I stood looking up at my mobile suit observing its every curve and angle. If I stood at the right angle, the light from the hangar illuminated the outer edges of the machine, making it almost appear to glow. For a moment, it look like actually a work of art rather than a device of destruction. It was a beautiful machine but I knew the desolation that it had wrought, the lives that were severed short. How did I come to this point? Could I have done something differently that would have altered my present fate? I knew there could of been, but it was too late now.

"Are you the pilot of this mobile suit?" I heard a young man's voice ask from behind me.

"I am."

"I had never seen a mobile suit, nor anything even close to it." I was surprised to see a young boy stepped beside me, staring at my machine.

"Thank you." I smiled. "It is in its own league –– for now. It is a prototype mobile suit. "

"Does it have a name?"

"Yes, GAT-X201 Asylum."

"Is it built for long-range defense?"

I smiled mischievously. "It is built for whatever I want it to be."

The boy looked over at me baffled. "But that cannot be true. There is certain weapons, armor geared for a particular–"

I looked over at him laughing a little. "Yes, I guess that is true. I like to think beyond what type of gear it has and rather what my purpose is in that moment and use whatever is available to meet that ends."

He thought for a moment. "I guess I had never thought of it like that before but there are limitations."

"We all have limitations. But if you look within the boundaries, the opportunities can sometimes be endless. You just cannot be burdened by thinking about the restraints."

His scowl finally broke into a smile. "Well you seem optimistic. I like how you think though."

"I don't think I am optimistic. I just know a lot about adapting to a situation." I turned towards him rather than looking at my machine. "Are you a pilot?"

He moved his head. "No, just a mechanic. So, I was trying to look at the information for your mobile suit but your OS was locked."

Smiling I commented, "You can't be too careful. Since you are wondering I am assuming you are the mechanic who is in charge of my suit. I can open up the system for you if you like so you can take a look."

The boy's face lit up. "Really?"

"Of course, just give me a moment to unlock." I didn't always trust people with my mobile suit and having complete access to it but I trust this kid. He still had an innocence to him, untainted yet by the world.

A few moments later after entering my cockpit and unlocking the system I yelled out from behind the screen to the boy below. "Okay, you should be receiving the information now! But I am only allowing it to stream for a little while as I do not want the data about my suit to be put into the Earth's database."

"So you must be a mercenary then, aren't you?" He yelled out rhetorically. I could hear him talking to himself. "Wow, we must be quite short on soldiers if we need to hire a mercenary." He yelled up at me again. "Don't worry! Your information is safe with me." Then a long silence followed.

"Find anything interesting?" There was no response.

I decided to creep out of the cockpit to see what was going on. The boy was glued to his screen, his eyes filled to the brim with pure joy. He muttering to himself once again. I lowered myself down onto the hangar floor and walked over to him. As I got closer I could start to audibly hear him.

"explosive daggers hidden in the limbs––large beam saber–– mobile shield––defensive system––Mirage Colloid––"

I raised one eyebrow as I stared at the boy confused. His behaviour and passion was abnormal but I did find it rather amusing.

"Don't worry, he isn't crazy. He is just really passionate about mobile armour, or I guess in your case, a mobile suit."

I turned around to see a man in his early forties start to approach me.

"My name is Alistair, but you can call me Al. I am the head mechanic here and in charge of the hangar. I assume you are Array, the one in charge of the flight squadron."

I nodded my head in agreement.

The young boy chirped in finally, "so you are the new combat commander then! If your strategies are as creative as the Captain seems to say, I would love to see them in action." He paused for a moment. "Although, I do not wish us to go into combat. My name is Daref."

I smiled. "Either do I, Daref but it is a pleasure to meet you."

"Array–" He thought for a moment. "Do I need to call you commander or something?"

"I am not too worried about titles." I smiled. "Besides, I am the new one on the ship, I should be paying all of you respect."

"Okay." He smiled back.

His smile reminded me so much of Cara's. It made me wonder how old he actually was. He could not be older than thirteen, or fifteen at the latest.

"So Array, what is this St. Michael and Mirage Colloid. I have never heard of such a thing before."

"The St. Michael defensive system is similar to a pair of wings that deploy an enhanced light-wave barrier shield. They are completely maneuverable so you can control what area is covered, but it is a complete system within itself to control them, that is what makes the OS system in my mobile suit so complex. I have actually simplified it since I first received it. You should have seen the mess it was when I first got the machine." I took a small sigh. "As for the Mirage Colloid, unfortunately it does not work properly but it is meant to make the suit 'invisible' by using colloid particles to bend light and radar waves around it. One of the reasons apparently it does not work is the armour colour. The armour should be black rather than white. I don't know if I quite believe that though."

"Is that so…." Daref looked at the machine. "I don't know if you would have to change the armour colour to make it work. If I looked at it a little more I might be able to find out why it doesn't work."

"Really?" I looked at him surprised.

Al piped in. "He may be only fourteen but he is our best. Maybe even one of the best in the AE."

Daref was once again looking intently at the screen. "Al, are you bragging about me again?"

"Of course I am!" Al puffed up his chest proudly.

Daref just nodded his head side to side. "Array, this beast looks like it is a huge energy drainer though with having both the Mirage Colloid stealth system and the defensive system. I can't imagine it lasting long in battle."

"I have used the Mirage Colloid one a few occasion and without fail... it fails, so I avoid using it. It is basically a piece of scraps that I carry around with me. The St. Michael I use sparingly because as you had noticed, it is an energy sucker. Several times I have tried making some adjustments but so far, no luck. Hopefully someday I can get them to work more efficiently when I have some more spare time. I really think though the flaw of the machine is that the manufacturers were trying to make it do too much rather than trusting in the abilities of the pilot. There is so many different pieces of equipment on one machine."

"Well, if you wouldn't mind Array, could I take a look at your machine and try making some adjustments to it?"

Some people at this point, especially Coordinators would never put their hopes of Naturals excelling but I had seen the future, and I was still trying to bridge that gap. The seed of the future was just as much in the Naturals as it was in the Coordinators.

"Of course. Just don't wreck anything." I teased.

As I snuck back into the room I caught a glance of myself a mirror to the side. A pair of brown eyes stared back at me. I stopped for a moment, memorized by the stranger looking back at me in the mirror. Who was I? I didn't even recognize myself somedays. Where was the joyous and charismatic girl everyone had loved in my earlier years? The one would have never imagined hurting anyone. Just over a year ago everything was so different. I brushed my hand through my hair to double-check that it was me. I sighed a little. This was my fate, this was the life I had chosen. I couldn't go back now.

A strand of hair fell out of place. On the end of the strand of hair were three beads. I quickly brushed the strand behind my ear.

As I was just about to slip into bed, I heard Cara sigh.

"Are you awake, Cara?"

"You know Array, I think that boy was good for you."

"What do you mean? Who are we walking about here?"

"I don't think I have ever heard you laugh like you did when he was around. He changed you. You were happy."

I smiled a little. "Cara, you make me happy. I don't know what I would do without you."

"It is a different kind of happy though. Night Array!"

"Night Cara." I softly whispered.

He didn't change me, he just reminded me of who I use to be.

So as hard as I looked and researched, I do not really understand Earth Alliance ranks, so if anyone has insight, please let me know!