger," Ryu responded in confirmation full of confidence that they'll catch the Zeon off guard.

XXXX

Back on the bridge of White Base…

"Prepare Lateral Beam Cannons," Bright ordered into the Captain's Phone, "On the double."

XXXX

On the side of the great white ship, the side mounted shields opened up to reveal a pair of twin mounted cannon turrets with their own range finders and sensors systems mounted on the sides. Both slid out of their holding bays and locked into position on the flanks of the Pegasus. Then they rotated to face forward.

Inside one, Cadet Omar Fang hit a few controls and got positive responses, "Cannons readied, energy pipe contact confirmed, all systems ready."

XXXX

"Raise and ready the Dorsal Main Gun," Bright ordered next.

XXXX

On the forward dorsal hull of the main body. A four piece hatch slid open, revealing another twin mount cannon turret. As soon as the hatch was clear, the turret began to rise up.

"Forward Gun Lift, Check," an engineer called out, "Loading commencing."

The gun turret shifted its barrels and then rotated partially left to right in actions, that like its appearance, would not have looked out of place on a seagoing Battleship, save for its massive size.

XXXX

Kai hit a few more controls and got green. Checking next with Hayato, the short teen reported green from his station. Kai took a deep breath and made ready for the inevitable.

"I really, really hate this."

XXXX

"Deploy Anti-Aircraft Guns and activate the CIWS."

XXXX

Along the length of the ship's main hull and at strategic points along the hull, emplacements of 40mm gun turrets slid out into space, the gunners nervous and frighten, as the CIWS point defense 76mm turrets extended their barrels as covers retracted and rose up, locking the automatic Gatling guns into firing stances.

XXXX

"We'll have visual contact in eight minutes, so until then check your manuals again, all right?" Bright instructed the gunners and Damage Control personnel, what they had passing for DC people anyways as he eyed Job John double checking his board before turning back to the phone, shifting his pose, "Prepare for fire and support roles, and remember, whatever you do," raising a fist though the gesture was unseen and meant for the gunners, "don't hit the Core Fighter or Gundam!"

XXXX

Down in sickbay, Captain Paulo Cassius smiled at the thought that Bright Noah had decided to turn and fight. It was a good and sound decision. They would be quite vulnerable docking. Better not to have a threat to their rear.

That and Admiral Gene Watkein would be thankful for not having to immediately worry, but only if they can hit Char the Red Comet fast and hard enough.

XXXX

"I'm surprised they decided to keep such an old ship and risk sending it out this far," Char remarked as he observed the Papua-class namesake moving to join alongside his own Falmel, "Will it have enough for the Suevi as well I wonder?" Char shrugged, "Kapitan, open a commlink to the Papua immediately."

"I can't figure out why the Red Comet would be this desperate for supplies this quickly," the face of the Papua's master, Kapitan zur Weltraum Lucas Gadem, appeared as the man quickly stated his opinion.

"Gadem!" Char began immediately, cutting off the older man, "The enemy is very close and we're at a disadvantage, so we got to hurry."

"I can see that Oberstleutnant Aznable thank you," Kapitan Gadem sneered angrily, "Or do you think I'm slowing down in my old age and can't sense danger?"

Char chose to ignore that and instead turned to another officer, "Open the hatches and get a move on with that conveyor pipe!" the older officer merely grunted over on his ship knowing that last part was for him.

XXXX

"Cheeky bastard," Gadem rubbed his burnsides with a gloved hand, "Check position, we have two ships to resupply," Gadem ordered his bridge crew who acknowledged and Gadem turned to see the enlarged Nazca derived ship move alongside his as he observed his officers and NonComs coordinate the position of all three ships as both the Falmel and Suevi opened their side hatches to receive from his ship.

"Gunners are at their posts sir," his XO reported, "So far nothing, though we've had some spikes in jamming effects," and Gadem turned to the man.

"You sure?" that wouldn't be good, the Suevi's mobile suits were not currently fueled since that's why he was resupplying them.

"Yes sir," the man responded, "But reports also state that the Federation often leaves jammers laying around to make us believe they have ships out here, plus it could be a pirate or mercenary laying low."

"Monitor it," Gadem responded, feeling uneasy, then again, there was no picket ship or mobile suit and he was deep in enemy territory without an escort.

XXXX

Outside the three ships became connected as the conveyor pipes from the Papua connected them to itself. As soon as the seals were locked into place and the pipes anchored, the supplies began moving at once. Unfortunately, some trouble with Suevi ended up happening and the process to resupply it was delayed a few critical moments.

Nevertheless, the supplies were quickly flowing into both ships. The Falmel's crew immediately receiving a shipment of missiles that they hurriedly moved off to be placed into their own stocks. Since they were virtually defenseless without missiles, they were making every possible move to get the missiles ready for battle.

Though meanwhile, Gundam and Core Fighter were fast approaching. They were in luck, as the enemy had position themselves into an area of ridges in the hopes of hiding themselves from detection. A drawback was that the same ridges that were hiding them from Luna II's defenses, were now hiding the two Federation units as they stealthily approached, acquiring a weak radar contact that couldn't be easily missed either.

Then Core Fighter began to ascend in order to begin the attack.

XXXX

"Ryu's a soldier, he should know better," Amuro stated to himself as he manipulated Gundam's right arm up and then down, repeating the motion.

"Why shouldn't we attack when the enemy is in front of us Amuro?" Ryu's confused look in his yellow flight suit could be seen from Gundam's cameras as Core Fighter dropped back down.

"If we approach from this direction, we'll have poor visibility because of the sun," Amuro turned to face forward, increasing his speed slightly, "We need to go around."

Both Core Fighter and Gundam in the lead continued to go around the area, using the ridges as cover. As they did so, Ryu began to scan the area where the radar reported the contacts, but he couldn't see anything. Nothing could be seen except for a massive glare, but if the ships were there, he should have seen something by now, shouldn't he?

"Hey, where's the Musai?" he thought at least one ship would be on picket, figuring that Musai would be it since it would take longer to resupply.

"We should see them about now Ryu," and so was the truth as Amuro spoke, the indistinct blobs of shapes began to appear, followed by distinct forms, and finally, coloring into three ships joined together.

"Huh?" Ryu leaned forward to make sure he had a good view to identify, "There they are alright," he blinked from the glare of the sun, polarization not at 100 percent, no surprise, "I gotta admit, that's pretty clever for a rookie," feeling embarrassed by his brashness, "Wants to attack with the Sun behind us, I should have thought of that."

Gundam continued to lead as Core Fighter slowed down as they rounded an outcropping. The two still undetected as they soon cleared the outcropping. Then Amuro glanced over to the ships and noticed no activity from there. They were still unnoticed.

"Okay," they have reached the point that they would need to climb up to their attack positions, "Let's go."

Both began a gentle climb around another outcropping.

XXXX

"Conveyor Pipe Docking complete," a Papua crewmember finished his checks as the supplies rolled over, "Begin ammunition transfer."

Most were already moving, each pipe being individually checked. Now all three pipes for the Falmel were moving supplies en mass to the Musai-class Light Cruiser. It would take only a few minutes, but it was still unfavorably about ten minutes or so till completion.

XXXX

Char was trying to not nervously tap his foot. This was already taking too long. Then again, this whole thing was stupid and slow in his opinion. The Papua should have had an escort of its own. At least two Laurasia-class Frigates or a lone Nazca-class Destroyer.

An annoying beeping came from Gadem's side of the commlink, "Look Char, there's something strange," as Gadem turn his attention to one of his stations on his ship, Char walked over to one of his own to view the same thing that was now grabbing his sensor operator's attention, "I know we're close to an enemy base, but its on the opposite side, so this side should be empty," Char was seeing the same on his ship's screens too, "But the density of Minovsky Particles is extremely high."

"Hm…" Char hummed to himself in thought as he stepped back to observe the transfer, "That does seem strange."

Kapitan Dren turned to him, "Do you think it could be an enemy ship nearby?"

Char was thinking along the same lines, likely a patrol ship given the lack of N-Jammer interference, but was that the case?

"It is possible," Char stated as it was true, "Let's shift ourselves to a better place for concealment."

"Understood," Gadem acknowledged and the comms operator got a confirmation from Suevi.

XXXX

Amuro and Ryu had completed their circling and were now climbing. With the Sun now behind them, they could put on a little power. Both climbed to their designated points of attack.

Gundam slowed as it reached its point and Amuro could easily see the three joined ships moving into a new position for better concealment from his place. Unfortunately for them, Amuro could see them easily. He waited patiently for the targeting computer to get a lock. Once it had chimed it had established a hardlock, Amuro couldn't help himself.

"There," he let some satisfaction leak into his voice, "I got you now."

The reticules were aligned as the Hyper Bazooka was now locked on dead center on the trio of joined ships.

XXXX

On the Papua, a gunner yawned as he stretched in his open turret. It was so peaceful at the moment. He knew they had to be on the look out, but come on!

Who would be able to attack them now?

XXXX

Amuro's thumb pressed down on the button and the Gundam recoiled as the Hyper Bazooka let out a shot.

The rocket was kicked from the tube by its initial motor. Then once it safely cleared the barrel, the primary motor ignited and the rocket shot off. It was unguided, but the shot was straight and true, it would hit.

The next round was cycled up and reloaded the weapon for firing as Amuro waited to see where the first shot would land.

He had time.

The Sun would briefly mask the rocket long enough for him to take aim and let loose a second round.

XXXX

Alarms sounded as sensors reported, "Missile launch confirmed from behind us!"

"Huh?" both Char and Dren looked behind them to the man, not processing what they heard.

"Missile impact in three seconds!" the operator reported as another bridge crew managed to gain enough sense to hit the combat alarm, "Three, two, one, Impact!"

And so it was.

XXXX

The Hyper Bazooka rocket found its mark, the conveyor pipes to Falmel. The explosion was devastating. Lacking the space taking guidance packages of missiles, the average rocket had more explosive power as a result. For the Hyper Bazooka, each round had a new explosive compound in their heads.

The Number 2 Conveyor Pipe was hit directly as it moved supplies to Falmel. The explosion ripped the pipe to pieces, throwing out debris and ripping one of the pipes out of Falmel in the process as all three ships shook. Men who had been out on the pipe or near the hatchways were also caught up in the explosion as suits were punctured or men torn open by both blast and shrapnel.

On Falmel, fires broke out as DC crews rushed to put them out and to make safe the damaged bulkheads. Fireballs roared into the receiving areas as crewmen hit emergency hatch controls confining the damage, though sacrificing friends and, a few times, themselves to save their ship. Falmel listed immediately before the helmsman righted the ship, putting her back on an even keel.

Char and Dren were tossed on the bridge, along with other unready personnel, Dren smacking his stomach into a rail and grunting as he bit the inside of his mouth as Char hit the deck and bounced up.

XXXX

Over on Papua, Gadem kept his cool and had grabbed onto something, he'd been in a few ambushes before.

"Portside Conveyor Pipes has been hit," he called out, but he didn't wait for the report, he could already tell all three pipes had been destroyed and he knew his DC controller was more interested in fighting the fires aboard their ship while sealing off damaged sections in the process among a dozen other immediate needs, "Sever the Starboard Conveyor Pipes and get the supply ship out of here!"

Already the coordinator for the supplies was severing the connection with the Suevi as the ship did the same from its side.

But it was Falmel, despite obvious damage to its Starboard sections, that was the first to begin to maneuver.

"Falmel is maneuvering sir, emergency thrusters firing," Gadem's XO reported before alarms rung out about a second missile.

XXXX

"Second missile approaching!" the sensor operator called out despite a bloody head gash, "7, 6-"

"Gadem, release the Zakus now!" Char yelled to the officer.

"Right, I'll do what I can," Gadem responded as the line was cut.

"2, 1, Impact!" the sensor operator called out as another explosion shook the Falmel badly as the Papua was hit again, right on one of the wrecked Conveyor Pipes, this one loaded with mobile suit munitions.

XXXX

"We have to get the Zakus to Char immediately!" Gadem shouted to his bridge crew, "Get them off the ship now!"

XXXX

"Fix! Matthew!" Char calls the two men over the ship's PA, "Get ready to leave the ship and man the first two available Zakus!" there wasn't time to find out where the other two pilots were, "I'll move on ahead in my mobile suit then we'll rendezvous," Char threw the mic away as he shot off to get to his Zaku as the ship began to come about.

"Launch a missile barrage! Use everything!" Dren ordered immediately as the Falmel maneuvered to fight, Suervi already opening up in the direction of the sun.

XXXX

Several missiles launched themselves from the Falmel, announced by a brief glow of electromagnetic energy and initial motors. Trailing energy and smoke, the missiles launched out and then turned, twisting in the direction of the Sun. The primary motors kicked on and the missiles were off and tracking, as best they could.

Suevi's missiles lost tracking and collided prematurely. The same happened to a few missiles from Falmel. The Sun's heat, energy, glare, and radiation confusing the seeker heads into premature detonation or collision. A few still managed to spot and track both Gundam and the Core Fighter.

Amuro defended with a CIWS barrage, both missiles heading to him exploding as he already fired back.

Ryu decoyed his lone missile off and it tried to correct, but compromised its hull in a high stress turn and exploded.

XXXX

The hangar hatch opened up and Char launched his modified Zaku II Commander Type. He had to fiddle with controls as he built up speed, something that annoyed him. There just wasn't enough time to do anything else. He really wished that the Musai had come standard with catapults from design onwards.

"Dren, cover the Papua," Char had his mobile suit now powered up and moving, "because it looks like we're being attacked by mobile suits and not just fighters."

XXXX

"Roger that," Dren responded before turning to the helmsman who was already on the task of getting them underway, "Rotate 180 degrees hard!"

"Aye sir!" the helm station responded as the helmsman tried to bring them around in time.

"All batteries with remaining missiles, prepare to fire everything you have towards the Sun!"

XXXX

Outside, as Papua 'sank' towards Luna II's surface, Falmel was able to bring itself around and join Suevi in mounting a concentrated counterattack with their missiles.

XXXX

Back on the bridge, Dren turned towards Tactical Station, "How long do you think it will take to power up the Mega Particle Cannons?"

The Tactical officer winced knowing Dren would not like his answer, but still responded professionally, "320 seconds Kapitan."

Of course Dren didn't like hearing that as he smacked a glove hand down at his station, "Dammit! That's too late! We reduced power and the main engine is too much!"

"A third missile approaching!" Sensor shouted again.

"Can't you detect them sooner!" Dren shouted, knowing it was a pointless demand, given how the Sun was playing merry havoc with their sensors, especially radar.

Whether or not the operator heard Dren, the man was already counting down, "7-"

XXXX

Char brought his bright red Zaku to a halt, swinging his legs forward to use the foot and leg mounted Vernier to bring him to a stop in space, hearing the countdown over the radio.

"6"

Char took aim as best he could.

"5"

His finger went to the trigger to fire.

"4"

He fired, but missed, but the third missile appeared off track.

"3"

"That was too close," Char watched the round go on towards Papua.

"2"

The rocket detonated prematurely, likely from a proximity fuse, but shrapnel still ripped into the stern of the Papua and the blast was still close enough to rattle the ship badly as a chunk fell away from the abused hull.

Turning back to where he assumed the attacker was, Char growled, "I've had enough of this, huh?" he spotted something coming out of the Sun, spitting two of something else, "Oh no you don't!" Char shot the two fighter mounted anti-ship missiles down with a single shot.

Char watched as the brightly themed red, white, and blue fighter shot past. The pilot still going on the attack. It was a bit jarring to him, but then he realized that mobile suit wasn't with it.

"The mobile suit must be there!" he charged to a point below from where the fighter had appeared.

XXXX

"Incoming sir," Gadem's Tactical reported, "Port-Stern."

"Counterattack," Gadem ordered as he glanced to see if he could spot the fighter.

XXXX

The only warning the Zeon ships had of the Core Fighter's attack, was a bright light real close to them, looking like a winking star.

Then a hail of gunfire rained down, strafing the thinly armored Papua as the gunners attempted to get their guns into position.

Holes developed quickly along the length of the Papua, minor breaches occured. A gunner and his weapon were hit, the ammunition and the man's own oxygen detonating causing an explosion that wrecked the position and sent the man's body tumbling to Luna II's surface. Several gunners opened up in a counterattack, but another position was hit the gunner's face hit directly. The results would never be fit for description.

The Core Fighter was off, turning and evading leaving a heat trail in its wake.

XXXX

Up on the bridge of Papua, Gadem came to a decision in response to the attack.

"Descend immediately," he ordered his helmsman, then turned to his XO, "Drop the supplies directly onto Luna II immediately."

"Yes sir!" the XO pushed off to personally see to it.

XXXX

In the glare of the sun, if one was close enough or had the right equipment, several indistinct shapes appeared and maneuvered. If one didn't know what they were looking at, they wouldn't have guessed that Zeon's Red Comet was locked in a high speed battle with the Federation's newest mobile suit. While said mobile suit was desperately trying to fend off the Red Comet and resume its attack on the crippled supply ship.

XXXX

"Ah! It must be Char," Amuro declared after a particularly vicious punch against the Gundam's shield.

XXXX

Char merely chuckled as he attacked the Gundam, "Mm-hehe, I'm gonna teach you that your mobile suit has its limits when it goes up against the Red Comet my friend."

XXXX

Gundam managed to disengage, though it looked more like the red Zaku II simply shoved it away.

XXXX

"Just watch me," Char smiled devilishly as he triggered the 120mm Machine Gun.

XXXX

A hail of 120mm gunfire surged towards Gundam at melee range. The shots were taken on the shield instead of the body.

XXXX

"Take this!" Amuro brought the targeting computer around to counter.

XXXX

The Gundam returned fire with the Hyper Bazooka, the red Zaku barely dodging in time.

XXXX

"I can beat him!" Amuro declared as he maneuvered to fire his next shot as he fired a burst from his CIWS, a few rounds hitting the armor and pitting the shield and right arm.

XXXX

"Too close, I got careless again!" Char began to maneuver, but noticed that the white mobile suit was keeping pace with him, "What the? Was the pilot only partly trained, not that it matters, he's still being a fool!"

XXXX

The Gundam fired the Hyper Bazooka again, but this time, Char was ready. Amuro's shot was far and wide, though both it and the previous rocket would end up playing a major role a few years into the future. The red Zaku was already moving after dodging the attack.

XXXX

"I don't believe," Amuro checked the readings, he had forgotten! "The bazooka's out of ammo!"

XXXX

Zooming around and then charging in from behind the white mobile suit, the Red Comet intended to take advantage of a universal fact:

The rear is always thinner in armor than the front.

XXXX

Alarms sounded as Amuro shot through commands, "He's behind me?!"

XXXX

As he approached, Char watched the enemy mobile suit come around. It attempted to use its bazooka as a makeshift club. He smirked.

"There!"

He struck, right armor deflecting the bazooka away as the left fist was buried into a weak point in the armor just under the right forward vent.

That was the time Dren chose to contact him.

"Oberstleutnant!" he began hurriedly as the ship around Dren could be seen shaking, "It's the new Trojan Horse! It's here!" Char's head snapped up to the comm screen, "It's launching an attack on us."

"What's that?!" that can't be, who would be-

'Later,' Char's mind growled.

"Try to hold it off until I can get back there!"

And with that, he turned his Zaku around and began a hard burn to get back to the ships.

XXXX

Amuro though, wasn't going to allow it.

"I'm not going to let you get away," he brought the targeting computer around and opened fire with the CIWS, "I promised Mister Noah I would keep you away," Amuro was nervous and frighten again as he sweated, the suit absorbing it.

He saw the Zaku roll along its axis in order to shoot back. Both were trading fire. Amuro wasn't about to allow the Red Comet to escape.

"I'll make sure you don't get any near White Base."

XXXX

"Kira!" Marina tried to stop him.

"I'm more in danger in my quarters than I am at a combat station!" Kira then saw something, "Those lights!"

"Huh?" Marina turned to see some lights, distance, looking like stars, but…

"ZAFT ships," Kira didn't have a code for the ship's intercom and so he started hobbling for the bridge, nearly falling.

He would have fallen, if not for Marina sliding under him and helping him up.

"They're still plenty far away," Kira ground out in pain as the ship rumbled as she began to engage the Zeon forces, "But I'm not gonna let them just surprise us."

With that, the two made their way to the bridge.

XXXX

As White Base crested a ridge, guns blazing and cannons rumbling in the silent void, the Zeon troops were desperately trying to move supplies by hand. Facing fighter attacks and gunfire from the White Base, it was trying and already several Zeon soldiers drifted in the void with broken supply crates.

Ryu dived in on a small group with a particularly large case. Counter fire disrupted his attack run, but it spooked and startled the Zeon soldiers as they tried to get the supplies safely to Falmel.

XXXX

In the dorsal gun turret, Kai smirked as he took aim at an open hatch in the side of Falmel.

"I got you now, ehehe," and just as he was about to pull the trigger, "RYU AGAIN!" he shouted and pounded the panel in front of him in frustration as the Core Fighter zipped through his sites for the umpteenth time, "How am I supposed to hit the target?" he complained and then turned, "Hayato."

"Hm?" looking up from his own consoles, the Judo trained boy looked over to the grey haired volunteer gunner.

"Pass on this message, 'Stay out of my way,'" and then he turned back to try and hit the Zeon ships, but he saw a solid glancing blow from the port cannon hit the Germani and she flinched in response, "Good hit."

"Right," Hayato had responded and was digging through his manual as he sweated from being under the pressure, "Uh, how do I contact the bridge?"

Smacking his helmet on something, Kai shouted back, "Hurry!"

XXXX

Explosions tore up the landscape as a few missiles from the Suevi flew back at the White Base. The ship's AA gunners and automated defenses threw up a wall of flak and shot. The missiles were defeated and Suevi got another glancing blow that ripped armor clean off the ship's starboard wing.

XXXX

"Helm descend and turn the ship hard 170 degrees!" Dren shouted

"Aye sir! Descend and turn 170 hard!"

"Tactical aim the guns at the enemy, fire when ready!" Dren ordered the tactical operator.

"Still 210 seconds sir, but if I divert power I can have one gun turret operational in 75 seconds."

"Then do it!" Dren shouted.

One gun turret was better than none at this point.

XXXX

"Look the Musai is not attacking Mister Noah," Mirai pointed out to the enemy enemy ships, "They're not firing their missiles."

"If they were really transferring supplies, then the Musai can't use its Mega Particle Cannons," Bright stated, but he expected that if they transferred power to one turret, they could at least shoot back beam shots, "Then the Musai would be out of missiles."

"Altitude 300, Musai descending to the right," one of the Marker's reported, "Relative Speed .23 kilometers an hour, contact in 5.2 seconds, Germani matching movement with contact in 6.3 seconds."

"Mister Noah," Sayla began as she turned to the acting captain, "Hayato in the Dorsal Turret wishes to speak to you immediately."

"Very well, patch him through," Bright felt some confidence, the battle was going surprisingly well all things considered.

"Mister Noah I have a request," Hayato began as soon as he appeared on the screen before Bright.

"Go on," Bright would listen, Hayato had some tactical training and Kai could be heard cursing a bit in the background.

"Kai can't aim his guns at the Musai because the Core Fighter keeps getting in the way," the Germani could be seen listing from another hit, a solid it one from the Particle Cannons.

"Understood," Bright responded and Hayato nodded as the connection was cut, "Sayla patch me in and get a link with Ryu at once," Bright picked up the phone attached to his seat and began trying to hail the Core Fighter once Sayla confirmed a link, "Ryu come in," nothing, "Ryu? Ryu? RYU?" Bright repeatedly checked his phone, it was working, "Sayla are you sure that link is established?"

"Yes Mister Noah," the blonde replied frowning at her station, "I can pick up something from Amuro, he warns that Char is trying to get away, but all I have is a confirmation about a connection with the Core Fighter."

"Dammit," Bright realized what was wrong as he put the phone down and looked to the battle before him.

"Can you get through?" Mirai suddenly asked, surprised by the look on Bright's face as annoyance filled his face.

"He's disconnected his communications."

"And we can't hit the enemy," Mirai concluded lamenting.

"Incoming!" a pair of lights tore by the ship, "Enemy Musai has one turret operational at reduced power."

XXXX

Char fired on the Gundam with his Zaku's machine gun. He watched as the 120mm rounds again bounced off the shield and the armor in the few places that contact was made. He could only growl until he watched the Gundam make a rookie mistake and throw its empty bazooka at him.

Char merely smirked as he batted the empty weapon aside to Amuro's shock as the Red Comet shot up.

"You're so hopeless, take this!" Char commanded his Zaku to dive in on the Gundam and to use the spiked left shoulder armor to hit the mostly white mobile suit.

Amuro panicked and brought the red shield of Gundam up to defend.

"Amateur," Char hit the shield with such force that the Gundam was knocked flying back and away.

XXXX

Inside Gundam's cockpit Amuro fought against the gee forces and to regain control of Gundam.

"No!" he shouted as he fought for control, "Stop it!" and Gundam's vernier came to life as Amuro got control back.

But then Char appeared, face to face with Gundam, the mono-eye sensor briefly glowing as Amuro gasped. He panicked again, terror across his face as he fired the CIWS in defense. Char merely ducked up and kicked the Gundam back again bouncing Amuro against his harness and seat as he again lost control of Gundam.

XXXX

Char glided back along Luna II's surface, staring back at Gundam.

"I have to admit," he stated to himself, "I've never seen a mobile suit before withstand the beating I'm giving it."

"Please return Oberstleutnant Aznable!" Dren's pleading voice filled the Zaku's cockpit, "We can't use our Mega Particle Cannons!"

"Don't tell me that useless old wreck hasn't transferred the Zakus yet," Char growled, he knew Gadem was competent, but it had been a while.

Plus he was just plain frustrated with the battle so far.

Dren held onto something in his communique to Char, "The Papua's catapults have been damaged so they haven-"

"Grab the Zakus, even if that's all we get!" Char interrupted his ship captain, "I'll be there. Just hold on, I'm coming!"

XXXX

Meanwhile, back aboard the White Base, Kira and Marina managed to arrive on the bridge. The two immediately went to Mister Bright Noah. The battle was hot, but not fierce, so while the crew was being pressed and were frightened, the regulars among them were able to keep a stoic calm. They had a good chance at winning this round.

"Mister Noah," Kira arrived with Marina's help next to Bright.

"Huh? Mister Yamato!" Bright was surprised to see the injured technician, "Get back to bed," the acting commander growled before turning his attention back to the battle before him.

"Mister Noah," Kira began again, tugging on his armored sleeve, drawing the man's attention again, "Check the area to our starboard stern, 20 degrees up at 4 o'clock relative, at least 100 klicks out and do a power sweep."

Not liking that, Bright ordered it and Clan reported bad news.

"Four Laurasia-class Frigates, different readings, but confirm four ZAFT Laurasia-class Frigates on approach."

Dublin then reported, "ETA is estimated in 10 minutes, they'll be in launch range in 8 minutes."

"Alright," Bright confirmed, they needed to wrap this up now, "Thank you Mister Yamato," then he turned to the princess, "See him back to somewhere safe."

"Yes sir," Marina took Kira away, much to his protest.

XXXX

Amuro shook his head to clear it after he regained control of Gundam. Then he looked up to see a red object flash away before him.

"It's Char!" he realized that Char was getting away.

XXXX

Back on the bridge of White Base, things were still going well, but now the Musai was making them work for the win. That's when Hayato appeared on the bridge. He made his way carefully forward to the command chair and Bright.

"Mister Noah," he began once he was at Bright's side.

"Hm?" Bright turned to see Hayato, but would let it slide, some of their communication lines had been severed by a hit.

"Kai has informed me he's licensed to handle heavy land vehicles," Hayato steadied himself as a missile was shot down close by.

"Huh?" Bright blinked in total surprise and immediately, the gears started turning in his head.

"His father is an engineer," Hayato continued, "So he-"

But Bright held up a hand, "Are you sure he said Heavy Land Vehicles?"

"Yes," Hayato confirmed, "Don't we have a mobile suit tank onboard?"

"It's operated by two men," Bright stated back hurriedly as another missile was downed short of the ship, but a pair of beams lashed against the ship's armor.

"But it works exactly like the gun controls on the White Base," Hayato pointed out then he smiled, "We can fire it exactly the same way!" he leaned back, full of confidence.

Bright wasn't so easily convinced, despite a plan in his head, "You want to take on the enemy in the Guntank?"

"Yes Mister Noah," Hayato pointed out the view ports, "The enemy is distracted by the White Base," another near miss, "We can do it."

Bright held his hand out, "Then do it."

"Right," Hayato took it before heading back to the lift.

XXXX

Kira grunted, even with Marina's help. It had been hard, but the young woman finally relented. She helped Kira toward the Dorsal Gun Turret. Fortunately for her peace of mind, she learned that two members of the crew had taken over it from Kai and Hayato.

"Then to the hanger," Kira stated and saw Marina's look, "I can at least tell them what to be careful about."

"Okay, but that's it," she stated as she helped him to the hanger.

XXXX

Gunfire rained as Ryu came in for another pass between the two ships. The Germani threw up a wall of AA fire at him, but Ryu slipped under the hurried fire to press his attack. The Musai was nearly dead in the water, trying to defend the smoking Papua.

"We'll win yet," Ryu spoke confidently to himself.

XXXX

Inside the Papua, Gadem alighted near two of Char's Zakus as they rested on the catapult. Several teams were desperately trying to push supplies over the side of the ship. Smoke and oxygen fed fires made things difficult, but not impossible. At the Battle of Nova, their ship took numerous hits, but kept on supplying the other ships in the fighting despite that.

"If you men don't get a move on, you'll make it easy for the enemy to destroy the Musai," Gadem told his crew as a little motivation never hurt anyone.

One of the men looked up, "Aye aye Kaptain," and then he concentrated solely on the crate he and another were trying to move, but now Luna II's weak gravity was a problem for them.

"What about freeing up the Zakus?" Gadem shouted as he looked up to the mobile suit catapult.

"The catapult won't work!" a sweating engineer shouted as Gadem moved to alight next to the line as others worked to get the catapults working again.

"Idiots!" he bounced off instead towards the engineer next to the forward Zaku, "Use your hands then!"

"JAH!" the engineer suddenly shouted with panic on his face as sweat appeared as he stepped back as Ryu came in for a head on attack, aiming to send a burst of gunfire into the catapult area.

XXXX

"Take this!" Ryu shouted as he fired a burst of cannon fire along with a pair of missiles in his run before pulling up and away before he could crash head first into the Papua.

XXXX

"GAH!" the engineer cried out as he was hit and sent back into Gadem who caught his now dead engineer and looked around to see that the fighter's attack had been deadly with more than a half dozen dead as the ship shook from direct hits from the missiles.

"Grrrrrrahhh!" Gadem shouted in anger as his men and ship died around him, "NOOOO!"

XXXX

"Beam energy fully charged!" tactical shouted, half turned from his station to Dren.

"Good!" Dren slammed his hand down at his station, "Prepare the Mega Particle Cannons, this time we're really fighting back!"

Cheers across the bridge erupted as the three turrets began to synchronize together, then take aim, the power built up, and…

"FIRE!" Dren shouted and the tactical officer released the safeties, savoring as the cannons fired as one, they were no longer weak and vulnerable, the Falmel could fight back now.

XXXX

Outside the bridge, the joined beams of light blasted past White Base's bridge. The outer paint layers vaporizing as the sensors went nuts. The bridge crew had to throw arms over their faces to shield themselves from the bright light as the viewport polarized in a desperate bid to block out most of the light.

"Kai! Hayato! What's taking you so long?! Fire the Guntank! Fire now!" Bright was immediately on the phone shouting down to the two sudden pilots, having lost his composure at the moment.

"Mister Noah you must stay calm," Mirai called back to him, causing him to blink and realize what happened, "The Guntank is preparing for launch now, okay?" then she turned back and the brunette Japanese woman began to bring the ship in so that Guntank could launch, additionally, this allowed them to hunker down a bit more, showing less of the ship, "Land Speed about 12.5 meters, 10 meters now."

"Kai we're all set up now," Sayla spoke over her headset to the rather cowardly sudden pilot down in the Guntank, "You'll launch in three seconds, got it?"

XXXX

Down in the Guntank, Kai held a hand to the side of his head as he gripped one of the control sticks, "Well, I don't have much choice in the matter do I," was his snarky comment, "Any second now," he would enjoy inflicting on the Zeon the same fear he had been feeling for a while now, but before that a thought seemed to enter his mind as he lost focus and his eyes blinked before his voice changed to a different tone, a combination of smooth and mischievous, "Um Miss Sayla Mass," he began.

XXXX

"Look this really isn't the time for small talk," the blonde French woman shot him down hard, "White Base touchdown, move it out now!"

XXXX

Watching the Guntank roll out, Kira could help but shake his head and chuckle at Sayla shooting Kai down. The poor boy would really need to learn to get some more backbone before he could even hope to talk to her about such things. Then his eyes rested on the still unready form of Striker. The Gundam laying in its maintenance bed, silent, unmoving, and likely as upset as Kira was feeling.

That is, until Kira spotted the Marksman Pack and Shirin steadying it.

XXXX

"Kai, the enemy is just over the ridge," Hayato called down to his driver as he brought the Guntank's arms up, arming the close in BOP Missiles, just in case.

Leaning forward with an annoyed look on his face, Kai's response to being criticized by Bright at that moment would be expected, "Yeah, yelling at me is really going to help handle this thing," Kai's response was actually warranted as he didn't know what Guntank's abilities on Luna II's surface really was, no one did as the test had yet to be conducted, "Hayato let's hurry this up and hightail it out of here, alright?"

Peering through the Guntank's targeting scope as they advanced, Hayato responded, "We should proceed another 50 meters Kai," as he adjusted the targeting scope for the two primary artillery guns on the Guntank's shoulders, "That will bring us into firing range."

"And what will we do if they start firing at us?" Kai whined back to Hayato.

"They're unloading, so I doubt they can," Hayato responded, trying to keep his cool, Kai was such a whining coward who tended only to be brave when the enemy was weaker than he was.

"But what if they do Hayato?" was the natural comeback.

"I don't know," Hayato snapped and he didn't, "Ten meters now!" then he saw something, "Kai! Hurry, I can see them unloading Zakus!"

"Crap!"

"I'm firing!" and Hayato pulled the triggers for the two guns and both felt the recoil of the two massive guns as they fired, shooting out both shot and smoke mixed with the magnetic energy of the discharge. The exhaust of the discharge was immediately vented out the rear of the Guntank as autoloaders cleared the breach, discharging surplus energy, and loaded the next rounds. The magnetic energy rebuilding to launch the next rounds.

XXXX

As Gadem used his old MS-05B Zaku I to push the last Zaku II free of the starboard catapult, he felt his ship rock from a new hit. He saw an explosion at the exit of the catapult as well. He knew the enemy had moved up a new unit at once and was now trying to stop him from getting the Zaku IIs and remaining supplies out.

As if he would let them!

"I'm gonna make sure that Char gets his Zakus, missiles, all of his supplies," the older Zeon Kaptain stated angrily, "THIS IS A MATTER OF HONOR!"

Then he pushed the last Zaku II out, following as his ship FZMS Papua continued to list heavily to starboard, supplies now dropping out steadily thanks to Luna II's gravity field, weak as it was, they were on their way out safely. The Papua smoked and burned as it continued to 'sink' towards Luna II. Then the new unit got a direct hit on the crippled starboard engine and that was that.

The explosion ripped apart the engine, cascading down the ship, forcing it hard into Luna II. The Papua impacted, breaking up as the ship exploded. Scarcely any lifeboats and pods escaped before the final crash. The FZMS Papua was now no more than a dead wreck on Luna II, the few remaining areas of oxygen burning.

Equipment floated along with supplies and the four Zakus throughout the battlespace. The two Zeon ships, FZMS Falmel and FZMS Suevi were now exchanging heavy shots with the Trojan Horse. The battle still being waged.

"Falmel take command of your Zakus now!" Gadem communicated.

XXXX

"Matthew, Fix, Roland, Tropp!" Dren shouted back, "Get into the Zakus immediately!"

XXXX

"Oh no you don't!" Ryu saw what was happening and moved in to attack, defying Suevi's CIWS only for his threat board to alert him to a hostile behind him, "It's the Red Comet! Tch!"

Ryu smartly broke off, evading as, having barely escape a hail of gunfire as it was.

XXXX

"What about the supplies?" was Char's first concern as he brought his Zaku to a halt before Gadem's older Zaku I.

Gadem halted his Zaku, the appearance of such looked like he was in a rush, something Char feared was a truth.

"We dumped just about everything," Gadem reported, "You can retrieve them after you get rid of the enemy."

Then Amuro appeared in the Gundam, beam saber drawn as he charged from out of the sun and from behind a ridge.

"Is that it?" Gadem noticed the Gundam approaching, "The new Earth Federation mobile suit I've heard so much about."

Both Zakus turned to look, but then Gadem launched off to engage the Gundam.

Char pursued in his red Zaku custom, "Gadem, stay cool," he tried to keep the older pilot from doing something fatal to himself.

"Don't stop me!" Gadem forced Char's Zaku II off his Zaku I with a wave of its arm, "It was my ship he destroyed," Gadem's face drenched in sweat, but anger and the need to avenge his men and command made him go forward, "My Zaku and I have fought more battles together than you ever will. I'm not afraid of anybody, I'll show you how to destroy this piece of Federation trash with just one simple move Oberstleutnant Aznable!"

Tucking his Zaku I into a shoulder charge, Gadem shot forward intent on proving his point.

XXXX

Amuro blinked as he watched the Zaku I charge him, "Huh? You're fighting me without weapons?"

XXXX

"Stop Gadem!" Char desperately tried to warn the supply officer, "You can't do it! Not with your Zaku!"

XXXX

Gundam drew its arm back, saber in hand, ready to deliver a thrust. It picked up speed as it closed in on the Zaku I B-variant as it charged towards it opponent. Gadem knew a thing or two about fighting in Mobile Suit knuckle brawling, so he would have a slight edge. Amuro was piloting the latest in mobile suit technology, far ahead and removed from even the United Emirates of Orb's partially state-owned Morgenreote Incorporated.

As the two suits closed, Amuro, with a battlecry, lashed out first as Gadem saw the move. Similarly, his Zaku's mono eye sensor glowed in that moment, seemingly also understanding what was happening.

"Idiot! You try to attack too quickly," Gadem and his Zaku I ducked under the thrust and struck back hard, shoulder tackling the Gundam and then pulling off to deliver a right smash to the just below Gundam's left forward vent as Amuro was tossed back and forth in his restraints, but nevertheless, Amuro wasn't down for.

It happened in a flash.

Gundam's saber was suddenly cutting into the Zaku I's left side at the waist.

The saber dug nearly half way through the armor and machinery underneath. It had been above the hip joints, so it failed to sever the leg. Still, arcing energy could be seen from the deep cut.

Gundam then drew its saber back and pushed off.

The Zaku I looked like a person seemingly in shock as it trembled from the strike.

XXXX

Inside, Gadem freed himself with a cry of terror from his restraints and then caught sight of the Gundam floating there before his dying Zaku.

"It's not possible!?" he shouted in panic, "How can a mobile suit be this strong?!"

The delay in escaping was fatal as the damage reached critical state and the cockpit was enveloped in the internal explosion that escaped out, destroying the Zaku I and thus killing Gadem.

"WAHH-AAHHHHHHHHHH!"

XXXX

Char covered his face, "GADEM!"

A lone tear escaped unnoticed as Gadem had been a regular at many a briefing and operation as well as a mentor to Char at one point before he became the Red Comet.

XXXX

"Retreat Amuro! Retreat!" Bright ordered over the radio, "We've destroyed the enemy supply ship. Retreat now."

"But-" Amuro began, ignoring the bits of Zaku bouncing off the shield.

"You don't have any ammo left, do you," it wasn't a question, but a factual statement, "The Red Comet is going to rip you into a million pieces!"

"Oh yeah, right," Amuro turned to leave, "Got it," only to find Gundam getting smacked across the face, "WHAT THE?!"

Amuro recovered to see ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type in front of him and there were several of them, "Oh no! Mister Noah! Enemy reinforcements!"

XXXX

Char looked up, "Coast you made it," he felt relieved, perhaps they could end it here.

XXXX

"Char, was that Lucas Gadem who was lost?" ZAFT Team Commander and White Coat, Mikhail Coast inquired as he observed the new Federation mobile suit before him.

"Unfortunately, yes," was Char's response.

Coast merely closed his eyes, remembering the times Gadem had been around the PLANTS. Gadem had always been there for the PLANTS and later on, for ZAFT. He had been a truly good man to the people of the PLANTS and a stalwart ally of ZAFT soldiers throughout space.

"I see," The Doctor of ZAFT muttered with closed eyes a brief prayer that the Stars would illuminate Gadem's path through darkness to the life beyond before snapping his eyes open and charging full tilt at Gundam, "I'll make you pay!"

The other GINN HMs were right behind Coast, but then a series of beams intersected the path of approach.

"What the?!" Mikhail pulled back with his pilots and turned to see who was shooting.

XXXX

"Get out of there Amuro!" Kira shouted as he took aim and fired another beam shot towards the ZAFT GINNs, "I can't hold them at bay for more than a few seconds."

"Ah! Roger that Kira! Thanks," and Kira could see the RX-78 Gundam flee, rounding a mountainside and fleeing back to safety.

"Let's go Shirin," Kira stated to the woman on his lap.

She merely nodded and manipulated the controls as Kira had shown her. Kira couldn't fight alone in his condition, so the next best thing was to rely on Shirin handling movement as he worried about gunnery. With the Marksman Role Pack, that was actually quite easily done since it was a sniper unit.

With a parting shot, the RX-79S Striker withdrew from the battle.

XXXX

In his red Zaku, Char let out a sigh. He was thankful that none of Coast's men had been hit, let alone The Doctor himself. Yet he had to face facts.

"The Earth Federation's military weaponry uses more advanced technologies than before," he had thought the gap small, something that Zeon could quickly overcome, but the losses he had incurred, FZMS Schlsweig was badly damaged and FZMS Holstein was lost with many hands to say nothing of the Zakus and pilots he also lost at Side 7… and now, "The Papua is gone and Gadem dead," he spotted several members of Gadem's crew, their unmoving forms laid out on Luna II's surface, he signaled Mikhail who acknowledged and two GINN HMs went to pick them up, "Dren how bad?"

"Falmel's starboard side can be repair for additional field service," Dren appeared on a moniter, "but we'll need a full yard for complete repairs."

"Suevi?" Char asked next, fearing what he was about to hear.

"Port side and Starboard side both extensively damaged," Dren reported, "Her Kaptain was also killed by a near miss to the bridge that blew a panel into his face," Dren let that sink in before continuing, "Despite that, the Kaptianleutnant is eager to continue and reports that the Suevi is still combat capable."

"Our losses?" Char questioned next and he heard Dren sigh.

"Not a full tally yet, but between the three ships, at least 850 dead or wounded, as many as a thousand," Dren stated as he eyed his superior, "Mostly dead because of the Papua's loss, we count only 14 survivors, critically wounded personnel at this time, but we are searching for lifeboats and pods as well as anyone that just jumped overboard."

"Continue the search as best you can," Char ordered as he sighed, "Make arrangements with the Coast Team frigates and find them Dren, find them."

"I will Oberstleutnant," and Dren cut communications.

"Something bothering you my friend?" Coast had been listening in.

"Their tactics," Char replied indicating the fleeing Trojan Horse, "I can't understand their methods. Their military strategies are a joke. It's clear they are totally unfamiliar with combat, yet…" Char was at a loss for words.

"I see," Mikhail nodded in his GINN HM as he thought about it.

What confused the Coordinator was how they were able to sneak up on Char the Red Comet. That wasn't easy, yet they used sound combat tactics, yet… they carried them out almost amateurishly. It was like most of the crew weren't soldiers and used spur of the moment ideas to offset this. They also had enough power and strength thanks to their much more advance technologies to cut through all N-Jammers, pinpoint a target, and hit it hard.

But then there was the fighter that zipped to and fro and he was certain that it messed up some of their chances at ending the battle sooner.

Char's losses were high, unacceptably so. Yet, there was something missing. A key piece of information.

Then there was that second mobile suit, the one with the sniper rifle.

As well as that tracked artillery mobile suit.

'Yes,' Mikhail thought as he patted his GINN's interior, 'We're going to need newer mobile suits sooner than we thought.'

XXXX

Back aboard White Base, the vessel leaving the battlespace, the crew and civilians enjoyed the victory they had gained.

Impromptu dances had broken out in the halls as music was played by the few with instruments or having Personal Players on their persons. The ship had entered combat for the second time and again emerged victorious. It was a great morale booster.

As for those that had fought, it was tiring. It was the first time they had to think about combat before going into combat. As such, they were just plain tired.

And thus were thankful for Marina and Fraw to be handing out food and drink to them.

XXXX

Kai removed his helmet with sheer relief after reporting to the bridge. He was glad that the fighting was over. Though he was being insufferable, they felt he had deserved the bit of confidence he was showing, even if it was overconfidence.

"Combat isn't such a big deal," Kai declared as he leaned back against one of the supports for the raised sensor stations.

"You're wrong my friend," Bright countered immediately, "You were only able to attack so well because Amuro kept the Red Comet at bay."

"Hey, did you hear that Hayato?" Kai turned to his gunner.

"I think Mister Noah is correct, plus we finished before the ZAFT soldiers arrived," Hayato sat down at the tactical station in the rear of the bridge, "I believe that was also the Coast Team, given the number of GINN High Maneuver Types, that would be his speciality."

"Great you wimp," Kai complained as Ryu, Amuro, and Kira stepped onto the bridge with Shirin helping her lord, "You had to take the wind out of my sails."

"I'm sorry Mister Noah, I had the long range communications disconnected during maintenance and forgot to restore them before launching," Ryu apologized for forgetting something so vitally important.

Bright didn't immediately respond, trying to keep a cool and relaxed posture before turning back to the four, "Just," he mentally cursed at how harsh that sounded, "don't let it happened again," he managed to calm his voice, "Remember everything you learned in your training."

"Yes sir," Ryu confirmed.

"As for you Amuro," Bright turned his attention to the white suited boy, "You rely too much on your flanking maneuvers."

"That's not true," Ryu immediately stepped forward to defend Amuro, "Amuro knows what he is doing."

"Yeah!" Amuro protested, thankful for Ryu's support, "Char was just too quick."

"They call Char Aznable the Red Comet for a reason," Bright turned back forward, "You went up against him twice and seen his moves, you'll need to work on your combat technique."

"Yeah," Amuro saluted and Bright only narrowed his eyes before turning to fully face forward.

"All hands, get some rest. We remain on battle alert," Bright ordered as Mirai made some course announcements for navigation and the computer worked to establish and maintain a course and speed for Luna II's frontline base.

Kira and Shirin remained silent as Amuro and Ryu walked away, though Kira heard Amuro tell Ryu that someday he might just deck Bright Noah in the face. Kira only shook his head. He had nothing to say that Bright didn't already do so. With Shirin's help he moved up next to Bright.

"Amuro is a bit full of himself and arguably rightly so," Kira stated as his opening as they began to approach Luna II's military port, "But I agree, he needs to be more careful and not always rely on flanking attacks."

"He has unnatural talent," Bright responded with some concern in his voice, "I've seen trained pilot have more difficulty in just getting their mobile suits to walk at times, but Amuro… I just can't believe it," Bright shook his head, he needed to keep knocking Amuro done some pegs so as to prevent a fatal ego from developing.

"Our technologies are the only reason we managed to survive thus far," Kira agreed with a nod, "But strangely, the entire civilian volunteers we have are able to adapt and learn combat quite easily," Kira shook his head, "It's actually frightening."

"Hmm," Bright agreed, before seeing them approach, "An escort force?"

"Mister Noah," Sayla communicated from her station, "Three Salamis-class Light Cruisers are approaching and transmitting ID."

"I've got them," Fang was leaning over a seat to look at a console, "They check out as the Izumo, California, and Queensland with four Drake-class Frigates, Harold, Albany, Georges, and Harrington."

"Ships from the garrison," Bright confirmed with a sigh of relief, "Transmit the Captain's ID code and signal our situation as well, we're safe now."

"For how long?" Kira asked aloud and he could see Bright raise an eyebrow, "The Red Comet isn't about to let us go."

"He won't challenge Luna II's defenses," Bright stated reasonably sure of that, "So let's just rest for now."

"I can agree with that," Kira stated, "Hungry Shirin?"

"A little," the chestnut haired woman agreed and the two moved off, finding Fraw giving some snacks to Ryu, Amuro, and Kai.

"So that ball is something you made Amuro?" Kai questioned, looking down on the lime green colored basketball sized ball of a robot, "What a strange thing to make," Kai stated truthfully, he didn't see the purpose to Haro.

"If not for the war," Kira began gratefully accepting the drink and snacks from Fraw, "I would recommend you visit my friend Athrun in the PLANTs Amuro," there was some surprise at that, "What, is there something wrong?"

"You know someone from the PLANTs?" Kai looked a little nervous.

Rolling his eyes, though he didn't blame the guy, Kira answered truthfully, "Athrun Zala, only son of the Committee Chairman of Defense and CINC of ZAFT, Patrick Zala," he heard several gasps, not even Shirin and Marina were aware of that, "But we both went to school together on the Moon, so we were both Settlers there for a while."

"Oh, okay," Kai calmed down, "Didn't know you went for Moon living," then a lecherous smirk came onto Kai's face, "Meet any hot girls when you were there?" he even wriggled his eyebrows.

Rolling his eyes again, Kira actually nodded, "Yeah, like this one older woman named Nina Purpleton, nice blonde lady, but for my age group it had to be their orange haired girl named Reccoa Londe," Kira then blushed at one memory and an incident that included him, Athrun, Reccoa, and some other girl he never caught the name of.

"Okay, that's got to be a story there," Ryu began, hoping to clear the air a little better.

Turning a glaring look at the round pilot, Kira turned his head away, "It was a game that had a minor mishap, like any kid would have at that age."

Ryu and Kai both didn't let up causing Kira to believe that they somehow knew his long time friend, Tolle.

XXXX

A vengeful Char Aznable launches a surprise attack on Luna II while the crew of the White Base is forcibly detained by the Earth Federation. Worse yet, Commander Mikhail Coast and his force include a squadron of GINN Assault Types and the man is also known as The Doctor for his clinical approach to war.

Will the crew of the White Base have to fight their own allies in order to protect their ship?

How will the combined forces of the Red Comet and The Doctor be met?

Find out next when Kira proves that he can still fight.

Next time on "Mobile Suit Gundam: Zeonic Front,"

"Escape from Luna II"

Who will survive?

XXXX

Tomcat A/N:

Okay, this is FINALLY DONE!

Chapter Three of Zeonic Front. You know what? I'm just gonna keep the name.

Now we have the ambush of Char's forces done. Char was smartly routed in this battle. While he had the field, his losses and damages were a sign of defeat.

Also, given how close the Papua and Falmel were, I'm surprised that Char's ship took almost no damage. That's been corrected here. While there is some bad damage, it isn't enough to send Char back to Side 3. He's just going to be a bit tender for a bit.

Don't fall in love with Suevi either folks. She might not last, she might last. Her fate is still unknown.

We get some character development here as well. We see something about Kira that was unexpected. Kai and Hayato get some expansions. As time goes by, more character work will be done.

Thanks for reading and please, Review it!

Something detailed too, thank you in advance!

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Xamusel's Beta Reader Note: *phew* This took nearly forever to get done! I blame the shifting of time for that one.

Note that Tomcat follows the episode script far too much for normal liking… something that will be corrected if I have anything to say about it. I seriously want to show him that AU stories are meant to be more… unique than this.

Well, anyway, time to find a way to derail the plot that the show follows. I'll give it a couple chapters at least before the plot derails properly.

Until we meet again… farewell.

-Xamusel

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Tomcat:

Oh? A wiseguy, eh?

I'll have to show you then, see.