Gundam Seed: Killer's Realm

Phase 07: Space to Sand

North Africa, Sahara Desert

January 29th, 71 C.E., 6:32 Orb Time

"Damn it Maylam, move faster!" Snarled one Hadat, ZAFT mobile suit pilot. The two pilot's GAHMUs cruised over the sand dunes on their magnetic tracks, keeping the distance between them and the swiftly moving clouds of dust behind them. Both eyed the sonar display, noting the patches of sonic disturbances following them. One of the patches spiked, audibly growing as the Megalodon creating the noise breached the surface of the sand, soaring high as its railgun fired. The hyper-velocity shells glanced off of the GAHMU's armor, and the quadruped mobile suit pulled a 180-degree turn, going in reverse. The head-based Gatling gun roared, Teflon coated shells ripping into and through the Megalodon's scale systems and armor, reducing the cockpit and the pilots it sheltered into bloodied scrap. The broken mobile armor crashed into the dunes, bringing up a twenty-five meter long cloud of sand as it flipped end over end over the surface. The other OMNI units seemed to become more apprehensive after this. Maylam chuckled at this.

"Seems like these rookies don't know how to deal with us." It made sense. So far, the only things the Megalodon units had attacked were the cumbersome, yet powerful CUMAR and Earth-refit ZAMS and ZONGS. The Tiger had finally gotten fed up and decided to risk his elite. The GAHMU's had spent the last two days 'playing tag.' They were it.

"Heh, they seem to be debating whether or not to attack." Hadat said, all fun now the serious part was done.....for now. And indeed, the Megalodons were circling the now-stationary GAHMUs, like sharks uncertain of their position in the predator-prey relationship. Then one emerged, peeking its top third above the sand. The missile launchers fired, missiles arcing high before curving down towards the two GAHMUs. The ZAFT units slid to either side. The missiles, their momentum too much, slammed into the sand, exploding after two milliseconds. Maylam's GAHMU fired; the two battle rifles mounted to either side of the large beam rifle on the turret mount spitting 133mm bullets at the offender, the rounds ripping through armor to impact against the remaining missiles in the launcher. The explosion lit the desert night, burning shrapnel scattering everywhere. The other OMNI armors apparently had enough, turning tail and running for their base, wherever it was.

"Hah! Run you bastards! And never forget the name of Mayl-" Maylam's victorious spiel was interrupted by a beam piercing his GAHMU's hind left leg, blowing the knee actuators and reducing the mobile suits characteristic agility by a large margin. "WHAT THE FUCK!!??" Turning, the two GAHMUs regarded their attacker, a single knightly-looking mobile suit. The machine was colored in black and red, with golden camera units at the end of each arm of the cruciform visor of its head. In its left hand, it held a rectangular shield large enough to cover the mobile suit head to foot, and its right held a bizarre-looking rifle, with the handle mounted on top instead of the bottom and the trigger pulled by the little finger. The rifle seemed to be some kind of bullpup design, with what looked like a clip protruding from the bottom of the stock. The barrel ended about three meters from the grip, and had thirty centimeter notches on top and bottom.

"Looks like that new OMNI mobile suit Le Creuset reported." Hadat said, cautious and nervous again.

"GAH! I just had this thing repainted!" Maylam howled. "I'll make you pay for that cheap shot, bastard!" The Gatling gun fired, sending death in the form of shells towards the upstart mobile suit.

Which simply sidestepped, avoiding the burst while raising its rifle and firing again. The beam pierced the GAHMU's head cleanly, right between the dual monoeyes, severing the wires connecting it to the cockpit displays. Practically blinded, Maylam moved the GAHMU backwards, attempting to retreat. In his path, a Megalodon, having hidden deep under the sand under total silence, started suddenly, jetting upward and out of the sand in an arc that took it parallel to the ZAFT unit. The beam saws, standard length instead of the enormous ones carried by the elite Megalodons, only managed to carve into the spine of the GAHMU. This was enough, however, to tear into the cockpit and into Maylam's skull. The Megalodon paid for its cleverness a second later, when Hadat fired his GAHMU's dorsal recoilless rifle. The round tore through the armor, essentially ripping out its internal stuffing.

"Fuck." Hadat muttered, moving his GAHMU in a circle around the OMNI suit, stepping instead of using the magnetic tracks. Even with the not inconsequential weapons of the GAHMU trained on him, the OMNI pilot apparently had no worries, merely inspecting its rifle. The next second, however, saw the rifle's beams stabbing through the GAHMU's dorsal weapons systems. Hadat reacted instantly, the dispensers on its upper legs exhuming clouds of sensor obscuring smoke. The GAHMU moved back, echolocating sonar systems guiding it through the blinding smog. Muttering to himself, Hadat keyed in the targeting parameters for the leg-mounted missiles, as well as the ventral terrain-following torpedo launchers. A second later, the devastating array of weaponry launched, headed towards the audio signature of the OMNI unit's systems. Before the missiles could exit the smoke cloud, bursts of large-caliber shells tore through it, ripping into the missiles and prematurely detonating them. The explosive force dispelled the last of the cover, revealing the GAHMU to the mobile suit's visual sensors.

How the hell? There's no way his CIWS could have detected the missile launch when they were in the smokescreen.... Hadat thought, moving the GAHMU back slowly as he watched the large-bore guns retreat back into their housing in the mobile suits head, covered by armor plates indistinguishable from the rest of the head. Either he has some kind of special sensor system or.... This train of thought was interrupted when the mobile suit instantaneously lifted its rifle and fired a trio of shots, expertly destroying both forelegs, touching off the missiles in the right one's upper leg and destroying the base structure in the left one. He's fucking winging it! Damn bastard's using manual targeting!

Instead of merely finishing off the GAHMU from a distance, the OMNI suit decided to slowly walk up, until he stood directly in front of the ZAFT quadruped. The next second, a beam blade emitted from the notches in the rifle's barrel, originating as two blades before widening to become one four meter long blade in front of the barrel. The beam blade sliced up, then down, cutting the GAHMU's head in half and carving into the torso.

Inside the mobile suit's cockpit, Abaddon grinned as he flourished the blade in a sort of warrior's salute. Coordinators they may be, they still fought well.

"Abaddon." Sariel called out, his custom Constantine cresting the nearby dune hill. It was Watcher policy to never refer to one another by rank on the battlefield. It wouldn't do for ZAFT to know just how important they were, after all. "How's the Praetor handle?"

"Very well Sariel. Very well....." Abaddon said, looking at the beam blade before switching it off. "When's the rest of its equipment going to be ready?"

"The mechanics say they're going to finish tuning the parts by tomorrow."

"Good." Abaddon smiled, arctic cold and knife-sharp. "We'll have to thank the Barachiel crew next time we see them....."

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 00000000000000000000000000000000000000

Debris Belt, Barachiel, Cafeteria/Meeting Room/Break Room

8:16 A.M., Orb Time

"So, what are we going to do with the addlepated blatherskite?" Jack said of the entire 'VIP' meeting. This brought about a round of weird looks and a chorus of 'Huh?'. "What are we going to do with the dumb politico?" Jack rephrased impatiently.

"We could always eject him out the airlock..." Liene said hopefully. Allster reminded him all too much of the Seirans.

"He's my father!" Flay said, slamming her hand on the table. Jack's grin caught her attention then, and everyone could see just what the pilot thought.

"Now guys," Sai said, trying to act as peacemaker. "Mr. Allster is a highly-ranked political figure. As such, we really shouldn't harm him…..we could always release him when we get to Orb….." Jack snorted, and Liene just shook his head. Sai looked towards the other Orb natives for support. Miriallia and Tolle were looking around innocently, and Kuzzey had long since 'gone to the bathroom'. Kira, on the other hand, was absentmindedly toying with his balisong, flipping it around his hand in all sorts of complex and dangerous-looking maneuvers. "What do you think Kira?"

"Give him to ZAFT." That drew everyone's attention. "Then he'll be out of our hands and ZAFT will have its own political hostage."

"Kira!" Sai said, restraining the now-furious Flay.

"Look at it this way: He'll be alive, and he'll eventually get back to the Earth Alliance. If he stays here however, he's eventually going to cause one of us, or one of the ZAFT pilots," Kira nodded towards Athrun, "To snap, and he'll be found dead in one of the storage rooms." Flay stopped at that, eying the Coordinators in the room.

"….fine. But I'm going with him." It was so quiet; they could've heard a pin drop

"B-but Flay...."

"Shut up Sai. I know what side you're on." With a final glare at Sai, Flay left to tell her father what was to become of them. The room was very quiet for a while. Then....

"Hah! Good call Kira! Kill two birds with one stone." Jack exulted. Kira ignored him, still playing with the balisong. Everyone else just ignored Jack.

"Kira!" Kuzzey burst into the room, startling everyone.

"What?" Kira asked, flipping the balisong closed and sheathing it.

"We've got a message from the Ame-no-Mihashira!" That got the Orb natives up and running, straight for the bridge. When they got there, it was to see the imposing image of the one and only Uzumi Nara Athha. Liene and Jack scrambled, coming up into a vaguely military position, complete with salute. Kira, on the other hand, bowed, years of political training showing.

"Hello Father." He said warmly, looking up at the screen.

"Good morning Kira. How's it going?" Uzumi replied, looking at his adopted son with pride.

"Very well. The repairs should be done soon and we will be able to descend to Earth soon." Kira reported.

"You know, of course, not to descend directly into Orb. I have some news for you. It's Cagalli." Kira sighed at this, resigned.

"What has she done now?"

"Well, as you can guess, she didn't exactly take the news of Orbs assistance in OMNI's mobile suit program, even if I had nothing to do with it." Uzumi noticed Liene shifting slightly, looking somewhat guilty. "Don't worry Liene. Andrew doesn't blame you." The engineer noticeably exhaled, relieved.

"Anyway, Cagalli and Kisaka have gone to help ZAFT's ground forces in North Africa. Discreetly, of course. Lately, there have been raids on their forces by that new Megalodon armor. Also, it seems that OMNI has completed its Natural-use programs. Constantines have been sighted. In light of this, instead of having Morgenroete upgrade the Augury upon your arrival, I ordered them to make an upgrade pack that can easily be applied by Liene. Cagalli will have it." After an exchange of farewells and promises to meet, Uzumi disconnected.

The former OMNI personnel stood, dazed, some of them pinching themselves. Except for Jack, Kira, and Liene, who had had rather regular contact with the Chief Representative, so were the Orb citizens.

"Alright. So, it looks like we're taking a bit of a detour before we get to Orb." Jack said, leaning against Murrue's chair. "First of all, to make it look like the Barachiel is just a ship whose crew decided to join ZAFT, we're going to North Africa to help the ZAFT ground forces there. While there, Liene will apply some kind of upgrade to the Augury that dear, sweet Cagalli has held for us." Jack paused for a moment, taking in everyone's expressions before grinning. "Sounds good to me! Let's get to it." Without further ado, the black-haired Coordinator sprinted out the door, cackling gleefully. After a few seconds, the discussion as to how they would accomplish the feat of defeating an entire orbital fleet began.

"From what I've managed to see, Halberton's fleet has been rotated out. At the moment, the 3rd Orbital Fleet, headed by Admiral Richard Krowhart, has taken up position. Hacking into the mainframe, I've found that the fleet consists of six Agamemnons, fifteen Nelsons, and about twenty to thirty Drakes. Most of the Nelsons and Agamemnons are carrying Moebius armors, but the flagship, the Paris, is loaded with Constantines, along with two other Agamemnons." Liene said, going over the information he'd stolen from OMNI's database.

"How are they arrayed?" Murrue asked.

"They're spread out over most of the area we have to go through, with the Flagship at the point farthest away from where we need to break through."

"This should be simple enough. Even if they have a completed OS, the Augury can still dance around them, especially with the Angelos pack." Kira said. "As for everyone else, here's what we'll do…."

Geosynchronous Earth Orbit, 35,786 kilometers Above sea level

7:17 P.M. Orb Time

"Admiral! We've detected the Barachiel!" One of the Paris' bridge crew called out, excited. Admiral Richard Krowhart, sometimes known as King Crow for his habit of picking through the wrecks of destroyed ships and mobile units, leaned forward in his chair.

"Perfect." He muttered. "Get the Nelsons to move forward and have the Drakes screen them, tell them to prepare for anti-mobile suit, anti-mobile armor, and anti-ship combat. Oh, and ask the Drake crews where they left their wills." The ships did as ordered, with the Drakes holding positions just forward of the Nelsons. The next few seconds had the ships launching their mobile armors, numerous Moebius leaving their ships to dash towards the incoming Barachiel, with many more holding position around the fleet. The attacking armors were quickly destroyed by a combination of the CIWS and lasers of the Barachiel, and the eight rapidly moving and firing beam pods of the Shadowfax, which flew out from behind the Barachiel's bridge, itself firing several EMP charges at the head Drakes.

Those same Drakes fell to the volley of fire from the Barachiel's beam turrets and railguns, the expertly targeted shots ripping through hulls and munitions bays to cause devastation. Shadowfax darted in, smoothly dodging the bursts of CIWS fire and missiles, using the fire superiority afforded by the pods to tear into the Drakes, and accounting for three more all by itself. A few Moebius armors, their pilots obviously having more balls than brains, boosted at the Shadowfax, intending to end its reign of destruction. Instead, they were pierced by beams from several directions, momentarily turning into miniature suns as the beams set off their ammunition and batteries.

A Nelson moved forward, intentions clear. It never got the chance to fire, the Noctoraptor phasing into existence in front of the bridge and firing bursts from the beam carbines into it. A few more bursts shredded the armor, destroying the reactor before the Mirage Colloid swallowed the black mobile suit up again. For the next few minutes, the Noctoraptor engaged in guerrilla warfare, picking off Drakes with beam fire and damaging Nelsons with the Ballistra rifle. After about fifteen seconds of this, the black mobile suit reappeared behind one of the Agamemnons, Ballistra firing upwards clean through it, the projectile piercing the armor to come up from below the captain's chair, impaling the unfortunate officer and dragging him with it back into space.

"Damn it, how many did they launch before coming here?" Krowhart hissed, displeased by the rather unfortunate turn of events.

"I think....all of them sir." The sensors officer said.

"What?" The officer pointed. From the west, the others came, Angelos Augury, Kiba, Beta Bastion, Enmity, Ferox, and the Charcharius. The mobile suits came on in a fury, the Ferox's AATAC system sending hundreds of thousands of projectiles, the majority of them Shredder rounds, missiles and beams. Even so, the massive wave of destruction annihilated half the remaining Drakes, and practically vaporized a good portion of the mobile armors.

Next to act was the Kiba, Chimamare's mad cackle echoing about the radio waves as the silver Gundam charged into a Nelson, clawing straight through it and into another. Six Moebius swooped in, hoping to save their ship. Instead, the Kiba's open maw emitted a beam of ions, running one Moebius through and impacting on another. The left manipulator left its Chilong gauntlet embedded in the Nelson, drawing the beam rifle to destroy another Moebius. Two more were shredded, the Chilongs slicing them into little more than metal pancakes. The last one ran, coming under the condescending fire of the CIWS, and managing to escape into the fray between the ships. There, it was destroyed by a....untimely shot from the Charcharius' high-energy beam rifle.

The Charcharius was perhaps as devastating, morale-wise, as the Kiba, smoothly avoiding beams and gunfire from Drakes, Nelsons, and Moebius alike, and destroying them. Le Creuset used the Magra twin-blade Beam Naginata, wielding it in his right hand as the beam rifle fired from his left. The pulse lasers fired, melting through two Moebius as the Magra flickered, halving another mobile armor that ventured too close. The beam rifle fired three times, one shot destroying a Drake's bridge and two more coring its thrusters. Three Moebius decided to go on an attack run, arcing their path to bring them straight at the Charcharius. A completely foolish move, as Rau proved, easily weaving in between the bursts of machine gun bullets to destroy them, the Magra slicing two in half and cutting another into thirds.

A kilometer on the other side of the battlefield, the Enmity fought among a scattered group of two Drakes, a Nelson, and the four surviving Moebius of their combined detachment. The Enmity's grenade launcher fired a grenade into the hull of one Drake, crushing its way past quite a bit of the hull before the delayed fuse went off. Momentarily leaving the sorely damaged Drake, Yzak turned the Enmity around to fire the Grendel, the superheated flechettes leaving a supposedly sneaky Moebius a metallic version of Swiss cheese. Without turning its head, the Enmity fired the beam rifle, the column of heated plasma tearing through one of the Nelson's twin beam guns, even as the missile launcher fired a flight of anti-ship missiles for the wounded Drake, exploding in the large cavity created by the grenade. Evidently, the series of explosions set something off, and the entire left side of the escort ship was reduced to floating scrap.

Before Yzak could turn his attention towards the remaining Drake and the Nelson, three beams slashed through the Drake, and a HALC round smashed into the Nelson, ripping through the center of the battleship and taking most of the ship's innards with it as the round continued, slightly deflected from its original trajectory, to smash into the side of another Nelson, severely damaging the ship.

"Glenn damn it, stop stealing my kills!" Yzak snarled over the comms, causing some of the CIC crew to shrink into their chairs, with even Natarle paling slightly.

In the Paris' bridge, Krowhart seethed with fury.

"What the hell are they doing? Get the Nelsons back around us! And tell the Drakes to stop screwing around and deal with those mobile suits!" Unfortunately for the Admirals blood pressure, about half of the Drakes obeyed the order, the rest either having been destroyed or severely damaged in key areas.

Then the good Admiral's day got a lot worse. The Augury zoomed past a Nelson, completely ignoring its rather pitiful machine gun turrets to head straight for the brain of the fleet, being followed by the Beta Bastion, which was doing a good job of confounding the fleet's systems. Within a short time of being exposed to the B-Bastion's special brand of hacking and electronic warfare, the Nelson's machine guns were turned on the Moebius pursuing the two Gundams, creating a mess not unlike that of a shredded aluminum can.

As the Augury reached the first Agamemnon, the powerful dual beam cannons fired, four luminescent beams of concentrated plasma reaching out. Unfortunately for the Agamemnon, the Augury rather easily avoided the slow-moving fire path of the cannons, wings moving to direct thrust in a manner that, combined with the leg thrusters positioning, resulted in a pseudo-somersault, landing the white Gundam well outside of the cannons coverage, and right in front of the unfortunate carrier's bridge. Seeming bored, at least going by 'body language', the Augury holstered its rifle, unsheathed one of its beam sabers, and slashed the front of the bridge, exposing it to vacuum. An amount of freezing air was ejected into space, along with the dead or soon-to-be-dead bridge crew and captain, and whatever loose objects had been in the bridge.

To the side, the B-Bastion simply drifted towards a second Agamemnon, its systems causing every beam to hit an OMNI ship, often destroying a Drake or at least crippling a Nelson. As the B-Bastion drifted past the cannons, its armor shifted, plates folding into position and flanges telescoping and folding into their shorter incarnations. Three seconds later, the Bastion in its original form activated both beam claws, slashing them diagonally, creating an X-like breach in the bridge.

"Fuck! Launch the Constantines, now! Helmsman, get us out of here!" The cowardly Krowhart, his excitement at destroying the rebellious Barachiel completely gone, was cowering in his chair as the images of the Augury and the Bastion floating victorious over their respective victims showed on the main screens. Krowhart breathed easier, as the Paris turned away from the battle. He calmed even more upon seeing the twelve Constantines his ship carried launch, splitting up so that six joined one of the two other groups. Each detachment veered for the Gundam closest, the Constantines from the Caesar going for the Augury while the ones from the Brutus headed for the Bastion.

For his part, Lieutenant Horace Hart knew exactly what was going on. He and the rest of his newly made mobile suit team were being sacrificed to ensure the survival of perhaps the most cowardly individual in the entirety of OMNI. The pilot didn't care, the Blue Cosmos fanatic only wishing to deal some defeat to the Space Monsters. His Constantine hefting the large Beam Sniper Rifle that he'd earned due to his impressive accuracy in the simulators, Hart lagged behind his group, drawing a bead on the Augury's cockpit. Grinning, the soldier pulled the trigger, firing a superheated beam that sped across the battlespace. And on, piercing a Drake's thruster as the Augury casually flared its thrusters, a slight amount of motive energy that caused the beam to streak by the cockpit. Then, the battle really started. Still wielding its beam saber, the Augury shifted the Anti-Beam Shield, locking it into the port on its forearm and drawing its rifle, holding the weapon in its left manipulator. The leading Constantines, two armed with Anti-Ship beam swords and three armed with new-fangled Bullpup Beam SMGs, charged, the swordsuits moving under the cover of the SMG's fire. The assault was entirely ineffective, the first Constantine to reach melee distance of the Augury being swiftly disarmed, the Gundam's beam saber sweeping right to left, slapping the sword out of its manipulators before carving into the mobile suits torso. The Augury's shield fended off the small SMG beams, before the Gundam dashed to the side, the shield/gun-arm moving to expose the beam rifle's barrel, which spat three beams, each shot carefully and quickly aimed, each one coring a SMG-wielding Constantine. The last of the first five units hesitated, torn between obedience and self-preservation. Ultimately, this hesitation had the same result as either decision, as the Augury's shield smashed into its head before the saber sliced it in half at the cockpit.

The remaining thirteen Constantines attacked en mass, all armed with beam SMGs except for the Lieutenant and three others who had Beam Rifles. The hail of beams caused the Augury to flay about like a drunken fly, dashing in between the paths of beams to get ever closer to the Constantines. The OMNI pilots, already nervous, began to slowly edge their mobile suits away from the incoming Gundam. As the Augury continued to close, one SMG wielder turned to run. Hart drew his beam pistol and shot the coward in the back. This caused the Constantine pilots to stop retreating. One way or another, there was a very likely chance of death, and fighting the Augury seemed to have better odds than angering the Lieutenant.

Not really.

The grenade launchers fired, three grenades screaming towards the Gundam, which ducked under the explosives before firing, impossibly hitting each grenade launcher in the drum magazine. The beams set off the grenades, the explosions consuming the rifles and the forearms of the Constantines. They were quickly dismembered, the beam saber dancing in between them, leaving floating half-suits. Kira was immensely surprised when Hart tossed aside his Constantine's rifle, drawing the beam saber in the right manipulator and keeping the beam pistol in the left one. Among the scattering common Constantines, the two clashed, Hart's skillful interception of the Gundams strike lifting the pilots' spirits. Until the Augury's beam rifle fired point-blank into the Constantine's torso, literally five centimeters away from its surface. The Constantine went limp, control circuits severed and melted, cockpit mostly little more than vapor now. The Gundam kicked at the husk, sending the Constantine's remains on a one-way trip to Africa. The OMNI soldiers shuddered when the Augury's cameras turned on them, seeing their deaths reflected in their golden glare.

At the floating hulk of the other incapacitated Agamemnon, the Bastion faced off against five Constantines. Of the missing thirteen, three had instantly succumbed to the Bastion's Rudra cannon, while five had been repeatedly stabbed and sliced by either the Tonbogiri or one of the beam claws. Two had been forcefully kicked into the hull of the Agamemnon before being peppered with CIWS fire, the bullets penetrating the somewhat thin armor after about three seconds and hitting something sensitive. The Constantines were, like Jack said, fragile. The last missing three had cut and run, deciding to risk being found and punished for desertion rather than face certain death at the hands of this blood-red monstrosity.

The last, few, remaining five Constantines evidently had pilots with stiffer spines, or whatever metaphor for courage and/or stupidity they preferred. A few moments later, it was proven that it must have been stupidity, as one of the Constantines lunged at the Bastion, beam saber leading. The Gundam released its Naginata, the polearm briefly floating free before the manipulator grasped its end, thrusting the weapon at full length into the OMNI unit. One of the others, behind the Bastion, decided to take this chance, also charging, with a beam rifle. Another idiot. The shield swung about, barrel of the Rudra cannon flaring before discharging its luminous blue beam, practically vaporizing the moron. The last three held back, perhaps being smarter and waiting for a better chance. More likely, the fight so far had scared them into inactivity. The Tonbogiri was quickly moved to its sheath, the manipulator that once held it drawing the beam rifle and snapping off two shots, each close enough to the other that when they blasted into their target, there was one hole. The very last two had enough, and their thrusters flared, glowing bright as they poured energy into escaping the Gundam. They managed fifty meters before a silver blur slammed into them, thrashing violently for a few seconds before stilling, the now-clear mobile suit seeming to study the diced pieces of metal that had once been Constantines. In the Kiba, Chimamare grinned fiercely.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 0000000000000000000000000000000000000

North Africa, Sahara Desert

8:02 P.M. Orb Time

"Commander Waltfeld sir-" Martin DaCosta began, before being practically instantly interrupted.

"How many times have I told you DaCosta? Call me Andrew." The Desert Tiger himself was currently at his desk in the land battleship assigned to him, brewing coffee. DaCosta sighed, long since used to his commander's....peculiarities.

"Sir, Rau Le Creuset reports that the he and the Barachiel have managed to clear the 3rd Orbital Fleet."

"Really? How'd he manage that?" At the moment, Waltfeld was taking a cautious sip of his experimental brew, instantly pronouncing it successful upon it reaching his tastebuds.

"Complete annihilation." DaCosta was unfortunate, in that he was standing in front of Waltfeld when the unbelievable statement reached the legendary land commander's ears. The coffee spewed out, spraying DaCosta in the face.

"WHAT!? The entire 3rd Orbital Fleet?"

"Well, it seems that the Paris was able to escape...."

"You say that like it was an achievement. Krowhart is the most spineless, gutless, ballsless military commander I have ever had the displeasure to ever hear of. Guy spends most of his battles behind someone or something, before emerging to pick the remains clean of anything useful. Anyway, I'm surprised they managed that feat."

"It would appear that the Gundams are very powerful."

"I would hope so. We're going to need them." Waltfeld finished, sipping his coffee. Remembering the remains of the GAHMUs. And the symbol carved into them.

That of an eye, surrounded by a circle.

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000 -- Quis est a Iuguolo nisi a Iuguolo? – 000000000000000000000000000000000000

A/N: Sorry for being late, but I do have Exams (damn you school!). Also, inFamous is really, really addicting. I'm good right now, but next time there's gonna be wicked mayhem. Anyway, things are moving apace in the story now. Soon, Kira and Co. will be on Earth, and the Gundams will get their upgrades. I've spent a lot of time on the Kuro Tenshi.......

G Wagers: I try.

Crytek: Thank you very much. I find the same problem with them, but 00 was a bit better.

Thrawn716: I always wondered about that.

Oh yeah, I've come across a slight problem. I don't have the three Biological CPU Gundams. You know, those crazy guys who appeared just in time to attack Orb? Yeah. No replacements. And I've kinda got my hands full with the Constantine, the Praetor, and some other tech projects. Not to mention the Phases themselves.

So, if any of you wanted to try your hand at designing a Gundam, here's your chance (Not you Velshard). You know my design format.

Requirements: Trans-Phase Shift Armor, XGAT-xxx Model Number, and made for battle-crazed psychos.

Go nuts.

Knightmare Gundam of Ni