Mobile Suit Gundam Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Gundam SEED Fan Fiction ❯ Mobile Suit Gundam GGeneration: Dreams ❯ Chapter 1: Heliopolis ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 1: Heliopolis

The sky within the Heliopolis colony was clear and the sun beat down onto the colony floor. The giant cylindrical colony floated alone in space like a beacon, shining brightly. The colony looked like it was split into four different sections, two of which were giant windows, which let the precious light to shine into the interior, with the help of wing-like mirrors that protruded backwards from the front of the colony. The other two plates were covered with trees and houses on the interior like a watercolour painting. Created to give people the ability to leave the overcrowded Earth, these new habitats dotted around the gravity free regions around the Earth, were used to house the 4 billion inhabitants of outer space.

The large public news television showed a reporter in a war zone.

“ZAFT has just begun to shell Cairo; it looks like they're putting everything into this assault on the city!” The man shouted into his microphone, trying to make himself hear over the explosions, “The Titan forces--what the hell! Get down!” he was cut off when a winged grey robot landed in the street behind him. Barrel sized bullet cartridges fell to the ground as the machine gun fired, forcing the cameraman and the news reporter to take shelter in a nearby building.

“It looks like ZAFT GINN mobile suits have broken the perimeter!” The reporter said as he dusted himself off inside the building, “We'll bring you -” The picture on the screen turned a blinding white and static followed.

“We seemed to have lost the connection with our reporter. Orb News hopes to reconnect with them as soon as possible. In other news today…”

The people of Heliopolis walked past the giant screen without even looking up. They weren't interested in the war that was being fought on Earth. As citizens of the colony of Heliopolis, a neutral Orb colony, they were free from the stresses of conflict and free to lead a peaceful life.

In the distance, a single ele-car drove down a deserted highway towards a large grey building. There was a gloomy atmosphere inside it as the three occupants sat in silence. The oriental man, who was driving, turned his head slightly to the girl in a brown trench coat sat in the back seat.

“We're almost there, Kriss.” He saw an annoyed look on her face and turned back around. “You know, if we weren't here to oversee the transfer of the Titan GAT units and collect the Astrays, you wouldn't even be here…Do you mind talking to her, Terrance?” He said to the other man beside him seeing that the girl wasn't even listening to him.

“I think Kuro's right, Miss Sampson. We convinced your father to let you come to Heliopolis, especially after the Titans and Oz banned most commercial travel between the colonies, so why the glum face? You should be happy.”

She remained silent for a while before answering.

“Its not you guys. I appreciate what you did for me. But the Titans,” There was a tone of bitterness in her voice, “Why do they have to bring their military research here? All the Titans do is bring war.” Her words trailed off as the car drove up a ramp and into the complex car park.

“I know how you feel. It's not right, but we don't live in a perfect world. Orb is part of the EUF, so we have an obligation to allow any EUF members access to our colonies, even if we are neutral. That's politics for you. Plus, they contracted out Orb's Nord Industries to create the Phase Shift Armour.” The driver, Kuro, said to Kriss as he parked the car and the three got out. “The Titans presence isn't permanent. They're leaving after the transfer. There shouldn't be any trouble. Right Terry?”

Though Kuro and Terrance both liked to believe that life was that simple, but it rarely is.

-----

The every colony, including Heliopolis, built is split into 2 main sections: the outer level and the inner level. The outer level is filled with space docks, industrial compartments and support structures to keep the inner residential level together.

The airlock in section 3A9 has never been used after the completion of Heliopolis, nor has the security system been deactivated. Several small boxes can be seen on the walls blinking silently. A deactivated camera would have shown colony security a large group of people in green and red streamlined normal suits, a name given to space suits since the invention of mobile suits, float by. It would also have seen the face of a man in a red space suit place a small rectangular box on its side, pressed a few buttons and float off to follow his comrades with a smile on his face.

-----

A white spaceship slowly floated closer and closer to the Heliopolis colony. The ship was similar to a horse, with four sections stretching forwards and backwards. A single section was held higher than the main hull, looking a lot like a horse's head. The word EUFF: Pegasus II - ALBION could be seen on one of the `legs' of the battleship.

“Sir, we have permission to dock at Heliopolis.” The bridge Albion was unusually quiet. Normally it is filled with a low chatter of the bridge crew, since the assault carrier Albion's crew just clearance for their first shore-leave since the beginning of the war, the crew had a chance to relax and forget the stresses of conflict.

“Very well, Lieutenant. Take her in, and this time do it slowly.” The bearded captain did not want to see his ship being scraped across the hanger bay again by the helmsman again.

The door leading onto the bridge slid open and a young man, wearing a white uniform with a black strip across the shoulder glided in.

He kept on gliding until he reached the captain's chair. The weak magnets under his shoes connected with the metal walk way as he landed. “Any sign of the Nazca heavy cruiser shadowing us, sir?” He had a deep rich voice that resembled those aristocrats of old, only with a light American accent.

“No. It seems that they've decided to play it safe and move behind the debris here.” The captain pointed up to a map of the area displayed above them. “Our sensors can't penetrate that amount of space debris. Anyway, they wouldn't attack an Orb just because we're here. I don't think they're willing to start a diplomatic incident over one ship.” There was an air of confidence around the captain, almost overconfidence. The officer did not like it one bit. “But just in case, I'm afraid I have to assign your squadron to daily patrols, Captain Garland. Co-ordinate your efforts with colony security.”

“Yes, sir.” Damn, there goes my shore leave. “I'll go and prepare the Moebius and the Jegans.” The man named Sieg Garland saluted and floated towards the lift door at the back of the bridge. Just as the lift doors closed the communications exclaimed something that no one expected:

WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE TITAN MILITARY'S HERE!

What the hell are the Titans doing here? Suppose that's to be expected, they never follow the rules EUF set down. Steven though to himself as the lift descended into the depths of the ship.

In the hanger bay, three Jegan mobile suits stood upright inside metallic rigging with mechanics floating around and giving the suits maintenance. There was another machine in the hanger, but it wasn't a robot.

Sieg drifted up onto the catwalk next to his maple coloured mobile armour. He remembers the days when pilots only fought in aircrafts with jet engines. Now, the closest thing to those is his Moebius Zero. The Moebius Zero was given to him when Earth United Federation Forces found that he had Newtype powers. The gunbarrels were controlled remotely by the Newtype's expanded mind through a series of circuits that lined the cockpit.

A flash streaked across Steven's mind. It was not a physical flash, but rather a sort of premonition when danger is near. That woman's here. This could mean trouble...

------

It had been man's dream to live in space and with the population of Earth reaching 9 billion, that dream was put into motion. Thus in the year 2077AD marked a new beginning of an era, Colonial Year (CY), for man completed the first operational artificial residential and industrial satellite, calling it a colony. People began to move to these pristine new homes from Earth to begin a new life in space. The migration was slow at first, however as the population of Earth grew to 11 billion, the United Nations began Project Exodus. It involved the creation of many more colonies and the migration of 2/3 of the population on Earth onto them. Riots soon broke out in all countries, but the United Nations' military used brand new technology called Mobile Suits, giant 16-meter tall robots, to quell the rioters. By the end of the decade, the project was completed.

Within the newly built colonies, the people often lived in squalid conditions and in constant recessions; soon feelings of jealousy and resentment towards those who were allowed to remain on Earth grew in people's hearts. Amid these negative feelings, a philosopher, named Zeon Zum Deikun, took non-violently rallied for colonial independence from the Earth. His voice was suppressed by the UN and jailed. The philosopher continued his peaceful campaign while in jail. Soon his story began to spread throughout the Earth Sphere. Zeon was freed after seven years in jail, but all that time he never lost hope. During his time in jail, he wrote his first book, Newtypes. While this continued, research into genetics and DNA manipulation yielded the very first Coordinator, designer babies with greater abilities than natural born babies. Thus, almost half the population of space and Earth flocked to have designer babies.

Tensions between Earth and the colonies rose when the philosopher died under mysterious circumstances and his close friend, Degwin Zabi, took command of the colony independence movement, renaming it the Principality of Zeon in memory of the dead philosopher, but his intentions were totally opposite of Zeon's. Both of Zeon's sons disappeared after his death. After various negotiations with the United Nations, talks finally broke down, with both sides arming themselves for war with Zeon dropping a 2km colony on Earth.

Thus began the bloodiest war in history, with more than quarter of the human race wiped out in the first months of the war. The attacks saw the use of nuclear and chemical weapons to wipe out Zeon bases on Earth and in Space but finally defeated Principality of Zeon. The remaining Zeon forces retreated onto a mining comet and left the Earth-Moon system.

-------

On board the Versailles, Captain Brennan Reyes peered at his watch for the third time in two minutes. He was becoming fidgety in his chair, occasionally tapping his fingers on the armrest. “Two minutes…” he mumbled to himself.

“Be patient, Captain, it'll begin soon.” A woman in a white and grey officer's uniform sat beside him said quietly. She wore a white mask that covered her eyes, all the way from her forehead and to her nose, creating an air of mystery. Her pale blond hair flowed down to her shoulders.

No one on the ship knew why she wore the mask, but rumours say that her eyes were damaged in a piloting accident, which made them sensitive to light; hence the mask and the pale blond hair. Of course, these are just rumours.

“Yes, sir.” Captain Reyes replied quickly and looked back at the main viewer, currently showing nothing but space rock and debris. The woman sitting next to him, Major Dena Nadist, gave him the creeps. It wasn't her mask, but the mask just made the feeling worse. Though she wasn't the reason why he was so nervous. He is a seasoned captain who's been in much worse situations than waiting for a timer to countdown in this Nazca-class ship. So why is he fidgeting? He looked at his watch again; it was exactly 1300 hours.

“Commence operation! Launch the GINNs!” Reyes announced to the bridge crew. Almost immediately, the Nazca's main launch bays opened and four grey GINN mobile suits sped out of the bay towards the revolving colony. The superheated jets of exhaust fired out from the vents on their wings and soon it was the only thing still visible in the distance.

Dena sat silently in her chair. A low hubbub of voices filled the room as communications officers relayed information from the ship to those MS, tactical officers reported on enemy movements and the like. The major was impressed by the way that Captain Reyes crew operated. Suddenly, she felt a flash appeared in her mind.

Hmph…so this is where you where hiding… A thin smile appeared on her face.

Getting up off her chair quickly and gliding gracefully to the bridge's exit, she turned to Reyes. “Captain, tell the MS bays to ready my Gerbera Tetra. I'm joining the assault team.” The lift doors closed before he had the chance to object.

So we meet again…

-----

Walking alone down the long corridors that ran throughout Orb's Nord Industries complex Marcus Kolin, a young redheaded Titan officer, dragged his feet along the floor. Worn out from a long night of studying schematics, controls and safety manuals on the GAT Gundams, he dreamily wondered into a large hanger bay. He won't be personally be piloting them, but he always have been interested in mobile suit mechanics, so reading up about them was just a hobby.

As he entered, three of the GAT mobile suits were driven out of the hanger on trucks, with the remaining two just finished being loaded to the transports. Both of them had similar looking faces, each with a small goatee like piece of metal sticking out at their chins and a V-shaped fins that were mounted on their foreheads. They resembled ancient Japanese Shoguns.

Three other mobile suits, very similar to the GAT units, stood inside steel scaffolding on the other side of the hanger. These three were all identical, except their colours: red, blue and gold. They were Orb's newest mobile suit models.

During his time in Heliopolis, Marcus felt a certain distance between him and the citizens of the colony. Maybe it's because he belonged to the Titan military or he's from Earth. Yet there was also a feeling of home; seeing that Coordinators and naturals could live together in peace and being one of the only Coordinators in the Titan military, he longed for a life where he could be accepted by the people around him.

He felt that it was fortunate for him to be amongst the elite soldiers to be chosen to become the Titans, and at the age of seventeen as well, it was nothing short of a miracle. Although he was only a private, being transferred to a mobile suit company meant a rank promotion to Junior Grade Lieutenant. `The youngest lieutenant in history' was what he was called by his superiors and `shit-head' by some of jealous cadets at the academy.

Two technicians in orange jumpsuits walked past him, both in absolute silence. As they walked past, Marcus noticed something about the technician on the right.

Wait, was that Ryan? He thought to himself stopping to take a better look at him, but they walked around the corner. “Must be hallucinating.” He thought out loud thinking that there was no way that guy could be here.

A small bird flew into the hanger and circled around the people and mobile suits below. Marcus looked upwards, realising that it was Torii, his mechanical bird. Seeing that it was making a beeline for a girl in a trench coat, Marcus called out to the bird to stop, but to his surprise, the girl lifted up her finger into the air and Torii landed softly on it.

Looking at the bird with utmost curiosity, she walked towards Marcus.

“This yours?” She asked.

“Y-yes, I mean no, er, not exactly,” He replied, swallowing nervously. He was always shy when talking to girls, even to his girlfriend. “It was a g-gift, from a o-old friend.”

Looking into her eyes, he noticed that they were an odd shade of orange. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Torii flew off her finger and landed on Marcus' shoulder. He decided to work up the courage to ask her name.

“S-so, w-what's you n-name? Do you have autho-o-orisation to b-be here?” Fearing something bad would happen he flinched slightly after he finished.

“Kriss, Kriss Sampson. And I suppose you're Lieutenant Junior Grade Marcus Kolin.” She said peering at the name badge mounted on his Titans uniform. “Suppose you Titan types are all the same. Coming and going as you please, not a single thought about anybody else apart from your self.” A muscle in Marcus' cheek twitched as she spoke, but he kept his cool.

“Its not as if we have a choice. Anyway, we have a right to use this colony under EUF rules and regulations.” Marcus tried to argue, but Kriss just ignored him.

She was no older than he was, about fifteen or sixteen with blonde hair, stood there in a brown coat looking at the Red Orb mobile suit. Her face was quite pretty, even with the angry look she wore. He noticed eyes a strange shade of orange.

-----

Lights blinked continuously around on the walls of the outer level in Heliopolis. The dim corridors were lit up by a flash of light every now and then thanks to those small devices. A timer could be seen on each of them, displaying a countdown clock.

Time Remaining: 00:03…00:02…00:01…00:00

-----

The floor of the complex shook violently throwing everyone in the hanger bay off balance.

Marcus wondered what the hell was going on as he helped Kriss to her feet. As soon as she was stood up, Kriss shook her shoulders and shrugged Marcus off her and began to walk towards two men standing by the other two Orb mobile suits.

Without warning, the sound of machine gun fire filled the air.

A large group of ZAFT soldiers positioned themselves at the entrance to the hanger bay. They threw grenades and fired machine guns into the hanger indiscriminately.

Marcus grabbed Kriss' arms and dived behind a container and a few seconds later they were joined by a man who wore a Nord Industries uniform. He reached for his own gun and fired back at their attackers from the side, while the man fired from the top. When he emptied the magazine, Marcus turned back around to reload. What he saw next almost made him sick.

The man was lying on the floor with a blood stained hole in his forehead. His eyes were still open, filled with the shock that he was hit. Kriss was frozen in fear, staring at the dead body.

“Snap out of it!” He shouted at her while tugging at her arm, but she wouldn't move.

“He…He was the pilot of the Red Frame…How could this happen…”

“Stop muttering and get over it! Oh f it.” Marcus emptied another round at the ZAFT attackers and made a break for it towards the remaining GAT Gundams.

She'd be safe if she stayed behind that container. He thought as he leaped behind another container.

-----

Alarms rang throughout the Albion's corridors. Its captain wasn't pleased with the fact that ZAFT had launched their MS or reports that there was a large hole on the side of the colony.

“There's 4, no, 5 MS approaching! Bearing 095, elevation 40. Distance 200km!” The ensign sitting at sensors and communications shouted the information to no one in particular; hoping that who ever need it, heard her.

“Damn those Coordinators…” The captain growled, “Take the Albion out, quarter thrust. Prepare to launch Captain Garland's squadron. Arm mega particle cannons and AA cannons. Ensign, where are those damn Titans?”

“The explosions damaged the port on the other side of the colony. Their ship or suits can't get out without risking damage to the colony. The colony security are all engaged in trying to control the interior damage.”

Looks like we're on our own. Heh, we'll show ZAFT and the Titans who's better.

Fuel pipes and electrical leads that were just connected to the Albion's hull all simultaneously disengaged and began to flail around in the 0-gravity conditions. The Albion glided out lazily into open space.

As soon as the battleship was clear of the colony, a hatched opened onto top of each of the leg-like extensions, protruding out in front of the ship then extending forwards to form a sort of runway. Two lime green Jegan appeared through the opening where the hatches were; slowly being lifted up onto the runway platform. Walking forwards, the Jegans put their feet into a pedal and they locked into place with a large clunk. Of course you could not hear it in space.

You are clear to launch was what the pilots heard in their headsets when they are suddenly flung forwards, propelling their mobile suit into space. As the first two Jegans were launched, another Jegan and the Moebius Zero were lifted up through the hatch.

“Enemy incoming at point Bearing 095, elevation 40, distance 150km.” A female operator reported over to Steven as he closed the visor on his helmet to prevent glare from the sun. “You are clear to launch. Good hunting sir.” As soon as she finished, Sieg's Moebius Zero was catapulted forwards into space at a tremendous speed. The G-forces forced him back into his seat, but he soon got used to it. Turning on his engines to aid with the acceleration, he and his wingman soon caught up with the two Jegans that launched before them.

“Alright, guys. Standard V-formation” Sieg talked into his headset through the buzzing communications channel to the three Jegans. “Divide and conquer strategy. We'll take them out one by one and-” He instinctively moved his joystick to the left for no odd reason. As his Moebius Zero turned, a missile flew past the belly of the mobile armour. In the distance several blue, glowing speaks could be seen. It was the ZAFT GINN type mobile suits.

“Heads up, people! Four GINNs incoming!” He shouted to his wing-men as they approached the enemy.

-----

The container Marcus just dived behind already had occupants. The two men taking cover there wore civilian clothing, but they were shooting at the ZAFT soldiers, so this was the enemy of my enemy is my friend situation. Over the drone of gunfire, Marcus managed to make out what seemed like an argument between them.

“Great, this your fault you know that don't you, Kuro? Every single time you manage to convince me that going on a mission with you is a good idea! But look at where its gotten ME!” The man with brown hair shouted to the oriental man next to him. He stood up and fired several shots at the ZAFT soldiers before ducking quickly to avoid a hail of bullets. “You're a jinx, Kuro! Ever since the start of this I knew something bad was going to happen! You attract danger to yourself and you know it!”

“How is that my fault? I can't help it if that kind of stuff happens to me. Anyway, I thought you liked adventure, Terrance.” The man named Kuro yelled back. “I wish I had a camera with me. The look you had when the shooting began was priceless!"

“Oh shut up, Kuro. We're middle aged. During the Zeon War, this kind of stuff was OK, but we're thirty for goodness sakes!” The other man, Terrance, shouted back bitterly, "Seriously, we need to find Miss Sampson. If she's been injured or dead, the president's gonna kill us!" He turned around only to find Marcus sitting right by him.

Surprised, Terrance swung his gun to Marcus' head. He was about to pull the trigger until he saw the Titan uniform.

“Dammit, don't sneak up on me like that!" He lowered his gun, "Where the hell are your people? Don't you have some MS stored on the colony?”

“I don't know.” Marcus shouted back to him, the entire hanger bay shook as several grenades exploded near them. “I don't know where they are. You're Orb personnel, right? Get to your mobile suits. I'll have to take a GAT unit to stop them!”

“Fine! You go first, we'll cover you!” Kuro and Terrance fired their guns back at ZAFT, giving Marcus chance to run over to the closest Gundam.

As he ran, Marcus saw several green-uniformed ZAFT soldiers run into the hanger bay followed by a red-uniformed one. But as soon as they entered, the Orb defenders riddled their bodies with bullets.

He ran and ducked as he made his way across the hanger, several times jumping behind a container just in time as bullets flew his way, his heart beating at an incredible speed. Finally he managed to clambering up onto the GAT Gundam's chest, opening the cockpit. Before he climbed in, he noticed a shadow in the Gundam's armour. Spinning around, Marcus pointed his gun at the person's head.

Looking carefully at his enemy, Marcus' eyes widened in shock.

-----

Do you like Torii?

Yeah, it great.

It's a shame that you have to leave.

I wouldn't if my parent's didn't have to move.

Listen, even if we are apart, we'll be friends no matter what.

Friends.

Look after Torii.

I will. See you around, Ryan.

Yeah, see ya, Marcus.

-----

Inside his Moebius Zero, Sieg was having trouble keeping up with a new red mobile suit. His computer registered it as the Gerbera Tetra and now he knew exactly whom he was fighting.

It moved at an incredible speed. It was able to turn on a dime, even if the suit was designed during the post-Zeon war period. Sieg knew that this person was an extremely skilled pilot. With her superior suit and Newtype powers, he'll probably lose, just like last time.

Sieg's squadron had already eliminated three of the GINNs, but when the Gerbera Tetra arrived, it eliminated two of the Jegans with a single burst from its rifle. With only the one wingman left, Sieg had to leave him to deal with the remaining GINN while he fought the new foe.

The GINN and the Jegan were two specks of light in the distance, dancing like fireflies in the darkness, leaving streaks of engine exhaust behind them. They looked so insignificant in the vastness of space, and yet, it was the most important battle of their lives, for it could be their last.

The Moebius Zero was a large space fighter, which wasn't as manoeuvrable as his enemy, soon began to feel at a disadvantage. The large gunbarrels separated off from the main hull of the Moebius Zero via commands from Sieg's mind; they flew off in four different vectors, but all the time pointing towards the red mobile suit. When they got close, two small turrets appeared on the flat faces of the cylinder, firing volleys of beams. The beams appeared as bright yellow darts, flying in groups towards their foe. They all missed. Bursts of green pillars of energy, flew out from the Moebius Zero's Linear Gun mounted underneath its body, but that mobile suit evaded and turned, making it look all so easy to dodge Sieg's attacks.

She's good, maybe even better. Sieg thought.

A thought suddenly appeared in his mind and it wasn't his own.

Glad you think so.

The voice was female, although she sounded rather cute to Sieg, but an immediate wave of fear and hate washed over him. The image of a masked woman appeared in his consciousness. It was her alright, Dena Nadist.

He remembers fighting the red mobile suit during the first battle against a surprise ZAFT attack on the EUF Acteria Moon Installation. Hatred built up inside Sieg as the memory of the Gerbera Tetra destroying most of the 1st Mobile Armour Squadron. He tried to keep his mind concentrated on the battle at hand, but her voice was extremely distracting. Focusing only on his own thoughts and the need to destroy this ZAFT mobile suit, he pulled the trigger on his joystick several more times.

Why are you fighting with these Oldtypes? All they do is just use you.

The Gerbera Tetra suit suddenly spun around and its green monoeye sensor glowed in its neck less head. Raising the large rifle it carried, the mobile suit fired out a hail of beam shots at the Moebius Zero. Sieg veered off to the right quickly, managing to avoid most of the beams. A few stray ones struck his engines while he turned.

Although the beams only glanced the engines, Sieg knew that those mega particles that made up that beam would have made millions of tiny holes on the engine. Sure enough entire cockpit shook as an engine exploded, flinging him from side to side. On board air cushions automatically activated, preventing him from head-butting the display boards and controls around him. The Moebius Zero's speed decreased dramatically, unable to keep up with the enemy.

Like you can talk, Dena.

Sieg returned a thought. It was a strange way of communicating, but it was possible between Newtypes who shared a strong mental link.

You're just like me. ZAFT's using you to fight their war.

Oh Sieg, you are so naïve. You still haven't changed since you were still little.

Though it was just a thought, Sieg felt that there was something else about her that she wasn't revealing to anyone.

You should join me. We Newtypes must watch out for ourselves in this world of Coordinators and naturals. After all, we are family.

He heard bloodcurdling scream from his wingman and saw two bright yellow balls of flames illuminate the space where the GINN and the Jegan was fighting.

The Jegan pilot had severely damaged the GINN by sticking the beam sabre into the GINN's side. The ZAFT pilot decided that he wasn't to die alone and ploughed his overloading unit straight into the Jegan. The resulting explosion from the mini-nuclear engine destroyed them both.

Smoke flew out of Sieg's engines and the displays in from of him told him that they were almost useless. Looking back around, he saw the red mobile suit speed past him at a tremendous speed, heading directly towards the Albion.

NO! You stay away from the Albion!

Sieg tried to swing his mobile armour around, but the resulting strain forced him back into his seat, almost making him faint.

I'll demonstrate to you how weak the people you fight with really are!

Sieg tried to catch up to it with his damaged engines, but the strain on them was too much and black smoke belched out of them. There was still inertia carrying him forwards, but there was no way that he could stop her now.

A single Orb Colony Security green and grey Gelgoog Marine had joined the Albion providing it with some protection, but it was no match for Dena's Gerbera Tetra. Her rifle just ripped through the mobile suit, killing an inexperienced pilot instantly.

He watched in horror as the red mobile suit dodged past the Albion's Vulcan machinegun fire. Several rounds did hit its torso, but it just continued forwards as if nothing has happened.

-----

On the bridge of the Albion, her crew were working hard trying to provide the colony, its mobile suits and her captain with up-to-date information about the unfolding battle. Her captain sat in his chair deciding whether he should move the Albion away from the colony and towards the Nazca cruiser.

However ever since the fifth ZAFT mobile suit appeared on their sensors, the battle has not been progressing well. With only a single Gelgoog Marine from the colony security, the captain's only choice was to sit back and watch the Moebius Zero fight with the Gerbera Tetra.

“Captain, the Gerbera Tetra's heading straight for us!”

“WHAT?” The captain exclaimed, “All AA cannons target the enemy mobile suit!”

Within a few seconds, the Gerbera Tetra's rifle ripped apart the Gelgoog Marine protecting the Albion. The explosion shook the bridge while pieces of debris pinged off the hull.

“Helm, 90 degrees starboard! Get our side facing the mobile su-”

The captain didn't finish his sentence because now the Gerbera Tetra's monoeye was staring directly at him. The bridge crew didn't have time to scream as Dena plunged her suit's hand into the bridge, crushing everyone inside.

After that easy victory, Dena fired a burst of beams at the Albion's engines. The armour surrounding the port engine swelled and burst into flames. The explosion didn't destroy the ship, but sent the Albion hurtling towards the colony.

I'll leave you to rethink your loyalties lie, Sieg. You're always welcome to join me.

Sieg wanted to go after Dena's Gerbera Tetra as it entered the colony, but his Moebius Zero's engines were totally wreaked and it was drifting further and further away from Heliopolis. He was exhausted from the battle. He felt the cockpit dim around him as the Moebius Zero drifted further and further away.

“No…”

-----

A female voice boomed through the various loudspeakers around the colony, advising its citizens to take shelter. There was no one on the streets, but the sound of explosions and guns firing filled the air. A small group of Titan security personnel and ZAFT soldiers in red and green space suits were fighting between three trucks that were carrying the GAT mobile suits. The two groups were in a stalemate.

Through the hole in the colony, the Gerbera Tetra swooped in. Reloading its beam rifle, it fired several small bursts of beams at the Titan defenders. They were wiped out instantly. With the Titans dead, three soldiers in the red uniforms ran quickly to the trucks and climbed into the undefended GAT units.

Two oddly dressed men were at the top of the highest artificial hill in Heliopolis. One of them, wearing a long blue jacket, sat observing the battle inside the colony through a pair of binoculars. The other man, in a white suit with his hands in the trousers pockets, stood looking through the large colony length window above them at the battle outside. Apart from their choice of fashion, they looked almost identical.

These Oldtypes haven't learnt a thing have they?

It would seem like it.

The man in the coat put the binoculars into his large coat pocket and walked down the hill. The other guy continued to look up at the battle in space for a few more seconds, before he left to join his companion.

-----

The three GAT units now with ZAFT pilots sat up on their transports and slowly stood up. The grey armour on all three shimmered and fluctuated revealing a much more brighter armour. Activating the thrusters on their backpacks, the mobile suits jumped into the air, and headed out of the hole in the colony.

“Ryan?” Marcus thought he has seen a ghost. They stood there looking at each other for what seemed like an eternity. He was in a Nord Industries engineer jumpsuit. So the guy from before was Ryan.

The boy, no older than Marcus, was in shock too, but he came to his senses quickly and jumped away from Marcus. Marcus shouted at Ryan, asking him to come back, but he ignored him as he ran towards the remaining GAT mobile suit. As Marcus turned, he saw another Nord Industries engineer run up the GAT Gundam's leg, he had a gun and was pointing it at Marcus.

Rolling over sideways, Marcus fired two shots at the engineer without even stopping to think for he instinctively knew that the person was an enemy. The two bullets hit the guy in the chest and he collapsed and tumbled off the Gundam.

Marcus opened up the hatch on the Gundam's chest slid down into its cockpit. Marcus sat alone in the darkness, fumbling around with several buttons, a single screen activated in front of him.

T.T/N.I.H.M.M.S (Titan Tactical/Nord Industries High Mobility Mobile Suit)

STRIKE GUNDAM

The main viewer before him lit activated and lit up the entire cockpit, showing him what was going on outside.

“Three minutes before Operating System finishes initial activation sequence...” Marcus mumbled. There was nothing he could do now except watch as the events unfold before him.

Bringing across the keyboard behind him, Marcus began tapping at the keys. Several mini screens appeared on the main viewer, showing different views from around the colony. The Astrays that were standing at the walls of the hanger bay began to move out of their steel maintenance bays. Flicking a switch to his right, Marcus turned on his laser radio to hear what was going on.

“Kriss!” It was the Japanese man called Kuro, “Get out of the Red Frame, NOW!”

“The pilot's dead, Kuro. I can't just stand here and watch while you guys risk your lives! I'll be fine. You trained me in MS combat. You can't stop them in just the Gold Astray, even with Terrance in the Blue Astray helping.” Kriss replied.

“That's not the point! This isn't the simulator, this is real life. Now ge-” He was cut off as the GAT mobile suit that Ryan ran to began to stand up. The phase-shift armour activated, changing its dull grey armour into mauve, almost pink colour. There were various spikes protruding from its body, making it look very awkward.

“OK, fine.” Kuro's Gold Astray turned to the Blue Astray and the Red Astray, “We've got to stop that mobile suit!”

Ryan, what are you doing? He thought as he watched as the three mobile suits closed in on the pink unit. The sensor on his viewer displayed Ryan's unit, the Aegis Gundam.

Two Minutes Until Activation

The roof of the hanger bay suddenly began to collapse, raining debris onto those who were still on the ground. A hail of beams rained down on the Astrays from the colony's sky. It was the Gerbera Tetra.

Kuro's Gold Astray went to pursue the Ryan's Aegis Gundam. Charging forwards, it unconnected a large pole from the backpack, as the he brought it to its side, a green blade of pure energy extended forth. Swinging it around, Kuro hoped that he would catch the pilot off-guard. The Aegis Gundam just shifted its body to the left to allow the Gold Astray to charge harmlessly past it.

Using its booster verniers to spin around 360 degrees, Kuro went around for another strike. This time, Ryan activated the Aegis Gundam's own beam sabre and blocked the attack. Both pilots pushed their mobile suits to the limit, hoping to overwhelm their opponent. Both mobile suits were evenly matched. Eventually, repelling effect of the beam energy became too much for both pilots to handle and both mobile suits jumped away from each other.

On the other side of the, now levelled, hanger bay was Terrance's Blue Astray and Kriss's Red Astray. They were having a difficult time with the Gerbera Tetra that was circling around them in the air. Green pillars of light flew out of their rifles into the sky, with the beams disappearing and dissipating as it went further out, but none hit their target. He was surprised that none of the ZAFT suits had fired at him so far.

Must be because they think that their other guy's in here.

One Minute Until Activation

As if on cue, both the Aegis Gundam and the Gerbera Tetra went on the offensive.

Aegis charged forwards with its beam sabre and swung it at the Gold Frame. Kuro, thinking that it was going to strike for his cockpit, turned the Gold Frame and jabbed his beam sabre towards the Aegis, hoping to parry the strike. The Aegis suddenly stopped its slash in mid-swing, activated its boosters and slammed into Kuro. Though both suits didn't suffer any damage, the Gold Frame was thrown off its feet and crashed into a block of flats nearby, knocking Kuro unconscious.

Meanwhile, one of the beams from the Gerbera Tetra mobile suit struck the Blue Frame's beam rifle. Terrance managed to get rid of it just in time before it exploded, but the shock from the explosion pushed the Blue Frame backwards. It stumbled along the ground before it falling over.

The ZAFT mobile suit circled around for another pass, while avoiding the streaks of beam fire from Kriss's Red Astray. A single beam struck the Gerbera Tetra's right shoulder thrusters. Smoke pumped out of the shoulder vernier's nozzle as the Gerbera Tetra tried to keep balance. The woman's thoughts slipped into Marcus' mind again.

Now, you die

Throwing away the beam rifle, Dena activated her beam sabre and dived down from the sky and landed right next to the Red Astray. Marcus heard Kriss scream through the communications channel.

RECHARGE COMPLETE: STRIKE GUNDAM READY FOR USE

The Strike Gundam rose from its transport. Its armour fluctuated to change its armour to white and blue. Pressing several buttons by his left hand to find the weapons for Strike. The words Armour Schneider Assault Knives appeared on the screen. Grabbing the small knives that were stored in the Gundam's legs, Marcus pushed down on the foot pedals and the Strike Gundam charged straight at the Gerbera Tetra.

Dena was so preoccupied with the Red Astray, she failed to notice the Strike Gundam. It slammed the knives into the Gerbera Tetra's shoulder joints from the back; sparks flew out from the deep wound and its arm drooping to its sides, dropping the beam sabre.

Seeing that he could win this, Marcus fired off the Vulcan machineguns on the side of the Strike Gundam's head hoping to do more damage. But the Dena activated the Gerbera Tetra's backpack boosters in the Strike Gundam's face, pushing Marcus away from her. Before he had any idea what was going on, Dena's damaged Gerbera Tetra already took off towards the hole in the colony wall. Taking several steps backwards, Marcus watched as Ryan's Aegis Gundam transform into a claw like mobile armour in mid-air and boosted out of the colony into open space.

“RYAN! WHY ARE YOU WITH ZAFT?” he shouted to the Aegis using the international communication channel, hoping his old friend would speak to him, but there was no reply.

Hoping that he could catch Ryan with the Strike Gundam, Marcus pushed down on the foot pedals.

WOMP!

The entire colony shook again. But this time, the entire mirror side of the colony shattered as what remained of the battleship Albion careened into it. The remaining atmosphere within the colony was sucked straight out into space while the remaining parts of the colony began to split.

Large cracks appeared in the floor, swallowing the buildings. The four mobile suits that remained were all sucked into the air when the atmosphere vented. Kuro's Gold Frame Astray and Terrance's Blue Frame Astray were sucked out into open space like all the other debris, but the Strike Gundam and the Red Frame Astray were still active, both firing their boosters trying to fight the force of the air currents.

“Kriss!” Marcus shouted and reached the Strike Gundam's hand towards her Astray.

Kriss was hesitant at first, but seeing that Marcus was the only one left, she reluctantly reached out the Astray's hand and grabbed on. Under the thrust of both suit's verniers, they boosted out of the disintegrating colony.

As they exited the colony, they were met by the Alexandria-Class Titan battleship, the Severn.

“And they show up now…” Marcus grunted angrily.

-----

“What do you mean ZAFT's taken the GAT series mobile suits!” A man shrouded in shadows jumped up off his seat a large office. The office was completely black, apart from the large computerised atlas of the world behind him. The area that still belonged to Earth was in blue and ZAFT territory was in red. The man slumped back down into his large chair and sighed.

“Send the Severn after them. We can't let ZAFT get to Earth with those things.” He put his receiver down and spun around to his desk.

“Why does this have to happen now?”

The large screen behind him suddenly changed, this time the remaining blue in Egypt disappeared and were replaced by red.