A note for those who are familiar with Mobile Suit Gundam as a television show, but who have not seen the compilation films: This fic's chronology will seem a bit strange to you. For instance, in the previous chapter Char was familiar with the current state of Texas colony because he and Lalah had already tested the Elmeth there; however, Colonel M'Quve, who dies during the battle that occurs during that test, is still alive in this fic. That is because Encounters in Space set the Battle of Solomon after, rather than before, the skirmish at Texas; therefore, M'Quve, who was dispatched to Solomon with Kycilia's Granada fleet in both versions, had to live through the Texas battle (in the film, in fact, he does not appear there). I have not chosen this chronology to make things easier on me; believe me, things would be much easier for me if M'Quve never appeared in this fic. However, it seems more logical for the White Base to encounter Char and Lalah at Texas before the Battle of Solomon, considering Side 5's location in between Side 6 and the space fortress, than for the White Base to attack Solomon, make its way back to Side 5 (which it would have passed on the way to the battle), and then return to Solomon again. That is not to say that everything that happened in the skirmish at Texas in the third film makes sense, of course—nuclear landmines in an abandoned colony? Really?—but in terms of chronology, it seemed more fitting to follow the film than the television episode order.

More importantly for casual readers, I apologize for the slow update time, and must warn you that it will only get worse from here. You see, a month is the update time for chapters that are already written. Not only do I get easily sidetracked, but I'm attempting to keep the update schedule slow so that I have more time to write what hasn't already been written. What this means, sadly, is that the update schedule will slow to a crawl when I actually reach the point where I have nothing more pre-written and have to write and update at the same time. Thank my constant writer's block and my current lack of a definite direction for that: At the moment, I still have no idea how this fic will end, and it's starting to worry me.

Needless Disclaimer: If I owned Gundam, it likely would never have been produced. I'll never be THAT good…

/**/

"The situation is changing with every day," Mirai murmured. "First Side 7, then General Revil. And I have a feeling that that won't be the end of it."

Sayla Mass nodded darkly as she glanced out the bridge window into the space surrounding Luna II. "I agree with you there. But," she added, "Luna II is still ours, and we still have numerical superiority. The end will be bloody, but it's still in our favor."

Bright nodded, remembering his previous panic with a touch of embarrassment. Finding that Luna II remained safely in Federation hands had been a blessed relief. "As long as we can contact high command on the planet, the war should recommence once it becomes clear that General Revil is… gone." Like the rest of the crew, the commander held a special respect for the man. "And most of the remaining generals have already transferred to Dakar, so there should be very little delay on that front. It won't be long before we're—"

"Back to killing people," grumbled Amuro Ray with a sigh. Bright glared at the pilot, but didn't correct him; the mysterious events surrounding the end of the peace talks had left him understandably bitter.

Sayla turned toward him in concern, but before she could say anything, Marker Clan's voice rang out from the CIC: "Incoming signal, sir! It's a broadcast, origin…" Marker hissed. "Origin is L2, from what the instruments can triangulate."

The commander blinked. "Side 3, is it?" he asked, suspicious. "We'd better hear it."

The reception on the bridge's viewscreen lacked quality, but it was clear enough to make out the form of Gihren Zabi, sitting behind a desk. By the time Bright had ordered Marker to accept the signal, Gihren had already started talking: "…believed that your 'elite' brand of humanity clearly outshone the Spacenoids you ruled with little mercy and absolutely no understanding. Today you learn otherwise. As I speak, a modified O'Neill Island 3 type colony is being propelled through space, set to rendezvous with Earth in a day and a half. For those of you watching this broadcast from the Federation space fleet currently stuck at L3, know that this colony began its journey only hours after you left L5; you will be unable to intercept it before it reaches the point of no return, assuming that you can pinpoint its location at all. In short, gentlemen of the Earth Federation, you have as long as it takes for the colony to reach the point of no return to surrender this war outright. Should you refuse to do so… Well, the war has changed. You have no idea how many forces I have waiting for the word to snatch a cylinder. But I'm sure you realize that your planet cannot expect to survive many more such bombardments. Surrendering now, to the rule of Zeon, is far preferable to such a fate, as I'm certain that your resident scientists will tell you. The time remaining to do so, however, slips by even as I speak. Choose wisely, my good Earthlings."

The signal went dead at this, leaving the White Base crew staring at the blank screen. After a long minute, though, Bright regained his wits. "Impossible!" he scoffed with as much assurance as he could muster. "Zeon must be nearly out of troops by now. They don't have enough people to take a colony every other day."

"I don't think he'd bluff about having one already, though," Mirai replied. "And that's all that the Federation leadership will have on their minds."

The commander glared at his helmswoman. "I should hope that the high command would be able to look ahead far enough to see that Gihren can't do the damage he proposes to do. A single colony falling on Earth is a tragedy, and I know that suffering many more of them will be the end of the planet. But by enduring just one more, the Federation will leave Gihren in an impossible situation. We will win this war."

Sayla glanced at the blue orb floating outside the White Base's bridge window, serene in its beauty—for all that the war had brought it. "The Federation has made long-term planning before," she began, "especially regarding mobile suit development, but only at the insistence of General Revil. Before they gave him authority to deal with strategy, the Federation never bothered to take into account the changes in warfare brought about by Minovsky reactors, despite the fact that Minovsky particles were confirmed more than a decade ago. Sir, Revil would have looked ahead, but the same group that was in charge before him was also in high command under him, and without him they've taken charge again. Don't trust them."

Bright glared at Sayla—at, he knew, Artesia—but he knew the truth for himself, even if he didn't like to admit it. "So basically, Gihren has bluffed his way to victory," he murmured. "Which puts us in the same situation that I called you in here for in the first place." The commander glanced at Amuro, who had been unusually silent through the discussion. "What do you think, as our resident Newtype?" He was only half-joking.

"Side 6."

The bridge was filled with confused looks. "What about it?" asked Kai Shiden dismissively, eyeing Amuro strangely. "It's not like they'll help the Federation. They're under Zeon's thumb, and they don't like either side anyway."

Amuro nodded. "They don't like either side," he agreed. "And they have a grudge against Zeon for holding them down. They'll agree to a simple request from us if it snubs Zeon without endangering them too badly."

Bright's expression lightened with sudden hope. "You want us to ask them to search for the falling colony?"

The hope was dashed when Amuro shook his head. "Side 6 isn't equipped with the tools for the task; you know that already, sir. The Federation only gave them autonomy on the condition that they remained dependent on the Federation for defense. Only Dakar's surrender will stop that drop." The pilot glanced out into space for a moment, before returning his attention to Bright. "Whatever happens afterward, though, we need to make our way to Side 6."

Hayato Kobayashi glanced at Kai, who shrugged, before turning back to Amuro. "What's so important there?"

The boy furrowed his brow in concentration. "I don't know," he admitted. "It's faint; I can barely feel it—"

"It hasn't gotten there yet," Sayla said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention. "It's still on its way. But it's going to Side 6, there's no doubt of that."

Amuro nodded, still focused far away. "Do you know what it is?"

"It's familiar, but I can't tell for sure." Sayla shook her head. "I can't tell." She glanced up at Bright. "We'll find out when we get there."

"I can't just abandon the fleet to go on some wild goose chase!" Bright snapped. "After three months in the military, even you civilians ought to know better. We follow orders, not hunches!"

"If we're ordered to surrender," Mirai asked pointedly, "will you do it?"

The commander stared at his helmswoman for a long moment before finally sighing, closing his eyes in defeat. "If, and only if, the Federation surrenders outright," Bright decided, "we will head for Side 6."

/**/

Gihren Zabi, Supreme Commander of Zeon's armed forces and de facto ruler of the Principality itself after the… unfortunate demise of his father, paced through the corridors of Granada's government complex, flanked by several bodyguards to ensure the obedience of any Kycilia loyalists that might still be present. The man himself was distracted by his thoughts, being steered through the unfamiliar building by guides but paying only minimal attention to their information. Gihren had reason for his distraction: He was mentally preparing himself for both governing the Earth Sphere and combating a stubborn insurgency. Indeed, it was very likely that he would face ongoing conflicts on multiple fronts, although he had no need to worry over obliteration. Not as the Federation did.

Gihren was, quite obviously, certain of his victory. He did not have the manpower to fulfill his threat of dragging innumerable colonies into Earth's gravity well, but he was already well on his way to bringing down one in particular. Due to his father's stubborn agreement to ceasefire talks with the Federation, Gihren had been forced to rush the construction of his Solar Ray colony laser, resulting in a flawed product that could only be fired once before failing. That single shot had been used to end the peace talks, making the Solar Ray useless as a cannon. However, Gihren had already formulated his plans for the war's end, and the Solar Ray still had its place in those plans. Even as the supreme commander pondered whether or not the Federation would give in, the cannon was on its way to enforce his authority over them should they refuse.

Of course, the Federation's hardliners might become a liability in the near future. Gihren knew that, should the Earth Federation be allowed to exist past the end of the war, Side 3 would be endangered for generations to come; it was for that reason that it had been imperative to interrupt his father's peace talks. But those same hard-line generals that would drive the Federation into a second war with Zeon would not be silenced simply by liquidating the Federation itself. Gihren had no doubt that rogue Federation forces would plague him for the next several years, if not decades. He also knew, though, that he could easily outlast them.

Gihren was more irritated with his forces' failure to contain all of his sister's loyalists than any other problem. While rogue Federation forces might pose difficulties, they were still outsiders with little knowledge of Zeon's inner workings. On the other hand, Kycilia's high-level officers, apparently including the legendary Red Comet himself, were Zeon themselves, and were intimately aware of Gihren's weaknesses. Should these men resolve to fight his regime, Gihren would be faced with a much larger task, something he actually dreaded. Kycilia, after all, had been nearly as popular a leader as Dozle, and her forces had been among Zeon's most feared. And as for Char Aznable… Gihren sighed to himself as he realized that Zeon's propaganda machine would backfire spectacularly on the day that the Red Comet chose to oppose his regime.

Morale would also falter among the citizenry the moment Kycilia's men revealed that they had managed to spirit away Dozle's widow and infant daughter, which would almost certainly lead to confusion as to who the "legitimate" leader of Zeon truly was. Gihren, after all, was clearly guilty of killing his sister, which could be construed as a reason to cease serving him. Although Gihren was confident that the propaganda containing his excuse would keep most of Zeon loyal, he could not guess just how many might be swayed. In the end, the man knew that he had a reason to be worried.

The supreme commander's thoughts only deviated from these troubles when his guide motioned to a door on the left, indicating that they had reached their destination. As the bodyguards stationed themselves outside the door, Gihren entered the room—Kycilia's office—and was immediately greeted by two saluting lieutenants and a colonel. "Your Excellency," the colonel began, "thank you for coming on such short—"

"Why did you call me down here, Virgil?" Gihren demanded, cutting short the other man's apologies.

The colonel blinked, but quickly regrouped. "As you ordered, sir, our forces took control of this building as soon as possible. I believe Your Excellency was already briefed on the loss of Lady Zen—"

"Zenna and Mineva Zabi. Get to the point."

"Y-Yes, Your Excellency. Other than the appropriation of the Zabis, our first priority was to secure the rooms and belongings of Kycilia Zabi, which was done as quickly as possible. Lieutenant Gabine here"—one of the lieutenants straightened his shoulders—"commandeered Her Excellency's—"

"'Kycilia' will do," Gihren interrupted, annoyed.

Colonel Virgil nodded hastily. "He commandeered Kycilia's personnel files, and came across an anomaly very early in his scans. If Your Excellency would care to see this…" The colonel turned to Kycilia's desk, where he turned her computer monitor to face Gihren and stepped aside for the supreme commander to take a look.

Gihren glanced at the colonel's nervous expression before deciding that he was about to receive very bad news, as if he did not already have enough to prepare for. Stepping forward, he leaned toward the screen and inspected the information provided. He was not surprised to note that the file dealt with one of Kycilia's pet projects, the 300th Independent Corps, and its enigmatic commander Char Aznable in particular. Gihren's brow rose slightly; like almost everyone who had ever seen the Red Comet, he was certainly curious about the masked man. The file said little of interest, however, and the supreme commander was about to glare at the colonel once more to demand an explanation when he came across a heading he would not have expected to see in such a file: 'Known Aliases'.

'To assign a whole section to explain the term "Red Comet" seems—' Gihren began to think, but glancing at the first name on the list made him pause.

"Edward Mass?" he asked aloud. That was a familiar name, one to which he attached some importance. Dredging through his memory, Gihren vaguely recalled Kycilia ordering the death of an Edward Mass—from Texas colony in Side 5, if he recalled correctly—for fear that he might be a danger to Zeon. No, to the Zabis in particular; Gihren frowned as more returned to him, but the final piece did not arrive until he lowered his eyes to the second name on the list, prompting his eyes to widen in disbelief.

"Casval?" The supreme commander slowly straightened, still staring at the screen. "Casval Rem Deikun is the Red Comet, Char Aznable?" Someone who had escaped Degwin's first purges, who had survived the assassination attempt that had killed even the great Jimba Ral, and who had apparently returned from certain death at Side 5, had been that close to the Zabi family? Suddenly Garma's death could be seen in a terrible new light—

And, thanks to his forces' incompetence, this same man and the soldiers he commanded were still at large.

Gihren's teeth clenched in rage, but a minute of steady breathing helped him regain control; losing his head in front of his men would be unforgivable. Turning to Colonel Virgil, the man said only, "Thank you for informing me of this. Make certain that this information does not leave this room." He glared at the lieutenants. "I hope I am clear on that."

"Absolutely, Your Excellency," replied the colonel, saluting again as Gihren turned on his heel and left the room without reply.

/**/

Char gritted his teeth as his heavily-damaged Zanzibar came to a halt within the hangar of Texas colony, while his eyes passed over the ships that surrounded his own. He saw too few; half of his own corps had been blasted away by Gihren's occupational forces as they fled Granada with Dozle's family in tow, and by the looks of it Colonel M'Quve's small group had done only reasonably better. The only ships to be seen were four Musais, another Zanzibar, and a lone Komusai capsule. In short, this small force had no hope of standing up to the supreme commander. "A single spy could kill us all, if these are all we have," the captain muttered bitterly.

"You don't trust the colonel?" asked Lalah, observing the activity in the hangar at Char's side.

"I don't trust his men," the masked man corrected. "M'Quve himself would never forgive Gihren for killing Lady Kycilia, but are his men loyal to Kycilia or to Zeon? It's entirely possible that some of them were stationed with Kycilia due to luck; they won't be happy to find themselves considered traitors."

Lalah sighed. Turning toward her commander, she asked, "Do you trust our men?"

"As much as it is possible to trust anyone," answered Char. "I feel no reason to doubt those under my command."

"Sir! Colonel M'Quve wishes to board."

Char glanced at the monitor above the bridge window. M'Quve could be seen waiting at the Zanzibar's main hatch, impatiently tapping his foot. "Welcome him aboard," the captain ordered. "I will see him in my quarters." To Lalah he said, "Come with me. I would like to hear your impression of the good colonel."

Obeying, Lalah floated behind the captain as he led the way off of the bridge and into the adjoining corridor, waiting for the door to close behind her before she spoke again. "I can tell you already that he doesn't have much fashion sense."

This statement produced the desired result: Char couldn't help but laugh, and his melancholy of the past day disappeared for a moment. "That he doesn't," he agreed. He sobered slightly. "He doesn't much care for me, either, so expect slight antagonism. Try not to provoke him." Char thought for a moment before adding, "No doubt he will want to speak with Lady Zenna, and see Mineva while he's at it. He will probably want them transferred to his ship, as well."

"Shall I bring them to your quarters?" Lalah asked.

Char nodded. "Please do that." Lalah quickly turned down the nearest side corridor, and the captain made the rest of the journey to his quarters alone.

Only a moment or so after Char had closed the door to his quarters, someone was knocking on it. "Colonel M'Quve to see you, sir."

"Come in." The door opened, and the guard that had been speaking stepped aside to allow M'Quve through. Char saluted as the colonel entered the room, casting his eyes over its contents in an effort to learn more about the enigmatic Char Aznable while he could. "Colonel, I am glad to see that you were able to make the rendezvous."

"I'm equally glad for your arrival," M'Quve replied (insincerely, Char was sure; he probably wouldn't have cared, except that Char had promised to bring Dozle's family along). Returning the captain's salute, the colonel asked, "What is your group's status?"

"Half of my men are dead, and my ship is heavily damaged, as you can see. Do you know of any port that would be able to repair us?"

M'Quve scoffed. "Of course not, with all of Zeon against us. Even Side 6 will probably be less than neutral about resupplying us; either we'll need a massive bribe, or we'll need to steal what we can get."

Char frowned. "Even so, we'll have a better chance there than—"

"I'm aware of that," grumbled M'Quve, his brows furrowed as he thought. "If it weren't for that alone, I would more happily advocate any number of other places to hide. Staying where we are, for example—"

A knock on the door interrupted him. "Ensign Lalah Sune, bringing Lady Zenna and Lady Mineva Zabi, to see you, sir."

M'Quve spoke before Char could. "Come."

As soon as the door opened, Lalah stepped inside and to the right, allowing Zenna Zabi through. Char smiled as he glanced at the infant cradled in the woman's arms, who was apparently sleeping; that quickly changed when M'Quve stepped up to her mother. Bowing slightly, the colonel said, "I apologize, Lady Zenna, for having you dragged out of Zeon territory on short notice. I assure you that it was necessary."

Lady Zenna looked at the colonel evenly, even as she soothed her now-crying daughter. "Necessary for whom, I wonder?" When M'Quve glanced up in confusion, the woman told him, "I am the wife of Dozle Zabi; this is Dozle's child. Gihren might have had some quarrel with Kycilia, as I don't doubt my husband had as well. But I have heard of no such quarrel between Gihren and Dozle. My child and I were in no danger at Granada, as I'm sure you were aware at the time, Colonel. So…" The woman's eyes narrowed. "Does that make us your hostages, to use if my brother-in-law happens to find you?"

M'Quve straightened, his expression hardening. Char, who had stepped forward to better observe the colonel's reaction, almost winced at the confrontation he foresaw. "Do you believe us to be that desperate, Lady Zenna? We might be hiding, but that simply means that we have evaded pursuit. We are currently safe from discovery, and will remain so for as long as necessary. We have no need of hostages." M'Quve motioned toward Mineva. "We took you as a kindness, my lady. Did you imagine that Gihren would not use the infant in his schemes? A man who murders his own sister has little love to spare for his more distant relations; I assure you that Gihren would have found some use for Lady Mineva, until he found a convenient means of being rid of her." Char noticed Lalah's pained expression, upon hearing of the nature of Zeon's ruler. To the kindhearted, politics was always terrible.

"That is not to say that you will not do the same, Colonel M'Quve," Lady Zenna replied. "No matter your excuses, the fact remains that remaining behind in Granada, in Zeon, would have brought us no harm. Now, however, I am forced to wonder if we are your guests, or your captives. I can sense absolutely no reason to lay my trust in you, given your current situation and the methods left open to you. So, Colonel M'Quve…" The woman glared her hardest at this point. "I formally request to be returned to Granada."

She knew the answer to that question before it could even be asked, but it was a bold move; it forced M'Quve to acknowledge her status as a prisoner, even if only two officers were witness to the event. The colonel saw the dilemma, and was not amused. "Lady Zenna," he began, his frown extremely deep, "you know already that any of my vessels would be destroyed on sight the moment it entered Granada's range. I have no choice but to deny your request."

Zenna scoffed. "Of course," she murmured, turning away. "What a villain, that Gihren…" The door opened, allowing her to step through; Lalah, receiving Char's nod, quickly followed her into the corridor, and the door closed to leave the captain and the colonel alone.

The latter of the two clenched his fist, but otherwise chose not to express his anger. Instead he said to Char, "Perhaps I shall leave Lady Zenna with you. I would have preferred to take the entire entourage onto the Hummel, but clearly Lady Mineva will have to make do with her nurses alone."

Char's brows rose. "Would you antagonize her that much more, sir? She has already proven difficult; if she is pushed, she may actively attempt to betray us to Gihren."

M'Quve glanced sidelong at the masked man. "Do you believe so?" Giving the matter some more thought, he nodded. "Fine. I have no need of more mouths to feed. I'll leave the retinue with you, Captain."

Char saluted as M'Quve made to leave, but before the colonel even made it to the threshold, the intercom buzzed. Char answered it swiftly. "Yes?"

"Sir, the Federation is making an announcement! Shall I patch it through?"

"Do it," ordered Char, before standing back to allow M'Quve a view of the screen as the image of a Federation politician appeared, already speaking.

/**/

This cliffhanger was not intentional. I unfortunately did not write this story with chapter breaks in mind, which will affect readability somewhat. Again, my apologies.