Gundam SEED Fan Fiction / Vandread Fan Fiction ❯ GunDread SEED- The Second Stage ❯ Birthday Girl Blues ( Chapter 17 )

GunDread SEED- The Second Stage

 

Disclaimer: VanDread is not mine, neither is Gundam SEED.

 

Chapter 8

 

< >: Thoughts

 

Birthday Girl Blues

 

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

 

The Nirvana…

 

The crew were busy with their normal duties, but for some reason, there was far more activity in certain members of the crew. They had left the mission station a day or two after their celebrations with the Taisians who were now part of the crew. Kyo was busy out there on routine patrol with Max and Aleck, along with Osmond and his crew; Dita and Jura were also doing their normal chores while they were in the Nirvana. The converted Harvester battle-ship was currently not using its Mirage Colloid systems to minimize the consumption of power and to allow the Engineers the chance to upgrade some systems while being escorted by the Dreads and Vanguards.

 

However, for the rest of the crew still on the Nirvana, they had other plans as they moved about from one sector of the ship to another, carrying supplies, either of food, drink, or decorations. And it seemed that the preparations had something to do with a certain girl.

 

She came out and got on her normal gear and had just begun walking on the corridors…then she spotted several crew members who were talking but the minute they spotted her, they slightly panicked and spoke out.

 

“Hey, nice day today isn't it?”

 

She didn't mind that as she went on with her duties on the ship. But the very same thing kept on happening; she would run into crew members that gave strange greetings.

 

“Doing well today?”

 

“Nice time for a walk isn't it?”

 

More and more female crew members some that she knew for a long time continued to greet her in this fashion as she walked the corridors of the ship, As time passed she also began to wonder just what the rest of the crew were doing as she met more crews from every department, and even ran into those from the security, Register and engineering who all were acting somewhat strange around her when they saw her.

 

This kept on for a good while and that didn't bother her all that much, until she recalled that they already had a celebration two days before and were now heading back to their worlds…what would be so important to the crew to celebrate now…and why were they acting so different around her lately?

 

She then stopped to think it over and then gave a sign of recognition and looked at her chronometer and read the date…

 

Meia Gisborn sighed and looked a bit dejected…

 

<I should have known…it's going to be my birthday soon.>

 

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

 

Kyo was busy in Infinite-Freedom doing his recon duties and was busy getting used to another change in his life…and that was being Meia's only male bunk mate. He had to admit that Meia's room was spacious the first time he had gone into the room, and naturally he understood that since she was claustrophobic she would want a spacious room. Naturally he decided to pack a bed roll and though Meia' didn't show it as openly as Jura or Dita, she was a bit disappointed that he chose to not be closer. But she didn't mind.

 

Kyo had to admit that he partially expected Meia to change into sleeping clothes, just Jura would wear a night dress, or Dita wearing her pyjamas, but she stuck to her Dread flight suit, and Kyo realized why it looked that way and why Meia seemed to wear it a great deal before and after they met.

 

The Dread pilot uniform was smooth and well fashioned to work as normal clothes apart from a flight suit and that was why Meia favoured wearing that in all of her times in the ship…but since it was a form fitting suit, it allowed him to see all her natural curves and…

 

<Arrghh. Best not to think about those things out on patrol! Makes things worse.> Kyo said to himself with a shake of his head. He then felt his stomach growl a bit and realized that since he left in the early morning to be on patrol, therefore he hadn't eaten break-fast yet.

 

He contacted Aleck and Max, along with Osmond.

 

“I'll go back to the ship and grab a bit, you guys want to come along?”

 

The guys decided not to since they would have some time to still be on patrol and would eat later when they were done with their time on the patrol mission. Kyo agreed and made his way back to the Nirvana, while contacting the bridge about his return back to the Nirvana.

 

Magno and BC answered the call and allowed him to land back, Kyo was curious as why the rest of the bridge crew seemed to be absent from the bridge stations, even Ezra was not present.

 

The two telling him that that they had to plan a special event still didn't answer his question either.

 

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

 

In the galley…

 

A certain blonde and redhead were deep in discussion with the rest of the bridge crew. Dita, Paiway, and Jura, who had taken a candid interest, were busy speaking to Belvedere, Celtic, and Amarone, along with some others about celebrating the birthday of their comrade Meia. Now normally, people would love the chance to celebrate their birthday and Meia's birthday and going into the age of 20 years old was cause to celebrate…

 

However Meia had the habit of running away from any and all attempts of the crew to prepare a party for her. And every time she was able to hide and run away, frustrating their attempts to let her enjoy another year in her life.

 

Meia may have mellowed out in the past few months, but there was no telling if she was still unwilling to have a birthday party prepared for her. She had done so and the crew were always trying their best and every time they were down cast and disappointed, but they had gained a lot of knowledge on Meia's routines on this particular day of the year for the longest time she had been part of their crew.

 

“Maybe we can have it in the planning hall?”

 

“No way…she'll know that quickly, don't forget the last time we tried to surprise her, she stayed in the planning room for the Dreads, making all those strategies.”

 

“The main thing is that she knows already that we're planning something and she knows how to avoid it.”

 

Dita sighed a bit, along with Jura, the blonde knew enough about Meia's life to know a bit on why she acted the way she did, but she didn't think that anything would change if she ran from her own birthday. Normally she didn't bother, but she and Meia had worked together for a long time, and though she at times teased Meia about being a sour pus, she was happy that the softer side of Meia was coming out due to Kyo, just like her and Dita…though she doubted that she was going to change over-night…

 

Just then Kyo came in, while in his flight suit…and so was Meia in her normal Dread flight-suit.

 

Dita panicked and so did the rest of the bridge crew when they realized that Meia had just come into the galley. They hid their plans of the Nirvana's various routes and tried to look normal.

 

However, Meia wasn't fooled and merely asked the question. “What are you all doing there?”

 

<As if I didn't know already…>

 

“Uh…nothing…nothing at all.” Dita said lamely with a smile, while sweat-dropping at the way Meia was looking at them all. Belvedere and the others were also trying to look normal, but in effect were failing badly.

 

“Dita, how much sugar and cream do I need in the cake anyway?” Barnette asked as she came out in her baking apron from the galley, holding a mixing large bowl and a whisk. The green haired girl was busy making a cake and apparently was curious so why the rest of the birthday planning committee were making strange faces and gestures at her all of a sudden. They were supposed to tell her what Meia's birthday cake needed.

 

“What's going on with you all…I want to know how much sugar and cream the…”

 

The green haired girl finally realized what was going on when she looked to the side and panicked a bit as she spotted Meia…who greeted her with a simple look of neutrality.

 

“Hello Barnette…”

 

“Uh…u…Hi, Meia!” Barnette then realized she had been caught out in the open and quickly managed to hide the bowl of batter and the whisk while sweat-dropping.

 

“Are you making a cake today Barnette?” Meia asked.

 

“I was just…I was just having the time to cook again…being busy and all, I just wanted to take a break.” Barnette said lamely while moving back into the kitchen, once she was close enough, she opened the door and replied.

 

“I'll be back...I've got a lot of work do in here… so…I'll see you later okay Meia?” The green haired girl said as she darted back into the kitchen.

 

“We've got to go too.” The bridge girls all said as they took the plans with them and they were followed by Dita, Jura, and Paiway.

 

After all that, Meia sighed and turned to get a cup of coffee, and was able to stop before ramming into Kyo's chest. She looked up and saw the confusion in his handsome face and felt a bit warm as she looked at him. But she knew that he was going to ask her something.

 

Kyo was getting more and more curious concerning what had just happened in the galley right in front of him, all he knew is that involved Meia for some reason or another and now that she was here, he might as well find out just what was going on with the rest of the crew all of a sudden and why they acted like they were walking on egg-shells around Meia.

 

“I know I just got in here to eat, and it's not totally my business…but what exactly is going on here Meia?”

 

“They're planning a party tomorrow for me.” Meia said with a bit of a sad tone.

 

“We just had a party on the mission station a few days ago, so why have another one? And why does it involve you?” Kyo asked, still not getting the hidden message.

 

“It's my birthday tomorrow Kyo.” Meia said as she walked aside, no matter how much she wanted to tell Kyo…there were still some things she didn't plan on talking about her past…even with him, the object of her growing affections.

 

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

 

Later…

 

Kyo was now in his civilian clothes and was now heading off to the Register to change into his working clothes, but his mind was too preoccupied with what he had just found out.

 

It was Meia's birthday tomorrow and that was a reason to celebrate all right, but it certainly would be no fun if the one who's birthday it was won't celebrate it at all, even if they had the decorations, the food, the gifts, the games, the party, the friends, and most certainly the cake and the gifts…the whole thing would be for nothing if the celebrant wasn't there to join the festivities in the first place.

 

But his discussion with Meia previously had told him more of the reason why she was sad instead of happy that it was her birthday.

 

Flashback…

 

“You're birthday?” Kyo asked, rather stumped as that bit of information came into mind.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Wow, hey that is cause for celebration Meia, would you like me to help cook some food for you? Or I can make some…”

 

“No…Kyo, I would like nothing more…than to… but I…oh forget it, just don't talk about it anymore! I don't want to celebrate it and that's final.” Meia said with a huff and she took some coffee and sat on a table.

 

Kyo wondered what was going on, he might not recall his own birthday, but he knew that having a birthday was a celebration of life spent in this world, and is a cause to celebrate indeed. During his travels, there had been more than one occasion of him being present in a birthday party, and at times, he not only celebrated it with others, but he also contributed to them. So it was not very surprising that he was very interested in the idea of celebrating a birthday, even more so it was the birthday of someone he held close to him.

 

But he then reminded himself of what Meia told him about her life, namely before and after the death of his Fahma, and her life being a street punk and getting into fights, along with her fear of closed spaces, which although had been lessening, it was still present in her even all the way up to now.

 

If that was the case, then he could understand just why Meia was not in favour of a party in her birthday. But he was not content with that, seeing this version of Meia who had grown a good deal out of her shell and her going back into it was one thing Kyo was not keen on seeing anytime soon.

 

As she sat down and took her coffee, he got only some cereal and bread with some juice and sat next to her. They didn't say anything for the first few minutes. Meia drank her coffee in a way that told Kyo that this was a sore subject for her, and likewise, he didn't want to do anything to break their friendship. But as she finished some of her coffee he decided to speak.

 

“Care to talk about it?”

 

“What's there to talk about?”

 

Kyo shook his head. “Meia, please don't do that, it makes me recall how things were like before you learned to…ah, lighten up. Now I know that is a sore subject for you, from the way you're drinking the coffee…but I think you should try and move on with your life. I'm not saying that you forget the good things you had…but.”

 

Meia sighed and looked at Kyo. “Look, I…I know you mean well, and I'm sorry if I act like a proverbial storm-cloud but it's not easy, every time I think about the birthdays I missed…I think about what happened to my family and me when the disaster happened that took my Fahma from me…and my Ohma shortly after, and then I think about the times I've been on my own, fighting to survive, hang out with the wrong crowd, get into fights, and naturally…my wish that I could just…”

 

“Die?”

 

Meia nodded sadly and she looked at her coffee, trying not to dwell on things in the past, but one of those methods was to forget having a birthday. She saw Kyo's hands on hers and he held her calmly.

 

“Don't think that, not everything in your life was…”

 

Meia then felt a surge of anger as her memories come back…she gritted her teeth and looked away while moving her hands away from Kyo.

 

“How could you know? How could you know how my life was like?! You were not there to see what happened on how my Fahma died! Or how many times she and my Ohma argued! Or the times I did have a happy life, how I ran on the green fields in Megele, or how they would fuse over me, and when they gave me this circlet?! You can't even recall your own parents or your memories! So don't lecture me about…”

 

Meia's eyes widened as she realized that she had pushed her anger too far and struck Kyo hard on the face. She recalled how he had told them of how lost and alone he was and how much he wanted to recall his past, all that he could never recall…and how much it hurt him never to remember the past, his family, friends, home…all of it. She knew that…and she had tried in her own way to make Kyo feel better, and he was recovering his memories…

 

And she was getting closer to him and showing more of her affections for all he had done and how much she cared for him…and now she might have done too much damage to make Kyo hate her…she didn't want that…after all they had been through as friends and maybe something more…

 

She looked at Kyo and saw his face was like stone, his eyes bore into her like beam bolts, and she knew that she had really gone too far. He meant well and she slapped him in the face…

 

“I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…” Meia began to say, but Kyo didn't say a word and stood up. As he started to walk away from the table, Meia knew that she had gone too far this time.

 

She stood up and stepped in front of Kyo and pleaded a bit more. “Kyo, I'm sorry, please…it's just…”

 

Kyo sighed a bit and made Meia look at him. His face lost it's hardness but his eyes still had their edge. “I know…what you said hurt Meia, it did, but I know why you did it. And I understand.”

 

“I'm sorry.” Meia said. “I just can't let go of it so quickly, no matter how much I wish that I could.” The blue haired girl sighed as she looked at Kyo, seeing that his eyes lost the hardness and edge it had.

 

“Not everything is easy to let go. Meia, I'm not asking you to change in one day, but try instead to recall the good and bad things and make peace with them, I know that no matter what anyone does, they can't change everything…but they can live here and now…you have a family and friends here too, and they are with you, just as your Ohma and Fahma are with you.”

 

Kyo then held Meia's hands. “I know that things are somewhat hard, but this life is yours, no matter how bad things are, and what no matter what the outcome, your parents love you…even though they had different ways of doing things and ways to show it to you…never forget them…and look to the future that they saw, and the one that is here for you with us all on this ship, and we'll be right there for you.”

 

Meia nodded. “Thanks…”

 

Kyo smiled a bit and hoped that Meia would decide to celebrate her birthday, and walk into the future that she had before her.

 

End of Flashback…

 

Kyo decided to see what he could do to help Meia move out of her fear of the past and embrace the future, and be with her family and friends on the Nirvana…but he had to do it in a way that didn't make Meia angry and retreat back into her desire not to celebrate her new life. Besides that, he had every intention to give Meia a good birthday, having known that since Meia had not been celebrating birthdays when she was supposedly fifteen since becoming a street thug, then she would not have celebrated her time as a debutante…she was a year over the time…but that certainly didn't mean she shouldn't have it.

 

As he got into the Register, he went on to talk to Gascogne about what she could tell him about Meia's actions when they all would try to celebrate her birthday ever since joining the pirates. Plus he did plan to have time to spend so no sense not making time for this one occasion…Meia had a tough life, and he hoped that soon, she would move on and embrace the future without losing the past.

 

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

 

As Meia went on her own way to the Simulation Room to bleed out some of the stress, practice more with her Gundam, and relieve some of her frustration, she also began to wonder about the past she had and thought about all the things she had gone through ever since joining the pirates when she was younger.

 

She knew that Kyo truly meant well, but even then, she was not all that keen to leave things in the past and move on, and for now she decided to let it be and take the time whenever it would be allowed soon, besides, it was still one more day before her birthday. But she still felt her fears and decided to at the moment try to sort out what to do with her life the way it was before and is now.

 

She still saw the not so well hidden attempts by her crew-mates to hide their preparations for tomorrow, and their attempts to try and make it seem that everything was as normal as they could be for today, but soon Meia steeled herself for the soon to come memories of the past, even after finally moving on a few months before after being badly wounded, there WERE still obstacles in her path to finally make peace with herself.

 

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

 

In the Register…

 

In the Register, activity was going on as usual, but even here, the crew were talking about Meia's soon to come birthday tomorrow. Two of the crew working were very much in deep discussion on that particular matter at this very moment.

 

“She always does that?” Kyo asked Gascogne as he wrote in an order and made the needed clearance for the shipment to the appropriate section as he chatted with the Head of the Nirvana's supply centre.

 

“Yeah, Meia's been like that throughout the time she had joined us, never celebrate a single birthday at all and ran away, using whatever trick she can to leave the party hanging, frankly it was getting very tiresome and some of the veterans back in the base thought that Meia would never be a fun person…though you seem to be doing much to get her out of that shell of hers.”

 

Gascogne commented, she was a bit surprised that Kyo had taken an interest on helping Meia celebrate her birthday.

 

Out of all the people in her mind, Kyo was the first to crack the shell that Meia surrounded herself in to hide from the past, she knew some of Meia's past history when she had been in the military before…so she had an understanding of how Meia felt…having lost a loved one in the past, that was why she didn't comment or help on the celebration bits too much, since she knew that until Meia moved on, there would be no way that she would just celebrate without making peace with the past along time ago.

 

Kyo nodded. “Yeah, I didn't PLAN on that before, but I guess a part of me wants Meia to smile and be happy more often.”

 

“That must mean you like her…don't you?” Gascogne said with a grin as she looked at Kyo, who naturally blushed a bit…making her grin and chuckle a bit more as she was aware of the affections Meia was now showing to Kyo, granted she wasn't as open about it as Dita, or as physically showing as Jura, not to mention she didn't spend that much time with the Gundam pilot…but there was no denying the facts that she had feelings for Kyo.

 

Gascogne was happy for that and knew also that Kyo likewise had affections for Meia, due to them being more and more friendly with one another…which was a totally contrast to their past time together all those months before.

 

“Yeah, I do like her, why, you find that odd?”

 

Gascogne merely grinned and replied. “Nope, not in the very least, since I can tell she likes you, but from what I've learned about Meia, it's not going to be easy for her to look back and move on.”

 

“Tell me about it. But I feel that in time…she will do alright.”

 

“Maybe…just out of curiosity…how DO you plan to help out in this celebration anyway Kyo? I know you can cook alongside Barnette when it comes to the preparation for the party, but it's making Meia stay and not run and hide that's the real trick here, no matter how much food you put on the table along with the gifts, it's not going to taste any better if you're guest of honour in there in the party to celebrate alongside you, you know?”

 

Kyo nodded in agreement as he thought about it more. “Hmm…I thought of that actually, though I am still trying to think up of a plan, I just hope that Meia isn't going to see through it, I'm not that sure my ability to hide a plan is up to date anyway.”

 

<Probably…but what I'm curious about is HOW Meia's going to react.> Gascogne thought to herself as she and Kyo went to work on the Register.

 

Naturally, it didn't take long for him to come up with some ideas, all he had to do now was talk to their rest of the gang and see if this can be done without breaking the secret, in the sense that would run away, the first however that he had to worry about were the routes Meia would take in order to escape the crew when they began to celebrate her birthday for her. Since the crew had been on this for quite a while now, he had to ask them what methods Meia had used to escape from the party for the past years before he came along…

 

The only thing that bothered him was the fact that he MIGHT be getting into more than he bargained for.

 

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

 

In the other section of the Nirvana…later…

 

Kyo decided to look for Dita and see if he could get some information concerning Meia's normal actions whenever it was her day to celebrate her birthday each year, since it seemed that Dita, being the one who was so cheerful would keep track of such things, it made sense for the Gundam pilot to ask her.

 

He then spotted Dita and Paiway looking through a doorway which he knew led to the simulation room for both the Vanguard pilots and the Gundam pilots, including himself. That meant that Meia was in there training and also hoping to have some peace for herself, as he got as close as he can without being caught through his stealth training he was now able to get close enough to overhear the two girls.

 

“I wish there was some way we CAN surprise her Pai.” Dita said sadly as she pouted.

 

“Well…we can't do much, we've been at it for the past years and we STILL haven't stopped her from running Kero!” Paiway said in agreement to her redhead friend for many years.

 

“Does this little brain-storming session between the two of you involve Meia's birthday or something?” Kyo as soon as he was there to get their attention.

 

Both girls were surprised but relaxed when they recognized the voice that they heard. Paiway however gave a pout and used her frog puppet to talk to Kyo and in her favorite cartoon voice.

 

“Don't you know it's absolutely impolite to sneak up on a lady when she's talking Kero?!” Paiway then glared a bit at Kyo, making Kyo laugh a bit along with Paiway and Dita.

 

As soon a she stopped laughing he apologized to the young nurse. “Sorry Pai, couldn't resist the idea. So, how is your training with Duero and Max going?” Kyo was curious on Paiway's progress and wanted to hear how the young girl was doing for himself. Duero and Max said that despite some of her squeamishness she was doing well enough.

 

Paiway sighed. “It's hard, but when I see all the healthy people here. I think it's very much worth it all.”

 

Kyo nodded. “Okay…now on the topic of what you two were planning, how is it going on keeping Meia here long enough to celebrate her birthday?”

 

Dita and Paiway looked surprised. “You're going to help us Mr. Alien?” The redhead asked in curiosity and wonder. Maybe Kyo would be the one to finally keep Leader here long enough for a proper celebration to be held for her birthday.

 

“Yeah….but we have to do this celebration in a way that not even Meia will suspect it.”

 

As they decided to brain-storm as to what they could do in order to prepare Meia's birthday celebration, the Gundam pilot wondered what the rest of the galaxy was doing as they moved on in the cosmos, he thought about all their comrades and friends that they had met in the past few months and hoped that they would remain safe from the Harvesters as they would have to be rallied soon.

 

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

 

Kyo had the right idea…for back on the Harvester Home-world…

 

“So tell me, what is the current status of the new machines we have made to support our Cube Fighters?” The Harvester Council leader asked he waited for the head technician to report their latest findings and the results of their latest creations.

 

The chosen female technician then gave her report. “Nearly fifty percent o0f the new machines' and their blue-prints have been installed into the CPUs all our Seed Ships here in dry dock and those Seed Ships are now ready to produce these new units, they however are still new so we might expect a bit of a time delay for their deployment…but considering their arsenals, they will prove useful to support our Cube Fighters.”

 

Images of newly upgraded Seed Ships were seen, though physically they were still the same as before, they were far larger and resembled large seed shaped like a fang and according to the test data, they were now able to release their new weapons. The best way to test these new units was to deploy them against live targets…and the Harvester leader already knew just where to deploy them.

 

“How many of these ships be fielded at the current time-frame?”

 

“At least a dozen at the most, the newly modified Seed Ships will need to be mass produced and changes have to be made for the rest of out still dry-docked fleet to include them in the force, for now, most of our forces are still the standard Cube Fighters. But the dozen already mentioned can be deployed immediately Master.”

 

The Harvester leader nodded. “Very well, I have a task for you all and those new weapons you have developed.”

 

“Name it, Master.”

 

“I need to test our newly born machines in a field deployment, to see if any upgrades will be needed on them. Therefore I want a deployment of half a dozen to the sector where our forces are stationed, I don't want our forces to engage the Nirvana at this time since we would be risking the exposure of the rest of our Mobile Suit development projects, once we have gained enough data from the field tests, then we can send more units to face off with the Nirvana, they will no doubt expect only Cube Fighters, and we cannot disappoint them. And also send the other half to defeat the Mission Station Delta 6…that station was where Rabat was exposed and the inhabitants were the ones who exposed the worthless traitor and his ties to us…they will be the first to suffer our wrath, and they will remind the galaxy that while we may have been recovering, we have not given up yet in our plan to collect what is ours by right.”

 

“It shall be done, Master.”

 

“By the way…what are the new units designated as?”

 

The female technician smiled and replied. “They are the Overlords, Master, a fitting name for what their arsenals are composed of. They will be ready within the day.”

 

The Harvester leader nodded and spoke to the head of their Council's Armada operations division.

 

“Contact the Marauders and tell them to wait for the signal to engage the Nirvana…, they may not destroy the Nirvana no matter how much we wish it, but we merely wish to remind them that we have not been sleeping on the job.”

 

A Council member raised his hand, catching the leader's attention. “Requesting permission to speak Master?”

 

“Go ahead.”

 

“Won't exposing the Marauders allow the Nirvana to know how we also keep track of the fleets of the other human worlds? We run the risk of exposing the other portion of our spy network.”

 

The leader nodded in agreement, but also replied with a smile. “True, but only if they recover the CPU drives of the Marauders…knowing that the Marauders were never mentioned in the archives of the battle-ships, we can assume that they are NOT aware of the existence of the Marauders, even more so if we send the command for the Marauders to purge all their protocols with the exception of their protocols to engage and destroy. The data concerning the other Marauders' locations will be purged as well, that will make the Nirvana guess that the ships are merely stealth attack craft. We begin now…”

 

Later…

 

The leader was now facing the monitor…looking at the soon to be completed frame of his own Gundam…the same one he himself will pilot to destroy the both the Nirvana and Kyo…for the Harvesters, the survival of his followers on Earth…and the completion of a nearly four centuries old vendetta…with a certain Gundam pilot.

 

“I had thought that I would be denied this chance to meet you Kyo…to end the blood-line that you and you're kin were born from. I nearly had that chance so long ago…but fate smiled upon you and your family, and I was too weak to finish you off…and I had to be trapped in a cell to live.”

 

The leader of the Harvesters then took off his upper uniform and there on his chest was a long, thin but jagged scar. He then traced it slowly.

 

“I have this…as a gift from you…for you're…” He then gave a smile of disgust as he looked at the holo-image of Kyo. “valiant defense of your father. I wanted to end his life…to crush the `successful' Ultimate…but you came to stop me.”

 

He then looked at Kyo's family portrait…the very same one Kyo had with his family before he was ironically presumed dead in the reactor explosion involving the Paeksis reactor. The leader and smirked at both Kira and Lacus Yamato and their children.

 

“I may not have been able to end you're life Kira…and you and your family died before I could get the chance…but if I am forever denied the chance to kill you…the father…and I fail to `reason' with him now after all these…then I will KILL the son!”

 

He then traced his scar…”I will relish the chance to slay you Kyo…only when you and you're `pure blood lineage' is wiped clean from this galaxy will the pain of this wound you gave me ever end. The pain I had to live with for four hundred years.”

 

The leader laughed with a disgusting warmth…and even with the distance between Council Halls and assembly plant, the Paeksis core of the Harvester Leader's Gundam hummed…as if it too was laughing and waiting for the right time to strike and slay the last of the Ultimate Coordinators…and the son of both Kira and Lacus.

 

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

 

The rest of the galaxy had much to do. The Resistance was now getting stronger, and would be strong enough to repel the Harvesters…but lately there had been a decrease in the activity of the Harvester Armadas.

 

Many would make the foolish assumption that the Harvesters of earth had finally given up their insane desire to use the organs of people. But that was not what the military specialists believed, not in the very least. They knew that something big would happen for the Harvesters to lessen their attacks and organ harvesting missions all of the sudden.

 

They were planning something…something big.

 

The people of the human colonies had no idea what was happening…

 

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

 

The Nirvana…a day before Meia's birthday…

 

Kyo woke up early as he managed to tip-toe quietly out of the room he stayed in with Meia…just before turning in for the night, the day before, he had gone into the kitchen, cooking food and supplies, along with coordinating the surprise party for Meia. Apparently, the other members of the crew also got involved, even the men.

 

Bart agreed to help keep a private comm. channel online for them to coordinate their efforts to keep Meia from attempting to escape. Though he doubted that part from happening, he never knew with Meia, long before she told him about her past, and before they got along, he used to think that she had a chip on her shoulder the size of a boulder. But like any good planner, he always made sure that he had a back-up plan for possible contingencies.

 

Aleck decided to help appear as if he was giving the Vanguard pilots new tips on piloting their Vanguards, despite them being highly proficient, there was no doubt that Aleck was by far the most technically sound user of Vanguards in the entire ship, plus he WAS one of the test pilots that helped create the mecha in the first place, so there would be no doubt of his skills and presence. Meia knew that too since she had seen Aleck perform s well…so she could not doubt his involvement…at least too much that is.

 

Duero also helped in the process, by helping maintain the illusion of being engrossed in his studies on the past alongside his brother…which was very much half the truth anyway. He had been familiar with the concept of birthdays, just like anyone, else, but his knowledge was only limited the to scope of the celebrations of his worlds' leaders…and they were already too common in the eyes of the medic.

 

The same thing could be said for his younger brother Max, who however had been in a similar situation with various members of the female crew of the Emerald Dawn. He had been stunned before, but when he figured out that it was to celebrate the years people had lived ever since they were born…naturally his ways of celebrating and that of his world clashed with that of the women so he had to learn. Though this was the first time he would have to KEEP a celebration a secret from the celebrant.

 

Many women were more than willing to help in the efforts to celebrate their most respected and trusted member, they were hoping that this time, this time, they could show just how much they appreciated Meia's efforts for so many years, and make her feel happy once more.

 

Kyo had to take care of other details…but he hoped on one thing however…that the Harvesters would not suddenly show up and mess up all the carefully made plans, he had a chance to make Meia feel whole and with the crew…and part of him hoped that he was doing the right thing.

 

All he had to do was find a certain young mother AND her baby and ask permission.

 

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

 

Back on Delta Six…

 

Kouji, his sister Maia, and the rest of the Delta 6 defense crew were getting strange feelings as they lead their squadron of scout ships out on patrol around the sector with their Gundams in the lead. Ever since their meeting with Jin, Tanaki, and Kazuki and the rest of the Nirvana's crew, the inhabitants of Mission Delta Six had been guarding themselves against any further Harvester attacks. So far there had been occasional encounters with raiding Cube Fighters and perhaps a Seed Ship or two. But they were able to hold the line and exterminate them with their upgraded Shinobi and Kunoichi Gundams and the newly formed defense forces had been able to beat them back, thanks to some amounts of technology given to them by the Megele pirates and their Talark allies. In addition to the tachyon transmitter/communicators and the piles of Talark pill rations, the Mission had undergone massive upgrades and received many essential components and weaponry, and the two Yurenians were more capable with their new skills, thanks to the training they received from the Gundam pilot of Infinite Freedom. With all that, the inhabitants were more capable in battle now against the Harvesters.

 

Recently however, the attacks began to die down in intensity, and raiding parties of Harvester units were less frequent and patrols would rarely come across a single Cube Fighter or any kind of Earth vessel. It was as if the Harvesters became either extinct or had given up in their raids.

 

The Asuka siblings and their comrades were getting worried about this lull in action from their enemies. It was way too easy to let one's guard down. As they flew in each of their Gundams, they each talked with one another, and wondered if the Earth was purposely halting their attacks in order to fool them into lowering their guard, and they were planning something big. It wasn't like the Harvesters to be inactive for this long. Everyone knew how desperate they were for new organs and stop at nothing to get them…So where were they?

 

Just then, their long-range sensors began picking up something on the edge of the sector's territory. They signalled each other and their wingmen to follow them as they came closer to contact with the unknown object, they each readied their power discus, just in case…

 

When they all came close enough for theirs sensors to give them a visual identification of the object, their eyes widened in surprise as they looked at the new arrival.

 

The thing…resembled a Harvester Seed Ship, but it appeared more massive and like a fang or a spear tip. It seemed to have been heavily modified and could carry even larger numbers of Cube Fighters…but that was when they noted that out of nowhere, more of the strange ships came out from hiding…along with `normal' Seed Ships, which at least half a dozen and so were the strange fang-like Seed Ships.

 

Something was wrong…seriously wrong…

 

It was then that the new Seed Ships' maws began to open and out came a spiked cylindrical mass and in a second the object broke apart and out came massive combat units, their way of being deployed was similar to the Cube Fighters…but that was where the similarities ended as the new weapons of the Harvesters attacked.

 

That was when the battle began…

 

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

 

Later, back at the Nirvana…

 

Meia woke up and knew the day she knew and still dreaded as her birthday had just arrived. As she got up she still thought about Kyo's words to her the previous day and began to wonder what could she do to move on with her life after all that she had endured after the event that damaged Megele, made her an outcast, a punk, and many more. It hurt a great deal to recall those events and how much they affected her.

 

Try as she might, she still felt uneasy about the whole thing as memories of the past came back to her, most of them however were not of the happy times, but of the sad and worst times of her life. Those were reminding her in a way of the bad things that made her move on to being what she had gone through before ever joining the pirates. This made her hope that for today…she could have time for herself and sort out the mess.

 

She knew that Kyo would be having a hand in the celebrations, and she didn't want to disappoint Kyo who asked her to join in her birthday celebration, and even more so if Kyo actually cooked the food for her party…she wanted to try more of his cooking since she had a taste back on the Christmas celebration many months before, but she still felt ill-prepared to completely face the past.

 

As she got into her normal routine, she decided to put on her normal chest padding, she had kept her Gundam piloting uniform in a separate locker and would wear it when she would be training in her Gundam or going out in a mission with her Gundam.

 

She then made her way to the Dread planning room, merely to see if the room was available for use, she may no longer be the Dread squadron leader due to her Dread being morphed by the Paeksis into a Gundam unit, she had more experience with Dread operations and decided to make some needed adjustments to the combat formations of the Dreads with the Vanguards. It would be a sound strategy and would be helpful.

 

However, another voice…namely the one that told her that she was still too chicken to show her feelings for Kyo was now asking her if she was still too chicken to finally move on and even spend time with her friends on the pirates, and most all with Kyo. She was able to quiet the voice for a moment and focused on her plan to be in the room to help the Dread pilots with their strategies.

 

That WAS a legitimate reason to miss out, right?

 

Unfortunately for her, it appeared that her previous plans had been thoroughly scouted out as Jura was there tapping her foot on the door and giving a sigh of disappointment.

 

“Jura, what's up?”

 

The blonde looked at the door and sighed. “The Dread teams are busy in there, Barnette's taking in her new job as the Dread squadrons' seriously today. She had them assemble for a meeting just this morning.”

 

“Hmmm…I see.” Meia thought to herself, while she was proud in the sense that Barnette was taking her duties seriously, she couldn't help but feel that something was a bit off.

 

“You want to take a look?” Jura asked warmly as she reached for the door. “I can call in and say you've got a good deal to teach them and Barnette, since she is still kind of new to the whole thing as the Dreads' commander. Both you and I are now Gundam pilots, but I…”

 

Meia shook her head. “No need Jura, I think they can handle things on their own. All right, if there isn't anything, I'll be in the Hanger Bay, I'll check on the Silver Lightning to see if I've got the time to take my Gundam out on a field test run.”

 

“All right, see you Meia.”

 

As soon as Meai was out of sight, Jura reached and grabbed her communicator. “Kyo, it's me, Jura.”

 

“Did she suspect anything?” Kyo asked as he spoke to the blonde using the private comm. frequency Bart had selected for them to use to coordinate the entire celebration without alerting Meia. Bart had found a frequency that worked fine and used that to their advantage while running through the comm. database on routine training.

 

“No, but she's heading for the Hanger to where our Gundams are, I think she's trying to leave and go out on patrol.”

 

“Thanks for the heads up Jura, you'd better hurry to the party, I'm going to need your help on something there for Meia, hope she likes it too.”

 

“Okay…by the way Kyo, I hope that when it's my birthday, we don't do any cloak and dagger stuff…THAT I would rather do when we're in PRIVATE, okay?” Jura said in a seductive but teasing tone…

 

On the other line, Kyo blushed and gulped a bit, he had a very accurate idea that the blonde will be the next person he'd be with for the next week.

 

“I'll keep that in mind.”

 

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

 

Elsewhere…things were NOT going well…

 

The Delta 6 mission was in now for the fight of their lives…

 

“DAMN!! THESE NEW HARVESTERS ARE TOUGH!!! HOW IN THE HELL DID THE HARVESTERS MAKE THEM?!” A pilot screamed as he and his fellow pilots broke away in quick acceleration as they were being shot at and pursued by the new Harvester units, while some their comrades were not so fortunate as the new horrors came at their ships and tore them apart. This was further compounded with the involvement of the newly released Cube Fighters.

 

The Overlords came in two forms, the first was humanoid with curving spikes on both shoulders and carried a spiked shield connected to the left arm. The mecha would draw out an axe-like weapon and that would reveal a deadly beam edge that would slice through alloy plate like a heated knife through butter. They also were armed with high explosive grenades, with different functions. Pilots on the side of the Mission were either blown down by explosive ones, other pilots would have their scanners and communications gummed up by the jamming clouds released by another type of grenade, while the others were barely able to escape being incinerated by a incendiary grenade. They also carried other attached weapons, beam rifles, a bazooka, and a massive recoilless rifle. (*)

 

The second was the same form but far larger and better armed, though it did not have the grenades, in replacement for the explosive charges, they were armed with what appeared to highly charged electrical discharge whips that was used to wrap around the fighters and destroy them, it was also armed with a rapid firing four barrelled beam cannon attachment to the left arm. And to replace it's other form's melee weapon, it was armed with an extending sword that had beam emitters on the edges. It may not have any other ranged weapons, but in conjunction with it's other Overlord form, this version was a deadly threat. (**)

 

The Overlords were armed with powerful propulsion units and were quite nimble despite being heavy in appearance and design. They unleashed a wave of energy blasts, melee strikes and solid projectiles, which tore into the hulls of the Mission's defensive fighters. Bands of the new Harvester machines continued to attack as they slammed into the defensive ranks of the Mission and made their way to the Station itself, though many of them were destroyed by combined assaults by the Mission's defensive forces, more were still coming.

 

However, a vast majority of them along with the Cube Fighters would never make to the Mission as both the Shinobi and Kunoichi Gundams darted into their ranks like enraged fireflies and decimated them while using stealth mode and appearing in other areas to bombard the enemy with their beam arsenals. The two Gundam pilots and their machines wasted no time, pushing themselves to the utmost to prevent the deaths of many innocent people on the station. As they fought in tandem, they realized that this must have explained the lull in Harvester activity in their sector for some time, no doubt the Harvesters had decided to re-vamp their entire fleet and include new weapons…namely the Overlords

 

Kouji and Maia became more concerned as the new Harvester war-machines began to break through their line of defense to attack the station. The Mission's defense systems came online as a defensive barrier was activated and shielded the Station. Defensive turrets came online and moved into firing position. Laser blasts and cannon bolts were fired at the Harvester Overlord Mobile Suits as the people tried in desperation to force back this new and deadlier foe from their old enemies.

 

The new weapons of the Harvesters were like that of their brethren the Cube Fighters, well versed in swarm tactics and would never stop attacking, those of the first form in the rear unleashed a barrage of their ranged weapons at the shield, while those that came close enough began slashing at the shield with their beam melee weapons and heat whips with unstoppable force. There were a good number that were destroyed by the turrets, but it took less than thirty seconds for the new Harvester horde to bust their way through the shield, allowing more of their brethren to pass through. Once those that landed on the surface of the station began attacking the Mission's hulls with their beam claws and sword blades, tearing past the metals like they were tissue paper.

 

The defenders of the Mission were now caught between a rock and a hard place as they tried desperately to fight back. The new weapons of the Harvesters were all Mobile Suits, and when working in tandem with Cube Fighters…they proved to be a serious threat indeed. They had seen the Harvesters unleash their small retriever drones into stations to butcher the people inside. The areas of the mission that were attacked and infiltrated were quickly evacuated and sealed to prevent the machines from spreading, but time was against them all.

 

Both siblings now went to defend the Mission in their own locations, as they both went into SEED mode.

 

Kouji began to use his Gundam's anti-ship sword to slash past the enemy Overlords, several of them tried to use their beam tomahawks but those were either dodged by the Gundam or blocked by the shield emitters built into both hands, along with the effective molecular shield. Kouji also managed to fight them off and when they got off the station, the Yurenian took out his Gundam's beam cannon and fired at them, reducing more into scrap in flight.

 

He spotted another batch of Cube Fighters and took out both beam boomerangs and launched the weapons at the Harvester units, shredding several and when the others dodged, they charged to finish off the brother, and were cut down when the beam edged weapons came back to their owner, resulting in them being shredded by the weapons. Kouji recovered the boomerangs and flew to the next side while avoiding incoming beam fire and blocked that with his Gundam's beam shields and responded in kind, while dodging more missile fire.

 

As soon as he arrived several more Overlords, this time the bigger variety came at him with their heat whips, and Kouji had to dodge several of them and retaliated with his anti-ship sword, slicing off a few and before his enemies could recover, the Gundam activated it's Mirage Colloid systems and vanished before then could strike back with their beam swords. The Overlords barely had tem to recover when their weapons were suddenly blown apart by beam bolts and they were suddenly slashed and torn apart by several attacks that their sensors didn't pick up.

 

Kouji however knew that despite the defeat of the attackers on the surface of the Mission, the attacks won't ever end if they didn't take out the Seed Ships.

 

“Maia! I'm heading there to back you up!”

 

“Thanks, bro! The enemy is really persistent up here!”

 

The Shinobi then went to back up it's sister Gundam using it's `Wings of Light' system to arrive beside it's sister Gundam and now both went into the fight as they worked in tandem with the Mission Defense Force as more Overlords and Cube Fighters were jumping into the fray.

 

Kouji used the hologram system of his Gundam and the Mirage Colloid to confuse them first while Maia converted her Gundam into quadruped mode and began to bombard the enemy and rush into them and slice them down before they can recover.

 

Casualties had been considerable, but the Mission was fighting back.

 

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

 

In the Mission's Command Centre…

 

“Patch, how bad is it?”

 

Liz asked as Patch and the rest of the inner Mission defensive force were ordered to contain some or all of the Harvester drones in the sections they had infested in keep them there if possible, the women knew that their weaponry had been boosted, in terms of numbers and uses, the Station's weapons had been badly damaged but were still functioning. Their stores of personal weaponry was also boosted with additions of newly upgraded Talark assault rifles with supplies of ammunition and maintenance kits from the Nirvana, along with spare Megele laser rifles and power packs for them to defend themselves.

 

“The drones have infested at least Decks 9 to 11, the good news is that we've managed to keep them away from the civilian blocks, but they're also sabotaging the systems and trying to escape.”

 

The woman growled at the attackers as she saw them through the Station's cameras.

 

“Patch, I want you and the others to keep them busy as long as you can, Kouji and the others will take out the Seed Ships to stop them…until we do, we can only hold them off for as long as we can!”

 

“Got it Liz!”

 

Liz then contacted all the defensive gunner personnel. “Maintain fire and keep those Harvesters off our home, and loan as much support fire to the defensive forces, watch out for friendly fire and take your best shots! WE won't lose our home to them ever again!!!”

 

“You heard the leader…let's do this!”

 

Patch and the rest of the security forces of Delta 6, comprised of surviving military, and security personnel along with volunteers armed up their weapons and their set barricades to hold off the Harvester drones and keep them from harming the station's inhabitants, they all had sent he handiwork of the monsters in their worlds, and they were not going to let it happen again.

 

Patch also went on to coordinate the rest of the defensive forces and their officers via COM links that were not affected by the attacks of the Harvesters on the Station's systems.

 

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

 

Back at the Nirvana…

 

Meia arrived at the Hanger and was quite surprised to see Parfet and her engineering crew working on the Gundams, along with Kyo's own Gundam, which was a bit odd since Kyo was normally the one who did all the work on his Gundam since he knew the Paeksis enhanced systems better than anyone else on the ship, and the fact that it responded to him alone was another reason as well.

 

“Hi Meia!” Parfet waved at her comrade as she was busy running a diagnostic tool over a nearby access panel on her Silver Lightning Gundam.

 

“What's going on Parfet?”

 

“I've decided to get some data and maintenance work done on your Gundam units and see if I can tweak the performance a bit.”

 

“How do you plan to do that?” Meia was curious as to how Parfet would accomplish this since most of their Gundams' core systems were using Paeksis enhancements, the original Paeksis enhanced Gundam was Kyo's Gundam and it was the hardest to understand by Parfet and her crew.

 

“The plans used by the Paeksis to reformat your Dreads were from plans I got from Freedom before it evolved into the I-Freedom…so I do have the ideas on some of the systems that can be updated, but this will be for a day so I can't let any of the Gundams be taken out on patrol right now, sorry.”

 

“But…”

 

Meia realized that this might be the planning done by the girls, they had finally figured out how to stop her from escaping the birthday celebrations and to keep her here on the ship. And she started to have a sneaky suspicion about Kyo's possible involvement.

 

She sighed and decided to head off in the direction of the Command Bridge…it was high time she put a stop to this and let them know that she needed some time for herself to sort out her situation…plus it was time she spoke to Kyo anyway.

 

As soon as she walked out of sight, Parfet grabbed her communicator and reported to the others.

 

“Parfet here…we've managed to keep Meia from using her Gundam to escape from the ship.”

 

“Thanks a lot Parfet! We'll keep in touch!” Dita called out as the head engineer looked forlornly and sighed.

 

“Oh…I just hope I don't in trouble for this!” the bespectacled engineer moaned a bit as she went back to her `work' in order to keep up the appearance.

 

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

 

In the Medical Bay…

 

“Okay, at least we've sealed those two parts of Meia's escape routes.” Max said as he checked the data checklist.

 

“Hmmm…knowing Meia, she's not giving up easy, any other possible things she can try Dita?” Kyo asked as he began to think about the possibilities of what Meia might try to get out of the party.

 

Dita then gave a worried look as she realized something. “She might go over and complain to either the Commander or the Captain!”

 

Aleck nodded in agreement as he guessed the effects of that happening. “Yep, that could be bad, all it takes is a word from the higher ups and all our plans go up in smoke.”

 

“Yeah, all it takes is a word from the Boss or Commander and all our efforts go out the pipes, Kero!” Paiway sighed as she also knew that that would mean.

 

“Then the best chance we have is to dictate Meia's movements on the ship from now on, unfortunately we need something to distract her long enough for the party planning to be completed or we'll never get things done quickly.” Duero replied as he also thought it over, not planning to have all the efforts they had put into this chance to help Meia celebrate her birthday go to waste.

 

Kyo thought it over and decided to make a call. “I know just what to do; you guys will need to do this without me.”

 

“What do you have in mind?”

 

Kyo merely smiled a bit. “I was going to take care of Lacus today since Ezra's got work to do. All I need to do is ask Ezra if things will be fine if I can take care of Lacus for today, plus it'll keep Pyoro from trying anymore of that weird Pyoro 2 stuff on Lacus, and this will help, I don't think Ezra will mind. I'll see you later guys, meet me there and we can get things underway so we can finally have that party for Meia.”

 

“Okay!”

 

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

 

Later… At the bridge section

 

“You want to ask if Meia can baby-sit Lacus with you?” Ezra asked with some surprise, as she looked over to her sleeping baby who snuggled into her pillows warmly and merely snored gently away.

 

She had been asked by Kyo if she would mind if he would be taking care of Lacus for today, if she would be okay with it. She agreed since Lacus knew who Kyo was, having delivered her into the world, and saved her life along with hers, back then the idea of a man taking care of a female baby would have been unthinkable on Megele, but Ezra knew that she could really trust Kyo to take care of Lacus and Lacus treated Kyo like a surrogate parent and was cheerful of his presence, but with Meia, well this could be interesting.

 

“Yeah, I'll take care of Lacus with Meia, this will help keep her from running away and I do want to have time with Lacus, and this seems to work out fine to me, plus it'll keep a certain robot from bothering Lacus when she goes to sleep. But I need to know if, you're okay with it?”

 

Ezra thought about the merits of the idea. Pyoro had good intentions and had on occasion, been Lacus's caretaker, but Kyo had made it clear that Lacus would be better growing up with her birth mother, and not with the robot, and despite Pyoro's attempts to subvert the idea, he never got any headway with Kyo, who naturally threatened to either throw him out into the airlock, or re-program him into thinking he was a dog or a living vegetable. Ezra also agreed with the idea, Kyo had helped her deal with being a mother when some things were bit hard on her and she knew how to take care of her baby, just like her mothers raised her when she was like her daughter.

 

“Go ahead, I'll have Pyoro bring Lacus and her baby care supplies to you.”

 

“Thanks, Ezra. I'll see you later. Tell Pyoro to be here in twenty minutes in the medical bay…or I'll be really angry at him.”

 

“Okay Kyo, good luck.”

 

The gentle woman then called Pyoro over. “Pyoro, I want you to take lacus to the Medical Bay.”

 

“All right, Pyoro will get to watch over Pyoro 2 again!”

 

Ezra shook her head gently with a smile. “Sorry, but Kyo is watching over Lacus tonight, that's why I want you to take her to him, he's in the medical bay.”

 

Pyoro was indignant as he looked at the gentle bridge officer. “I can take good care of Pyoro 2!”

 

Ezra sighed. “Must I remind you that Lacus is MY daughter and not yours Pyoro-chan? And I did have a discussion about that name…now please hurry up, Kyo is expecting Lacus in the Medical Bay in twenty minutes.”

 

Pyoro tried to argue, but a warning glare from Ezra and the other women, namely Celtic, Amarone, Belvedere, and Misty made the robot go silent. Misty was also in on the plan since she had a great deal of respect for Meia, and to see Meia happy was one thing the girl liked to see. Just as the robot pushed Lacus's hover cradle out, Ezra called out.

 

“And Pyoro-chan, please don't try and sneak away with my daughter, if you don't arrive in twenty minutes at the Medical Bay…Kyo will KNOW you have her and you KNOW how protective he is about Lacus.” The gentle bridge officer said with a smile as she went back to work.

 

Recalling the treatments it got from Kyo when it tried to get involved with Lacus, made the robot shudder a bit and decided that for today, it would just have to help out, and hope that sooner or later, it too would take care of Pyoro 2.

 

As the robot left the room, it got a call from Kyo.

 

“I'm waiting Pyoro, and just so you know I installed a tracking module on you last night when you were being repaired, so don't even TRY and get lost with Lacus. I know you want to take care of her, but now is not the time. Hurry up to the Medical Bay, or I WILL re-program you when I find you.”

 

“I'm coming!”

 

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

 

Back at the Home-world of the Harvesters…

 

The Harvester Fleet Operations officer smiled a bit as he had gotten word of a portion of their unaltered forces were now ready to pounce on the Nirvana…just to cause enough of a ruckus to wake up the pirates remind them that they may be quiet, but they were not gone from the scene.

 

He then went and left a message for the Supreme leader to be informed of his intentions and await further orders. The forces in front of the Nirvana were the standard Cube Fighters and they would work their best if they melded with the rest of the assembled Marauder Ships.

 

The leader however decided to wait until he had gotten word about his deployed Overlords and gauge the performance of the new Harvester units.

 

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

 

The Mission Forces were fighting hard for their lives as Liz sends a Re-charge beam to both the Kunoichi and Shinobi Gundams when their power cells needed a boost, both Gundams were now at the forefront of the attack and had to be in order to take out the Harvesters' new Overlord units that had decimated a good portion of the Mission's defensive garrison. Kouji had been going at it with his SEED mode and so has his sister, but they knew that they need to take out the Seed Ships to halt the attack.

 

Maia then focused on the standard Cube Fighter Seed Ships so that the Overlords would be denied reinforcements as she led her strike team into the fight. Several Cube Fighters were shredded apart by the Kunoichi's beam sabers and their weapons were blocked by it's shield as they tried to bushwhack the Gundam in a three way ambush that the former Yurenian soldier fights through with skill. She then blasts away with her beam rifle at several moiré before they can open fire at her.

 

The fighters of the Mission forces supported Maia as she began to leap using her Gundam's thrusters and then convert into quadruped mode and used her Gundam's beam blades to slice through the enemy formations and even slice past the armour of a Seed Ship, as the Seed Ship used it's tendrils, Maia leaps aside, reverts her Gundam back to human form and introduces her beam saber's blade into the open maw of the Seed Ship, skewering it and then leaping back to blast at it and watch as it fell. She then deals with another batch of Cube Fighters as she targets yet another Seed Ship to lighten the load as the Cube Fighters of the Seed Ship she had previously destroyed were now inactive.

 

As his sister dealt with her enemies, Kouji was also busy on his won, using his Gundam's beam shields to block more weapons fire for the Overlords and block their respective attacks, he retaliated by firing his palm beam cannon once he was able to get close enough and grab the faces of two Overlords, the close range blasts ripped off the heads of the Overlords and sent them to the scrap heap. Several Overlord Mark 2 units then tried to catch him with their heat whips to slice him apart.

 

He dodges the attempts, but blocks a beam sword attack that tries to take off the head of his Gundam with his beam shield and strikes with a kick to side and slams his Gundam's left hand into the mid-section and fires his palm cannon, ripping the Overlord into two with one shot. He then manages to do the same with another Overlord as the Shinobi dodged the whip and was able to fire the beam cannon in the palm to severe the arm from the elbow, and introducing the Shinobi Gundam's anti-ship sword with an upward slash that tore the Overlord into two.

 

Kouji then used the `Wings of Light' and the Mirage Colloid system to confuse more of his enemies and he tossed his beam boomerangs, ripping off arms and legs with the weaponry and then took out his beam cannon after retrieving the returning weapons and blasted down a Seed Ship in the mouth as it was about to unleash more Overlords. There were five more and Kouji knew that he would have to ration his power levels until they could win the fight.

 

Maia thought the same as she still went on to eliminate the Cube Fighters that still were present. While still in quadruped mode, the Kunoichi then lashed out with both beam blades and beam cannons to destroy the targets with brutal passes and long range shots. She reconverted back to Gundam mode and attacked with both beam sabers, slicing off the barrels of the two Overlords' guns and then introduced both her beam sabers into their heads. As she pulled them out she barely blocked a barrage of beam canon rounds and had to jet away and fight alongside her brother as he too moved away from a concerted beam barrage.

 

Both Gundams then moved aside from another barrage and went into Mirage Colloid mode and then appeared to rain combined destruction on their foes as they were able o avoid retaliation, but they knew that their power supplies were nearly empty and they had to move fast.

 

Kouji then contacted the Mission.

 

“Liz! My sister and I need another Power beam charge! We've got them on the run, but the Seed Ships HAVE to go!”

 

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

 

In the control room…

 

Liz nodded as she tracked the transmissions from the Asuka siblings. She ordered the rest of the battery forces to maintain fire and support the defense forces and to support the Gundams, who were fighting with all their might and they could never afford to lose Kouji and Maia, they were not just defenders of the station, but their family…they had lost too much to lose this fight now!

 

“Understood! All batteries, prepare to fire the recharge beams to both the Shinobi and Kunoichi Gundams. Batteries, maintain covering fire to all forces until the battle is over.”

 

“Understood Liz!” The officers of the said departments said as they began to re-double their efforts.

 

The techs manning the recharge station for both the Shinobi and Kunoichi Gundams were now gathering more power from the reactor of the Mission station and other reserve power systems to boost the range of the beams and give the Gundams the needed charge to remain in combat until the battle was over. It was their best weapon, allowing the Gundams to remain hidden for some time in the defense of the station…until today. The techs however worked on as they were able to create enough energy to send a beam transfer.

 

Outside of the station…

 

A pair of beams was fired from the station, both were already directed to lock into the Shinobi and the Kunoichi Gundams, and they themselves homed in on where they would be siphoned in to recharge the power reactors of the Gundams along with their power batteries.

 

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

 

The Gundams of the Asuka siblings were now able to absorb the beams and they were ready to fight as the Shinobi used it's Wings of Light and the Mirage Colloid hologram system to confuse more Overlord units and slashed them apart, any that tried to escape were torn down by the Gundam's other weapons, including beam cannons and beam boomerangs, Kouji then used the beam boomerangs like beam sabers as he slashed past a pair of Overlords and caught up with a Seed Ship and fired his palm cannons on it's closing maw and then flew aside and jammed his Gundam's anti-ship sword into the side of the Seed Ship which it was still reeling from the first attacks of the Gundam so it was destroyed quickly, Kouji then flew past a pair of the Seed Ships that open fired at the wrong time and hit each other.

 

The pair were reeling and about let loose more of their Overlord units, but Maia came at them with her Gundam in it's quad mode and used her beam cannons and beam blades to rip into all of them. The Gundam first smashed the leftmost Seed Ship from behind, ripped through it and blasted apart it's mass of nearly released Overlords and they too were destroyed, along with the other mass and then she smashed through the other Seed Ship, who's maw was open.

 

The Asuka sibling then fired her Gundam's ranged weapons to imbalance another Seed Ship and as the ship reeled she reverted her Gundam back to main form and blocked it's attacking tendrils with her shield, side-stepping and then jamming her beam saber into the side and then she took out her beam rifle and blasted into the opening after putting back her beam saber and made a mess of the insides of the Seed Ship, melting it's internal systems with beam fire.

 

Both siblings were tired, but they would not give up…neither would the defenders of Delta 6 as they were inspired by the spirited resistance of the siblings and pressed the assault on the Harvesters and they ere doing fine as a pair of Seed Ships were overwhelmed by the combined assault..

 

Inside the Mission, the defense forces were still able to hold the line despite more losses. Patch and the officers rallied their squadrons while the reserve troopers moved out the residents and reinforced weaken areas with their weapons and their lives in order to contain the Harvesters and prevent them from winning and taking over the station.

 

All the forces of the Mission would not stop until they won and showed the Harvesters that no matter what, their time of pushing mankind around and treating them like cattle and spare parts was OVER!

 

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

 

Back at the Nirvana…

 

Meia finally arrived to the corridors that would lead her to where the Captain and the Commander were, namely this was the path to the bridge, but to her surprise, there was Kyo, Dita, Paiway, Aleck Koubayashi and the McFile siblings. All of them were discussing things with one another…with Kyo being in the lead of the discussion.

 

“I know you guys are busy…but I can't do everything you know…no matter how knowledgeable I am about this.”

 

Dita then turned and smiled as she greeted Meia.

 

“Oh…hello Leader, I though you were on patrol today…something came up?” The redhead asked innocently.

 

“I was…I was also trying to come up with some new plans for the battles we'll be in using the Super GunDread alongside the Dreads the next time we would fight the Harvesters. But the Dread squadrons were very busy for some reason.” She suspected something was also being hatched in front of her, but what she had no idea or clue whatsoever.

 

Kyo sighed while apparently keeping himself hidden by the others as he spoke once more to the assembled group, he sounded as if whatever he had to do was very important and he needed help to do this. The only part of him she could see was his face.

 

She was curious now on what was going on here, and what was she missing, Kyo would ask for help, but when it came to something he was very knowledgeable about, he didn't ask for too much help, not that he was being stubborn, but he wanted to handle it himself and not trouble the others…for him to be asking for assistance was a bit out of the ordinary to her.

 

“Well?”

 

Duero, and Max shook their heads.

 

“As much as I'd love to help you Kyo, my hands are tied, Parfet asked me to help her with the repairs to the Gundams.”

 

The elder sibling said as she looked at Kyo, who then asked the same question to the younger brother, who also shook his head.

 

“Sorry, I've got a ton of things to do in the Medical Bay so I can't exactly be available all the time.”

 

Aleck also shook his head. Dita was then nudged by her friend Paiway and she seemed to get into the swing of things, by sighing sadly and speaking in a sad tone to even it up.

 

“Oh, what are we going to do now? I can't help Mr. Alien since I have some things to do with Belvedere and the others.”

 

Meia was getting rather confused, along with annoyed and wondered just what was going on in front of her.

 

“Can you all please tell me what is going on?!”

 

Kyo sighed and looked at Meia. “I need someone to help me watch over someone.” He was silently hoping that Meia would take the bait and then their plan would work…hopefully.

 

“Well…if they are all so busy, I guess I can help out, just who are you supposed to watch over anyway Kyo?” Meia decided that she might as well find out what was going on...plus it would be the best chance to get closer with Kyo, a part of her reasoned slyly to her...even if she would have to be stuck on the ship…awaiting the arrival of her birthday celebration…plus maybe she can finally put the past behind her for good this time.

 

Kyo smiled and so did the others and to Meia's surprise and shock. He was carrying none other than Ezra's daughter Lacus in a harness on his chest, and a bag which she knew held her baby supplies.

 

“I was asked by Ezra to baby-sit her daughter for today, and I was hoping to have some help about this situation, since even though I know some things about taking care of a baby, but I don't know everything about the whole procedure. Thanks for coming in to help me, Lacus needs to have a female companion apart from just me anyway.”

 

Meia looked a bit stunned as she realized that she had just volunteered herself for something she was NOT qualified to ever do…she tried to reason and talk her way out of this, but before she could say anything, she, Kyo, and Lacus were wished well by the others and she was handed Lacus's baby supplies by Dita who smiled and asked her to help out Mr. Alien.

 

The only thought in Meia's brain was…<Damn! They got me good today!>

 

She then looked at Kyo who looked at her with a simple smile and he then turned his attention to Lacus who smiled at him and even played with some of his brown hair, making the Gundam pilot laugh a bit, and so did Lacus…the scene made Meia stop thinking about her problems as it seemed that Kyo certainly had a way with children as the female baby was quite taken by her male baby-sitter.

 

Kyo then spoke to Lacus. “Lacus, we're going to have a friend to help me take care of you today, can you say hello to Auntie Meia?”

 

<Auntie?!> Meia was shocked and was about to retort but stopped that as Lacus was handed to her, and she knew that since she knew nothing about taking care of babies, the baby would not feel comfortable with her. And sure enough…

 

“WWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!”

 

Lacus bawled her tears out and struggled while in Meia's hands, but the presence of the male Gundam pilot seemed to calm her down as he spoke softly to her and Meia was then asked to just slowly hold the baby by Kyo. The baby stiffened a bit, but seemed to calm down and snuggle into Meia's arms.

 

“Come on, we'll take her to your room, it'll take Ezra a few hours to finish all her work so we're stuck with taking care of Lacus for the time being. By the way…when you hold her, both of you look like you will get along very well.” Kyo said in reassurance to Meia, who blushed and sighed a bit as she held the calm and apparently sleeping baby.

 

Looks like she wasn't leaving anytime soon… though being in Kyo's company certainly didn't make that fact a bad thing in her mind. As she followed the Gundam pilot to the direction of her room for both of them to watch over Ezra's daughter.

 

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

 

The Harvester Leader just decided to allow the strike as long as a band of Cube Fighters were along to support the Marauders in their surprise attacks. The Fleet Officer nodded with relish as he and the rest of his staff began sending the orders for the attack to be initiated.

 

The rest of the Harvesters waited for news of the outcome between their new Overlords and the Delta 6 Mission.

 

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

 

Back at Delta 6…

 

The Harvesters had downed more of the defense forces, both in the station and outside of it as they pressed the attack, but so did the Delta 6 defenders both in and out of the station as the Gundams went on the offensive, their batteries fully charged as they attacked at full throttle, using their Mirage Colloid to confuse the Harvester units' sensors and shred them to bits.

 

But both Kouji and Maia knew that the best way to win this battle was to take out the Harvester Seed Ships and they did so, moving past the Overlords and Cube Fighters while leaving massive wrecks behind them as they jetted past the defences of the Harvesters, and when the Harvesters had heir back turned, the Mission defenders and the turrets from the station made them pay for the sudden lack of focus as more were shot down. But they were still attacking and damaging both the station and the defensive force.

 

Kouji and Maia went on the offensive as they split up to deal with the last batch of Seed Ships, both the normal ones and the ones unleashing the Overlord units.

 

Kouji took out a pair of Overlords with a dual swing of both beam boomerangs that became beam sabers, he then retracted the beam blades back to normal and tossed them at the nearest Seed Ship and the Overlords guarding it, the Overlords lost their left arms and the Seed Ships had a pair of gashes on the sides, but they were hit from behind the as boomerangs came back to their owner, hitting the Harvesters before they even knew it was happening.. The Overlords were beheaded by the returning weapons and were cut down by the Shinobi Gundam's anti-ship sword. The Gundam then charged at the Seed Ship and then introduced it's beam cannon right into the maw of the Harvester ship and open fired, levelling the internal systems of the Seed Ship before it could recover and fight back against the Gundam. The Seed Ship shuddered and exploded as the blast tore it apart.

 

Kouji then took out another pair of Overlords attempting to blond side him with their beam tomahawks, which he blocked using his beam shield generators and then when he ducked from a slash from one, he slammed his Gundam's left hand outward and grabbed the wrist of one Overlord and fired the palm beam cannon, ripping off the arm, he then had to move fast as the next Overlord tried to sever his Gundam's outstretched arm and he took out his beam boomerang and jammed it right into the eye and then took out the throwing weapon and jammed his beam rifle into the chest and fired, ripping apart the Overlord.

 

His Gundam however was also hit by the enemy as several beam blasts struck and caused some damage to the Gundam, however the beam shields blocked off the rest while the Phase Shift system blocked the projectile blasts from grenades and the rifles. Kouji was shook up a bit but focused all his efforts to survive as he went after another Seed Ship. The elder Asuka sibling then used his Gundam beam rifle and extended beam cannon to fire a concerted barrage the slammed hard on the ranks of the enemy and destroyed several of them while the others escaped with their shield protecting them. But before they could recover, Kouji took out his Gundam's beam boomerangs and fire them, taking down another pair by beheading them, while the others blocked using their shields, but this allowed Kouji to use the Wings of Light and rush them while getting his boomerangs and then used them in beam saber setting to attack at close range, and with a quickness due to his Coordinator heritage, sheathed his beam boomerangs and then took out his anti ship sword and fired it like a javelin into the opening maw of the Seed Ship that was about to release more Cube Fighters. The Seed Ship reeled as the weapon impaled it and before it could do anything, The Gundam rushed up to it and twisted the sword so the beam edge was aimed upwards. The Gundam pulled upward and slashed the Seed Ship upward and then when the sword was free, the Gundam then dove downward with blade at the ready…cutting the Seed Ship into two.

 

The Seed Ship was quickly cut in half as the Gundam jetted away as it exploded, and it was the last of the Overlord producing Seed Ships as well as the other one hat should have been the last was torn apart by the advancing defence fighters of the Mission Station and the turrets from the station itself.

 

Inside the station, the defenders cheered as they realized that since most of the retrieval and collection drones in the Mission were from the Overlords, they too would be deactivated. The situation was the same as a few surviving Overlords were now offline with the destruction of their production ships and their only link to new combat directives.

 

Maia wasted no time herself as her Kunoichi Gundam streaked past the opposition and slashed a pair of the Cube Fighters into two, but as the pair she passed tried to fight back, she responded by blasting them into nothing with her Gundam's beam rifle and head guns. She then did a strafing run with her Gundam's beam rifle as more and more fell to her accurate shots as she moved from place to place to avoid retaliatory fire from her targets.

 

A pair of partially functioning Overlords attacked with their beam swords, and that made Maia move back and fire her Gundam's head mounted guns, aiming them all over he arms and chest of the Overlords and though the bullets only slowed the Harvester Units down, they however hit the beam swords making them explode…and just as the Overlords were about to use their heat whips, both were stabbed by the Gundam's beam sabers. The wrecks fell and were destroyed by a few beam rifle shots from the Gundam and the explosions also took out a squad on Cube Fighters. Maia then took a few smoke grenades from several non-functional Overlords and then jetted about, releasing her newly acquired weapons around the Cube Fighters that tried to keep up with the nimble Gundam.

 

Maia then took to the chase and attacked several formations of the Cube Fighters in her Gundam's quadruped mode…and retreated, with them following her to finish her off. They however were not prepared as the grenades Maia had taken were the smoke based ones, that she fired at with her beam rifle, the salvos hit the grenades dead on and released more of the sensor scrambling smoke.

 

The Cube Fighters were confounded by the cover and were forced to fire at random targets as it would take a while for their combat sensors to compensate for the sudden damage to the systems. But since they were in a tight formation, they ended up blasting each other instead!

 

Once the smoke cleared the Cube Fighters found themselves with hulks surrounding them and the Mission's defenders in their fighters right on top of them. The pilots grinned as they were now looking at sitting ducks as they unleashed a massive barrage that reduced the Cube Fighters into scrap, and they watched as the Kunoichi Gundam suddenly attacked the soon to be released mass. Maia's Gundam with it's beam blades slashed into the morass of the Seed Ship, destroying many in the first pass, while the newly released ones were destroyed by the resulting explosions. The Seed ship barely had time to recover as Maia attacked, with her beam rifle/cannon and managed to hit specific parts of it before it could seal itself, the young Asuka sibling then reverted her Gundam back to normal mode and used her shield to keep the thing from closing and fired several more salvos of beam fire into the still open maw of the Harvester unit and then fired one of her beam sabers right into the maw of the machine, scrambling it's internal systems with both the beam saber and the CIWS guns while the beam weapon tore past the Harvester ship and passed outward…allowing Maia to retrieve her weapon quickly and effectively.

 

The two Gundams then went on to take on the last of the normal Seed Ships with the rest of the Mission's Defense forces…and they won the fight, but at a staggering cost.

 

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

 

Later…

 

Liz listened to the reports and knew that things were bad for her and the rest of the inhabitants of Delta 6. There were losses in their defence pilots and many of the inhabitants and the security forces were also wounded by the attacks. They lost a good number of their pilots but they were happy that the losses were lessened to some degree by the intervention and aid of the Asuka siblings and their Gundams.

 

Apart from human losses, there were also losses in terms of equipment and supplies, the munitions they had gained from the Nirvana had been strained in keeping the Harvester drones from killing and infesting the station. They had lost sections of the mission to the attacks and many of their defences had been badly hit, their shield generator also held off most of the attack but a good portion of the shield systems had been hit by the Harvesters. The power reactor had also been hit and the damage may have been reparable, but it would take time and Liz knew that this would be the time frame needed by the Harvesters to launch another attack. They had survived, but the new weapons of the Harvesters proved to be too much for their forces to handle alone…and even if the Asuka siblings assured them and her most of all, they would still fight, she knew that they would not survive another assault.

 

She then knew that the only chance they had before another strike was launched was to initiate a full evacuation. They however were lucky in the sense that they had kept a considerable number of transport ships apart from fighter craft. Mist were left in the Mission and had fallen in dis5repair, but the crew of the Nirvana got them back online with fully updated weapons, shields, sensors, hard-ware, fuel, and supplies. It would take them at least three to five hours to get the evacuation underway, but it had to be done. They also made sure to bring the supplies they had with them, along with the precious food pills.

 

Liz also made an important decision, and that meant that they would have to join up with the Resistance that formed to stop the Harvesters, and she wanted them informed of the latest weapons of the Earth Forces. So despite the dangers, she ordered the defense forces to gather whatever data they could gain from the data records of the Harvesters' new weapons so that the human race would not be caught off guard…

 

She had a lot of work to do…

 

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

 

Back at the Nirvana…

 

Meia and Kyo were busy taking care of Lacus, Kyo was busy checking her supply of diapers while Meia held Lacus carefully as she was shown by the Gundam pilot while she gave Lacus her water bottle. The baby drank enough and began to cry, making the female Gundam pilot nervous as she had no idea how to take care of a baby before.

 

“What is she crying about now?” She asked in trepidation as she tried to recall what to do.

 

Kyo walked up to her and helped her by taking Lacus in his embrace and the baby calmed down a bit. “She might want to sleep soon, so we had better take turns holding her until she sleeps.”

 

He handed Lacus the Meia while showing her how to rock the baby girl to sleep. She did so and it was touch and go as Lacus would suddenly whimper and cry just as she was about to fall asleep. Meia wondered just how would she be able to be a good mother should she ever decide to have children.

 

She then wondered just where did THAT thought come from?! She wasn't ready yet, though…she looked at Kyo when she thought about that situation. This naturally had results as Lacus cried once more, since babies could sense emotions being put forward by those near them…and Meia's sudden confusion and anxiety had an effect on the little bundle.

 

Kyo then would take his turn and rock the baby to sleep carefully and the emotions of calm and humour made Lacus smile and giggle while he held her and she slowly went to sleep in his arms.

 

The picture of Kyo holding Lacus as if he knew how to handle a baby had an effect on Meia as she looked in awe at how peacefully Lacus snuggled up to Kyo. She couldn't help but smile as the baby played with a few of Kyo's long brown strands, and the Gundam pilot seemed content to let her play with his hair.

 

She had to admit that for some reason, she began seeing herself holding a baby…with Kyo's hair and her eyes…with her feeding the baby while Kyo teased the little bundle of joy and the image made her feel…happy.

 

She was so busy thinking about it, she didn't notice Kyo looking at her.

 

“Meia? Hey Meia are you all right?”

 

Meia shook her head as she realized that she was staring at Kyo rather intently for the past few minutes, and she couldn't help but feel somewhat embarrassed by her shameless actions.

 

“Oh…sorry.” She then looked out into the rest of her room and looked at the up-turned picture of her fahma and Ohma. She had recently brought back that picture remind herself more of her past and how live with it though she was still somewhat uneasy about facing it.

 

She looked at Kyo who seemed very content to take care of Lacus and the baby was also snuggling very close to the warmth of the Gundam pilot as if she knew she would be safe in his embrace. In a way…Meia felt a bit envious that Lacus was so close to Kyo, and even though she was a baby she seemed so at peace with Kyo as he put her in her cradle.

 

“You certainly know how to take care of children Kyo, is that why Ezra asks you to baby-sit Lacus a lot?”

 

“Yeah…I honestly don't recall how I know how to take care of children but the knowledge certainly helps when it counts.” Kyo replied sheepishly as he sat next to Meia who blushed a bit at his closeness.

 

“You seem to be really pre-occupied, can I ask why?” Kyo asked as he gazed at Meia…part of him hoped that she didn't figure out his involvement or him being the one who planned out the whole celebration and naturally the control of all her escape routes on and off of the Nirvana. Another part of him wondered if she had finally began to look back and try to make peace with her past and reach out for the future that he knew she had waiting for her.

 

Meia wondered a bit as she looked at the picture of her with her fahma and ohma. Back then looking at the picture brought her only pain and loathing due to the events that led her to being a street thug after the disaster that ruined her ohma's work and made life miserable for her when she became an orphan. But now she looked at the picture and also saw the moments when things were not so complicated in life, she saw the happy times she had with her parents and how much they meant to her before.

 

Kyo saw the inner turmoil on Meia's face and let her be, it was her personal situation and he would only be interfering if he came into it, but if she ever needed help he was more than ready to help her if she ever asked for such aid from him, and he knew that the others on the ship were more than ready to do the same thing.

 

It was then at that Lacus awoke and began to whimper and cry, no doubt sensing the emotions going through Meia and she didn't want to feel that, so she naturally did what most babies did in those situations. Naturally that startled the two Gundam pilots as Kyo looked at her and Meia somewhat sheepishly.

 

“I guess being in a room isn't all that comfortable, so I guess we go for a walk, care to carry Lacus this time, Meia?”

 

Meia looked surprised as Kyo took out the whimpering baby and handed Lacus carefully into her hands.

 

This was going to be a challenge again as the baby didn't entirely like being held by Meia.

 

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

 

Back at Delta 6…

 

“Have all the supplies been transferred Patch?”

 

Liz contacted her second in command as they were ready to evacuate from the mission. This was important as there was a great chance that the Harvesters would come back to finish the job and they would include more of their new units in the attack force. Kouji and Maia knew that this was a move in he right direction, even if they won, they doubted that they could battle more of the Overlords…considering how much energy they wasted and some of the damage they had suffered in battle with the units…not to mention the large number of casualties suffered by the defence force of Delta 6. Plus the damage was extensive and the time and energy they would use up in getting the systems online would leave them vulnerable to counter attack from the Harvesters.

 

“We've gotten all the supplies in the shuttles and we've also gotten all the food pills we got from the Nirvana onboard. It's still going to take us a few more hours to get what we can salvage Liz, but all the civilians have been able to board the shuttles with all their basic supplies and needs.”

 

“Good. Kouji, Maia…any sign of the Harvesters?”

 

Out in space, the newly repaired and fully charged Gundams and their pilots were on covert recon and security as they scanned out fringes of the Mission's sensor net range to give early warning of the Harvesters' possible counter attack.

 

“Nothing yet.” Kouji reported as he and his sister scanned the area to see if the Harvesters would come back.

 

“No sign here either, but we have to hurry Liz, how long will that new message take?”

 

“At least twenty minutes…and Patch said that they are nearly completed with the evacuation. We're nearly done uploading the recharge system for your Gundams into the ships along with the rest of the defense force…once we're clear, we need you on escort duty.”

 

“Understood!”

 

Later…after a few hours…

 

The last of the Delta 6 inhabitants gazed at the station that had been their home for so long and now they had no choice but to leave it behind, making them homeless once more. They felt anger and despair once more after months of finally getting back on their feet…anger in the sense that the Harvesters had come back to ruin their lives once more, and they wanted revenge. Despair in the fact that with them being homeless once more they were in danger of being attacked, and that they no longer had a place to call home again.

 

But they made a promise that when they finally made the Harvesters pay for their crimes and someday, they would find a world to call their own, hey may have come from different worlds before the Harvesters took everything from them…but they were now a family and they would find a new home for their own.

 

For now, they were escaping once more into the void of stars. Liz however had made the transmission of the message she had made to warn the human race about the new Harvester weapons was left to function with the tachyon transmitter until they were clear. She hoped that this last parting gift from Delta 6 and it's people would be enough to warn the human race about the dangers of the new arsenals of the Harvesters.

 

She only hoped that they would be safe and she wondered how the Nirvana was doing as she thought of the pirates and Kyo who were now heading back to warn Talark and Megele and she silently promised that when the time came for the human race to fight back…she and her people would not be denied the chance to make the Harvesters pay dearly for their crimes.

 

The very same sentiment was with the Asuka siblings as they escorted the refugees of Delta 6 to a safer location. The Harvesters will PAY dearly for this act!

 

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

 

In the base of the Harvest Fleet, the Fleet Officer smiled as the signal for the attack had been given. The man then sent the signal to the Marauders and the Seed Ships to begin their strike on the Nirvana…it was time to remind the pirates that just because they were not being attacked didn't mean the Harvesters had forgotten them.

 

The Marauders and the other units might not be able to really take out the Nirvana or the converted Harvester ship, but they will remind the Nirvana and the pirates that the war was still on…plus it would keep their new Mobile Suit series hidden until they were ready to strike fast and hard on the Nirvana.

 

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

 

The Nirvana…

 

The girls who were in on the whole plan to help celebrate Meia's birthday were busy tracking her, Lacus, and Kyo as the three moved about on the ship. Meia was currently holding the crying baby while Kyo stood nearby and spoke kind words to the child making it calm down a bit but she was restless. Kyo wondered if it was due to Meia's still lingering doubts about her making up with her past that was making Lacus so sensitive all of a sudden.

 

He knew that babies had the ability to sense the moods of their care-takers and naturally act accordingly to what they felt from the person next to them. If the baby felt that they were relaxed and happy, so was the baby, but when they were tense and very excitable, the baby was the same, and when they were sad and in doubt, the same thing could happen when the baby was near.

 

He hoped that he made the right decision once more as some doubts filled his mind. He could tell that the other girls were monitoring them all, since he had been getting more capable of using his heightened senses and awareness. He heard them talking to each other, while being hidden and monitoring the movements. He however focused on taking care of both Meia and Lacus in order to calm the child and help Meia in doing the very same thing, along with making sure that she didn't find out as they had nearly finished all the preparations of her birthday celebration.

 

However, they were not the only ones in the corridors as Dita, Barnette, Jura, Paiway, Gascogne, Max, Aleck…and naturally Pyoro. They all watched the progress between Lacus, Meia, and Kyo, the baby began to lessen her whimpers. But a certain Navi-robot was NOT getting the picture that this was the chance for Meia to open up and he only had one thought in mind.

 

“Pyoro-2….I can't take it anymore! I want to take care of Pyoro-2!!!”

 

Before the Navi-robot could get anywhere, Max, Alec, Jura, Gascogne and Barnette were in front of it. Before he could try and escape, Max grabbed his arm and both men held him tight. The others then glared at him while Dita and Paiway were still keeping an eye on the two Gundam pilots and the baby they were taking care of.

 

Pyoro tried to struggle free, but the two men had serious grips and then it looked at Barnette and Jura took out their weapons, Barnette took out her Beretta pistol, while Jura had her sword drawn. Both women looked very angry at Pyoro as they came closer, both had worked hard in getting to the point to finally throw Meia's long overdue birthday party, and no way would the irritating robot mess it up…plus they were not liking the idea of the robot always trying to take away Lacus and her right to be with her mother. Gascogne had the same thoughts as she had grown tired when the robot was making itself a very strong annoyance when it concerned the young baby. She had some time to see the baby and loved the way the baby had taken to the crew and Kyo most of all…plus she was hoping to finally see Meia have fun for once in her life and she was in no mood for any interruptions on the plans and hard made preparations.

 

“Let me go! I must help Pyoro-2!” But the Navi-robot went silent when the green haired Dread/Gundam pilot placed her pistol.

 

“Pyoro…how many times does it have to be drilled into you that Lacus is a human baby and NOT your child? You certainly have no way to have Lacus and most of all, she belongs to Ezra and her Ohma back on Megele.”

 

The robot was then glared at by both Gascogne and Jura. “The fact that we are coming to Megele soon, means that sooner or later…Lacus will be with her Ohma and knowing her Ohma…you are just getting the light treatment from us. Ezra's mate is a kind woman, but she's strong and won't let anyone near enough to harm Ezra…and the same will be true for Lacus. We are already warning you to leave Lacus be and don't try to act as if you are her parent.”

 

The Navi-robot continued to buckle and move…but before anything else can happen….the combat alarms sounded…making all realize that they were now under Harvester attack!!

 

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

 

The Marauders and the rest of the covert strike team moved out to engage the Nirvana and give it a serious wake-up call…the Marauders however made their way to the converted battle-ship…that weapon loaned way too much firepower to the Nirvana and had to be disabled before they could launch a serious attack on the Nirvana itself. They had been now armed with a new but temporary weapon system to disable the Harvester ship but for a far longer period and as long as they were still present, the ship would be worthless to the pirates.

 

Hey all moved in combat formation and moved out, the Cube Fighters and Seed Ships taking point to attack and act as expendable shields, the first would attack the Nirvana and give it a seriously hard time, while the ones in the back would use their Mirage Colloid systems to get closer and aim for the converted ship, they were the ones armed with the special weapon designed to halt and cripple the Harvester battleship.

 

Due to extensive programming done by the pirates on the CPU of the converted ship…they were now ordered to damage or cripple it as much as they could…their new weapon would do that and since they had independent CPUS and not linked to the Seed Ships, they could operate even if the rest of the strike fleet were taken out.

 

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

 

As Bart and the rest of the pirates rallied to defend that ship, Meia and Kyo had to rush back to the Hanger to get to their respective Gundams. But they had to hurry and place Lacus back with Ezra in the command bridge in order for the baby to be safe while they went back to fight with the Harvesters…

 

“Damn! Why do they always show up when we don't need them to?!” Meia said in anger as Lacus began to cry louder.

 

“Good sense of timing! They did this too when I was helping in the delivery of Lacus when Ezra was about to give birth!”

 

But as they were moving through the place, they had to go near the old section of large escape boats, and that was when the salvos from the Cube Fighters and their forces managed to hit the Nirvana and bypass the shields…just enough to knock all three of them into a nearby escape pod and the pod's door opened and in they went, and before they could do anything…the pod's firing charges went off and they were launched into space!!!

 

Kyo managed to position himself behind both Meia and Lacus to as to cushion the two women from harm. Once the rockets went offline, the pod now drifted in space and that was when Kyo checked on both Meia and Lacus…both seemed fine though Lacus was still crying. He put aside his personal fears for the moment and checked on them.

 

“Are you all right Meia?”

 

Meia groaned a bit and was surprised to find her on top of Kyo in a very undignified position and tried to get up while holding Lacus and trying not to blush.

 

“I'm fine…what happened?”

 

“We got knocked into one of the Nirvana's escape pods…damn! We've to find a way to contact the Nirvana and tell them our location and situation.”

 

“I'll help! I just need to take off my chest padding!” The young woman did just that as she took off the pads and used them to help keep Lacus safe and warm as both of them worked hard to try and warn their comrades of their current situation.

 

The two worked hard and for the first time, Lacus didn't cry as she didn't sense too much tension in the air and seemed to have calmed down.

 

The two were somewhat relieved of that situation as they tried to get into contact with the Nirvana…along with them trying to find out if the pod was still serviceable, namely with it's signal beacon which they needed in order for the Nirvana locate them.

 

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

 

The Nirvana…

 

As the pirates scrambled into the fight, they wondered where had Meia and Kyo had gone…

 

Dita and Jura had already gotten into their Gundams and so had Max in his Templar Gundam, while Barnette had taken to her Dread and lead the Dread squadrons into the fight, while Sara and Mai went on to lead the Vanguards in the attack. The Taisians had declined earlier to aid in the festivities due to them being tied in with defense duty, and they were currently fighting to keep the enemy off balance under the command of Osmond. The battle hardened warriors held their own, but due to their small numbers, they didn't have the means to take out that many of the attacking Harvester units and waited for support from their new allies.

 

Their perseverance was rewarded as the Dreads and Vanguards came into the scene, but they were a bit troubled when there was no sign of the other Gundams on the scene, they knew Duero was first and foremost the head physician so his absence was understood, and Barnette loved her Dread more than the Gundam she had acquired, but the real puzzling thing was that the Gundams that were missing were that of Meia Gisborn, the former leader of the Dreads, and the other was that of the best Gundam pilot of the pirates, Kyo.

 

Osmond noted that as well and got into contact with both Jura and Dita.

 

“Where's Kyo and Meia? How come they're not with you ladies?”

 

“We don't know…but we can worry about them later…we have to defend the ship. They would have asked that of us…and I know that Meia will be fine with Kyo beside her” Jura said as she guided her Gundam to the fight and took out her Gundam's beam sabers.

 

Dita was about to disagree, but knew through her personal experience that Kyo would always watch out for those he worked with and cared deeply about. He had done the same for her and Jura when they were on that desert world many weeks before and she knew that Kyo would never abandon Meia…or Lacus. Despite her misgivings, she followed Jura as she and the blonde led the attack.

 

Dita went first and combined her beam rifles and turned them into the beam cannon formation and took out a small number of Cube Fighters, her training paying off as she then turned her Gundam to the other side and took out another batch of the Cube Fighters.

 

The Cube Fighters went in with their standard formation, they were ahead while they were supported and replenished by the Seed Ships from the rear, plus they would have to defend the Marauders until the stealth ships had completed their part in the attack by disabling the Harvester battle-ship the pirates had taken.

 

But they were in for a good scrapping session as both Gundams struck ahead, Jura blocked their weapons-fire and closed the gap and went into the use of her fencing moves and training as several Cube Fighters were trashed by the blond when they either didn't flee from her charge, or were dumb enough to engage her.

 

Jura was also supported by Dita as the blond activated her Gundam's own beam sabers, along with her beam shield and engaged the Cube Fighters to try and prevent them from blind-siding her blond comrade. Once she took out a few and fended off the rest, she managed to herd them and fired her Gundam's abdomen cannon, reducing many of them into scrap.

 

The Taisians came in and provided support while the rest of the pirates came in to help. Barnette was ordering the Dreads to change their weapons' energy settings so they would not damage each other in the event of friendly fire. The Dread pilots agreed with the move and did just that. The Vanguards did the same with their new pulse rifles and some of the Vanguards were now packing more advanced weaponry, namely rifles of the same calibre of the rifles used by both Meia's Gundam and that of Dita and Kyo's own Gundams.

 

The new weapons were formed by Parfet, but they lacked the power of the originals and could not become the beam cannon that Dita's could form into. But they were power efficient and had greater energy capacity and could even go into full auto, when rapid suppression fire was needed.

 

As the pirates attacked, Bart began to track the Harvesters and aim to take them out before their swarm tactics went into effect.

 

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

 

True enough to Jura and Dita's beliefs, Kyo was busy helping out Meia and keeping Lacus safe. The Gundam pilot had disliked himself for getting into this kind of mess…let alone involving both Meia and the innocent baby Lacus. But he kept a level head and so did Meia. They were both happy that they had found a set of still functional spaces suits, all within good working condition and had full tanks of oxygen in their supply systems, along with fuel for their thrusters.

 

The rest of the pod however not as helpful as they hoped it would or should have been however. Both pilots sighed as they realized that since the pod was to be scrapped soon, it would have low supplies for it's own life support systems and the comm. systems were too old and badly damaged to be of much help. The best they could do was to get the beacon operational so their location was marked…hopefully enough for the Nirvana to pick them up. Both had seen the incoming hordes of Cube Fighters coming for the Nirvana and they knew that all three of them would be very easy prey for the Harvesters if they were tracked by the forces of the sadistic bastards.

 

No way would they surrender and most of all, they swore no harm would befall Lacus who managed to sleep while still wearing Meia's chest and shoulder padding unit.

 

They worked as best they could and managed to get the beacon working…and now only hoped that the others would find them before the Harvesters did. All they could do was wait, so they sat down and huddled closer to one another and watch over Lacus, the rest was up to their comrades…and faith.

 

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

 

Bart had now been able to lock in on all the Seed Ships and gave the order for the rest of the pirates to brace themselves…and with lethal precision, the navigator and gunner open-fired at the collected bands of Seed Ships to destroy them and lessen the chance of the Dreads, Vanguards, Gundams, and the Taisian Mobile Suits would be overwhelmed by the Cube Fighters the ships would no doubt unleash.

 

“I'll take them out, you guys can handle the rest!” The gunner said as he unleashed the Nirvana's plasma cannons and then the beams blasted down a massive number of the Seed Ships, and the navigator tried to lock in on the incoming Marauders, but the navigator was surprised when the ships suddenly vanished before he could lock on. That was when he realized that the ships were armed with Mirage Colloid systems and his weapon systems were NOT designed to lock in on the ships due to the Mirage Colloid systems even if the sensors could track them due to the changes done to the systems when they face off with the Harvester Fleet a few weeks before.

 

“Captain! I can track the ships but I can't fire at them, the targeting systems can't track and lock in on the new Harvester ships, they have Mirage Colloid and are too fast for me to get a good lock! The best we can do is to locate them so the rest of the Dreads, Vanguards, Gundams, and the Taisians can deal with them.”

 

“Understood.” Magno had seen the results when she had seen that Bart's targeting systems were unable to lock on the new Harvester units due to them not being designed to track units armed with Mirage Colloid systems. The next problem was that unlike the slow and prodding Harvester battle-ships that were armed with Mirage Colloid, these ships were faster and nimble and that made locking in on them too difficult for Bart to do.

 

“Have all scanners conditioned to track those new Harvester units and coordinate the attacks of the Vanguards, Dreads, Gundams, and that of the Taisian Mobile Suits in order to take them out.”

 

Buzam followed the order as the crew on the bridge followed the orders and made the needed changes to the Nirvana's scanners as they also began to coordinate their forces with the assistance of the Gundam pilots. But with the still working Cube Fighters in the area, it certainly made things harder for them to operate. The Seed Ships may be gone, but that didn't mean a thing to the Harvesters as they continued with their relentless assault.

 

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

In the pod…

 

Kyo and Meia were deep in thought as they looked at each other and Lacus. They knew that since they could do nothing…all they could do now was wait and pray that they would be rescued by their comrades before the pod was located by the Cube Fighters. They had looked through the pod's view hole and saw the attacks were well underway, but for now they had to concern themselves with their current situation and to take care of Lacus.

 

As Kyo held Lacus for a while he began having flashback memories that seemed to be part of him growing up as a normal child and it seemed rather…peaceful. The voices of the woman he now knew to be his mother was there…her face was still vague in the sense that her face was still hidden, but he could tell from her soft and melodious voice that while she holding him as he was sleeping in her arms, she was telling him something…

 

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

 

Flashback 1…

 

The woman was holding him as he slept and she was stroking his hair gently and singing a soothing lullaby as he dozed. It made Kyo feel safe and whole as she continued to sing and when she stopped she spoke to him.

 

“The world is such a new and dangerous place Kyo…That is why I work hard to make sure that when you are older you are ready to enter that world…and someday make it safe for those who will follow you someday.”

 

He heard that and felt that she would do that well…and then he saw his father…the man he saw in his dreams reach him and his mother, sat down on the floor and stroke her hair and his as well.

 

End of Flashback 1…

 

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

 

Flashback 2…

 

He then saw him speaking with his dad as they looked out towards the setting sun in the beach; he looked and saw his home and saw his mother taking care of who he knew was his baby sister. He then felt his attention return to his father who smiled at him and began to speak while looking at the sun.

 

“When you were born Kyo, I and your mother made the choice to do all that we were capable of making the world a safer place, not just for you, but for those who were born in the end of war. Never forget that war does not really end the world's problems but leaves them festering in the end. That is why we have to stop those who start war, and give a chance for those who will be born after us to seek out the future and shape it for themselves.”

 

End of Flashback 2…

 

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

 

Flashback 3…

 

He then saw his parents and his sister sitting in the sands of the beach near their home…he saw the fireworks and looked at the number of people there was well. He saw the people who he felt and knew that were Sara's ancestors, and he saw the blonde woman and the blue haired man who he felt were his relatives and he saw their daughter, his cousin.

 

His sister was sleeping and then he looked at both his parents and for the first time…their faces were clear and he saw how beautiful his mother was when she smiled and when she spoke, he saw her courage and inner will. Her saw how kind and gentle his father looked…and how much strength he had as he protected his family and taught him how to do the same.

 

“The future is always difficult to make, there will always be the fact that the mistakes of the past will come back…and people will make the same mistakes despite all the lessons, sometimes we can't avoid that, but as long as you are willing to fight for the chance to give a safe and bright future to those of you who will be the new generation...then use all of your talents and skills to achieve that. For the children born tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and the future for all…you must never give up.”

 

End of Flashback 3…

 

Kyo then looked at the baby in his hands who reached out to him and also to Meia. He wanted to make sure than not harm would come to them both as long as he was alive, and the same with those he cared about. He wanted to follow that which his parents taught him and no matter how long it would be he will make it.

 

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

 

In the Nirvana…

 

Kyo's determination had a powerful effect as his Infinite Freedom Gundam Suddenly began to power up it's main systems. Just like it did in the desert planet when he and the others were trapped in it by the Harvesters' AI agent and the AI's powerful army. The Gundam's systems came to life as it began setting itself up for launch and activated it's P. Phase Shift Armour System.

 

This got the attention of the pirates, namely those in the bridge who were still looking for him, Meia and Lacus after determining that one of the escape pods were missing in the berthing bays on the Nirvana. Along with Parfet and her crew of engineers as the Paeksis also began to react and activate certain systems

 

“Captain! The I-Freedom is activating itself once more! The systems are powering up on it's own!” The head engineer reported to the command bridge as they too were detecting the Launch ramp activating alongside the Gundam as it was brought on for deployment.

 

Magno knew that this was similar to the time when Kyo had been in danger in the desert planet, had it not been for the three former Dread pilots, their link to Kyo, and the link between the pilot and his Paeksis enhanced Gundam, they would have lost him to the enemy forces long ago. This meant that only the I-Freedom could now locate Kyo, Meia, and Lacus.

 

“I want Gasco to get her shuttle ready to follow the Gundam as soon as it launches!”

 

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

 

The Gundam activated it's wings and the crystal feathers the very second it was launched from the Nirvana. It then began to track down the location of it's pilot while the rest of the pirates concentrated on the Harvesters, taking out Cube Fighters and keeping the stealth ships from attacking the Nirvana, but since the ships were nimble in their own right, unlike the slow and prodding Harvester battle-ship, it was not all that easy for them to try and get a hit on the target.

 

Behind the Paeksis powered Gundam flew the Dreki as Gascogne and several others followed the Gundam in hopes of locating Kyo and the others.

 

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

 

In the pod…

 

Meia looked at the way Kyo was still playing with Lacus, making the baby smile and keeping both her and her own spirits up as she smiled at how much Lacus enjoyed being teased by Kyo, and the baby also smiled at her and that made Meia smile back. She then began having flashbacks to the time she had seen her fahma before and after the incident that took her and her ohma from her. And this time she heard more from both of them.

 

Flashback 1…

 

She was in an argument with her Ohma, a strong and firm minded woman. As she lay on her home's floor with her knees on her head while she cried. Her fahma came up to her and spoke calmly.

 

“Meia, you're ohma does not hate you…she just wants you to understand that some things in the world are hard and sometimes you can't change them. But you can change things for those who you care about and give them a chance for the future.”

 

The image shifted to when she was still a child and during the evacuation, time stood still here as her fahma spoke to her.

 

“That is why I stayed here…I wanted to give you the chance to make the future for yourself and to do the same thing for those next to you…because I love and I want to make sure you had a chance in this life…the life your ohma and I struggled to make while we were alive.”

 

End of Flashback 1….

 

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

 

Flashback 2…

 

She saw her fahma when she handed her the circlet she wore then as a child and now. She saw herself running to both her parents dressed in her school attire as she went to grade school. Then she saw her Ohma who stood in front of the fields where the project was being done. Meia recalled this as the time she had been with her Ohma to watch the project herself…but she had forgotten…

 

“I want to do the absolute best that I can Meia to make our world grow and our people to be strong, but to also give you and your fahma the security and chance to make a great future, I know that I might not live long enough to see the results, but knowing that you will live on and grow up, I will know that all my work has been meaningful. I love you and your fahma, that is why no matter what happens I will do my absolute best to give you and those who are born with you in this generation that very same chance…since you carry not just my hopes, or that of your fahma…but the hopes of the human race.”

 

End of Flashback 2…

 

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

 

Flashback 3…

 

Meia then saw both her fahma and ohma together, talking and smiling as she saw them fusing over her when she was a baby…much like Lacus was now. They were dotting on her and taking good care to give her the best that they could earn…even if they were not high in the social ladder on Megele, they really loved her and did all that they could to give her a bright future. She saw herself sleeping comfortably in her fahma's lap while both her parents smiled warmly at her and each other

 

“As our own parents loved each of us with all their heart…so do we love you Meia, you carry the future and all our hopes and dreams are with you along with your own hopes and dreams as well. Carry that love to the ones you will meet and care for with all your heart, and give them that same love…and the love you yourself feel for that person, or people you are with now if we are no longer with you. We love you now and always Meia.”

 

End of Flashback 3…

 

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

 

Meia thought on all those images and felt that finally, after so many years she can look back at her past and see the truth behind all the pain and feel that her family was always with her…she was just too afraid of all that had happened to show that same love again. She thought about her new family, her friends…and Kyo…who still cared for her and Lacus despite the situation they were all in.

 

She nodded mentally and decided that she would now live not in the past…but live in the future with all of her friends and loved ones…that was what her parents wanted of her above all else…and now she was ready to do that.

 

The two Gundam pilots looked up and gave looks of anger disbelief when they saw that they were surrounded.

 

By Cube Fighters…Harvester Cube Fighters!

 

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

 

The Harvester battle-ship that the pirates had captured had previously attempted to release it's own Cube Fighter Forces but the Marauders had fired the weapons they carried and had caused a massive burst of concentrated disruptive energy into the battle-ship and the energy had short-circuited the ship's CPU and that had also adversely affected the ship's power-plant…leaving the ship very much dead in space. The Marauders however maintained the attack to keep the ship pinned from supporting it's new masters, by constantly bombarding it with the crippling blasts.

The rest attacked the Nirvana and though two had been taken out it was still hard for the pirates due to their Dreads, Vanguards, and the Gundams since they had not yet been able to reconfigure their sensors to detect units with Mirage Colloid systems.

 

Dita, Jura, and Max remained on the defensive and so were the rest of the pirates, relying on Bart's sensors to locate the vanishing ships before they inflicted more and more damage to the ship. Due to Bart's sensors, they had taken out the two mentioned, but there were still plenty of them out there for the pirates to fight. And due to their strike and fade moves, it was still tough for the girls.

 

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

 

Kyo and Meia were also trying to come up with a solution as Cube Fighters approached and surrounded them. But they didn't have to wait long…

 

As some Cube Fighters came in for the kill, several of them were struck from behind by beam bolts. Several of them turned and were destroyed as well either by bullets of energy dart needles as the I-Freedom streaked into the morass, firing all the while, without hitting the escape pod with amazing accuracy. The Cube Fighters broke into two groups, one to intercept the Gundam, while the other got away with the prize.

 

But before the Cube Fighters who tried to take away the pod, which would have spelled disaster if the occupants were caught, our of nowhere came Aleck GUiAZ Mobile Suit with assault rifle scattering them, the wily Talark pilot had snuck in the same way the Cube Fighters had snuck on Gascogne the first time they were seen in the battle-zone. The Mobile Suit came to block their escape route and take out several more Cube Fighters as the pilot then took out his Mobile Suit's blade…at the very same time the Gundam takes out it's beam sabers after placing it's rifles away.

 

Kyo and the others cheered as the Dreki came into view and they were taken into the shuttle's storage bays. Once inside they got the all clear to blow the hatch of the pod and when they did, there was Ezra and several security personnel, and a certain floating robot.

 

“Pyoro 2!!! You're safe!!! I should have taken care of Pyoro 2!!”

 

Kyo and Meia however didn't mind as they still managed to make Lacus smile and Meia was also smiling as she looked at Lacus and Kyo, they were alive and safe, that was al that mattered to her.

 

Ezra noted the change in Meia who seemed more carefree and happy than she recalled seeing the normally quiet and taciturn female. Naturally she wondered what had caused Meia to change, but was even more surprised to see that instead of crying like before, Lacus was smiling and reaching out to Meia, like she would to Kyo. And the picture of both of them smiling and Lacus being happy in their presence made Ezra smile as well. She then spoke to Pyoro.

 

“Leave them alone Pyoro-chan, please, they look fine together.”

 

The robot was about to argue…but also noted the change in Meia and Lacus's reaction to the former Dread pilot…and backed off as the two looked almost like a family with them playing with Lacus.

 

“Kyo…”

 

The male Gundam pilot looked up as Lacus giggled and reached out to both him and Meia.

 

“Yes?”

 

“Do you remember when I said you would make a wonderful ohma…or father when the time comes?”

 

Kyo blushed a bit at that and scratched his head.

 

“Yeah I did, why?”

 

“You two look just like two parents taking care of your own baby.” Ezra teased both of them, making Meia and Kyo blush horribly, much to Ezra's laughter and Lacus's giggles. The reunion however was broken as the sound of weapons-fire and the shaking of the vessel.

 

Gascogne then called in. “Kyo, your pilot uniform is here with me, get into I-Freedom and help the others, I'll take the others back to the ship and then Meia can join you.”

 

Kyo nodded and went to the cockpit to get his uniform, but not before bidding Meia, Lacus, Ezra, and the others good-bye.

 

Later…

 

Kyo strapped on his uniform and helmet and then opens a nearby door, allowing the vacuum of space to take him out of the Dreki. The suit he wore also was designed to function in zero-g environments and had a small but functional oxygen pack. As he flew out he was picked up by his Gundam while being protected by Aleck in his GUiAZ Mobile Suit as the Dreki made it's way back to the Nirvana.

 

As soon as he was in his Gundam, he took over the systems and went on the offensive, he guided his Gundam to slash down more of the Cube Fighters with several passes of his beam sabers. Several more were also slashed to bits when he took out his anti-ship swords and used them zweihander form and slashed from side to side, slicing apart more of the fighters.

 

The I-Freedom then jetted into the front and focused it's attacks on dealing with the Marauders, much to the cheer of the pirates and naturally Jura, and Dita, who were still having a hard time dealing with the enemy.

 

“Kyo!”

 

“Mr. Alien!!!”

 

Kyo greeted them and was given a report on the situation by Sara and Mai, the Crusaders had suffered more losses of machines, but thankfully no casualties since they fiercely defended the damaged Vanguards until they were out of the battle-zone. Osmond does the same and keeps his crew safe and alive by moving in quick dodging patterns to minimize detection by the enemy. Kyo nodded in agreement on the situation and decided to order all the pilots to begin changing the settings of their machines' sensors, just in time with Meia's appearance in her Silver Lightning Gundam. As the changes were complete…they were now ready to take out the enemy forces…with Kyo in the lead followed by Meia, Dita, and Jura.

 

It wasn't going to take too long…

 

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

 

Later…

 

Meia was quite surprised when she came into the Bio-Garden where the party held for her birthday was being held and saw that all the crew were present, even Osso and his crew were there. They had helped set up the decorations an the rest of the crew had been working non-stop to make this party a memorable one for their leader and friend.

 

Looking at all their hard-work and recalling the times she had missed out on her birthday and wasting their efforts many times made Meia feel guilty and with her new sense of attitude about her past resolves never to run from the past and live in the future. Magno and BC noted the change in her and while the old captain smiled. Buzam nodded, seeing that the new Meia was stronger now than the original, now that she learned to open up to others and gain strength from her team-mates and fellow crew. Meia had even decided to come in a normal dress, the white sundress with straps suited her and for the first time, she came without her circlet on her face and had a warm smile, thanking her crewmates and finally apologizing for all the efforts she had wasted when they made the celebrations years before.

 

As the party went underway, Meia was then in front of the cake that had twenty candles in front of her and she blew them. As the party went underway and they were all eating…Meia suddenly noticed that Kyo was not in the group, she was surprised and a bit saddened, since he too had contributed to her birthday celebrations…and was about to ask where Kyo was until he came…dressed in a tuxedo, and appeared very handsome, making Meia's heart skip a few beats until beating wildly once more.

 

Kyo smiled at her and when he got closer to her he spoke. “Do you what a début is?”

 

When Meia didn't answer, he answered for her. “That is when a woman gets to the age of eighteen and on her birthday gets to be greeted and honoured by her friends and family. I know it's already two years past. But I think it's time people get to say how much you mean to them.”

 

In that time frame…Meia was happy beyond words as each member of the crew from the Dread pilots, engineering, security, to her fellow Gundam pilots Dita, and Jura, to all of those she worked with for years in the pirates showed their thanks and appreciation for all she had done. Her greatest moment in the speeches was when Magno talked about how much Meia had changed for the better and how much Magno treated her as her own daughter.

 

But Meia's greatest moment…was when Kyo stepped forward and asked if she would like to dance with him. Despite her feeble protests on her not being a good dancer, she was cheered on by the crew as Kyo began leading her through the steps in the dance with ease. Meia blushed heavily when she held Kyo in the prescribed manner and so did Kyo as he held her hand and her waist, but he focused on his task and danced beautifully with Meia, who knew that Kyo was a good dancer, but not this good…she felt warm and happy at that and in that moment treasured it for all time as she was dancing with the object of her affections under the stars and light of the universe.

 

The other girls, namely Dita, Jura, Sara, and Mai were green with envy as they saw how much Meia was enjoying being with Kyo but they were also happy that now Meia was happy and celebrating life and the future.

 

Magno merely smiled as the couple danced on…the affections she saw between them made her smile warmly. It seemed that it was like watching a couple in a date for the first time…and in this case…it was.

 

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

 

Enjoy it while it lasts…things are getting more complicated soon people!

 

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Back at Earth…

 

The leader and the rest of the Harvester Council smiled as they looked at the newly completed Gundam that now had a core of pure Paeksis as the final touches were completed a few days earlier than what was estimated and scheduled. The new Gundam was finished along with more copies and the new versions of the Hell-Fire, Devastator, and Wyvern Gundams…The newly created Gundam models were certainly new and better armed in their new combat roles, and the copies of the new Gundam models certainly complemented the still present assortment of the Harvesters' arsenal including more new and improved Dominion Gundam models. Even the Behemoth series were rebuilt and were now more than ready to devastate the resistance the Nirvana like the enemies that they were.

 

The Harvester Council were not entirely happy with the performance of the new Overlords when the new units were deployed by them against the Mission Delta 6 and they had learned that the inhabitants had fled after the station was attacked, further denting the happy atmosphere due to the lack of new organs. But that was off set by the performance of the units when they ravaged the defenders of Delta 6 and even posed a serious challenge to the station's Gundam defenders, though they had suffered grievous loses in units, the Harvesters paid that no mind since they could rebuilt their loses, but the loses of human lives on the side of the Mission were certainly interesting as the Mobile Armour units of the Mission were badly beaten by the Overlords. Despite the two sided battle the Harvester Council were impressed with the performance of the units and the leader ordered more of the new units and the modified Seed Ships to be added to their growing arsenals.

 

The results from the other Overlords' deployment were far more promising as the results were total tactical surprise when the Resistance were caught off-guard with the introduction of the new weapons and the casualties were high for the Resistance…and they had gained new organ supplies, though not enough to satisfy the quotas they normally needed. The humans who were able to outwit the Harvesters were now finding themselves suddenly caught off-guard with the new forces of the Earth and paid dearly for it, though they had escaped. Overall, the success of the Overlords in battle in different fields meant that they were now officially part of the Harvester Armada and were to support the Cube Fighters in all their combat operations.

 

But their greatest weapons were now ready for battle. The new Gundams were more than capable and now they would crush the Nirvana and the rest of those who dared to oppose them and deny them the right to live as the true living vestiges of the human race.

 

The leader smiled at he and the Council came close to the Paeksis Gundam and stared at it's immense power and weaponry.

 

It was a true weapon of death and ironically it relied on the blue prints of a new Gundam model and used features from the other Mobile Suits that the Harvesters had previous developed…but it was also a technological mockery and more than equal to the hated Infinite Freedom Gundam…in fact they were very much the same.

 

The new Harvester Gundam had the same weapons of the Nirvana Gundam. It had the same anti-ship swords and the energy dart launchers, the same shoulder and head mounted assault guns, the same plasma and rail-gun cannons on the wings and hips, it had beam sabers and a pair of beam rifles as well. It was like looking at the Infinite Freedom itself…but a darker and no doubt evil version of the Gundam.

 

Having recorded the functions of all the weapons of the Infinite-Freedom in many battles with it, the Harvester Armada's technical divisions had found more ways to upgrade their newest most powerful creation to surpass it's Nirvana counter-part. To that end, several features had been updated by the Harvesters to the new Gundam to enhance and upgrade it's performance in combat.

 

They added a set of new features and made changes to at least a few of the weapon systems of the new Paeksis powered Gundam to help it in battles. With those changes, the Harvesters felt that their time for victory was coming for them in this time not even the Nirvana would stop them from their goal of harvesting the organs they needed to survive

 

The leader smiled as he looked at the Gundam as it was till in it's un-powered state and the new Prominence Phase Shift Armour had not yet been activated. He had made it clear that since he was the pilot and not an AI system, he would be leading the Harvester Armada this time.

 

“The Gundam is impressive Master…it is already prepared to wage war with the Nirvana and all who stand against us and our fleets.” The head technician reported as he ran the data in front of the leader.

 

“Good. I will take it out for a test flight today…but I will be the one to give it it's combat name and have it uploaded into the OS of the Gundam.”

 

“As you command my lord!”

 

Later…

 

The Harvester leader was now dressed in what appeared to a combat pilot uniform totally the same as that of Kyo's own. It too had ballistic armour weave and armour plating, along with protective reinforced joints. As he locked in the helmet and locked in his pilot visor he began to program the OS of his Mobile Suit and made the needed settings and upgrades to his Mobile Suit and the way he did it was with so much skill that it seemed that he too had the same level of computer talents as Kyo himself. It took the Harvester leader a few minutes to make the needed adjustments to his Gundam's OS and get it ready for combat.

 

“Gundam…Endless Vendetta…ready to be deployed.”

 

In a second the Gundam was launched from the assembly plant and went into action. It's wings unleashed blood red crystal feathers that radiated massive amounts of Paeksis energy, but in a wavelength that was the polar opposite of that of the energy emitted by the Infinite Freedom Gundam itself. The Gundam's eyes flashed a deep purple and the signs of it's own P. Phase Shift Armour system was now coming to life as the normally grey Mobile Suit was covered in it's colour scheme showing the activation of it's own Phase Shift Armour.

 

The Gundam was now deep black with gold and red. The joints were deep red with the rest of the body in black with golden lining. The look was a dark cybernetic angel with wings that had blood red feathers as the Endless Vendetta went on a speed and flight run, the speed of the Gundam equalling that of the Infinite Freedom Gundam as it moved with amazing speed and it's wings and thrusters providing it immense thrust and manoeuvrability as it flew in the confines of the gears that covered the Earth.

 

The Gundam also had the newly upgraded Neutron Jammer canceller made to provide the same level of protection given by the older version of the Neutron Jammer Canceller that was also present in the Dominion series that was just newly made and with the Canceller using the energy wavelengths of the Paeksis, it gave immense protection from Ion storms, radiation, and energy waves that covered the surface of the planet ever since the Days of Despair that haunted the Earth.

 

As the Gundam was nearing it's combat status as an operational Mobile Suit, the leader decided that it was time for it to be tested in real combat to see just how much power his Gundam had when facing enemies. He already had several human planets to target and for them all to Harvest as the Gundam dodged several massive bolts of lightning and ion energy with ease…showing the level of piloting skill of the Harvester Leader.

 

The war between the Nirvana and the Harvesters had just taken a new twisted turn.

 

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

 

To be continued…

 

Hello, new chapter in and still being fleshed out…did I get the scene right? It's been a while since I saw VanDread, The Second Stage so I might be a bit off on the scene.

 

If I am, send me a comment or review all right? Back to work on this soon!

 

Care to guess just how the Harvester leader KNOWS both Kira and Kyo, just what is the history between the Harvester leader and Kyo's now departed family that he is willing to resurrect a four century old vendetta with them?

 

(*) The ZAKU makes it's first combat debut.

 

(**) And so does the GOUF Ignited model.

 

Now that the latest weapons of the Harvesters have made their appearance…what would be the outcome that the Harvesters have introduced their new weapons…and will they soon be deploying the variants of their Gundams, the Wyvern, the Devastator, and the Hell-Fire?

 

The power system for the Shinobi and Kunoichi Gundams is the same as the Deuterion Beam Energy Transfer System. Designed to function the same way and that is to provide power to both Gundams and their battery reactors and their power packs. In the later chapters, that can be changed, but for now, the Gundams will still rely on this system until it will be replaced in the series, but not yet.

 

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I have been suffering from not just writer's block, but exhaustion, flu, and bouts of fever, along with pains to the eyes and head. The relatives I have in the medical profession said that I was merely mentally exhausted and I agree with them, since I do get better, it's due to this situation that I can't update as frequently as I like to.

 

I'll be back soon, but please send me your comments and reviews so I know how it's progressing and what areas I need to fix. Thanks for all your continued reading and hope to hear from you all soon.

 

Due to a lack of complete data, my work's been somewhat sporadic so if anybody has suggestions to help me…then please do not hesitate and send me those ideas you have in mind so I can finally add them to make the story more and more interesting for not just myself, but everyone else who is reading this.

 

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New notes!

 

The chapter is finally finished…sorry for the delays, but I had a ton of things to do and time wasn't on my side, but it is now finished and I hope it was worth it to all readers!

 

Now that the Paeksis Gundam of the Harvesters is complete, and the leader has taken it out for a test drive and his happy with the flight performance and it's speed, he now wants to see it operate in real time combat conditions and naturally he is going to the pilot of the Gundam instead of the AI system present in the original Gundam units used by his forces.

 

Just how talented is the Harvester Leader? And is the E-Vendetta Gundam as powerful or more than the I-Freedom Gundam?

 

Find out in the next Chapter series!

 

More comments reviews please.