Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ GunDread SEED- The Second Stage ❯ Part 2- Station Party ( Chapter 16 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

The Nirvana moves on towards Talark and Megele, and relationships and situations are blooming...the crew encounters other humans and they seem to know Kyo, or at least some of them do. They strike a new alliance with them and they find an abandoned Mission, and new things are learned as they get supplies and plan to meet with a part of the resistance.

The Harvesters are still hard at work, still Harvesting and planning to crush the Nirvana and the resistance to their Harvest agenda...but what was the fate of one of their former mercenaries?

Anime/Manga: Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance / Comedy / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 07.26.2006 | Updated On: 09.07.2006 | Pages: 35 | Words: 42.4K | Visits: 1.1K | Status: Completed

GunDread SEED The Second Stage

Disclaimer: I hereby state that I have no ownership or affiliation with VanDread, it's creator Gonzo, or Gundam SEED owned by the owners of all Gundam products. You know the drill…

Chapter 7

Part 2

< >: Thoughts

Station Party

*************

The Nirvana continued to cruise on towards it's objective while up ahead was the near invisible form of the salvaged Harvester battle-ship that was acquired by the pirates in their last conflict…

The ship was still being totally restored but it was now decked in an orange, red and gold scheme to show that it was different from all Harvester ship forces. The ship was to serve at least several functions, the first was evidence of the existence of the Harvesters to the leadership chain of both Talark and Megele, the second was as a scout to detect and lure out potential Harvester ambush forces, and if needed potential allies from other human inhabited worlds, and the last if needed, as a weapon to battle it's former owners.

For now the crew had been able to avoid most ambush forces and were able to relax a bit, but not too much to be totally caught of guard. Routine patrols of Vanguards, Dreads, the four Gundams and pilots, and re-programmed Cube Fighters were able to act in unison to prevent ambushes by their enemies.

Of course, being on combat alert wasn't the only thing on the crew's minds.

*************

Barnette was busy as usual in the galley, she had just kept her skills in Dread combat up to speed with the latest combat programs made by Parfet's engineering crews in the Dread simulators for the Dread pilots, but for her she had two things to worry about…

The first and foremost was the meal she was cooking for her new bunk mate for the next few weeks, and a man no less. Max loved her cooking and she liked his when they were cooking side by side in the kitchen. Max had recently gone to the Vanguard simulator room to keep his skills in check. He did so by being tutored by his former instructor Aleck, both of them were also tutored by resident Gundam pilot and trainer Kyo. The young mad DID pilot a Gundam so who better to learn the tricks and methods? She smiled a bit as she decided to put some time into learning how to pilot the Gundam she had used before. Kyo was willing and downloaded the design specs for her to create her virtual SwitchBlade an train alongside the men. She had now become the only female Gundam pilot apart from Dita, Meia, and Jura.

The second thing was the fact that she would have to sooner change gears with her war machines. She loved her Dread, but she grew more affectionate for her SwitchBlade Gundam. The weapon had a lot of advantages and despite her lack of official Gundam training she had great potential as a Mobile Suit operator, she was told so by all the men, Kyo, Duero, Aleck, Bart, and most of all Max. The younger McFile even said she is one wingman…or wing-woman in her case he would be more than happy to work with. She didn't like leaving her Dread, so she decided to reserve her Gundam for emergencies…though she admitted that flying the Gundam was a new feeling for her no matter how long or short it was for her to pilot the machine.

Barnette then put that aside as she got the food on the tray and placed on a roller for her to take to Max since they had agreed to eat in the Bio-Park, it almost felt like a date! She giggled a bit at the thought and smiled as she pushed the tray to where she would meet up with Max.

Speaking of whom…

Max sighed as he finally got out of the Vanguard simulator, along with Kyo. The two were very busy with their work as the younger McFile patched up the rest of his skills in piloting his Gundam unit. They had passed another level five mission with multiple opponents and various factors that would influence the success or failure of a mission.

“Ahh…that was tough!” The younger man said as he shook hands with Kyo.

“Don't go relaxing yet Max, the fights in real life are much harder than any computer simulation.”

“I know…I still need to work on it, using a Gundam was like nothing I ever tried back in the Academy back home…our Vanguards are seriously outmatched by those machines.” He said as he thought about the factors that separated the Vanguards of his world to the Gundams.

“Hey…never forget this piece of advice from me. No matter how powerful a Mobile Suit is, it's nothing but a paper-weight without the pilot. I-Freedom is deadly, no doubts there, but you have to be in the cockpit to use your Mobile Suit's power, and so do I when the need comes to it. No matter what, you are the one that brings out the real power of your machine, not the other way around. Okay?” The young Coordinator said as the two walked back to where the evaluation room, the same room used to judge Jura, Meia, Dita, and Barnette when they had to learn how to pilot Vanguards in that mission nearly a year ago.

“So, how did we do Gunny?” Max asked his former instructor.

The elder male merely shrugged. “Not too bad…but to be serious Max, you're zero-gravity combat skills have been rusty as hell. I recommend you get back into gear and back up to speed with your piloting in deep space. Kyo here's got no problems adapting to ground and space operations, so he gets the brownie points from me. First chance we guys get, we're moving out to space for some training exercises. I'm still having rust in my joints for missing space warfare for nearly a year…”

“You and me both.” Max said as he checked his skill rank in the evaluation screen, his skills in zero-gravity Vanguard combat were beyond the average as was his sibling's back in Vanguard school, but he had been stuck on planetary surface combat for so long he forgot what it was like to fight in deep space…no wonder he was rusty today.

“You guys can fight with me and the girls when we get back out for another training exercise…we've got one now after lunch, and another at least a day away from today…that might help, I was also planning to ask Barnette and Duero to get involved since they are also piloting Gundams though only as support, knowing the need for you and your brother to be here in Med Bay, and Barnette not quitting from being Dread squadron leader ever since she got the position due to Meia now piloting a Gundam.”

Both men nodded in agreement, and Max snapped his fingers and turned to leave. “I got to get going, Barnette's asked to eat outside with her in the Bio-Park. I'll see you guys later.”

The two men watched as their comrade left them. Kyo and gave a grin as he looked at Max.

“Never thought I'd see the day Barnette would be smitten with a man. This will probably be one heck of a loop for the other pirates back at their base to see.”

“Try imagining the reactions OUR people would have if they saw Max being that close to a woman. Same with Duero, being so close to that female engineer of ours, and even Bart certainly changed from the first time I saw him when he was still the reluctant recruit. I wonder at times what would have been the result of they didn't meet the women!” Aleck chuckled, and then became serious.

“But that's also what worries me a great deal. Duero, Max, Bart, and even I…we are among the only men to know the truth about women you know. The Government back home will do anything to change our views and make us denounce what we've learned to keep the war on between men and women. I won't be surprised if we are taken as prisoners or traitors or both…and...”

“Don't worry…If I have too, I'll break into Talark to rescue you guys.” Kyo said with conviction to the elder male…he and Aleck were becoming good friends and it was evident to many that Kyo and Aleck learned a lot from each other, and so did the other men from Kyo.

Aleck smiled. “I wager you would lad…I doubt even the finest pilots and machines of my world could come even a hundred light years to the kind of power that Gundam of yours has…along with those fighting skills you've got. If you were ever born on Talark…you'd have more recognition and respect than the whole Talark military and even might rival the First Generation, and that's a lot coming from a man of Talark.”

“But it would be better that you try to find other ways to free us if that ever happens, despite the power you've got with that Gundam, the idea of you risking your neck for us is…taking it way too far. Not to mention it would make convincing the Talark Government even harder if you look like a…'brain-washed' traitor to them.”

Both men nodded in agreement with the idea…but for now they decided to talk about other matters.

“Heard you've decided to act as Gasco's escort in her supply runs for the Dreads and Vanguards....How do you find Gascogne, Aleck?”

“Are you implying something I should be aware of?” Aleck asked with a suspicious look at the Gundam pilot, but this look had no malice in it, merely amusement at the question being thrown at him.

“Not really, you two are working like a charm in the Register, I saw that and many of the girls see it too. They're actually rather interested about how you two are getting along.”

“Heh…sorry kid, but that's my business and Gascogne's. See you around, got to do some field work with my GUiAZ model.”

The elder male then went out to where the rest of the Vanguards were being stored, and naturally left Kyo alone to think about the current situations, for humanity, for the crew, and for himself.

The crew had changed a great deal, he had seen it, they were now more understanding of the men, there were less stories of negative interpretations about the male crew, and they certainly have changed when it came to treating the men with respect.

Bart was acknowledged as the valued part of the crew and the bald navigator reciprocated by improving his experience with the navigation of the Nirvana and becoming the master of using the Nirvana's plasma cannon batteries in every engagement. He still had some of his older nature, but he was more mature and stronger than he was before, and he didn't plan on ever going back to the way he was. His friendship with Shirley made him stronger, and the respect and understanding given to him by the crew certainly had results as he worked hard and did his absolute best when on duty.

Duero had gained more recognition and respect due to his medical skills and doctor's nature when it came to treating patients. Many of the crew wished that the medical officers of Megele were more like Duero. Paiway certainly had improved and had gotten past some of her dislike for the bloodier aspects of medicine since becoming a student to the elder McFile and his younger sibling, also an accomplished medic. The younger nurse was happy for the time and training being given and the way people thanked her for her quickly improving medical treatment certainly helped a great deal to her desire to be a great nurse. Duero also became a close friend to Parfet and Kyo knew for a fact that soon they would be a serious couple…if they learned more about the physical aspects of a relationship.

Aleck certainly got recognized as he became part of the Crusader Squadron and even the Register. His friendship with Gascogne was a welcome sight, and both he, Aleck, and Gascogne would be playing card games with one another like a three-way betting game. Kyo admitted his losing streak with Gasco improved a lot and his losing streak with Aleck was getting longer, but he didn't mind. The two were like siblings to the younger Coordinator. He knew that something was growing between Gascogne and Aleck and he didn't mind it…he found it rather nice actually. Aleck's field experience with Vanguards and Vanguard tactics made it easier for him to work with Mai and Sara, Kyo had thought that there would be friction between the two female leaders and the Vanguard pilot veteran, but Aleck said that the ladies were far better pilots than most men, and he liked that.

Max was welcomed very much as both he and Duero were the best skilled medical personnel on the ship. With them teaching Paiway…it wasn't going to be long before she would be a very talented nurse. Max also was welcomed as a member of the Nirvana for his medical skills, his still growing understanding of women, and his open-mindedness. Plus his relationship with Barnette was something of great discussion and speculation among the crew…just like his elder brother's relationship with the spunky head engineer of the ship.

Speaking of whom, he wondered what Parfet and Duero were up to today…

*************

In the Engineering Bay…

Parfet was very busy with her computer, running several more computer models for testing. She had a lot to do and consider…and that included their current situation and the previous ones.

The Dreads of her home-planet were very advanced compared to the Vanguards of the men of Talark, but had several key weaknesses. The first and the most painfully obvious was the fact that once stripped of missiles and depleted of charges for beam weapons they were nothing but high speed hunks of metal and parts. The battles with the Harvesters had been slowly but surely depleted the pirates' supply of munitions for the Dreads, plus they were defenceless when they were out of ammunition and would be easy to attack.

The second was their over-reliance on ranged fire-power. The Harvesters' introduction of the Urchin Ship previously all those months ago had brought to light how the Dreads' vaunted range ability would be defeated. The facts were that now many of the Harvesters' latest Gundam models were armed with Phase Shift Armour, which while vulnerable to beam fire, was unbreakable when missiles were used by the pirates to attack them, and even if they were able to lock onto a Gundam it's abilities in speed, offence and defence made them deadlier than ever. They could also match a Dread in ranged combat and were lethal as any weapon when used properly and effectively.

The third was the fact that they were never designed for close combat OR restricted battle-field situations. Dreads needed room to move and navigate and when hit in their Dead Zone, or the areas where their weapons had little to no effectiveness…they were severely restricted in fighting back and the Harvesters had already proven that with the introduction of their own Gundam series. The Gundams were deadly in all their fields, though the Devastator was designed solely for long range battles, it had far more fire-power than a full Dread Squadron. The Gundams of the Earth were lethal in any battle-field situation, either at long range or close range.

The best strategy was to use the Dreads and Vanguards in conjunction with each other to off-set the weaknesses of the Dreads. But the Vanguards too had their own weak-points.

The first was that they were not designed to fight effectively at ranged warfare. The Vanguards were not well designed for long range combat since they used disposable missile pods and beam weapons that were limited in power and adaptability. The Dreads had several advantages in that regard, and one of that was they could have their power plants as the batteries for their beam weapons so they needed only recharge regularly. Vanguards didn't have the power plant output needed to run both the Vanguard AND any beam based arsenals. The power requirements were too high and power output was not adequate. The Vanguards also relied on missile pods, having no in-built hard points for a stock of their own missiles, though that would be hit and make them vulnerable. The Vanguards were not being labelled as worthless in ranged combat, but were not designed for it and the mechanics involved.

The second was the fact they didn't have the speed of the Dreads, they had to have speed in order to get in and out of the battle-field, and thankfully they were now armed with jet packs to boost their speed and manoeuvrability. But Parfet knew that the jet packs were not permanent solutions to the speed and agility factors of the Vanguards…they would have to be naturally faster and more agile. Dreads have the advantage as a mobile strike unit, though in close quarters they were ill-equipped for such a degree of combat. Vanguards had to move fast in order to mass assault a force, but that would leave them very vulnerable to attacks when out in the field. In the asteroid battle, the vanguards had a higher kill ratio than the Dreads due to their smaller size and ability to move in such a restrictive environment. But in open battle-fields and rapid movements, they needed support and speed.

The third was their weaponry…while armed with deadly default melee tools, they were ill-equipped to handle the battles with opponents who could fight in ranged warfare. The melee weapons were also determined to be worthless against the Earth Gundam series' Phase Shift Armour, making the idea of the Vanguards coming close to matching a Gundam impossible with their current arsenals. They would have to wield weapons that could break through even tougher armour and even defeat or damage Phase Shift Armour. She even thought that the Vanguards would be even more effective if they wielded beam weaponry…namely weapons like beam sabers or energy weapons made for melee combat…the natural specialty of the Vanguards.

To that end Parfet believed that with proper study the Vanguards would be given weaponry that could equal the arsenals of the Harvesters, in that respect, she decided that a complete overhaul of the Vanguard models were in order, the chassis, the armour, the power plant, the electronics…everything.

But the Nirvana didn't have all the resources for that amount and kind of changes. As far as records go…the Nirvana's Ikazuchi section had at least three to four companies worth of Vanguards, and though they were many…a large number were reduced ever since the Harvesters had intensified their attacks and improved their arsenals. She and her engineering crew had been able to replicate the Harvester Seed Ship's ability to create Cube Fighters by the use of nano-machines in colonies known as nano-factories. These colonies of tiny assembly robots could work in unison to create parts and components and for assembly of said components and parts…allowing the creation of many Cube Fighters. But sadly they couldn't retrofit and modify all the Vanguards here, plus they needed some test bed models to have Parfet's ideas come to life.

She already had some ideas on the modification of the Vanguards into more effective combat models apart from better power plants, systems, armour and basic weaponry.

From Barnette's SwitchBlade Gundam she developed an idea on how to make a Vanguard/Dread hybrid capable or rapid deployment and quick assault in both either Vanguard and Dread configuration forms.

The second would incorporate the featured weaponry of both Max's Templar Gundam and Kyo's Infinite-Freedom Gundam. The weapon systems in question would be the HiMAT system and the associated ability to lock on all the weapons at one or multiple targets instantly. This would give the Vanguard models with the feature the needed edge in overcoming the vast fire power and numbers of the Harvesters. Though getting the full functionality of the Infinite-Freedom Gundam's arsenals was not possible due to Kyo's security, she had a good idea how to start and Max's Templar Gundam had the same systems and wasn't as complicated as that of the I-Freedom.

And the third for would allow the Vanguards to carry combat packs similar to Duero's Morpheous Gundam. The Form Packs gave the Morpheous the ability to be able to fight in any combat environment with the proper Form Pack. She had designed several Form pack designs that could equal them, and when used could give the Vanguards a serious tactical edge when utilized properly in the right situation.

Parfet knew that such advancements would take time and the Nirvana didn't have the right equipment and facilities to make all these radical changes so for now these designs were still on the drawing board. But running the test simulations showed that it had some promise and the only way to test them out was to design real test models to see how they would perform in real time combat. But for now she would have to take a break.

She sighed a bit and drank some of her tea, letting the warm liquid make it's way through her system and finishing it. She missed having the chance for some down time…due to her working a lot. But these models were now becoming the best choice in giving the pirates another edge when fighting the Harvesters. If there was one thing the Harvesters were good at…it was making new weapons in a short time…due to plundering material resources from conquered planets after gutting the worlds of human beings.

She pushed the thoughts aside and activated the security lock on her console and went to visit a certain young man who was also working today. She smiled a bit as she un-braided her hair and left Chief in charge of the Engineering Bay for a while. She wanted to see if there was anything Duero needed fixed in the Medical Bay, plus being close to him was something she enjoyed immensely…now that she had him for a room-mate. She blushed a bit at the thoughts she was having.

Speaking of the young man…

Duero sighed as he ran the latest physical check-up data of the whole Nirvana crew. The doctor had to do these periodical checks for all the crews…but as he finished he brought up a set of files that seriously interested him from the others.

And these records belonged to the four Gundam pilots of the Nirvana who piloted the Nirvana's Paeksis enhanced Gundams…Dita Liebely, Meia Gisborn, Jura Basil Elden, and Kyo himself. There was a great mystery in the four that tickled the Talark physician's mind in many ways…

The first was they sudden spikes in physical and mental abilities the girls would release when Kyo was in danger. In the past travels with Kyo, the girls didn't exhibit these reactions…not that they didn't feel concerned when Kyo was in grave danger…this had been proven when they seemed very concerned for Kyo's safety. But in recent months, they underwent powerful leaps in ability whenever they saw Kyo in danger…and even when in the desert world, no matter wherever Kyo was from them…they could somehow have a brief but powerful link with the Nirvana Gundam pilot.

The second was the fact that their genes had undergone certain changes to have the ability to spike up their mental and physical abilities whenever Kyo was in danger. He had run tests and noted that Kyo original DNA sequencing was the template that allowed these changes. The SEED ability that Kyo had was the trigger that allowed Kyo to push his already powerful piloting skills to go over the roof and pull off amazing physical feats that no ordinary pilot could ever accomplish, even with exceptional training and equipment. The genes of the girls had been affected by the Paeksis as well as Kyo's so the doctor theorized that when the event that sent them and the pirates to where they started their journey back home had happened. The girls had been exposed to energy that allowed Kyo's gene information to somehow be grafted into their natural DNA.

Combining those two theories led Duero to believe that as time passed, the three Dread pilots' DNA had been evolving due to the energy emissions when they formed the GunDreads with Kyo's Gundam…this continued until they had reached the point where they too could use SEED mode as Kyo did…this would be the reason that they could fight in the same parameters as Kyo could.

The third and the most puzzling was the question on the second theory. How did Kyo have these abilities? That was the underlying question the Talark medic had ever since meeting the Gundam pilot.

His abilities even when not in SEED mode was astonishing. He could learn faster than any Talark youth, could withstand infections, he had increased memory capacity, had higher physical abilities and skills, had exceptional constitution, and most of all…his SEED mode that made him nearly unstoppable in his Gundam. No one with now existing exception of Dita, Jura, and Meia could come even close to matching him…with the recorded exceptions of Kouji and Maia Asuka from Delta 6. So the doctor went into the Ikazuchi's data-archives and ran some records and found the details surrounding the genetically enhanced race of human beings…the Coordinators.

The doctor began to suspect that Kyo could be…a Coordinator. But such an idea was hard to even piece together. Coordinators only existed during the wars between the space population and the residents of Earth nearly four hundred and twenty years ago. Ever since the signing of a full peace accord after the Second Battle at Jachim Due and the inter-marriages of both Coordinators and Naturals, such individuals had no longer been found, their traits having been re-absorbed into humanity's gene pool. So technically, he and the rest of the male and female crew had the same traits of Coordinators along with Naturals, since both sides were now their collective ancestors, and that would mean that Kouji and Maia had the Coordinator genes in them, which would explain their own abilities. But Kyo's abilities were exactly the same as that of those recorded from Coordinators and then some since these were pure traits, no sign of Natural traits.

But what stumped Duero in this sense was that Kyo in the past records of his check-ups had NO signs of him being born through any cloning process, there were no tell-tale signs of his genes being artificially combined…but they were naturally combined…meaning that Kyo was a Coordinator who was born in the way Naturals did in the past. In the womb of the female parent with his genes being that of his mother and father… In retrospect…that would mean Kyo was a Natural born pure-blood Coordinator…which would explain his amazing gifts if he really was one.

In that sense it was impossible…Coordinators were in danger of becoming sterile in the Third Generation, and that would have meant that if Kyo's parents WERE Coordinators and they didn't find the cure during the end of the War between, then it would have been near impossible for him to be born. The cure had allowed that to happen according to the records after the war…but those marriages and unions were soon to fade to the fact that the Coordinators still used artificial wombs to have Coordinator children and the fact was that the technology faded as both Naturals and Coordinators inter-married to give rise to the ancestors of ALL the current human colonists in space.

This made Duero stumped as his research into the soon to be out of control genetic instability on both Talark and Megele. But this one was a serious matter. He didn't suspect Kyo was a spy…far from it. The young male had been fighting all his life with the Harvesters ever since joining them, and he died once against them. IF Kyo was indeed a spy like Rabat then he was a VERY talented one but he had no memory of his past and he certainly had no love for the former Earth inhabitants. Plus the Harvesters always made a concerted effort to eliminate the young man with the creation of Gundam Units to kill him along with massive assaults of all their forces to wipe him out. So there was more to Kyo than he had thought all those months before, and that made Duero very anxious to learn what he could and help his close friend patch up his past to find the answers to his own mysteries.

Duero decided to put more research on this theory later…for now he had to expect an incoming guest…namely his bunk-mate for the next few weeks. He and Parfet were working more often, side by side and he felt some of his nervousness beginning to fade when in the presence of the spunky head engineer. Kyo had told him many times to relax and take his time to know Parfet more, and not in a professional sense, but in a personal sense and he would be nearby to answer any questions he would have on it…though the Gundam pilot was still adamant on not talking about the rest of the process of natural procreation. He didn't mind Duero thinking about it, but reminded him that such a thing WAS very emotional and until he was ready for it, he should not attempt it.

The door chimed and in walked Parfet, wearing her glasses and had her hair out of her braid once more.

“Hi Duero…” She said in a friendly and demure fashion.

“Hello Parfet.”

The two went to work as Duero helped the engineer to fix some bugs in the computers in the Medical Bay.

********

Elsewhere…in the Bio-Park

“Mmm, this is really nice Barnette.” Max said as he tasted the fruit salad the green-haired pilot had made. He had also been taking lessons from her about cooking and she admitted that while he wasn't as good as some of the others, he certainly was a fast learner.

“Thanks, by the way…how's your training for zero-gravity combat?” The Dread pilot asked her bunk-mate as the two ate and watched the artificial lake glitter from the lights from outside.

Max sighed a bit. “It's been a while since I got back into space combat so it's not easy right now. But I certainly will get back into it soon. I might work with Kyo and the other Gundam pilots to re-sharpen my skills in space warfare. But I guess I need to get back at it.”

Barnette nodded in agreement and wondered about something.

“Does that mean you won't be working in the Medical Bay with your brother?”

“No, I just need to make sure that my skills haven't been lost in zero-gravity warfare when the need comes for me to go into combat. A Talark man, regardless of rank or position has to be able to fight at a moment's notice. The sad thing in that regard is than only our leaders don't fight in the front lines with the exception of field officers.”

Max thought about it a bit more and decided to ask. “Tell me something Barnette, why don't you practice your skills with the SwitchBlade Gundam with us the next time? I saw your skills with the Vanguard on records and when you used your Gundam on the desert world…you have some serious abilities with a Gundam…in fact any Mobile Suit.”

Barnette blushed a bit and scratched her head a bit. “Well, I wasn't that good when I first piloted a Vanguard, and I didn't like them at all at first. Plus I've been flying my Dread for most of my career so I'm not all that ready to go completely into piloting a Mobile Suit, if it is a Vanguard or a Gundam.”

Max nodded. “You weren't the only one. Many of the crew of the Emerald Dawn didn't want to pilot any of them since they thought they were ugly and were made by us men. The others of my group were close to forgetting the whole alliance thing when the women became too stubborn…so I understand the reluctance. I'm not saying you give up being a Dread pilot…”

“…but I believe you'd be even stronger too as a Gundam pilot. When you have the time, then join us, if only to keep those skills you learned back on the desert world up.”

Barnette thought about it and nodded.

“It'll be hard since I'm also the leader of the Dread pilots ever since Meia, Dita, and Jura are now working exclusively with Kyo as Gundam pilots…but why not, so long as you're there.”

The two close friends continued to eat and speak about things. Max spoke about his life as a youth along with his brother on Talark, while Barnette spoke about her life on Megele and the day she joined the pirates.

********

Elsewhere…

The region of space was silent and still…but that wasn't to last as a band of Harvester ships move through the void of space…apparently on a pursuit course and tracking an unknown signal through the region.

Unknown to them…a stealth drone was watching them all…recording their movements and reporting back to an unknown band of soldiers.

“Lieutenant…we're tracking a Harvester pursuit force through drone 65…there's a large number of them.” A female reported to her commanding officer. She was wearing a full combat uniform and helmet showing the fact she was with the military.

“Understood…all right people…we move out and keep those automated bastards from finding the fleets. We're going to give them all one hell of a spanking.”

The group moved out and got ready for battle near a small meteor field, which was located in the area of a small group of planetoids. The group were piloting Mobile Suit units that resembled the Morpheous Gundam, but they had set armaments unlike the Gundam piloted by Duero McFile.

The units were sleek and designed to operate in space thanks to special thrusters built for space combat. They were armed with beam rifles, several grenades on an easy to reach storage pack, a beam saber on the right thigh, and a collapsible all purpose shield on the left arm. They all had the same colour scheme of light red, white, and grey…with the exception of their Lieutenant…who's model was decked in deep red, grey and black. All of them had a symbol on their units…a system of planets connected by a glowing thread with a shield on the back with three swords on the shield's own back…one on top and the others on the two diagonal sides. (*)

The large group gets ready to set up the ambush, while some of them monitor the progress of the Harvester forces.

*************

Back at the Nirvana…

“Hmmm…so that's how it's done?” Bart Garsus asked some of the cafeteria staff as they cook their food. In his hands was a note-pad with a large amount of written information.

“Yeah…you have make sure the temperature is right so the meat is well cooked and the flavour and juices are heated and retained. The result is the meat dish known as roasted beef and fried chicken.” The cook replied as she worked on her new dishes to feed the crew this day.

“Okay…”

Bart went on to write the information and look at the other dishes being made and went to smell the ones that were already done.

“Hey Bart! What are you doing here?” Kyo called out as he came into the kitchen, after taking off his uniform and switched to normal clothes, he then reached into a locker and took out his apron as he approached the young male.

“Hey Kyo, just wondering how food is cooked by the women.”

Kyo cocked an eye-brow at this remark. “Why the sudden interest in female cooking methods? It doesn't seem to fit you for some reason.”

“Ha ha. It's just an idea I want to try out so I'm gathering information on it.” The bald navigator replied as he walked up to the Gundam pilot. “Why are you here?”

“Simple… I'm cooking break-fast for the girls in my Squadron. After the early morning training session with Max I have to be here to cook for them since it's my day to do so anyway.”

Bart's face lit up and he checked out his note-pad and showed it to Kyo. “Do you think I got the data right?”

“Let me see…” Kyo said as he looked at the note pad. In it were various recipes he quickly recognized, the list of ingredients were there as well, along with instructions on how to cook them…along with whatever techniques could be used to make the food in question more appealing to the taster. He even saw some of his own and Barnette's recipes in the list.

He quirked a bit and looked at Bart who waited patiently for his approval.

He then handed back the note-pad and gave a curious look at the Talark youth. “Yeah you got all of it right. So care to tell me why the sudden interest in cooking food in the way women do?”

Bart began fidgeting and tried to speak properly, making Kyo began to smirk at the look, but he remained objective and asked once more.

“Easy Bart, I'm not going to laugh at you if you don't want to tell me.”

Bart shook his head however and spoke. “No, it's just…well I had this idea a few weeks before on the food pills I have with me…along with the pills we still have in stock on the ship.”

“Oh? What about them?”

“Well…I know a lot of the girls here on the ship keep on wondering on how me, Aleck, Max and Duero could survive on them. I never told you about myself that much did I?”

“Yeah, you never did, so what's your deal? I mean the first time I saw you…you certainly didn't look like a soldier. And well….”

“I know…I was a coward, and always being boastful. But I guess being the son of the founders of the only food producing corporation on Talark can do that to anybody.”

“You're serious? You're family makes ALL the pills on Talark?” Kyo asked the young man as they sat down in the galley.

“Yeah, you see…Talark's not that abundant in good soil nutrients and water's not easy to have.”

“True…go on.”

“Well…my family were the ones who came up with the idea of condensed nutrients in pill form. It wasn't all that appealing since nutrients and other essential items for human consumption and health actually don't have taste, but it certainly beat wasting valuable time and energy. I mean on Talark, cooking any of the creatures we could catch was dangerous out in the wilds with predators around and losing too many men. And catching animals for breeding purposes is out of the loop too since they could kill us, plus our technology isn't made for stuff like that. Plus growing any fruits, grains or vegetables certainly isn't possible with limited water so the pill form food idea certainly applies to us. I know they look and taste disgusting to a lot of people, but those saved many lives back home…so no matter what people say about food pills. I'm proud to be part of the family that makes them.” Bart said with pride as he held his pill ration case.

Kyo nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that, I was on Talark for a few months and I did eat the pills, being a guy who ate cooked food I can understand why others would look down on them. But it certainly shows results. You guys rank high in work efficiency to me, and those pills have a lot of advantages, they can be carried in larger quantities, easy to store, need to preparation, and they last for years and don't rot. Plus they certainly came in handy back on Delta 6, before we left that Mission, a lot of Liz's companions didn't mind your pills' taste and welcomed it…they now have enough food for at least nearly twenty or more years. The children can be fed, and so can the adults…regardless of tastes they certainly will be happy with them.”

Kyo mused a bit as he recalled Liz at one point before departure wanting to leave a letter to who made the pills they had now. Speaking of which… he picked through his clothes and found the letter…he had been so busy as of late he didn't hand Bart the letter previously.

“They even gave a letter for me to hand to you.”

“Really?” Bart said as he looked at the letter, and he began to read:

*************

Letter contents:

Hello Sir,

If you are reading this letter, then my name is Elizabeth, and I am the leader of the Delta 6 Mission. As you know from Kyo, many of the residents here in Delta 6 were nearly out of hope before the Nirvana ever came here.

Normally I'm not really a formal person…and I'm not really the official leader of the people, but with things as they are, I can't complain. Lack of water, room, privacy, supplies, medicine, power, lighting, air…and everything else were the least of our worries…everyone here in Delta 6 have lost homes, loved ones, and lives, all because of the Harvesters. We only had the fights to keep us sane and stable until the Nirvana came along. I made a deal with Kyo to the Captain to take as much of the pill rations as we can in exchange for our own rations. We barely have enough food to feed only three hundred people for a few months…and every so often we receive survivors from worlds gutted by the Harvesters…so our situation…for the lack of more civilized words…is like living in hell.

These pills might be disgusting to the women in your ship…but to everyone here in Delta 6, they save lives, with all these rations, we have enough to feed our current residents and those we will be expecting until we can get fresh supplies or when we have the chance…leave and find a new place to call home. They may have no taste…and I can tell you that not everyone was happy…but they all agree that at least with three square meals a day…things are getting better for us.

I want to personally thank you and those who made those pills. They saved many lives here in Delta 6, and with the station's systems being fully repaired and more supplies coming in…we can finally breathe easy for once after months being in the dark, always afraid, and nearly becoming mad with grief. The pills may not be completely enough…but they will be helpful to us all here in Delta 6 for many years to come until we can make new lives in this galaxy again.

Good luck to you and may the Gods bless your journey home…

Elizabeth

*************

Bart held the letter and smiled with pride. Kyo noted that and gave Bart a pat on the shoulders.

“I was afraid nobody took me seriously back in the academy back on Talark you know Kyo.” He said with a sigh as he looked at his pill case.

“I mean, I wasn't fit as a pilot or ground trooper, didn't have knowledge outside of the techniques of manufacturing pills. And most the guys I know would whisper that I was nothing but some rich kid who's Alpha and Omega had connections. I know that guys with connections had the talent to be soldiers or pilots. But I didn't have those skills or talents. I did it to appease my fathers, and I knew that I'd be nothing more than baggage to people who had to work.”

“I can imagine that…”

“But I guess I'm not baggage anymore, am I?” Bart replied as he smiled as he recalled all that he had accomplished for the past many months.

Kyo knew the direction Bart was going and nodded “You see? You did great being who you are. You may not be a real soldier…but you certainly have a place in this world.” Kyo replied

“Thanks…so this is the reason I want to record all the kinds of food made by women while I'm here on the ship so when I get back home…I can make an important change to the pills my family make.”

“Oh? What kind of change?”

“The most obvious… that being the taste of the pills. I know that a lot of people hate the taste of those pills so why not make them taste like what they are said to taste like?”

“You mean like real food? Meat, fruits, vegetables, grains, the whole thing?”

“Yeah, I know they have different colours, but why not give them different tastes? I mean the red pills that are supposed to be cherries, why not MAKE them taste like REAL cherries? Or pills that are supposed to be like cooked beef be made to TASTE like REAL cooked beef? You get what I mean?”

Kyo thought about it and ran the idea in his head. The pills may not win anything in the taste departments, but they win others in many ways; storage, functionality, preservation and even consumption. But if they tasted like REAL food items combining with their various pluses?

He began to smile at the idea as he ran it over and over again in his head. The food pills could be stored for years, need no preparation, could be carried in large quantities, last for years, their vast nutrient, vitamins, and body mineral amounts made them valuable in practical situations, and then…make them taste like real food…the results WERE interesting!

“I do get it…THAT is a great idea…though it will take time and a lot of work.”

Bart nodded as he ran the data on his note-pad once more. “Yeah, no denying the hard work there…but the idea will do wonders for the people back home…and if ever things work out between my world and the women's world…this could make things a load easier.”

Kyo nodded in agreement. In that moment a batch of new arrivals came in the cafeteria. They were the girls in Kyo's Crusader Squadron, Sara and Mai were in the lead, talking about the latest combat exercises and new ideas on Vanguard formations. And the group was followed by another smaller trio.

Dita Liebely, Meia Gisborn, and Jura Basil Elden were nearby, talking with one another on many things. Having been regulated by Magno and BC to work directly under him after the debacle with the Harvesters that resulted in their Dreads being converted into Gundams by the Paeksis…Kyo was now responsible for their training, along with their other Gundam pilots, namely Max, Duero, and Barnette. And that naturally meant that he was their new teacher, and commanding officer.

All the incoming girls smiled as they spotted their commander in the kitchen and made their way to him…along with the three female Gundam pilots.

Bart and Kyo looked at them and the Gundam pilot nodded as he got up.

“Well Bart, I guess we can talk later, I've got people to serve break-fast, why don't you talk it over with the other guys? I'm sure they might offer more opinions on it. You've already sold me so try talking to them too and get their opinions?”

Bart nodded with the wisdom of Kyo's suggestion. “Thanks! I'll do that!”

Kyo smirked as the navigator went out of the kitchen with his plans. He then got ready as he and the rest of the cafeteria staff got ready as the Dread squadron pilots, and the rest of the crew came in for break-fast.

*************

Later…

Kyo sighed as he wiped his hands and then took out his tray of food. His meal today consisted of scrambled eggs with soft melted cream cheese, bacon, hash browns, and some steamed potato slices with sweet gravy sauce…along with some hot coffee and water. As he moved into the table he was quickly but gently accosted by none other than a certain redhead.

“Please come sit with me Mr. Alien!”

He could do nothing for today as he had to balance his tray without spilling the contents of the tray on the floor. He noted that Dita got some jealous glares from many of the other females in the cafeteria, and that made him very nervous as he sat down with Dita beside him and glomping on tightly to him.

As they sat down, several others came over to them with their own trays of food. Namely a certain blonde, blue-haired woman, a deep copper haired one, and a stunning brunette…all of whom were smiling at Kyo, but were not entirely happy with Dita being very close to him.

“Hey Kyo.” Jura said as she sat next to him, while Meia sat right in front of him, while Mai and Sara were on either side of Meia.

“Hi….how are you all doing?” Kyo said nervously as he began to eat.

“We've been okay…how about you?” Meia asked as she gazed at the object of her own growing affections. She didn't like the idea that Kyo was still staying with Dita for the next few days, but soon he would have to move. And then…

“I'm fine…just had been in a discussion with Bart before you all arrived.”

“So Dita…did ANYTHING happen between you AND Kyo we should know about?” Jura asked pointedly at Dita. She knew that the redhead was too innocent when something intimate was discussed, but she knew also that the same innocence would have a way of attracting Kyo. That was true since the time he had been in the bathing area of the Nirvana, and on the occasions she had been with Kyo, when he looked at them. She just wanted to know if anything had happened, since she wasn't comfortable with sharing Kyo to anybody.

The same question was in the minds of the other girls, they hoped nothing did happen between the redhead and the young Gundam pilot.

But, the old saying goes: ANYTHING can happen.

“Yeah, I was able to have a good night's sleep with Kyo being very close to me.” Dita replied cheerfully. “Especially with the new clothes I tried!”

“Really?” All four other girls asked pointedly as they looked at Kyo.

Kyo felt embarrassment and shock run into his system as he suddenly had the urge to wish he was out on patrol with his Gundam.

*************

Later…

Kyo sighed as he was in the Hanger…working on his I-Freedom Gundam. He was able to get past that stage without too much embarrassment. The incident certainly made things even harder for him in a totally new fashion when dealing with Dita.

Who knew wearing a new set of clothes would be very interesting?!

*************

Flashback…

Kyo was busy brushing his teeth in the rest room a few minutes away from Dita's room. He managed to convince the redhead that certain things that men have to do were NOT to be seen by women, having recalled the time she had walked in on him all those months before. Dita wanted to be close to him, but she didn't forget how embarrassed Kyo was back then and agreed.

The one thing that bothered him right now was the fact that Dita had a new package in her hands when he was walking with her on the way to her room this night. Not that he was worried, but for some reason he couldn't help but wonder just what the innocent woman had in mind for the contents of the package since she was rather giddy for some reason, normally such a thing was normal for the young innocent woman, but for tonight she seemed more excited than usual.

He put that aside and placed back in his tooth-brush and decked himself in only a thin but non-see through white night-shirt and shorts. He still wasn't used to the intimate setting between him and Dita, but he reasoned that for now, Dita didn't try anything serious on him.

Boy was he wrong!

As soon as he stepped into the redhead's room he found out just what was in the package Dita was carrying.

“You like it Mr. Alien?” Dita asked demurely as she twiddled her fingers with a light blush on her cheeks.

Kyo on the other hand was struck dumb…as if he had been hit by a two by four on the head.

Dita was wearing not her pyjamas…but a night dress!

It wasn't anything fancy or down-right sexy, but was close enough! The thing was short and covered only the middle portion of Dita's long legs with frilly edges on the lower areas. The night dress was pure white and it also hugged her frame though was a bit loose, allowing it to be easily removed by either the wearer or the one who was going to remove it FOR the wearer as it covered her lithe and slender frame, along with her breasts as the straps were thin allowing Kyo to see her smooth shoulders and the rest of her upper form as the dress hugged her well. (**)

Dita was only one thing tonight….HOT.

“Uh….yeah, you….ah…look…beautiful.” Kyo could only stutter as his brain now split into two parts, one was naturally his male hormones and the other was his moral side.

Both were saying two very different things. The hormonal side was saying get it on, while the moral side was saying not to take advantage of Dita in such a state.

Dita walked up to him and gave him a pleading look. “Do I really look beautiful?” The redhead came closer to Kyo who beginning to back away as she came closer. He hit the wall with a soft thud as Dita came closer.

“I'm not lying Dita. You look beautiful.”

Dita cheered and hugged Kyo…making him aware through the thin shirt he wore that Dita ONLY wore the night dress. His body began to react even faster than he could imagine…thankfully Dita didn't press any further and released him from her hug and spun slowly around, unaware what this was doing to Kyo's self control.

“Shall we go to sleep now Mr. Alien?”

“Uh…yeah, why not.”

He was able to finally control himself, but only barely as seeing Dita in the night-dress certainly was playing merry hell on his composure, though a good portion of his male instincts certainly weren't complaining. But he DID have one burning question in his mind.

“Uh Dita…exactly WHERE did you get that…uh….dress?”

“I got it when I was still on Megele, it was one of the things I got when I was with the pirates for the first time as a gift from my fahma. I thought I could try it out for tonight, but since I never wore them before, I didn't know if anybody liked them. But you like them Mr. Alien, so I'll wear it for you until you move out.”

Kyo felt a sweat-drop flow down his head. If Dita considered wearing that night dress….then who knew how long he could restrain himself in the redhead's presence?!

As he lay down, he wished he had some chance to control himself as Dita once more hugged him in her sleep, but this time, he could fell ALL of her curves since the night dress was white silk and allowed him to feel her body when she snuggled closer. Dita sighed happily with an innocent but very sensual tone as she felt the sleekness of the night dress's fabric, along with Kyo's hard and warm male form.

*************

End of Flashback…

Thankfully for him, he was able to restrain himself, but there were times that he was close to losing his self control whenever Dita would be in that night dress. He shuddered at how close he came to…well losing himself many times. But he didn't plan on doing anything except controlling himself so as to not frighten the redhead.

Dita was an innocent and he had no idea what would have been the outcome if he did the same things with her that he did with Jura…he didn't even want to know…though considering her innocent nature, Dita might actually like it…

<God…one of these days I seriously have got to do something about my hormones before I regret it!>

He then focused on his work since he had to go out on patrol, and sure enough…

“Hi Mr. Alien!” Dita called out as she arrived in her new uniform and carried her helmet. The redhead walked over to him, hugged naturally kissed him, but not on the cheek like before when he began to stay in her room, but on the lips…

This naturally grated on the nerves of both Meia and Jura and that was evident when they glared at the redhead. But they gave up the glare and made plans of their own involving Kyo once he was with them in their respective rooms.

Kyo saw that and groaned…

*************

The ambush forces…

“Ready sir…”

“All right then…wait for them to be in the kill-zone…”

As the Harvesters came ever closer, their ambushers watched through their scanners the exact location to ensure that they could be tracked into the kill-zone, they had to make sure that none of the enemy could escape.

The pilots of the Mobile Suits also downloaded the emergency deletion program into their machines' data-base dealing with coordinates. If they were captured by the Harvesters, they would make sure that the coordinates of their other allies and people would be denied…plus they could activate their self-destruct systems to ensure that the Harvesters would never take them to be harvested like vegetables or live-stock.

“Sir…they are in position!”

“All right! Spring the trap!”

The trap comprised of fake meteors that exploded outwards and fired high explosive impact rounds that tore apart many of the Cube Fighters from the initial blast, which was followed by small EMP bombs that exploded and disabled many of the Harvester forces due to the damage in their systems.

The leader of the ambush forces however knew that they won't be out cold for long and with that, he led his strike team into the fight. One group stuck to beam rifle and expanded shield, while the others used beam saber and expanded shield as the Harvesters recovered from the shock and the battle was underway.

The leader gave only one thought…his world had suffered grievously from the Harvester invasion and though most of his family were safe…he had lost one of his children to these bastards…and when he learned that a trader named Rabat was the one responsible for leading the Harvesters…he made it his personal mission to hunt him down and kill him if he ever caught him.

*************

The same sentiment was with all members of the strike team…many of them had lost loved ones in this war with the Harvesters and nothing would make them happier than to find the traitor and put him on trial themselves and then they would kill him. But as they engaged the enemy they were left to wonder why there was no word about the space-faring parasite.

*************

In another part of space…

A torn and broken Harvester Seed Ship floated in the vast expanse of space, it appeared to have been struck by a major storm of damage to all of it's outer systems and was now nothing more than a floating hulk in space…the surface was scarred and pitted from extreme damage and yet the ship remained functional.

Inside it was a sole human being…that is if what he suffered would label him AS human.

Rabat floated in a suspension tank filled with preservation liquid. Apparently his luck held and the Seed Ship had been hit by a solar flare from a nearby star and had been too badly damaged to work and it had been bombarded by meteorites. The ship's hull held but most of the systems had been badly damaged and it was too far away to effect repairs.

Rabat wished he was dead…he would not be human now by most standards…what did you expect after he was subjected to what he had subjected nearly millions of men, women, children, young and old to?

He had lost most of his left arm above the elbow, his right leg had been removed…leaving only a stump. Several of his ribs had been surgically removed and he now had one lung…a half of his liver removed, his large and small intestines had been reduced in length, half of his central nervous system had been removed …and even his…well, you guys get the idea. He was now nothing more than a living carcass.

Utan had been lucky in a sense, she wasn't human so she was quickly terminated by the Harvesters and dumped into space…to Rabat who watched his partner killed and dumped into space she was lucky as she died quietly before being sent out into space to implode…for him, the process was worse.

He now had an idea of the kind of pain and torment the people he had sold out to the Harvesters had gone through, he wasn't there before to see the process…and now he had seen and experienced it first hand.

As if to torture him even more he had been logged into the data archives of this Harvester ship…which was also logged into the daily Harvester records of all of their gatherings of human organs…and naturally this included their faces, and their screams of pity, mercy, and fear...and Rabat saw and heard everything…and it kept on since this along with the support systems were still functional and that allowed him to be alive and aware as the videos played.

He heard every scream of agony, and terror as the victims he had sold out to the Harvesters begged for their lives they were being cut apart with no mercy, just like he was being cut up before the storm hit the ship, he heard their screams, the screams of men, women, and children…the same he screamed as he was also being harvested. He saw the pain etched on their faces as the pain was etched on his. They were nearly endless in their torment and it nearly drove the former Harvester mercenary mad as their myriads of voices and faces filled his mind.

How he wanted to scream for them to stop, but he couldn't since if he did he would be mirroring them and he realized that he didn't deserve to even beg for his life now. He had seen them in death and he was the one who condemned ALL of them to this gruesome death.

He also heard the voices of all those who found out he was a Harvester spy…how their words of anger, rage and venom filled his ears…He saw Kyo's face and heard Kyo's voice in his mind only calling him one thing…

“Traitor!!!”

As Kyo's face and voice filled his ears and eyes….many others filled the void…Liz, Patch, and the others of Delta 6, they swirled around him in an unending stream. Then Web's face…his former associates…and their voices shouted at him, their faces condemning him.

“You sold us out!!!”

“MY FAMILY IS DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!!!”

“MY SON!!! GIVE ME BACK MY SON!!!!”

“MOMMY!!! GIVE ME BACK MY MOMMY!!!”

“YOU SOLD MY WORLD TO THEM!!! YOU BASTARD!!!”

“YOU KILLED MY FATHER!!! YOUR MASTERS KILLED HIM!!! GIVE HIM BACK!!!”

“HOW COULD YOU?!?!”

“MY WORLD'S BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS!!!”

“YOU FILTHY TRAITOR!!!”

“MURDERER!!!!”

“YOU KILLED MY WHOLE FAMILY!!! HOW DARE YOU?!?!”

All that mingled with the screams and faces of the Harvester victims he saw in the archives, the voices and faces filled his mind…until his own conscience came into his mind, also speaking…and only said one thing.

“Traitor.”

His conscience's voice joined those other voices as the faces surrounded him along with their faces. He couldn't shut them out no matter how hard he tried…he couldn't close his eyes and wish them away since if he did they would still haunt his mind, screaming at him in hatred, rage, grief, sorrow, pain…all of it done by him.

Though nobody could hear him and his voice couldn't break through his prison…Rabat gave a mighty scream of agony that filled his cell and even the whole ship as it drifted away…

As the ship floated on…one could swear that inside the hulk came…the sounds of sobbing as inside of his suspension capsule… Rabat began to tremble in pain and…regret.

*************

Kyo and the other Gundam pilots were now on routine patrol, with Duero taking his Morpheous Gundam in for a flight using the Aero Form Pack, along with Aleck in his GUiAZ, and Max in his Templar Gundam.

Next to them was a small wing of Dreads led by Barnette who for this mission took out her SwitchBlade Gundam and she was happy that her Gundam in Mobile Armour mode was also designed for this kind of combat environment, though she did have to update the OS to handle the environmental changes as it was still using the desert warfare settings. The Dread pilots were surprised that Barnette was piloting a Gundam and not her Dread, but they had to admit it moved well in space.

Barnette sighed as she put her Gundam through it's paces and smiled as it still responded well to her while she piloted it and didn't mind as she flew in the lead of the Dreads while flying close to the rest of the recon unit. Though they had the Harvester battle-ship with it's Mirage Colloid, they needed to keep it relatively intact in order to be used as evidence of the Harvesters' existence.

Meia, Dita and Jura were all in their Gundams while Kyo's was in the lead with both beam rifles drawn for ready use in combat. They were at least in sight range of the Harvester ship and the Nirvana so they could help both if they encountered a large Harvester force.

*************

Back with the strike team…

“Sir! It's getting out hand!!!” One of the pilots reported as they all had to move back. Though their forces had taken the upper hand, the Harvesters had gotten wiser in their tactics and had hidden another force nearby and now they were the ones being ambushed.

The leader saw another one of his soldiers fall to a combined attack as his Mobile Suit was mangled by the Harvesters and was covered by Cube Fighters, but the pilot had self-detonated his Mobile Suit than allow himself to be captured and harvested and the leader picked up from a covert signal that the pilot had activated the auto-deletion program in his OS to ensure that the Harvesters never find the rest of the assembled fleet and the rest of the resistance.

But that certainly didn't mean that he will watch more good people under his command die…even if it meant breaking article 7 of the new combat protocol…he began to type up a message and then sends it through a special old colonization day transponder code and prayed that he made the right decision. The rest of the unit holds on as they begin to retreat and fight back at the same time.

*************

Elsewhere…

Belvedere and the rest of the crew were taking some time to stretch a bit when they suddenly picked up a faint signal being transmitted to them via the transmitters of the Harvester battle-ship. The ship had far greater scanner range than they did, explaining how the Harvesters were able to maintain an edge over most of the resistance and to their forces, plus it's archives on the various human worlds certainly helped in identifying any potential allies.

“Captain! I'm picking up a faint but very focused message on the old colony frequency.”

Magno and BC were busy talking with each other when they heard that message from Belvedere. They knew that it might be the same as when they found Misty's space capsule a few months before, it could mean more information and potential allies. And this could also be a trap like the Harvesters left from the previous mission and the first Vanguard mission from a few months further back.

They thought over the possibilities and decided to hear it out.

“Play it on audio and video on all comm. frequencies.” The older woman ordered.

The monitors showed a man in the pilot's uniform speaking in a slightly accented tongue but spoke old Earth language so the crew had no problem hearing it out.

“This…Lieu…ega…request imme….support….Under…rvester…attack on…these….oordinates….repeat…his…tenant… ;Osmond…Ve…”

The transmission then changed into an image of the sector of the universe that they were near to. They would take an hour to get to those coordinates, but the pirates had to choose. If it is other humans then an alliance will happen…but if it was a trap then it would be inviting disaster even with their new weapon.

“Run the data-archives of the Nirvana and the Harvester database and see if you can find any bit of information on who this message came from and what planet are they from?” BC asked the bridge crew.

“Roger!”

Celtic, Belvedere, Amarone and Ezra went to work on identifying the people, culture, and the planet where the transmission came from. If they could identify it they would have a chance.

“Found it Captain!” Amarone said as she ran in the data archives from their ship's own colonial records and that of the Harvester ship's own data archives and then came up with a star system similar to Earth's own and there were five habitable planets connected by a glowing thread and on their back was a certain shield with three swords behind them in a pattern.

“I don't recognize that pattern.”

The same words were echoed by the rest of the crew, along with the Gundam pilots…all except one.

“I know that symbol…we've got to get over there! I'll go ahead and help while the rest follow my lead…we need to help them!” Kyo said with certainty as he came in contact with the crew.

“Do you know who they are Kyo?” Magno asked along with Buzam.

“They are the ones who built the Morpheous and the SwitchBlade Gundams. They were also from a planetary system I ran into before I came to Talark and Megele. They are people from the Taisian Planetary Alliance.”

*************

The battle between the Taisian ambush forces and the Harvesters was getting more and more heated as the Harvesters kept on coming. The Taisians were fighting their best and the number of destroyed Harvester units was a testament to that drive…but they had been out numbered and a few of them fell in combat.

Lieutenant Osmond Terrance Vega, leader of the squad knew that they were now not going to survive this encounter and he would never see his family again, he however planned not to die like a coward in the straw as he took out a Cube Fighter with his Mobile Suit and another with his beam saber.

But as more and more Cube Fighters were closing in on the handful of Taisian troops, the automated units suddenly stopped and turned…which cost them their mechanical lives.

As a massive tsunami of beam fire came out of nowhere and destroyed an entire cloud of them.

The Taisians were shocked by this turn of events and more so their leader. It appeared that they were going to be saved after all. The Lieutenant zoomed in with his scanners and tried to locate the source of the beam fire as the Cube Fighters suddenly streaked away from them all.

“Where did those blasts come from?!”

“Sir! I'm picking up a transponder signal coming from where the blasts came from…it's a Mobile Suit…but the power ratings are enormous!” A pilot reported as she scanned the incoming Mobile Suit.

“Any idea what kind of Mobile Suit it is?”

“No sir…”

“Sir! It's coming into visual…my God! Sir you are not going to believe this!!!” Another pilot reported as he was in the front and his Mobile Suit had better scanners, being a scout model.

Osmond looked at the incoming feed and gasped in awe and wonder as the Mobile Suit came into view…

The Mobile Suit was red, white, and blue. It was armed with beam sabers, a pair of beam rifles, four crystal feathered wings and looked so familiar to all of them. They all had heard of only one Mobile Suit that matched the description…a Gundam and more than that…the Gundam that scored near to impossible victories with just as powerful allies against the Harvester menace…

“The Infinite-Freedom Gundam!!!”

The tide just turned in favour of the resistance…

*************

The Gundam drew both beam rifles as it was surrounded by many Cube Fighters and blasted even more of the fighters into nothing but burning wreckage. The Mobile Suit then locked back it's rifles and took out one of it's anti-ship swords and dodged several salvos from more Cube Fighters and with a few passes, left behind burning hulks of the Earth built machines and with one blow after dodging a spear thrust of metallic explosive tendrils from on e Seed Ship, slashed the machine into nothing but an exploding hulk of metal as the Gundam took out it's other anti-ship sword and combined them into single sword form and cut down even more Cube Fighters.

Kyo then activated his Gundam's HiMAT systems, reformed his anti-ship swords and then took out both beam rifles and made high speed passes at the Harvesters and reduced even more to scrap, doing aerial maneuvers that would have been only possible in a superior pilot of talent, experience, and skill…and Kyo was gifted in all three categories.

The Gundam flipped upside down extending both beam rifles, along with plasma and rail-gun cannons and blasted a squadron of incoming Cube Fighters, it then jetted around more Cube Fighters and placed aside it's rifles and took out it's beam sabers. It streaked into several groups of Cube Fighters and when it flew out more enemy units were destroyed and it jetted back as more Cube Fighters attacked.

Kyo summoned his SEED mode and with a quick command from him, the crystal feathers broke free and then they became metallic and then in a second the beam cannons fired a massive barrage of light along with the plasma cannons, beam rifles and rail-guns.

The result was that hordes of Cube Fighters and some Seed Ships were totally blown to bits. In just a few seconds, the once over-whelming numbers of Cube Fighters were now reduced to small pockets of fighters.

*************

The Taisians were in awe…one Mobile Suit was able to do all that in a few seconds…

Lieutenant Osmond Vega was the most awed of all. He had heard stories about how this lone Gundam had scored many victories alongside a band of female pirates and male allies. They had destroyed a battle-ship, and ever more forces…and if he heard it right, that Gundam took on more of the Harvesters' forces and even took out a battle-ship!

The soldiers immediately rallied alongside the Gundam along with their leader.

*************

Kyo got into contact with the leader of the Taisian forces via comm.-link and he still recalled the codes used by this group of people in his last travels before arriving in Talark and Megele space nearly a year ago…thank god the codes still worked.

“This is Kyo, pilot of the Infinite-Freedom Gundam and of the pirate ship Nirvana…Identify yourselves!”

He then got a call from the lead pilot.

“This is Lieutenant Osmond Terrance Vega, call-sign `War Chief' of the Taisian Planetary Alliance Military…Identify yourself!”

“I'll be a blind man…is that you Osso?”

Osmond only knew of one guy he met a year before who called him that, and it was a voice he though he would never hear from again. And it sounded like a god-send…

“Kyo… you high flying wild card! It is you!!!”

Both friends finally saw each other on data-feed on video. And Osmond was awed and amazed to see an old friend. So was Kyo… who had a smile on his face.

“Osso, you crazy devil of a maniac!!! What the heck are you doing all the way out here?!”

“No time to explain good buddy, we've got work to do…incoming Harvester units on five!!!”

Kyo nodded. “Get your people ready to move on me…we're heading for the Nirvana ASAP!!!”

The Taisian Mobile Suits followed their commander in a formation beside the I-Freedom and began to fight their way past the net of Harvester units. The Cube Fighters were now getting larger and they had to move fast before they were boxed in…

Help however arrived as several more members of the Nirvana crew came into the fight.

“Come on you Harvesters! Here I come!”

Jura said as her Crimson Edge Gundam came into the fight with both anti-ship swords crashing into the mess of Cube Fighters. The Harvesters had banded together to try and cut off all the escape routes that Jura's swings and slashes hit many targets without the need for fineness and accuracy from the blonde Gundam pilot.

Several groups of Cube Fighters were cut apart by the anti-ship swords as the crimson Gundam streaked into the battle with blades drawn, the enemy fighters fired back but their weapons were worthless as the shields of the blonde's Gundam sent them back with interest. And when they were able to evade her blows, the Gundam used it's ranged guns to shred them to bits.

The Cube Fighters came in to attack her from behind but were blasted by a salvo of beam blots and they looked up to suddenly being annihilated by one massive beam that melted them to slag and ripped them apart.

“Take that you bad aliens!”

Dita called out as she came in and moved her Gundam to defend Jura from behind with her combined beam rifles in their beam cannon formation. The redhead had been taking her lessons to heart as several groups of Cube Fighters were blown to bits by her shots, though she hadn't totally improved her accuracy, the real life battle-field training was giving her a chance to test her skills to the fullest.

She then switched her beam cannon back to beam rifle mode and she used both and her energy shields to defend herself and Jura from retaliation strikes. They were doing all right for now. She took her time and used her weapons well and effectively.

The Cube Fighters were about to break away from their attack formations to lessen the risk of being shot by the slowly but surely advancing redhead markswoman but they were about to find out that they were far from safe as several more Gundams came into the scene.

Meia was in the lead as she locked in her Gundam and in a moment activated the beam energy field generators that coated her Gundam and boosted it's speed as she slammed into the Cube Fighters like a meteor. More were wrecked by the streaking Gundam and those that were able to escape barely were badly damaged by the energy waves that followed the Gundam.

Meia then moved out and brought her Gundam into a dive as she drew out her beam katanas in each hand and slashed several more Cube Fighters. Her Gundam was designed for speed combat, just like her Dread was before being reformatted into what it was now so she took advantage of that fact and the results were better, due to her attendance to Kyo's lessons.

Her Gundam jetted about and slashed even more Cube Fighters until she sheathed one of the beam weapons and activated her left fore-arm collapsible shield as she defended herself from retaliatory strikes.

All three girls and their Paeksis powered Gundams made a bee-line to Kyo's Gundam and now all three were protecting the Taisian military commando unit…and the sight of these four war machines made the Harvesters pause and the human pilots cheer.

*************

Osmond T, Vega was in awe as he gazed at his old friend's Gundam, though it looked far more powerful than the last time they had seen it under Kyo's command, a year ago it wasn't like an angel, now it looked like it's angel mode was the symbol of salvation for the resistance once he told his old friend of the situation.

“Captain…those are Gundams…”

“No kidding there son…hey Kyo, those are friends of yours?” The squadron leader asked Kyo.

Kyo merely replied via audio. “Yeah, but the rest are coming now.”

Osmond watched as a new Gundam…similar to Kyo's Gundam appeared and was followed by several fast moving fighters, and two others…both he had some trouble recognizing at first until one came closer to his visual scanners.

“The SwitchBlade?!” And he was even more surprised to spot another Gundam appear that was very familiar to him. “The Morpheous?!”

*************

The Harvesters realized that they were now stuck between the Nirvana's Gundam units, several Dreads, more Vanguards that were coming and the Taisians…and since they were filled with various combat protocols…they had no choice but to follow only one course of action.

Retreat…

But they didn't get far as another beam storm came after them…actually three beam storms. One from Kyo's Gundam, the other from the three former Dread pilots…and the last from the now approaching Nirvana.

The fight was over…

*************

The crew of the Nirvana gathered and waited for their crew members to arrive along with the new human arrivals. The new Mobile Suits were placed in spare paddocks and the pilots all began to filter out. The Taisians came out in pairs, both men and women…all of them looked tired from the mission and most of all came their leader.

Osmond Terrance Vega had tanned skin, similar to that of Duero, Max, and Aleck and had brown hair in braids, almost looking similar to Amarone Slatheav, and he looked older, much around the age line between Aleck and Duero. Kyo had no problem with that and reached his friend.

Both pilots shook hands and greeted each other with a hug and then a pat to the shoulder.

“Of all the places I thought I would run into you again…this is the least of all.” Kyo said as he smiled.

Osmond nodded in agreement. “The last time I saw you was when you were having a fare-well duel with Admiral Halverson in his SF-75 Ghost Hawk. You were amazing then, and you certainly haven't lost your edge old friend.”

“How is the Admiral?” Kyo asked.

Osmond sighed. “He's been fighting to keep the whole TPA from cracking like an egg, ever since being promoted to Grand Admiral and De facto president of the TPA. Ever since that Harvester invasion, we've all been trying to get a lot done but still no luck.”

They stopped their conversation as the Captain and the Commander came in. Magno greeted Osmond and his team of pilots.

“Hello there…I am Captain Magno Vivian of the Nirvana.”

Buzam also took over after the Captain gave her name. “I am Buzam A Calessa, Commander of the Nirvana.”

Osmond nodded and he and the rest of his squad all saluted the two senior female officers.

“I am Lieutenant Osmond Terrance Vega of the Taisian Planetary Alliance Special Warfare Division 34th Platoon. Pleasure to meet you all ma'am!”

The two older women smiled at the crisp military precision of the Taisian soldiers. Magno sighed a bit and spoke. “It's been a while since I saw any new faces on this ship and from the way you and Kyo greeted each other take it you've already met before Kyo became part of the crew. Am I right?”

“Yes Captain Magno. I met Kyo when he was still drifting through the cosmos nearly a year ago. We've been friends while he was a guest in my home system before he left and apparently found his way here with you and your crew.”

“Please young one…call me Magno, I have never been part of a formal military structure in my home-planet, so there's no need to be so formal with me…plus I think you can relax here.”

Osmond grinned a bit. “Very well Miss Magno. If that is okay with you, you can call me Osmond, or Osso, All my friends do…”

“Very well Osso…you've dealt with the Harvesters?” Magno asked, though she knew that they did, judging by the fighting, she had to be sure for the sake of natural protection.

“Yes Magno, we have been at war for nearly a year ago with them ever since they invaded our sector and our solar system. And we aren't the only ones either.” Osmond replied with a fierce tone, and the Nirvana crew saw the same reaction of anger and disgust from the rest of Osso's team-mates. They knew and understood the anger there and had no problem connecting with the Taisian pilots.

Kyo then looked at his old friend and gave a suggestion. “You've been the first human being we've encountered who dealt with the Harvesters…what's the situation so far with the rest of the Human worlds?”

The others realized that this would be a very important meeting concerning the Harvester threat and the current standing of the human colonial worlds from the Harvester Armada's assaults.

Osso nodded. “I'll tell you all I can friend, the Resistance has been looking for you all for some time now.”

*************

In the Conference room…

Osmond was the only Taisian there while the rest were with the crew, namely with the engineers of Parfet's group to effect repairs on their machines after the brutal fighting and rescue of the group by the Nirvana pirates.

Buzam offered Osmond a data disk which contained all the relevant data regarding current Harvester operations from the salvaged ship that Kyo had disabled and they ha taken as evidence. When the Taisians learned that the Nirvana pirate group had battled with a large combined Harvester Fleet and won, they were further in awe of the small but resourceful band of pirates and their male allies.

Osmond read the data and nodded grimly.

“This is the very same situation we are in right now.” Osso said as he pointed out several worlds and sectors in red and blue.

“The Harvesters have been fighting all the harder to get to the other sectors where human worlds are located, but we've made contingency plans and protocols to make sure our allied worlds don't fall…not like ours did.”

He began to tell them about what happened to the Taisian people when they were attacked by the Harvesters and their people being massacred and used as parts by the former humans from Earth.

“They took out several outer-lying colonies first. They gutted those worlds and did it so silently that when we found out about them, they had already secured an outer foot-hold on our system. It was nearly a few months after you left Kyo that we were hit. We fought with all we had, but we were not able to beat them since we had no early warning and we were too complacent in out duties and we paid dearly for it. All my people paid dearly for it. The first planet to fall was Taisia 7, and the whole planet where many of my people go for vacations and a good source of food was wiped out in less than three days. That was when we fought back…but that came to nothing…by the time we could mount a full offensive, they had gutted Taisia 6, Taisia 3, and Taisia 5…and they glassed the rest of the planets that were not inhabited and stripped them of all our natural resources…and we had no choice but to use our world cruisers and ships left to go into space as wanderers. Our whole civilization was rendered homeless and weakened.”

“A…at first we all thought you led them, but when we gained the data concerning that bastard trader Rabat, we ran our data files and found out that he had visited every planet in our system, he had bought, stolen, and black-mailed a lot of our businessmen and various companies for food, fuel, parts, and munitions. A few days after he left…the Harvester invasion began. Out of the military leadership only Admiral Halverson who was promoted Grand Admiral, Rear Admiral Felix, and a few others were the ones who led our people. ”

“We began to make it our life's work to warn others and form a resistance to the Harvesters…we didn't have much luck until Rabat was discovered and his identity as a Harvester spy was revealed. Combining that with our data of the Harvesters…we got aid immediately and formed the force we naturally called the Resistance. We've formed this force to combat and suppress the Harvesters' advance to other solar systems for nearly a year now, and so far we've done well with many plans and patterns.”

He then outlined what methods the Resistance had used to disrupt and fool the Harvester Armada for the past months and the outcomes of each engagement.

“But we don't have the kind of numbers they have, if we have good pilots and we lose them, we have to rely on cadets who we will lose many before we find better ones, the Harvesters can just program their Cube Fighters with new and deadlier abilities and better weapons…it's a losing battle in that regard. But we're not giving up.”

The pirates nodded, they too wouldn't give up even if the Harvesters had numbers and weapons on their sides. Magno then recalled that the Taisians were the ones who developed two of their new Gundams that didn't run with Paeksis energy…and those were piloted by Barnette, and Duero.

“Tell me something Osso…did your people build the Morpheous and the SwitchBlade Gundams?”

“Yes.”

“Why? According to what Kyo told us about your people, you never designed Mobile Suits…let alone G-Weapons. Why the sudden change and the creation of those Mobile Suits of yours, they are very impressive, in ways better than the Vanguards we have here.”

Aleck nodded. He was a Vanguard pilot, but had studied the Mobile Suits piloted by Max, Duero, Barnette, and Kyo's…along with Dita, Meia, and Jura's Gundams. He had recorded them in their entirety and admitted that compared to them and the new Mobile Suits he had seen…Talark would need to over-haul all their weapons to be far more effective against the weaponry of the Harvesters should they be attacked by the former human beings and their auto-mated fleets.

Osmond then gave a sheepish look.

“Well…our people had records and data schematics of various Mobile Suits, but some were out-dated and many of us believed that Mobile Suits were a thing of the past so we kept them in data storage. That is until Kyo came to our world and proved us wrong…he took on our entire Elite Divisions and even took on a few of our Admirals to prove that Mobile Suits were more than a match for interceptors or Mobile Armour. And he won…” Osmond laughed at the memories.

Kyo nodded as he recalled his time among the Taisian military. Many of the Taisians laughed at him the first time he had come there a year ago. They thought that the Freedom Gundam would not be a good match against the newest weapons and machines of the future so when he was there he had to deal with many of the military looking at him in jeering looks and amusement. He had gotten annoyed and then laid out a challenge to their best pilots to have a non-lethal match with him in their best fighters and him in the Freedom Gundam.

Magno and Buzam looked at Kyo with raised eye-brows at the thought of him taking on an entire system's military. That made Kyo look very sheepish as well as he nodded, showing that what Osso was saying was true.

“I was still very much, ah…on my own then so I wasn't keen on being laughed at.” Kyo offered lamely.

“I think I don't need to ask that.” Magno replied with a smile. “So in short you had Mobile Suit design plans but it took Kyo and his Gundam challenging your best pilots and officers to prove the effectiveness of Mobile Suits in warfare?”

Osmond nodded. “We decided to incorporate Mobile Suits a few days after Kyo left our system. We uncovered the old plans which included the creation of our own version of the Freedom Gundam's Phase Shift Armour System, not the Prominence Version, so we created the Polaris Phase Shift Armour System and the two Gundams a few months later…but they were lost when the Harvesters came and invaded our system, the R&D ship where they were stored in was sent through a random hyper-jump coordinate sector…we didn't have time to download their design specifications so if we lost the newly made prototypes and their weaponry specifications so we had no chance to make new ones if they were destroyed. We then stuck to creating Mobile Suits from what we have left from the design networks…how did you all get them?”

“That is a very long story.” Kyo said as he spoke about the time when the Nirvana had been caught in a Harvester trap and their escape. Duero and Aleck then spoke about the fate of the R&D ship's crew who died to prevent anyone to find the two Gundams which were fully built.

Osmond nodded grimly as he heard about the deaths of the R&D crew that died to ensure that the Gundams didn't fall in the hands of the Harvesters. He didn't even want to fathom what would have been the result if they did. He was happy that the Gundams found their way into more than capable and welcome hands. He then noted that the young engineer named Parfet was raising her hand.

“Yes?”

Parfet then asked if they had manufacturing facilities to make their Mobile Suits. The Taisian nodded and explained that every world cruiser had fully maintained operational manufacturing plants with assembly yards. He also explained that the plants and yards were very efficient in producing both Mobile Armour and Mobile Suits so they had weapons and supplies at the ready.

“Why do you ask?”

Parfet then spoke. “I've been gathering a lot of combat data from all the battles we've been in for nearly a year and I've made some design blue-prints based on the SwitchBlade, Morpheous, and Templar Gundams. I was hoping to upgrade and modify the Vanguards we have here and make them more effective in combat using some of the blue-prints. Unfortunately we don't have the facilities to make such changes so the plans are still in storage.”

Osmond thought about it and agreed.

“I think we can do that, once we meet up with one of our world cruisers, I can speak to the commanding officer and get permission from the Grand Admiral to effect the upgrades and use of our facilities. There happens to be an abandoned Mission nearby where we can gain supplies and gear if we need it. The place was left behind when the people who lived there moved. The place will also allow me and the rest of my crew to try and locate the rest of the fleet that we came from and is part of the Resistance.”

Magno and the others nodded. They will need the extra supplies in order to keep the ship in working order. And contacting other humans to forge more alliances would be more than needed in this war of such importance.

*************

They were not the only ones however who were busy…

The weapons analysts of the Harvesters watched the 3D model of their latest weapon move well and respond well to the handed commands by their maker as it went into combat in a virtual environment. The new model was similar to the Cube Fighter in many ways, but was naturally different due to it taking a less compartmentalized look to a more humanoid form.

The facts were that they relied on the Cube Fighters' ability to overwhelm their enemies through sheer numbers, and their upgrades gave them all a serious advantage when in their formations. The next was the fact that they had a basic frame-work design and were meant to easy to replace should loses be incurred in combat. But now things were different…

The Cube Fighters relied on their inhuman shapes and forms to first intimidate their foes and that had worked in the initial stages of the Harvest operation. Their method of deployment was also intentionally made to give the impression of an alien horde…and that worked perfectly. But not with the Nirvana, they had expected the defeat of the Nirvana in the gas giant nearly a year ago with their fleet and their first Dominion Gundam model.

They were wrong…they had expected a resolution, but they lost an entire fleet and their first Gundam model to the Freedom Gundam and the pirates. They had made a fatal flaw that had now come back to haunt them.

The failed mission of capturing Misty Cornwell, the survivor who later revealed all their true natures was another fatal flaw, along with the arrival of the Infinite Freedom Gundam, it nearly seemed that no matter what they had done in order to resolve this war, it had come to nothing.

The human worlds had now formed a powerful resistance to their plans, their fleets, were being wasted dry by false coordinates, ambushes, viral programs, and battles that resulted on more and more losses, the humans were now more tightly organized and they also no longer had data coming from Rabat as the traitor had made the mistake of exposing himself and allowing the Nirvana to disseminate the information out to the human public about the true face of their supposed alien enemy.

The Cube Fighters were not to totally phased out to their cheapness and quick to be rebuilt ability in the past, but in order to finally stand toe to toe with the forces of the now rebuilding resistance, new machines were to be produced.

And two new models seemed to show considerable promise.

The technicians also studied the design specs of three other Gundam units, the Devastator, Hell-Fire, and Wyvern Gundams. All three proved the value of the Mobile Suit when they faced off with the Paeksis enhanced Dreads and disabled them and took on the Infinite Freedom Gundam and gave the pilot a serious work-out before being out-classed by the newly build and made Paeksis enhanced Gundams of the Nirvana that were born amazingly enough for the very Dreads the new Gundams had disabled.

They then ran the data profiles of the recovered machine and gathered the combat data in order to make modifications and adjustments to any core systems that needed a boost in all systems. Plus they decided to make some experiments on the Gundams models in order to make more powerful weapons…and they were the most successful test subjects the Harvesters had on hand.

The Devastator was naturally in it's element in extreme range fire-power battles and could spell doom to those foolish enough to engage it in ranged combat, though it had been equalized by the blue and green Paeksis Gundam of the Nirvana. The Devastator's only weakness was it's lack of close combat ability, relying on it's fellow Gundams the Wyvern and the Hell-Fire for close range defence, that combination had been deadly with the Infinite-Freedom due to the three Gundams complementing one another with their weaponry. But with the creation of three new Paeksis powered Gundams, that had to change when it faced off with the Gundam from the blue and green Dread that formed the heavy gunner/sword fighter GunDread in the past. They now planned to create a variant of the Devastator to even up in the close combat and defensive ability of the original model.

The Wyvern proved it's value as a weapon in many ways, it was by far the fastest of the trio and in either form was light, but deadly, its weapons in either form were designed to combine both beam and ballistic weaponry effectively as a mobile platform. Working in conjunction with the other Gundams proved the skill of the machine, but it lacked an even larger array of weaponry that would equalize against better armed opponents, but the designers did not want it to lose the speed advantage in both modes. The Gundam itself had done well against the Infinite-Freedom, but not against the speed of the silver and grey Gundam that came from one of the Dreads that formed the GunDreads that had been a bane for a long time since the contact with the Nirvana…namely the silver dragon variant.

The Hell-Fire was born for close to medium range combat and proved it in battle with the enemy, and namely with the Infinite Freedom. The Gundam's deadly ability in close combat was boosted that it could fight at ranged warfare and can deflect the beam arsenals using the newly developed beam deflectors of the shield arms on the weapons pack. But when it fought with the Gundam made from the red Paeksis powered Dread, there were some key weak points, it's weapon had great reach, but was very vulnerable in point blank and the weapon was at times too heavy and unwieldy for that kind of close range combat so a new weapon system had to be made for that kind of close combat fighting…and they were now developing some newer ideas.

But the weapon that would truly be the defining weapon of their forces was now being given it's needed combat data and systems. Hydraulics, navigation systems, targeting sensors, weapon relays, and more were now being made to be installed into the systems as it's Paeksis power plant was nearly finished with the integration process. Once that was done, the Paeksis, totally unlike the one wielded by the Nirvana since it was blood red and emitted a negative wave pulse, began to integrate the rest of the installed systems and the process went off without any difficulty whatsoever.

*************

In the Council Chambers…

“How is the situation of the Fleets?” The Council Leader spoke to the head technician as he and the rest of the Harvester Council deliberated on their next course of action in the ongoing Harvester operations. They still had to lead their primary forces out in the vast areas of space to gain more and more organs for their people.

“The situation is somewhat stable, our fleets have begun to use covert raids to catch planets unaware and they have gained enough…organs to keep the quotas at acceptable levels.” Reported one Council members as she read the data coming in from the Fleets' last reports back to them.

“Acceptable levels?! We've gotten at least 40 percent less than the normal quotas we had in the past! The citizenry are getting more and more restless…If they had an idea on HOW bad things are now…then we'll not have a citizenry to start with in the next few years. No…the situation IS not acceptable in the very least.”

The rest of the Council were silent…even their leader knew the gravity of the statement their colleague had pointed out to them in a civil manner.

The situation has been getting worse for the Harvesters as more and more riots began to take place in their cities. Many of the lower classes, and the middle classes have been getting more and more unsatisfied with the fact that organ supplies were beginning to dwindle. The situation with the Nirvana's interference and the mounting resistance forces made their collecting quotas lower than what was optimally needed to keep their citizenry alive. The lower classes began to rise up in rebellion, and even if they were too weak, they were now being driven by desperation to attack even the higher classes for their organs…resulting in frequent and bloody riots in the streets, murders and organ thefts were becoming even more common, organ facilities were being attacked by raiders and deaths were becoming more frequent along with thefts of both organs and property.

Their droid guards had been resorting to more extreme measures, resulting in more deaths in the lower wretches, but the deaths placed a great strain in morale and confidence in the citizenry. Unless they found a way to stop the riots…then it would hardly matter if they got more organs soon, the few people that survived the Days of Despair would be wiping themselves out.

The leader nodded. “We must consider how we will be dealing with this situation. Project Re-Genesis has now reached it's final stages and will be operational in the coming weeks…a month or two at best. Until then we must make sure that our forces gain whatever organs they can as covertly as possible.”

The head technician then smiled a bit. “We have deployed `Marauder' stealth ships for that operation Master.”

The Council members and the leader listened as the head technician began to explain.

“The Marauders were special recon and covert attack ships developed to take advantage of the creation of the Mirage Colloid systems we used in some of our Fleets. They will be able to sneak up on ship radar and track their whereabouts; we can't attack a fleet so we use the Marauders to isolate manageable numbers such as pairs or in most cases, single ships. Once they have been isolated, the Marauders can systematically disable weapon networks, communication systems, and engines, that's how we have been able to keep in pace with the needed organ quotas.”

The leader then thought it over and asked. “Can the Marauders track the Nirvana?”

“Yes, but we will have to be VERY careful, somehow to the pirates found a way to track a ship even if it had been using Mirage Colloid systems, so the Marauders will have to be far away from the sensor range and net area of the ship. However, they will be able to maintain the tracking of the Nirvana, and if possible the tracking of the lost ship from the massive battle fleet we lost in trying to finally eliminate it and the Gundams.”

“The progress of my personal Gundam?” The leader asked.

“The Gundam's construction is complete and the acceptance of the Paeksis Core to the power plant, OS CPU, data links, drivers, chips, processors, neural command links and parts are going at an amazing pace. The Paeksis will complete the procedure in less than a week from, far quicker than what we had estimated possible. The next phase is to install the outer armour skin, sensors, armour for the joints, and then we need to install the weapon systems. Then the test phase will begin once the cockpit and control interface network is installed into the frame and linked with the OS and CPU…then finally we begin testing the new version of the Phase Shift system, with the Paeksis providing the changes…then we will be able to create the system to match up to the defensive power of the Prominence Phase Shift Armour System of the Infinite Freedom.”

The leader nodded as he read the data regarding his Gundam's creation. The Gundam would take more time to complete…but for now…things were getting to be ready for the final retaliation of the Harvesters.

*************

Back at the Nirvana…

The crew of the Nirvana were now getting to know the strike team from the Taisian Planetary Alliance. The group were composed of men and women so seeing men and women who were very comfortable with one another made the crew even more convinced that the plan of men and women living together was very possible, for the Taisians, it was a bit harder having sent hat the vast majority of the crew were women, though the men in the strike team were not complaining.

Many of the crew were naturally asking questions about how it was like living with men for almost all of their lives to the female members of Osmond's strike team.

Osmond himself was with Kyo as they were catching up on old times since they had last seen one another.

They talked about the happenings in the Taisian forces after he had left them and what had they been doing ever since he left the system and came to Talark…and his adventures.

“So you've been stuck with those beautiful women for nearly a year now my friend? Did you manage to finally get one of them?” Osmond asked with a smirk as Kyo blushed. He was older than Kyo biologically, being around twenty-five when thy first met.

“You are getting into something….I'd rather not talk about right now Osso.” Kyo said as he sighed a bit, the only thing he didn't like about his Taisian friend was that he was and incredible snoop on his romantic situations.

“Really? I suppose the five I see hanging around you are just friends then?”

Kyo gave a glare that made Osmond smirk with raised eye-brows. “You…managed to snare five…FIVE girls…you lucky devil you!!!”

Osmond began to laugh like hell and patted Kyo on the back, not making the Gundam pilot any more comfortable with his mature friend making fun of him.

“How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“You know what I'm talking about…how did you get them to fall for you?”

“You make it sound like I should be happy.” Kyo frowned.

“You kidding? Most if not ALL guys I know your age would cheerfully commit murder to be in that kind of situation, the blonde babe, that buxom redhead, the stunning copper haired one, the aqua-haired lady, and that brunette…damn had I known you'd be such a babe magnet…I don't even want to know what the others would do.”

Osmond then laughed a bit more and then so did Kyo, but he then stopped and sighed. “I wish it was that easy Osso, but I'm in a serious bind now.”

He then began talking to Osmond about his situations involving Meia, Dita, Jura, Sara, and Mai. The near death of Jura, and them nearly getting killed a few times trying to save him, his feelings for them, the embarrassing situations, the near elopement between him and Jura, and other situations.

Osmond smiled a bit but understood his younger friend's hesitation on the matter, this was naturally a very unique situation, though most guys the Taisian soldier knew would love to use this situation to their best advantage…Kyo wasn't like them, he didn't brag about things such as this and was too nice a guy for that, plus he knew that the women cared for him very much and he would NEVER break their trust, that was the reason he was so hesitant in taking a relationship with any of them to next level, in fear of betraying their trust, though the Captain had allowed him…he was still unsure about how he would approach the situation.

Osmond then gave him a look of understanding.

“I guess those are good reasons, but they genuinely care about you, even more so with the three Gundam pilots, you are in command of. I don't have to look over my shoulder to see that they care more about you than they let on…or know about, though that blonde named Jura would certainly know about it since she's the closest to you right now. And yeah, it is hard when you feel like you're a trophy, but I doubt they look at you like that.”

“Yeah…I know. But still…”

“Listen Kyo…relationships are not meant to be easy, when I was newly married to Fiona, she was not very happy that I still did my duties as a soldier and pilot, she even thought I might have had an affair outside of our marriage so a small part of my time was to assure her that I never did, and I don't, she is my wife after all, not to mention that she wants me to never take dangerous missions if I might get killed, I know I put her through a lot, but she understands it, though that hardly stops her from worrying. In your case, I can see how this is troubling you, if it was only one woman, then that's okay, but more than one…well, that's not easy. But I know that sooner or later you will have to tell them how you feel. The Captain is right you know, you can't keep the feelings bottled up forever, or else they will just get even harder to bear with in later times.”

Kyo nodded. “Thanks…by the way…where's your son Francis…I hardly saw him.”

Osmond gave a sad look. “He was killed on Taisia Prime when the Harvesters invaded our system.”

Kyo gave a look of sorrow and pity. “I'm sorry Osso.”

“I know…Lena, and Darrel are fine though, and they are with Fiona to help her. Fiona's tougher than she looks, but even she was saddened by Francis' death. She's in the world cruiser `Sun fire' along with the rest of the escort forces. I will do my best to make it back and avenge our eldest son's death.”

Osmond then gave a dark glare as he looked out into space. “I'm going to make that Rabat bastard pay for his callous betrayal of all the people on this universe someday…I know that killing him will never bring my son and all the others he helped be destroyed by the Harvesters…but it certainly will make us feel better that he's no longer able to betray other worlds.”

Kyo nodded in agreement.

For now they talked even more concerning the plan to reach the nearby Mission to get extra supplies and equipment, not to mention take a break from all the constant fighting. Fighting for a long time tended to drain the spirits of soldiers and that was the last thing any soldier needed. That along with other factors would be a hazard that any seasoned officer wanted to avoid if at all possible.

*************

In space…

Harvester Marauder ship XCSS-14 was busy in it's current mission of tracking the Nirvana through space. It had been assigned to keep track of the Nirvana, it normally would have already struck the ship, but due to the pirates being now able to track ships even with Mirage Colloid systems so the ship stayed out of the ship's sensor range and in the back-ground as to use the full effect of the Mirage Colloid systems without tripping the sensor grids of the pirates.

The Marauder would only attack if given the order, but one ship was hardly enough to equalize against the Nirvana's fire-power and weaponry, not mention it's Dreads, Vanguards and Gundams.

*************

The Mission station looked to be in a far better state than Mission Delta 6, so it was a bit of a worry as to why it was abandoned, until the Taisians explained that the people left it after they had been evacuated due to an incoming solar storm, thus all of the key systems had to be shut down and the station was left adrift and eventually forgotten by it's former inhabitants. They had found it that way and left it alone since they had a mission to do.

Osmond and Kyo went ahead in their respective Mobile Suits to scout ahead while the rest were nearby, Kyo knew enough about the Harvesters that they'd jump at the chance to ambush and take him out so he placed himself in the firing line.

After a few minutes of recon, the two determined that they were no Harvester units in the area, and gave the go ahead. Parfet who was in Gascogne's shuttle along with a small but effective security detail, including the Taisians and a part of the Nirvana's security unit boarded the station after transmitting an override code made by the head engineer herself for situations such as this one. The code was made after they had traded information with Delta 6 and found the standard override codes for each Mission, but the code Parfet made also had the program to reactivate the main power and operational systems of the station.

As soon as the shuttle docked, being escorted by several Vanguards, the team made their way through facility, Aleck and Gascogne along with them, when they reached one of the command centres of the station, the head engineer locked her laptop into a nearby access port and typed in the code. In a few minutes, the station came online as power was restored to all systems.

Parfet then took a scanner and tested the atmosphere of the station and found it to be now breathable and motioned for them all to do the same.

The mission was like a small to medium sized city in space and the supplies here would be helpful.

Parfet got into contact with the Nirvana and began to power up the docking systems. Bart replied an affirmative, and began the docking procedure, having trained for this sort of thing after being able to dock the Nirvana with Delta 6 previously.

They were now in the business of salvaging what they could and moving on, while the Taisians began to locate their mother fleets, but had to be VERY careful not to flash the location of the rest of the Taisian fleets from being found by the Harvesters.

Their captured Harvester ship had also released more Cube Fighters that were now flying the colours and signals of the pirates and the ship stayed out of sight through it's own Mirage Colloid systems and acted as rear guard of the pirate forces. The converted Harvester forces were more numerous and were easy enough to replace like they were in the time they flew the colours of their Harvester creators so they now gave the pirates a serious numbers advantage for now as Cube Fighters flew with both Vanguards and Dreads.

*************

Kyo and the others watched as the Taisians made several intricate corrections and began to use the Tachyon transmitter to scan the sector that they could reach to locate the rest of their fleet. The Taisians explained that the fleet would remain in the last area for only three days and then would leave, it was cruel but to preserve their homeless people, they had to do so in order to avoid sending the location of the world fleets from the marauding Harvesters. He pirates understood that and hoped that soon, such tactics would no longer be needed by humanity to survive in this war once the Harvesters were finally beaten.

As they finished with the other parts of the message, the pirates made modifications to the station's sensor networks so they won't be caught off guard like last time they did a salvage operation on a station nearly a year ago. They got the station's defensive networks back online and made the sensors capable of detecting the hidden key signatures of ships armed with Mirage Colloid.

“Any luck?”

“No sir…we've picked up faint ion energy emissions only where the fleet used to be. Apparently they have left the area Lieutenant and are now leaving for the rest of the remaining rallying points.”

Osmond nodded as they sent nearly completed the scanning and left the systems console. He then looked at Kyo and Magno and spoke.

“The Fleet's left already so that means that until we meet up with them along the way, my squadron and I will be working with your pirates. We'll try and do our best to ensure that nothing happens to your ship and crew.”

Magno thought about it and agreed with the idea. They all then checked in with Parfet and the rest of her crew.

“How are those defences going Parfet?” BC asked as she called the engineer, who was on the upper command bridge and was busy making the needed adjustments top the station's scanners.

“Nearly finished Commander…we're nearly done making the needed changes to the station's scanners to detect Harvester signatures and to bypass Mirage Colloid systems…the data concerning the use of the systems from that salvaged Harvester battle-ship was worth all the effort….there, now to turn the systems on!” The head engineer nodded with happiness as the systems of the mission station were able to adapt to the requirements she inputted and were now able to scan much further to ensure that they would not be caught off guard.

*************

The Marauder ship was able to scan the incoming sensors of the station and had to retreat a VERY long distance away from the station as to avoid premature detection by the crew of the Nirvana, under no circumstances was it to engage the Nirvana and it's forces. It had recently located the converted battle-ship captured by the Nirvana and realized that they had become even more dangerous to the Harvesters now that they possessed one of their battle-ships, namely one armed with Mirage Colloid systems, it then sent the data to the Harvester Council and waited for the new incoming orders from Earth, in the mean time it merely observed the situation.

*************

The Mission…

“Wow…this place is just like the city we stayed in!” Several of the crew said as they explored the area, along with them were the members of the bridge crew, namely Belvedere, Amarone, Celtic, and Misty. Misty had been able to adjust to the situation well and was now a bit more comfortable with the rest of the female crew. Though she longed for male companionship, she wanted even more not to be lonely so she worked hard to live with the rest of the crew. And it seemed to be working as she had made some friendships with the bridge crew, and even more so with Ezra as she also took time in taking car of Lacus, recalling the times she would play with her younger brother when he was still in his diapers.

Misty also helped in explaining some of the things that they found that she knew belonged to men…though she was blushing furiously when they began to ask questions concerning certain articles of clothing that men wore when they went to swimming. Things got even more complicated when the girls spotted a picture of a male model in only his…ah…under-garments

“Uh Misty, do men REALLY look like that?” Belvedere asked as she and Amarone looked at the male statue with curious eyes…as the artist apparently had an eye to perfection in the male form…and only covered the essentials.

“Yeah…a lot of guys…back on Pluto were like that in track and field meets and Physical Education time, though they wore track suits and uniforms.” Misty said with a slight blush, having recalled being with the other girls cheering on the boys in her school when they had track and field meets, along with basket-ball and soccer games.

“Did you ever meet any of them when they were…not in those suits, like the statue…there?” Celtic asked, as she was dressed in her normal bridge uniform while trying not to blush, ever since seeing the video of Kyo and the men bathing, the women were now taking a more candid interest in studying the male form.

Naturally, Celtic's question made Misty blush bright red. “No way! It was too embarrassing to even try!!! But…there were…some girls…who…uh…managed to take pictures….but those were…ah, confiscated.”

“Really…so you've never seen any of those pictures?” Amarone asked politely…again making Misty blush.

“Well…yeah, I've seen them actually.”

The bridge girls immediately began asking Misty if she had some of those so that when they got home to their base, they could make comparisons. Misty nearly fainted at the shock of the situation. Back then, guys would always be trading game or sports cards once in a while in school time…regular stuff…but asking for pictures of guys in their…unmentionables…

She didn't even want to guess what would happen if the main population of Megele ever saw men like the statue or some of the pictures she had seen.

Elsewhere…

“Wow…this place is stocked…Oh…I don't have this in my collection!”

Guess what Barnette Orangello was doing in the Mission?

Max was with her as the pair looked in a nearby gun shop…apparently this shop belonged to the more hidden side of the population of the Mission Station. Apparently the shop owner had an even older antique gun collection and had been collecting many older models than even her Ohma did. She was going gaga over some of the items.

“A set of MP5 sub-machine guns…how did they remain so well maintained?”

Barnette asked herself as she checked the guns and found them to be almost brand new…as if they had just been newly manufactured and were fresh. The green-haired girl was in awe as she kept on looking. Max, being a soldier had to admire the weapons as well, due to these weapons being the ancestors of all known weapons in his world. The guns may be old, but they were a sight nevertheless.

Barnette then spotted more items, one got her attention quickly. “An M14 sniper rifle with sound suppressor?! Wow…the person who owns this place HAS taste!” She sighed as she checked the rifle…feeling the still fresh wooden covering.

Max also smiled as he picked up his own toy…”This is my type.”

Barnette looked at what Max had in his hands and smiled as she gazed at the weapon and nodded as he hefted the weapon. “That's a Barrett 82A1 Sniper Rifle…that's rather rare back on Megele, with al lot of women taking to laser or energy weapons and all. Is that common in your world Max?”

The Talark youth nodded a bit. “Yes, the Barrett Sniper rifle serves us on Talark very well…we made several versions of it too to suit our world. One is the basic version, which we use to deal with creatures and other human sized targets for our sniper teams…the other is the Anti-Amour version.”

“Anti Armour?”

“Yes…we modified the barrels to include high-grade electro-magnets that replace the normal gun-powder mix used to propel bullets, with the magnets, the acceleration of the bullet is higher and stronger…and the penetration power is higher as well, the bullets can now punch through two and half feet of reinforced armour plating with little difficulty. We also replace the normal .50 calibre rounds with aerodynamically smooth fin assisted armour piercing sabots with a heavy core of chemically treated and forged steel. Plus the tips are laser sharpened so they can easily pierce most if not all tested armour types…in the back of the main penetration round are high grade explosives that are detonated three seconds after impact…the result is that after the bullet cuts through the plating…the explosives are triggered, and due to them being made to be three to four times stronger than normal explosives…well, you can imagine the damage. We could fire one round like that into a chink in the joints of a Vanguard and the explosion following penetration can rip off a large chunk of the mecha, or if done right, could rip off an arm.”

Barnette nodded as her gun enthusiast's mind worked on the idea and found it to be rather lethal. “You guys use it a lot?”

“Not really, the weapon is hard to make and only a few men ever get to be able to use those rifles as weapons on the field…we call them as Steel Hunter teams, since they are tasked to disable and damage machines that might make it on Talark's surface.”

Barnette sighed a bit and smiled. “You guys certainly know you're way around guns like these…back on Megele, we never even have sniper rifles that use energy yet.”

“We have to due what we can on our world.” Max replied as he helped Barnette pack those items she had collected along with other weapon sin a hover cart that she only uses, along with the ammunition for each weapon. As he helped, Barnette watched him and smiled at him as he worked so hard to help her. She then wondered if she should… she decided to go for it and walked up to Max and then hugged him a bit. Since he was taller than her despite her being slightly taller since their journey began.

Max stopped and looked at Barnette in slight confusion. “Is something wrong?”

Barnette sighed as she hugged him and then broke the contact and smiled a bit. “Nothing, just wanted to do it…is that wrong?” She asked nervously.

Max shook his head. “No…but to be fair, can I do the same?”

Since Duero and Max were tall people, it was hardly surprising that both towered a foot over their respective female counter-parts. Parfet was only up to the bottom of Duero's neck, while Max, though a bit shorter by two inches than his elder brother was taller than Barnette, so she was only up to half his neck, but Barnette didn't care about height right now as Max hugged her a bit. She liked the warmth that he was radiating and revelled in it as it made certain feelings run up her spine.

<Is this how Jura felt when she hugs Kyo? Wow…> Back then, a part of her wondered what was it about Kyo that made Jura hug him when she had the chance…and now she found out.

Max in the meantime was also asking questions. The only time he did something close to this was with Clare, but this felt different…maybe he was moving on, and though he knew it would still be hard on him, he wasn't going to forget it. The warmth coming from Barnette began to do things to him as well.

As the two broke apart from the embrace, they suddenly found themselves drawing closer to one another, Max merely looked down and was reaching for Barnette, though why he was doing so was unknown to him…but something….

Barnette was also moving forward, standing on her toes as she came closer to Max's face. She had kissed him before, but this time it was different…probably due to the fact that they were getting closer to one another…

As they were merely centimetres away…they could feel the warmth from each other's breath and the heat between them grow…

“Barnette? Max? Where are you two?” A voice came over the Dread pilot's communicator….breaking the moment between the two.

Barnette nearly swore and got the communicator and called in. “Yes, I'm here.”

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” The voice asked with mischief, which Barnette recognized as that belonging to none other than Jura.

Barnette sighed. “You could say that. What is it Jura?”

The blonde's voice merely got more teasing. “If you two don't mind, we've got some items to pick out here, there's lots of things we can use on the ship…especially since five days from now is…you know who's birthday…” She said in a conspiracy style of voice.

Barnette was curious for only a second but quickly smiled as she knew also who's birthday it was going to be in the next few days. “Oh! I nearly forgot…I'll be right there.”

She then walked over to Max and held his arm. `I've got some things to do later with Jura…so do you mind if I ask you to…”

“You want me to take these and store them in the Nirvana for you?” Max asked, very much knowing just what Barnette was about to ask him. He merely smiled and nodded.

“Sure, I'll need to meet up with the guys on patrol today.” He then did something very interesting, since she had done it to him before…he kissed Barnette on the cheek lightly, making the green haired girl blush profusely and when he was done., she did the same thing, though with a bit more intensity on his cheek too. As they left and went their separate ways…both were blushing at the results of their brief but interesting encounter.

*************

Elsewhere in the station…

“Wow, there's so many things here we can use!” Parfet said with glee as she began rummaging through a nearby storage centre of tools and spare parts for engineering teams. Apparently the inhabitants were forced to leave quickly and didn't bother to take the supplies with them, and for this case, it was a boon to Parfet and her crew as the rest of the engineering personnel worked into getting what they had. Their previous supplies of tools were already over used so having some spares would help. The crew had taken into account the rest of the rooms unused on the colony ship sections and now used them as spare storage rooms, supply areas and quarters as well.

“Let's take only what we use Parfet…the rooms on the Nirvana can only handle so much, we might need the rooms soon.” Duero said as he ran through the checklist of the storage.

“Right…” The head engineer smiled as she looked at what she needed. She looked at Duero as he methodically searched for tools that she can use in her work…she was happy that when the Nirvana docked, Duero was free from his medical duties and therefore she asked him to help her in looking for any spare tools and supplies she can use in her line of work…plus, this was the only time she could be with him without any of her fellow engineers being nosy in their relationship…ever since they began to be more open about their friendship, Chief and the others were egging her own to finally admit her feelings to the doctor.

Being always busy in work had mad it somewhat hard for her to socialize, with the exceptions of her fellow pirates, her friends Dita, Ezra, the Captain, and Chief, along with the rest of the engineers. But when she made friends with Duero, it made things even more unique…and for the long passing months, her feelings for Duero were maturing, so she decided to make her moves soon…though she still had to wonder if she could do more…

Her line of thought had made her somewhat careless, and since she had unzipped her jump=suit and tied it in her normal fashion… that had some results.

“Oww!” The head engineer was moving some tools, namely a small screw driver that used some parts that were sharp and that had cut her hand a bit and made her drop the tool. She sighed as she looked at the cut.

“Are you all right?” Duero asked as he walked up to her as she was still stinging from the wound.

“Yeah, just got a slight cut from the tool I was holding.” Parfet said, her voice slightly hurt from the cut. The wound wasn't very painful, but stung the engineer who winced a bit.

“Let me take a look.” The doctor said as he looked at the cut on her arm. The doctor could see that it wasn't a serious cut, but would need to be disinfected since this place was filled with dirt that could lead to infections. He checked the wound and moved carefully and precisely to avoid irritating the wound and causing Parfet more pain.

“Hmmm…it's not a deep cut, but we'll need to patch it up to cut the risk of dirt getting in and making the wound infected.”

“Uh…sure.”

Parfet was led out by Duero from the storage house and allowed to step outside. The head engineer then wondered how Duero would treat her if his medical gear was back on the ship. She was then surprised as he took out a small roll of gauze cloth, a small bottle of antiseptic fluid, a small cleaning swab, and some light plaster…as if it had appeared from out of nowhere…even if they came from his pocket.

“Why do you have those with you?”

Duero looked a little…uncertain and somewhat…sheepish as he went about in treating Parfet.

“When I was still younger, Max and I always got into little accidents, either with tools, since we were not very proficient with engineering equipment when were young…and on occasion, when playing with the other kids our age. Those got so frequent that our Alpha made us learn how to treat our own wounds whenever we had the chance, so he made us always carry basic first aid gear that we could always have to treat light wounds…either from our games or with tool accidents. We got very good at that, we decided to treat some of our friends when they got cut. We did that for many months before being admitted into the Talark military…and we learned a valuable lesson.”

“And that was?” Parfet couldn't picture Duero as being a klutz with tools, but then that was what made him unique, sure his engineering skills were not top notch, but he certainly had the potential to be a great engineer, she however liked him the way he was, a healer.

“It's easy to injure or wound…it's a whole different matter to heal those same injuries. I guess that's why I became a medic apart from a soldier and pilot. But in my mind I was always meant to be a medic…and old habits die hard.” Duero chuckled at that bit of humour as he recalled the times he had learned some fundamental skills in medicine.

Parfet couldn't help but chuckle along with Duero and sighed as she got to know the man more and part of her, a large growing part of her began to thank fate that Duero came onboard…and into her life.

Duero likewise felt the same as he finished his treatment of Parfet and smiled. He had not talked too much about himself, but for the past weeks, he felt more comfortable talking to Parfet, than most, with the exceptions of Kyo, BC, Magno, Max, and naturally Aleck, but with Parfet…well, he couldn't completely understand his willingness to be this frank, but it felt nice.

“There…that should take care of it.” The Talark male replied as he finished the dressing.

Parfet smiled at the effective and perfectly painless treatment that Duero gave her, there WAS a slight sting when he placed the medicine…but she hardly noticed as he treated her well that she hardly noted the pain.

“Thank you.” And before Parfet could know what she was doing, she reached for Duero and kissed him on the cheek, naturally this went against her slightly shy nature when it involved other people…namely those she had affections with. The fact that she was getting more and more open about her feelings made her feel more alive…even when she was blushing to the roots of her hair.

Duero was in the same boat as he blushed hard. Parfet had been open to him before…but even if this was another kiss from her, the feelings didn't weaken, but grew more intense between them. As Parfet broke away…before he could stop himself…he did the same and kissed her…lightly on the head.

Both blushed wildly at the respective contact, and voices in their minds seemed to urge them on to try something more…risqué, so to speak as they broke from the two kisses and were now coming closer…for full lip to lip contact.

“Parfet? Are you there?”

In that instant…the tender moment between head engineer and head medical officer was broken…much to their disappointment and inner frustration as they felt cheated a bit.

“Yes?” The head engineer called into her communicator to take the incoming message from whoever was calling her. She didn't want to break the moment between her and Duero…but duty called.

“It's me, I need to talk to you about something.” Chief said as she managed to locate Parfet.

“I'm on my way.” Parfet answered reluctantly as she put down her communicator and faced Duero with a sad smile.

“They need my help on something Duero…I'll come back and have those tools taken to be with the rest of the…”

Duero smiled a bit. “No need to bother Parfet, just hand me a list of what you need from the storage shop and I'll bring them along with my own gear to the Nirvana.”

Parfet smiled. “Thank you!”

*************

Some time later…

The Nirvana's crew decided that for the time being they could relax for once as they took the chance to wind down their routine and get back to being normal people. The Harvester units they had converted acted as scouts and security detail around the station and for now even BC wanted the pirates to take a break from their fighting times, she knew that battles wore down the crew and having a break was needed.

They had taken what they needed and finally activated the park's amusement systems and allowed them all a clear view of the void of space and the stars. This would be a chance also for them to recall what life was like for them all before they had become caught in this war for survival. For this night, they could be just young people having some time for themselves.

Magno and BC were there to watch the transformation of the massive park to suit all of their crew, including the newly inducted Taisian soldiers and their commander, who was more than willing to help in the festivities.

BC was still slightly unsure and voiced it out. “I think we would still have to be cautious Captain, the Harvesters will not be idle forever.”

Magno nodded at the wisdom in her second in command's words. “I know BC, but for today, I think in my heart they won't be after us for a while.”

Buzam was not sure, but hoped that her commander was right in saying that. The crew's morale was high, and allowing them all the chance to let loose their stress would help them be better prepared for the soon to come battles that the Harvesters and they would be involved in soon.

“I hope so too.” She then gave a curious look, she did recall that Dita, Jura, Barnette, and Kyo had gone to one of the larger storage hangers along with the rest of the ship's cooking staff.

“Is Kyo going to help cook the food today?”

“Yes, he is busy, but he finds the time to help out and give cheer to everyone he works with on the ship. I think that had things been different and we never met him…I shudder at the thought.” Magno thought as they thought about the most hard-working man on the ship.

BC nodded. “Someday I think that the time will come that we all can pay Kyo back for all the good things he has done for all of us, Captain.”

“Yes…and if things go according to how I see them…it will not be long before Kyo gets to show us a more…parental side of himself.”

BC was confused and Magno noticed that and decided that while the festivities were being prepared she would explain what Kyo had been involved in with certain members of the crew. Though before that, she made it clear to BC that it would remain strictly between the senior members of the pirate officers.

*************

In the nearby section of the park dedicated to the cooking of the buffet meals…

“Needs a bit more sauce.” One of the cooks said she checked a nearby roasted turkey. The galley staff went to work to prepare a feats for the crew and they were all here, including the only male cook in the Nirvana, along with even his two companions who took to cooking, Duero McFile and Max McFile.

Kyo was currently making new batter for several new loaves of bread. The plan was to have a small party, considering that they were still on a mission, but he agreed that for now, they all needed something to cheer themselves up from the long cycle of combat they had been in for the past few months…and he was more than happy to give some time to offer cheer for the crew, and he had some good help…Duero and Max were nearby and the two intelligent men were now getting a crash course on cooking from the Gundam pilot.

Barnette, Dita, and Jura were also at their own posts, Jura knew how to cook as well, but she loved cooking low fat meals, which naturally explained her luscious figure, and she loved to try cooking in her spare time, and when she knew Kyo would be present, she jumped at the chance. Barnette, naturally being a great cook was busy making her own dishes, and she also knew Max would be learning from Kyo, so why not learn and watch Max as the young man learned the art. Dita also was there, naturally to offer some of her own work to cheer on her friends and beg close to Mr. Alien.

They got all the needed ingredients and made sure that the rest were to be placed in the Nirvana's own stores for the journey…for now it was time to relax and loosen up. The rest of the crew were all busy with their own duties for the small party to happen, even Meia helped a bit by helping Parfet set up some new lights for the light show systems in the park…showing her more happy side.

Sara and Mai were also helping out be helping to make adjustments to the amusement park systems and make some rides and stalls work. Most of the gear was already present and all they had to do was activate them. Misty and the others were there…picking the right music to add atmosphere to the celebration. Osmond and the Taisians were helping as well, providing some changes to the decorations and also helping when they could be free from their recon duties on the station to avoid the possibility of being caught off-guard by the Harvesters…even with the security boost they all had from the newly converted Harvester battle-ship, with it's Cube Fighters and Mirage Colloid systems.

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The Marauder ship merely stayed out of radar range while making sure that it's own scanner frequencies were not picked up by the security forces of the Nirvana and the Mission's newly modified sensor systems. The Marauder had to move a fair distance but close enough to still track the Nirvana.

Normally this would have been a golden chance to catch the hated pirates and the Gundams totally off guard and finish them all finally…but their added fire-power made the idea too risky and expensive for the Harvesters. Not to mention that it was the only Harvester unit in the area and was not able to get close enough due to the use of the Nirvana's sensors that were now modified to bypass the effectiveness of Mirage Colloid. For now it would observe and wait for the order to strike. It then received word that several more Marauders were on their way to it to help trail the Nirvana, and when the order would come, try and defeat the Nirvana and disable the converted ship. The Council knew that the ship was now a total loss and was the enemy now and had to be eliminated.

The Marauder maintained safe scanning distance and now awaited the rest of it's reinforcements…and apparently the Masters had come up with some upgrades that could tip the scales to their favour a bit more. They wasted a lot to defeat the Nirvana many times…but those had failed miserably as well. They could only hope to cause as much damage as they could to the pirates and when the pirates were weakened…then it would be their end…

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Later…

“CHEERS!”

The crew of the Nirvana were very busy as they watched the lights and saw the colours filled the park. They were busy eating and relaxing as they finally let the stress and difficulties in them bleed out.

And as time passed, they all felt the need to relax and feel free for a time. And many of them began to explore and play with some of the amusement systems of the park and those set up by Parfet and the engineering crew. There was some pie eating contests, hitting the target boards with balls, knocking down stacked plastic bottles with small rubber balls…just regular stuff that people did to have fun.

And certain groups of people were taking advantage of the games to have fun, while others took the other approach and went for some privacy.

Barnette and Max had a match in the air-gun tournament and both were having a great time shooting their targets. There was no heated rivalry, just the chance to have fun and get closer to one another. The green haired girl knew that Max was talented, and he likewise thought the same thing as they each worked hard to hit their respective targets in their booths and displayed their skills to one another. Once they were done, they went to a nearby bench and took some food and ate while taking about their own lives. Just getting closer to one another and learning even more…in total contrast to their old selves.

Duero and Parfet were busy looking at the pattern of lights that Parfet had fashioned with Duero's help. She wanted to create the illusion of the valley on Megele, where the grass and leaves would move when the wind blew in from the mountains…and despite not knowing what that looked like, the Talark man helped the engineer do just that, and both were happy about their combined efforts. And so were the rest of the crew as they recalled the valleys in their home planet.

Gascogne and Aleck were busy as well, using their respective skills in tossing several rubber balls to hit the stacked bottles. The tough Register head had to give the tough Vanguard instructor credit, he was strong and very sharp when it came to hitting certain targets, namely the ones he was aiming at with a swift military precision. However, she too responded in kind as she slugged more stacks of plastic bottles with her own set of rubber balls. Both strong individuals were then ready to play a game of cards, like she and Kyo did on their free time, but unlike Kyo, Aleck was a bit more seasoned and was ready to give Gascogne a challenge.

While the others celebrated, a certain redhead was now able to finally have some time to herself with a certain young man.

On the other side of the Park…

Kyo hoped he wasn't going to get into any trouble since he had left the party and was with none other than Dita. The redhead had managed to get his attention from the party and wanted to ask him to come with her to the other side of the park. He wanted to argue a bit, but Dita once more did the dreaded sad puppy dog eyes bit on him and pouted, breaking down his resistance and he went along with her.

Now they were near a larger lake and Dita had gone to one side and left Kyo to wonder what Dita had in mind.

He didn't have to wait long…

He looked and spotted Dita as she came out, and not his normal outfit either. It was a deep blue Chinese dress that had various flower patterns of different forms sewn into it. Not to mention it was…well rather nice as it had a small triangle that did much to reveal some of Dita's breasts, namely the upper cleavage, not mention the slits on the side had done up beyond her hips…this naturally had made the buxom redhead a serious stunner with the dress, her figure, her natural beauty and her innocence.

“You like it Mr. Alien?”

“Uh…yeah.” Kyo's hormones were on full riot mode once more as he looked at her. Dita then asked Kyo if he could walk to the lake with her. They did so and Dita decided to ask Kyo more questions, namely whether he recalled other parts of his past.

Kyo began to talk about remembering…having a large number of friends, both male and female in his younger years, how he had fun playing baseball with them, how he walked around the oceans and collected sea-shells with them and his parents, though he sadly stated that the faces of his parents were still too hazy for him to make out.

Dita nodded sadly and then smiled and asked on her questions, but only did so if he was comfortable with it. Kyo nodded, liking the more mature attitude that Dita had now. As they stopped near the lake, they were near some rocks and since they were a good distance away from the others, they sat around the rocks and looked at the stars.

Kyo was rather uncomfortable as he looked from the stars from the observation roof and to Dita, the lights playing well to show her beautiful features. Dita then spoke to Kyo, though he could tell that she was...somewhat shy about what she wanted to say.

“What is it Dita?”

“Do you…like me Mr. Alien?”

“What do you mean? Of course I like you.”

Dita blushed and spoke. “I mean…do you REALLY like me?”

Kyo was confused and quickly realized that this was what he should have expected, Dita wanted to know how he really felt about her…and this was not going to be easy.

“Dita…”

“I know I don't call you by name, and I can be really annoying at times, but I really, REALLY like you Mr. Alien. If I don't see you or hear you…I feel so alone and afraid. I don't know…but I also hurt a lot…I feel pain if I don't see you smile and laugh, and it hurts me when I can't be with you.” Dita sobbed a bit.

“Dita…” Kyo said as Dita sobbed a bit and he held her arms and tried to calm the redhead. Dita however had other plans as she grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest…above her breasts...making Kyo blush hard, and then she looked at him with watery eyes.

“I hurt here…and it only feels cured when I am with you. I KNOW that I LIKE you…REALLY like you, that's why I ache this way here…but do you LIKE me?” Dita asked nervously as she blushed.

Kyo was at a loss, and knew that if he did something wrong, he would hurt Dita, she had gone through a lot to do this and he knew that she deserved an answer. He steeled himself and replied with as much honesty as he could.

“You are the kindest, most innocent, and sincere woman I have met in all my years. You always tried to cheer me up. At times you can be annoying and a bit of a pain, but you are the only one who accepted me when I came in this ship so long ago, and you were the first to make me become one with others again for so long.”

He then finished his action by taking Dita's face in his hands and gently pulled her to him, making Dita blush harder, and add to her beauty.

“I have others who care for me too, deeply if I might add, but I DO like you Dita.” Kyo said honestly, hoping that he would have enough time to explain his situation with the others to Dita, it would be hard but it was time he was honest with her, she had done a lot for him, and it was time he told her how much her efforts meant to him in total…

He wasn't going to get that chance however as Dita did something unexpected for someone who was innocent and young.

“Thank you Mr. Alien!” She yelped and then hugged Kyo…and before Kyo could respond to her enthusiasm…she reaches his face and then…kisses him, while looking at him with her eyes open. Her lush figure, in the dress also was able to snuggle very close to Kyo's own muscled form, due to him wearing thin clothes for this night…that and her closeness made him VERY aware of just how sexy Dita Liebely really was.

Kyo was shocked, but he let it be for now, hoping that this would not get too far...and thankfully it didn't.

Dita smiled and hugged Kyo and whispered. “Thank you Mr. Alien…I like you more now. I won't lose you to the bad aliens.”

Kyo was stock still and merely decided to hug her back after a second. In that sense he felt relieved that he finally admitted that he did care and…love her, she was still young and so, he hoped that someday, she might say it.

That would make things complicated in some ways, but for now…being able to talk to Dita in this way was enough for him. It may not be easier with the other women, but it was a push in the right direction for now…but that still made it hard for him in some ways too.

He hoped that soon, things would work out for all of them as he and Dita went back to the party, to be with their friends.

The crew celebrated the one night that they could be themselves…for the next day…they were back into the battle soon. For now, they were going to be normal people having a party with all of their close friends in this journey home.

However, the crew had a plan…for a certain member of their crew. And so did she as she would be next to take care of having Kyo stay in her quarters for the next week since he was moving from Dita's room…and into hers for the coming week.

She blushed a bit and hoped that she was going to be all right with this arrangement and so would Kyo…since this would be the VERY first time another person had been in her company…even more so a man.

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To be continued…

Finished! As you can see, this new chapter focuses on many changes, both with people and with sides. The Harvesters are now keen on replacing their Cube Fighters with newer weapons of war. They might even create variants of the Gundam series, with the exception of the Gundam their leader intends to use to deal with Kyo. Plus Parfet is now intent on retro-fitting and redesigning the Vanguards. Kyo will be along for the ride and will help in making the models with Parfet.

The Dreads won't be replaced since they do have some abilities not possessed by the Vanguards and they work their best together to off-set each other's weak-points. So the Dreads won't fade away. Besides…Parfet will come up with even more ideas as to how to make them more effective in the coming battles with the Harvesters.

Plus the new allies of the Nirvana pirates will certainly help in the process…after all…they had a hand in MAKING the Morpheous, and the SwitchBlade Gundams!

(*) The Mobile Suit in question is designed after the MBF-M1 Astray Mobile Suit model.

(**) Found a picture of Dita in a night-dress and decided to write about it!

That wraps up the situation with Kyo and Dita for this part anyways…

Most guys would love this kind of situation right now. A buxom redhead in a sheer white silk night-dress being with them in bed! God I must be out of my gourd for ever writing this!!! Anyway, I did say in the last chapter that some naughty things WILL happen between Kyo and Dita while he stays with her in her room and this is one of them.

If the situation is any indication…then imagine what would happen if the other girls after his affections get him to stay in THEIR rooms?

If this is in bad taste to some, then drop a review, email, constructive critique or suggestion to me and help me fix any mistakes. NO FLAMES policy is still on people.

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Hope you like the situation with Bart, a lot more good things are now happening for him and I think he deserves it. There are some fanfics I'm familiar with that seriously makes way too much fun of him and makes him look kind of pathetic, too much so by my standards, so this will be a real eye-opener to those who kept track of his maturity.

Plus the idea of the Talark food pills tasting like REAL food will certainly catch attention, won't it? They have more practical and utilitarian uses, and now what would be the results if the pills tasted like real food items eh?

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Well…Rabat had that coming…though I think I kind of overdid it, what do you think?

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Okay, updates on the relationships of Kyo with the girls in question.

Look, I know that some would LOVE to see Kyo finally get laid, I know I would too…but I can't just let him get laid like that instantly, where would be the closeness and affection there? Kyo's done a lot for each of the girls and I want them to finally admit that they love him and then we get down to it, okay?

They each have relationships with Kyo and vice versa and just getting him laid for the sake of it will be asking for trouble. No woman wants to be a one night stand and Kyo's WAY too kind for that kind of thing, but he will get there eventually, and once it's all organized, things will work out for all parties involved. Plus the other plans will be worth it in the end to make this story worth it.

The definite plan is that Kyo will get to it at around Chapter 10 or Chapter 11. I have too many ideas and coming up with a great love scene or whatever you guys want to call it, is not something you just snap up with your fingers here. It's even more complicated with a harem ending you know…

Besides that, I can't be on this PC writing on it 24/7 you know…I have a lot of things to do too in my free time and I know that I will leave you hanging, but believe me when I say this…once I get the scenes in my mind, it will be worth the wait since I've got some work to do, and I do have responsibilities too.

It's a promise, the lemons will be on at Chapter 10 or 11, and onwards if you'd like.

Kyo isn't the only one by the way, Max and Barnette will get to that level soon, and so will Duero and Parfet…so we can have a collection of that very soon, so relax and let me worry about it. And if you have suggestions then send them to me…but make sure it's workable, all right?

I hope that straightens things out, if not, give me an email, comment, or review.

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The Harvesters are now developing their new weapons, so what new machines will they be using? And they also have now developed variations of the Devastator, Hell-Fire, and Wyvern Gundams, what will be the new variations be capable of?

And what are the abilities of the now Paeksis-enhanced Gundam of the Harvesters that will be piloted by their leader, who is apparently planning to lead their forces into battle?

Work is finished, though if you all have complaints in the story, then email me or send me a comment if you want changes, okay? I do apologize…my life's been hectic lately and I haven't gotten much complete rest you know.

With this part of the GunDread SEED series complete I would like to announce that we are nearing the end of the series and as such, I won't be able to update due to the need to do extensive research on aspects of the story I need to flesh out in order to make the story attractive. Be assured that I will be present to make the story more effective.

In the next chapter…we now deal with another relationship on the Nirvana…and it involves a certain girl who has a certain dislike for a certain part of life…but with Kyo involved…

If you are avid VanDread fans, then I don't need to leave any clues…

See you all at Chapter 8!!!

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