Heaven and Hell URE

Ron the True Fan: Welcome back to Heaven and Hell URE, readers!

Patriot-112: And I'm here, just as I promised! Here to bring chaos and destruction to

those who dare...

117Jorn: And I'm still here as well, to kick ass, take names, and chew bubble gum!... and I'm all out of Gum!

Ron the True Fan: Then let's get started!

Back in the Cosmic Era...

While Polaris was getting involved in the confusing wars of the Anno Domini era, the Girty Lue-Class Junk Guild vessel Hell Vulture had arrived at Shipyard One. Waiting for them was a Battlestar: second of the Polaris-Class, BS-136 Aquila.

"Commander Gladys owes us one HELL of an explanation!" Amy Takeo shouted "Our brother's missing and all the Admiralty says is to come here?!"

"Calm down, Amy." Matthew said, "She'll explain when we get on board. And we're not the only ones going: I heard that the Archangel and the rest of the Three Ships Alliance are coming, too. I mean, Adama DOES have partial command of the Orb military. When someone that important goes missing, everyone's going to notice."

Polaris had never arrived at the Colonies for her trial runs, and with a high-profile person on board, as well as the famous crew of the now-destroyed Battlestar Galactica and their rather famous brother, no one was just going to ignore it. There was only a few explanations: Polaris broke down, her FTL drive overloaded or the ship was attacked by the Cylons after she jumped. all three were not pretty: if Polaris' FTL overloaded, the ship would have been sent into subspace never to be heard from again, and the latter two were equally as unappealing.

"Hell Vulture, Aquila: approach starboard upper landing bay. Commander Gladys is waiting for you."

"Understood, Polaris." Matthew said, "On our way." Amy crossed her arms under her bust. "I don't like this." She said.

"Why?"

"Aquila's a new ship." Amy said, "And she's more heavily armed than Galactica was. Every time a power introduces a new, powerful ship, someone's going to try and outgun it! and that'll end up causing another war!"

"Well, let's hope it doesn't end up starting another war." Matthew said, "We should get ready to greet the Commander."

Battlestar Aquila - Starboard flight pod

Talia Gladys had changed a great deal. She still wore her trademark cap, but now she wore the uniform of the Colonial Fleet, saying that 'thanks to Gilbert Durandal, ZAFT was no longer her place'. She was given a field commission to Colonel and command of the Minerva until Aquila was complete. The second that happened, she was promoted to Commander. Fleet Admiral Adama was missing, though, which left a bitter taste in her mouth. And when the hatch leading to the umbilical connected to the Hell Vulture opened, she regretted giving Jaden Shipyard One's location. If he didn't go to Polaris, his siblings wouldn't be here to chew her out.

Stepping onto the Aquila's Starboard flight pod was Matthew Takeo, soon followed by his younger sister Amy. "Commander Gladys," Matthew said nodding "Good to see you again, though I wished it were under better circumstances."

"You aren't the only one." Gladys said with a sigh, "But we need to do this. Admiral Adama wouldn't want to anger the Junk Guild any more than he already has."

"Technically, that was Cain." Amy pointed out.

"Who you STILL haven't taken care of." Talia said, "Imprisoning her isn't enough." That was one of the few things the Junk Guild wasn't going to do: kill anyone in cold blood, even someone as bad as former Colonial Rear Admiral Helena Cain. She had been locked up ever since Operation Nemesis, and Admiral Avalonia and even Ron were demanding she be handed over to the Colonials for a proper court marshal and eventual execution since the end of the war. The Junk Guild refused to do that.

"That's not why we're here." Matthew said, "Jaden, Admiral Adama and Polaris are why we're here."

Talia nodded. "Follow me to CIC." She said, "We have a general idea about what happened to Polaris." Talia turned and walked off, with both Takeo siblings following her. The two were still unused to artificial gravity, unlike Jaden, who spent several days at a time on the Guardian Baseship. Thinking of their sibling made them pick up their pace. It took them five minutes to reach CIC, which was almost the same as Polaris, sans the seal on the upper floor, which read BSG-61 BATTLESTAR AQUILA. It seemed that this ship would replace Pegasus (now the Orb Battlestar Izanami) as flagship of BSG-61 as soon as her trial runs were complete.

Of course, there were problems with this. They had discovered the reactor problem much faster than Polaris did, and were in the process of installing hundreds, if not thousands, of capacitors and buffer circuits just so they could operate the reactor at 50% power.

"Sorry about the lack of lights: we can't power up the reactor without blowing up one or two consoles." Talia said, "And we're running out of consoles."

Amy blinked. "Was that a joke?" She asked.

"Not a good one." Talis said sighing "But it's also true: the damn thing's too powerful. How much power does the reactor on the Archangel put out?"

Matthew shrugged. "30 gigawatts: same as most matter/antimatter reactors." He said.

"The reactors on this ship and Polaris are 30 times more powerful than that." Talis said, "Remind me to kick Commander Pinkerton in the ass when we find him!"

Both gaped, unable to believe that the reactor was THAT powerful. "Holy-"

"Shit!" Talia finished, as she chuckled as Meyrin Hawke, another officer from the Minerva who transferred to the Colonial Fleet, handed her a mug full of coffee. "I know."

Back with our heroes in the Anno Domini universe...

Major Sherman Cottle chuckled. "Well, it's hard to believe, but they have the same DNA." He said. Ron didn't even blink. "But they aren't Cylons?" He asked for confirmation.

"They're as human as you, me and almost everyone on this ship!" Cottle said.

"The almost being Athena." Ron said as he looked at Feldt. "Sorry!"

"It's quite alright, Ronnie!" A familiar voice said, as weight added itself to the CCE field marshal. Ron growled out "Captain, get the frak off me before I shoot you!" He shouted "And unlike me, you will NOT survive!"

The woman got off of him, although unwillingly. "This means I've got a sister now!" Yuna cheered "A baby sister!"

"She's YOU." Ron shouted, "This universe's you, but you! And NO, you are NOT corrupting her! Her captain would try to find a way to kill me." He paled. "And she'd succeed."

He walked out of sickbay, shuddering all the way. "Marines, please restrain Captain Farron." He said, before he turned back to Feldt "Young miss, please come with me." Feldt got off of the examination table and followed him out. "It's hard to believe this ship is so advanced." She said.

"It mostly uses Earth technology." Ron said, "This ship's immediate predecessor, the Mercury, had less guns, no beam weapons, no Mobile Suits: just fighters, Raptors and BAGs."

"BAGs?"

"Big Ass Guns." She giggled briefly before following Ron to CIC. In CIC were Feldt's comrades, who were getting an explanation as to how the DRADIS worked by Gaeta, and why the GN particles weren't jamming it. "Normal DRADIS would be affected, but this new array uses subspace sensors to cut through the jamming."

"Something Zeus has been working on since the end of the First Cylon War." Ron said, and Gaeta and everyone faced him as he spoke. "Zeus?" Sumeragi asked.

"Admiral Zeus Avalonia, commander of the Colonial Corps of Engineers." Ron explained, "I see you're showing them around, Captain."

"Just until you and the young lady arrived." Gaeta said, and Ron nodded.

"Very well." Ron said, "Sorry for what happened earlier. You see-" Sumeragi raised her hand. "Commander Takeo told us about your...problem." She said, "Machines that look human, almost perfect infiltrators: that's nightmarish."

"We have a new term for that: a Boomer." Ron said.

Setsuna voiced the group's general question. "Boomer?"

"She put two holes in me." Admiral Adama, and all faces turned to him. "I was just about to shake her hand when she pulled out a gun and shot me. Next thing I know, I wake up in sickbay with a young woman standing over me."

Jaden looked at Ron, who gave a 'fuck/frak if I know' shrug. "I wasn't on board Galactica at the time." He said, "I was too busy trying not to jump for joy in the vacuum of space."

"Jumping for joy?" Jaden asked, and Ron chuckled. "Right. I never told you about what happened over Kobol. I'll tell you later."

Back in the Cosmic Era

The LCAM-X01A Archangel was the first ship to arrive, escorting the new flagship of the Orb Space Forces: the Battlestar Izanami. The latter left a bad taste in Amy's mouth. That ship was the Butcher over Orb, as ZAFT had named the Battlestar Pegasus, now Izanami. Cain gave it a bad reputation: first Cain orders an attack that killed most of her fighters, then kills her XO just because he wouldn't order the attack, then abducts people from a civilian fleet.

That ship didn't deserve to exist anymore, let alone fly under the flag of the United Emirates of Orb! But she wouldn't say that. Dissing an Orb ship, even an ex-Colonial one with a bad past, was a BAD idea, even on a Colonial ship. Thanks to a number of agreements (completely unrelated to the Treaty of Luna) Admiral Adama was unified commander of the Colonial Fleet and the Orb Defense Forces.

Cagalli Yula Athha thought it was best to take advantage of Adama's abilities, using his reputation as a commander to keep anyone from pulling what happened under Azrael and Durandal again. After all, most Battlestars were refit to Izanagi and Izanami-Class standards and had Swingfire turrets and levitator units and everyone knew what Pegasus did over Orb.

"Izanami, Aquila: good to see you, Madam Representative." Talia said, "We're waiting to receive you."

"Confirmed, Aquila. Raptor 127 will be inbound in fifteen minutes." Talia hung up the phone with a smile. "You're happy." Matthew commented.

"Representative Athha is a fine young woman." Talia said, "And she's got President Roslin to tutor her."

"Until her cancer comes back and ends up killing her." Matthew said, and Talia sighed. The Kusanagi and Eternal would be there in less than an hour, followed by ZAFT's new flagship, the Siegel Clyne under Yzak Joule and OMNI Enforcer's most powerful ship, the Charlemagne. Both of the latter were Galactica Kai-Class Battlestars: using a mix of Colonial 600cm turrets and beam cannons (Swingfires were only used by the Colonials and Orb, as the CCE refit those ships while the ones used by ZAFT and OMNI Enforcer had to be refit by themselves) in an attempt to mimic the Izanagi-Class. It wasn't completely successful: they were deadly ships, yes, but they were inferior to the ships they attempted to copy.

"What do you think happened to Polaris?" Amy asked.

"Commander Pinkerton developed a new FTL drive: gravity generators integrated into an FTL drive." Talia said, "Aquila is equipped with two of these FTL drives as well. We're going to do exactly what Polaris did: plot a jump to Kobol with the gravitic drives and hope for the best."

Matthew and Amy's eyes widened "Our ships don't have those things!" Matthew said, "The Hell Vulture doesn't even HAVE an FTL drive!"

"Good thing you're docked with Aquila." Talis said.

"And what if they fell into, uh-"

"Subspace?"

"Yeah!"

"Not likely. That hasn't happened since the beginning of the First Cylon War. And that's only happened twice." That was not comforting. At all. "RIGHT. I'll go send a message to Mom and Dad. Maybe they'll want to join us."

Anno Domini 2312 - CBS-74 Ptolemaios II

Mileina Vashti was amazed by the massive ship off to starboard. Oh, sure, she couldn't see it, but it was there. It was almost two kilometers in length, nearly a kilometer in width and it was completely invisible!

"Uh, Miss Racetrack? We're approaching the base. I'd like to inform Miss Sumeragi so she can return to the ship."

Said pilot rolled her eyes.

"Don't call me 'miss', kid: just Racetrack." she said, causing the young girl to blush a bit in embarrassment.

"Right, sorry." Mileina apologized.

A moment passed. "Message sent. They'll be back on board in 10 minutes. Commanders Pinkerton and Takeo will be joining them, the former with his Mobile Suit." Mileina was slightly excited. A Mobile Suit that she'd never seen before! And from what she'd been told, Commander Pinkerton was an extremely skilled engineer, as well as Commander Takeo. 'Maybe Papa can pick up a few tips from them!'

Battlestar Polaris - Port Flight Pod

"I'll be taking the Morgan over to the ship, if you guys don't mind." Jaden looked at Ron.

"The Morgan?" He asked sounding surprised "You finally got it fixed?"

"Took me since the end of the war to patch her up, but she's ready." Ron said with a small smile.

Jaden rose an eyebrow "Six months to reinstall the electrical systems?" He asked, "That's a bit long."

"That cloned frak did a LOT of damage." Ron said with a groan "I also spent most of my time on fine tuning the Rearmament Plan." Jaden raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

"You know, we've got some extra Strike Es on board." Ron suggested, "I know you've been wanting to do more than fly a Raptor around."

Jaden shook his head. "No,It won't be the same as flying the Aka." He said, "I customized that machine with my own two hands, I don't like flying things I haven't built or customized myself, I like to know my machine inside and out and have it personally tuned for me. How's Polaris' power problem, by the way?"

"Bad." Ron said shaking his head "The fraking reactor produces over 900 gigawatts."

"900?!"

"I know: too powerful for her own good." Ron muttered, shaking his head "Remind me to kick myself later."

Jaden continued gaping, not wanting to believe the amount of power Polaris had at her fingertips. "Nine HUNDRED?!" He shouted.

"Get over it, Jaden, and get to your shuttle!" Ron said, and Jaden finally got on the move, running to the tram to the starboard pod. He barely got there in time: the airlock door was closing. "Open that hatch!" Instead of stopping the hatch, Setsuna simply opened the shuttle door. Jaden rolled under the closing hatch, barely getting into the shuttle before the airlock depressurized. "Jaden, this is Psycho: I'm already on the catapult. Where are you?"

"Just got to the shuttle, Ron!" Jaden said as he sat down. "Nearly got killed by the airlock, too!"

"For the love of all-Never mind." Ron groaned "I'll meet you on the..." Sumeragi tapped the comm. "Commander?"

"You know, I never actually asked what your ship's name is."

Sumeragi started laughing at that. "Ptolemaeus." She said, "We usually shorten it to Ptolemy, though."

"For the Egyptian astronomer and the family of pharaohs?" He asked, and Jaden blinked.

"What?"

"I've had six months to study Earth's history." Ron said with a chuckle "Maybe you guys can tell him. Psycho out." The comm cut out, and Jaden turned to Feldt.

"The Greco-Egyptian astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus for the ship's full name and the last dynasty of pharaohs for the second." She said.

Jaden shook his head as the shuttle took off, leaving the pod. Seconds later, a Mobile Suit came up on their port side. While sharing the general lines of the CDF-01A Dart, it was slightly longer with a differently shaped fuselage and wings. "What's that?" Allelujah asked.

"Ron's personal machine: the ADF-X01 Morgan." Jaden said "He designed it himself." Allelujah looked at the Morgan, then at Jaden. "What? He designed it?" He asked, and Jaden chuckled "Not just that. He designed Polaris and almost every ship in the Colonial Fleet!"

Celestial Being facility Krung Thep - 30 minutes later

The 251 meter long assault carrier entered a hidden docking port, and while everyone was getting ready for a bit of a vacation, Jaden and Ron were getting ready for battle. More Ron then Jaden, but you get the idea. "You're being AWFULLY paranoid." Jaden said, as Ron turned toward his friend as he continued to tune the Morgan's OS.

"Jaden, in our time in this universe, we have been shot at, almost crushed and nearly nuked by surprise on at least 5 separate occasions." He said, "This is BEYOND paranoia."

Jaden sighed "No wonder they call you Psycho." He said, "You ARE insane."

"And while I'm insane, I am sane enough to control it." Ron said, "Unfortunately, as Polaris clearly shows, it leaks into my creations."

"Let me guess." Both spoke as one. "The 900 gigawatt reactor."

"Commanders Pinkerton and Takeo, we're about to dock." Sumeragi said on the comm "Please report to the airlock: I believe there's someone you're going to want to meet."

Ron got out of the cockpit, but floated up to the ceiling and hit his head. "DAMN IT!" He shouted, and Jaden openly laughed at his friend issues with zero-G. "THIS IS NOT FUNNY!"

"Oh, yes it is!"

"Get me down from here!" Ron shouted, and Jaden jumped and unmarried Ron from the ceiling.

"Come on, Ron: we don't want to be late." He said, still grinning as Ron, loathing zero-G with all his might, allowed Jaden to drag him to the airlock. Saji glanced at the two as they approached.

"Uh-"

"Ron had a disagreement with the lack-" He tried (and failed) not to laugh. "Of gravity!"

"Laugh it up, Mr. Vomit Comet!" Ron shot back "You kept puking every time I jumped that Raptor!"

"Not anymore!" Jaden retorted, his smirk never faltering.

Marie chuckled. "A two-man comedy troupe." She whispered, as the doors opened, and two people greeted them. One was a man that looked roughly as old as Ron SHOULD'VE looked; the other was a woman that had the same color of hair as Mileina. "You guys are early!" The older man said, "Weren't expecting you for another three days!"

"Mama! Papa!" Mileina shouted as she jumped toward them hugging them with all her might. And then some.

Jaden looked at Saji. "Did she-" He began.

"She did."

Ron wasn't surprised. "A May-September relationship." He said, "Meh. Could be worse. I've got a February after me, and I'm a December!" He tried to walk toward them. Cue zero gravity's love of screwing with him as he tripped. And tumbled. "FRAK! FAMILY, GET OUT OF MY WAY!" He shouted, as the Vashtis dodged Ron's rather fast moving body, and Sumeragi facepalmed as he impacted on a wall. Of course, she was trying not to laugh. "Commander, please unmarry yourself from the wall." She said, while smiling.

"YOU THINK I'M NOT TRYING?!" Ron shouted back, as Jaden once again pried him from the wall, and Ron tapped something on his hip. A thunk was heard. "I wanted to avoid using these." Ron muttered as he finally rested on the ground.

"Using what?"

"Magnetic boots!"

"Uhh..." Husband, wife and child faced the pair, who both blinked.

"Oh. Sorry." Jaden said smiling "I'm Jaden Takeo. This is Ronald Pinkerton."

"Call me either Ron or Psycho." Ron said, looking at the family before them "You are?"

"Ian Vashti." The man said nodding "This is my wife, Linda."

Ron shook the man's hand. "You're an engineer." He said suddenly, and Ian blinked. "How'd you know?" he asked, and Ron scoffed. "I've been doing this for almost 60 years." He said, "I know an engineer when I see one."

Everyone but Jaden and Setsuna (who blinked several times) gaped. "What?!"

"I'm 71." Ron said, but they continued to gape and he groaned. "Oh, for the love of-I'm genetically engineered!" He shouted, "My family's known to live until they're 250! And even then, she died of accidental poisoning!"

"...Oh." Linda said nodding "You don't look it."

"I'd say thank you, but I DO look it." Ron said with a sigh "I just look younger to people that aren't members of my family. But enough of that. We're here to help."

"An engineer and his assistant?" A new voice said, and Both men turned to face a woman with lavender colored hair and reddish chestnut eyes.

"Not exactly." Ron said, eyeing the woman for a brief moment "I'm with the Colonial Fleet; he's Junk Guild. Who are you?"

She extended her hand. "Anew Returner." She said, "I'm new here."

Ron narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. 'I don't like her. She reminds me of Boomer.' He thought before he mentally shook his head. 'I'll keep an eye on her: I can easily put a bullet into her if she pulls a Boomer out of her ass.' He took her hand and shook it. "A pleasure." He said, "Commander Ronald Pinkerton, Colonial Corps of Engineers."

He let go, and Jaden shook her hand. "Jaden Takeo, of the Junk Guild." He said, as soon as he let go, Ron gave him a look that said 'Keep your wits about you. I don't trust her'.

Jaden had a brief look of confusion, before he gave a look which said 'I'll keep an eye open'.

"Actually, we could use some help." Ian said, "The 0 Raiser is giving us some trouble." Ron and Jaden looked back at Ian. "Could you tell us what it's used for?" Jaden asked.

"The GNR-010 0 Raiser is a Mobile Weapon Support Craft we've made to upgrade Setsuna's 00 Gundam," Linda explained, "Specifically, its meant to bring out the full potential of the Twin Drive System it has installed."

"Like a synchrophaser:" Jaden asked, nodding "It forces the two drives into perfect sync, right?"

"That's an oversimplification, but more or less." Ian said with a nod. "The Raiser also isn't just a support craft, but its also a fighter since we've given it plenty of armaments and maneuvering capabilities so it can fend for itself if need be… but we're still having some small issues we need to hammer out."

"Good thing you've got two of the best here." Jaden said smirking, "We're going to need one hell of a crash course, but I can say that we're both fast learners." Ron smirked. "Let's get to work, shall we?"

Battlestar Polaris - CIC

"How long until those fraking batteries run out of power?" Tigh growled out, while Gaeta shrugged before answering Tigh's question.

"18 hours. Then we'll have to power the reactor up to recharge them." He said honestly, and that didn't make Tigh happy.

"And probably fry everything on this ship in the process! Can't we use the Freedom's reactor?" he said, while the young Colonial Officer sighed.

"That thing was built for Mobile Suit use, not for a warship. It's almost useless as a ship's power source." he said while Adama took off and cleaned his glasses.

"Hopefully our new allies can help. I'm tired of not being able to use this ship to its' full potential."

"I'll get the carrier on the horn. Hopefully Racetrack's still on phone duty." Adama smiled in amusement while Tigh did his trademark chorkle. "Sucks to be her."

"She always gets the shit jobs, doesn't she?"

Battlestar Polaris - Starboard flight pod

Asuka continued to work on the Rosso Aegis' OS while Cally and Tyrol continued to fight on the deck below. She silently begged to any deity out there for the loudmouth female mechanic not to say the taboo block word

'Please don't say it. PLEASE don't say-'

However, fate was a bitch today.

"You're fraking useless, Chief!" Cally shouted, while Asuka palmed her face. Thankfully, the shock trooper was nowhere in sight. Or earshot.

"Hey, assholes!" She popped her head out of the cockpit as both looked up. "Unless you've forgotten, that's Shinji's block word! Don't use it!"

"She might like riding him like a bicycle, but we don't want that cockpit to smell again!" Asuka growled, pulled out her FN Five-SeveN and fired at Mari's Verde Buster. The brunette pilot, however had shut the cockpit hatch before Asuka even pulled out the weapon. However the shots scared the crap out of the people in the hangar

"FUCK YOU, MAKINAMI!" Asuka screeched while said pilot just laughed.

"Sorry! You're not my type! Besides, you're Shinji's, or have you forgotten?!" Asuka closed the hatch before curling up into the fetal position. She could NEVER forget that. Not after Althea.

Celestial Being facility Krung Thep

"900 gigawatts?! Why the hell do you need something that powerful?!"

"I asked him the same thing!"

Ron rolled his eyes as he continued to tune the software the 0-Raiser used to sync the two drives. "In my defense, I was slightly insane when I designed that thing!" He retorted.

"SLIGHTLY?!"

In the control booth, the Ptolemaeus crew watched as the three worked on the 0-Raiser. And a large percentage were laughing their asses off. Lockon would've been on the floor had there been gravity, Allelujah and Marie were sitting in chairs, spinning as they laughed, and Sumeragi was leaning against a wall while she continued laughing.

"While this is highly amusing..." Tieria and Setsuna were the only ones that weren't laughing. And even then, they were having a hard time controlling themselves. "We should get ready for the test."

"You're-" Sumeragi began before she coughed into her hand. "You're right." She tapped a microphone. "Commanders? Ian? When will it be ready?"

Jaden and Ron looked up at the booth. "It's ready now!" Ron said, "But I'd like someone in the 0-Raiser's cockpit during the test so we can fine tune the software on the fly."

"That'll take two people." Ian said, "And I need to be in the booth up there."

The Colonial and CE Terran looked at one another. "It'll be a tight fit." Ron said.

"It needs to be done." Jaden said, and Ron shrugged. "Get in." He said, "Ian, get this thing connected to 00!"

Jaden managed to get into the cockpit, and got onto Ron's lap. "You know, you'd make a good grandpa with a lap like this." Jaden said, "I can imagine your grandkids sitting here, asking you for stories."

"Very funny." Ron said rolling his eyes as the hatch closed, then the machine was moved to connected to 00. Sumeragi, still smiling, turned to Setsuna. "Setsuna, it's your Gundam." She said.

"Understood." Setsuna left, heading for the locker room to get his flight suit.

Near L3

Colonel Kati Mannequin continued refining her plan to take out the Celestial Being ship. Commander Katagiri had given her 15 ships, and while she knew that it was a lot, she knew that most of the people in the fleet wouldn't survive. Patrick Colasour was one of the few exceptions.

The man just WOULD NOT DIE.

It was like Death didn't want him. Then again…

"Colonel, we're picking up a large magnetic field at L3." One of the lieutenants on the bridge of her cruiser said, and She nodded.

"Very-"

"COLONEL!"

'Great. Just what I needed.' She mentally groaned. While she needed a distraction, Patrick was NOT what she needed.

Then again, maybe he WAS what she needed. Anything to get her mind off of the coming battle that just wouldn't end well. (5000 kilometers away, a console sparked on Polaris, setting Figurski on fire)

"Colonel, I don't get why those licence users get those new Mobile Suits and I don't!" Patrick demanded.

'Fuck it.' She thought 'I'll indulge the idiot. I need the distraction.' "Lieutenant, while you are highly skilled-" She said, before making an afterthought 'Compared to the rest of the cannon fodder we've thrown against Celestial Being.' "You are only a Second Lieutenant." She continued "Everyone else is either a Captain or higher. And believe me, I've tried getting you a promotion."

'And reassigned as far away from those assholes as far away as I could.' She added to herself.

Patrick actually listened to her whole explanation. Just goes to show how much he loves her, ne? "I guess that makes sense." He said nodding, "I'll just keep trying harder! My apologies, Colonel!" He saluted and left the bridge. A loud bang was heard seconds later. Patrick would never know it was Kati banging her head against the bulkhead.

Krung Thep

"If those two would stop arguing like a married couple-"

"I think they're just doing it to get a rise out of us." Feldt said, as Sumeragi looked at her and Mileina, who were both giggling.

"It's still working." Ian said with a sigh. "Are you two just screwing around in there, or-" Their faces appeared in a comm panel, interrupting him.

"We were finished five minutes ago!" Ron shouted "When the hell's the test getting started?!" Ian screamed as the CCE field marshal and his friend laughed at him.

"You're going to drive me insane! Both of you!"

"GOOD!"

Setsuna appeared in a comm panel. "Is there a problem?" He asked.

Sumeragi couldn't keep a straight face. "No." She said, "Begin the test, Setsuna."

"Roger. Beginning Trans-Am test."

"I get the feeling we're going to be plastered to the canopy."

"WILL YOU TWO SHUT UP?!"

Back in the Cosmic Era...

While Crazy and Crazier were driving Celestial Being up the wall and back again, the search force had finally been assembled. Two Galactica Kais, the Izanami, the Three Ships Alliance, the Hell Vulture and Aquila prepared to jump to Kobol, hoping to find Polaris.

"FTL drives spooled up, Commander." Meyrin said, "All ships report ready."

Talia nodded, "Here's hoping that the last time we went to Kobol doesn't repeat itself." She said, "Jump the fleet, Meyrin!"

Meyrin turned the jump key, jumping the entire task force to Kobol. Fortunately, for some, they used the normal drives.

"DRADIS contact!" The DRADIS operator shouted "Multiple Cylon Baseships!"

Talia sighed. "Any return will have its' cost in blood." She said, "Main batteries, bear on-"

"Hold on:" The DRADIS Operator said, "I'm… I'm picking up Colonial transponders! What the hell?! These ships are listed as lost, scrapped or-" The communications console started beeping. "Colonial contacts are hailing, Commander!"

Talia then looked at Meyrin.

"Put them on, Chief." she said and the redhead nodded and flipped a switch and a man's voice was heard.

"This is Rear Admiral Philip Wallace of the Battlestar Kratos to the incoming battlestar identified as the Pegasus! Admiral Cain if that's you, you're under arrest! But right now we need help with these toasters! Please respond!" shouted the man's voice.

Talia picked up the phone. "This is Commander Talia Gladys of the Battlestar Aquila. Pegasus is no longer under Colonial control, although it seems the idiots at the yard got lazy with the IFF codes. Cain is not in command of Pegasus!" she said and it was quiet for a moment until the same voice responded.

"Then what the hell is going on?!"

"Cylons now, questions later! All ships, fire at will! Repeat, fire at will!" Gladys ordered and the Aquila turned on the Baseships, then armed her powerful 600cm main guns. One shot would be enough to tear a Baseship apart. Then again, Polaris and her sisters weren't built to kill lightly armored Baseships. They were designed to kill Galactica-Class Battlestars.

The guns fired, and they showed how powerful a Polaris-Class Battlestar's main guns were as they hit a Baseship's central axis and snapped the ship in two. "Holy shit!" Admiral Phillips shouted, "What the hell are you packing, Aquila?!"

Talia smirked. "When we're not getting shot at, I'll brief you, Admiral." She said, "For now, I-"

"Commander, we're getting reports of power conduits overloading!" Meyrin shouted, "The damned reactor's going to fry everything at this rate!"

"I thought the yard dogs fixed that!" Talia shouted.

"The damn thing puts out 900 gigawatts!" Meyrin said, "Conventional buffers are nearly useless!"

"Shut down the reactor and switch to batteries!"

"Those weren't designed for prolonged combat!"

"Just do it!" Thankfully, the Cylons weren't willing to lose another ship to the overgunned Polaris-Class warship, so they began jumping away, Raiders and all.

"Enemy ships are jumping." Meyrin reported, "Looks like they're scared."

"I think the entire Earth Sphere is afraid of this ship: the Cylons are just retreating." Talia said as she turned to their Communications officer "Inform Admiral Phillips that I'll be coming aboard to brief him. And that he'd better have one hell of an explanation why his ships are listed as scrapped, lost or destroyed."

Anno Domini universe - Krung Thep

The test had been a complete success, in fact it was more than a success as the GN Riser was able to surpass 300% power, far beyond anyone's expectations. However the test ended up with Ron and Jaden getting knocked out. Why that was, no one knew. They were fine, although their delta waves were highly elevated.

"Miss Sumeragi, Polaris is reporting that they're still having power trouble." Milena said, "Their batteries will run out of power in less than 6 hours."

"And if they power up that reactor, they'll fry every system on the ship." Sumeragi finished with a sigh as she turned to Ian. "Is there anything we can do?"

"Well, all 5 GN drives put out as much power in Trans-Am as that reactor does." Ian said shrugging "I'll see what I can do."

Alarms started blaring, and Sumeragi sighed. "NOW what?" She shouted, when suddenly the base shook, clearly from weapons fire.

"We're under attack!" Feldt shouted, and Sumeragi thought of the likely suspects. Polaris could've done it, but they were running out of power and two of their officers were onboard the station, not to mention that those guns would've destroyed the station outright. That ruled them out immediately.

That left either the Cylons or A-Laws/ESFSF. "Get the ship and the Gundams ready for launch!" She ordered, "And try to wake those nutcases in the infirmary up!"

The station rocked again, followed by... "GODSDAMN IT!"

"I think whoever's attacking the station did that for us!"

A-Laws Baikal-Class cruiser Aswan

"Missile barrage has hit the target!" The lieutenant said, and Kati nodded. "Launch Mobile Suit teams!" She ordered, "Engage and-"

A massive pair of fireballs hit the Wadi El Rayan, compressing and eventually destroying the ship. "What the fuck was THAT?!" An officer on the bridge shouted, and moments later an area around the asteroid that was hit warped, and a massive shark-like warship appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh, my God." Kati said as her eyes widened "Switch targets! Target that...whatever the hell it is!"

The fleet opened fire, sending missiles at the new ship, which, if the name on the pod was to believed, was Polaris. "Enemy target is launching missiles and Mobile Suits!" The lieutenant said, before blinking "Wait...the missiles are too big. Oh my God. Those things are fighters!"

Kati blinked in surprise. "Fighters?" She asked "Who in the flying fuck uses FIGHTERS?!"

A GNX-III got within weapons range of one of the red and white fighters, which launched a missile at the MS. The MS did its' best to destroy the weapon, but it was too fast, and hit it, destroying it.

"I guess people who have missiles that do that. Fire particle cannons!"

Battlestar Polaris - CIC

"Incoming missiles!"

"CIWS and AAA, intercept!" Adama Ordered, "Gun batteries, fire at will!" This was what Polaris was made for: to engage enemy targets. And DAMN, she was doing a hell of a job!

"Sir, the batteries are running out!" Shaw said, "We can only do this for another ten minutes!"

Adama nodded. "Arm all nuclear weapons!" He said, "Maybe if they detect them, they'll decide to run."

Gaeta and Shaw got to work, arming Polaris' 60 Mk VIIA nuclear missiles. "They might step up the attack if they detect the nukes powering up." Tigh said.

"I know, Saul." Adama replied nodding as the DRADIS sounded off, and both men looked up. "What the frak?" Unknown appeared as the contact, then it changed to ENEMY BASESHIP.

"Frak me! Cylon Baseship, bearing 333 carom 020! It's launching Raiders and Letos!"

"Where the hell is the Ptolemaeus?!"

"They're launching now! Commanders Pinkerton and Takeo are still on the station!" Adama shook his head. If they could get the Morgan out there, Ron would be able to scare them off.

"Sir, Hibu and the Extendeds are on the catapults!"

"Send them out!"

Celestial Being base Krung Thep - MS hangers

The two Cosmic Era natives made their way to the hanger where the Morgan was waiting. "Here's hoping they've got a machine for you, kid," Ron said, "Cause the Morgan's a single-seater!"

Jaden groaned "I hope so," he said, "But from what I've seen, Celestial Being just has the four - huh?" He glanced at one side of the hangar, and saw what looked like part of a Mobile Suit. Maneuvering through Zero G, Jaden approached the sight, and looked up in surprise. "What the…?"

It was as he thought, another Mobile Suit. However it wasn't just any M.S, it was a Gundam. It looked rather plane at a first glance, only armed with a shield, a beam rifle and a beam saber. However it was highly reminiscent of the Strike and Impulse Gundams. "Hello who might you be?" Jaden asked.

"That's the 0 Gundam," A voice said, and Jaden turned to see Linda approach him. "Its the prototype to all other Gundams we've built. It was equipped with the original GN Drive, however since we removed its furnace to make the 00 Gundam, we refitted it with a GN Condenser so it has a limited supply of GN Particles to operate. Its pretty basic, and doesn't have any of the armaments the newer machines have."

Jaden looked up at the Machine… he couldn't tell why, but something felt like the 0 Gundam was calling him, he couldn't exactly describe it. It was like a part of his brain was saying he needed this machine.

He turned to Linda "Can it fly?" he asked, surprising the woman, "I need a Mobile Suit, and you've got one you guys don't seem to be using. Best to give it some use, right?"

"Umm… sure, I suppose." Linda said, and Jaden jumped up and headed towards the cockpit. "But its only got a Condenser!" She shouted "You'll only have a few hours of flight time before you need to recharge!"

"Got it!" Jaden said as he waved and approached the Cockpit. When the Machine opened, he easily sat down and began the start-up sequence, the machine closing the hatch behind him.

'Alright, let's see...' he thought as he went through the O.S 'Operating Systems are good… Armaments are good, if not rather basic… and I've got enough energy to last me long enough.' Jaden smiled "Alright, 0 Gundam." He said, as the 0 Gundam's eyes snapped to life shining bright blue "Let's see what you can do."

While this was going on, Ron had gotten into the Morgan's cockpit, starting up the Colonial MS. 'That kid is going to need help.' he thought, 'And I've got a nuclear-powered MS. Time to put this thing through a proper trial run!'

"Depressurize the hanger!" Ron shouted, as the 0 Gundam walked next to the Morgan. The hangar was evacuated, and shortly thereafter depressurized.

"ADF-X01 Morgan, taking off!"

"GN-000 0 Gundam, let's rock and roll!"

The door opened, and the Morgan shot out, followed by the 0 Gundam. Outside was a massive cloud of death: Mobile Suits from Polaris and the enemy fleet were trying to kill one another, and, surprisingly, Raiders and Vipers were dogfighting.

"Where the hell did those Raiders come from?!" Jaden demanded.

"I think from that fraking baseship to port!" Ron retorted.

Polaris was doing her best to fend off both the A-Laws fleet and the Baseship, but both men noticed a problem: slowly but surely, CIWS turret after CIWS turret stopped firing. "Did they run out of ammo?" Jaden asked, but Ron shook his head. "Frak!" He cursed, "The batteries are dying! Polaris is going to be a sitting duck!"

The gun turrets stopping tracking their targets, finally out of power. The mighty ship was dead in space, and missiles began impacting the hull. The Cylon ones did little damage, but the GN missiles started to eat away at the armor.

"Fuck!" Jaden shouted "Ptolemy, this is Jaden! Polaris is dead in space! She needs your help!"

"We can't do anything!" Sumeragi said, "That fleet's got us pinned!" And just as things looked completely hopeless, a ball of fire hit one of the A-Laws cruisers from below, bending it in a way a ship just wasn't meant to bend before it exploded. Both men knew that was a 600cm round fired from a Battlestar.

"What..." Jaden began,

"The..." Ron continued,

"HELL!" Both men turned their machine's visual sensors downwards, spotting what was, indeed, a battlestar: a Galactica-Class one, to be exact. "Holy shit!" Jaden shouted, as it rolled onto its' side, then began broadsiding the A-Laws fleet with anti-ship and flak rounds. Sure, compared to Polaris, she was underarmed, but really, Earth ships had almost no armor by Colonial standards. "The tide's turning in our favor for once!"

A flash appeared from above, depositing another Galactica-Class above them. "Jaden, I pity these poor bastards."

A-Laws cruiser Aswan

"The Araz, Samur and d'Orta have been destroyed!" The Lieutenant shouted "The Athabasca and Clearwater are disabled: their crews are abandoning ship!"

Kati snarled, as she just lost a third of her fleet in less than five minutes. 'FUCK THIS.' "Fall back, flank speed!" She shouted "I'm not losing anymore people to those...whatever the hell they are!" The remaining ships turned around, but another cruiser was hit by a flak round, destroying the bridge. "Recall the Mobile Suits! NOW!"

"Most are on their way back! We're still going to lose people, Colonel!" Kati glowered at the man, who shut up. The survivors were no longer getting shot at, so either they were out of the enemy vessels' weapons range or they didn't care about them escaping. 'Either way, I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.'

Back in the melee

Jaden hacked a Leto in half while another tried to back attack him. The Leto never got the chance as the Morgan's Agni blast hit it and completely destroyed it. "Thanks!" Jaden said.

"My pleasure, kid!" Ron said, "Keep it up!" The two Galacticas had begun attacking the Baseship, pounding it with round after round. It was a sight to behold as the Baseship began breaking up, as Polaris' last shots destroyed the FTL drive and it couldn't escape. Shinji and Asuka carved a swathe through the enemy formation with beam rifle fire and beam saber attacks, making the Vipers' jobs much easier.

The two Battlestars had also launched their Vipers, and the overwhelming number began to show as Raider after Raider was shot down. Eventually, they began jumping away in an attempt to escape as their mothership exploded.

Jaden chuckled "Even with how old they are," He said, "Those things still pack one hell of a-" Jaden felt a massive jolt course through his head demanding he moved "-WHOA!" He barely dodged a 600cm round fired from one of the Battlestars, and the Colonial units found themselves being fired on by their own.

"Unidentified Battlestars, this is Commander Ronald Pinkerton, callsign Psycho, identification code Hector-Niner-4-Zulu-Gamma-1-Niner-8-1-Alpha!" Ron shouted on an open comm "Cease fire! All units are either Colonial or friendly!"

A woman's voice answered his call. "This is Colonel Gina Fujiwara of the Battlestar Typhon to the person claiming to be Ronald Pinkerton." The voice said, "How the hell did you get here?"

"I could ask you the same question, Colonel!" Ron shouted, "Stand down! That's an order!"

"Pinkerton, last I heard, you were a Major, and the Admiralty had no intent-"

"This is Fleet Admiral William Adama!" The Admiral announced on the comm "Colonel, you are ordered to stand down NOW!"

There was a short pause "...Aye, sir. Standing down." The guns on both ships returned to their inactive positions, and the Vipers began returning to their ships.

"Commanders Pinkerton and Takeo, return to Polaris." Adama said, "Colonel, I want your ass on Polaris in fifteen minutes!"

"Sir, Typhon and Echidna were ordered to scout the area." The Colonel said, "I don't want to piss off Commander Urei."

"I've got an idea, Admiral." Jaden said, "Send Typhon back with your orders to bring this Urei person here."

"...An excellent idea, Commander Takeo." Adama said, "You have your orders, Colonel. Tell Commander Urei to bring Mercury here."

"Sir, it's not just Mercury. It's BSG-60."

CBS-74 Ptolemaios II

"Did she just say BSG-60?" Ron asked on the Comm.

Feldt nodded."Yes," She said, "What's BSG-60?"

"The acronym, Feldt. It means Battlestar Group number 60." Ron explained, "It's a group of ships meant to support a Battlestar."

That gave everyone pause. A group of possibly hostile and very deadly Colonial warships was a bad thing for them should they overreact. "Can we change our IFF codes to match Polaris'?" Sumeragi asked, and Mileina shrugged. "Maybe." She said, "I'd need someone to help me."

"Contact Polaris, if they still have enough power to send and receive messages." Sumeragi sat back in her chair. "And tell the Gundams to return." She added, "I'd like to avoid a shooting match between us and a Colonial battlegroup if I can." She continued to picture what Polaris did to that Baikal and what Typhon and Echidna did to both the task force and that Baseship. And then she started picturing that happening to them, making her shudder.

Cosmic Era 74 - Kobol orbit - Battlestar Aquila

Talia stood on the deck as a Raptor from Kratos came out of the airlock. On board was a Rear Admiral of the Colonial Fleet, so it was expected that she be there to greet the man in person. The Raptor's hatch opened, and out came a man almost as tall as Ron with crew cut brown hair and hazel-colored eyes in a Colonial Rear Admiral's uniform. He had a short, trimmed moustache and a goatee, and this served to make him look more like a man in authority.

"Admiral Phillips, I presume?" Talia asked, and the Rear Admiral nodded.

"And you must be Commander Gladys." He said before he looked around the hanger. "This ship looks like it was designed by Major Ronald Pinkerton."

"Commander now, actually." Talia said, causing him to look at her in surprise. "Admiral Adama promoted him."

"Admiral Adama?" Phillips asked in surprise, "When the hell did that happen?!"

"10 months ago." Talia said, gesturing for the Admiral to follow "I'll explain in my quarters." She turned toward the closest hatchway, leading him through the bowels of the massive Battlestar.

"The man just doesn't know when to quit." Philips said, "Bastard designed almost every ship in the Colonial Fleet before the Fall and he wasn't happy with that?"

"If you could do something about anything, wouldn't you do it?" Talia asked.

"The Colonial Corps of Engineers has thousands of people in it, and it seems like there's only a few actual designers in it!" The Rear Admiral said, and Talia sighed as they entered her rather spartan quarters.

"My ship, the Minerva, and another ship, the Archangel, encountered Galactica 11 months ago." Talia said, "I can give you the long winded account, but I won't waste your time."

"And Adama himself?" Philips asked, "When did he get promoted?"

"8 months ago." Talia said, "Apparently, it was Admiral Nagala's deathbed order to promote him to Fleet Admiral."

Philips took in a breath before turning around and leaning against a wall. "I've never seen most of the ships in this little fleet of yours." He asked, "Where are they from?"

"Earth." She said, and the Admiral looked at her like she was crazy "In fact, I'm from Earth."

"What?" Philips demanded, "Earth is a myth!"

"Then this ship is built with mythical technology, sir!" Talia said gesturing around her "Then I am a mythical being! Earth is real, and with the greatest of respect, get it through your head, Admiral!"

Philips was ready to snap back, but restrained himself. She had a point. And while Pinkerton was good, his plasma cannons on the Athena didn't work when he tested them. And this ship had those cannons as well. "I'm sorry, Commander." He said, "What the hell are you doing here, anyways?"

"Aquila's sister ship, Polaris, disappeared." Talia said, "We were sent to find her."

The Admiral rose an eyebrow "A small task force?" He asked, "For one ship?"

"Not when that ship is the flagship, with the Fleet Admiral and several VIPs on board, sir." Talia pointed out. THAT got his attention. "Well, shit." The Admiral said, "Commander, I will relieve you of your mission."

Talia gaped at that. "Sir?!" She asked in surprise.

"I will take my task force to find Fleet Admiral Adama and Polaris." he said, "Head back to-"

"Sir, the President of the Colonies and the Premiere of Orb personally assigned me to this mission!" Talia said, "You can't just send me back and say 'sorry, I was told to turn back'!"

Philips blinked in surprise. "President Adar survived?" He asked, "I thought he was killed."

"No, he's dead." Talia said shaking her head "Laura Roslin is the president. And my orders, MY orders, were to find Polaris. You can take command, but you can't order me back."

Her iron will wasn't going to be broken, and Philips knew this. And that was something he could respect as he smirked a bit. "Very well, Commander." He said, "Send Kratos your next set of FTL coordinates, Commander. You'll be joining us."

Talia saluted. "Aye, sir." She said, "Though… I was hoping you could give me an explanation as to-"

"-why most of our ships are listed as KIA or otherwise?" The Admiral finished with a small smirk, "Its quite an easy explanation really… I assume you know of the military cutbacks made during the Adar Administration in the colonies?" At her nod, he continued "Well, a lot of Admirals, Commanders and Captains didn't like the idea, since we knew there was always the chance of the Cylons coming back… so while we reportedly decommissioned and scrapped some of these ships… in truth most of these ships were sent to Ouranos."

"Ouranos?" Talia asked.

"The Ouranos Asteroid Belt," He said, "It was home to an old Cylon War-Era base that was decommissioned… but we recommissioned it when the Adar Administration announced its cutbacks… without telling him of course. Thus we founded the Independent Battlestar Groups, roughly over one hundred Battlestars and other support ships from Cruisers and Corvettes to supply & repair ships, all arranged into nine fleets, comprised of vessels that were salvaged during the Cylon War that were reported KIA, and sneaking over ships that were intended to be decommissioned and scrapped."

"Ghost Fleets..." Talia said, and Philips nodded.

"Exactly," he said, "Every ship, and every last man woman and child there, as far as the majority of the administration and admiralty knew, didn't exist or were dead. So when the Cylons attacked, they didn't know we existed. And since none of our ships ran on Baltar's cursed CNP, we were also unaffected by them as well." He then sighed "When the Cylons came, we evacuated as many civilians as we could, and rescued as much of the fleet as well… we thought for sure we were all that's left of Humanity or the Twelve Colonies. We couldn't find Adama, and we only found a few CCE ships that were stragglers and came with us." He then smiled "You have no idea how much of a relief it is to know we're not all that's left."

Talia smiled a bit "Then you know how much of a relief it will be when President Roslin and Adama finds out," she said, "Most of CCE survived the Second Cylon War, and are at Earth right now with other survivors. We have about 15 Million survivors, most of them civilians and CCE."

The Admiral coughed in disbelief as he looked at her "Fif-Fifteen Million?" He asked, "Are you serious?"

"I am," Talia said, as she grinned a bit "And it will make you happy to know that all of the Zeus-class Battlestar Dreadnaughts, the Legacy, and Vice Admiral Avalonia are still alive and kicking."

Philips looked at Talia before he began to laugh a bit "This… is some of the best news I've had in a long time!" he said, "We only have about eight million survivors with us, and we've had to leave Cyrannus and use mobile Colony Cylinders to keep ourselves alive. Admiral Yvette is going to rejoice over this. Hope you don't mind if I send one of my ships back too give them the good news."

"By all means, Admiral." Talia said smiling, "Hopefully once we find Polaris, we can bring you all back home."

Anno Domini 2312 - Lagrange Point 3 - CBS-74 Ptolemaios II

"If that Raptor Typhon sent back was any indication, BSG-60 should be jumping in right around-"

Flashes of light appeared right on cue. 15 ships appeared in the formation: the Galacticas Typhon and Echidna, three smaller ships that were still Battlestars, two massive ships that brisled with AA weapons of all kinds, four small, triangular vessels with flight pods akin to those on the smaller Battlestars under the main hull, two ships which looked like Battlestars only minus most of their armor and with only one flight pod, and one ship that looked like a modified Flight pod with a bridge and engines placed on it. But it was the largest of them all that caught their eyes. It was almost a carbon copy of Polaris, sans about 80 gun turrets.

"Hello, my beautiful daughter!" A familiar voice said, and Sumeragi turned her head to see Ron rushing into the bridge, using Feldt's station to stop himself from running into the window.

"Daughter?" She asked, as Jaden walked into the bridge.

"He designed Mercury." He explained, "In fact, that ship gave the whole class its' name."

Ron took another look at the fleet, before his eyes fell on the small pod ship "Holy Frack, its the Flimsie Whimsie!" He said, with a small smirk. "How the hell did she survive?"

Jaden rose an eyebrow "Flimsie Whimsie?" He asked.

"That, there, is the ship that almost had me stuck as a Major forever," Ron explained, "About ten years before the Fall, the old Battlestar Busby nearly broke into two, and so she was decommissioned and scrapped. But her port flight pod was completely intact. I decided to do an experiment and I sealed off one end of the pod, bolted some engines on it, gave it a basic CIC and defenses and used it as an independent ship. The CV-01 Flimsie Whimsie I called it. The basic idea was to use it to ferry around Vipers from one place to another and not use up valuable resources. Like the old Ferry Carriers during the Cylon War. And it could easily double as a form of light carrier." Ron sighed. "The Admiralty hated it, but ordered a few into limited production. Then they said I would NEVER ascend past Major. Then the Fall happens and I get promoted twice in one year. The apocalypse does WONDERS for one's career."

"Polaris Actual, Mercury: Raptor 419 is inbound with Mercury Actual."

"Understood, Mercury. We'll be waiting for her."

The CCE field marshal cracked his neck as he sighed. "Well, the fun for the day is over." He said, "Time to try and fix Polaris."

A beep cut through the silence. "Uh, we're picking up anomalous heat signature from Earth." Milena said, and Ron sighed. "Can you patch me into Polaris?" He asked, and Feldt did so. "Polaris, Ptolemaeus: we're picking up a heat bloom from Earth." Ron said, "Request that you send a Blackbird to find out what it is."

"Copy, Psycho."

"Blackbird?" Sumeragi asked, and Ron smirked. "Stealth recon craft." He said, "It's got carbon composite so it can't be seen easily on DRADIS or Terran radar and the Mk II has Mirage Colloid."

"You seem proud of it."

"I designed the Mk II with help from Chief Tyrol." He said as he walked out of the bridge, thunking with every step. "I'll head back to Polaris with the Morgan. Have fun!" He waved, and the door shut.

"Is he bipolar?" Lasse asked, and Jaden shrugged.

"Maybe." He said, "I mean, he's insane, but sane enough to know and control it."

Battlestar Polaris - Port Flight Pod Hanger

Sasha Urei didn't fidget as she tried to smooth out her uniform. "Gods, Commander, what are you doing?" Said the pilot of the raptor "trying to look your best for a date?"

"Swallow, it's not every day that you meet the fraking Fleet Admiral!" She said, "And a War Hero at that. First impressions matter!" The hatch opened, and Sasha stepped out onto the Raptor's wing, finding her Raptor surrounded by deckhands and pilots. And she knew some of them were supposed to be assigned to Galactica. And she spotted Adama, wearing a Commander's uniform with Fleet Admiral's rank pins on the collar.

"Admiral, permission to come aboard?" She asked with a salute, which Adama returned. "Permission granted, Commander." He said, and Sasha stepped off the Raptor's wing and onto the deck.

"Admiral, first let me say its a pleasure to see you," Sasha said with a small smile "We were beginning to think we were all that's left of the Colonies."

Adama smiled a bit himself "Likewise, Rear Admiral." he said, "Its good to see another colonial ship considering our… current predicament."

Sasha nodded before she glanced around "Forgive me for being… blunt Admiral," she said, "But… I'm curious, where's Galactica?"

Adama flinched slightly, as he sighed. "I-" Before he could answer, the lights went out.

"What the hell?" Sasha asked, looking around before Adama sighed as he looked for Tyrol. "Chief, get your insane mentor on the horn!" He shouted, "I want power restored!"

"On it, Admiral!" Tyrol said as he ran to the horn, as Sasha looked at Adama with a raised eyebrow. "Power problems, sir?"

Adama shook his head "You have NO idea, Commander." He said, "I have one HELL of a story for you."

Blackbird 015 - Lieutenant Brandon Costanza, callsign Hotdog

The blackbird jumped in near the source that the Ptolemaeus detected. "What the frak?" Hotdog asked, as he saw what looked like a large, box-like structure was mounted on top of the lower orbital ring. Seconds later, something popped out of the underside and fired a yellow beam at the surface.

His eyes widened "Holy frak!" He shouted "It's a godsdamn mini-GENESIS!" Hotdog checked that the Blackbird's built in cameras caught every second of it, and upon confirmation that he did, he spooled up the FTL drive and jumped back to Polaris.

Battlestar Polaris - Reactor access

Ron glared at his penultimate creation, attempting to make it obey him as if by will alone. "You, my dear, will STOP TRYING TO BLOW UP MY SHIP!" He shouted. This was getting annoying. Polaris was almost literally dead in space. He wanted the Admiral off his back, and this was going to be the biggest pain in his ass since that pocket carrier nearly killed his career in '64.

"Commander, we need to get power restored in 3 hours, or we're all going to-"

"Shut up!" Ron shouted "Do we have any buffer circuits?"

"Yes, but that reactor's too powerful for them to handle!"

"I'll give YOU something to handle if you don't get those things fit!" Ron shouted "A make-shift solution is better than nothing! Now get to work!" The deckhands rushed in every direction, not wanting to tempt the field marshal's wrath.

"Commander, we've got a problem!" Ron was ready to scream.

"NOW what?!" He spun and saw Ian Vashti standing in front of one of the Marines guarding the hatches leading in. "Let him in."

"Sir-"

"NOW!" The Marine stepped aside, allowing Ian to enter.

"You're pissed." Ian said and Ron gave him a very good impression of the Adama Glare.

"My ship is dying and the only thing that can save her could also kill her! I think I have a RIGHT to be pissed off!" He ranted before he took in a calming breath. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, it's the other way around." Ian said, "I'm here to help YOU out."

Ron blinked. "Nani?" He asked.

"I'm here to help with your reactor problem." Ian said, shrugging "You can't power it up without exploding everything on the ship?"

"For lack of a better term." Ron said nodding.

"Ptolemy II had the same problem when we were modifying the original design to use Trans-Am." He said, "Maybe the same solution can work with Polaris." The field marshal was tempted to start cackling like a madman. Problem was, he was on the clock and didn't have the time.

"Alright, then." Ron said, clapping his hands together "Since this ship's power grid is different than yours, I'll let you take a look at it before we do anything."

"Good idea."

CBS-74 Ptolemaeus II - en route to Battlestar Polaris lower portside landing pad

Lasse flipped the ship over as the ship docked with Polaris. The Katharon members needed to get off their ship, and Commander Takeo wanted to mess around with the 0 Gundam, and the only other ship that could carry Mobile Suits enmass (sans the three Baikals the Colonials were repairing to serve as escorts for the time being) was Polaris. "Polaris, this is Ptolemy:" He said, "I don't have a connection to your auto-landing system."

"Auto-landings are actually kind of taboo on Polaris, Ptolemy." Came the reply, causing Lasse to blink.

"Why's that?"He asked.

"Admiral Adama. Hands on approach and landing, speed 025. Call the ball, Ptolemaeus."

Lasse shrugged. "Uh, ok. Hands on." He said, "I can live with that." He managed to set the ship down, but not before producing a loud bang. "Godsdamn it, Ptolemaeus!" Came the outraged comply "The Chief's gonna spend WEEKS fixing that!"

"What'd I do?!"

"You DENTED the landing deck!" Lasse paled. Sumeragi was going to kill him. Actually, she'd chew him out, hand him over to Adama, who'd hand him over to Pinkerton and the Polaris deckhands, who would lynch him. Thus, he could only say one word. "Whoops."

"WHOOPS? Commander Pinkerton's going to kill you!"

Battlestar Polaris - Reactor Control

Ron looked up with narrowed eyes "That had better not have been your ship damaging mine by landing." he growled.

Ian shrugged. "What're you gonna do if it was?" He asked.

"Kill your helmsman." He said, "Then bring him back for more." And Ian couldn't tell what was worse: the fact that he was going to kill Lasse or the fact that he would bring him back to life afterwards.

"Uh, that's a bit extreme." Ian said.

"I tend to veer toward the more extreme end of things." Ron said rolling his eyes, "Besides, I'm joking. I won't kill him. Hurt him, but not kill him."

Near Battlestar Polaris

Hotdog's Blackbird jumped in about three kilometers away from the ship. "Polaris, Hotdog: you're not going to like the pictures I took!" He shouted.

"What is is, Hotdog?"

"A BAG!" He shouted, and a second passed before Starbuck gave him his orders. "Get your ass back onboard!" She said.

"No argument here, boss!" He said as he guided the Blackbird toward the lower port hanger.

"Ventral hanger's clogged, Hotdog: use the upper one."

"What happened?"

"Some jackass crashed his ship into it."

Battlestar Polaris - CIC - 15 minutes later

Adama stared at the image on the plotting table, with Jaden and Sumeragi looking at them as well. "Fraking thing reminds me of Neo-GENESIS." He growled.

Sumeragi looked at Adama. "Neo what?" She asked, and Adama glanced at Jaden, who looked a bit guilty. "Neo-GENESIS was a gamma-ray laser cannon: a smaller version of the original GENESIS, which was meant to be a short range FTL device, but then Patrick Zala came around and weaponized it into something that could crack a planet. Of course, the Colonials aren't big fans of it: too easy to weaponize, in the words of the CCE's smartest nutcase."

"And who the hell is the CCE's smartest nutcase?" Sumeragi asked "What the hell is the CCE, for that matter?"

"Colonial Corps of Engineers," Jaden said simply, before looking at Sumeragi "And I think you've already met him."

Sumeragi sighed. "Commander Pinkerton?"

"Commander Pinkerton." Sumeragi looked at the array. "Is there any way we can take it out?" She asked.

Adama and Tigh voiced the easiest option. "Nuke it."

"Besides using nuclear weapons." She said, "I think I've had enough radioactive WMDs for one lifetime."

"Well, if your engineer can get the reactor working without blowing us all up, Polaris' main guns can crack it open and kill it."

"Not happening: Ian says it'll take at least a few hours before he and Commander Pinkerton can get the reactor online."

Adama then chuckled. "Mercury." He said, "We attack using Mercury."

Both looked at Adama. "Sir?" Tigh asked.

"Jump it in close to the orbital ring, launch a flight of Mk VIIs fit with anti-capital ship missiles and kill it. Follow up with a strike from Ptolemaeus-"

"And finish it off for good!"

Jaden grinned "A Death Star run," he said smirking, "I like the sound of that."

"Death Star Run?" Adama asked with a raised eyebrow, and Jaden groaned.

"Its in a famous 20'th century movie," He said, "I'll show ya some other time."

"We'll need Mobile Suits to cover your Vipers, though: those missiles of yours might be lethal, but if they can't get into range to fire-"

"Leave that to me!" All three turned to face Ron, who walked into CIC, looking like he was inside a giant truck engine.

"What the hell happened to YOU?" Jaden asked.

"You don't want to know." Ron said, "The Morgan's FTL capable, but the Darts aren't. I can launch a hit and run attack with the Morgan: keep them off balance while Mercury rolls in. And the flight pod landing bays are big enough to carry a few MSs; they just need to take off under their own power."

Jaden chuckled. "Nice." He said, "It's like you knew Mobile Suits would be in use when you designed Mercury."

"My original idea was for all three sides of the landing bays be used for landings, but Zeus said it wasn't practical." Ron said with a shrug "In hindsight, he was right. Still, it's coming in handy now."

"You'll need someone to cover you." Sumeragi said, "I'll ask to have Setsuna launch as well."

"Captain, I'm jumping into the fight." Ron said, "00 doesn't have an FTL drive."

"Then we install an FTL on 00 and 0 Gundam." Jaden said, as both the CB captain and CCE field marshal looked at the Junk Guild commander in surprise. "I'm not being left out of this, even though I can't fly a Viper."

Ron chuckled. "And this is why I like you, kid!" He said before he looked at Sumeragi. "With your permission, Captain, I'd like to begin modifications to 0 Gundam and 0-Raiser."

"Why 0-Raiser?"

"00 doesn't have room for a drive; the 0-Raiser does." Sumeragi thought about it, then saw that he had a point. "Granted."

"Come on, kid!" Ron said, "Let's get ready for the big fight!"

CBS-74 Ptolemaios II - Hangar deck

Setsuna didn't like the idea that the insane CCE engineer was working on the 0-Raiser, but if the man was skilled enough to make a ship like Polaris run like a fine watch, even after she took damage, he could do this.

"Ok, the FTL computer's installed, but we're going to need someone in the 0-Raiser's cockpit to operate it." Ron said.

"I can do that." A voice said, and Setsuna looked at Saji Crossroad, who was still suited up from his first launch in the 0-Raiser.

"You sure?" Setsuna asked surprised, "I mean-"

"I'm sure." Saji said nodding.

Ron sighed as he stood up. "Alright. FTL jumps can be a bit choppy, especially in a small craft like this." He said, "Breath out before you press that button, or your lunch is going to end up inside your helmet."

"Not a pretty picture." Saji said, "But thanks for the advice."

"Experience is to be taken advantage of." Ron said with a sigh "I hope I'm a good teacher."

Saji got into the cockpit with the Haro and Ron got as far away as he could. "Fraking HATE those things!" He made his way over to the 0 Gundam to help Jaden finish the installation. He was working on the back of the 0 Gundam, fitting a large cone object onto it "What are you doing kid?"

"Installing a GN Tau Drive," Jaden said, "I'm gonna refit this thing to use a Helium-3 Reactor like the Strike Aka had, but that's gonna take time. This is a temporary fix so I can have a longer running time in this thing - Ian said he might be able to upgrade the Tau drive to a True GN Drive standard, but again, takes time we don't have."

"I'll be helping him with that." Ron said, "From what I've seen, they're almost built like FTL drives: my experience might come in handy."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He asked.

"I took a look at one of the Tau drives earlier: a few changes here and there, but it was almost a complete copy of an FTL drive." Ron said, "These things COULD be used as FTL devices. Not the same as a jump drive, mind you-"

"I get it." Jaden said with a small smirk "That's actually kind of awesome." He paused. "You're going to copy the GN drives. The REAL ones."

"Kid, I'm trying to find ways to keep the Colonial civilization from dying." Ron said, "If we're not careful, it could end within my lifetime! I'd like to be long dead by the time that happens."

Jaden nodded "I can understand that," he said, "Just make sure you don't piss C.B off too much… we've gotten a lot of trust from them since they gave us not just the 0 Gundam here, but Linda gave me the specs to their Ptolemy II, gonna do some upgrades to them, make it larger and add some more modern weapon from our universe fused with GN Tech to make a new ship class for us to use - not to mention I'm having some of the Celestial Being members of Krung Thep gather the parts of the A-LAW and ESF machines - called them GN-XIII's, and see if I can get them to working order for Katharon - their own Mobile Suits are severely outclassed by what the A-Laws have, and they need something to level the playing field until my own little… side project is complete."

"I plan on informing them of my production plan, Jaden:" Ron said, "Unless you've noticed, they're outnumbered ten thousand to one. If I can rearm some of their old-" He paused. "Side project? Now I'm curious."

"You'll see when their ready." Jaden said with a grin "Come on: let's get these things into the black."

Battlestar Mercury - CIC

"CIC, we're loaded with some of those Mobile Suit things from Polaris: 20 fighter-types, 10 standing ones and one with wings."

Sasha nodded as she checked a list. "Commander Pinkerton called the fighters CDF-01 Darts, the standing ones are GAT-04 Windams and the winged one-" She paused "-Does it have pistols or a rifle?"

"Rifle."

"That's the ZGMF-X10A Freedom." She finished "Are they secure?"

"Secure as they can be, Commander!"

"Then spool up the FTL drives!" She ordered "Set Condition One throughout the ship!" Alarms blared throughout the first ship of the Mercury-Class.

"Spooling up FTL drives! Coordinates supplied from Commander Pinkerton! We're ready!"

"Jump us in two and a half minutes after the raiding party begins their attack: long enough for them to get the enemy out of position, short enough to keep the bastards from figuring out that they're a distraction."

"Yes, ma'am!"

ADF-X01 Morgan - piloted by Commander Ronald Pinkerton, callsign 'Psycho'

"Sync with me: 0851 hours local time!"

"Synced!"

Ron chuckled. "00-Raiser, your job's to piss off any of the elite units." He said, "Jaden, the warships are all yours. I'll handle the cannon fodder."

"How come you get the GNXs?"

"Setsuna over there got his ass kicked by a GNX-III in a Third Generation Gundam." Ron said, "Yours is the first ever built. No offense to your skills, but you'll have a harder time with the cannon fodder then I will."

"...I see why everyone hates it when you've got a point." Jaden said, and Ron sighed. "You're not the only one." He said "FTL coordinates sent. Jump on my mark!" Ron took in a breath. "3! 2! 1!" He last word exhaled. "JUMP!" All three Gundams jumped back to Earth.

Cosmic Era 74 - Kobol orbit - Battlestar Aquila

Talia sighed one last form before walking into CIC. "Commander, the Raptor's already heading back to Earth with the message that Kratos and her task force are joining us." Meyrin reported.

"Thank you, Meyrin." Talia said, "Spool up FTL drives one and two: jump us to that star cluster that the DSSD spotted back at Earth."

Meyrin saluted. "Yes, ma'am!"

Talia took her place as the FTLs spooled up. "Ma'am, we're picking up a slight imbalance-" The FTL Operator said.

"Do we have enough time to fix it?" Talia asked.

The man shook his head "No, ma'am." He said, "But it's probably nothing."

Talia shrugged. "Then jump the ship." She said, and Aquila jumped, and the distortion temporarily altered the FTL drives of every ship in the task force, and they only spread with each jump.

Near Memento Mori array

There were five Baikal-Class cruisers protecting Memento Mori under Arba Lindt's command. And they were going to have a VERY bad day. But Hiling Care didn't know that. Her job was to take out anything that tried to get close with her GNZ-003 Gadessa's GN mega launcher.

However, a flash of light in the corner of her units field of vision caught her attention "Huh?" She asked, "What the hell is-" A red-orange beam hit a Baikal, destroying it in one shot. Only then did the E-Sensors pick up three Mobile Suits. One Healing knew: the GN-000 0 Gundam, fit with a GN Tau drive and armed with a GN-XIII's GN Bazooka. The other GN-powered Gundam was the GN-0000 00 Gundam, fit with some kind of backpack. The odd one out was IDed by the IFF as the ADF-X01.

BGM: 300 OST "To Victory"

"WOO-HOO, MOTHERFRAKERS!" A voice echoed out through the Comm "COME AND GET ME!" The X01 charged at the GNX-IIIs, transforming into MS mode, taking the form of a very familiar machine.

"What the hell?! It's a Gundam!"

"Kill it!" The cannon fodder shot at the X01, which just drew a massive sword. You don't need to be a genius to know this isn't going to end well. "Fuck!" A GNX-III drew a beam saber in a vain attempt to stop the sword, but the Gundam maneuvered too quickly for them to block, and the GNX was cut in half, separating the cockpit from the rest of the machine. Another simply got a green beam rifle shot to the crotch, killing the pilot.

Hiling's eyes narrowed "He's good." She said, "Let's see if you can dodge this, Gundam!" Hiling leveled the GN Mega Launcher at the machine and fired, but the Gundam disappeared in a flash of light before the beam could connect. And since Hiling was an Innovator, she knew EXACTLY what he did.

"Fuck!" She shouted "Bastard jumped!"

"Nice of you to notice!" A dark red beam shot past the Gadessa, clipping off one of the legs. "And if you want a name, it's Ronald Pinkerton, piloting the Morgan!" The newly-named Morgan shot back toward the GNXs, and Hiling was forced to dodge pink beam rounds. "Damn it!" She opened fire on 00-Raiser with her GN Vulcans. Setsuna dodged with absurd ease.

Meanwhile, Jaden was having an easy time with the Baikals, although their GN lasers were REALLY pissing him off. "Just fucking DIE!" He fired the GN Bazooka he got from scavenging through the last battlefield again, destroying another ship's bridge before firing several more shots into its weapons, effectively destroying it.

"Kid, status on those ships!" Ron asked.

"Two down, three to go!" Jaden answered, "What's up?!"

"45 seconds before the second wave gets here!"

"Then I'll need to hurry!" Jaden shouted, as he attacked the next Baikal cruiser, firing his Bazooka "Think you can help?"

"Oh, me? Sure! I'll leave the GNXs in the capable hands of my DRAGOONs!" The Morgan launched its' eight DRAGOONs, then sent them at the GNXs.

"I pity the poor bastards." Jaden said shaking his head before firing another GN Bazooka shot, destroying the Cruiser's port side missile racks.

"Really? I don't." Ron said, "Besides, these assholes are protecting a fraking WMD: they're getting what's coming to them!"

"Good point," Jaden said, as two contacts appeared on the E-Sensor at extreme range: one was in the wrong direction to be Mercury, but the other one- "Psycho/Takeo, Mercury: beginning attack run and launching attack wings!" 600cm rounds began flying at the Baikals, with one ship trying to get away.

A-Laws Baikal-Class cruiser Superior

Arba Lindt frantically gave orders to get the hell out of there, but it was no use: Mercury had them dead to rights. The ship shook, and not from weapons fire. "MAJOR!"

"WHAT?!" He looked out the windows, seeing ANOTHER massive ship of the same class, with the name KRATOS proudly marked on the flight pod. "What the-" One of the guns automatically came to bear. Say bye-bye, Arba. "NO! NOT LIKE-" The 600cm cannon fired, impacting the bridge and destroying the ship.

GN-000 0 Gundam - piloted by Commander Jaden Takeo

"Where the hell did they come from?!" Ron shouted as he saw multiple contacts on the DRADIS screen of the Morgan, all giving out Colonial Transponder signals.

"Ron, I'm seeing the Archangel, the Minerva-"

"FRAK, Aquila's in there, too!" Ron shouted "Mercury, Psycho: we have a MAJOR problem!" The plan was in big trouble: friendly fire was not on anyone's wish list.

"We've noticed!" Sasha said, "Can you contact them?!"

Before either could try, Jaden once again felt the strange sensation in the back of his head, similar to the one he felt in the last battle but… different, less violent and demanding, but more like directions to a location. He glanced in the area it was coming from, and the E-Sensors were picking up something out there…

Jaden's curiosity got the better of him, as he began to move away from the combat zone, an act which did not go unnoticed. "Kid! What the hell-Oh, frak! Get back here!" The Morgan went after 0 Gundam, which closed on the contact. "What the hell are you doing, Jaden?!"

"Ron, there's something out here!" Jaden said, "And I don't think it's a Cylon." A groan was heard over the wireless. "Oh, for the love of Athena, Ares and Hephaestus!" Ron cursed "This is madness!"

"I think insanity is the norm now, Ron." Jaden said, as both Gundams (one in MA mode) closed in on the mysterious thing calling to Jaden. After a couple of minutes, they sighted what looked like a Mobile Armor. "What the hell is that?" Jaden asked himself.

It was then that the unknown Mobile Armor turned to face them, and it had a VERY big gun. "Break!" Ron shouted, as it fired a pure crimson beam at the two Gundams, missing completely.

"I don't think it's very friendly, Jaden!" Ron shouted "Mercury, Psycho: can you send the Freedom out here?! Jaden and I need help!"

"No can do: Hibu's trying to coordinate communications between us and the new arrivals!"

"That's just fraking great!"

Jaden's eyes narrowed "I've got this Ron," he said as he moved forward before Ron could protest. The unknown M.A began to move again, moving for another shot at the 0 Gundam, however Jaden continued moving in a zig-zag pattern, making it hard for the M.A to get a lock on him.

After a few moments, whoever was piloting the machine must of been getting angry, as suddenly it opened up… and emerging out of it came a large Mobile Suit! And not just any M,S, but a Gundam colored deep rose red and white, with a large backpack behind it, and releasing red GN Particles. It removed the large cannon from the Mobile Armor, and began taking aim.

The Gundam fired its cannon at the 0 Gundam, but Jaden maneuvered around the blast as he closed the distance between him and the new contact, "Let's see how good you are in a Sword Fight." Jaden said as he tossed his Bazooka away, and took out his Beam Saber.

As if accepting his challenge, the Unknown machine ditched the Long Rifle, and drew its own Beam Saber in its left hand, however it fired a GN Handgun from its right hand, trying to get a good shot at him. But the pilot's accuracy was not the best, as he was able to avoid being hit once, and what shots did make it through he managed to deflect with his shield.

Then finally, his M.S struck as their respective beam sabers collided, deadlocking them as the two machines fought for supremacy. And with them so close, Ron couldn't get a shot off to break them up so he could use the Agni.

The two Mobile Suits then began their brawl, as Jaden began to overpower the red mobile suit, but it fell back and raised its arm, firing off five GN missiles from the shield mounted on its arm. Cursing, Jaden backpedaled as he used the Gundam Vulcans he had added to the 0 Gundam to shoot down the missiles. 'Why they decided to keep them on the Full-Armor type alone I'll never know,' he thought to himself briefly, before he once again moved in for the attack.

Again, the unknown M.S fired off its Beam handgun, but with similar effects as it could not get a good shot at Jaden, and once again their Mobile Suits clashed with beam sabers. "You know, you're actually pretty good!" Jaden said, using contact communication with the M.S "Jaden Takeo, you?"

There was a few moments of silence, before he got a reply "Nena Trinity," said a female voice, surprising Jaden for a moment, "And you're pretty good too… even though you're flying an antique!"

Jaden smirked "Hey, if it ain't broke, use it." He said, as he continued his battle. "So, A-Laws? ESF?"

"Neither," Nena said, as the two M.S circled around one another, each firing off a beam blast at opportunity, only for the blast to either be dodged or deflected by their shields. "I guess you could say I'm… independent."

Meanwhile, Ron was trying to get a good shot at the enemy Gundam without killing either its' pilot or Jaden. Problem was, while the MA-M21KF beam rifle was highly accurate, it was still more of a spray-n-pray weapon then a true rifle. It was like comparing the Springfield M1903 to the M1 Garand. The field marshal facepalmed, as he forgot that the two rifles could be combined into a true long rifle. "Hopefully my marksmanship skills transfer to this thing." His DRADIS blared out a warning before he could combine the two weapons, however. "NOW what?!" A white Mobile Armor charged at the Morgan, firing red-orange beams at the Colonial MS. "I am REALLY getting tired of this bullshit!" He pointed the two rifles at the Mobile Armor and fired, but then it created a bubble around itself using GN particles, which the beam round just bounded off of. "THAT'S FRAKING CHEATING, YOU ASSHOLE!" While this was happening, Jaden and Nina continued their duel.

"Independent?" Jaden asked, before he grunted a bit as one shot from her machine grazed the side of the 0 Gundam "Then why are you all the way out here?"

"Just making sure the information the people I work with came through," Nena said, "Who do you think gave them the info of that thing's weak spot?"

Jaden rose an eyebrow at that "Wait… you were the one who gave Celestial Being that information?" he asked, "Then do you work with Celestial Being?"

"I use too," Nena said with a small growl "But I left four years ago… they wouldn't help me with what I wanted."

"And what is it you want, Nena?" Jaden asked, "What is it that you want, that Celestial Being couldn't do?"

"Vengeance!" Nena shouted, as her attacks began to intensify, "That psycho killed my family, and forced me to live on the run! He took everything away from me! I… I want him dead!"

"Who is it?" Jaden asked, as he dodged the attacks, "Maybe we could help each other out here?"

At this, surprisingly, Nena stopped firing, as the two Machines looked at one another. "You… can help me?" She asked warily, "How?"

Jaden pointed back to where the Battle was "My fiends have giant warships with massive guns," he said, "And a crap-ton of Mobile Suits you've probably never even heard of with technology literally not of this earth. We'd be a better allies than enemies."

Nena seemed to consider the offer for a few moments, until Jaden saw her mobile suit lower her weapons "Alright… we'll see about that." She said, "But if you try anything-"

"I'm a man of my word Nena," Jaden said, "I don't break promises unless there is a damn good reason why."

"If you two are done, I could use a little help over here!" Ron shouted on the comm, and Both looked up to find the Morgan having a pseudo-dogfight with a bone-white Mobile Armor. "Fraking bastard put up a GN field! I can't touch the bastard at range!"

Nena decided to be helpful. "Use a GN sword!" She shouted.

"I don't HAVE a GN sword!" Ron retorted, before the Morgan stopped, then pulled out the Schwert Gewehr anti-ship sword. "But this is one hell of a substitute!" The Morgan deployed the Mirage Colloid propulsion system, commonly known as the Wings of Light, allowing the Morgan to finally get close. The massive blade actually managed to get through, but it didn't destroy the Mobile Armor.

It did, however, take out whatever regulated the GN field. And without that, it was no longer protected from Ron's beam weapons. "FRAKING DIE!" He took aim with the Agni and fired, vaporizing the Mobile Armor. "THAT was immensely satisfying." Ron muttered, "So, who's the girl? Wasn't paying attention to that whole conversation, as you've probably guessed."

"Nena Trinity," The girl said, and a few moments later their monitors showed the image of the young girl who looked about Jaden's age, wearing a rather… form-fitting pink flight suit which revealed every last curve of her body, and she removed her helmet for a moment, revealing her long shoulder length crimson red hair and amber colored eyes, smiling a bit "Former member of Celestial Being Team Trinity."

"Commander Ronald Pinkerton, 12 Colonies of Kobol Naval Defense Force Corps of Engineers." Ron said, "A pleasure, young miss."

"Yeah, nice to meet ya..." Jaden said, currently glad his visor was polarized hiding the small blush he had seeing how much Nena's suit clung to her form, and how attractive she looked. "Well, come on… let's head back to the others."

"Ptolemaeus should be setting up for her attack run now." Ron said, "Might as well find out where the hell those other ships came from."

CBS-74 Ptolemaeus II

(BGM: "Come and Get them" 300 OST)

The ship jumped above the low orbital ring, Seravee and Cherudim hanging out of the Deck one catapult hatch.

"Mercury, Ptolemy: status?"

"Viper team is making its' attack run now. Stand by, Ptolemaeus."

A full team of 20 Mk VII Vipers, all fit with ASM-14 missiles apiece, fired two missiles each, all heading for the array. Each missile impacted, causing minimal damage to the armor.

"Frak, that armor's thick! Firing second wave!"

40 more ASM-14 anti-capital ship missiles dropped from the Vipers, impacting the armor but doing almost nothing to damage it.

"Nothing! Mercury, missiles were ineffective!"

"Copy. Firing main batteries!"

Mercury fired a full volley of eight 600cm cannon rounds from her forward batteries, which did a LOT more damage. but the armor was still there.

"Ptolemaeus, Mercury: attack run was ineffective." Sasha said, "It's up to you!"

Sumeragi sighed. If Polaris was in Mercury's place, they wouldn't have been needed. Then again, Polaris was too damn powerful for her own good: it might've damaged the low orbital ring beyond repair if it attacked.

"Tieria, FIRE!"

"TRANS-AM!" Seravee engaged Trans-Am, then fired a massive pink beam of death at the weapons array. It punched through the armor, but stopped before it could damage the internal mechanisms. That could only be done by either a massive brute-force attack, like what the Colonials tried with the Vipers and Mercury, or by a precise pin-point attack.

"Lockon, it's up to you!"

"Copy that!" Cherudim used Seravee's bulk to steady the next shot. Lockon took aim with the GN sniper rifle before engaging Trans-Am. "Trans-Am!" A holographic visor appeared in front of the Gundam's eyes, and Lockon managed to zoom in closer. He had one shot.

"Ptolemaeus, Mercury: what the hell are you waiting for?!"

"Targeted..." He pulled the trigger. "And firing!"

A thing pink beam shot out from the rifle's barrel, going through the hole and hitting the core of the weapon. The ship veered to port, going past the weapon just as it exploded. "Nice job, Lockon! Spool up-" The ship rocked from an impact. Sumeragi knew that couldn't've been Colonial gunfire, as that would've destroyed the ship outright. "Miss Sumeragi, the E-Sensor just picked up a flight of Cylon Raiders!" Milena reported "They jumped in and fired several missiles! The GN-field is offline!"

"FTL?!"

"It was knocked out!" Sumeragi pursed her lips. "Inform Mercury we're going to need-" She began, before more alarms interrupted her.

"Oh, shit!" Lasse shouted, "Two Cylon Baseships, directly to starboard!" Sumeragi was not willing to engage two Cylon Baseships, not with Ptolemy so damaged.

"All hands, prepare for atmospheric reentry! Inform Mercury of our intent!"

"Yes, ma'am!"

Battlestar Aquila - CIC

"SitRep!" Talia shouted, "What the HELL just happened?!"

"No idea!" Meyrin shouted, "But I'm picking up the fleet on DRADIS! Hang on...Colonial MS on DRADIS! It's the Morgan!"

Talia smiled. The Morgan was on Polaris. They found them.

"Get Psycho on the horn." she said, "IF he's piloting that thing, still." The comm operator gave her the thumbs up.

"Psycho, Aquila Actual: what the hell is going on, Commander?" She asked.

"Long story, not enough time to tell you!" Ron said hurriedly "Sending FTL coordinates! Prepare to jump!"

"Commander, we just jumped!"

"Spool up drives 3 and 4, NOW!" Ron shouted "I'll explain when we get there! I speak with Fleet Admiral Adama's authority!"

Talia knew he wasn't joking. "Spool up FTL drives 3 and 4!" She said, "Prepare to jump! Contact Kratos and their fleet to follow suit" Although dazed and confused, they quickly got Aquila ready to jump once again. "Kratos, Aquila: stand by to jump! Commander Pinkerton's going to take us to Polaris!"

"DRADIS contact!" Meyrin shouted "Two Cylon Baseships, bearing 347 carom 064!" Talia realized that they were in no shape to take on anything: most of the crews were on their asses, and only a few were even on their feet to get the FTLs spooled up.

"Prepare to land, Commander!"

"I've got two MSs with me, Commander Gladys," Ron said, "Prepare to receive us!" Talia was far too confused to ask what the hell was going on. Besides, Ron would tell her exactly what was going on when they got there. "FTL spooled up!" Meyrin shouted "The Morgan and the other two Mobile Suits have landed!"

"JUMP!" Aquila, followed by Mercury and the other new arrivals, leaving the area behind.

Lagrange Point 3 - Battlestar Polaris

Ian finally kicked the new buffer into place, and gave Tyrol the thumbs up. "Activate the reactor!" Ian shouted "We should be good!"

"Cally, flip the switch!" Tyrol said, and Cally pulled a massive lever, and the lights kicked on.

"Power's back!" Cally said grinning "And nothing's exploding, so whatever you did worked!" Alarms started blaring throughout the ship. "I didn't do it!" Ian shouted raising his hands.

"Action Stations! All hands, prepare for combat!"

Ian groaned. "Seriously?!" He asked, before seconds later, however... "Action Stations, stand down: vessels are friendly. Ian Vashti, please report to CIC." Ian groaned again as he climbed up a ladder, cursing Colonial artificial gravity with every rung before he got to the catwalk.

"What the hell is with you people and artificial gravity?!" He asked, "I'm 50, for God's sake!" he complained feeling his old age catching up to him. This is why he worked in zero-g environments.

"Commander Pinkerton's in his 70s; don't see him complaining." Ian got to the tram, thoroughly angry.

Battlestar Polaris - CIC

"We've got over one hundred Colonial ships, sir: most of them were supposed to be either scrapped, decommissioned or lost years ago!" Ron said "Hell, these guys are using old Hermes-Class gunstars! My Hermes frigates could outfight those!"

Adama listened to Ron's report on the wireless. "I'll talk with whoever's in charge." He said, "I doubt Commander Gladys was given a fleet like that without a promotion."

"Understood, sir." Ron said, "Commander Takeo and I are inbound with a...surprise."

Adama wasn't liking this. "Commander?" He asked.

"We captured an enemy MS." Ron said, "Jaden managed to convince her to change flags, as it were. Standard procedure, I presume?" Standard procedure, of course, being to throw the defector in the brig until the person's loyalties were confirmed to be on their side.

"Keep Farron as far away from her as you can." Adama said.

"Understood, sir." Ron said, "And could you tell Ian that I'm going to need his help with Aquila's power grid as well? They seem to have the same power problem we have."

"Had." Adama said with a small grin "The reactor's online."

"And Polaris hasn't exploded yet? Fraking A!" Ron shouted, and Adama knew he was grinning "We'll be there in five minutes!"

Adama hung up the phone just as Ian walked into CIC. "You rang?" He asked.

"Commander Pinkerton's going to need your help once again." Adama said, "Somehow, another Colonial task force jumped into this universe. One of them was Polaris' sister, Aquila."

Ian rose a bit of an eyebrow "I'm seeing a theme here." He said, "First the North Star, then Zeus' Eagle?"

"Stars and constellations." Adama said nodding. "I know."

Ian sighed. "Commander, I'm an old man." He said, "Can't I show Ron and Jaden how to do it?"

Adama shook his head. "Commander Pinkerton's going to be briefing the new arrivals on how they got here." He said, "Since the local nutcase is the only one who knows how that thing works, he's got to do it. And Commander Takeo will be busy working on that Mobile Suit you gave him, I expect. Chief Tyrol and his crew will be going with you, though: that should make your job MUCH easier."

"Admiral, several Raptors are inbound from Aquila, Minerva, Izanami and BS-97 Kratos." Gaeta reported, "Also, a number of shuttles are incoming from Archangel, Kusanagi and Eternal."

Adama gave his acknowledgement. "Very well." He said, "Inform them to land on landing bay 4, checkers green."

ADF-X01 Morgan/GN-000 0 Gundam/GNW-003 Gundam Throne Drei - inbound to Battlestar Polaris

"Psycho, Polaris: ventral port landing bay is clear. Still dented, but you can land on it."

"Remind me to lynch that idiot later." Ron said with a growl. "Inbound, bearing 264, carom 197, range 2 MSU."

"Yeah, I don't understand one word of what he just said." Nena said on the comm.

"Just follow him in, Nena." Jaden said, "And DON'T piss off the Vipers. They've got anti-MS missiles."

"I thought missiles were almost useless against Mobile Suits?" Nena asked.

"Not when the local nutcase designed them." Jaden said, and Ron smirked, knowing the answer to the question. "Who's the local nutcase, Jaden?" He asked.

"You are!" Ron laughed out loud, then flipped the Morgan over, leading the other two Mobile Suits to the underside landing bay, and showing the massive dent in the landing pad.

"Whoa!" Nena shouted, "What caused that?!"

"Lasse crashed the Ptolemaeus onto the deck." Jaden said, "Ron's been trying to get his hands on him ever since."

"How fortunate for him that the lifts still work." Ron said with a groan "It's going to take WEEKS, even with Mobile Suits, to fix this!" Ron transformed the Morgan into MA mode, then maneuvered the MS down like he would a Viper. Jaden landed almost as gently. Nena, on the other hand, pancaked on the lift. Pancaked, of course, is US Naval slang for hard landing. "Are you TRYING to make my job even worse?!" Ron snapped.

"Sorry!" Nena said apologetically. "Never landed on a ship like this."

"You'll get use to it," Jaden said, as their M.S approached the docking area. "Also Nena, bit of word of warning, but the Colonials will likely want to keep you in the brig for a while until we can make sure you want to side with us - just as a precaution, their paranoid."

"Alright," Nena said, "I can understand that."

The airlock repressurized, and all three machines entered the hanger. As Jaden expected, an entire squad of Marines was waiting for them. And all of them were armed with G36K's. Ron got out of the Morgan's cockpit, drawing his M29 magnum in the process. "Sergeant of the Guard, I expect the prisoner to be treated well." He said sternly. Translation: Pull what Cain pulled on Gina Inviere, you die.

"Aye, sir."

"And no visitors under the rank of Major." He added, "Am I clear?" That was to keep Farron away from her.

"Crystal, sir." Nena and Jaden got out of their machines, and the Marines approached her, led by Sergeant Wallace and Ron with Jaden joining them shortly after. "Ms. Trinity, under Colonial Fleet Regulations, the specific one I will not bore you or Jaden with, you are to be placed into custody and placed in the brig." He said, "This means I'm going to have to cuff you. My apologies for doing so."

Nena nodded in understanding as she reached out her arms. Wallace handed Ron a pair of cuffs, then attempted to put them on Nena's wrists. Tried, only because at that moment, her eyes flashed into a fury of goldish colors and she kneed the man in the balls before he could even react before kicking him in the head. "What the hell?!" Jaden shouted "Nena!"

"Marines, take her down!" Ron shouted "I want her ALIVE!" Nena glanced at Jaden, who recoiled slightly at the new glow her eyes possessed, before attempting to run, but thankfully, one of the Marines shot her with a taser, then took her down by shocking her. "What the hell was that?!" Jaden asked.

Ron, cupping his now-aching balls, glared at Nena. "Drag her to the brig!" He said."MAXIMUM SECURITY!"

"Yes, sir!" The Marines grabbed her, and Jaden looked at Ron. "I thought she was honest." He said, shaking his head.

"She was." Ron said, causing Jaden to look at him in surprise "Only someone with decades of combat experience could take me out that easily." Ron groaned before planting his ass on the deck again. "No way she could have that kind of experience…I don't know how, but someone hijacked her body."

Jaden thought back at her eyes, which no longer looked like the ones she had when she first met her. "But how?" He asked, confused at what he saw "And why would you even think about that being a possibility?"

"Cylon Resurrection technology, for one." Ron said as he groaned a bit in pain "Cylons don't have chips in their heads, so-"

"It has to be done biologically." Jaden finished and Ron nodded.

"It was done in our universe; it's possible here. Don't worry: I'll kick the shit out of the asshole responsible for this, not your girlfriend." he said, finishing the last part with a smirk as Jaden blushed.

"She's not my-" the Junk Guild attempted to retort, but Ron cut him off.

"Yet!" he said making Jaden growl in annoyance.

"Damn you, Ron!"

Aquila Raptor 348 - inbound to Battlestar Polaris

Talia sat in the Raptor's co-pilot's seat, looking at the impressive fleet surrounding Polaris. The ship was operational, so Ron must've fixed the power problem. Soon enough, he'd do it for Aquila.

"Raptor 348, Polaris: land on landing bay 5. Checkers red: call the ball."

"Polaris, Raptor 348: confirmed, speed 015." The pilot said, "I have the ball." The Raptor spun onto its' backside before landing on the portside ventral side hanger as two more Raptors took off, heading for her ship. "Commander Pinkerton works fast." The Raptor descended into the hanger airlock, which shut, repressurized and allowed them access to the ship itself.

The hatch opened, and the Raptor entered the hanger. Talia got out of her seat, then opened the hatch before the Raptor stopped. She was met with the sight of the bald XO of Polaris, Colonel Saul 'The Rummy'* Tigh. "Colonel, permission to come aboard?" She asked.

"Granted, Commander." Tigh said nodding "I think you know the way to CIC. The Old Man's waiting for you."

Talia nodded before making her way toward the tram. She chuckled as she remembered the days when meeting the Chairman of the PLANT Supreme Council was a rare thing. Now she was meeting with the Supreme Commander of the Colonial Fleet at least once a week. The tram arrived on the same deck near CIC less then three minutes later, then walked directly to CIC after less than 20 seconds after that.

Polaris' CIC was laid out in the same manner as Aquila's, so it was easy to find Admiral Adama, who stood at the plotting table as per usual. She approached, and Adama saw her coming out of the corner of his eye. "Commander, welcome aboard." He said.

"A pleasure to see you and Polaris, Admiral." Talia said nodding. "I'm curious, though: how did we end up back over Earth? And why can't we-"

"Commander Pinkerton will answer everything." He said, "He's waiting for you and the other COs in the pilot's briefing room. As you know, I still have to get used to Polaris. She's a different beast than any ship I've ever commanded."

Talia chuckled. "I'll bet." She said, "Aquila's almost nothing like the Minerva. I bet Shinn's have a hard time adjusting to commanding her, to."

Adama nodded. That was one of his more odd command choices: giving Shinn Asuka, of all people, a commission to Lieutenant Colonel and giving him command of the Minerva once Talia took command of Aquila. He was a Mobile Suit pilot, not a commander. Yet Adama showed supreme trust in him. He didn't disappoint. "I'll get to the briefing room, then." Talia said, "Which one is it?"

"Starboard flight pod, room 3." Adama said, "I think you know the way." She did, indeed.

"Sir." She saluted and walked out of CIC.

Ron the True Fan: Well, now the mass death-fest REALLY begins. Patriot, Jorn, care to list off the Colonial forces in the Anno Domini verse?

117Jorn: Got it!

BattleStar Group-60 'Mercury'

1 x Mercury-class Battlestar 'Mercury'

2 x Galactica-class Battlestar 'Typhon' 'Echidna'

3 x Valkyrie-Class Battlestar 'Yashuman' 'Argus' 'Rhode'

2 x Spitfire-Class AA cruisers 'Firebrand' 'Bullpup'

2 x Berserk-class Destroyer 'Hercules' 'Pacifica'

4 x Hermes-Class frigates (No names; yard numbers only)

1 x Flimsy Whimsie-class Pocket Carrier 'Flimsy Whimsie'

3rd Independent BattleStar Group Kratos

1 x Mercury-class Battlestar 'Kratos'

2 x Galactica-class Battlestar 'Diana' 'Libertas'

3 x Valkyrie-class Battlestar 'Sif' 'Dellingr' 'Forseti'

4 x Loki-class Heavy Cruiser 'Icarus' 'Fortuna' 'Fulla' 'Sigyn'

1 x Orion-class Pocket Battlestar 'Draco'

Polaris Search & Rescue Fleet

1 x Polaris-class Battlestar 'Aquila'

1 x Izanami-class Battlestar 'Izanami' (formally Mercury-Class BS-61 Pegasus)

1 x Girty Lue-class Battleship 'Hell Vulture'

1 x Archangel-class Battleship 'Archangel'

1 x Izumo-class Battleship 'Kusanagi'

1 x Eternal-class Battleship 'Eternal'

2 x Galactica Kai-class Battlestar 'Siegfried' 'Tokugawa'

BS-135 Polaris

1 x Polaris-class Battlestar 'Polaris'

Patriot-112: And there you have it!

Ron the True Fan: And before you guys can bitching about the huge number of Colonial ships, the Cylons have just as many, if not more, Baseships. And next time, you're going to see what the sisters of the Polaris-Class can do!

117Jorn: I almost feel sorry for the A.D Universe… we haven't even shown them what Jaden is cooking up yet...

Ron the True Fan: We'll see you guys on the next chapter of Heaven and Hell URE! Ja Ne, folks!