A man walked up to the stand and settled himself down. He was about to begin his speech in front of a crowd of thousands of news reporters, foreign dignitaries, and other important people. He was dressed in a red suit and a white button up shirt. He had short, golden, blonde hair that was lightly combed to the side and held down by a layer of gel. The teleprompter turned on and he looked toward it and began readied himself to speak to the audience.
"Please welcome, Guile Cagalli-Athha, new Head Representative of the ORB Union, " stated the Spokesperson of the UHFS Council of World Leaders.
"Thank you for coming today, I know today of all days is special," he paused for effect, "today is the day that my grandmother, Cagalli Yula-Athha, united the PLANTs and the nations of Earth together under one banner known as the United Human Federation of Sovereign states. I gathered you all here today because my wish is to continue following the same path that my grandmother set in motion many years ago." He stared out into the audience to draw their attention after reading those lines off the teleprompter. "As promised in my campaign for this prestigious postion, I want to set the foundations of a welfare system for the people of Earth. After the 3rd Valentine War, Earth has been left in socioeconomic shambles, and I wish to help the suffering masses there to as much as my position allows me."
"How do you plan on doing this," a reporter asked. She and several others held out their microphones and flashes of light from many cameras lit up the room.
"I plan on increasing current tax rates, nothing comes free, I'll have to tell you all. But this is for a noble cause, there are men, women, children, many of which are my people. I have friends that have lived and died in poverty and starvation, and my wish is for the people of the PLANTs to extend their hand in helping them to no longer suffer in silence."
"Speaking of increasing taxes for welfare, allegations are surfacing that ORB has been supporting ZAFT in the creation of another WMD," a man said in the crowd. The crowd's attention turned to him and saw a man in a thick black coat and a microphone in his hand, "people of the UHFS don't let this man nor anyone from the UHFS Council deceive you any longer." The screens in the room went dark, and then reconnected to a different channel. "This is where your tax dollars go already," they projected images war and violence. Blood and gore. This stirred the audience up.
"Athha-san, we need to get you out of here," a secret service member said to him in his ear piece, "the situation is turning hostile."
"MORE IMPORTANTLY," the man in black placed onto the screen. the file data retrieved in a recent security breach. They showed footage of a colony imploding as a black hole crushed it into non-existence. "This is a weapon of mass destruction that the UHFS in tandem with ZAFT and ORB has been creating. It is a bomb capable of destroying entire sections of space." The crowd became unsettled and soon became angry, "the taxes you have been paying haven't been for a noble cause like helping Earth. They've went towards the military creating something that's been banned for several centuries by this man's own grandmother." He aggressively pointed at Guile, "this idealism he speaks about is nothing more than a facade to earn votes, just like any scumbag politician. He's a fake, a liar he's nothing like Cagalli."
"No, that isn't true."
"Then how do you explain this," the man in black put on the screen profile pictures of the crew of the Eternal. "Earlier this month in a joint effort by both the ORB Union and ZAFT, the Eternal was recommissioned. The project itself has your name written all over it." The man in black then produced evidence suggesting that Guile dedicated a major part of ORB's budget went to a black budget and the contents now declassified stood before them, "this man and the other leaders in the UHFS Council are conducting secret projects like this. The faces you see on the screen now, they are all dead, last month, all 600 crew members were killed in combat or went MIA. Something seems fishy about this and we all know who to blame."
The crowd was shocked by the news, the Eternal launched without a hitch and the ceremony was broadcast to all of the UHFS to bring up troop morale in the fight against the Grey Matter. Learning that all of them are dead brought down everyone's spirit and was the final nail in the coffin for Guile's career in politics and the end of the legitimacy of the UHFS's authority.
"Guile let's go," Guile agreed silently and the secret service escorted him off the stage. The crowd came into an uproar and stormed the stage. The foreign dignitaries sitting in the front followed Guile but were cut off by an angry crowd of people and captured. Guile and his group made it to his escort transport. They were pursued by Black Flag rebels and the rebels fired upon them. Guile and his group quickly took cover behind cargo boxes in the hangar. One of the secret service guys was shot down before getting behind cover. The rest of them returned fire at the rebel position. "Guile get into the ship, we'll cover you."
On the count of three, the secret service got up and started spraying their handguns into the rebel position in order to keep them down. Guile boarded the escort, but while he was boarding he was shot in the leg by a stray bullet. More of the secret servicemen joined him aboard and the ship took off. The escort ship was assisted by two Murasames as it left the port of December City. They were soon ambushed by two GOUF units and several Zaku's. The Murasames held off the ambush while the escort made its way off.
"Contact the Archangel Mikael," the escort ship pilot said, "we need assistance. The pilot flipped a switch and revealed a Blue Frame Tactical unit hiding in the back of the escort ship. The Blue Frame engaged the GOUFs while the Murasames exchanged fire with the Zaku Warriors. Guile was getting worried as the conflict was beginning to escalate. A GOUF broke past the Blue Frame and pursued the ship firing its beam rifle. Then flying past them in a blue, blinding light were several different parts and a core fighter.
"Shinji Asuka, Force Impulse Strike Gundam, Let's go," the parts joined together and created the mobile suit. A modern remake of the Impulse Gundam, the Impulse Strike Gundam, combines the simplicity of the Strike Packages and the ability to move the independent parts of the Impulse Gundam.
"A Gundam," Fareed said to himself, "take this." His GOUF turned its attention to the Gundam and fired its beam rifle at the Impulse Strike Gundam. The Impulse shrugged off the blast with its Beam Displacement Shield and returned fire with its own Beam Rifle, Fareed's GOUF was hit in the shoulder. Fareed backed off and escaped, knowing that the Gundam was too strong for his suit. Gara noticed and flew off in his GOUF. The Zaku Warriors didn't notice the entrance of the Gundam as they were just finishing off the Murasames and wearing out the Blue Frame.
"Send the Blast Strike Package," Shinji ordered. He detached the Force Package and the backpack flew back to the Archangel Mikael. Another backpack carrying a heavier set of gear and cannons replaced it. He aimed the Beam Cannons at the group of Zakus and fired it. Most of the Zaku Warriors were immediately eliminated but a few managed to escape. Shinji opened fire on them with the missile bays armed on the Blast Strike Package. The air-to-air missiles whistled their way towards the Zakus, the explosion caught one of the Zakus but one more survived and tried to complete its escape. "Send the Sword Strike Package," Shinji ordered once again, the Blast Package detached and flew back to the Archangel and was soon replaced by the Sword Package. The Sword Package lightened the Impulse Strike's load by a lot, and he was able to catch up to the stray Zaku. The Zaku pulled out its Beam Axe from its shield, but Shinji struck off its hand with the Impulse Strike's "Tempest" Beam Saber. Shinji finished off the Zaku by cutting through the Zaku's cockpit. The Zaku exploded into a cloud of pink dust, and the Impulse Strike went back to the escort ship.
"Two escaped, but it looks like all your pursuers are gone, Guile," Shinji assured Guile.
"Thank you, Shinji," Guile replied, "just in time there." Guile sat back in the seat of his escort ship as it boarded the Archangel Mikael. The Impulse Strike Gundam waited in the space near the Archangel just in case there was any follow up attack by the rebels. Now aboard the sanctuary of the Mikael, Guile felt safe. Liutenant Lisa Rammius reported to the hangar with her team of guards to escort Representative Athha to his quarters.
"What happened out there," she asked, "who was that?"
"I don't know, " Guile replied, "and I'd like to find out. And he spout off nonsense about ORB supporting the research of WMDs. The crowd heard what they heard. But just get me some information on him." Two officers approached him with tablets containing information about the man that incited the violence in December City.
"He's the head of the rebel organization known as, the Black Flag," they said, "he's known only to the public as Big Boss, nothing else is known about him, and all files we get about him somehow get erased, so we think he has a very skilled black hat hacker working for him."
"I see," Guile replied, "take me to the bridge, I need to speak with Captain WengFang." Aboard the bridge, the deckhands and Captain Zhu WengFang watched the events unfold in December City. Riots and the mob ruled the street. The UHFS Embassy in the city came under fire and the UHFS forces there were being overwhelmed.
"This is madness," WengFang said to his crew, "I think we are on the brink of another war." Everyone's faces darkened at the thought of another war.