Chapter 13

Moving Forward

01/10/2504

UED Army Base at Los Andares

Building 1, Base Headquarters

Room 10, Office of the Base Commander

1729

The production of the main mobile suit line, mainly the RGM-79s and the RGC-83s, was going smoothly. The number of Regular mobile suits now numbered about 200 mobile suits available. Trowa had really taken a liking to the Heavyarms. When we got back to Los Andares from the Board of inquiry, I had designed two more Gundams. The first was Duos. I remember back in class 1 that he preferred stealth and slice and dice techniques. So I designed a Gundam the incorporated stealth with close quarters combat. The Gundam was equipped with a very sophisticated Electronic Counter Measures system, as well as the cloaking system used by the wraith fighters. However, this cloak system was re-tuned so that the possibility of detection by detector units was minimized. It was mainly black with white highlights. Its weapons included the Standard 75mm "igelstellung" CIWS Cannons in its head, a Shield launcher which launched toward an enemy with a beam knife and drilled into an enemy unit. Finally its main weapon was a double Bladed Beam Scythe. The beams were about three times more powerful than the standard beam saber of the RGM-79. Its model Number was XXXG-01D. I gave it the name: Gundam Deathscythe.

Jo's Gundam was built for speed and high maneuverability. It was mainly white with blue and gold highlights. Like the Deathscythe it had the "igelstellung" in its head. It also had a concealable 90mm 3-barrel Vulcan cannon in its forearms, and XB-B-09 Beam Sabers. Finally it had two 120mm S000025 beam pistols. It was capable of ground speeds of about 150 mph and it was capable of extremely high jumps with its rocket thrusters. Its Model Number was RX-78NT1 and its name was Gundam "Alex." They both were obviously made exclusively made of Gundanium. During tests both of them were able to take out four Battlecruisers in less than two minutes, both by themselves. The Battlecruisers were derelicts and scheduled for scrap.

Class 2 of the Mobile Suit Corps Training Division, had completed the course with a 95 percent graduation rate, only one student did not graduate, and it was due to a severe injury they had sustained during the beginning of phase 3. We had already told him that if he was rehabilitated, he would be allowed to join class 5 or 6. Regardless, Class 2 not only produced more pilots for the Mobile Suit Corps, but it had produced four more Gundam Pilots. The first was a young man who like Jo had a serious face almost all the time. He had messy brown hair and steely blue eyes. His name was Herro Yuy. He had mastered the techniques of being able to think tactically and strategically. He was able to anticipate the moves of his opponents and be able to achieve victory on his own. But what set him apart, was his mechanical mind. During one particular day of training, he was up against an entire simulated tank column and simulated Aerial attack squadron. Using his beam rifle, he had managed to destroy the entire tank column and air squadron with only two shots. I had noticed that the beam rifle was far more powerful than normal. He later told me that he had stayed up the night before and had recalibrated the energy cap, refocused the focusing mirrors, and readjusted the output wavelength. The adjustments he did made the rifle about twenty times more powerful, but it caused the Rifle to overheat and become useless after three shots. Also, his background indicated that he was a civilian aircraft pilot and flew high speed aircraft and was considered an expert in the field. I had decided to design a transformable Gundam that was capable of transforming from a Mobile Suit to a fighter aircraft. It had a white lower body with a blue upper body with Gold trim. It had a red shield. On it back was white and gold wings used for flight. Its weapons included two 75mm "igelstellung" cannons mounted by its neck, and a beam saber mounted in a housing on the shield. Its main weapon was a 180mm Plasma Beam Rifle, dubbed the Buster Rifle. It had the same capabilities as Herro's tweaked beam rifle, except it was made exclusively from Gundanium, and therefore could handle the heat. It could fire 10 shots of high energy plasma beam power before needing to be recharged. Its model Number was the XXXG-01W, Wing Gundam.

The next pilots name was Quatre Rabarba Winner. He was apparently the son of a wealthy industrialist in the alpha centrai system. I was initially very leery about him joining the Mobile Suit Corps. But when I read his record, he turned out to be no slouch when it came to combat. When he was in mobile suit training, he demonstrated an innate ability to lead others. Like Herro, he too had modified his weapons, except they held the same power but function like a sub-machine gun. He also used his beam sabers in a similar way to duo. Thus I designed a mobile suit that used superheated shotels to cut through enemy armored units, as well as the Gundam being equipped with a S000125 Beam Sub-machine Rifle. The Gundam was also equipped with the standard 75mm "igelstellung" Cannons in its head. It was also equipped with two "Korinthos" missile launchers mounted next to its neck. The Gundam was white and black with gold trim. Its model number was the XXXG-01SR, and its name was "Sandrock."

The third new Gundam Pilots name was Chang Wufei. He had qualified for his highly skilled use of martial arts with the mobile suits, as he is apparently descended from a long line of highly skilled martial arts masters. He was able to use his beam sabers like a pole. He also refrained from used any ranged weapons except for the CIWS. He had even defeated Trowa in a simulated battle. I designed his Gundam to make use of his martial arts skills. It was white with green, red and gold trim. It was equipped with extendable arms with retractable claws, as well as flamethrowers on each arm. It was also equipped with a scorpion tail style beam cannon and the standard "Igelstellungs." Its main weapon was a dual sided beam trident. Its model number was the XXXG-01S2, code named "Altron."

Finally the forth New Gundam pilot was Kou Urachi. He was one of the few Goliath pilots who managed to not only succeed in the Mobile suit prequalification course but excelled during the MS Pilot training course. His preferred method of combat was fast blitz attacks. So I designed a mobile suit the used huge output thrusters to provide tremendous speed. The unit was equipped with 8 small thrusters throughout the body as well as two large rotatable thrusters in the backpack. The unit was white with blue and red trim. It was equipped with the "igelstellungs" and two Blash-x-03-0205 beam sabers. It was also capable of use the S000105 High energy beam rifle. The model number was the RX-78GP10-FB, code named "zephyranthes." With now seven fully qualified Gundam Pilots, the Mobile Suit corps was becoming a force to be reckoned with.

I was sitting with Madison, Andrew, and Anna in Andrew's office going over the plans for the two new Assault Carriers to be built for the mobile suit Corps. Once we had finished the final details, I slammed the pencil down on the desk and let out a heavy sigh. Andrew said, "Well Tom, these Albion and Archangel Class Carriers look good. I am especially impressed with "Valiant" Linear Cannons on sides for both of them, and the fact that the archangel class carries two "Lohengrin" as opposed to only one." "Despite the fact that the Pegasus and the Mobile suits are a virtually unstoppable force of ours, we need to constantly keep improving our ships and technology, otherwise our enemies will learn to adapt and overcome us. That is why we continually upgrade our current equipment, and continue to build new ships and weapons. We will build two more Pegasus class ship, two Albion Class and one Archangel Class for now. The Pegasus names will be "Thoroughbred," and "Blanc Rival." The two Albion class ships will be the "Albion" and, the "Grey Phantom," and obviously the Archangel Class will be the "Archangel." The new reactors that we will be installing into the ships will allow the ships to be able to travel at warp speeds of up to warp 9.975. Just these six Carriers, with their full complement of mobile suits, would have the equivalent strength of four entire battle groups." Anna then said, "They certainly are impressive, Tom." Finally Madison said, "How many mobile suits will they be able to carry?" I responded, "The Pegasus and the White Base will be Refitted to accommodate two more mobile suits each, so they Pegasus Class will carry eight, the Albion class will carry ten, and the archangel class will carry twelve. So for the carriers alone, they will have a total of 54 mobile suits. The twelve Battlecruisers that we refitted to can carry twenty mobile suits each, that's 240. And we have ten more Battlecruisers being built, which is an additional 200. So by this time next year, we will be able to carry 494. Mobile suits. However, we will need to recruit about 20,000 more Corpsman, in order to fill those slots in the Mobile Suit support and carrier based positions." Andrew responded, "Don't worry, Tom. General Gillespie has already taken the necessary steps in order to get us at least 12,000 more recruits within six months. Remember, we do have training facilities on multiple worlds. So I'm sure that we will get the necessary number of Corpsman by next year." "I appreciate that Andrew. However that does bring up a problem. What about the Command positions? I mean granted we have plenty of commanders for the units, but they are traditional commanders. And if we put a regular commander in charge of the Carriers, I'm worried that they won't utilize the mobile suits to their full potential." "Actually a lot of officers out heir have taken quite an interest in the Mobile Suits…" He pulled a file from the desk behind him. "I put out some feelers, and I've got twenty officers, all decorated and respected commanders, who have expressed interest in joining the MS Corps." "Really?" I took the file from him and opened it. After a few minutes of looking I said, "They look promising." He responded, "I knew you would like them. They're rotation is in three weeks, so we can get them trained and ready for the ships within a few months." "Sounds good." "You know now that I think about it, it's already been a whole year since you came here. A lot has happened." "Yeah." We all kind of stretched and Andrew said, "Well, we'll head home." "Okay. Hey Maddie, you want to grab some dinner?" "Sure."

Andrew was right. The officers were some of the best in the business and they were some of the most open-minded. We had a twenty seven in the class, ten Marine Captains, eight Navy Lieutenant Commanders, six Commanders, and three Captains and Rear Admiral Joseph Halberton, formerly the commander of the Directorates 17th Destroyer group. We had decided to have class 4 of MS School be comprised of officers only. This way they would have a direct fundamental understanding of how the mobile suits work and how they perform when used in conjunction with other forces. Admiral Halberton, Captain Murrue Ramius, and Commander Natarle Badgiruel were the most promising commanders. Admiral Halberton and Captain Ramius took to using the mobile suits right away, and commander Badgiruel was the most effective commander using a ships weapons in conjunction with mobile suits. In fact Captain Ramius and Commander Badgiruel made the best command team, and Admiral Halberton demonstrated the best overall command of a mobile suit battle group. In fact, Admiral Halberton, at the end of his training, had even suggested some new models for the GM, designed specifically for close ship support, as well as a new version of GM suited for deep space tactical missions, and several new classes of vessels designed for the purpose of deep space tactical missions. The rest of the officers performed admirably and we were going to assign them commands of the Carriers as soon as the crews were ready.

09/12/2504

Vila Humanita Shoreline, Manaus Brazil

2005

Madison and I had been pretty busy with everything but that night was a special night. We had dinner at the Habachi Grill in Manaus, then took a walk along the Amazon River. We were gazing out at the river, holding hands. I kept thinking, "I probably would not have made it this far, if not for Madison. She has been my lifeline ever since I arrived in the twenty-sixth century. I'm completely in love with this woman," I turned towards her just as she turned towards me. Out of the blue, I kissed her and she kissed back. We parted and I said, "Madison, thank you for being my strength. You are a wonderful, intelligent, strong, and beautiful woman." I could see in the orange light of evening, her eyes lit up and started to almost sparkle. "You have helped me through many situations, and… I can't imagine my life without you." I then reached into my pocket, pulled out the velvet box, opened it, revealing a gold ring, stud with a sapphire, a diamond, and a ruby. I got down on one knee and asked, "Madison Catherine Salinas, will you marry me?" her hands went up to her mouth and her breath caught. She had tears in her eyes, but then she said, "YES."