Mobile Suit Gundam: The Second Century, Part 1: Prelude 0099

[Buried Alien]

Author’s preface, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE SECOND CENTURY.

The following is a discussion of how, many years ago now, I came to write this screenplay/novel. If the origin of my work does not interest you, you may skip directly to Episode 1 and begin reading the story immediately.

I first became a fan of Japan’s MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM series when I was in high school during the late 1980s. GUNDAM is an anime franchise that needs no introduction. During the past quarter century, GUNDAM has become an epic that has enthralled fans in Japan and around the world every bit as much as STAR TREK or STAR WARS.

The original MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Suit_Gundam) storyline appeared as a television series in 1979, and was compiled into three reanimated feature films in 1981 and 1982. This was followed by a successful sequel, MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeta_Gundam), in 1985, which was in turn followed by MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM DOUBLE ZETA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_Zeta_Gundam). The original storyline of the GUNDAM series wrapped up with the feature film MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char%27s_Counterattack) in 1988. There would be new GUNDAM TV series and movies after that, up to this very day, but the original storyline that followed the war between the Earth Federation and the Archduchy of Zeon ended with CHAR’S COUNTERATTACK, and the original cast of GUNDAM characters was not seen again.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE SECOND CENTURY picks up from where GUNDAM DOUBLE ZETA and CHAR’S COUNTERATTACK left off, and follows the trials and tribulations of the second generation of the Universal Century characters, essentially the direct successors of the first generation of GUNDAM characters.

One does not necessarily need an in-depth familiarity with the original GUNDAM to enjoy the story I have written, but a good understanding of the original series will help readers to more fully appreciate the characters, particularly in their motivations and challenges. It will also accentuate certain recurring themes of the GUNDAM universe. I wrote this story so that it can be taken both ways: as the sequel to the original GUNDAM series, and as a standalone story that can be compelling on its own merits.
My original concept for this project divided the story into three parts:

First is MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM - THE SECOND CENTURY (PRELUDE 0099), in which we are introduced to two of our principal characters, Athena Ibaz and Jolie Minh. This was a script for a 10-part OAV that would establish the basic background for the meat of the story, which is part 2.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM – THE SECOND CENTURY was conceived as a 50-episode anime TV series, continuing the story of Athena Ibaz and Jolie Minh, and introduces the third main character, Jonah Miguel, who would play a pivotal role in both Athena and Jolie’s lives, as well as the course of the latest (and last) Earth/Zeon war.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM – THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON was to be the third and final part of the story, taking place five years after the end of THE SECOND CENTURY. Conceived as a two-hour animated feature film, it would chronicle the final chapter of Athena Ibaz and Jolie Minh’s long and complex relationship, and the dawn of a new age in the GUNDAM universe.

I did most of the work for this project between 1991 and 1995, with some highly skilled friends helping to provide illustration work. By 1995, I had compiled over 1000 pages of work. Unfortunately, the beginning of work and other commitments led me to abandon the project, and it’s been sitting on my shelf for over a decade.

But I think the time has come to share it with the readers here at SPCNET. I hope you enjoy the ride.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Buried Alien]

EPISODE 1: ATHENA

Opens with a field of stars glittering in the cosmos. The camera pans to the right, and the legend, “U.C. 0089” appears on the screen.

Explosions light the emptiness of space. We are treated to the sight of the Neo Zeon Empire’s Axis Space Fortress under heavy assault by waves of Earth Federation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Federation)/AEUG (Anti-Earth Union Government) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AEUG#Anti_Earth_Union_Group_.28AEUG.29) Alliance mobile suits (MS) and spacecruisers. It is the Battle of Side 3 – the same battle that ended the GUNDAM ZZ series, but seen from the perspective of the Neo Zeon side.

The camera closes in on Axis Fortress, then behind the fortress to give us an unobstructed view of Zum City Colony, the capital city of the Archduchy of Zeon. We go into the colony to see that it is occupied by Federal Forces/AEUG MS that have landed to seek out any hidden survivors of the Neo Zeon leadership.

The camera continues to pan towards the royal palace of the defeated Archduchy of Zeon. The palace is in shambles. Inside, many Zeon military officers, civil officials, and domestic servants are scrambling to cover or trying to escape. Many more lie dead on the palace floor.

In the royal court, the remaining leaders of the Neo Zeon military have gathered: General Carloman Miguel, General Omar Damascus, General Adrian Reglas, General Lara Constantinas. The military leaders gather around a tiny figure: ten year old Princess Minerva Zabi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mineva_Lao_Zabi), daughter of Prince Dozle Zabi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dozle_Zabi) and final surviving heir of the Zabi Royal Family that rules the Archduchy of Zeon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeon). Also with them is Dory, the princess’ nanny.

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Princess Minerva Zabi of the Archduchy of Zeon, seen here at age 10 in U.C. 0089. Image from MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM (1985)

“Your majesty,” General Miguel informs Minerva, “our space fleet has been defeated and the civil defense divisions of our space colonies are being overrun. We must evacuate.”

Sadly, soberly, the young monarch replies to her loyal general, “This is the second time our nation’s finest have been defeated by its enemies. Our people are Newtypes, the chosen people of humanity’s future. Why can our people not triumph against the Earth-dwellers whose souls are bound by gravity?”

A moment of somber silence ensues. Resolved to spare her people the ravages of prolonged war, Princess Minerva turns to the military leaders under her command, “Issue the following declaration to all commanders of the Earth Federation Forces and AEUG immediately: Princess Minerva Zabi of the Archduchy of Zeon requests an immediate cessation of all hostilities. The House of Zabi is prepared to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the current conflict with the people of Earth and the spacenoids of AEUG."

General Damascus, a large, violent man, growls in protest, “Your highness, I beg you to reconsider! We must not surrender to those Earthbound tyrants! We must remain true to the cause of Zeon to the very end!”

Princess Minerva whirls angrily on General Damascus, “I am the leader of my people, General Damascus, and I have a responsibility to preserve their lives and welfare. Our military is broken. If we continue hostilities, more of my people will die!”

General Miguel, a calmer and more levelheaded man than his comrade Damascus, speaks out, “You heard her highness’ command. Obey immediately, or face royal court martial!”

Angrily, Damascus salutes and departs to carry out his orders. The remaining Zeon officers other than General Miguel scramble to execute the princess’ orders as well.

Dory turns to Princess Minerva, “Your highness, you’re certain that you’ve made the correct decision?”

The princess looks at Dory sadly, “Even you’re questioning me now?”

Dory reddens, “My apologies, your highness. I wouldn’t dare.”

Princess Minerva looks sadly upon her loyal domestic, “For all of our sakes, I pray that I’ve chosen wisely.”

Suddenly, the ground begins to shake and the walls of the palace begin to crumble. The entire roof of the palace is then lifted off by an AEUG mobile suit. The piece of falling debris knocks Dory unconscious.

The dust settles to reveal a crimson RMS-099 Rick Dias mobile suit towering over the ruins of the royal court. The cockpit of mecha opens, and an AEUG officer in a crimson normalsuit leaps out.

Princess Minerva looks up from the ground, where General Miguel has shielded the princess with his body (Miguel is unhurt). Minerva’s eyes light up in recognition and disbelief, “Colonel Char!”

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Colonel Char Aznable as he appeared in U.C. 0087

Indeed, the officer who emerged from the Rick Dias mobile suit is none other than the infamous Colonel Char Aznable, the “Red Comet” of the Zeon forces during the One Year War of U.C. 0079. Later taking the identity of Captain Quattro Bageena of AEUG, Char has been missing in action and presumed dead for the past year following the final battle of the Gryps Conflict.

General Miguel recognizes Char as well, “Char Aznable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Char_Aznable),” Miguel snarls, “Traitor! You were supposed to be dead! What is your purpose for coming here now?”

Char does not answer Miguel. Instead, with one quick maneuver, Char moves past Miguel and scoops up little Princess Minerva into his arms.

Miguel points his sidearm at Char, but will not fire as long as Char holds Princess Minerva. Royal guards finally make their way into the collapsed throne room, but it is too late. Char has already boarded the Rick Dias with Minerva and blasted away from the ruins of the palace.

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Colonel Char's RMS-099 Rick Dias mobile suit, painted in his custom red color.

A few remaining Zeon civil defense MS-14 Gelgoog and MS-09R Rick Dom mobile suits pursue Char’s Rick Dias, but Miguel knows that they will never capture the Red Comet.

Episode 1 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

The camera gives us an awesome view of Side 7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Century_Locations)’s Green Noah space colony. As previously established in MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM and MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM, Green Noah is the site of the Earth Federation Forces’ most important space-based military complexes. This is evident as we see a number of RGM-95 GM IV (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGM-79_GM) and RGM-99 Jegan II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGM-89_Jegan) mobile suits sortie in and out of the space colony on patrol duty.

A legend appears on screen informing us that the year is now U.C. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Century) 0097. Eight years have passed since the final sighting of Princess Minerva Zabi of the Archduchy of Zeon.

Today is graduation day at the Earth Federation Forces military academy. Of the thousands of young men and women who enlisted in the academy for three years of intense, grueling physical and mental training, three hundred are gathered in front of Reville Hall today to receive their commissions as officers in the Earth Federation Forces.

General Bright Noah (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Noa), the Federation’s most decorated war hero of the past two decades, who was captain of the White Base (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Base#Pegasus-Class_mobile_suit_carrier_.28White_Base.29) during the One Year War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Year_War), the Ahrgama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argama) during the Gryps Conflict (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gryps_Conflict) and the First Neo Zeon War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Zeon_Movements), and the leader of the Lond Bell Task Force (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Londo_Bell#Londo_Bell) during the Second Neo Zeon War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Zeon_Movements) , is issuing the graduates their commission diplomas and extending his congratulations.

After General Noah shakes hands with a 2Lt. Rory Hutchinson and a 2Lt. Lana Mugali, the highest ranking officer in the Earth Federation Forces summons another graduate, 2Lt. Athena Ibaz.


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2Lt. Athena Ibaz (formerly Princess Minerva Zabi), aged 18 (U.C. 0097)


2Lt. Athena Ibaz, aged eighteen, is an exceptionally attractive young woman. With reddish blonde hair, long legs, and a regal, dignified bearing that belies her youth, 2Lt. Ibaz’s appearance to accept her commission from General Noah draws a chorus of cheers from her fellow graduates and senior officers. Athena is graduating at the top of her class – of every class in the history of the Federation’s military academy! She has excelled in all phases of the academy’s officer training program, and promises to be an exceptional officer for the Earth Federation Forces. Moreover, Athena is at the top of the list of twenty-six exceptional graduates who have earned positions into the Federal Forces’ newly organized elite Special Operations Force. Athena has been assigned to the Centurion Team, under the command of One Year War veteran Captain Rick Tinne.

Later that evening, a lavish grand ball is held within Reville Hall to celebrate the achievements of the graduates and the launching of the Special Operations Forces. Athena, resplendent in her Federation officer’s dress uniform, is approached by Colonel Peter Cairlay, a tall, thin, and somewhat sinister-looking man who is the Director of the Special Operations Force.

Col. Cairlay and Athena exchange a few pleasantries about how they look forward to working together. Suddenly, an aide approaches Col. Cairlay and whispers something into the colonel’s ear. Cairlay’s face pales in horror, and he quickly excuses himself from Athena’s company and rushes towards General Noah’s office. Athena looks at the departing Cairlay in a disturbed manner; something serious had obviously come up.

There is a knock on the door of General Noah’s office. Col. Cairlay salutes and enters. The colonel finds General Noah sitting at his desk, rubbing his beard nervously. Cairlay can tell from the look on the general’s face that the situation is extraordinarily grim.


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General Bright Noah as he appeared during the Gryps Conflict of U.C. 0087, ten years prior to the events in PRELUDE 0099.


“Sir?” ventures Cairlay after a moment of tense silence.

General Noah’s gaze is withering in its intensity as he finally addresses the colonel, “Colonel Cairlay, approximately one hour ago, a task force of five unfriendly mobile suits raided the Anaheim Weapons Development Plant near Anman City and captured the Project G-100.”

Cairlay responds with a deep sigh, “Any leads, sir?”

General Noah nods grimly, “One of our GM pilots managed to shoot down one of the enemy mobile suits: it was an AMS-119 Geara Doga. Intelligence personnel have confirmed that the pilot of the mecha was an agent of the Independent Spacenoid Republic Liberation Army.”

Colonel Cairlay considers the information the general has revealed to him. The Independent Spacenoid Republic is an underground society of self-proclaimed freedom fighters whose objective is the restoration of the long obsolete Zeon Republic of Side 3. the I.S.R. was founded in U.C. 0094, the year after Char Aznable’s failed attempt to create nuclear winter on Earth by dropping Axis Fortress on the planet, by Artasia Som Daikun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayla_Mass).


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Artasia Som Daikun, also known as Sayla Mass, the leader of the Independent Spacenoid Republic movement.



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Zeon Zum Daikun, founder of the Zeon Republic and father of Char Aznable and Sayla Mass


Artasia Som Daikun, aged thirty-five, is the daughter of the late spacenoid pioneer and visionary Zeon Zum Daikun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeon_Zum_Deikun), founder and first Prime Minister of the Zeon Republic. Artasia’s brother Casval Rem Daikun was the man who later became known as Char Aznable. During the One Year War, Artasia, under the name of Sayla Mass, actually served under then 1Lt. Bright Noah aboard the White Base. Sayla distinguished herself as a skilled and brave fighter and mobile suit pilot for the Federation, at times serving as substitute pilot in lieu of the famous Federation war hero Amuro Ray (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amuro_Ray) as the pilot of the original RX-78 Gundam. Sayla retired from the Federation military after the conclusion of the war, and after a rocky and ultimately failed relationship with Amuro Ray, she had completed her medical studies and spent the intervening years as one of the world’s finest physicians. Sayla reclaimed her birth name of Artasia Daikun after the apparent deaths of both her brother Char and her onetime lover Amuro at the end of the Second Neo Zeon War in U.C. 0093. Sickened by decades of war seemingly without end, Artasia organized the I.S.R. in a bid to free the space colonies once and for all.

The I.S.R. rejects the violent imperialism of the Zabi Family’s Archduchy of Zeon, but is committed to the liberation of Side 3 and all space colonies whose people desire to be free of the Earth Federation Government’s hegemony. The Federation regards the I.S.R.L.A. as terrorists.

General Noah tells Colonel Cairlay, “Colonel, I believe we should summon the services of the Special Operations Forces.”

Episode 1 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

Tactical Information Center, Green Noah Base: the 26 commanding officers of the Special Operations Forces team (A-Z) meet with Colonel Cairlay and General Manron Blackhead (Commander of Federal Space Forces) to discuss the current crisis.

General Blackhead opens the conference by asking the officers, “Ladies and gentleman, how much does each of you know about the Project G-100?”

Captain Donna Rever, leader of Tycho Team, answers, “Sir, we are all aware that the Project G-100 refers to a new Gundam mobile suit prototype that Anaheim Weapons R&D has been developing for the past five years…but no one outside of Federal High Command’s inner circle knows any details about the project.”

General Blackhead nods, “Yes. Project G-100 was initiated at the same time that the idea of creating the Special Operations Forces was proposed. It was to be the testbed for a new generation series of Gundam mobile suits suited for extraordinary operations the Special Forces would need to perform. The prototype G-100 was stolen, last night, ladies and gentlemen, by ISRLA terrorists."

There is a collective gasp among the Special Forces officers. The loss of the Project G-100 represents a grave security breach that could threaten the security of Earth and the Federation’s space colonies. The Federal Forces’ newest and most powerful WMD is in the hands of terrorists.

Captain Koichi Sato, the leader of Victory Team, speaks next, “Sir, we’re prepared to retrieve the prototype.”

Colonel Cairlay gestures for silence, and stares hard at the officers as he says, “People, you understand, or at least should understand, this situation as well as I do. If a large number of spacenoid civilians are killed, injured, or suffer property loss in a Federal Forces military operation against the ISRLA, anti-Federation sentiment will intensify throughout the colonies. It’s already well known that the ISRLA has accumulated such overwhelming support at Side 3 that both the Federal Deliberative Assembly and the Federal High Command are considering it politically advisable to withdraw the occupation forces we’ve stationed there since 0089. Current intelligence indicates that ISRLA activities have spread to Side 5, Side 6, and Anman City. Blatant use of Federal military force against spacenoid civilians might galvanize all Cislunar colonies into rebellion against the Earth Federation Government. The last thing we need is another goddamn civil war with our own space colonies.”

Captain Vladmir Arkov of Mercury Team asks, “Then what are our orders, sir?”

Cairlay lights a cigar, and blows out a ring of smoke before replying, “Captain Tinne?”

Captain Rick Tinne rises to his feet, “Sir!”

Cairlay fixes his eerie gaze on Tinne, handing him a Datachip, “Captain, this Datachip contains all relevant information that Federal Intelligence has been able to accumulate on Chad Barron, a key man in the ISRLA. If anyone knows anything about the location of the G-100 prototype, it would be him. The Centurion Team’s orders are to track down Barron and bring him in for interrogation.”

A few hours later, Captain Tinne and Athena are playing billiards in the C-Team’s recreation room. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that Captain Tinne has been watching Athena play billiards; she has sunk so many consecutive balls into the table’s pockets that the captain’s cue stick hasn’t touched the table yet in an hour.

As Athena sinks yet another ball into a pocket, Captain Tinne inserts the Datachip given to him by Colonel Cairlay into his Datapad, a nearly ubiquitous handheld personal computer device.

Captain Tinne reads aloud the data on the viewscreen for his executive officer’s benefit, “Chad Barron. Age 45. Born on Side 3. Earned a doctorate degree from Zum University in Artificial Habitat Facilities Engineering in U.C. 0078. Served as a military specialist in the Army of the Archduchy of Zeon during the One Year War. During the 0080s, served as a military specialist for AEUG. Became Chief Foreman of Side 3’s main nuclear fusion plant in 0090, and promoted to Director in 0095. Also became a founding member of ISR with Dr. Artasia Som Daikun and others, and soon worked his way into becoming one of the most important men in the ISRLA.”

As Athena nonchalantly chalks her cue stick, she asks, “What’s your plan, sir?”

Captain Tinne sighs, “Well, going in guns blazing with mobile suits is definitely out of the question. Making the Federal Forces look like a gang of armored fascist thugs is exactly what the ISR wants.”

Athena sinks a red ball into a side pocket and says, “The ISRLA has always had the political upper hand against the Federation because it’s successfully capitalized on the Earth government’s greatest fear – spacenoid rebellion.”

Tinne switches off his miniprocessor and prompts, “Then in response, we should…?”

Athena picks it up, “In response, we should do likewise – exploit the ISRLA’s greatest fear against them.”

Athena sinks the eight ball in the corner pocket with a dreadful finality.

Episode 1 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

Twelve hours later, the Centurion Team is at Side 3, Bunch 1: site of Zum City, the former capital of both the Zeon Republic and the Archduchy of Zeon. The once opulent capital city is now in shambles, occupied by a small force of Federal soldiers and MS pilots.

Zum City is now also the nominal “home” of the Independent Spacenoid Republic movement. These spacenoid freedom fighters (“terrorists” from the Federation’s perspective) pass themselves off as Zum City’s regular citizenry which, in fact, most of them are. The ISRLA launches constant clandestine, guerilla style assaults against the Federal Forces.

Around the ruins of the old Zeon Republic’s Parliament Building, an angry crowd of demonstrators numbering into the tens of thousands carry signs and shout slogans such as, “Free Zeon!” “End Earth’s Injustice Towards Spacenoids!” “Fight Earthist Oppression!” “Vive Contolism!” etc. Leading this assembly of protestors is the familiar Dr. Artasia Som Daikun, the woman once known as Sayla Mass.

The camera pans away from the Zeon Parliament Building to the colony’s main nuclear fusion power plant. Chad Barron is the Director of Colony Energy Resources (and secretly, point man for the ISRLA’s intelligence personnel). The main nuclear fusion plant for Zum City is not must a colony utilities facility; it is also a gathering place for members of the ISRLA. Here, anti-Federation rebels gather to discuss their plans, all done under the shadow of industrial work that maintains the colony’s power supply. Hydrosuits (non combat mobile suits) enter and exit the plant en rout to various maintenance work around the about the colony.

Chad Barron, a thin, sinister looking man with a pencil moustache and greasy hair, is quietly discussing something with several other ISRLA members/ plant maintenance workers. Brownstone, an aide of Barron’s, alerts him that Captain Rick Tinne and 2 Lt. Athena Ibaz of the Earth Federation Forces have come with a military warrant to investigate the power plant for suspected ISRLA activity.

Barron pales at the news. He had not anticipated the Federation discovering this secret stronghold, at least not so soon. He tells Brownstone, “Bring them here, but we must make sure they don’t leave here alive to compromise us.”

Brownstone invites Captain Tinne and Athena to enter the facility’s main generator chamber. Barron greets the two Federal Forces officers with false cordiality.

Captain Tinne says gravely, “We’re sorry to interrupt your work, Mr. Barron. We understand that supplying a space colony with power is a serious task that requires all of your time and attention, but our business here won’t take long. Mr. Barron, thirty-six hours ago, ISRLA terrorists appropriated a piece of vital military property from Anaheim Weapons R&D. Our intelligence personnel indicated that Side 3 was a possible point of egress for the ISRLA, so we would like to…”

Barron cuts him off, “I understand, Captain. Very well, you have permission to search the premises.

Captain Tinne bows to Barron gallantly, “Thank you, sir. Lt. Ibaz?”

The captain and Athena begin an investigation of the grounds of the power plant, attentive for any indication of ISRLA activity. Athena spots a calculator-sized device on a nearby work station and hands it to Tinne.

Captain Tinne examines the device, then shows it to Barron, “Mr. Barron, is it your facility’s standard practice to use MS combat data processors as part of its equipment?”

Standing to one side, Athena notices a cargo bay door nearby. Reaching out with her mind, Athena gets a vague impression of what lies beyond the metal door.

Athena makes a decision in that instant. This is my opportunity. Time to act.

Athena subtly approaches Captain Tinne and quietly indicates to him the door that she had spotted. The captain, responding to his junior executive officer’s prompting, approaches the door for a closer inspection.

The doors rip open with alarming suddenness! A hydrosuit blasts out and impales Captain Tinne with one of its extended utility arms.

The commanding officer of the Centurion Team confirmed dead, the HS swings around to finish Athena with a swipe of its metallic claw.

With a quick, deft, acrobatic maneuver, Athena leaps clear of the robotic talon, draws her sidearm, and fires a shot into the HS’s cockpit canopy, striking its operator between the eyes. Athena swiftly opens the HS’s shattered canopy, jettisons the body of its slain operator, and climbs into the cockpit seat.

Athena pulls the throttle of the HS, sending it careening into several ISRLA rebels who appeared with firearms after hearing the noise and commotion. Athena then sets the HS down next to the main fusion generator unit of the colony and puts the mecha’s own fusion battery into overdrive.

Brownstone is about to fire a shot from his assault rifle at the HS when Barron knocks the weapon from his hands,

“Brownie, don’t! That woman has the HS in overdrive! If you fire at it, it will start a chain reaction explosion that would wipe out this entire colony!”

Horrified, the rebels point their weapons away from the pirated HS.

“Thirty seconds to critical mass,” an electronically synthesized voice announces from the HS.

Athena points her sidearm at Barron, “Mr. Barron, I want to know the location of Project G-100 immediately.”

Barron stares at the overheating HS in horror. Sweat covers the man’s skin, and his throat is as parched as the Sahara in summer, “You heartless b*tch! Take that thing off overdrive now! If it explodes, over five million people will die!”

Athena looks at Barron coldly, “The location of the prototype…?”

The synthesized voice of the HS’s computer continues its doomsday countdown, “Ten seconds to critical mass. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five…”

Barron’s eyes bulge in terror, and he shouts hoarsely,

“Ferrario! Ferrario’s got it at Industria Colony!”

Athena brings her fist down quickly on the control that cancels the HS’s overdrive mode. At that precise moment, armed Centurion Team personnel enter the chamber and begin to disarm the ISRLA rebels.

Pressing the muzzle of her pistol against Barron’s forehead, Athena further inquires, “Vincent Ferrario? The high-tech weapons black marketer?”

Barron looks away bitterly, confirming Athena’s suspicion.
Athena orders the C-Team to place Barron and his cohorts under arrest.

Athena turns to the gutted, bleeding corpse of Captain Rick Tinne, kneels before it, and solemnly closes the late Centurion Team commander’s eyes.

The young members of the C-Team choke back tears. They had hardly gotten to know their commanding officer, and now he is dead.

Master Sergeant Karim Abdul Al-Said turns expectantly towards Athena, “Lieutenant? Ma’am, you’re in charge now.”

Athena nods grimly, pulls out a handkerchief that she usually lets hang stylishly from the front breast pocket of her uniform jacket, and wipes her hands with it.

Repocketing the handkerchief, Athena tells Sgt. Al-Said, “Bring these rebels back to headquarters for interrogation, sergeant.”

The sergeant raises an eyebrow, “Will you be coming with us, ma’am?”

Athena shakes her head, “I’m leaving right away for Industria Colony.”

Final scene: Athena dons a Federal Forces’ combat pilot normalsuit and boards an FF-X99 Core Fighter. The combat spacecraft blasts towards Industria Colony, its engine thrusters leaving behind a dramatic flash as it disappears into the field of stars.

End of Episode 1

Next…Episode 2: Jolie

[Buried Alien]

EPISODE 2: JOLIE

Industria Colony is the 4th Bunch of Side 1. As its name suggests, Industria Colony was once a booming industrial center where raw materials from Earth or the moon were processed into the machinery that enabled space colonies to function. Since the completion of Side 1 decades ago, however, Industria Colony has fallen victim to neglect and disuse as industrial production moved to newer facilities.

Its boom years long behind it, Industria has become a sort of collecting point for material and human refuse. The material refuse includes broken, obsolete MS, spaceships, space colony machinery, etc. The human refuse includes many of the thugs, mercenaries, war criminals, and orphaned children that haven spawned by twenty years of devastating war. It’s a sad, mean, and desolate place. Life is marginal and tough at Industria.

2Lt. Athena Ibaz, now acting commander of the Centurion Team, is operating incognito. Instead of her elegant Federal Forces uniform, Athena is dressed in rather soiled-looking civilian clothes. It is crucial that Vincent Ferrario and his people do not become aware of Athena’s identity or purpose.

Athena eyes the desolate streets of Industria Town warily. No sign of Ferrario or his mecha mercenaries, but there are plenty of Industria’s average citizens: the arms merchants, pimps, hookers, drug dealers, gangsters, etc.

After walking through the streets for a while, Athena encounters something she hasn’t sensed in a long time…a powerful pressure against her brain. Athena is a Newtype, and she is sensitive to the presence of other Newtypes. Now, on the lonely, dead end streets of Industria Colony, Athena feels the pressure of a Newtype presence more intense than she has ever sensed before – even greater than Char Aznable, Haman Khan, or Judau Ashta.

Athena follows the pressure to its source – a lamp post against which leans a girl. The girl is a teenager, no more than fifteen years old at most. Athena notices that the girl is of Asian descent, with unruly, long black hair that reaches halfway down her back. Athena notices the girl’s scruffy clothing – torn jeans, leather jacket, grimy t-shirt, leather boots, and an old, Gryps Conflict era Earth Federation Forces officer’s cap worn backwards on her head.

Athena also notices the smirking irreverence expressed in the girl’s body language. Most of all, however, Athena notices how extraordinarily…pretty the girl is despite her battered clothing and disheveled appearance. The girl is not very tall, perhaps five foot one in height. She does, however, have a glamour model’s long, graceful legs and petite, trim figure. The skin on the girl’s angelic babyface is smooth as creamy silk, with wide, expressive eyes and a delicate-looking mouth.

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/4624/jolieearlydaysxi9.jpg

Fifteen-year old Jolie Minh. Newtype and child of the streets.

Athena regards the girl with a mixture of admiration and envy. She’s beautiful, Athena reflects. Many a man’s daydream, I suppose. Athena herself is an extraordinarily attractive young woman, beautiful as a former royal princess should be, and she has often needed to fend off the attention of young male officer trainees at the academy. This girl, however, makes Athena feel average-looking.

Athena then remembers what drew her to the girl in the first place, What an incredibly powerful Newtype this girl is! Not even Char or Haman emanated this magnitude of power.

Athena forces herself to refocus her attention on the task at hand. Although the Newtype girl is fascinating, Athena cannot afford to be distracted. She must find Ferrario and the stolen prototype immediately. Athena walks by the girl without looking at her again.

Ten seconds later, Athena has a vague sensation that something is wrong. She feels the back pocket of her trousers. Her wallet is missing! Athena turns around to find the young girl running away into an alley. Athena gives pursuit.

Athena chases the girl down several back alleys. She comes to a startled halt when she sees the girl suddenly standing calmly in front of her.

In the girl’s right hand is Athena’s wallet.

“All right, Miss,” Athena warns, “you’d better give that back to me right now.”

The girl simply smiles.

Athena lunges at the girl…but the girl is gone!

Athena hears mocking laughter, and finds the girl squatting on top of a trash can behind her.

How did she get back there?! Athena wonders.

Angry now, Athena aims a punch for the girl’s face. The punch connects, but not with the girl’s face. An instant before impact, the girl executes a graceful, acrobatic backflip, at the same time lifting the trash can lid she had been squatting on and bringing it up like a medieval knight’s shield.

Athena’s knuckles collide painfully with the trash can lid, causing her to yelp in pain.

By now, the pretty Asian girl is laughing hysterically. Athena, livid, tries an open handed karate blow, but is flipped over onto her back in one lightning quick move by the girl. From her position on the ground, Athena tries a sweepkick to trip the girl. This too fails, as the girl easily leaps to avoid Athena’s sweeping leg.

Athena stands up, thoroughly embarrassed and frustrated now. She launches a number of kung-fu strikes at the girl. The girl effortlessly dodges or blocks all of Athena’s blows, and retaliates with a series of blindingly fast blows of her own, the likes of which Athena has never seen before.

The girl finishes it with a powerful kick to Athena’s midsection, knocking the breath out of the new Centurion Team leader.

Athena lies on floor – dazed, stunned, and humiliated. She has had three years of combat training in the Federal Military Academy. She has mastered a half dozen different martial arts to expert level. She is a certified Special Operations Forces officer, the deadliest class of soldier to be found anywhere. But this dainty-looking Asian girl had made Athena look like rank amateur!

As Athena marvels at the girl’s unbelievable agility and combat prowess, the girl speaks for the first time, “You actually fight really good, Red. But I’m Jolie Minh, and I’m the best there ever was!”

The girl who called herself Jolie smiles at Athena, pockets the wallet, and turns to leave.

Athena reaches out for something to grab onto for support. She grasps something that feels like a net. Athena looks up and grins wickedly; she gives the net a terrific tug.

Nets are suspended between the dilapidated high-rise structures of Industria Colony to catch any debris that might be unscrupulously dropped from the upper levels. It is one of these that Athena pulls down on Jolie.

The net descends on Jolie. In spite of her cat-quick reflexes, her gymnastic agility, and her amazing fighting skills, Jolie can’t fight her way out of the huge net descending around her.

Athena takes advantage of Jolie’s momentary immobilization to grab onto the girl, “Give me my wallet back!”

As Athena struggles with Jolie, she suddenly hears the sound of approaching footsteps. Athena looks up and finds herself staring at the sinister, sunglass-wearing visage of Vincent Ferrario, the infamous arms dealer. Ferrario points a thin, but potent pistol at the two young women.

Episode 2 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

Almost instinctively, Athena shoves Jolie (who is still snared in the net) down a utility chute built into the outside wall of the nearby building. Athena immediately dives down the chute herself after shoving Jolie in.

Ferrario fires a few rounds down into the chute, wondering if he had stricken his quarry.

Down in the cellar that the chute leads into, Athena helps Jolie out of the net. Every few seconds, bullets rain down around them.

Jolie glares at Athena, “What the hell have you gotten us into, Red?” Jolie demands, referring to Athena’s reddish hair.

Athena pulls Jolie aside as a few more shots rain down, “Listen, Jolie, isn’t it? My name’s Athena Ibaz. I know I don’t look like it right now, but I’m an officer with the Earth Federation Forces. That man trying to kill us up there is a mercenary working for the I.S.R.L.A., and he’s got a piece of our military property. I’ve got to force him to turn it over, but I need your help.”

Jolie is a little overwhelmed by what Athena has told her, “Well…”

“Well, what?!” Athena demands urgently as the bullets explode around them again.

Jolie nods, and kicks open a wooden board against a wall of the cellar, revealing the entrance to another utility passage, wide enough to accommodate a slim young woman if she were to crawl in on her hands and knees.

Jolie tells Athena, “This leads to the basement of the building across the alley. I can crawl over, climb up, and sneak up on our boogeyman from behind, OK?”

Athena smiles, “Go for it!”

Jolie disappears into the chute. When she reaches the basement of the other building, she climbs up yet another utility chute back into the alley.

Jolie grins as she spots Ferrario, his back turned to her, angrily firing his gun into the chute that Jolie and Athena had first disappeared into.

Ferrario feels a sudden light tapping on his shoulder, and turns around to confront the interloper. He is only half turned around when he feels his head snap back and his pistol flying from his hand. He never saw the terrific kick that caught him in the jaw, knocking out several teeth. Nor did Ferrario see Jolie catch his pistol as it fell.

In two seconds, Jolie has Ferrario on the ground, and puts the man’s pistol to his head.

At that very same moment, Athena emerges from the delivery chute. Dusting herself off, Athena grins at Jolie, “That was very good.”

Jolie shrugs with self-satisfaction.

Athena turns to Ferrario, pulling on the man’s jacket lapels, “Now, Ferrario. Where is the G-100 prototype?”

Jolie cocks the pistol and presses it harder against the arms dealer’s head.

“A-all right, don’t shoot me! I’ll lead you to it!” the man replies, naked terror in his eyes.

Ferrario leads them farther down the alley. After a five-minute walk, they are in a warehouse district. Ferrario uses a secret code number to gain entry into one of the many, anonymous and nondescript warehouse buildings that are common to Industria City. The I.S.R.L.A. confederate guides the two young women to an enormous service elevator, in which they descend some one hundred meters into the colony’s bowels.

When the elevator doors open, Athena and Jolie both gasp in surprise as they realize that they have arrived in a well-maintained MS maintenance dock. Nobody would have suspected that such a facility could have existed in rundown and forgotten Industria Colony!

Out of a corner of her eye, Athena at last spots it: a massive structure, about twenty meters tall, covered by an enormous canvas. The structure’s shape is vaguely humanoid, making it obvious that it is a mobile suit.

The prototype! Athena realizes.

Suddenly, the deck of the MS hangar begins to vibrate with the distinctively cacophonous clodding of metallic MS feet. A pair of twenty-meter tall AMS-119 Geara Doga mobile suits suddenly appear from an enormous service corridor.

Ferrario smiles wickedly at Athena; Jolie is nowhere to be seen.

“Looks like your friend has abandoned you,” Ferrario says with vicious glee, “we keep the prototype and get you as well.”

Damn that Jolie, Athena thinks to herself, Cutting and running now! Just when we almost…

Athena never completes the thought. She, Ferrario, and the pilots of the Geara Dogas are suddenly distracted by the sound of a powerful nuclear fusion engine revving up. Then come the sounds of mechanical superstructure in motion and a rustling of falling canvas.

All are in awe of the RX-780 Gundam 100 as it goes into motion for the first time. It’s an awesome-looking mecha: a worthy descendent of the RX-78 line of Gundam mobile suits – the culmination of nearly twenty years of development and refinement. The cutting edge of the Earth Federation Forces’ mobile suit research.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/1706/centuriongundam1fr1.jpg

RX-780 Gundam 100

Jolie’s voice booms through the Gundam 100’s external amplifiers, “Get your butts out of those walking scrap piles now!”

One of the Geara Dogas levels its rifle cannon at the Gundam 100, only to have its weapon kicked away by the Gundam’s armored right leg. The Gundam 100 catches the Geara Doga’s falling weapon in its own metalshod hand.

The second Doga attempts to join the fray, but is clobbered by the butt of the Gundam 100’s appropriated beam rifle.

While the two I.S.R.L.A. mobile suits are still reeling from the blows they sustained, Jolie pulls out the Gundam 100’s beam saber and defly decapitates both enemy mecha with a singular, slashing motion that suggests some ancient swordfighting technique.

Jolie then points the Gundam 100’s beam rifle at Ferrario, “So much for you, boogeyman. I think the feddies are going to want to talk to you.”


Three hours later, Ferrario and his accomplices are in the custody of the Federal Forces. Col. Cairlay has personally come to Industria to congratulate Athena on a job well done.

As he shakes Athena’s hand, Cairlay says, “That was excellent work, Lt. Ibaz. I am, however, saddened to hear about Capt. Tinne.”

Athena, back in her Federal Forces uniform, nods, “The captain died bravely in the line of duty, sir.” Quickly changing the subject, Athena adds, “Having seen the Gundam 100 in action, sir, I can understand its importance to our security.”

Cairly nods in agreement, then adds, “Lieutenant, you are hereby officially assigned the position of acting commander of the Centurion Team. Provide me a full report by 0700 tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, sir,” Athena exchanges salutes with the colonel. The senior officer departs to see to other urgent business.

Athena looks around for Jolie, but the teenaged girl of stunning looks and even more stunning fighting skills is nowhere to be seen.

Athena is highly impressed by Jolie’s abilities. Jolie is the most amazingly talented fighter that Athena has ever seen, and perhaps more importantly, Jolie’s reverberating Newtype powers are beyond anything Athena has ever sensed.

She could be very useful, Athena reasons to herself, having such a resource under my control could give me a great advantage. If I don’t exploit this advantage, others surely will.

Athena drives a Federal Forces jeep from the spaceport of Industria back into the city, searching for the girl named Jolie Minh.

Episode 2 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

Athena once again steps into the alleyway where she had first encountered Jolie earlier that day. Industria’s computer-operated day/night regulator is now on “nighttime” mode, and the colony is dark. The alley is empty except for a few cats scouring the trash for meager scraps of food.

“Jolie!” Athena calls out. “Jolie Minh, are you here? It’s Lt. Athena Ibaz. I want to talk to you!”

Suddenly, a large debris net falls onto Athena, ensnaring her. Athena struggles to free herself.

A lithe form leaps off a nearby ledge, executing a neat double somersault before landing gracefully in front of Athena.

“Now we’re even, Lieutenant,” Jolie smirks at Athena, “What is it you want to talk to me about?”

Athena replies with a smile, “Well, help me out of this net and I’ll be happy to tell you about it.”

Jolie and Athena remove the net together, and then Jolie leads Athena into one of Industria colony’s many mecha salvage yards. Amid all the piles of techno-junk is a tiny, dilapidated sheet metal shack. This is Jolie’s “home.”

Athena takes a look around and finds much of what she had expected: packing crates for crude chairs and tables, a sheet of old canvas as a makeshift bed. Various cans of outdated military rations, discarded junk food wrappers, half-smoked packs of cigarettes, etc.

There are also a few items that Athena had not expected to see: operating manuals for mobile suits dating back to the One Year War, various small firearms, a few ammo clips, various makeshift daggers, a broken glass bottle or two, and assorted loot in the form of pocketwatches, wallets, fake jewelery, etc.

Athena turns to Jolie, “How old are you, Jolie?”

Jolie shrugs, “Fourteen, maybe fifteen. Who cares?”

Athena puts forth another question, “How long have you been living like this?”

Jolie shrugs again, “Couple of years, I don’t know. What’s with all these questions, anyway? Do you feddie army officers moonlight as social workers now or something?”

Athena smiles, “I’d like to make you an offer. I’d like to invite you to join the Earth Federation Forces.”

Jolie’s eyes widen, then she laughs, “Do I look like soldier material to you, Lieutenant? Thanks, but no thanks! I don’t wanna peel potatoes or clean out latrines or stuff like that!”

Athena nods, “It’s up to you, but the Federal Forces do offer free food, free shelter, and an average annual income of…”

Athena notices that Jolie is no longer paying the attention. The girl’s expression is a mixture of sadness, loneliness, and anger.

Athena, seeing that she is not reaching Jolie, sighs, “I guess I’ll be going, then.”

Before Athena can get out the door, Jolie rises from the makeshift canvas on which she had been lying down, “Hey, ‘Thena! Wait!”

The episode ends with Athena leading young Jolie to the spacedock, and the two board a shuttle for Green Noah Colony in Side 7. A legendary friendship and partnership is born.

End of Episode 2

[Buried Alien]

EPISODE 3: ORIGINS

Athena and Jolie arrive at Green Noah Colony in Side 7. It’s been years since Jolie has been anywhere other than the dead-end streets of Industria Colony. She is dazzled by the lights and activity of Green Noah Colony, so much brighter and more vibrant than Industria. The businesses look new and prosperous, servicing the millions of civilian and military occupants in the colony. There are senior citizens, kids, young adults, etc. It’s a shining, bustling modern metropolis, unlike the forgotten slum that Jolie had spent the past few years in.

Athena keeps a close eye on Jolie, making sure she doesn’t shoplift any jewelry or pick the pocket of some unsuspecting civilian.

Athena takes Jolie to the local recruiting office for the Earth Federation Forces. Jolie is enlisted as a Mobile Suit Space Corps Cadet, and is to be trained over a period of six months as an MS pilot for the Federal Forces.

As Jolie does not need to report for initiation roll call for two days, Athena invites Jolie to dinner at a posh, upscale restaurant in Green Noah City. Athena orders a bottle of the restaurant’s finest red wine.

The waiter, the manager, the restaurant owner, and the well-heeled patrons of the restaurant cast disapproving glances at the pretty, but scruffily-dressed Jolie Minh. Her lack of table manners doesn’t help matters either.

None of this seems to bother Athena and Jolie as they get to know one another better. Athena pours Jolie another glass of wine, the teenager’s third…

So I’m corrupting a youth, Athena thinks to herself, It’s just as well. In the months to come, Jolie’s going to be corrupted by things far worse than this wine.” Judging from Jolie’s response to the wine, this is definitely not the girl’s first taste of liquor.

Athena fields a question that had been on her mind since she first met Jolie, “How did you end up at Industria Colony? You don’t strike me as being a native there.”

Jolie puts down the glass of wine and looks downcast.

Athena senses that she has touched a painful subject for the girl, “I’m sorry. If it’s too difficult to discuss…”

Jolie shakes her head, her eyes moist with tears, “No, it’s OK. I actually do want to talk about it.”

Athena waits silently, expectantly.

Tears begin falling from Jolie’s eyes, running down her cheek as she begins, “I used to be an ordinary girl living an ordinary life with my family in the Quebec Colony, Side 5. Daddy, Mommy, my big brother Jean, and me. Daddy was an MS pilot for the civil defense forces and Mommy was a housewife. My brother and I went to school just like normal kids. Then, on my tenth birthday…”

A flashback sequence of Jolie Minh’s childhood. The camera pans towards Quebec Colony in Side 5. A legend appears on the screen, “October 6, U.C. 0092.”

Quebec Colony was founded by space colonists from Quebec, Canada on Earth. Consequently, the colony’s culture is very French in character. Many Vietnamese people, whose ancestors on Earth once lived under French rule in the 20th Century of the old Gregorian calendar, also live in the colony. It was here that Earth Federation Forces Civil Defense Corps MS pilot 1Lt. Dominic Minh and his wife, Lucie and their two children, Jean and Jolie lived.

Breakfast time at the Minh home on October 6, U.C. 0092 was no different from any other morning. 1Lt. Minh read a report about some kind of tactical alert while drinking his morning coffee.

Mrs. Minh looked at her husband worriedly, noting the somber expression on his face, “Is something wrong, honey? Are the Zeons going to attack the colonies again?’

1Lt. Minh inhales deeply. Over the last few months, Side 5 had been under periodic attack by elements of the Phobos Division of the Neo Zeon forces. The Phobos Division was commanded by a young Zeon colonel named Alexander Miguel, the son of an aristocratic Zeon general named Carloman Miguel (previously seen in Episode 1). Colonel Alexander Miguel is infamous among the Federal Forces for his particularly cruel and vicious attacks against civilian space colonies. Already, Miguel’s forces have put a serious dent in Side 5’s civil defense network, and reinforcements from Earth have not been forthcoming.

1Lt. Minh believed that all that would soon change. The report that 1Lt. Minh is reading indicates that the Federal Forces would send the Lond Bell Force to deal with the Phobos problem. The Lond Bell Force was commanded by the legendary Captain Amuro Ray, pilot of the original Gundam and hero of the One Year War, himself.

The knowledge that the Lond Bell Force and Captain Amuro were on the way gave Dom Minh reason to be optimistic, so he reassured his wife, “Don’t worry, Lucie. Things will be fine. Federation HQ is sending Lond Bell to reinforce us. The Zeons won’t beat them. Let’s not frighten the kids, OK?”

Lucie Minh nods, and changes the subject to something comparatively lighter, “You know, Dominic, Jolie was kept in detention at school again yesterday.”

Dominic blinks somewhat dumbfoundedly at this wife, “Again? This is the third time in as many weeks. Let me guess: she’s been in another fight?”

Lucie sighs, “Yes. Our little girl is too much like you. She’s got too much fight in her!”

That makes Dominic laugh, “That’s daddy’s little girl!”

Lucie asks, “Don’t you think we should show Jolie other ways of solving problems?”

Dominic replies, “You’re worried she’ll get hurt? We both know that she can take care of herself very well.”

“That’s not the point,” Lucie says, “I know Jolie has always won every fight she’s been in, but we shouldn’t raise our kids to be violent people.”

“No, we shouldn’t,” Dominic agreed, “but we should also understand that our daughter’s heart is always in the right place. Every fight she’s gotten into at school was because she couldn’t stand watching some schoolyard bully picking on the weaker kids. You know how she hates that. I’m very proud of her. She’s got a hero’s heart.”

“She does,” Lucie concurs, “but nevertheless…”

Lucie never gets to complete her remark. At that moment, twelve-year old Jean Minh and ten-year old Jolie Minh run down the stairs, heavily burdened with textbooks and backpacks.

Dominic scoops his daughter Jolie into his arms, much to Jolie’s delight, “Hey, sweetie! I heard that you got into a fight at school again. Mommy and I were going to punish you right away, but since it is your birthday, we’ll wait until tomorrow!”

Jolie didn’t seem too worried by her father’s threat of punishment. Her parents’ punishments tended to be rather mild. She expected to lose the privilege of going out to play with her friends for a few weeks, “But there was this bully and…”

“But nothing,” Dominic said, “not every problem is solved by caving somebody’s face in.”

The sound of the local school bus filled the Minhs’ living room.

“We’ll talk about this later,” Dominic said, ushering Jolie and her brother out the door and towards the school bus, “have a good day at school and DON’T GET INTO ANY MORE FIGHTS!”

“Jolie,” Mrs. Minh calls out, “Come home after school right away this afternoon. We’re having a birthday party for you!”

“Sure, Mom!” Jolie replies as she dashes onto the school bus.


Episode 3 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 3 continued...

Recess time at Joan D’Arc Elementary School! Jolie is playing a game of basketball with the other children. In an earlier time period, Jolie might have gone on to star in the WNBA. In the Universal Century era, she merely dazzles her peers with her lightning quick maneuvers and dead accurate shot.

After a while, things start getting rough. A tough, mean school bully named Bradley pushes down little Fumiko Hasegawa, a 5th Grader in the same class as Jolie. Fumiko falls to the ground, her knees and elbows skinned.

As Fumiko begins sobbing, Bradley bounces the basketball hard against the girls head, “Hah! Wussy girl!”

Fumiko cries harder, and Bradley’s anger begins to rise, “Hey, shut up you crybaby! You wanna get me into trouble! I said shut up!”

Bradley raises his hand to strike Fumiko, but his hand is caught by Jolie, who spins him around and gives him a terrific slap in the face.

“Why you little bit…” Bradley rages, lunging at Jolie.

Jolie easily evades the powerful, but clumsy bully, and knees him in the gut.

Bradley reels from the attack and takes a second to catch his breath. Growling like a rabid animal, he charges at Jolie again.

Once again, Jolie dodges the bully, extending her leg to trip him. When he rises in an attempt to strike her again, she plants a punch on his nose that sends him down for the count.

Jolie stands over the fallen bully, “Go away, Bradley, and don’t let me catch you picking on my friends or anybody else again. Next time, I’m gonna hurt you for real.”

Bradley, knowing that he’s been beaten by a girl less than half his size, slinks away, more from humiliation than pain.

Jolie helps Fumiko up, “You OK, Fumi?”

“Yeah,” Fumiko replies, “thanks, Jo.”

Jolie shrugs, “No prob. Hey! You’re coming to my birthday party later today, right?”

Fumiko smiles, “Yeah. Been looking forward to it.”

As the school bell indicates the end of recess, Jolie tells her friend, “My house after school, then!”


At that same moment, at L’Ouverture MS Station elsewhere in the Quebec Colony, Captain Ibin Al-Atta of the MS Civil Defense Corps is briefing his subordinates.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Captain Al-Atta tells the gathered Federal Forces MS pilots, “Green Noah Command has notified me that the Phobos Division has mobilized again and will probably strike Side 5 some time tonight. We are vastly outnumbered, and reinforcements from Earth are not expected to arrive in time to assist us. The safety of all personnel and civilians in Side 5 rests with us.”

1Lt. Dominic Minh clutches a defiant fist, “Let those Zeon scum come here! We’ll send their sorry asses back to the asteroid belt!”

There are approving cheers among the Federal MS pilots.

“All right then,” Captain Al-Atta says after the cheers die down, “Good luck to you all. Let’s mobilize.”

From launch ports all around the Quebec Colony, RGM-89 Jegans, RGM-86R GM-IIIs (one of which is piloted by 1Lt. Dominic Minh), and RMS-179 GM-IIs sortie out in formation to meet the onslaught of the Phobos Division.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7508/gmiiiet0.jpg

RGM-86R GM-III, the standard Earth Federation Forces combat mobile suit during the late U.C. 0080s and early 0090s. 1Lt. Dominic Minh piloted this model of mobile suit as a member of Quebec Colony's civil defense force in U.C. 0092.

Episode 3 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Some distance away, the Phobos Division approaches. They are five Gwadjin class battlecruisers and fifty MS strong. Among the flotilla of standard, green-colored AMS-119 Geara Dogas is a single black AMS-119S Officer’s Geara Doga.

In the cockpit of the black mobile suit is twenty-five year old Colonel Alexander Miguel. One of the most decorated young officers in Fuhrer Char Aznable’s Neo Zeon army, Alexander has recently assumed command of the Phobos Division after the passing of his father, General Carloman Miguel. Alexander has earned himself a reputation as one of the deadliest and most ruthless military commanders one either the Earth or Zeon side.

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Colonel Alexander Miguel, commanding officer of the Phobos Division, Neo Zeon Forces

Major Ross Davenport, a good friend of Alexander’s since their days together in the Zeon Archduchy Military Academy, addresses his friend and commanding officer through the tactical net, “Alex?”

Alex’s cold, strong voice comes through the tac net, “Ross?”

Davenport continues, “Sir, may I take the liberty of asking what our objective is in attacking this colony? The Fuhrer…”

Alexander silences Davenport, “The Fuhrer is the visionary and inspiration of our people, Major. The people of Zeon can never truly be free until the last degenerate Earthnoid Oldtype is eradicated. Our enemies are not only those who live on the Earth, Ross, but also those who live in space, but give their allegiance to those worms who burrow themselves into the Earth. These are traitors, Ross, and you know what fate awaits traitors.”


At the Minh household back in Quebec Colony, Jolie’s tenth birthday party is underway. Jolie is about to hack into the cake samurai-style, but pauses to ask her mother, “Where’s Daddy?”

Mrs. Minh smiles at Jolie, “Daddy had to work late, sweetie, but I’m sure he’ll be back by the time you open your presents.”

Jolie isn’t pleased by this. She adores her father, and is deeply disappointed that he isn’t at her birthday party. Still, she understands that her father’s work of defending their space colony was important…maybe even more important than her birthday.

“C’mon, sis!” Jean Minh demands eagerly, “Cut the cake! We’re starving here!”

With a mischievous grin, Jolie hacks the cake with a samurai chop, sending frosting everywhere, much to the delight of all the other kids (but not so much Mrs. Minh, who has to clean up the mess).


Outside the Quebec Colony, the Phobos Division and the Federal Forces’ civil defense squadrons are about to clash!

Captain Al-Atta, in his RGM-79 Jegan, addresses his pilots through the Federal Forces tac net, “Enemy MS sighted, bearing four three zero niner. We have signatures: AMS-119 Geara Dogas. Fifty in number. Contact in twenty-five seconds. Stand by to commence firing.”

On the other side, Alexander Miguel smiles predatorily, his mouth watering, “Smite them,” he orders with a rasp.


The battle is joined in an instant. Here, a Jegan detaches the head of a Geara Doga with its beam saber. There, a Doga turns a GM-II into flaming wreckage with its gatling beam rifle. In another part of the battle zone, a Zeon MS forces its hand into a Federal MS’s cockpit and crushes its pilot to death. Terrible scenes of MS warfare erupt everywhere.

Before long, it becomes evident that the tide is turning badly against the Federal Forces. Captain Al-Atta, battered and bloodied in his seriously damaged, atmosphere-leaking MS, grunts out an order, “Don’t let them attack the colony!”

A GM-II attempts a strafing dive at Col. Alexander Miguel’s black Geara Doga, only to have its cockpit and pilot blown away by a shot from the black Doga’s beam rifle.

“Filthy Earthnoid,” Alexander sneers, the thrill of battle and bloodlust coursing in his arteries and veins.

Lt. Minh sees that a good number of Zeon MS have penetrated the civil defense network and are attacking Quebec Colony. Already, the colony has started to burn.

“Sgt. Jiminez! Cpl. Tracy! Cpl. Zhang!” Dominic snarls through the tac net, “Follow me! We’ve got to return to base!”

Back on Quebec Colony, Lucie Minh and her children are among the thousands of terrified civilians scrambling to get to emergency shelters. They dodge explosions, fire, and falling debris.

To everyone’s horror, the flaming wreckage of a Federal Forces civil defense MS rains down around them, followed shortly by the appearance of Zeon Geara Doga mobile suits.

The Dogas descend into Quebec Colony and open fire indiscriminately, lashing out at everything and everyone in sight. Hundreds die within seconds, and many more are seriously wounded. Entire families are wiped out in less time than it takes to tell about it.

Lucie Minh searches frantically in the chaos for her children, “Jean? Jolie?!”

“M-mom…” a weak, plaintive voice groans. Jean Minh has been impaled by a large piece of flying shrapnel. The boy’s blood drains from a wound the width of his entire abdomen.

Jolie, thrown aside by a nearby explosion, but not seriously harmed, rushes to the side of her mother and her fallen brother.

“Jean,” Jolie begins, staring in horrified shock at her gravely wounded brother.

Suddenly, two more MS blast their way into the colony and land on each side of the Minh family. On one side is Alexander Miguel’s black Geara Doga, on the other side is the GM-III piloted by 1Lt. Dominic Minh.

Dominic notices the presence of his wife and children, and his eyes widen with horror, “Get into a shelter, now!” he urges them.

Dominic takes a closer look, and immediately wishes that he hadn’t. Meeting his eyes is a sight that breaks his heart: his own son, Jean, lies dead in a pool of his own blood.

Tears flood the man’s eyes, and a vicious, animalistic growl bursts forth from him as he turns his gaze back on Alexander Miguel’s black mobile suit, “You Zeon pig! You murdered my son!”

Lt. Minh’s GM-III, its beam saber ignited, rushes Alexander Miguel’s Geara Doga. Miguel easily avoids Minh’s enraged slash, and turns around to strike the GM-III with the butt of his Doga’s beam cannon.

Dominic’s GM-III is batted onto the pavement, its sensors and control systems malfunctioning.

Miguel prepares to blow away the skyscraper that towers over the spot where the Minhs are crouching.

In a last, valiant effort, Dominic attempts to use his MS’s depleted beam cannon to put a chokehold on Alexander Miguel’s Geara Doga. Miguel easily counters the move, flipping the GM-III onto a nearby condominium complex.

Alexander is tired of toying with his enemy. He fires a shot from his mecha’s beam cannon, straight through the middle of the Federal Forces MS.

The GM-III explodes, killing 1Lt. Minh immediately. Shrapnel from his destroyed MS is propelled in all directions, and a dozen pieces of this shrapnel strike Lucie Minh.

Jolie, struggling to free herself from the rubble that had shielded her from the shrapnel, watches the scene in horror. Her father’s corpse remains somewhere in the burning wreckage of his MS, cremated in the blasted cockpit.

The bloodied corpses of Jolie’s mother and brother lie nearby, silent and cold forever.

Through tear-clouded eyes, Jolie sees the shape of the black Zeon mobile suit that took her family’s lives.

A look of hatred appears on Jolie’s face, “You…!” she rages helplessly.

Alexander Miguel sees the little girl standing amid the burning runs of the city street. He points his mobile suit’s beam rifle barrel directly at the girl, then switches on his mobile suit’s external speakers so that she can hear his condemnation of her life, “One last Earth degenerate to cleanse from the universe.”

The word “degenerate” echoes through Jolie’s ears. She is too young to know what the word actually means, but she senses the malice behind the word. She knows that the man inside the black mobile suit who killed her parents and brother hates her. She also knows that she hates him a thousand times more strongly.

The finger of Alexander’s mobile suit tightens on the trigger of its beam rifle…

Episode 3 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Suddenly, there is the sound of more explosions. Federal Forces reinforcements have finally arrived. It is the Lond Bell Force, commanded by the legendary Captain Amuro Ray.

Like the proverbial cavalry charging over the hill, the Lond Bell Force’s RGZ-91 Re-GZs and RGM-89S Jegan Customs tear into the Quebec Colony, sweeping the Neo Zeon mobile suits out. A Re-GZ lands between Jolie and Alexander Miguel’s Geara Doga, and a powerful Newtype PSI-energy spark momentarily erupts from Jolie’s head towards the Re-GZ.


http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/166/rgz91bnp9.jpg

RGZ-91B Re-GZ, Captain Amuro Ray's mobile suit during U.C. 0092

In the cockpit of the Federal Forces mobile suit, a reciprocal spark emanates from the pilot’s helmeted head.

“What?” Captain Amuro Ray reacts to the power of Jolie's spark, “That pressure. It’s stronger than Char or Lalah, and different from both.”

Amuro turns his attention back to the task at hand, “Colonel Miguel, this is Captain Amuro Ray of the Earth Federation Forces. I order you to lay down your weapons and surrender immediately!”

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7057/294pxamurorayuc0093ld9.jpg

Captain Amuro Ray in U.C. 0093, just months after he saved Jolie Minh's life.

Alexander’s response is to pull out his Geara Doga’s beam saber and charge at Amuro’s Re-GZ. Amuro easily dodges the slash and responds with a beam saber slash of his own, severing the arm of Miguel’s Doga with a single, spectacular move.

Alexander decides to cut his losses and run. Alexander might be an egotist and a great ace pilot in his own right, but he’s also canny enough to realize that he has no hope of winning against the legendary Amuro Ray.

“Retreat!” Alexander orders his troops as he lays down a volley of blinding flares and smoke bombs to cover his escape.

Captain Amuro leaves it to his comrades in the Lond Bell Force to pursue Miguel and the retreating Phobos forces. He is more concerned about the little girl whose Newtype spark he had sensed moments earlier.

Amuro climbs out of the cockpit of the Re-GZ and removes his helmet. Jolie, seeing him for the first time, envisions Amuro as a knight in shining silver armor.

Amuro approaches the frightened girl gently, a friendly smile on his face, “Are you all right, kid?”

Jolie runs into Amuro’s arms, sobbing. Amuro holds the girl tightly and tries to console her.

We came too late, Amuro reflects sadly, this girl survived, but her life will never be the same. Those soldiers who did this didn’t think that these people here are no different from the families and loved ones they left behind at home. Damn this war!


A few hours later, Amuro takes Jolie by the hand to an Earth Federation Government war orphans’ welfare center. This is an agency of the Earth Federation Government organized to provide care for children orphaned by the war. Sadly, during the past quarter century, this particular government agency has needed to grow almost larger than the military itself.

Amuro is reluctant to turn Jolie over to the Federal government authorities. Were he a civilian, he would seriously consider adopting Jolie himself. As a soldier whose duty is to hunt down Zeon terrorists, however, he cannot provide care for the girl, and has no choice but to leave her in government care.

Jolie clutches desperately at the sleeve of Amuro’s uniform jacket, “Captain Amuro, I don’t want to stay here! Please take me with you! I want to go with you!”

Amuro kneels in front of the girl and puts his hands on her shoulders, “Jolie, you can’t come with me, but the people here are very kind and they’ll take good care of you. There are many people out there who need my protection. As much as I’d like to, I can’t bring you with me.”

Having seen her own family die, Jolie can understand the importance of Amuro’s duty. He could not afford to be encumbered. Brave, dedicated soldiers such as Captain Amuro and her late father were the only chance that innocent people had against monsters such as Alexander Miguel.

Amuro gives Jolie an affectionate kiss on the cheek and a pat on the head, then turns to leave.

Jolie watches the Federation’s greatest ace pilot depart to continue his duties. Although she would never see him again, Captain Amuro Ray has become her lifelong hero and role model.

Episode 3 to be continued....

[Buried Alien]

That night, dressed in the used clothes provided to her by the government authorities, Jolie prepares to escape from the Federal orphanage. She would much rather survive on her own than live as a ward of the Earth Federation Government.

Sneaking out of the orphanage compound proves to be easy, but where next came the more difficult problem of where to go next.

Jolie finds her way to the colony spacedock. She locates a cargo shuttle carrying recyclable materials. The shuttle is about to leave for the Industria Colony of Side 5. Jolie knows nothing about Industria Colony, or that the shuttle is headed there, but decides to take her chances. Jolie boards the shuttle, bound for the industrial colony that would be her home for the next five years.

A time-lapse montage depicts the following five years of Jolie’s life as she struggles to grow up in the gritty environment of Industria Colony. During these years, Jolie refines her fighting skills, supplementing her childhood martial arts training with streetfighting techniques. Jolie survives by shoplifting, cat burglarizing, and pocketpicking, soon becoming an expert of stealth, evasion, and thievery. Jolie also frequently finds herself in the midst of Industria Colony’s street fights, and causes a startling amount of carnage with just a single broken glass bottle, iron pipe, or self-made shiv. In time, Jolie becomes the stuff of urban legend, her name written as graffiti on walls, benches, and lampposts. Even Industria’s harder edged criminals regard Jolie with a measure of fear and respect.

Jolie’s account of her past ends as Athena pours the girl a fifth glass of expensive bourbon. Jolie is bleary eyed from both the alcohol and the tears she let fall as she told Athena about her past.

Athena can empathize: the loss of parents, abandonment by heroes, growing up alone – it is all too familiar to Athena.

“So you were rescued by Amuro Ray,” Athena muses aloud, “Interesting…”

Athena chuckles to herself as she considers the irony of that: Athena herself had once been rescued from attacking Federation Forces by Char Aznable, who had been Amuro Ray’s great lifelong nemesis. It had been Char who had mentored and cared for Athena for a period of three years before he met his final fate battling Amuro Ray in Earth’s orbit.

Doubling the irony is the fact that Athena’s father, Admiral Dozle Zabi of the Zeon Archduchy Space Fleet, had also been killed by Amuro Ray during the One Year War. Athena has never hated Amuro Ray, however. In Athena’s view, personal loss is an inevitability of war, and she has never taken the loss of her father and mentor on a personal level. Holding on to old hatreds would be vain: Athena’s focus is on the present and the future, not the past. The past is what she seeks to escape from.

Jolie’s story is almost a mirror image of Athena’s: rescued by attacking Zeon forces by Amuro Ray, but instead of being raised and cultivated by her benefactor, Jolie had been left to find her own path. Since the loss of her family, Jolie has been seething for vengeance. The evil grin of Alexander Miguel, and his maniacal laugh, continues to haunt Jolie’s nightmares. She would find no peace until he was dead at her hands.

Reading deeply into Jolie’s beautiful face, Athena asks, “Jolie…have you ever killed anyone before?”

The directness of the question startles Jolie slightly. The girl doesn’t know what to say.

Expecting that reaction, Athena asks, “Just answer the question: this isn’t a trick to nail you.”

Jolie, uncertain why, but somehow trusting Athena, finally admits, “Yeah. Yeah, I have…not because I like killing, but Industria’s a tough place, you know? I’ve had to kill lots of times just to stay alive. I’m not proud of it or anything. It’s just something I had to do”

Athena nods knowingly as she sips from her own glass of bourbon, also her sixth, “Understood. To me, it’s good that you don't have any hangups about killing, because what I have in mind for you will require you to do quite a bit of bloodletting.”

Jolie puts down her wine glass and asks, “You’re planning on making me a killer for the Federal Forces?”

“Not a killer,” Athena corrects, “an instrument of justice…and not necessarily for the Federal Forces, but for all those who have suffered in these endless wars.”

“I don’t get you,” Jolie replies.

Athena continues after a slight pause, “The world is the way it is today because small men with small minds have been ruling it for too long. That’s why your parents...and my parents...are dead, Jolie. Many more parents, and their children, will die in the years to come…unless we change this world.”

Jolie lets out a little laugh, “Just how are two teenaged girls supposed to change the world, Lieutenant?”

Athena smiles, sipping from her glass again, “Come with me, and you’ll learn. We can change this world, Jolie. We can create a future in which terrible things such as happened to our families will never happen again. Do you want others to go through what you’ve gone through, Jolie? Or do you want to help me to change the world?”

Something about what Athena says, and how she says it, causes Jolie to deeply believe in the young Federal Forces officer. This Athena Ibaz certainly has a very definite goal, a steely determination to achieve it, and a mind that absolutely has the intellectual capacity to make her vision a reality.

This line of thought provokes Jolie’s curiosity about the classy, beautiful, and sophisticated young woman, three years her senior, sitting across from her, “So what’s your story, Lieutenant? You said something about your dead parents just a minute ago. Who are you? Where were you from?”

Athena smiles a mysterious, bitter smile, and pauses for a moment’s reflection before answering, “I was no one special, and where I’m from doesn’t matter. I’m not concerned with yesterdays; only tomorrows.”

Jolie is a bit disappointed that Athena is not as candid with her as she had been with Athena. Clearly, the pretty, elegant, and refined young Federal officer has her secrets, but Jolie figures she can crack those secrets…in time.

“So are you with me or not?” Athena asks, interrupting Jolie’s thoughts.

“To change the world, you mean?” Jolie replies after a moment.

Athena extends her hand to Jolie with an encouraging grin.

Jolie takes Athena’s hand in a solemn grip, “I’ll do it, but there’s something I want too.”

“Alexander Miguel’s blood?” Athena ventures.

Jolie nods.

Athena replies, “If it serves my goals, then yes, and the elimination of warmongers such as Miguel is definitely part of the plan.”

And so a friendship and partnership is born and sealed. Two young women, neither yet twenty years of age, begin a quest to change a world that had been blighted by war for too long.

END OF EPISODE 3

[Buried Alien]

EPISODE 4: THE FIRST SORTIE

Six months have passed. During these six months, Athena Ibaz has been formally appointed as commanding officer of the Centurion Team, replacing the team’s slain first commanding officer, Captain Rick Tinne. With the new appointment comes a two-rank promotion (for recovering the Gundam-100 prototype). Athena is now a captain.

At the same time, Jolie Minh has completed basic training at the Federal Forces academy. An unprecedented talent, Jolie has broken all previous performance records in MS combat training for the Federal Forces. She is clearly a prodigy of tremendous potential, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by Federation High Command.

Athena has requested, and received authorization, to have Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh assigned as her personal assistant and executive officer. Athena has persuaded the high command that because she had been the one who first discovered Jolie and identified the girl’s Newtype potential, then she should also be the one to oversee Jolie’s development as a Federal Forces soldier.

Athena has also requested that the Gundam-100 be assigned to the Centurion Team, to be piloted by Jolie. Federation High Command is still deliberating this matter, but Athena strongly believes that this request will also be authorized.

It is January 1, U.C. 0098, the start of a new year. Captain Athena Ibaz is hard at work in her private office, drafting plans for more effective counterterrorism tactics to be used against the ISRLA and Zeon remnants.

A knock comes on the door of Athena’s office. Without looking up from her work, Athena answers, “Come in, please.”

The door opens and 2Lt. Gene Spencer, Colonel Cairlay’s personal aide, enters.

2Lt. Spencer salutes, “Thank you, ma’am. 2Lt. Spencer reporting, ma’am. Ma’am, General Noah and Colonel Cairlay request your presence at tonight’s Armistice Commemorative Ball at 20:00 in Reville Hall.”

Athena nods and looks at the stylish, French baroque style clock on her wall.

January 1, 0080, Athena muses to herself, the day the One Year War came to an end. Just one of many days of reckoning for all of us.

Habitually, Athena pulls a handkerchief from the front pocket of her uniform jacket, wipes her hands tersely, and repockets it before replying, “Thank you, Lieutenant. I will be there at 20:00. Please inform Colonel Cairlay that I will be bringing a special guest with me.”

2Lt. Spencer salutes Athena again and leaves to carry out his orders.

Athena picks up her desk phone and keys the direct line to the officers’ academy, “This is Captain Ibaz. Please patch me through to Sergeant Major Atsuka.”


19:00 that evening. Captain Athena Ibaz is decked out in her formal Earth Federation Special Forces officer’s uniform, which includes the officer’s hat and commander’s overcoat, which Athena wears draped over her shoulders.

Athena is in a dormitory corridor of the officers’ academy. She stops at the door of room 780 and knocks on the door gently, “Jolie? We’re due at Reville Hall in an hour. Are you ready?”

Jolie’s muffled voice comes from behind the door, “Yeah. Just a minute!”

A moment later, the door opens. Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh emerges. Six months in the Federal Forces’ academy has made a world of difference. The formerly unkempt and scruffy teenaged street vixen is now a very pretty and immaculately groomed young Federal Forces officer…courtesy of Athena Ibaz’s handiwork.

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/826/jolieuniformbj6.jpg

Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh, Earth Federation Special Operations Forces, Centurion Team

Athena takes in an eyeful of the “new” Jolie and cannot help but laugh. She cannot help feeling some pride in how she’s helped to transform Jolie.

“What?” Jolie asks, “Do I look weird in the uniform?”

Athena shakes her head and gives Jolie an encouraging grin, “You look very pretty. I think you’ll go over well with the senior officers tonight.”

Athena makes some final adjustments to Jolie’s uniform, straightening Jolie’s junior officer’s cap, making sure Jolie’s uniform jacket is buttoned all the way up, smoothing out minor wrinkles, etc.

As she does this, Athena reminds Jolie, “Now don’t forget, you’ll be meeting some very important people in the Earth Federation Forces tonight. I want you to behave yourself and not do anything to embarrass us, understand?”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Jolie responds in an annoyed tone. Jolie swears Athena is like a mother hen sometimes.

Athena glares at her. Jolie, taking the hint, grins sheepishly and salutes, “Yes, ma’am, Captain Ibaz, ma’am. Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh reporting, ma’am!”

Athena gives Jolie a wry grin and a pat on the rear. The partners make their way to Reville Hall.


Reville Hall: tonight, the elegant, neoclassical building is splendidly decorated for the New Year’s/Armistice Commemorative Ball. It’s an exclusive event to which only the Earth Federation Forces’ most important and prestigious members and their closest associates are invited. The grand chandeliers are brightly illuminated. The marble-tiled floor gleams. An orchestra group plays a lively Richard Strauss waltz as officers drink and dance the night away.

Captain Athena Ibaz and Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh arrive at Reville Hall. Stewards take their officer’s hats and overcoats.

Colonel Cairlay, conversing with several flag-ranking Federation officers, excuses himself to greet Athena, “Captain Ibaz, it is a pleasure to have you here tonight.”

Following military protocol that Athena knows better than her own name, Athena replies, “It is an honor to be here, sir.”

Colonel Cairlay spots Jolie and fixes her in his predatory gaze, “And who is this attractive young officer you’ve brought with you, Captain? Her beauty matches yours.”

Before Athena can reply, Jolie pipes up, extending her hand to the colonel, “I’m Jolie. Jolie Minh. Glad to meetcha!”

Cairlay is taken a bit aback by Jolie’s lack of discipline and protocol, but says only, “Ah, yes. You’re the young woman who helped Captain Ibaz to recover the Gundam-100 prototype six months ago. I’ve heard your name often during the past several months. It’s good to have you in the Earth Federation Forces, Chief Warrant Officer Minh.”

Ignoring everything that Colonel Cairlay says, Jolie adds, “You must be a really high ranking guy in the Fed Forces. Got to be with that scary-looking face and a scary-sounding voice you've got!”

Athena glares silently at Jolie as the girl smiles impishly.

Colonel Cairlay reddens, but maintains his outward composure and tells Athena, “Captain, please excuse me, there are several other officers I need to greet over there.”

So saying, Cairlay departs quickly.

Athena motions Jolie aside. When they’ve reached a quiet spot, Athena whispers harshly to her, “What’s up with the attitude? I told you to behave yourself, remember?”

Jolie shrugs, “Sorry. I didn’t like that guy. He’s creepy.”

Athena sighs and nods, “Even so, he’s our direct superior, Jolie. If you’re going to make it in the Special Forces, you need to be able to follow the rules of military protocol, among a thousand other things.”

Their discussion is interrupted by the arrival of a steward, who offers them glasses of champagne. Athena and Jolie each take a glass of the bubbly spirit.

“I could get used to this,” Jolie says, taking a sip from her champagne glass.

General Bright Noah approaches them, “Good to see you, Captain Ibaz. And this must be the Chief Warrant Officer Minh you’ve been telling me about.”

“General Noah, sir,” Athena acknowledges, “Yes. This is Jolie Minh. Jolie, this is General Bright Noah.”

Jolie’s eyes widen in recognition, “Oh, wow. You’re like, THE Bright Noah! You were the commander of the White Base during the One Year War and the Ahrgama during the Gryps War. It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir!”

In spite of herself, Athena cannot help smiling. Clearly, Jolie has much more respect for General Noah than she did for Colonel Cairlay.

Bright chuckles in modesty and amusement over Jolie’s enthusiasm, “I was just in the right place at the right time more than any man has a right to be, Chief Minh. The real heroes are the ones who can’t be here tonight.”

Episode 4 to be continued

[Buried Alien]

Nearby space: a squadron of ten RGM-89 GM-III mobile suits assigned to the Side 6 Civil Defense Guard is chasing what appears to be an MA-08 Byg Zam mobile armor in the general direction of Side 7. The Byg Zam is piloted by Major Luther Bonham, a 35-year old former Side 6 Civil Defense Guard officer who is now, for reasons yet unrevealed, a fugitive from his former comrades-at-arms.

Two of the Side 6 CDG GM-IIIs fire their beam rifles and a spread of missiles at the Byg Zam. The giant mobile armor’s ion-neutralization field (I-Field) dissipates the beam energy of the GM-IIIs’ gunfire, but the missiles rock the mobile armor violently.

Inside the Byg Zam’s cockpit, Major Bonham grimaces through the impact. A handsome man with a thin moustache and hair worn slicked back in a classic Valentino style, Bonham is eerily calm as his finger squeezes the trigger mechanism built into the Byg Zam’s control yoke.

Blazing hellfire erupts forth from the maw of the Byg Zam’s heavy particle beam cannon, instantly immolating the three GM-IIIs in its path and forcing their surviving comrades to break off the pursuit.

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/4807/ma08gr9.jpg

MA-08 Byg Zam

Captain Huisook Song, leader of the Side 6 GM-III squad in pursuit of the Byg Zam, orders his team to withdraw and opens a communications channel to Green Noah EFSF High Command, “This is Side 6 Civil Defense Guard to Federal Garrison Noah, please acknowledge, Garrison Noah!”

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

Back at Reville Hall, a tense Colonel Cairlay searches the crowded ballroom for General Bright Noah. Cairlay finds the general in the midst of a conversation with Captain Athena Ibaz.

Cairlay whispers something urgently into General Noah’s ear. The general gives Cairlay an appalled look, excuses himself, and begins to head towards a conference room with a colonel.

Within seconds, General Noah pauses to reconsider, and turns around to face Athena, “Captain Ibaz, would you please join us?”

Athena replies, “Yes, sir,” and prepares to join her two superior officers.

Jolie, who had been quietly and bewilderedly watching all this, protests, “Hey, Athena? What about me?!”

Athena turns to Jolie and buttons up Jolie’s uniform jacket (which she has left open around the neck again, to Athena’s annoyance) and tells her, “Wait for me until 22:30. If I’m not back by then, return to your quarters so that you won’t be AWOL, understand?”

With that, Athena leaves.

Jolie continues to protest, “But Athena!”

Athena, however, has left with the two senior officers. A frustrated Jolie takes a seat on one of the nearby sofas, pulling her knees to her chin.

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

Conference Room B-188: assembled are General Bright Noah and General Manron Blackhead (commanding officers of the Cislunar Space Armada), Colonel Peter Cairlay of the Special Operations Forces, and Captain Athena Ibaz of the Centurion Special Operations Forces. Also present is Colonel Gopi Pandit of the Side 6 Civil Defense Guard.

Col. Pandit, a regal-looking woman of Indian descent, turns to Bright Noah, “General Noah, if all necessary personnel are assembled, I will brief you on the situation at hand.”

General Noah nods courteously, “Yes, Colonel. Since time is of the essence, please begin immediately.”

Colonel Pandit begins, “Two months ago, construction personnel from the Colony Development Corporation discovered a fully operable Zeon mobile armor MA-08 Byg Zam hidden in an abandoned Side 6 colony that had been scheduled for rehabilitation. We are certain that this mecha is the second of two Byg Zams produced for the Archduchy of Zeon’s space forces during the One Year War. The CDC properly relinquished custody of the mobile armor to the Side 6 CDG, and have kept the mecha impounded at our Celeste MS Station under the supervision of Major Luther Bonham, commanding officer of our MS Battalion.”

General Blackhead interrupts Pandit’s report, “Excuse me, Colonel. Do you mean that your people had located such a dangerous weapon and did not inform the Federation High Command about it until now? Do you realize that you…”

General Noah cuts Blackhead off, “General Blackhead, please. Let Colonel Pandit finish her report.”

Pandit continues, “About three weeks ago, our intelligence personnel discovered that Bonham had been negotiating with the Phobos Zeon Confederation for five billion gold credits from the Phobos Zeon Reserves. We have kept Bonham under surveillance until forty-eight hours ago, when he eluded our surveillance teams and illegally took possession of the Byg Zam.”

General Blackhead, not placated, adds with bitter sarcasm, “Your surveillance personnel leave quite a bit to be desired, considering it completely failed to prevent such a dangerous weapon from getting stolen from right under your noses!”

Colonel Pandit, maintaining her composure in the face of Blackhead’s withering remarks, replies, “Major Bonham had been the leader of our military surveillance group. It was Major Bonham who created many of the procedures and protocols that our surveillance personnel have used with great effectiveness against Zeon and ISRLA insurgents. It is not at all unusual that Major Bonham was able to foil surveillance measures that he had been personally responsible for putting into place.”

“Not unusual,” General Noah concedes, “but it has created a serious problem for all of us. But please continue your report, Colonel Pandit.”

Pandit does, “Our MS Battalion was placed on high alert, and we have been pursuing the Byg Zam for the past forty-eight hours. Our forces are, however, heavily outgunned by the Byg Zam. All of its weapons systems are online, and we have already lost fifteen mecha over the past two days.”

“So you chase him into our backyard,” General Blackhead says in disgust, “you Spacenoids certainly know how to…”

“General, that’s enough,” Bright Noah says sternly, “As this matter has already entered our jurisdiction, we must naturally resolve it.”

General Blackhead objects, “I say we should let the Side 6 CDG handle it. This is a problem of their making. Side 6 is an independent state. It should look after its own problems and not leech off of the Federal Forces.”

General Noah gives General Blackhead a hard look, then says, “Manron, I’ve already said that this matter has moved into our territory and therefore, it has become our problem now. The Earth Federation Forces last encountered a Byg Zam during the One Year War. I remember it well. It was during the Battle of Solomon, when the prototype Byg Zam operated by Dozle Zabi inflicted massive casualties upon our forces until it was destroyed by 2Lt. Amuro Ray’s RX-78 Gundam.”

At the mention of her late father’s name, and the infamous battle that had killed him, Athena instinctively takes her handkerchief from its place in the breast pocket of her uniform jacket and uses it to tersely wipe her fingers.

Pausing for a moment to reflect, General Noah then continues, “Presently, we have a new Gundam-class mobile suit undergoing testing. I’ve been informed that the mobile suit is combat ready, but we have yet to find a suitable pilot for it.”

Athena rises, “Sir, if I may?”

“Go ahead, Captain Ibaz,” Bright replies.

Athena says, “Sir, we do have a suitable pilot.”

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

Back in the ballroom, the guests at the New Year’s/Victory Commemoration Party have long since departed. It is 22:15.

Jolie is thoroughly fed up with waiting for Athena to return. Three hours have passed since Athena disappeared with the senior officers, leaving Jolie to her own devices.

Her stomach growling with hunger, Jolie scouts the cocktail tables and manages to scavenge some leftover oer’deurves, potato chips, and fruit punch.

At 22:20, an entourage of Federal officers passes through the ballroom en rout to offices and command posts. Captain Athena Ibaz is among them.

Athena approaches Jolie and grabs her by the arm, “Jolie, come with me,”

Jolie, a little buzzed by the punch, burps, “But I’m going to be AWOL in ten minutes.”

Athena turns to Jolie with an enigmatic grin and she drags her protégée along, “Don’t worry, everything’s already been cleared.”

“What’s been cleared?” Jolie blinks in confusion.

Athena turns away again, “Your first taste of blood, kid.”



Episode 4 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

In the spacious office of General Manron Blackhead, the commander of the Earth Federation’s Cislunar Space Fleet is speaking furtively with Colonel Peter Cairlay, Director of the Special Operations Forces.

“We’ve got a serious problem on our hands, colonel,” Blackhead says guardedly, “if that rogue Bonham is captured alive and interrogated, then…”

Cairlay doesn’t need Blackhead to finish, “I understand, sir. That does seem to be General Noah’s intent.”

Blackhead grunts with disgust, “Fools such as Bright Noah have turned the Federation into a body of sanctimonious sob sisters. The colonies no longer respect the Federation because they think that we’ll tolerate anything and everything those damned Spacenoids do up here. That’s why we’ve had no peace these past twenty years, Cairlay.”

There is a tense silence before General Blackhead smiles sinisterly, “Cairlay, each of the Special Forces teams operate independently of the others as a part of standard protocol, correct?”

Cairlay replies, “Yes, sir. Unless they’re being coordinated by Federal High Command for a joint operation. We keep their individual operations separate to make it difficult for them to collude against the Federal government. They’re too well trained and too well equipped for us to take any chances.”

Blackhead puts his hand on Cairlay’s shoulder, “Colonel, I have a suggestion….”


23:00 at the MS station of Green Noah Garrison. Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh is being strapped into the RX-780 Gundam 100. Engineering and support crew personnel are giving Jolie some last minute reminders about the capabilities and limitations of her experimental combat mecha before she sorties.

Captain Athena Ibaz, who like Jolie is clad in a Federal Forces MS pilot’s normalsuit, gives her protégée some final instructions, “Jolie, be sure to disable the Byg Zam, but don’t kill the pilot. We’re going to need him for interrogation.”

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Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh, Earth Federation Forces, in her pilots' normalsuit

Jolie gives Athena a confident thumbs up, “No problem.”

Athena gives Jolie a reassuring smile and a pat on her helmeted head, then departs. The support crew seals the Gundam 100’s cockpit hatch.

“No problem at all,” Jolie says to herself, gripping the control joysticks of the mobile suit as the combat computer comes online.

The Gundam 100’s emerald-lighted eyes flash to life.

Nearby, Athena straps herself into her own mecha, an RGM-95S GM IV Officer’s Custom. Both Jolie’s Gundam 100 and Athena’s GM-IV Custom are lifted onto the launch catapult.

“Captain Athena Ibaz, GM-IV Custom, launching!”

“Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh, Gundam 100, launching!”

Episode 4 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

In nearby space, Colonel Luther Bonham uses the Byg Zam’s multiple hyper beam particle cannon to dispatch Federal Forces MS and fighter spacecraft with impunity. Twenty years have seen great improvements in the Federation’s combat spacecraft and mecha, but not enough to overcome the sheer destructive force of a Zeon Byg Zam.

Aboard the Byg Zam, Bonham smirks, “Alex Miguel is going to be mighty pleased to get this baby. She still packs a mean punch.”

So saying, Bonham opens fire with the Byg Zam’s main gun again, wiping out an approaching Salamis class battlecruiser.

A beeping noise suddenly emits from the Byg Zam’s combat computer. It is a warning:

“Unidentified Federal Forces MS closing fast, range 40 km, 2 o’clock position,” the computer’s synthesized voice intones.

Must be some new experimental mecha the Federation has, Bonham muses.

The Byg Zam’s combat computer finds the closest match that it can from its twenty-years outmoded databank, “Enemy target is an unknown model; closest analogue: RX-78 Gundam.”

The Byg Zam unleashes a torrent of hellfire into apparently empty space. Suddenly, from seemingly nowhere, Jolie’s Gundam 100 appears and rides the wave of destructive energy like a surfer off the California coast.

Jolie levels the Gundam 100’s beam rifle at the Byg Zam, scoring direct hits, but doing little damage.

“Jolie,” Athena’s voice comes through the tactical net, “the Byg Zam is equipped with an I-Field that disrupts beam energy. Use missiles.”

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The Gundam 100 in action

Athena’s last word of “missiles” barely reaches Jolie’s ears before she finds herself dodging a few fired from the Byg Zam’s talon-like feet. A shot from the Gundam 100’s beam rifle disintegrates one missile, and two quick dodges enable Jolie to avoid the others.

The Byg Zam fires its remaining talon missiles. The Gundam 100 disintegrates a fourth missile with a well-placed beam rifle shot, slashes down a fifth with its beam rifle, and intercepts the sixth with its head-mounted Vulcan cannon.

In the cockpit of the Byg Zam, Bonham begins to realize that his opponent is not to be tarried with. He feels certain that given enough time, he can defeat the enemy’s Gundam mobile suit, but possibly not without risking damage to the Byg Zam.

Bonham hits the Byg Zam’s afterburners. The giant war mecha blasts away from the scene.

Jolie is not about to let Bonham get away so easily. Engaging the Gundam 100’s boosters, she launches in pursuit.

Persistent, eh? Bonham concedes, as he sees the Gundam 100 pursuing on his rear view monitor screen.

Aboard the Gundam-100, Jolie is singularly focused on the target. For the moment, nothing else matters more than destroying the enemy unit.

Responding to the motion of Jolie’s trigger finger, the Gundam-100 cuts loose with a firestorm of several dozen missiles. The explosive projectiles strike home on the Byg Zam’s main fuselage and engine block, immobilizing the Zeon mobile armor.

Jolie, her bloodlust having completely taken over, screams out, “Die!!!” as she draws the Gundam-100’s beam saber from its housing and prepares for a lethal stab straight into the Byg Zam’s nuclear fusion engine.

Athena, arriving on the scene in her GM-IV Officer’s Custom, emits a Newtype spark and shouts with horror, “Jolie, don’t!”

Episode 4 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Jolie’s helmeted head reciprocates Athena’s psychic spark.

An instant before the Gundam-100 is to deliver its death blow to the Byg Zam, the Federation mobile suit relents, changing the arc of its beam saber strike to remove the mobile armor’s cockpit hatch with surgical precision.

The Gundam-100 reaches into the cockpit nacelle of the Byg Zam and extracts a shellshocked, but otherwise unharmed Luther Bonham.

Athena’s GM-IV Custom comes to a rest fifty meters to the right of Jolie’s Gundam-100.

Athena beams proudly, “You did it, Jolie! Excellent work!”

Jolie, her bloodlust still yet to be satisfied, backs the Gundam-100 a safe distance away. Sensing what’s coming next, Athena does likewise with her mobile suit.

Jolie opens fire with the Gundam-100’s entire arsenal: missiles, beam rifle, Vulcan cannon are all simultaneously deployed. The disabled Byg Zam, its I-Field deactivated, succumbs to the multiple strikes and explodes in a hellacious fireball.

In the cockpit of the Gundam-100, Jolie is perspiring profusely and panting deeply. Her heart is racing like a rocket.

“Jolie, are you all right?” Athena’s concerned voice comes through the tactical net.

Jolie takes a moment to gather herself before reply, “Yeah. I’m OK. I just…”

Athena says, “You need to get a full physical when we get back. First, let’s get Bonham back to HQ for debriefing.”


An hour later, back at Green Noah Garrison, Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh steps out from the cockpit of the RX-780 Gundam-100. She spots Athena running towards her.

Jolie removes her helmet and hands it to Athena, then collapses onto the flight deck.

Athena kneels besides Jolie, “Hey, are you sure you’re all right?”

“So tired…” Jolie says, shaking her head to clear out the haze.

Athena says, “You were running on pure adrenalin out there. This is the crash. I’d better get you to sick bay right now.”

So saying, Athena helps Jolie to her feet and lets the girl lean on her. A medical team rushes towards them with a stretcher and various medical field equipment.

“I’ll be OK,” Jolie says weakly, but alertly, “What about Bonham?”

“Let me worry about that,” Athena replies, “you let the medics take you for a check up. We’ll discuss everything else later.”


Shortly afterwards, in a prisoner detention center somewhere in Green Noah Garrison, Colonel Luther Bonham, formerly of the Side 6 Civil Defense Guard, sits bruised and bloodied in a dark interrogation room. He has been roughed up by Federal Forces military police and Special Forces personnel attempting to get information out of him. A veteran intelligence and special ops officer himself, Bonham is a tough nut to crack. Neither threats nor acts of violence against his person have budged him to divulge any information of value to the Federation.

Athena arrives in the interrogation room and is saluted by the Federal MPs and Special Forces officers present.

Crouching in front of Bonham, Athena removes the ever-present handkerchief from the breast pocket of her uniform jacket and uses it to dab gently on the cuts and bruises of Bonham’s face.

Bonham grins, “I suppose you’re the ‘good cop’ in this little interrogation game, eh? I’ll give the Federation credit: it certainly picks beautiful women for the job. You might even soften me up enough to get more than just my rank and serial number, honey.”

Ignoring Bonham’s remarks, Athena deliberately repockets the handkerchief, grins coldly, and pulls Bonham roughly towards her by the collar of his uniform.

Leaning her face closely into Bonham’s gaze, Athena says softly, but menacingly to the man, “Your problem is that you’re expendable. You’re expendable to us, you’re expendable to the Side 6 CDG comrades you’ve betrayed, and you’re certainly expendable to whoever paid you to steal that Byg Zam.”

Bonham doesn’t flinch, and replies, “If I’m so expendable, why’d you bother to bring me back here for the royal treatment? You could have let that Gundam of yours turn me to space dust with the Byg Zam.”

Athena grins, releasing her grip on Bonham’s collar and turning her back to him, “It’s not our policy to kill our POWs. It’s also not our policy to protect them from the consequences of their own choices.”

“Protect?” Bonham says quizzically, unable to guess at Athena’s meaning.

After a brief moment’s silence, Athena continues, “We know you were planning to sell that mobile armor to someone, Colonel. A weapon of mass destruction such as a Byg Zam offers a tactical advantage that any military force would pay any sum to acquire, provided it has the necessary funds.”

“So?” Bonham smirks.

Athena says, “There aren’t too many buyers who can afford a weapon such as a Byg Zam, Colonel. We hardly need you to tell us. That’s why we’re letting you go.”

Bonham was not expecting that, “You’re setting me free?”

Athena affirms Bonham’s question with a gesture.

Bonham laughs, “You must think I’m stupid! You probably expect me to make contact with these mecha buyers you’re dreaming up, and you want to let me go just so you can follow me to them! Forget it! I stole the Byg Zam for my own reasons!”

“Whether or not you did is moot now, Colonel,” says Athena dispassionately, “we have enemies to eliminate, so we’re not wasting any more time with you.”

“So you’re going to kill me now?” Bonham replies defiantly.

“No,” Athena replies frigidly, “we’re going to let YOUR enemies do it for us.”

Athena turns to one of the MPs, “Sergeant, please undo Colonel Bonham’s restraints, then order up a space shuttle to transport the colonel home.”

Episode 4 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

The Federal Forces MP loosens Bonham's arm restraints, as Athena instructed. A second MP opens the door of the interrogation room.

Bonham, uncertain what manner of trick the Federal Forces have in mind, does not leave through the door, but stands staring at Athena.

Without leaving the chair where she had taken a seat, or turning to look at Bonham, Athena says, "Best regards to Josephine and Jason."

Bonham stiffens, his heart pounding. Josephine is the name of his paramour, and Jason the illegitimate son he sired with her. But how could anyone know about Josephine and Jason? Even Bonham's closest associates in the Side 6 CDG don't know about Josephine and Jason!

"Josephine Martin," Athena says, "Aged twenty-eight. Lives at 1398 Meadowview Drive in Colony 11, Bunch 18 of Side 6. Miss Martin works for a tourism agency based in Colony 11. She has one son, Jason, despite being unmarried..."

"How...how could you possibly...?" Bonham begins.

"You work in intelligence yourself," Athena says coldly, "you should realize that there are no real secrets."

Bonham bares his teeth at Athena, "If you hurt them..."

Athena cuts him off, "If we were able to identify them, so too are the people you were planning to sell the Byg Zam to."

Bonham pales in the realization that Athena is right.

When he finds his voice, Bonham says plaintively, "If I agree to give you the information you want, you'll protect them?"

Athena grins, "That depends on the quality of the information you give me."

Bonham is about to say something more when footsteps are heard approaching from the corridor outside the interrogation room. Colonel Cairlay appears at the door.

"Captain Ibaz," the colonel says, "thank you for all the work that you've done today. High Command has instructed that I personally continue the interrogation of Colonel Bonham. You may be dismissed to return to your unit. The base infirmary has sent word that Chief Warrant Officer Minh has been given a clean bill of health and is waiting for you presently."

Athena finds it very strange that the High Command would send Colonel Cairlay to interrupt the interrogation of the enemy agent, but knows better than to protest. Something is definitely awry, but Athena understands that getting to the root of it would need to be done elsewhere, at another time.

"Yes, sir," Athena salutes and leaves the room.

Colonel Cairlay approaches Bonham. Bonham senses the other man's sinister intent.

Cairlay says with a disquieting coolness, "Colonel Bonham, we're sending you back to Side 6 to be prosecuted according to the laws of your nation."

That was unexpected.

"What about the protection that Captain Ibaz offered to my...family?" Bonham says.

Cairlay lights a cigar and puffs a ring of smoke before answering Bonham, "Your family will be taken care of. You, however, will face the consequences of your involvement in this matter."

Episode 4 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Athena rendezvous with Jolie in the lobby of the base infirmary. Jolie bounds to her feet and sprints towards Athena, demonstrating that her first combat sortie has left her no worse for the experience.

“You certainly look better,” Athena remarks.

Jolie flexes her arms in a mock gesture of strength, then takes a bite out of the candy bar that she had gotten from one of the infirmary canteen’s vending machines, “Nothing that a little sugar can’t cure. The doctors said I just had…”

“Combat stress fatigue,” Athena finishes, “I know. It happens to many rookies. You're going to need to learn to pace yourself. War isn't like street-fighting. It's an endurance grind.”

Much to Athena’s horror, Jolie swallows the rest of the six-inch candy bar in one bite.

While chewing, the teenager asks, “So how’d the interrogation with Bonham go? Find out anything useful?”

Athena says, “Colonel Cairlay has taken over. He came just about when I had Bonham ready to talk.”

"That creep?" Jolie says, "If I were Bonham, I'd demand to have you back before I'd say anything."

Athena escorts Jolie back to her quarters in the officers’ academy. As they walk, Athena is still disturbed by the strange ending of her interrogation of Luther Bonham.

Soon, the duo is at the door of Jolie’s quarters. Athena tells her charge, “As of next week, you’ll be officially part of my unit. I’ll stop by after my shift tomorrow to help you pack up for the move into the Centurion Team’s barracks.”

“Am I going to get a private room with air conditioning and satellite TV?” Jolie asks.

Athena grins, “After bringing down that Byg Zam tonight, maybe they’ll rename the base after you. See you tomorrow.”

Athena and Jolie go their separate ways for the evening. For Jolie, it’s off to a good night’s sleep after her first battle as a mobile suit pilot for the Earth Federation Forces. For Athena, it’s another visit back to the Special Forces Headquarters compound. She can’t sleep; not with the disturbing thoughts now churning in her head.

I have this terrible feeling that Luther Bonham is a dead man. Athena thinks to herself.


Athena returns to Special Forces HQ. She encounters Colonel Cairlay outside his office.

“Why Captain,” Cairlay says languidly, “I thought you would have retired for evening.”

“Sir,” Athena salutes her superior, “I returned to see if my help was still needed for the interrogation of Luther Bonham.”

“That interrogation is done, Captain,” replies Cairlay, “Bonham was extremely stubborn. He refused to tell us anything of value. We’ve therefore given custody of him back to the Side 6 CDG. They will deal with him now and share with us whatever information they can get out of him.”

Athena finds that strange. It is not the Federation’s standard policy to turn over captured enemy combatants to other parties. Granted, the Federation and Side 6 have benign diplomatic relations, but this represents a major departure from standard procedure.

“In that case, sir,” Athena says, “I will return to quarters.”

“See you in the morning, Captain,” says Cairlay, returning Athena’s salute.


Meanwhile, the Side 6 Civil Defense Guard’s RGM-89 GM-III squadron under the command of Captain Huisook Song is returning to Side 6 with a prisoner. Colonel Luther Bonham rides inside a smaller prisoner capsule carried in the hand of one of the mobile suits.

The journey back to Side 6 from Side 7 proceeds without incident until one of Song’s subordinates reports that a flight of MS, Federal Forces types, is approaching fast. The Federal Forces MS are putting out powerful Minovsky particle jamming waves, which make them invisible to the radar aboard the mobile suits in Song’s units.

Captain Song remarks, “Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a patrol unit. Maybe they’re here to escort us out of Federation space.”

The squad of Earth Federation Forces mobile suits, ten RGM-95C GM-IV Snipers, open fire with their beam cannon and rifles at the Side 6 C.D.G. squad. Before the Side 6 mobile suits have the chance to react, they are reduced to melting scrap. The first target destroyed is Luther Bonham’s prisoner capsule, its inhabitant immolated in an instant.


General Manron Blackhead’s office: the general has a visitor, who is seen in the shadows only. His silhouette is vaguely familiar.

An aide enters and whispers something into Blackhead’s ear. The Federal Forces general smiles.

“We couldn’t secure the Byg Zam, Colonel,” says Blackhead, “but we have managed to plug an imminent information leak. Please send General Miguel our deepest apologies.”

The general’s visitor emerges from the shadows. He is Colonel Ross Davenport, right-hand man of the infamous General Alexander Miguel of the Phobos Zeon Confederacy.

Episode 4 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Six hours later, Captain Athena Ibaz is flying a routine patrol of Side 7 space aboard her RGM-95S GM-IV Officer's Custom. Her mobile suit's surveillance equipment has detected an unusually high concentration of Minoffsky particle interference.

The area of Minoffsky concentration is littered with scraps of metallic scrap. This, in itself, is not unusual. Since the era of space colonization began, Cislunar Space has been cluttered with both industrial waste and the ruins of war.

To the untrained eye, the scrap would be unidentifiable. Athena, however, recognizes the scrap for what it is: the remains of mobile suits.

Athena stops her mobile suit and opens the cockpit hatch, exiting her mecha for a closer inspection. Using her normalsuit's vectoring thrusters, she maneuvers amidst the wreckage searching for useful information.

A piece of mass, too pliable to be mobile suit wreckage, drifts towards Athena. It appears to be a normalsuit...or at least half a normalsuit. A powerful explosion must have sundered its top half from its bottom.

To Athena's horror, the normalsuit remains are not empty; half of a dead human torso and head occupy the torn spacesuit.

Athena maneuvers herself over to the gruesome sight, and takes hold of the half-corpse. Steeling herself, she opens the visor of the slain pilot's helmet.

She is greeted with the dead face of Colonel Luther Bonham of the Side 6 Civil Defense Guard, his eyes still open in an expression of profound shock and betrayal.

Athena's gloved hand brushes across Bonham's eyes, closing them forever. Athena's hand closes into an angry, trembling fist.



At the same time, in Side 6, a trenchcoated man sets fire to an apartment complex in a normally quiet neighborhood. Within minutes, the building is engulfed in flames, incinerating, among other things, the corpses of a young woman and her seven-year old son, who had both been fatally shot just moments earlier.


"You're quiet tonight," Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh says to Athena ten hours later, as the two share drinks and cigarettes at an officer's club.

Not replying to Jolie's remark, Athena stubs out her exhausted cigarette, her fifth of the hour, into an ashtray and takes another sip of brandy, her third.

"Maybe you're the one with combat stress fatigue now," Jolie says, inserting a fresh cigarette between her lips.

Athena lights Jolie's cigarette, and then lights a fresh one of her own.

"There are no innocents in war," Athena finally sighs, her first words in nearly an hour, "Until we are ourselves killed, we live to kill, and will kill to live. Luther Bonham understood that. You have to wonder if it made things any easier for him to accept in the end."

Jolie exhales a lungful of heated tobacco fumes, then says, "Forget it, Athena. I know you think that you're to blame for how Bonham got dusted, but it was just his fate."

Athena offers Jolie a wan grin, "You're quick in getting accustomed to this predator-prey lifestyle I've introduced you to."

Jolie returns the grin, "You didn't introduce me to it. You just got me onto a whole new level of it. I was already a bad girl when you came and got me out of Industria all those months ago."

Athena lifts her glass to Jolie, "Here's to us, then: two bad girls. We drink, we smoke, and we kill people."

The pair toast each other, drink, and laugh. Two bad girls, just beginning to make their mark on history.

END OF EPISODE 4

to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

EPISODE 5: WHITE PHOENIX

Too much of military life is bureaucratic nonsense, Captain Athena Ibaz muses to herself as she inputs a metaphorical mound of documentation into the Federal Forces' central databank. The aftermath of the Luther Bonham affair has entailed no small amount of documentation work, and has more or less chained Athena to her office desk for the better part of the day.

Ever conscious of time, Athena glances at the Baroque clock on her office wall: 12:17.

Late, Athena quietly fumes.

As if on cue, Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh bursts into Athena’s office, just a bit out of breath.

“Thanks for knocking first,” Athena says dryly, still not looking up from her deskwork.

“Sorry,” Jolie replies, both for her tardiness and her forgetting to knock…again, “I was in the bathroom and I was really constip…”

“Never mind,” Athena cuts Jolie off, entirely uninterested in Jolie’s lavatory habits, “are you ready to meet the rest of the squad now?”

Jolie salutes, “Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh, Centurion Team, reporting for duty, ma’am!”

Athena grins, finally rising from her seat to return Jolie’s salute, “Welcome to the Centurion Team, Chief Minh.”


In the lounge of the Centurion Team’s barracks, commanding officer Captain Athena Ibaz introduces her team to their new junior executive officer, Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh. The members of the Centurion Team are…

Master Sergeant Karim Abdul Al-Said. Originally from Sudan on Earth, Master Sergeant Al-Said immigrated to Side 5 with his family when he was a boy. Steadfast, coolheaded, reliable, and brave, he is the ranking NCO (non-commissioned officer) in the Centurion Team. At age 24, he is also the oldest member of the team. Master Sergeant Al-Said is a munitions and artillery expert. He pilots the long-range artillery mobile suit RGC-770 Guncannon-100.

Staff Sergeant Tomo Higashi. Staff Sergeant Higashi, a 19-year old of Japanese descent, hails from Side 7. Like his good friend, Master Sergeant Al-Said, he is a man of rock solid loyalty and courage, and also like the master sergeant, Higashi pilots an RC-770 Guncannon-100.

Corporal Karyn Luna: At age 16, a few months younger than Jolie, Karyn is the youngest member of the Centurion Team. A native of the Hawaiian Islands on Earth, she is the daughter of a minor Earth Federation Government politician. Her father, a fervent Earthist, has sent his daughter to be trained as a member of the Special Forces to toughen her up. Karyn tends to be a bit naïve, but she does not lack in courage. Karyn pilots an RGM-95 GM-IV.

Corporal Anna Horowitz: Aged 20. She is the Centurion Team’s intelligence and reconnaissance specialist. A quiet and mysterious young woman, Anna pilots a RGM-95AW GM AWAC.

Corporal Geoff Sutcliffe: Aged 19. A native of Londinium space colony, Sutcliffe is the team’s resident practical joker and ladies man. His bravery outstrips his mobile suit piloting skills, but he is still a solid pilot of an RGM-95 GM-IV.

Responding to their training, the Centurion Team members line up smartly and salute as Athena enters the room with Jolie, “Captain Ibaz, ma’am!”

“At ease,” Athena tells her charges, “As of today, the Centurion Team has been assigned a new junior executive officer. She will serve as my personal adjutant and second-in-command of the team. Ladies and gentlemen, please meet Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh.”

The team salutes in unison, “Chief Minh, ma’am!”

Jolie is a bit taken aback by the welcome. She has never been addressed as “ma’am” in her life, and she hasn’t led anything more impressive than a girls’ softball team back in elementary school before her family was killed.

Jolie turns to Athena, who gives her an encouraging nod. Jolie turns to the team, “At ease, and thanks.”

The team members look at Jolie with some awe. They know that this is the young woman who recovered the Gundam-100 from ISRLA guerillas several months ago, after their original commanding officer, Captain Rick Tinne, had been killed during the same operation. They also know that Jolie is the pilot who recently destroyed a stolen Zeon Byg Zam mecha.

The men of the Centurion Team have a different kind of interest in Jolie, however. Their dreamy grins and wide eyes reflecting their admiration for Jolie’s very pleasing silky-smooth babyface...her wide, dazzling eyes...her long, luscious black hair... and her gorgeous, shapely legs, which are especially flattered by the short cut of her uniform miniskirt.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/5724/joliesalute1xh9.jpg

Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh, junior executive officer and sweetheart of the Centurion Team

“I think I’m in love, mate,” Geoff Sutcliffe whispers to Tomo Higashi.

“Get in line, Britboy,” Tomo whispers back, “I got first dibs on the hottie CWO.”

Geoff whispers back, “Dude, Tomo. I can’t decide if the Captain or the Chief is the hotter piece of a'ss.”

Tomo replies breathlessly, “Me neither. We really drew a plum assignment getting on the team with all the hot babes.”

“Let’s show a little respect, gentlemen,” the more serious Karim cuts in, but it’s evident that even the sober-minded (and engaged) master sergeant finds the new CWO highly attractive.

Athena notes her team’s reactions to Jolie and grins, recalling how she’d received a similar welcome when she was first assigned to the team months ago.



Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Geoff Sutcliffe, who is not only the team's ladies' man, but who also fancies himself an excellent fighter (and indeed, he is an above-average hand-to-hand combatant), has read the reports about Jolie's extraordinary fighting prowess like everybody else has. He just doesn't believe, however, that the cute, tiny Asian chick who has just been assigned the team's junior XO could be any kind of superb fighter.

Looking to satisfy his curiosity, and to burnish his ego, Geoff extends his hand to Jolie, "Corporal Geoff Sutcliffe at your command, ma'am."

Geoffe takes Jolie's small, soft hand into his own, Hah! Girly, just like I thought. Now let me apply just a little pressure here...whuh?

Sensing Geoff's attempt to twist her wrist, Jolie allows her wrist to yield, then twists it in the opposite direction with a single, fluid motion, sending Geoff to the ground.

Geoff rises, surprise evident on his face.

"Let's dance," Jolie says in a challenging tone.

Geoff lunges at Jolie in a grabbing motion; his belly meets with Jolie's knee, knocking the breath out of him.

Jolie rubs her bare knee, "Ow. You're put together pretty solidly, Corporal. Too bad you're about as fast as a rock too."

Geoff, not accustomed to being bested by a woman, is ready to remove the kids' gloves, "All right, luv. Now you're going to get it!"

Geoff's series of punches sail harmlessly through empty spaces where Jolie's face had been fractions of a second earlier. After a minute of this, Jolie senses Geoff's strength fading, guides his last punch aside with an elegant sweeping motion of her palm, and slaps him three times in rapid succession.

Jolie ends it with a lightning quick punch that sends Geoff onto his back.

"That was a good workout, Corporal," Jolie says with a grin, "we should do it again."

The rest of the Centurion Team cannot contain their laughter, and even Geoff, rising from the ground, cannot help but laugh, "You're really something, Chief."

"Jolie," says the junior XO, "at least when we're off duty."

Athena, who had ducked into her office to make a few phone calls while all this had been going on, reappears in the lounge, "Jolie, would you please come into my office? There are some things I'd like to show you."

"Later," Jolie tells her new teammates, who have already taken a great liking to her.

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

Athena asks Jolie to have a seat and offers her a drink: whiskey on the rocks.

"So," Athena asks, pouring a second glass of whiskey for herself, "how do you like the team?"

"I think Sutcliffe and I are going to be really great friends," Jolie remarks, sipping the whiskey.

Athena grins, "That's one guy to keep in front of you at all times. The first day I was in the unit, he tried to reach up my skirt."

Jolie asks, "What did you do?"

Athena replies as she sips the whiskey, "Kneed him in the balls. It took him about fifteen minutes to find his voice again."

Jolie almost chokes on the whiskey, "So what did you ask me in here for?"

Without replying, Athena steps over to the large bookshelf occupying an entire wall of her office. From this, she draws over a dozen hardcover books. She hands these to Jolie.

"What's all this?" asks Jolie, taking the heavy load of tomes from Athena's hands.

Among the titles that Athena has given to Jolie are Plato's The Republic, Machiavelli's The Prince, Milton's Paradise Lost, Shakespeare's Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello, and Julius Caesar, Franklin's Autobiography, Marx's Communist Manifesto, a collection of writings by Abraham Lincoln, Hitler's Mein Kampf, Mahatma Gandhi's My Experiments With Truth, Freud's Psychoanalytic Theory, LaRoque's A History of the World From Early Civilizations to the Colonization of Space, Zeon Daikun's Humanity Beyond the Horizon, General Abraham Reville's The State of Military Strategy in the U.C. 0070s, Amuro Ray's Reflections Upon the One Year War, and assorted other texts relating to sciences and mathematics.

Athena grins as Jolie juggles the books around, trying to get a grip upon them, "You've missed out on much of your education during the past five years, Jolie. There are many things you'll need to know before you can truly be effective in helping me. You can't change a world that you don't understand. That's why I want you to read all of these books."

Jolie makes a wry face, "Couldn't you at least have given these to me on a Datachip? This isn't the Middle Ages, you know?"

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued...

"Good hardcover books are worth their weight in gold these days, Jolie," Athena tells her new junior executive officer.

"Yeah, well 'weight' is certainly the word," Jolie replies, setting the heavy books down on the couch in Athena's office, "so is there going to be a test, or something?"

"The only tests that matter, Jolie, are the ones you'll face out there," Athena replies, with a slight pointing gesture to the world beyond her office door, "There's much more to being a successful officer than being able to pilot mobile suits and handle weapons. You'll need to know some of everything, and be able to do a bit of everything."

As Jolie frowns at the books, Athena looks through Jolie's personnel file on her palm Datareader, "Jolie 'Phuong' Minh. What does 'Phuong' mean, Jolie?"

Jolie replies, "That's my Vietnamese name. 'Phuong' means 'phoenix.'"

"Phoenix Minh..." Athena muses, "the ancient Greeks believed that the phoenix represented rebirth."

Jolie shrugs, "I didn't know it represented anything."

"In a way," Athena says, "the name was prophetic. You've kind of been 'reborn,' in a manner of speaking."

"Yeah," Jolie remarks wryly, "reborn as your contract killer."

To that, Athena's response is to take an envelope from her desk drawer and hand it to Jolie.

"What's this?" Jolie asks.

Taking her handkerchief from its place in her breast pocket, Athena replies, "Your first paycheck, my dear mercenary."

As Athena begins wiping her fingers tersely with the handerchief, Jolie opens the envelope. Her eyes widen at the figure on the check.

"Two-thousand credits?"

"You'll earn more after you're promoted," Athena says.

"No," Jolie says, looking for the right words, "it's just that. Wow. I've never had this much money before. I used to have to risk my neck just for some loose change back in Industria."

Athena smiles, repocketing her handkerchief, "Well, now you risk your neck for about two-thousand credits a month."

"...and a shot at Alexander Miguel's head?" Jolie says, turning serious.

Athena exhales after a moment's uncomfortable silence, "Like I told you before: we'll have our day of reckoning with the Zeon, sooner or later."

"'Sooner' can't come soon enough," Jolie grates.

Athena offers Jolie a cigarette and lights it for her, then lights one of her own, "Anyway, I've provided you with the books I want you to read, but you don't have to finish them right away. Right now, I think it's better if you got better acquainted with your squad mates. You and the rest of the squad are dismissed until reville at 0400 tomorrow."

"Great!" Jolie enthuses, her good mood returning, as she takes her books and her paycheck with her.

"Jolie..." Athena says before Jolie can get out the door.

"Yeah, what is it 'Thena?" Jolie replies, pausing.

Athena grins at her charge, "Don't spend your entire paycheck partying, all right? You don't get another one for a month, and YOU'RE buying the next round of drinks at the Officer's Club."

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

Some 5,000 kilometers out from Side 7's zone marker, Earthside, a convoy of Federation supply ships is on approach to Green Noah Garrison from its launchpoint in Florida on Earth. Various civilian and military supplies are being ferried to Side 7 from Earth, and the cargo includes a myriad of goods ranging from nourishment formula for infants to ammunition for weapons. The convoy even includes a shipment of mobile suit replacement parts.

As such, the convoy is heavily guarded: its escort includes two Salamis-class battlecruisers and nine mobile suits (RGM-89 Jegans) divided into three squads.

http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2982/salamisdc9.jpg

An Earth Federation Forces Salamis-class space battlecruiser

Captain Ilongo N'Gula, commanding officer of the Federal Armada ship Moonshadow, sends a transmission to Garrison Noah, "Garrison Noah, this is E.F.S.S. Moonshadow, registry EF6243235, on approach from Canaveral Point. Awaiting authorization for approach with supply convoy from Earth."

The answer from Garrison Noah comes momentarily, "Affirmative, Moonshadow, convoy and escort are cleared for approach."

The arrival of the convoy proceeds seemingly undisturbed. Captain N'Gula feels that perhaps he could begin to relax.

But his day was to take a dramatic turn.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued...

About ten kilometers away from the convoy, a squad of five mobile suits lies in wait, hidden from both the convoy's surveillance equipment and Garrison Noah's tracking devices by a thick field of Minovsky particles. Four of the five mobile suits are about a decade old: two are RMS-108 Marasais used by the Federation's Titans Corps during the U.C. 0080s, and the other two are MMT-1 Gaza C's, which were the first new production line mobile suits to be used by the Axis Neo Zeon Forces during their invasion of Cislunar Space in U.C. 0088. These mecha, although now obsolete, were considered cutting-edge weaponry in their day, and as such, still command a hefty price on the black market. The leaders of the ISRLA would not authorize their deployment unless absolutely necessary for the success of its ultimate goals.

The fifth mobile suit, however, is the gem of the squad: an MSN-03 Jagd Doga from the days of Colonel Char Aznable's final rebellion in U.C. 0093. This mobile suit, recovered from storage aboard a Neo Zeon spacecruiser that had escaped from Axis Fortress shortly before the defeat of Colonel Char, has been dedicatedly maintained and is in rollout condition. Within its cockpit sits its pilot, the Newtype Caitlin O'Rourke, aged 25.

Caitlin O'Rourke had been a 21-year old graduate of the Neo Zeon military academy when the final confrontation between Colonel Char's Neo Zeon forces and the Earth Federation Forces' Lond Bell Corps broke out in the spring of U.C. 0093. 2Lt. O'Rourke, whom the Flannagan Research Agency had identified as a Class-1 Newtype (whose illustrious lineage included Colonel Char himself, Lalah Sun, Haman Karn, and the Federation and AEUG mobile suit aces Amuro Ray, Camille Vidan, and Judau Ashta), but at the time of Colonel Char's demise, 2Lt. O'Rouke's training had not yet been completed and she was not deployed into battle until the outcome of the battle had already been determined. Until Colonel Char had discovered the advanced Newtype Quess Parayana and selected Quess to pilot the mobile armor NZ-333 Alpha Azieru, Caitlin had been at the top of a list of candidates (along with Gurney Guss) to pilot the mammoth mecha against the Federal Forces. With the demise of the Neo Zeon Archduchy following the loss of the Colonel Char, Caitlin O'Rourke drifted purposely for a while. A ward of the Neo Zeon state, without family or close friends, Caitlin finally hooked up with Dr. Artasia Som Daikun's Independent Spacenoid Republic movement in U.C. 0095. Knowing of Caitlin's abilities, the ISRLA has continued Caitlin's training and development, deploying her only on missions of top priority.

Hence, her assignment to the capture of this convoy.

"2Lt. O'Rourke," one of the ISRLA pilots "suited" in a Gaza-C reports, "the convoy has begun its approach towards Garrison Noah."

Caitlin acknowledges that information with hissing eagerness, "Excellent. They'll be entering the Minovsky field soon, making them momentarily undetectable by Garrison Noah's surveillance mechanisms. That's when we'll strike."

"Lieutenant," the same Gaza-C pilot, a young man by the name of Evanhart ventures, "do you think it's true what our intelligence people said about this convoy's cargo?"

Caitlin checks her Jagd Doga's surveillance gear, in particular its radiation tracer, "If so, the Federation's hiding it well. In any case, we must make sure this cargo does not reach its destination. It could be a disaster for our people."

A chorus of "Yes ma'ams" affirm Caitlin's orders as her team prepares to swoop in.

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

Back at the Centurion Team's residence compound, a fierce verbal confrontation escalates.

"I say that the new XO is hotter," Corporal Geoffe Sutcliffe insists for the umpteenth time, "That Jolie's eyes are like pure electricity, mate. And her legs...oh!"

"She is cute," Tomo Higashi concedes, "but she's just a kid, man. Now Captain Ibaz: that's a real woman. If the Captain weren't our CO, I'd seriously date her."

Geoffe says, "Captain Ibaz is definitely a dish, but c'mon, isn't she just a bit too intimidating with that upper crust attitude of hers? I'd be scared to date her 'cause she's just too posh. Athena's a cutie, yeah, but she's too uptight and serious to be fun to be with; she never lets her hair down."

"Well, her hair is shorter than Jolie's," Tomo grins, "but I have a thing for redheads myself."

"Just let us know when you've determined which one of us is more attractive," Athena's velvety voice suddenly cuts in.

"Captain Ibaz! Chief Minh! Ma'am!" Sutcliffe and Higashi burst to their feet and salute nervously. The rest of the team giggles at their discomfort.

"High command has detected some irregularities near the supply convoy," Athena tells her team seriously, "we've been ordered to escort the convoy in. I want you all to suit up and report to the MS deck immediately."

"Yes, ma'am!" the Centurions salute as one.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued...

Cait O'Rourke's Jagd Doga and its attendent squad of Gaza-Cs continued to shadow the Earth Federation Forces convoy, its presence hidden from the convoy and its defenders by Minovsky particle interference.

"All right," Cait instructs her team through an encoded signal, "on my mark: STRIKE!"

In a shockingly abrupt, but intricately coordinated maneuver that had been practiced hundreds of times before, the small ISRLA mobile suit squadron launches its attack. Twin blasts from the missile packs of two Gaza-Cs quickly immolate the bridges of the two Salamis battleship escorts, leaving the two heavily armed ships incapacitated.

"Code Red! Code Red!" shouts 2Lt. Xiang Lu, commanding officer of the Jegan mobile suit escort, "Convoy is under attack by unidentified targets. All units form defensive perimeter!"

Reacting to 2Lt. Lu's orders, the Jegans form a defensive circle around the Moonshadow.

"Second phase," Cait O'Rourke grimly orders her squad.

The two Marasais, which carry between them a powerful Hyperbazooka particle cannon, charge the massive WMD powered by the twin mobile suits' nuclear fusion battery packs. The Marasais take aim at the crippled Salamis closest to the Moonshadow and its Jegan escort.

"We have a lock on the enemy ship's nuclear fusion engine," reports Carney, the pilot of one of the two Marasais.

"Fire at will," Cait replies.

Electromagnetically charged hellfire erupts forth from the muzzle of the massive Hyperbazooka particle cannon. The brilliant light of the beam is the brightest object in local space for a moment, until the explosion of the Salamis' nuclear fusion engine overwhelms even its extreme luminosity.

The shockwave of the nuclear explosion within such proximity throws the Federation mobile suits like rag dolls in a hurricane. Several Jegans collide, the force of impact causing them to fragment. The shockwave alone damages several more.

Aboard the Moonshadow, Captain N'Gula and his crew grit their teeth and brace themselves as the shockwave of the explosion rocks their ship. Despite the Moonshadow's great mass (twice that of a Salamis-class battlecruiser) and extra thick armor, the great cargo ship is buffeted helplessly by the tremendous force unleashed by its escort ship's explosion.

Captain N'Gula manages to snarl out, "Damage report!"

A crewman replies, "Sorry, sir. All systems except emergency life support are offline."

Captain N'Gula performs the only check he can without the benefit of the ship's computer and internal communications systems. Floating over to one of the bridge's windows, he takes in a visual assessment of the damage.

Decks 1-11 on the ship's port side had taken severe damage; that portion of the ship looked like it had been stricken by a comet. The damaged decks included crew quarters, peripheral navigational systems, and a few of the less important storage areas.

Fortunately, Captain N'Gula reflects, that hit did not, as far as I can tell from here, penetrate the reinforced inner cargo hold. If it had...

The captain shudders at the terrible thought of what could have happened, and his fears escalate as he remembers that it could yet happen if there were to be a follow up strike.

"Sir," a tech replies, "communications are out. I can't contact the escort squadron or Garrison Noah. We're a sitting duck, sir."

N'Gula figured as much. For the moment, he, his crew, his ship, and its precious cargo was at the mercy of whoever it was that had attacked them.

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

Carney surveys the damage and reports to his commanding officer, Caitlin O'Rourke, "Ma'am, confirming that the enemy escort squadron has been eliminated. Primary objective has also been disabled."

"Excellent," Caitlin replies, "Third Phase!"

With that command, the Caitlin's Jagd Doga and the four mobile suits under her command extend long metallic cables from nacelles within the mecha's fuselages. These magnetically-charged cables attach themselves to the hull of the Moonshadow.

"Primary objective secured, ma'am," Carney reports.

Caitlin tells her squad, "Attention all units. We have what we came for. Let's go."

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

In the MS deck of Garrison Noah, the Centurion Team is sprinting towards its mobile suits.

Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh pulls on her helmet and seals the O-ring of her normalsuit as she leaps into the cockpit of the RX-780, now designated the Centurion Gundam.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

The other Centurion Team pilots also board their mobile suits, RGM-95 GM-IVs and, in the case of artillery specialists Al-Said and Higashi, RGC-100 Guncannon-100s.

Captain Athena Ibaz boards her newly delivered commanding officer's mobile suit, the RMS-100S Cour De Leon, a new prototype mobile suit designed for eventual assignment to all Earth Federation Special Forces commanding officers. The Cour De Leon is a transformable mobile suit, inspired by the AEUG's MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam and the Federation's own Re-GZ mobile suit combined with elements of the MSN-00100 Hyakushiki famously used by Char Aznable during his time as AEUG leader Quattro Bagina during the Gryps Conflict.

Athena opens the communications channel to her teammates, "This is Centurion Leader to all units. The Federation supply ship Moonshadow is under attack by unidentified hostiles in Sector T45. We will deploy to rescue the supply ship. Remember: rescuing supply ship and personnel is your top priority, not engaging the enemy, understood?"

A chorus of "Yes, ma'ams" comes through tactical net. To Athena's disturbance, Jolie's voice is not among those she heard.

"Chief Minh, do you copy?" Athena demands.

"Roger that, ma'am," Jolie's voice comes reluctantly.

Athena has no doubts about Jolie's skills, but the girl's judgment is an entirely different matter. What concerns Athena is not Jolie's battle instincts, which are the sharpest Athena has ever seen, but rather Jolie's ability to see the overall, larger goals.

That, however, is a consideration for a quieter moment if they live to see one. For now, there is the duty at hand.

"Centurion Team, let's move out!" Athena commands.

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

Caitlin O'Rourke has boarded the Federation supply ship Moonshadow. Pointing her sidearm at Captain Ilongo N'Gula, Caitlin makes her demands known.

"I require your ship and its cargo, not your lives," Caitlin tells Captain N'Gula and his crew, "After we have secured our objective, I will release you and your crew. If you resist us, however, I won't hesitate to kill all of you."

Captain N'Gula responds, "You won't get away with this. Even if you kill the entire crew, the Federal Forces will not let you escape with this ship and its cargo. They'll destroy the ship if they have to to prevent you from getting it."

Caitlin smiles mysteriously, "Not this ship...not with the cargo in its hold."

The crewmen of the Moonshadow are mystified by Caitlin's remark. The Moonshadow was indeed carrying vital supplies from Earth to Side 7, including mobile suit parts and armaments that the ISRLA would find useful. Furthermore, true to Captain N'Gula's remarks, the Federation would consider the ship, its cargo, and its crew expendable if the ISRLA were to seize them. The ISRLA terrorist's remark represented an empty threat.

But was it? Captain N'Gula's face blanched the moment that the ISRLA rebel leader mentioned the ship's cargo.

"I wouldn't count on the Federal Forces coming to your rescue, Captain," Caitlin says to N'Gula, "My guess is that at this very moment, Federal High Command is probably scheming of ways to move us as far away from any inhabited space colony as possible."

N'Gula swallows, unable to speak. If the enemy knew what the Moonshadow carried in its cargo hold, and was willing to exploit it, the day would end in disaster.

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

"Anna, are you getting anything on your sensors?" Athena asks from the cockpit of her Cour De Leon.

"Not yet ma'am," Corporal Anna Horowitz answers, "this is where the Moonshadow was last heard from, but there's not a trace of her here now."

From the cockpit of the Centurion Gundam, Jolie spots pieces of metallic debris, "There was definitely a firefight here. This must have been the Moonshadow's escort squad."

Athena magnifies the image of the debris on her scanner, confirming Jolie's observation, "This is Jegan wreckage...no sign of enemy debris. The escort squad was routed."

Jolie remarks, "Looks like the enemy hijacked the Moonshadow...probably for supplies."

Athena reflects upon that, "Great trouble to go through for supplies. It would have been easier for them to raid one of our supply depots closer to Side 3 than hijack a single ship out here near Side 7. They took quite a risk for a relatively small gain."

"Maybe it's propaganda," Geoff Sutcliffe pipes up, "You know...just to show the Federation that the ISRLA can strike so close to our base at Side 7."

"I doubt it," Athena responds, "That would only be the case if they put on a spectacular show of force. They're being stealthy; the civilian media isn't even aware of what's going on here."

Even as she speaks, Athena pulls up a readout of the Minovsky particle saturation in the area. It is not unusual for this part of space to be heavily saturated with Minovsky particles (most of which are released by the Federation itself to deter enemy long range attacks), but there is a mysteriously higher concentration approximately 57 kilometers out at bearing seven-zero.

"Anna," Athena says, "Bearing seven-zero, 57 kilometers out. Is the concentration of Minovsky paticles usually that high?"

Anna runs the current data against previously-gathered reconnaissance data, "No, ma'am, not out there. That extends a little further than the Federal Forces usually release Minovsky particles within the Side 7 zone."

Athena smiles, They released excess Minovsky particles to shield themselves from detection. Ironically, in so doing, they left a marker for us to follow.

"All right," Athena says, "Proceed to Bearing two-five-zero."

The squad begins to protest, and Anna is the first to speak, "Two-five-zero? That's directly opposite to where the Minovsky particle concentration is, Captain."

"Don't question your orders; just follow them," Athena replies tersely, but evenly before she issues an additional order to her junior executive officer, "Jolie, I want you to separate from the squad and investigate the Minovsky field concentration. If you find the source, neutralize it and rendezvous with us immediately."

Jolie, understanding Athena's plan, replies, "Yes, ma'am."

Athena continues, "The rest of you follow me. Approach slowly and cautiously. When we make contact with the enemy, your objective is to draw the enemy away from the Moonshadow. Move out."

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued...

At the center of the heavy Minovsky particle concentration at 57 kilometers Bearing seven-zero relative the Centurion Team's previous position, a dark-colored AMX-017 Quebeley Mass-Production Type lies in wait.

The pilot of the Quebeley is 29-year old Jordan Sinclair. Sinclair is a veteran of the previous decade's First Neo Zeon War. Ten years ago, as a teenager, he was recruited by the young Neo Zeon warlord Glemy Toto for Toto's so-called "Newtype Corps." Sinclair is an Artificially Enhanced Human...one of a few dozen developed by either the Earth Federation's Titans Corps or the Axis Neo Zeon Empire through chemical, surgical, and nanotechnological means to mimic or enhance the powers of Newtypes.

Sinclair was not deployed until just days before the Battle of Core 3 in U.C. 0089, the event that marked the end of the First Neo Zeon War. He had taken part in Glemy Toto's attempt to usurp control of the Neo Zeon Empire from Imperial Regent Haman Khan and Duchess Minerva Zabi (now the Centurion Team's Captain Athena Ibaz). Sinclair survived the conflict and was eventually captured by Federation/AEUG forces two months after the end of the war. Sinclair spent the next three years in a Federation military prison camp at Luna II, until resurgent Neo Zeon forces under the command of Colonel Char Aznable began raiding Federation bases for useable resources, both human and material, that it would use in its renewed war against Earth.

The Luna II Raid of September, U.C. 0092 was the first sign that the Federation had of an imminent new strike by Neo Zeon elements. Leading the Neo Zeon attack that day was a young Newtype by the name of Caitlin O'Rourke. 2Lt. O'Rourke's orders that day was to liberate as many of the Neo Zeon's captured Newtype soldiers as she could. 2Lt. O'Rourke succeeded in rescuing three, one of whom was Jordan Sinclair.

Liberated from Federation custody, Sinclair immediately accepted a new commission in Colonel Char's Neo Zeon Imperial Forces. Sinclair didn't do so for political reasons. He had never been a politically-inclined creature, and despite several years of imprisonment and mistreatment by Federation Forces authorities, he had no interest in revenge. He joined to be with his rescuer, 2Lt. Caitlin O'Rourke, with whom he had fallen in love.

For six meteoric months, Jordan and Caitlin were twin aces in Colonel Char's forces, wreaking significant damage against the Federation's space forces near Side 1. After Colonel Char's defeat, Jordan and Caitlin drifted together for a time before hiring out their skills and abilities as mercenary killers. Their ruthless efficiency had made them highly attractive to both the criminal underworld and anti-Federation groups that were able and willing to pay the necessary price for their services. Soon, the Twin Starkillers, as they had come to be known, developed a fearsome reputation in Federation intelligence circles.

A year ago, the Twin Starkillers were recruited by the Independent Spacenoid Republic Liberation Army. The ISRLA was planning a vital operation that would require a year's preparation and the skills of the deadliest mobile suit pilots that money could buy. For a payment of gold boullion upon which Jordan and Caitlin could comfortably retire, the Twin Starkillers agreed to take on the assignment as the last and most dangerous job of their career. Jordan and Caitlin had vowed to each other that they would perform this final mission together, and if they survived, they would settle down peacefully together - never piloting mobile suits or killing people for politics or money ever again. Failing that, Jordan and Caitlin would die together, the Twin Starkillers forever united in life or death.

It is this dream that drives Jordan Sinclair and Caitlin O'Rourke, a son and daughter of a generation of war, to this desperate gambit.

Jordan's Quebeley is equipped with a Minvosky particle generator, a device that the ISRLA acquired at great cost. Jordan and Caitlin had agreed on a plan in which Jordan would draw away the Federal Forces while Caitlin and the other members of the squad that the ISRLA had assigned to them would carry out the capture of a Federation supply ship whose cargo is of great interest to both the Federation and the ISLRLA.

The Minvosky particles are meant to confuse the Federation, but the particles equally affect the sensors of Jordan's Quebeley. Nevertheless, Jordan's Newtype sensitivity alerts him to the approach of an interloper.

A heavy pressure weighs upon Jordan's head, tightening around his cerebral cortex like a vise. Such intense pressure, Jordan reflects, is a sign that there's a powerful Newtype in the area. The Federation has a pilot whose Newtype abilities rival or surpass even mine and Caitlin's. I'll need to use special caution.

Vectoring towards at Mach 1.5 towards the Minovsky field that shrouds Jordan Sinclair's Quebeley is the Federation's new prototype mobile suit Centurion Gundam, piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued

Jolie hits the Centurion Gundam's retro verniers as she approaches the area of highest Minovsky particle concentration. The Centurion Gundam's array of sensor equipment is the most sophisticated and sensitive to be installed into an Earth Federation Forces mobile suit to date, but it is useless due to the engimatic electromagnetic phenomenon discovered by and named after a society of academics in U.C. 0065.

Over thirty years have passed since the Minovsky particle was first developed and deployed, but neither the Earth Federation nor the various incarnations of the Archduchy of Zeon have been able to develop an effective counter for a technological innovation that paradoxically rendered the most advanced war machines to become reliant on medieval combat tactics.

The scrambled radar of the Centurion Gundam is useless to Jolie, and eyeball visuals are no better. The area is cluttered with space debris left over from previous wars. Jolie marshals every scrap of restraint she has to resist firing upon the wreckage of a ten-year old broken RMS-106 Hizack.

Despite the ineffectiveness of her mobile suit's surveillance equipment, however, Jolie knows the enemy is out there. She senses a pressure bearing down upon her brain, something that has the form of...a falcon? A hawk? Jolie isn't sure, but her impression is that of a bird of prey.

But sometimes, the predator becomes the prey.

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

Aboard his Quebeley, Jordan Sinclair feels that his brain is on fire...a tormenting sensation. Just what could be out there?

Whatever it is, it's a threat, Jordan concludes, got to get rid of it before it jeopardizes the mission...and Caitlin's life.

A dozen metallic funnels emerge from the plume-like tail section of the Quebeley. The funnels, powered by compact fusion thrusters and verniers, are each tipped with beam cannon. The Psychom funnels array themselves into a deadly formation and bear down upon Jolie's Centurion Gundam.

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

Jolie's battle instincts flare to life as she senses the approaching Psychom funnels. The predator has become the prey.

The funnels surround the Centurion Gundam in a deadly crisscross formation, sealing off the Federation mobile suit from any avenue of escape.

Jolie Minh, however, has never walked on avenues; she dashes through them.

With a few deft moves on the Centurion Gundam's manuevering joystick and a flash of Psi-energy between her eyes, Jolie twists her mecha through a gymnastic maneuver that, by all rights, should exceed the Centurion Gundam's specified limits and tear the mecha apart. Somehow, the mighty mobile suit is able to hold together, and dodges seven of the twelve funnels' deadly shots.

Jolie brings the Centurion Gundam's arm mounted shield to protect herself from the brunt of the remaining five funnels' beam shots. The armored shield is battered and wrecked, but her mecha remains intact.

The combat computer of the Centurion Gundam reports that its host mobile suit has sustained an acceptable 3% damage, but the enemy's Psychom funnels are positioning themselves for a second barrage.

No you don't! Jolie's mind rages, undeterred by the imminent danger.

The Centurion Gundam's beam rifle is in the mecha's metalshod hand in less time than it takes to imagine the motion. Three bursts of red-tinged Earth Federation Forces' beam armament energy erupt forth, and three Zeon-manufactured Psychom funnels are immolated in an instant.

The Centurion Gundam is already well out of the target zone of the remaining funnels by the time that its beam cannon shots hit home. An instant later, four Psi-guided interceptor missiles burst forth from the Centurion Gundam's shoulder-mounted armament pack, each following Jolie's neurological guidance to a darting target. Four more Psychom funnels are neutralized.

Five more Psychom funnels remain. Following their programmed attack pattern as well as the psychic guidance of Jordan Sinclair, these mount up to attack more quickly and fiercely upon sensing the destruction of their siblings. Reacting to incoming combat data transmitted by the destroyed funnels in their final functioning moments, the remaining funnels arrange themselves in a wide spread to defy the Centurion Gundam any opportunity to hit them all with its beam rifle or missiles.

Jolie instantly reads the strategy, and forms a counterstrategy of her own.

The Centurion Gundam darts after the nearest Psychom funnel. The 20-meter tall mobile suit chases after the 3-meter long Psychom funnel like a cat after a mouse.

The remaining four Psychomm funnels are momentarily paralyzed by conflicting data. Dispassionate machines though they are, the funnels are nevertheless confused by the dilemma of needing to fire on one of their own in order to destroy the enemy. Artificial Intelligence experts would debate whether this phenomenon reflects a growing self-awareness in modern war machinery, or if it is merely the influence of human pilot.

In any case, the point is academic to Jolie; for her, all that matters is that the enemy funnels' momentary confusion gives her the scant seconds she needs to act.

The Centurion Gundam's magnetized, metalshod hand reaches out and draws the Psychom funnel into its grip. With an effort that strains the mobile suit's arm servomotors, the Centurion Gundam twists the funnel into the direction of a second funnel just as the beam cannon on the first funnel's tip erupts in a flash of light.

Crushing the captive funnel in its hand, the Centurion Gundam draws out its beam saber, a ten-meter blade of contained beam energy capable of melting reinforced alloy in instants.

The arc of the blade is as graceful and quick as that of any ancient samurai or jian xia of ancient Asian lore. The trajectory of the blade guides it through the fuselages of the final three menacing Psychom funnels.

Now, for you! the voice of Jolie's mind seethes, searching for her quarry. The prey has become the predator once again.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued

As Jolie confronts Jordan Sinclair, approximately 100 kilometers away, Athena leads the rest of the Centurion Team in a slow, cautious approach towards the Moonshadow.

Athena has ordered her team to maintain radio silence. The team has drilled on their standard procedures for such a situation during countless training sessions, so there is no need for unnecessary communication.

The Centurion Team spreads into a surveillance formation. C-Team's mobile suits are each separated at irregular angles and distances from one another, making it difficult for an enemy to track or hit all of them simultaneously. Master Sergeant Karim Abdul-Said and Staff Sergeant Tomo Higashi's Guncannon-100s take the point. Behind their protection, Corporal Anna Horowitz's GM-IV AWAC scans for the presence of hostiles in the area. Corporals Geoff Sutcliffe and Karyn Luna flank Captain Athena Ibaz's Cour de Leon in their GM-IV Special Operations Customs.

From a nacelle in the backpack of Anna's GM-IV AWAC shoots out a dozen capsules. These are not warheads, but devices designed to neutralize explosions: chemical minesweepers.

The capsules deploy, then burst to spread an adhesive film that does not freeze even in the cold of space.

MAES (pronounced "mace")-11 is among the most brilliant products ever developed by the Earth Federation Forces' Chemists Corps. Magnetic Adhering Explosive Suppressor (MAES) is designed to attract metallic objects such as mines, affix them in a strong adhesive more potent than any previously known to humankind, and chemically suppress whatever explosive potential such objects might carry. In development since the Archduchy of Zeon deployed space mines around its conquered space territories during the One Year War, nine previous versions of MAES had been tested and improved upon until MAES-11 finally met the Earth Federation Forces' needs. A valuable tool, and one fairly expensive to produce, MAES-11 is distributed to the Earth Federation Special Forces for operations such as these.

The MAES-11 does its work quietly and efficiently, magnetically attracting objects in its adhesive grip. Thus far, it has not caught any spacemines. Athena realizes, however, that that does not necessarily mean that spacemines (or other threats) do not lie out there.

Athena surveys the data being relayed into her mobile suit's onboard combat computer from Anna's AWAC unit. The Moonshadow has been disabled. Its engines are offline, and its communications array crippled. The ship is effectively dead in space. Anna's data does indicate, however, that the ship's life support systems are functional and in use - meaning that is possible that the ship's crew remains alive.

Athena magnifies a still image of the Moonshadow on her screen, switching the image to magnetic imaging. Nearly invisible to the naked eye in the darkness of space, but quite obvious through magnetic imaging, a half dozen lines of cables are attached to the Moonshadow's hull.

Athena wastes no more time. Drawing out the Cour De Leon's beam rifle, she takes aim at one of the cables and opens fire, severing the cable's link to the hull of the Moonshadow.

As the rest of the Centurion Team maneuvers into battle formation, Athena takes a shot at an unexploded MAES-11 capsule floating near the damaged cable. The magnetic adhesive quickly attaches its grip to the cable. The cable begins to whip and flail in coils like the death paroxysms of a violently dying metallic snake.

Attached to the cable is a Gaza-C mobile suit, momentarily helpless as its pilot struggles to regain control.

Michael Evanhart never has that moment to regain that control. As his mobile suit's systems momentarily lock up from the volatile interplay between the Gaza C's severed magnetic cable and the MAES-11, Athena sinks the beam saber of her Cour De Leon into the cockpit of his Gaza-C, claiming his young life in a heat more intense than that of the core of the sun.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued

Students of warfare and tactics have often asked the question: which one wins out, talent or experience?

Today, Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh of the Earth Federation Forces and Jordan Sinclair of the ISRLA seem destined to find an answer to that query.

In Captain Athena Ibaz's profile on Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh, the commanding officer of the Centurion Team wrote of her junior executive officer, "Chief Minh is, I believe, the most gifted pilot and fighter of our generation. Her combat instincts are flawless, and she moves with a speed and stealth that defy all description. Not since Amuro Ray has there been a mobile suit pilot of this much potential. Indeed, I believe that Chief Minh's potential might surpass that of Captain Amuro's. In time, as Chief Minh gains experience, she will be an unparalleled asset to the Earth Federation Forces."

Experience, however, is a factor whose importance cannot be denied, and the truth of the matter is that for all of Jolie's raw talent, this is only her third sortie and she is facing a near ten-year veteran combat mobile suit pilot.

Jordan Sinclair has spent much of his adult life in the cockpit of a mobile suit. Although not yet thirty, he has accumulated more experience in MS combat than over ninety-percent of the mobile suit pilots currently serving in the Earth Federation Forces. Not lacking talent himself, Sinclair has already experienced more combat action than most pilots would ever know.

In this battle of talent versus experience, the result, thus far, is a stalemate.

The fierce strikes of the beam saber of Sinclair's Quebeley lance out like controlled bolts of lightning. Jolie, the beam saber of her Centurion Gundam drawn, struggles to parry. Presently, the offensive momentum belongs to the veteran Sinclair. Jolie is forced to defend, unable to seize the initiative to counterattack.

This Feddie pilot is one tough nut to crack, Sinclair reflects, no enemy pilot has ever been able to last this long against my Quebeley. No matter. I sense her defenses weakening...her? Yes, I'm sure this pilot is a girl. Hah! She's almost as good as Caitlin!

A beam saber slash from the Quebeley comes perilously close to taking the Centurion Gundam's head unit off. Another strike nearly penetrates the Centurion Gundam's cockpit hatch.

Too close, Jolie grates. So far, her defense is holding up against the Quebeley's strikes, but Jolie knows that if she does not seize the offensive initiative soon, she will be defeated. The problem is that the enemy's strikes are coming too quickly and too fiercely for Jolie to do anything but focus purely on defense.

Sinclair's Quebeley makes a feint with its beam saber that draws away the blade of Jolie's Centurion Gundam. In that moment, the Quebeley twists its wrist so that its beam blade strikes down on the Centurion Gundam's left shoulder. Jolie maneuvers the Centurion Gundam away just quickly enough that the slash fails to remove her mecha's left arm, but the arm is sparking and spewing damaged mechanisms.

"Left arm unit immobilized," the Centurion Gundam's combat computer reports.

Damn, Jolie realizes, that means I can't use the shield or pull out my beam rifle without first dropping the beam saber.

Sinclair's Quebeley raises its beam saber for a downward strike towards the Centurion Gundam's immobilized left side. Jolie has no time to twist her mobile suit around.

So instead, she charges the Quebeley directly with the Centurion Gundam, sword thrust out in front.

It is a desperate move that invites self-destruction, but it is also the only hope of salvation Jolie has.

What is she doing?! Sinclair reacts with alarm, twisting the Quebeley to avoid the Centurion Gundam's desperate headlong charge. Even while attempting to evade the Centurion Gundam's attack, the Quebeley does not surrender its own attack initiative. Such are the benefits of experience.

Two beam saber blades find their mark.

The yellow blade of the Quebeley's beam saber digs deeply into the Centurion Gundam's main body, burning its way towards the Federation mecha's nuclear fusion engine.

The red blade of the Centurion Gundam's beam saber melts away the reinforced armor of the Quebeley's cockpit hatch, its intense heat meeting resistance against the cockpit's heavy armor.

The lights of the Centurion Gundam's eye camera units flicker and dim, turning in an instant from the yellow glow of life to the black coldness of death.

The monoeye of the Quebeley burns intensely for a moment, impossibly bright...impossibly red.

A flash of light, and the silence of space.

The battle between talent and experience is won, and lost.

Episode 5 to be continued

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued

No sooner does Athena draw the beam saber of her Cour de Leon from the melted cockpit cavity of Michael Evanhart’s Gaza-C than does a faint glow in the distance, perhaps a thousand meters behind and a five hundred meters above the derelict Moonshadow, capture her attention.

Athena eyeballs the source of the glow and the relative positions of her Centurion Team pilots. The Guncannon-100s of Sergeants Abdul-Said and Higashi are directly in line of the source of the glow.

“Karim! Tomo!” Athena orders tersely through the comlink, “scatter now!”

Even as she orders the two sergeants to take evasive maneuvers, Athena launches a pair of rocket-propelled grenades from the forearm launcher housings of her mobile suit. The RPGS soar at three times the speed of sound and impact against the Megabazooka cannon borne and powered by a pair of RMS-108 Marasais.

There is no weight in outer space, but mass is constant regardless of gravity. Encumbered by the mass of the Megabazooka cannon, to which they are attached by power cables, and with their nuclear fusion energy output halved by powering the mighty weapon, the Marasais have no hope of escaping the ensuing explosion caused by their own megaweapon’s destruction.

Athena directs her mobile suit’s combat computer to do an update scan of the Moonshadow to ensure that the ship has not sustained further damage from its proximity to the explosion of the enemy weapon. The Cour de Leon’s sensors confirm that the Moonshadow has endured only some further superficial damage to its hull from shrapnel impact, but nothing more significant than that.

A calculated risk, Athena acknowledges, but one I’m willing to take if the lives of my subordinates are at stake.

Athena opens communications to those subordinates, “Attention Centurion Team: deploy magnetic clamp cables to secure the Moonshadow. It’s imperative that we get the ship away from here and back to Garrison Noah immediately. Utilize extreme caution. I’m almost certain that enemy units are still in the area.”

So saying, Athena transforms her Cour de Leon into its Wave Rider spacecraft configuration. In this mode, the mobile suit is no longer anthropomorphic, but a sleek spacecraft capable of multiple-mach speed and precise maneuverability.

The Centurion Team’s mobile suits attach their magnetic clamp cables to the Moonshadow. They begin to tow the crippled Federation supply ship in the direction of Garrison Noah.

We’re at our most vulnerable now, Athena thinks, This will draw out the remaining enemy units. Where the hell is Jolie?

Athena briefly considers contacting her junior executive officer, but has no time to act upon it before a mounting pressure in her head alerts her to the approach of a hostile interloper.

Athena’s Cour de Leon changes back from Wave Rider to Mobile Suit configuration, firing its beam rifle.

The shot cuts clean through the body of an enemy Gaza-C unit, whose mecha flies straight into the path of Athena’s beam. Athena’s shot had been aimed towards not where the enemy was, but where it would be when the beam passed through the same space.

Athena’s next opponent, however, is not nearly as obliging. Caitlin O’Rouke’s Jagd Doga bears down on Athena’s Cour de Leon, heralded by a dozen Psychom fin funnels.

Caitlin mutters under her breath, “Feddie scum. You’ll pay for the lives of my men!”

Athena counters by deploying the last of her MAES-11 capsules. The capsules deploy from their nacelles within the backpack unit of the Cour de Leon, their magnetic fields drawing the funnels off-course and chemically inhibiting their blast nozzles.

All except one, however, which glows ominously in the direction of the Cour de Leon’s cockpit module, a mere fifty meters away.

Her moment of triumph at hand, Caitlin grins. Her smile is wiped away by a sharp pain than suddenly fills her cranium, and a deep grief in her heart, “Jordan. Jordan is…”

Episode 5 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued...

Jolie's Centurion Gundam rams shoulder-first into Caitlin O'Rourke's momentarily immobilized Jagd Doga. Athena tries to get a lock on the Jagd Doga with her Cour De Leon's beam rifle, but is unwilling to shoot with Jolie in the way.

Tears fill Caitlin's eyes as she realizes, "You! You killed Jordan!"

Jolie attempts to blast away to give Athena a clear shot at the Jagd Doga, but the Doga grabs onto the Centurion Gundam and wrenches it back violently.

Had the Centurion Gundam been in top condition, and had Caitlin O'Roukre not been in a frenzied rage due to the death of her lover, the close-quarters battle most likely would have favored Jolie and the Centurion Gundam. The Centurion Gundam, however, is heavily damaged from its encounter with Jordan Sinclair's Quebeley. All sensory equipment, including the main and secondary camera units, has been disabled (Jolie used her Newtype abilities to locate her comrades and their enemies). The Federation mobile suit's left arm, though still attached to the Centurion Gundam's main body, is immobilized. For each motion the Centurion Gundam makes, Jolie must strain on the joystick. The controls have lost all delicacy, forcing Jolie to muscle the mecha through its maneuvers with all the strength in her tiny frame.

Holding the Centurion Gundam tight in a death grip, the Jagd Doga jams its right knee into the backpack energy/thruster unit of its opponent. Inside the Centurion Gundam's cockpit, Jolie is violently thrashed about. The safety restraints of her seat lock around her shoulders and waist, knocking the breath out of her.

Jolie! Athena's eyes widen in alarm, drawing the Cour De Leon's beam saber and charging at the Jagd Doga.

Reacting swiftly, Caitlin O'Rourke pushes the damaged, fluid-leaking and spark-sputtering Centurion Gundam at Athena's Cour de Leon. Athena manages to dodge the incoming wreck by flying above it.

First, I'll finish you, Caitlin resolves, as she locks the Jagd Doga's beam rifle on Athena's Cour de Leon.

Before Caitlin can fire on the Cour de Leon, however, Jolie's Centurion Gundam is right back in her face, cutting into her monoeye unit with its head-mounted Vulcan cannon...the only weapon system on the Centurion Gundam that still functions.

"I've had enough of you!" Caitlin screams hoarsely, "you'll pay now for Jordan's life!"

So saying, Caitlin directs the Jagd Doga to reach back for its beam saber. She would plunge the weapon directly into the Centurion Gundam's cockpit, just as Athena Ibaz's Cour de Leon had done to Michael Evanhart's Gaza-C...and just as the Centurion Gundam had done to Jordan's Quebeley.

But the weapon is not there. The metalshod hand of the Jagd Doga grasps at empty space where the beam saber handle should be stored on its backpack energy housing unit.

Inside the cockpit of the Centurion Gundam, Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh smiles viciously.

In the Centurion Gundam's right hand is the beam saber emitter that Caitlin O'Rourke was seeking.

A bright column of yellow-hued light issues forth from the emitter. The Centurion Gundam's right wrist turns, and the arm to which it is attached rises with a graceful motion.

Inside the cockpit of the Jagd Doga, Caitlin O'Rourke knows that the battle is over.

All her battles are over.

Jordan, my love...I'm sorry. I couldn't avenge you. But at least our separation was short. Eternity will be sweet, my love.

In her final moments, Caitlin looks at the Centurion Gundam. Her hatred is dissipated now, replaced by understanding, That pilot. She's more powerful than anybody you or I have ever faced, Jordan. If she reaches her full potential, she...

Caitlin's thoughts end there, as her Jagd Doga becomes a fireball, lighting local space like a Lilliputian star.

Athena's worried voice comes crackling through the Centurion Gundam's laser communications receiver, "Jolie! Are you all right?!"

Jolie, gasping for breath, her adrenaline spent, answers after a minute, "Yeah. Yeah...I'm OK, I think."

Athena maneuvers the Cour de Leon close to support the heavily damaged Centurion Gundam. She receives word from Corporal Anna Horowitz that the rest of the Centurion Team and the wreckage of the Moonshadow have entered Federation-controlled space.

Satisified with that, Athena prepares to rejoin the rest of the squad, pulling Jolie's damaged Centurion Gundam with her.

Her bloodlust now subdued, Jolie experiences a feeling of...regret.

Those two I killed. They were...lovers? They seemed to care about each other more than anything in the world.

Jolie shudders. Mom...Dad...Big Brother...what am I becoming?

Jolie shakes her head to clear it. She is a soldier. War is without mercy or pity. If she does not kill, she will be killed. She learned that while living in Industria Colony.

She learned that from Alexander Miguel.

The image of the Zeon warlord's cold, arrogant visage erases all doubt from Jolie's mind.

Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh has killed two enemy combatants today.

She would kill as many more as she needed to until Alexander Miguel burns in hell.

Of that much, she is certain.

Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued…

By the time that Athena and Jolie return to Garrison Noah, the rest of the Centurion Team has already arrived there with the damaged Moonshadow. The team has already returned its mobile suits to maintenance docks and has begun the post-combat routine of medical checks, debriefing, and mission report-logging.

Jolie emerges wearily from the cockpit of the heavily damaged Centurion Gundam, her tiny body aching, especially around her shoulders and waist. Jolie unseals the O-ring collar of her normalsuit and removes her helmet, letting her long, black hair flow freely down her back as a sighing hiss of pressurized oxygen escapes from the space within her normalsuit.

Jolie turns her head to spot Captain Athena Ibaz gliding towards her, Datapad in hand. Efficient as ever, Athena is already nearly finished filing her post-mission report.

Athena surveys the damage to the Centurion Gundam, “Pretty bad…”

“Yeah, I know,” Jolie acknowledges with a degree of embarrassment, “Sorry. I’ll do better next time.”

Athena puts her hands on Jolie’s shoulders and smiles, “I was talking about the damage to the Centurion Gundam, not about your performance out there, although I suppose the two do come hand-in-hand. It’s a matter of experience.”

Athena surveys Jolie a little more closely, noting no apparent injuries, but also noting that Jolie seems a bit spaced out, “Are you all right?”

Jolie replies, “Yeah, sure. Fine. Just combat stress fatigue again, I suppose.”

Athena nods, “Report to medical bay for post-combat examination. The rest of the team is already there. I’ll join you in a minute.”

Jolie floats away.

Rapidly pressing the keys on her Datapad even as she further examines the damage to the Centurion Gundam, Athena relays a damage report from the mecha’s onboard computer to the maintenance crew. The Special Forces’ staff of engineers and technicians would be on it within the hour. In addition to the repair order, Athena sends the maintenance staff an extra request regarding the Centurion Gundam, one that Athena is sure will please Jolie when the teenager finds out about it.

That detail thus dispensed with, Athena floats away from the Centurion Gundam towards Jolie, on the way to the medical bay. Athena catches up with her junior executive officer as they float past the wreck of the Moonshadow, now moored in Garrison Noah’s cavernous space dock.

The surviving crew of the Moonshadow disembarks from their damaged ship, including Captain Ilongo N’gula, who is met by Colonel Peter Cairlay and General Manron Blackhead of the Earth Federation Forces. The two senior Federal Forces officers whisk the captain of the supply vessel into a waiting limousine, which departs to what will undoubtedly be a long debriefing meeting. The rest of the Moonshadow’s crew awaits processing before being sent for physical examinations and debriefings. The more seriously wounded are sent to the medical bay immediately for care. There were reportedly twelve crew deaths incurred as a result of the ISRLA mobile suit raid on the ship.

Athena pauses, gazing at the docked wreckage of the Moonshadow in a troubled manner. Already, utility vehicles have begun unloading the Moonshadow’s cargo, most of which is fortunately undamaged. Among the crated items being unloaded from the ship are spare parts for mecha, ordnance, medical supplies, and even ten fresh-off-the-assembly line GM-IV mobile suits.

Athena checks her Datapad: the manifest of the ship’s cargo appears consistent with what she sees being unloaded from the ship. A fairly routine supply run from Earth to Garrison Noah.

Too routine, Athena reflects, for the ISRLA to have gone through all that trouble.

Moreover, would a raid upon a Federation supply ship bearing a standard cargo of military supplies have required a Special Forces sortie? Would it have drawn the personal attention of Colonel Cairlay and General Blackhead? Not even the ten mobile suits listed as part of the Moonshadow’s cargo were likely to have drawn so much attention.

The implications trouble Athena deeply.

Jolie, noticing that her commanding officer has stopped floating with her and is staring intently at the Moonshadow, pipes up, “Hey, ‘Thena? What’s the matter?”

Athena emerges from her reflections and rejoins Jolie, “Nothing, Jo. Let’s go.”

Athena takes one last glance over her shoulder at the Moonshadow and frowns. A course of action is already plotted in her head.


Thirty minutes later, Captain Athena Ibaz is in the reception area of Colonel Peter Cairlay’s offices in Green Noah Hall.

The reception officer, Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Densmore, rises and salutes as he sees Athena enter, “Captain Ibaz, ma’am.”

Athena returns the salute, “At ease, Chief. I’d like to see Colonel Cairlay, if he’s available.” Athena already knows that the colonel is not. The debriefing session with Captain N’Gula of the Moonshadow is unlikely to conclude for at least several more hours. Exactly what Athena is counting on.

“Sorry, ma’am,” Chief Densmore replies, “the colonel is presently in a conference with senior officers and is not expected back in the office until 22:30 at the soonest.”

“I see,” Athena replies, removing her Datapad from her uniform’s inner pocket, “I’ve completed my mission report and I’d like to leave it for the colonel in his office.”

“Of course, ma’am,” the young chief warrant officer says, keying the code that opens Colonel Cairlay’s office. It is part of standard Special Forces routine for Special Forces team commanders to personally deliver their mission reports to Colonel Cairlay’s office, even when he is not present…a standard routine that Athena now exploits.

Having gained entrance to Colonel Cairlay’s office, Athena uploads her mission report into the colonel’s desktop terminal, as she told Chief Densmore she would. What Athena did not tell the chief, however, is that she would be taking as well as delivering.

As part of their espionage and intelligence-gathering training, Earth Federation Special Forces officers learn the art of computer security hacking. Special Forces officers could hack any computer security system devised by humanity…except those used by the upper echelon of the Earth Federation Forces, of course.

The Federal Forces’ computers, Athena had been taught at the academy, represented the pinnacle of human achievement in the field of artificial intelligence. The Federation had drafted the most brilliant computer scientists to help it design and build the most sophisticated data security system ever devised. Nobody could ever crack it, Athena’s intelligence-gathering instructor had boldly claimed.

Seven hours after the instructor had made his confident assertion, Athena had cracked the security system…an accomplishment she had kept to herself in the intervening three years, until its usefulness has now finally become apparent.

Athena rapidly types in the sequence of logarithms that will give her access to information accessible only to flag-ranking officers with special security clearance. She is aware of the risk she is taking. Were any of her superiors to discover what she is about to gain access to, she would almost definitely be shot for espionage and treason.

Athena gains access to Colonel Cairlay’s files on the Moonshadow’s most recent shipment from Earth.

The information from the colonel’s files offers a wealth of fact not available through the common networks used by Federal Forces officers. Nevertheless, the manifest listed in the colonel’s files for the Moonshadow’s cargo matches that on the common networks, and what Athena had seen earlier in Garrison Noah’s hangar bay.

All except one item, marked in dark red letters: “Contingent-1.”

Athena has no idea what that refers to, but digging a little deeper, she notices a pair of codes.

Athena downloads the codes into her Datapad and shuts down the colonel’s computer. Any longer and Chief Warrant Officer Densmore is likely to become suspicious.

Athena thanks the chief for providing her access to the colonel’s office.

She makes her way back to the hangar bay in Garrison Noah.


Athena approaches the wreck of the Moonshadow, still docked in the hangar bay of Garrison Noah, where it promised to stay for at least a month for repairs. Standing guard over the ship is a squad of military police.

The leader of the MP squad is 1Lt. Daniel Perez, who recognizes Athena, “Captain Ibaz, ma’am.”

Athena tells the MP officer, “I’ve received orders to board the Moonshadow to verify information from my mission report.”

Lieutenant Perez replies, “My apologies, ma’am. I received strict orders from Colonel Cairlay to allow no one to board this vessel without his express permission, ma’am.”

“I see,” Athena replies, “Truman0745.”

Upon hearing the code, 1Lt. Perez orders his troops to stand aside, “You may board if you please, ma’am.”


Episode 5 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 5 continued...

Athena boards the Moonshadow. Although the ship is docked in airlock, she is dressed in her normalsuit, which among other kinds of protection, shields its wearer from radiation.

The Moonshadow’s cargo has already been completely unloaded. Its known cargo, anyway. Athena glides down the darkened corridors of the damaged ship, towards a part of the cargo hold separated from the general cargo area.

Athena opens a tiny hatch built so seamlessly into the inner wall of the ship’s cargo hold that it is all but undetectable. Athena opens this to reveal an electronic security device. This security device requires identification from the person accessing it through laser pattern identification of the person’s eye. Athena does not have clearance for this, but she doesn’t need it. A day after she had learned how to crack the Federation’s computer security code, she had discovered how to defeat the eye-reader device as well.

Overriding the security device, Athena types in the second of the two codes she stole from Colonel Cairlay’s files: “5J3X-Starfire.”

A massive metallic door, capable of withstanding multiple blasts of a mobile suit’s beam rifle or direct hits from high explosive missiles, slowly slides open.

Athena, her normalsuit sealed to the world outside, enters the cold, dark chamber. She activates a flashlight, whose beam flashes upon a dozen metallic cylinders bearing a familiar symbol that freezes Athena’s blood:

http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/8525/radioactiveys2.jpg


A deeply troubled Captain Athena Ibaz returns to the barracks of the Centurion Team at 23:00. Her team had, per regulations, doused the lights and gone to bed two hours earlier.

Athena goes into her quarters, but knows that it is futile to sleep. Not after what she has just seen.

Athena pours herself a glass of brandy from her liquor collection. She takes a long drink from the glass to steady her nerves.

During the early stages of the One Year War eighteen years earlier, the Earth Federation Government and the Archduchy of Zeon signed a treaty banning the use of the nuclear weapons. That treaty was not broken (at least not openly) for the duration of *that* particular war, but both sides violated the treaty during Colonel Char's uprising at Axis Fortress in U.C. 0093, the year before Athena enrolled at the Federal Academy. As a matter of international jurisprudence, the Antarctic Treaty of U.C. 0079 that banned the use of nuclear weapons is all but dead...owing to the fact that one of the political entities that agreed to the terms of that treaty, the Archduchy of Zeon, no longer exists (except as warring factions of former Zeon military leaders beyond the Asteroid Belt in the Outer Solar System). Nevertheless, Athena finds it difficult to believe that the Earth Federation Forces have begun the production of nuclear weapons again.

Athena considers whom the Federation plans to use those weapons against. There are really only two possibilities: the aforementioned Zeon warlords in the Outer Solar System, who continue to harass the Federation from afar, or the ISR movement on Side 3.

Side 3, the birthplace of Zeon...the birthplace of Duchess Minerva Zabi of the Archduchy of Zeon, now Captain Athena Ibaz of the Earth Federation Forces' Centurion Special Operations Team.

Sighing, Athena puts her emptied brandy glass down. For reasons that even Athena herself does not understand, she finds herself in Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh's quarters. Perhaps Athena is looking for someone to confide in? If so, her search is fruitless. The beautiful teenaged pilot is fast asleep, oblivious to Athena's presence.

Jolie's shapely, but dimunitive figure is uncovered, her blanket having fallen to the ground. Athena picks the blanket up and covers Jolie securely in it, patting her protegee's head affectionately.

Athena smiles despite herself, Maybe I'm getting maternal in my old age...which is hysterical because I'm barely three years older than this "child" I'm caring for here.

Athena's thoughts turn to the nuclear weapons she discovered in the concealed cargo hold of the Moonshadow. Would the Federation use those weapons against children half Jolie's age? Athena shudders at the prospect of having to carry out such an order someday.

Athena makes sure that Jolie's covers are secure, the only thing she can secure at present, then sighs again as she leaves Jolie's quarters for another long, silent, sleepless night.

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

Six hours later, Captain Athena Ibaz is supervising her team's morning maintenance checks on their mobile suits. Garrison Noah's staff of engineers and technicians had worked through the night to restore the Centurion Team's mobile suits to top working condition after the previous day's engagement against enemy mobile suits. The pilots now must test their mecha to ensure that they indeed are functioning at optimum condition.

Jolie floats over to Athena, "Hey, 'Thena! What'd you call me up here so urgent for?"

Athena says with mock iciness, "Is that how I taught you to address me?"

Somewhat perfunctorily, Jolie salutes, "Captain Ibaz, ma'am. Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh reporting as ordered, ma'am."

Having made her point on protocol, Athena offers one of her pretty grins, "At ease, Chief. Repairs to your Centurion Gundam have been completed. Have you checked it out yet?"

"No, ma'am," comes the reply, "I was just getting to it."

"On the double, Chief," Athena says, motioning towards the maintenance dock where the Centurion Gundam stands.

As Jolie turns towards the Centurion Gundam, she sees that the damaged head and arm components have been replaced. All traces of the previous day's damage have been repaired, and the mobile suit has been given a new paint job...with a new White Phoenix insignia painted onto the side of the cockpit hatch.

"I hope you like it, 'White Phoenix'," Athena says, approaching.

"Like it," Jolie replies, "I LOVE it! Thanks, 'Thena...er, Captain!"

Like a new day, Athena muses, she rises again: The White Phoenix.

Her legend is only beginning.

END OF EPISODE 5

EPISODE 6 COMING SOON!

[Lorendiac]

I decided I'd read your "Episode 1" and take notes on any points that occurred to me. But let's have some fair warning here about my (lack of) qualifications to evalute ideas for episodes of a new Mobile Suit Gundam series. I've never watched any Mobile Suit Gundam anime and I've never read any of its manga publications either. (It's only with the last year or two that I've started collecting, in a small sort of a way, book collections of a couple of manga series in book collections that actually strike me as reasonably entertaining. Others I had looked at in previous years just bored me.)

So, for better or for worse, what you're about to get is some stray thoughts that occurred to a "first-time reader" of anything resembling a Mobile Suit Gundam story.

I respect the young Princess's decision that there's no need to throw away more lives after the bulk of their military power has evidently just been crushingly defeated and the final outcome is only a matter of time. Vaguely puts me in mind of Emperor Hirohito calling upon Japanese forces to surrender after what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. . . .

But I was surprised that she didn't parallel Hirohito's role by sticking around, more or less as a figurehead, to deal with their conquerors and use her influence to try to keep things from boiling over into hopeless rebellion against long-term occupying forces (or whatever, exactly was about to happen to the vanquished people of Neo Zeon). Granted, that may have been exactly what she was planning to do if Colonel Char hadn't popped up out of nowhere and abducted her . . . at least I assume she hadn't previously invited him to carry her away?

Then I read the bit where, ten years later, she's graduating at the top of her class at the Earth Federation's military academy. Oh, that's cute. (And I mean that in a good way!) Instead of hiding her in some spot out at the back of beyond, like a small town in an obscure corner of Earth where nobody would be likely to suspect her of being a lost princess, Char actually went for the Purloined Letter method and somehow hid her "right out in plain sight" at the very heart of their training program for new officers; the best and the brightest!

Assuming, that is, that he was actively involved in getting her into the academy after he carried her away from Neo Zeon? Or did she come up with that idea on her own, later, once she was set up in a new identity? Since we skipped ahead ten years in the blink of an eye, there's a lot of gaps that will (hopefully) be filled in later -- and it belately occurs to me in passing that I'm not clear on how quickly you'd expect the typical viewer of this series in its anime form, a viewer who'd be completely lacking the benefit of all your explanatory text, to actually realize the connection between "Minerva Zabi" and "Athena Ibaz."

Be that as it may, I think I can see the logic -- or a couple of possible lines of logic -- that Char and/or Athena might have pursued in deciding to get her into the academy if at all possible.

1. These were the people who had just trounced the Neo Zeon Empire good and proper -- thereby proving something about their "superiority" in military affairs if we look at it from the Darwinian view of "survival of the fittest." If the Princess was ever going to turn the tables on the Earth Federation, she would have to have military officer training that was at least as good as what they gave their own hotshots -- in order to stay competitive.

2. Alternately, if she really doesn't want Neo Zeon to fight the Earth Federation all over again, it may well be that she honestly believes the best thing she can do is become an Earth Federation officer and try to "keep the peace" that way to reduce the chances of yet another bloody space war breaking out and accomplishing precious little beyond sky-high body counts?

Oh, and I like the logic of turning "Minerva Zabi" into "Athena Ibaz."

Standing to one side, Athena notices a cargo bay door nearby. Reaching out with her mind, Athena gets a vague impression of what lies beyond the metal door.

"Reaching out with her mind" came as a shock. I wasn't thinking of her as having any psychic powers until that moment. And after I finished reading this episode, I still was far from clear on whether or not her fellow service personnel have any idea that she has some degree of psychic perception going for her! (Was that the effect you aimed for?)

As I first read through your ideas for Episode 1, I was naturally wondering about Athena's motives. Did she really mean whatever oath of loyalty and obedience she presumably had to swear to become an Earth Federation officer? In other words, did she really accept in her heart that the last war between Neo Zeon and the Federation was over and done with? And is she scrupulously a "woman of her word" once she has sworn an oath? Or did she still regard herself as the Federation's enemy and was just biding her time while she learned whatever they could teach her to make her a more effective leader against them at some future time? (Which, of course, would mean she's the sort of girl who is perfectly capable of swearing "loyalty" on the one hand, and then turning around and breaking that oath without a qualm when it suits her personal agenda. In which case I would view her as a villain-in-the-making. Nobody in his right mind really trusts a shameless turncoat.)

After reaching the end of this episode, I'm still not sure. (Probably the way you wanted it.) Her captain died when he opened that door, but it's not clear if Athena specifically anticipated and wanted that, or did she just think there was something dangerous behind it and she ought to call it to his attention as worthy of a search? The answer to that question would make a considerable difference in my opinion of where her loyalties lie.

[Buried Alien]

I decided I'd read your "Episode 1" and take notes on any points that occurred to me.

First, a big THANK YOU, Lorendiac, for having taken the time to read this, reflect upon it, and comment upon it. You don't know how much this means to me.

*Sniffles. Wipes away tears of gratitude.*

But let's have some fair warning here about my (lack of) qualifications to evalute ideas for episodes of a new Mobile Suit Gundam series. I've never watched any Mobile Suit Gundam anime and I've never read any of its manga publications either.

That being the case, you're doing great so far. :)

(It's only with the last year or two that I've started collecting, in a small sort of a way, book collections of a couple of manga series in book collections that actually strike me as reasonably entertaining. Others I had looked at in previous years just bored me.)

GUNDAM is Japan's STAR WARS and STAR TREK rolled all into one. It's probably more ingrained in Japanese pop culture than even SW/ST is in the pop culture of the West (which is scary, when you think about it). The geek factor for GUNDAM fandom is off the charts.


So, for better or for worse, what you're about to get is some stray thoughts that occurred to a "first-time reader" of anything resembling a Mobile Suit Gundam story.

A GUNDAM virgin. Cool! :)

Seriously, I tried to write the story in a manner where, if you're familiar with the GUNDAM world, you can appreciate it at many different levels, but even if you're a GUNDAM newbie, you can still appreciate as a story with compelling characters.

I respect the young Princess's decision that there's no need to throw away more lives after the bulk of their military power has evidently just been crushingly defeated and the final outcome is only a matter of time. Vaguely puts me in mind of Emperor Hirohito calling upon Japanese forces to surrender after what happened to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. . . .

Princess Minerva/Athena is saddled with a terrible legacy. Her family was responsible for unleashing genocide against humanity. While Minerva has the capacity for her forebears' ruthlessness, she also has a conscience that they did not, and her story is largely of a young woman tortured by her own conscience.

But I was surprised that she didn't parallel Hirohito's role by sticking around, more or less as a figurehead, to deal with their conquerors and use her influence to try to keep things from boiling over into hopeless rebellion against long-term occupying forces (or whatever, exactly was about to happen to the vanquished people of Neo Zeon). Granted, that may have been exactly what she was planning to do if Colonel Char hadn't popped up out of nowhere and abducted her . . . at least I assume she hadn't previously invited him to carry her away?

Had not Char not shown up, Princess Minerva would have stayed to negotiate a peace with the leaders of the Earth Federation Government that would spare her people any further suffering. She had no idea Char would show up, however. Like most others, she thought that he had died after he went missing in action a year earlier.

Then I read the bit where, ten years later, she's graduating at the top of her class at the Earth Federation's military academy. Oh, that's cute. (And I mean that in a good way!) Instead of hiding her in some spot out at the back of beyond, like a small town in an obscure corner of Earth where nobody would be likely to suspect her of being a lost princess, Char actually went for the Purloined Letter method and somehow hid her "right out in plain sight" at the very heart of their training program for new officers; the best and the brightest!

Minerva is the descendent of the infamous Zabi Family, who ruled the Archduchy of Zeon with an iron fist. Her family is infamous for being deviously cunning, especially her eldest uncle, Giren, guilty of patricide as well as attempted genocide. Giren had an IQ of 200 and worshipped Adolph Hitler. Minerva has inherited her uncle's high IQ, but not his genocidal tendencies. Minerva is looking for redemption...to attempt to repair the harm caused by her family. Without power, however, and disgusted with her own family's legacy, she joins the Federation so that she can gain access to its resources. She was born a princess of Zeon, but now is earning her way up the ranks of the Earth Federation. She wants to accumulate as much power as she can and use it to make amends for the horrible things her family did.

Minerva is not only blessed with a high IQ, she's also been under the wing of some of the most devious and cunning people in the GUNDAM world, including Haman Khan and Char. This makes Minerva a very dangerous young woman because it's almost impossible to outmaneuver her.

Assuming, that is, that he was actively involved in getting her into the academy after he carried her away from Neo Zeon? Or did she come up with that idea on her own, later, once she was set up in a new identity?

Minerva made that decision on her own after Char died in U.C. 0093 (about four years after he rescued her). Char took Minerva to the home of his own foster parents in Switzerland on Earth, the Mass family, where they cared for Minerva during her adolescent years as if she were their own granddaughter. At age 15, Minerva left the Masses, assumed the identity of Athena Ibaz, and and joined the Federal Forces' Officers' Academy.

Since we skipped ahead ten years in the blink of an eye, there's a lot of gaps that will (hopefully) be filled in later -- and it belately occurs to me in passing that I'm not clear on how quickly you'd expect the typical viewer of this series in its anime form, a viewer who'd be completely lacking the benefit of all your explanatory text, to actually realize the connection between "Minerva Zabi" and "Athena Ibaz."

Heh. I didn't want to give away too much in the beginning, although it's not hard to connect the dots. Yes, later on, the gaps in Minerva/Athena's life are filled.

Be that as it may, I think I can see the logic -- or a couple of possible lines of logic -- that Char and/or Athena might have pursued in deciding to get her into the academy if at all possible.

Char might have had some ideas about Minerva continuing his work should he die in battle (which he did). In some ways, Minerva/Athena *is* continuing with some of Char's old agendas (mainly from his own "Quattro Bagina" period during Z GUNDAM), but for the most part, Athena's agenda is her own: she's trying to accumulate as much power as she can so that she can use it to create a better, more secure world where wars such as the one her grandfather and uncle started can't break out so easily. Being a Zabi, however, and coming of age under the care of Haman and Char, Athena sometimes is wililng to be ruthless in pursuit of her goals.

1. These were the people who had just trounced the Neo Zeon Empire good and proper -- thereby proving something about their "superiority" in military affairs if we look at it from the Darwinian view of "survival of the fittest." If the Princess was ever going to turn the tables on the Earth Federation, she would have to have military officer training that was at least as good as what they gave their own hotshots -- in order to stay competitive.

The Earth Federation barely won its second war against the Archduchy of Zeon. The Federation is powerful in terms of resources available, but weak due to internal corruption. Athena knows that the Federation is corrupt to the core, and her aim is to become a part of that Federation...to ascend to its highest levels of power, so that she can redirect its resources to her own agenda.

[Buried Alien]

2. Alternately, if she really doesn't want Neo Zeon to fight the Earth Federation all over again, it may well be that she honestly believes the best thing she can do is become an Earth Federation officer and try to "keep the peace" that way to reduce the chances of yet another bloody space war breaking out and accomplishing precious little beyond sky-high body counts?

Athena loves the Zeon people, but detests the idea of the "Archduchy of Zeon" that is her family's legacy. She wants to wipe out the evil legacy of Zeon to spare the Spacenoid population further horrors. At the same time, she's looking to remake the corrupt Federation into something much more benign and responsive to its people's needs.

Oh, and I like the logic of turning "Minerva Zabi" into "Athena Ibaz."

Heh. That was just pure serendipity. A name that sounds cool and has meaning behind it. :)

"Reaching out with her mind" came as a shock. I wasn't thinking of her as having any psychic powers until that moment. And after I finished reading this episode, I still was far from clear on whether or not her fellow service personnel have any idea that she has some degree of psychic perception going for her! (Was that the effect you aimed for?)

In the GUNDAM universe, there's something called a "Newtype"...which is an evolved human with psychic abilities (telepathic/telekinetic) developing as a result of humanity's mass migration into space. Freed from the bounds of Earth's gravity, the souls of the spaceborn generation can tap into the cosmos (a la the Force in STAR WARS). Those who show such potential are called Newtypes.

Athena is such a Newtype, as was Char. Athena's abilities, however, pale in comparison to the girl Jolie Minh's, whom Athena befriends and recruits as her protegee' beginning in Episode 2. The story is largely about their friendship/partnership.

As I first read through your ideas for Episode 1, I was naturally wondering about Athena's motives. Did she really mean whatever oath of loyalty and obedience she presumably had to swear to become an Earth Federation officer? In other words, did she really accept in her heart that the last war between Neo Zeon and the Federation was over and done with? And is she scrupulously a "woman of her word" once she has sworn an oath? Or did she still regard herself as the Federation's enemy and was just biding her time while she learned whatever they could teach her to make her a more effective leader against them at some future time? (Which, of course, would mean she's the sort of girl who is perfectly capable of swearing "loyalty" on the one hand, and then turning around and breaking that oath without a qualm when it suits her personal agenda. In which case I would view her as a villain-in-the-making. Nobody in his right mind really trusts a shameless turncoat.)

Athena is a Machiavellian. Her goals are noble, but she's willing to use unscrupulous methods (if necessary) to achieve them. Her character evolves through the course of the story. At the beginning, she's at her most unlikeable: cold-hearted, callous, and willing to use very unscrupulous means to accomplish her goals. As the story develops however, because of the friendships she forms (and a few she rediscovers), her conscience increasingly burdens her and causes her to change. As the story goes on, she becomes more humane. Athena has a heart of gold, but she's buried it deep under a Machiavellian shell for the sake of her mission: destroy Zeon, reform the Federation. That shell begins to crack, however, after Athena meets Jolie, whom she adopts almost as a "little sister" (as well as her ace-in-the-hole).

After reaching the end of this episode, I'm still not sure. (Probably the way you wanted it.) Her captain died when he opened that door, but it's not clear if Athena specifically anticipated and wanted that, or did she just think there was something dangerous behind it and she ought to call it to his attention as worthy of a search? The answer to that question would make a considerable difference in my opinion of where her loyalties lie.

Oh, Athena definitely knew what was going to happen next. Nobody knows that Athena is a Newtype. She knew that Captain Tinne was walking into a death trap, but chose not to warn him. She wanted him to walk into it because it was her chance to make a quick leap in power and position (his death would mean her promotion to Centurion Leader). It's a typical Zabi move (something her father, uncle, and aunt are very familiar with)...and probably the most despicable thing Athena will ever do.

From that point, we slowly see her evolve into a better person. She does have a conscience...in fact, deep down, she has a good heart. But that heart starts off encased in barbed wire.

I like this character, Athena Ibaz...morally ambiguous, but strangely compelling. An interesting protagonist, eh? :)

Thanks again for your comments. I hope you'll have more.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lorendiac]

First, a big THANK YOU, Lorendiac, for having taken the time to read this, reflect upon it, and comment upon it. You don't know how much this means to me.

*Sniffles. Wipes away tears of gratitude.*

Er . . . you're welcome? :)

I actually think I have a darn good idea of what it means to you, though. This wasn't exactly the first time in my life that I've posted a review in response to someone else's creative writing. I've done it dozens and dozens of times over on www.fanfiction.net and www.fictionpress.com, as well as getting the occasional review on works of my own on both sites -- so I've been there and done that, from both sides of the fence! :)

P.S. It's actually kind of embarrassing to realize how tired I must have been last night, when I posted my first reactions before going to bed. Various typographical errors . . . twice I carelessly refer to a ten-year gap between scenes when it was obviously only an eight-year gap (the princess ages from 10 to 18 in the blink of an eye) . . . stuff like that.

GUNDAM is Japan's STAR WARS and STAR TREK rolled all into one. It's probably more ingrained in Japanese pop culture than even SW/ST is in the pop culture of the West (which is scary, when you think about it). The geek factor for GUNDAM fandom is off the charts.

Although I didn't bother to mention it in my feedback, since it wasn't directly relevant to the plot of your first episode, I did take the trouble to follow some of your links to Wikipedia entries and brush up on at least a little bit about the series. I saw references to the "Star Trek" parallel, for instance -- started as one TV series, got cancelled sooner than people hoped for, but subsequently somehow exploded into its own little industry with lots of licensed products, subsequent TV series, comic book spinoffs, etc.?

Princess Minerva/Athena is saddled with a terrible legacy. Her family was responsible for unleashing genocide against humanity. While Minerva has the capacity for her forebears' ruthlessness, she also has a conscience that they did not, and her story is largely of a young woman tortured by her own conscience.

I did get the impression that she, only 10 years old as the last war ended at the start of the episode, probably was not the leader who had started that war in the first place. She just was left holding the bag when it was time to call the whole thing off.

Had not Char not shown up, Princess Minerva would have stayed to negotiate a peace with the leaders of the Earth Federation Government that would spare her people any further suffering. She had no idea Char would show up, however. Like most others, she thought that he had died after he went missing in action a year earlier.

That's about what I thought from the way you described his abrupt arrival . . .

Minerva is the descendent of the infamous Zabi Family, who ruled the Archduchy of Zeon with an iron fist. Her family is infamous for being deviously cunning, especially her eldest uncle, Giren, guilty of patricide as well as attempted genocide. Giren had an IQ of 200 and worshipped Adolph Hitler. Minerva has inherited her uncle's high IQ, but not his genocidal tendencies. Minerva is looking for redemption...to attempt to repair the harm caused by her family. Without power, however, and disgusted with her own family's legacy, she joins the Federation so that she can gain access to its resources. She was born a princess of Zeon, but now is earning her way up the ranks of the Earth Federation. She wants to accumulate as much power as she can and use it to make amends for the horrible things her family did.

Okay, I didn't spend enough time on Wikipedia to glean all that about her family's background . . . and I can respect her desire to make amends.


At age 15, Minerva left the Masses, assumed the identity of Athena Ibaz, and and joined the Federal Forces' Officers' Academy.

Leaves me wondering in passing what happened when they ran a "background check" on her . . . I'm no expert on the subject, but I think somebody -- the FBI? -- does background checks on people who want to be commissioned as military officers in the modern USA. Presumably that includes people who get into the programs at West Point or Annapolis or Colorado Springs . . . what would happen if the Earth Federation's functional equivalent of the FBI went around to the places where Athena was supposed to have attended kindergarten and grade school, and couldn't find any fellow classmates or teachers who remembered her at all? (There are probably a few different ways around this -- I just wondered if you were planning to address it at some later date?)

The Earth Federation barely won its second war against the Archduchy of Zeon. The Federation is powerful in terms of resources available, but weak due to internal corruption. Athena knows that the Federation is corrupt to the core, and her aim is to become a part of that Federation...to ascend to its highest levels of power, so that she can redirect its resources to her own agenda.

Okay -- I was just reflecting that I've read various works of science fiction where many of the characters (whether or not the author agreed with what he had them say) were of the opinion that if "this nation won a big war, then this nation is Demonstrably Superior to the other nation. End of story!" Regardless of just how close it might have been until a lucky turning point in the last major campaign or whatever . . .

[Lorendiac]

In the GUNDAM universe, there's something called a "Newtype"...which is an evolved human with psychic abilities (telepathic/telekinetic) developing as a result of humanity's mass migration into space. Freed from the bounds of Earth's gravity, the souls of the spaceborn generation can tap into the cosmos (a la the Force in STAR WARS). Those who show such potential are called Newtypes.

I saw the reference to "Newtype" -- at the very start, you had the young princess wondering how they, the Newtypes for humanity's future, could possibly fail to overcome those Earthling types. But I didn't really know what she meant and didn't bother to hunt through Wikipedia entries to find a definition of that term. Given what you later said about how Athena aced all her classes, I think I was tentatively suspecting that "Newtype" included genetic engineering to put a person at the high end of the human race's bell curve in such areas as accurate memory for what you've just read, speed of thought and reactions, hand-eye coordination, that sort of thing. Evidently not!

Oh, Athena definitely knew what was going to happen next. Nobody knows that Athena is a Newtype. She knew that Captain Tinne was walking into a death trap, but chose not to warn him. She wanted him to walk into it because it was her chance to make a quick leap in power and position (his death would mean her promotion to Centurion Leader). It's a typical Zabi move (something her father, uncle, and aunt are very familiar with)...and probably the most despicable thing Athena will ever do.

Understood -- although it seems to me as if she was taking a lot for granted about immediately being promoted to fill the gap. And it definitely means that I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her (if I worked in the same military outfit, and if I knew she had let the Captain trigger a death trap -- but of course you set it up so no one knows she has extrasensory perceptions).

[Buried Alien]

P.S. It's actually kind of embarrassing to realize how tired I must have been last night, when I posted my first reactions before going to bed. Various typographical errors . . . twice I carelessly refer to a ten-year gap between scenes when it was obviously only an eight-year gap (the princess ages from 10 to 18 in the blink of an eye) . . . stuff like that.

Heh. It happens. My story is a long one. When it starts, Athena has just barely turned 18. When it's done, she's in her mid-20s.


Although I didn't bother to mention it in my feedback, since it wasn't directly relevant to the plot of your first episode, I did take the trouble to follow some of your links to Wikipedia entries and brush up on at least a little bit about the series. I saw references to the "Star Trek" parallel, for instance -- started as one TV series, got cancelled sooner than people hoped for, but subsequently somehow exploded into its own little industry with lots of licensed products, subsequent TV series, comic book spinoffs, etc.?


Yeah. There's much greater mainstream acceptance of GUNDAM in Japan than there is for STAR TREK in the U.S. Although people can get *really* geeky with GUNDAM as they can with STAR TREK, GUNDAM is still OK with mainstream folks there. One won't automatically get called a "geek" just for being a fan.

At one point in the early 1980s, Bandai (the company that owns the GUNDAM license) sold one plastic Gundam model kit for every man, woman, and child in Japan (although I doubt every single Japanese citizen actually bought a Gundam plastic model). :)


I did get the impression that she, only 10 years old as the last war ended at the start of the episode, probably was not the leader who had started that war in the first place. She just was left holding the bag when it was time to call the whole thing off.


Minerva was the nominal ruler of the Archduchy of Zeon following the deaths of all of her ancestors, but the real power lay in the hands of her regent, a devious 21-year old woman by the name of Haman Khan (sometimes spelled Haman "Karn").


That's about what I thought from the way you described his abrupt arrival...


Yep. Char had been missing in action a year and regarded as dead by the time he shows up at the beginning of my story.

Okay, I didn't spend enough time on Wikipedia to glean all that about her family's background . . . and I can respect her desire to make amends.

The Zabis were scum. One observer said that the Zabis made the de Medicis look like saints by comparison. Ouch.

Minerva's grandfather, Degin Zabi, murdered Prime Minister Zeon Daikun, founder of the Republic of Zeon, who ruled democratically, peacefully, and benignly. Degin converted the Republic of Zeon into the Archduchy of Zeon (naming himself Duke), and then militarized Zeon over the next decade to wage war against the Earth Federation.

Her eldest uncle, Giren Zabi, was even worse. He developed the tactic of the "Colony Drop"...which is exactly what it sounds like...dropping a giant metal space colony (six kilometers long) onto the surface of the Earth, killing the millions who live in the colony and millions more on the ground (one such drop destroyed southwestern Australia). He later devised the Solar Ray, which converted a space colony into a giant space gun capable of wiping out a huge segment of the Federation armada. Giren used this weapon against his own father when Degin, who was old and tired of the war, opened peace negotiations with the Federation. Giren was a real bastard (but, like Hitler, gave great speeches).

Minerva's aunt, Kycilia, was loyal to her father...but no less covetous of power than Giren. Kycilia was usually content to let her rivals take each other out, and she would take advantage of the situation afterwards. She personally executed Giren for his betrayal of her father, but just as she was about to become the heir to the Zeon throne, she herself was betrayed and murdered by Char (betrayal is a constant theme in GUNDAM).

Minerva's father Dozle Zabi was the scariest-looking of the bunch. He was a hulking man with a big, ugly scar...like Frankenstein's monster on steroids. Ironically, he was one of the more honorable Zabis. He treated his men well, was loyal to his country, fought bravely, and was a good family man to his wife and infant daughter. The only problem is, he was a sadistic brute in combat who loved to crush his enemies personally. He took sheer delight in inflicting mass casualties against the Federal Forces using his fearsomely armed and armored Byg Zam. Fortunately for Minerva, she inherited her *mom* Senna's good looks. Minerva was an adorable child, and she grew up to become a very pretty young woman (something she knows how to leverage to her advantage as well when it's called for).

Finally, there was Minerva's youngest uncle, Garma Zabi...the handsomest and most beloved of the Zabis among the Zeon people. Dashing, debonair, and youthful, Garma was his father Degin's favorite son. Garma was also, however, hopelessly naive...and wanted nothing more than to win the respect of his older, more cunning siblings and father. Garma gave his life in battle against the Federation at age 20; he might not have died, except he was betrayed by the man whom he thought was his best friend: Col. Char Aznable (yes, Char again).


Leaves me wondering in passing what happened when they ran a "background check" on her . . . I'm no expert on the subject, but I think somebody -- the FBI? -- does background checks on people who want to be commissioned as military officers in the modern USA. Presumably that includes people who get into the programs at West Point or Annapolis or Colorado Springs . . . what would happen if the Earth Federation's functional equivalent of the FBI went around to the places where Athena was supposed to have attended kindergarten and grade school, and couldn't find any fellow classmates or teachers who remembered her at all? (There are probably a few different ways around this -- I just wondered if you were planning to address it at some later date?)


This is a problem that I've noticed, but haven't been sure on how to proceed on (I welcome suggestions). Char once faced a similar problem after the One Year War when he re-emerged seven years later as "Quattro Bagina" of the AEUG. That was explained as Zeon spies having purged all military records from the computers of both sides following the One Year War. While such a mass purge was unlikely to occur a second time, I'm sure Char and his people did something to wipe the slate clean for Minerva as well. The Mass family that took in and raised Minerva (and Char before her) is also very powerful and well-connected within the Federation, so they might have had some influence in this area as well.


Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Buried Alien]

I saw the reference to "Newtype" -- at the very start, you had the young princess wondering how they, the Newtypes for humanity's future, could possibly fail to overcome those Earthling types. But I didn't really know what she meant and didn't bother to hunt through Wikipedia entries to find a definition of that term. Given what you later said about how Athena aced all her classes, I think I was tentatively suspecting that "Newtype" included genetic engineering to put a person at the high end of the human race's bell curve in such areas as accurate memory for what you've just read, speed of thought and reactions, hand-eye coordination, that sort of thing. Evidently not!

Both the Federation and the Zeon have been known to develop and deploy *artificial Newtypes*...i.e. bio-engineered soldiers with Newtype characteristics. Sometimes, these are even more powerful than natural-born Newtypes, but they tend to be emotionally unstable and unpredictable.

Minerva, however, is a natural-born Newtype. She's not as powerful as some others you'll encounter just a little later (including Minerva's own friend/protege Jolie, who debuts in Episode 2; Jolie's Newtype abilities dwarf Minerva's). Minerva is a very gifted young woman who learns almost anything very easily (independent of her Newtype abilities). She's kind of like the female equivalent of James Bond...just good at *everything* and seemingly knows everything. :)

Understood -- although it seems to me as if she was taking a lot for granted about immediately being promoted to fill the gap.

Heh. That's Athena, though...supremely confident about her abilities. She already knows that she's a better officer than Tinne could EVER be (and he has nearly two decades of experience on her), and so does the Federation. After Athena takes over, nobody misses Captain Tinne much.

And it definitely means that I wouldn't trust her as far as I could throw her (if I worked in the same military outfit, and if I knew she had let the Captain trigger a death trap -- but of course you set it up so no one knows she has extrasensory perceptions).

Within Athena's veins runs that Zabi blood. Sometimes, she seems cursed to do things the way her forefathers did.

But, as we see in later episodes, she has a heart that none of them ever did, and that heart asserts itself more and more as time goes on.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Lorendiac]

Re: Background checks when she entered the academy to train to be a career officer. You said:

This is a problem that I've noticed, but haven't been sure on how to proceed on (I welcome suggestions). Char once faced a similar problem after the One Year War when he re-emerged seven years later as "Quattro Bagina" of the AEUG. That was explained as Zeon spies having purged all military records from the computers of both sides following the One Year War. While such a mass purge was unlikely to occur a second time, I'm sure Char and his people did something to wipe the slate clean for Minerva as well. The Mass family that took in and raised Minerva (and Char before her) is also very powerful and well-connected within the Federation, so they might have had some influence in this area as well.

Well, the thing that really got me wondering about this was when you said in an earlier reply:

Minerva made that decision on her own after Char died in U.C. 0093 (about four years after he rescued her). Char took Minerva to the home of his own foster parents in Switzerland on Earth, the Mass family, where they cared for Minerva during her adolescent years as if she were their own granddaughter. At age 15, Minerva left the Masses, assumed the identity of Athena Ibaz, and and joined the Federal Forces' Officers' Academy.

To me, the odd thing about the timing was that you seemed to be saying that the identity of "Athena Ibaz" was only created immediately before Minerva wrote it down on application forms for the Academy. I imagined the following conversation among agents of the EFBI (the Earth Federation Bureau of Investigation, to invent a name out of thin air :)):

FIRST EFBI AGENT: So, what do we know so far about Athena Ibaz?

SECOND EFBI AGENT: We know that nobody on Earth ever heard of her in any way, shape, or form -- not by that name -- until a week ago when she wrote down the name "Athena Ibaz" on her application for the Academy.

FIRST EFBI AGENT: Is it just me, or does that sound as if she frantically changed her name last week and doesn't want to admit it?

Now, if she had spent the last four or five years building up a scholastic track record as "Athena Ibaz" . . . that would be different. It would offer some substance that the EFBI could get its teeth into and feel it was doing a good job of checking up on her patriotism, etc. As to where she had allegedly been getting her education before the age of ten -- I can think of a few different ways that could be handled.

1. Plant a few records somewhere to show she was "home schooled" in her early years. That would explain why teachers and students in the same school district didn't remember her sitting in a classroom.

Or

2. Claim that she had been (sob) orphaned by some atrocity during the recent war with Neo Zeon. Or some other war or act of terrorism that wiped out entire towns. That would explain why her immediate family, as well as her elementary school and most of the other kids in it, had all gone up in smoke and she just happened to survive because she was visiting distant relatives at the time (the Mass family, for instance). If she still had four or five years of recent socializing with other kids at a Swiss school to list on her application, that would give the EFBI a place to start in trying to gauge her allegedly good, solid, patriotic character as it had presumably developed over the last few years. The fact that the first ten years of her life were largely blank might not seem so threatening under those circumstances, because how much trouble could a cute little girl have gotten into at such a tender age? :)

Or

3. Find a real girl who was willing to disappear under a new name, going offworld to colonize some other place or whatever -- maybe just moving to some quiet little town where her new identity wouldn't be scrutinized so closely as long as she didn't apply for training as a military officer -- and let Minerva Zabi take over that girl's name and scholastic records. (Granted, it would be one heck of a coincidence if she managed to find a girl whose real name was Athena Ibaz, but it's possible. Didn't the original version of Wonder Woman get her secret identity that way -- Princess Diana of Paradise Island just happened to have a chance to buy the identification papers of a young American woman named Diana Prince?)

Anyway, those were alternatives that were running through my mind yesterday when I wondered how Athena Ibaz would manage to avoid having her "background check" come up totally blank, which might raise eyebrows . . .

[Buried Alien]

Hey there, Lorendiac. :)


Well, the thing that really got me wondering about this was when you said in an earlier reply:



To me, the odd thing about the timing was that you seemed to be saying that the identity of "Athena Ibaz" was only created immediately before Minerva wrote it down on application forms for the Academy.

I think I should clarify this. The need to become "Athena Ibaz" was a practical one, which Char and the Masses probably initiated even before they got Minerva to Switzerland. I think we should allow for her to have chosen the name for herself, however, because her name is rife with symbolism (more on that later): her name more or less symbolizes her life's mission.


I imagined the following conversation among agents of the EFBI (the Earth Federation Bureau of Investigation, to invent a name out of thin air ):

FIRST EFBI AGENT: So, what do we know so far about Athena Ibaz?

SECOND EFBI AGENT: We know that nobody on Earth ever heard of her in any way, shape, or form -- not by that name -- until a week ago when she wrote down the name "Athena Ibaz" on her application for the Academy.

FIRST EFBI AGENT: Is it just me, or does that sound as if she frantically changed her name last week and doesn't want to admit it?


Heh. If only most agents in the Federation's intelligence community were that bright; it's a very corrupt and bloated bureaucracy.


Now, if she had spent the last four or five years building up a scholastic track record as "Athena Ibaz" . . . that would be different. It would offer some substance that the EFBI could get its teeth into and feel it was doing a good job of checking up on her patriotism, etc. As to where she had allegedly been getting her education before the age of ten -- I can think of a few different ways that could be handled.


Athena Ibaz would have emerged around three to six months after Minerva Zabi disappeared. Later, Athena will be meeting an old acquaintance (a manager at a restaurant in Shanghai, China, that she visited with the Masses some years ago) who knows her as Athena Ibaz, which pretty much confirms that she became Athena Ibaz years before enrolling at the academy. I remember the restaurant manager mentioning that he hadn't seen her since before she joined the academy (which would have been when she was around fifteen), so she'd been Athena for a few years before joining the military.


1. Plant a few records somewhere to show she was "home schooled" in her early years. That would explain why teachers and students in the same school district didn't remember her sitting in a classroom.


Char would have done this. Given the Mass family's influence within the Federation (the elder Mass was a high level politician in the Federation Government when he was younger), it's likely that Char and the Masses began creating Minerva's new identity almost immediately.

Or


2. Claim that she had been (sob) orphaned by some atrocity during the recent war with Neo Zeon. Or some other war or act of terrorism that wiped out entire towns. That would explain why her immediate family, as well as her elementary school and most of the other kids in it, had all gone up in smoke and she just happened to survive because she was visiting distant relatives at the time (the Mass family, for instance).


Officially, I believe, Athena Ibaz is supposed to be a distant cousin of "Edward Mass" (Char's adopted name when he was living with the Masses as a boy) and "Sayla Mass" (Artesia Daikun, Char's younger sister, now leader of the ISRLA movement). There's a chapter later down the road where Athena briefly assumes a second alias, "Tina Mass," when she's attending a formal party of industrialists and other fat cats who aren't particularly sympathetic to the Earth Federation.


If she still had four or five years of recent socializing with other kids at a Swiss school to list on her application, that would give the EFBI a place to start in trying to gauge her allegedly good, solid, patriotic character as it had presumably developed over the last few years. The fact that the first ten years of her life were largely blank might not seem so threatening under those circumstances, because how much trouble could a cute little girl have gotten into at such a tender age?


That's likely the case. The story probably goes that Athena Ibaz went to live with her cousins, the Mass family, after she lost her family during the previous war. As the wars have created literally billions of orphans, who would really conceal the identity of a little girl (of course, Princess Minerva Zabi is still missing, but the Federation intelligence community isn't quite bright enough to bring these threads together; in time, however, OTHERS will).


3. Find a real girl who was willing to disappear under a new name, going offworld to colonize some other place or whatever -- maybe just moving to some quiet little town where her new identity wouldn't be scrutinized so closely as long as she didn't apply for training as a military officer -- and let Minerva Zabi take over that girl's name and scholastic records.

Heh. That would be too contrived. Moreover, "Athena Ibaz" is a name that Minerva chose for herself, and it has a symbolic meaning. "Athena," of course, was the Greek inspiration for the Roman goddess "Minerva." By changing her name to "Athena," Minerva is concealing her name without concealing her persona. She's still the same person, but with a different name and background. Additionally, Minerva/Athena was the goddess of wisdom in Greco-Roman mythology; Minerva's greatest asset is her mind. She is a very intelligent young woman, wise beyond her years, and a rare combination of book-smart and street-smart.

As for the assumed surname of "Ibaz," I don't know if you've figured it out yet, but it's "Zabi" spelled backwards...an anagram of her true surname. Since her goal in life is to undo the damage that her forefathers have done, it's pretty meaningful that her assumed surname is her real surname reversed. "Ibaz"...because her destiny is to make amends for what the Zabi family has done.


Anyway, those were alternatives that were running through my mind yesterday when I wondered how Athena Ibaz would manage to avoid having her "background check" come up totally blank, which might raise eyebrows . . .

Thanks. Your suggestions have been very helpful in getting me through this impasse. I'll definitely use some aspects of what you've suggested. The only thing I need to figure out is an ideal part of the story in which to make this information evident. :)

Finally, a note on Athena's appearance as a young adult: you've seen at last one illustration, and as she is a manga/anime character, that's as true to the image in my head as it gets. Her initial design (which was drawn by my friend Lionel Lum) was based on the actress Tea Leoni back in the early 1990s, when Ms. Leoni was still in her twenties.

So Athena basically looks like a very young Tea Leoni, if you want to imagine her. :)

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Buried Alien]

EPISODE 6: THE BLACKBIRDS

Chief Warrant Officer Jolie Minh is alone in the Centurion Team's lounge. The other members of the Centurion Team are on their monthly leaves, visiting family and friends or attending to personal business off the base.

Jolie, who has neither family nor friends outside of the Centurion Team, or much personal business, remains on the base with Captain Athena Ibaz.

Maybe I can talk 'Thena into going into town with me, Jolie thinks to herself. Upon further reflection, however, Jolie realizes that it's unlikely she'd be able to persuade her workaholic commanding officer to go. At the moment, Athena is locked inside her office devising new anti-ISRLA tactics.

Boredom finally overwhelms Jolie, so she picks up one of the ancient books that Athena gave to her, something called The Prince by an author named "Niccolo Machiavelli."

Jolie takes off her uniform boots and crosses her long, lovely legs beneath her on one of the lounge's cushioned seats. Jolie had stopped attending school in the Fourth Grade. Consequently, her reading skills are not quite where they should be (i.e. high school level). Nevertheless, Jolie understands the gist of the text well enough to become infuriated.

"What total B.S.!" Jolie growls as she throws the book across the room.

Athena enters the lounge, having emerged from her office for a fresh cup of coffee, "You really should take better care of these, Jolie. These are priceless treasures."

Jolie uncrosses her shapely legs and pulls her uniform boots back on, "That 'Mach-ee-o-vel-e' guy is full of s**t! What does he mean that the ends justifies the means, and the strong and ruthless are the ones who ought to rule?!"

Athena, picking up the leather-bound book from the floor and lovingly setting it on a nearby table, replies, "It's Machiavelli. He was an Italian Renaissance thinker, and essentially, he was right. We're living in what Thomas Hobbes called a State of Nature, Jolie. Every living being must look out for its own interests. You must eliminate your enemies before they eliminate you."

That much Jolie can understand. Surviving for five years in the hellish environment of Industria Colony, she could not afford to be naive about the needs of survival. Still, that doesn't justify Machiavelli's coldhearted worldview in Jolie's mind.

Realizing that Jolie does not fully grasp the concept, however, Athena sits down and begins to patiently explain the idea further, "You've never been to Earth, Jolie. You've never seen how animals survive in their natural habitats - how predators obtain substinence through ruthlessness and cunning. For example, when you're in combat aboard the Centurion Gundam, you set aside your enemy's humanity, reduce him or her to a threat that you must eradicate for your own survival. Moreover, you need to anticipate how the enemy will threaten you....think ahead of her or him."

"You mean like that time you trapped me in the net when we first met?" Jolie asks.

Athena laughs lightly at the memory of their first encounter, "Something like that, yes. I knew I couldn't outfight you straight up, so I took advantage of the environment against you."

Jolie nods with understanding.

Athena and Jolie have come to enjoy these discussions, from which they have both learned a great deal (especially Jolie). In the eight months that they have worked together, Athena and Jolie have developed a very strong bond of empathy between them. Both orphans, both extremely talented and strong-willed, and both beautiful, they share much in common. They are also, paradoxically, a set of contrasts. Athena is refined, elegant, and erudite, while Jolie is passionate, vivacious, and candid. Jolie admires Athena's elegance, knowledge, and wit, while Athena admires Jolie's fearlessness and energy. They also, however, occassionally experience mild friction with each other: Jolie sometimes finds herself chafing under Athena's attention to detail and demand for perfection, while Athena is at times frustrated by Jolie's recklessness and impudence.

These differences, however, have seemingly only solidified their friendship. They have become almost like sisters...each fiercely loyal to the other, and together in combat, as both the Federation and its enemies are quickly discovering, an extremely formidable combination of excellent strategic mind and superior combat prowess.

Athena says, "Anyway, I'm glad I caught you here. There's something I need to tell you."

Uh-oh, Jolie thinks, "Am I in trouble? What reg did I break this time?"

Athena smiles, "I need to congratulate you, Second Lieutenant Jolie Minh."

"Second Lieutenant? Me? You're kidding," Jolie says in disbelief.

"The promotion went through this morning," Athena beams proudly at Jolie, "and I just signed the documents authorizing the promotion. You'll be given your Lieutenant's bars and other accoutrements at a ceremony on Monday."

"Cool!" Jolie exults, "my daddy was a First Lieutenant when he was in the Federal army!"

"Your family would have been very proud of you, Jolie," Athena says with an uncommon warmth in her voice, "just as I am."

The two share a sisterly embrace.

Athena remarks, "You're only sixteen and you've already almost reached your father's rank when he was almost twice that age."

Jolie replies, "Actually, Daddy joined the EFSS when he was about sixteen like me. During the Gryps War, he was in the Titans."

"So I read in his dossier," Athena replies nonjudgmentally.

Jolie is compelled to add, "But he didn't take any part in that colony gassing stuff the Titans did! Daddy wasn't a murderer, just a soldier!"

There are some who would say that there's no difference, Athena thinks to herself, but leaves unspoken.

"I know that, Jolie," Athena reassures her friend and subordinate, "you don't need to say it."

"Didn't want you to misunderstand," Jolie says somewhat sheepishly.

"Neither the Federation nor the Zeon has a monopoly on atrocities," Athena observes, "to live is to kill."

"Ma-chee-o...whatever, again?" Jolie wonders.

"No," Athena replies solemnly, wiping her fingers with her handkerchief, "Giren Zabi, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Archduchy of Zeon."

Athena's late uncle, whose memory she detested.


http://img490.imageshack.us/img490/3320/gihrenzabigundamwd6.jpg

The late Supreme Commander Giren Zabi of the Armed Forces of the Archduchy of Zeon, the eldest of Athena's uncles.


EPISODE 6 TO BE CONTINUED...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued...

The Archduchy of Zeon, and the Republic of Zeon that preceded it, began life in the space colonies of Side 3 located in the dark side of lunar orbit. It was there that during the U.C. 0050s, a thinker by the name of Zeon Zum Daikun first championed the ideology of Contolism, and prophesied the advent of the Newtype.

Zeon Daikun posited that after fifty years of living in outer space, free of the effects of Earths' gravity, humanity had begun its evolution to a higher state of existence...one in which the true potential of the human mind and the human soul would be unleashed. The time had come for humanity to rise forth from its terrestrial cradle and settle its new home among the stars. This was necessary not only for humanity's future, but also for balance of life on planet Earth as well. Earth had hosted and nurtured humanity for hundreds of thousands of years, but humanity, in its constant push towards civilization and progress, had exhausted the ecology of its homeworld and threatened the further existence of life on Earth. For the future of the Earth, as well as humanity's future, Daikun argued, the mass movement of humanity into outer space was an inevitability.

Two generations of human beings forcibly removed from Earth and sent to move into outer space found great sympathy for Daikun's ideology and cause. Hundreds of millions, and ultimately over two billion came to support Daikun, paving the way for the foundation of the Republic of Zeon in the year U.C. 0062.

From the outset, the Earth Federation Government eyed the spaceborne population warily. During the first five decades of space colonization, the Spacenoid population had found numerous reasons to be dissatisfied with the Federation's rule. Corruption was rampant. Abuses were not uncommon. There was a general sense that the leaders on Earth did not care about the people it had sent into outer space to live, and considered their Spacenoid brethren as little more than refuse to be disposed of with as little fuss as possible.

When Zeon Daikun began to agitate for the establishment of an independent Spacenoid republic in Side 3 during the U.C. 0050s, the Earth Federation Government was loathe to agree to the idea. Nevertheless, the Federation being the inertia-set and shortsighted bureaucracy that it was, saw fewer drawbacks in letting Daikun and his Spacenoid cultists have their celestial republic rather than risk the costly military confrontation that might ensue if the Federation were to take steps to forbid it. Thus, in U.C. 0062, the Republic of Zeon was born.

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Zeon Daikun, the peace-loving Father of Contolism and first Prime Minister of the Republic of Zeon. To Daikun's right is Vice Prime Minister Degin Zabi, who would soon betray him.

Zeon Daikun was, at heart, a pacifist. He believed that peaceful coexistence between the Spacenoid population and the people who remained rooted to the Earth to be imperative. In time, Daikun reasoned, as Newtypes emerged among the Spacenoid population, they would open the minds and hearts of their brothers and sisters on Earth, and peacefully persuade them to join humanity's inexorable path towards advancement. Daikun's dream of the peaceful advancement of humanity did not survive his sudden death in U.C. 0069.

Zeon Daikun and his people were betrayed by one of his most trusted lieutenants, Degin Sod Zabi, who had been Vice Prime Minister of the Republic of Zeon. Upon Zeon Daikun's death, Degin Zabi abolished the Republic of Zeon and declared the foundation of the Archduchy of Zeon, installing himself as Archduke. At the prodding of his eldest son, Giren, Degin Zabi adopted a policy of mass militarization for the new archduchy. All of the colony's resources were dedicated to military research, and over the next decade, Zeon scientists and engineers would develop such deadly new weaponry as beam cannon and mobile suits. Paralleling the rapid development of a vast war machine and the training of a large Spacenoid army, Giren Zabi preached a new philosophy of hatred. Abandoning Zeon Daikun's pacifistic, gradualist ideals, Giren Zabi stoked the flames of anger and resentment among the people of the Archduchy of Zeon, encouraging them in fiery speeches and writings to hate the people of Earth for their heartlessness and ignorance. Giren's philosophy, taught to the people of Zeon for a decade, was that the future of humanity depended upon the extermination of those who continued to linger upon and exploit the Earth, and that the Earth's resources must be secured by force to supply humanity's further advancement into space.

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The Zabi Family, militaristic ruling family of the Archduchy of Zeon. Clockwise from bottom: Archduke Degin Zabi (Sovereign of Zeon), Captain Garma Zabi (fourth in line of succession), Vice Admiral Dozle Zabi (third in line of succession), Supreme Commander Giren Zabi (first in line of succession). In the center is Vice Admiral Kyshiria Zabi (second in line of succession). The entire family perished during the One Year War, except for Dozle's daughter Minerva, now missing in action (and secretly operating as the Earth Federation Forces' Captain Athena Ibaz).

In response to these developments, the Earth Federation Government also focused its attention to strengthening its military apparatus during the U.C. 0070s. For ten years, tensions mounted between the Earth Federation Government and the Archduchy of Zeon.

Then, just as the new year of U.C. 0079 dawned, the Zeon Archduchy Forces attacked the Federation space colony of Side 5, and followed with attacks against targets on the planet itself. The One Year War had begun...the first in a series of military conflicts between Earthnoids and Spacenoids that have claimed, to date, over half of the human population. Of the twenty billion that lived on Earth or the space colonies prior to the beginning of the One Year War, fewer than eight billion now remained.

And in the eighteen years since the One Year War ended, some things have not changed...at least not for the better.

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

Side 3 today is an occupied war zone.

Zum City, once the opulent center of Zeon government, culture, education, and industry, is (and has been for over a decade) a site of perpetual chaos and violence. Only the hardiest of residents have elected to remain in Zum City, and those who do eke out a Spartan existence amidst a paradox of heavy security and relentless violence.

Somewhere on the streets of Zum City, a Federal Forces RGM-95 GM-IV mobile suit is making a routine patrol of the city. Without warning, the mobile suit's head/camera unit explodes. In a nearby alley, two ISRLA guerillas armed with a rocket propelled gun scramble away.

In another part of the city, Federal Forces infantrymen are engaged in an automatic rifle and handgun shootout with a half-dozen ISRLA freedom fighters. Heavy casualties are inflicted by both sides.

In a grocery store elsewhere in the city, armed Federal troppers storm into the business and demand to see the owner. When the owner emerges, the troopers proceed to beat the owner and his employees savagely before taking them away for interrogation. The store's inventory is confiscated by the Federal Forces.

At a house in a residential district of the city, Federal soldiers burst in, assaulting the men and women within. There is murder and rape.

On another street in the city, six Federal Forces soldiers on foot patrol are suddenly cut down by a hail of gunfire from a speeding van. The van's passengers shout the slogan, "Liberate Zeon!" as the Federal soldiers fall into pools of their own blood.

A small squad of Federal soldiers storms into the clandestine offices of the Spacenoid Liberation Journal, a revolutionary newsletter operating underground in Side 3. The soldiers open fire upon the handful of staff writers and investigative reporters, ransack the office, and finally set the building on fire.

Elsewhere, three Federal Forces soldiers are enjoying a game of cards at their post when they are suddenly assaulted by a hail of Molotov Cocktails.

Through all of this anarchy and chaos, the figure of a tall, thin man clad in a long trench coat and felt hat walks hurriedly stealthily through the dangerous streets of Zum City. The man approaches a small office building in a comparatively isolated part of the city, keys in a security code at the door, and gains admittance.

The trenchcoat-clad man proceeds down a corridor until he arrives at an office marked with a simple sign, "Medical Clinic."

Within the clinic, an attractive blonde woman in her mid-thirties, blue-eyed and soft-haired, gently performs a physical examination on a little girl.

Dr. Sayla Mass, also known as Artasia Som Daikun, smiles at the little girl and turns to her parents, ""She'll be fine. It's the air pollution created within the colony by the breakdown of the ventilation systems that's driving her breathing problems. I'll provide her some medication that should alleviate the symptoms a bit, but she really needs to move somewhere where the air is cleaner...not to mention where it's safer in general."

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2Lt. Sayla Mass as an Earth Federation Forces fighter pilot during the One Year War

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Dr. Sayla Mass today, a physician and the leader of the Independent Spacenoid Republic movement

Sayla provides her patient's parents with a bottle of medication, along with some documents that will allow them passage out of Side 3. She wishes them well and declines their offers of payment.

As her patients depart, Sayla greets the trenchcoated man who has entered her clinic. She knows him well.

The man removes his hat and his trenchcoat to reveal a familiar face. He is Kai Shiden, an ally and friend of Sayla's since their days serving together as Federal Forces soldiers aboard the White Base during the One Year War.

Eighteen years ago, 2Lt. Sayla Mass and 2Lt. Kai Shiden were space fightercraft and mobile suit pilots for the Earth Federation Forces. Sayla and Kai's friendship had gotten off to a rocky start. On the day they first met in September, U.C. 0079 following a Zeon attack on the Side 7 space colony where they had resided, Sayla had slapped Kai and called him a coward for refusing to help locate remaining refugees in the colony. In those days, Kai had indeed been a coward, and cared little for the likes of Sayla, Captain Bright Noah, 2Lt. Amuro Ray, Sgt. Hayato Kobayashi, and others who forced Kai to act like the soldier that he did not feel he was meant to be.

Nevertheless, Kai's piloting of the RX-77 Guncannon became instrumental to the White Base's survival, and following his fateful encounter with the tragic Zeon spy Miharu Latokie in Belfast, Ireland, Kai discovered a courage he had never known that he had, as well as a commitment to peace and justice that the once-selfish young man had never realized himself to be capable of.

[Buried Alien]

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2Lt. Kai Shiden as a Federation mobile suit pilot during the One Year War. In the background is Kai's mobile suit RX-77 Guncannon.

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Today, Kai Shiden is the director of the ISRLA's Information and Intelligence Bureau

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/9396/gundamsuitmovie2mth6.jpg

The tragic death of the young woman named Miharu Latokie during the One Year War greatly affected Kai Shiden's attitudes and views in the years that followed.

After the conclusion of the One Year War, Sayla and Kai went their separate ways, and contact between them was infrequent. Sayla completed the medical degree that she had been working on at the University of Side 7 when the war disrupted her studies. At the same time, Kai studied journalism and eventually became an investigative reporter for the AEUG, helping the AEUG to expose the brutality of the Earth Federation Forces' Titans Corps. After Sayla's brother, Char Aznable, had failed in his attempt to create nuclear winter on Earth by dropping the asteroid fortress Axis onto the planet in U.C. 0093, Kai responded to Sayla's call to begin a movement for peaceful Spacenoid independence. Sayla's goal is to resurrect her late father's old dream after a quarter century of war, death, and desolation. Kai assists Sayla in this quest by using the skills he has acquired in intelligence and information-gathering to direct the fledgling Independent Spacenoid Republic's Information and Intelligence Bureau.

Chapter 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued...

Kai and Sayla embrace as friends who have shared dozens of life-and-death experiences over the years do. Although they were frequently at one another's throats when they served together aboard the White Base during the One Year War, eighteen years later, there is only warm camaraderie between them.

"It's good to see you again, Kai," Sayla says with the radiant smile that Kai remembers as being seen too infrequently aboard the White Base all those many years ago (Sayla had been something of a cold fish in those days, especially towards Kai), "it's been eight months since you've visited in person."

Kai rejoins, "In the line of work I do, the less I'm seen, the better." In his days as a Federal Forces soldier, Kai Shiden had been known as a practical joker and a loose cannon - the kind of guy whose mouth couldn't be kept shut with mobile suit armor rivets. Sayla cannot help but appreciate the irony that Kai's career since the end of the One Year War has revolved around the judicious keeping and selective sharing of secrets.

Sayla knows that if Kai has come to see her personally, his reasons cannot be social or trivial.

Kai says evenly, "My people have gotten some concrete information about the failure of the Moonshadow operation."

Sayla draws in a deep breath. She has never approved of promoting the Spacenoid cause through violent means, but the information that Kai's bureau has gathered about the Earth Federation Forces' secret stockpile of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons has forced Sayla to relent to the urgings of the ISR's more militant senior leaders. Months earlier, Sayla reluctantly gave her approval to the hiring of mercenary mobile suit pilots Caitlin O'Rourke and Jordan Sinclair, and it pains her to have given her approval to an operation that cost the two young pilots their lives.

"Caitlin and Jordan were a very sweet couple," Sayla reflects, "and excellent mobile suit pilots as well. We selected them and paid them a great sum of money to ensure the success of the Moonshadow operation. The safety of all Spacenoids depended on their success. And now, both of them are..."

Sayla trails off, unable to continue the terrible line of thought.

Kai continues for her, "You're right. Based on our previous intelligence, there shouldn't have been a single mobile suit pilot in all the Earth Federation Forces who could have neutralized O'Rourke or Sinclair, let alone both of them. That's before we found out about her."

Kai shows Sayla a photograph of a very attractive teenaged girl of East Asian descent. The girl in the photograph is dressed in a current Earth Federation Special Forces uniform.

Kai tells Sayla, "This girl's name is Jolie Minh. She's sixteen years old, and she was recruited into the Earth Federation Special Forces eight months ago. Minh was the one who took down both O'Rourke and Sinclair. Our people have also found out that she was instrumental in foiling Barron and Ferrario's attempt to steal the Gundam-100. Furthermore, this 'Jolie Minh' also wrecked an MA-08 Byg Zam that a rogue Side 6 Civil Defense officer was trying to sell to the Phobos Zeon forces."

Sayla considers the implications of what Kai is telling her, "So you think that this girl..."

Kai nods, "She's a Newtype, Sayla. She's like Amuro."

The mention of the name of her slain onetime lover wracks Sayla with a wave of pain. Resisting the flood of emotions within her, Sayla goes on to ask, "What do you recommend?"

Kai considers that, "Sending in more of our people to try to kill this 'Jolie Minh' will probably just be a waste of lives and mobile suits. Nevertheless, I do have some good news on that front: we've finally been able to secure the services of Shin Matsunaga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Matsunaga) and Braniff Oskar."

Sayla recognizes those two names, and that recognition prompts her surprise, "Those are the top mobile suit mercenary pilots in the profession..."

Kai affirms Sayla's declaration, "...professional and veteran killers in mobile suits...they make O'Rourke and Sinclair, with all due respect to both of them, look like bush leaguers in comparison."

Sayla is compelled to agree, "Matsunaga and Oskar are two of the most notorious pilots to have emerged from the One Year War. I'm glad the White Base never encountered them during the war. Even Amuro would have had his hands full taking on either one of them."

Kai nods in agreement, "We've evaluted their abilities. They're actually BETTER than advertised. One would think that the years and age would erode their reflexes and skills, but they've actually gotten better with age. They might be twice as dangerous as they were during the war."

"Acquiring their services must have really dented the budget," Sayla observes.

"Not as much as you'd think," Kai replies, "Matsunaga and Oskar would each have cost us a fortune if either of them worked for money only. Fortunately for us, they're taking 'ideological sympathy' as a down payment. Both are willing to join us for a briefcase of gold bullion, and 'in' on the action against the Federation."

Putting away the last of her medical examnation equipment into a drawer, Sayla notices a second photograph in Kai's hand, "What else do you have to share with me, Kai?"

Kai hesitates for a moment before showing Sayla the second photograph, "I think you'll find this even more intriguing than Jolie Minh was."

Kai shows the photo to Sayla. Sayla sees the image of another very attractive young woman, also an officer in the Earth Federation Forces...this one about two to three years older than Jolie Minh, and of European descent. There is something about the supremely confident, strikingly intelligent look in the eyes of the beautiful young woman in the photograph that unnerves Sayla...something familiar...something that reminds her of her late brother, Cassoval Rem Daikun, more commonly and infamously known as Char Aznable.

Beyond that, however, there is something else even more naggingly familiar about the pretty young redhead in the photograph...something that Sayla cannot quite place.

Kai tells Sayla, "This is Captain Athena Ibaz, nineteen years old, commanding officer of the Earth Federation Special Forces' Centurion Team. She's Jolie Minh's commanding officer, and she directed Minh in each of those operations that I mentioned."

All of a sudden, it clicks for Sayla, "Athena...Ibaz? Ibaz...Athena....Minerva Zabi?!"

Kai nods, his stare ominously intense, "There's no doubt that the commanding officer of the Centurion Team is the Heir of the Zabi Family."

Sayla slumps into a chair, unable to believe the revelation. The photograph of Athena Ibaz...no, Minerva Zabi, stares back at her mockingly.

Episode 6 to be continued

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

At that very moment, on the other side of Cislunar Space in Side 7's Green Noah space colony, the subjects of Sayla Mass and Kai Shiden's discussion sit in a cigarette smoke-filled videoconference room, reviewing a holographic recording of the Centurion Gundam's recent battle against the ISRLA rebels that had hijacked the Moonshadow.

Two nearly empty packs of cigarettes lie near the center of the conference room table, from where a crystalline device projects a holographic image recorded by the Black Box extracted from the Centurion Gundam. The cigarette smoke somehow enhances the quality of the image, making the laser-projection easier to see. That is hardly the reason, however, that Capt. Athena Ibaz and 2Lt. Jolie Minh have smoked their way through eighteen cigarettes between them during the past two hours.

Jolie blows out a cloud of smoke as she relives the battle she barely survived just a few days earlier. She winces as she watches Jordan Sinclair's Quebeley savage her Centurion Gundam again, wrecking its head/camera unit and nearly tearing off its arm.

Seated across the table, Athena exhales her own lungful of smoke as she impassively resets the video for another scene of Jolie getting her mobile suit pummeled by Caitlin O'Rourke's Jagd Doga.

Jolie, having had enough of Athena's silence, finally blurts out, "Is there a point to all this, or do you just get off on watching me screw up?!"

Athena replies calmly, "I'm doing this to keep you alive."

Jolie rises to her feet, slamming her fists on the conference table, "Watching myself getting creamed again and again is supposed to help me stay alive? Go eat yourself, 'Thena!"

Ignoring her temperamental executive officer's outburst, Athena inhales another lungful of smoke and exhales it again deliberately before answering, "The greatest danger that an ace pilot faces is the belief that she's better than her opponent. That belief breeds overconfidence. Overconfidence breeds carelessness. Carelessness breeds self-destruction. Do you understand that, *Lieutenant* Minh?"

The emphasis that Athena places on enunciating on Jolie's new rank humbles the teenager for a moment. Jolie understands that Athena is doing this for her good, but still...

Athena turns off the video and turns on the conference room's lights. She rubs her eyes tiredly for a moment, then habitually pulls out her handkerchief from its customary resting place in the breast pocket of her uniform jacket. Athena tersely, but quietly wipes her fingers with the handkerchief for a moment, then repockets the handkerchief once again.

Jolie smiles. She has always found this particular idiosyncrasy of her friend and commanding officer intriguing and singularly debonair. Anyone else practicing such a personal habit, which Athena drifts into during moments of stress, would seem awkward and pretentious, but Athena does it with a peerless elegance and grace that is uniquely characteristic of her.

Jolie takes one of the final cigarettes from one of the packs on the desk and puts the cigarette into her mouth. Athena lights Jolie's cigarette with an old-fashioned wooden match, then uses the same match to light a fresh cigarette of her own.

As she blows out another cloud of smoke, Athena shows Jolie a bitter smile, "Maybe we should quit smoking. Lung cancer is an extremely painful way to die, I hear."

Jolie, inhaling deeply from her cigarette, replies on the exhale, "Oh, yeah. Definitely. If we don't quit smoking now, we're not gonna see thirty."

After a moment's silence, the two young women laugh, choking a bit on the cigarette smoke. The joke is that given their career choice, they are both unlikely to see thirty anyway. No matter how many cigarettes they smoke, or how many glasses of bourbon and whiskey they drink, they're still far more likely to die in the cockpit of a mobile suit than they are of lung or liver disease.

Such fatalism, perhaps, is endemic among soldiers.

After their laughter has subsided, Jolie pipes up, "Seriously, though, 'Thena. Do you really have any long term plans for life? Or do you think it'd just be a waste of time?"

Athena replies, "You already know my long term plan, such as it is. If I live long enough, I can make this goddamned world a better place than it's been during our lifetimes."

That much Jolie knows, and it's really not what she is asking about, "I mean personal. Haven't you ever thought about getting married? You know? Starting a family and settling down?"

Athena lets out a short laugh, as if Jolie had just her told the silliest joke that Athena has ever heard, and stubs out her last cigarette into the ashtray before replying, "It's never crossed my mind."

Jolie rests her chin in her hands, looking wistfully somewhere beyond the conference room's walls, "My dream is to settle down someday with a man that I really love, and start a family with him. Get back the life I had when I was a little girl, except I'd be the wife and mom this time."

Athena grins. She can almost imagine Jolie in those roles, "You know, if you want that dream to come true, you've got to help me make *my* dream come true first."

That much, Jolie understands. Athena's ambition is to create a world wherein tragedies like the one that had orphaned Jolie could never happen again. This is the reason that Jolie agreed to work with Athena in the first place.

Jolie asks, "And how far are we from achieving this dream, Athena?"

Athena becomes grim, "A long way...'many miles before we sleep,' Jolie. Robert Frost. American poet. 20th Century.'"

A call comes through the intercom, "Attention: Capt. Athena Ibaz and 2Lt. Jolie Minh's presence are requested at the office of Col. Cairlay."

Hearing their names, Athena and Jolie rise immediately and begin heading towards Colonel Cairlay's office some ten stories above them.

The call of duty has found them again.

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

"Generals Noah and Blackhead will be attending this security conference with the Federation High Council in Shanghai, China on Earth," Colonel Cairlay tells the commanding and executive officers of the Aragon, Centurion, Gallant, Moscow, and Xerxes Teams, "and we believe that ISRLA assassins might make an attempt on their transports while they're vulnerable during atmospheric entry. Your five teams have had notable success in dealing with ISRLA insurgents in recent months, so the High Command has decided to give this assignment to you. The generals will be departing for Earth forty-eight hours from now. Do you have any questions?"

"A comment, if I may, sir," Captain Athena Ibaz offers.

"Go ahead, Captain Ibaz," replies Cairlay, fixing the pretty young officer in his unnerving gaze.

"Thank you, sir," Athena answers, "the recent Moonshadow incident and the theft of the Gundam-100 prototype prove that our security is not, shall we say, as seamless as it should be. This Shanghai Conference, for example, is not public knowledge, and yet we have reason to anticipate that the ISRLA is likely to interfere."

"Are you suggesting a fifth column has infiltrated our ranks, Captain?" Cairlay ventures.

"I'm not inclined to make baseless accusations, particularly against our own comrades-at-arms, Colonel," Athena says evenly, "but it should be pointed out that not all of the civilian contractors upon whom the Federal Forces depend for supplies and transportation are necessarily or completely sympathetic to the Earth Federation Government, and these contractors are, by necessity, privy to some of our activities."

Colonel Cairlay nods. The facts illuminated by Athena are apparent enough, but the High Command has not been responsive to the Special Forces' requests for permission to plug intelligence leaks more effectively. Consequently, the Special Forces are forced to work from the disadvantaged position of reacting.

Nevertheless, the Federation's intelligence personnel have been far from valueless, and as if to prove it, Colonel Cairlay activates a holographic dossier.

"Let's consider that matter at a more germane time," the colonel says, "Central Intelligence has obtained information about what who will likely attempt a strike against the generals' transports. Ladies and gentlemen: these are the Blackbirds."

The profiles of three individual appear in the holographic display. One is a man of Caucasian descent in his mid-forties. The second is an ageless man of African heritage. The third is a woman of Asian descent likely in her late thirties."

"Dirk Kirscher, Mugabe Gazi, and Hyo-Kung Song," Colonel Cairlay identifies, "Collectively known as the Blackbirds."

"Those names and faces seem kind of familiar," remarks Captain Kenneth Ackerman, commanding officer of the Xerxes Team and veteran of the Gryps Conflict.

"That's not suprising," Cairlay remarks with a bitter smile, "they were all once our people...as members of the Titans."

There is the a collective intake of breath as tension seizes the conference room. The Titans. Twenty years earlier, before the current configuration of the Earth Federation Special Forces was established, the Titans had been the Federal Forces' elite anti-Zeon, anti-insurgent task force. The Titans were charged with crushing any sign of Contolist or Zeon insurrection before it could pose a threat. Led by Admiral Jamitov Haiman and Colonel Bosque Om, the Titans had performed their designated function too zealously and singlemindedly. By the mid-U.C. 0080s, the Titans had become nothing more or less than Haiman and Om's private army, to harass and murder Spacenoids at will. After the infamous 30th Bunch Incident that caused the loss of millions of lives in Side 1, the AEUG (Anti-Earth Union Government) was established by the reformist Blex Forra, a former Earth Federation Forces general who opposed the Titans at every turn.

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The logo of the Titans Corps

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Admiral Jamitov Haimen, Supreme Commander of the Titans Corps, circa U.C. 0087

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Colonel Bosque Om, brutal enforcer of Titans' authority.

[Buried Alien]

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The logo of the Anti-Earth Union Government (AEUG), formed to oppose the Titans

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Blex Forra, the humane founder and leader of AEUG. Assassinated by the Titans in U.C. 0087.

"The Blackbirds saw action during the Gryps Conflict against both the AEUG and the Axis," Colonel Cairlay explains for the benefit of the younger officers, to whom all this is vaguely recalled history, "they were very effective piloting Barzam, Hambrabi, and Gapsray mobile suits in numerous campaigns during U.C. 0087 and early U.C. 0088. After the Battle of the Zedan's Gate, however, they disappeared and were listed as missing. They resurfaced three years ago as soldiers of fortune, willing to kill anyone for the right price."

"Why hasn't the Federation bought them out, then?" asks 2Lt. Jolie Minh, who has been silent until now.

Colonel Cairlay, still irritated by Jolie's undisciplined behavior and lack of respect for proper protocol, shoots the Centurion Team's beautiful young executive officer a reproving look before answer, "Even mercenaries have principles, Lt. Minh, as paradoxical as that sounds. Having served the Federal Forces once, and having left the service, the Blackbirds are loathe to return. Mercenaries do not give their loyalties to any particular party for too long. To do so, they feel, would diminish their value."

"How much value could they possibly have?" Jolie says, throwing her hands up in a gesture of incredulity, "They're old. I mean, for pilots, they're kind of old. And so are their mobile suits."

"Their experience makes them even more dangerous than they were previously, Lt. Minh," Colonel Cairlay says severely, "I'm sure Captain Ibaz has taught you that. As far as their mecha is concerned, you should not be so naive as to assume that they have been working with twenty-year outmoded mobile suits."

So saying, Colonel Cairlay brings up a new image on the holographic display. A mobile suit bearing some resemblance to a gladiator of classical antiquity appears. The mobile suit is the black of deepest space.

"This, ladies and gentlemen," Colonel Cairlay explains, "is the mobile suit AMX-140 Gellond, a new development of the Phobos Zeon Mobile Weapons Research and Development Department. It is based on the technology of the old Zeon MS-14 Gelgoog mobile suit and our own RX-93 Nu Gundam, which was lost in U.C. 0093 during the Second Neo Zeon War, but not before a rogue engineer at Anaheim Electronics had leaked the Nu Gundam's data to the Neo Zeon forces. We have reason to believe that the Quebird might match, if not surpass, the performance ability of even your Centurion Gundam, Lt. Minh."

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued...

Ten minutes later, 2Lt. Jolie Minh storms out of the conference room, her commanding officer Captain Athena Ibaz at her side.

"That Cairlay is a freakin' idiot," Jolie complains, "he kept going on about those 'Blackbird' losers like they're some kind of unkillable superpeople or something! Let me take 'em on and I'll...!"

"That's enough, Jolie," Athena says firmly, pulling the visor of her officer's hat low upon her head, "the colonel was right."

"Right?!" Jolie stops in her tracks and turns to Athena, incredulous anger in her pretty young visage, "What the...? Well, nice to know I've got your vote of confidence! Thanks for the stab in the back, 'Thena!"

Athena exhales before returning, "Have you been listening to anything I've been telling you? You're thinking with your ego, not your brain. That's going to get you killed, sooner rather than later."

Jolie, her anger boiling over, snaps back with, "Yeah... like you'd care!'

Athena shoots Jolie back an angry look of her own, but instead of saying anything in response, turns away and draws her handkerchief out to wipe her fingers.

Jolie realizes that she's gone too far. Biting her lip in sheepish remorse, Jolie looks down and says meekly, "I'm sorry, Athena. I didn't mean that. I know you care...that's why you're trying to tell me I can't beat the Blackbirds. It's just that..."

Athena repockets her handkerchief, turns around, and lifts the visor of her officer's hat a bit higher, letting Jolie clearly see her eyes. Putting her hands on Jolie's shoulders, Athena gives her friend a reassuring smile, "I know, Jolie. And I'm not saying you can't or won't defeat the Blackbirds. What I'm trying to get you to understand, though, is that not all battles are won by quick reflexes and deft maneuvers. You've got more raw talent as a pilot and a fighter than anyone else I've ever seen, but you need to learn to use your head in combat."

"I'm not you," Jolie says, "I don't have a 200 IQ, and I haven't read every book on military strategy ever written. You write books on military strategy that other officers read. I just know how to cave people's faces in."

"You don't need to be the second coming of Sun T'zu," Athena tells Jolie, "but before you enter a battle, do you ever consider these: what are your enemy's habits and idiosyncrasies? What are your enemy's greatest strengths? What are his greatest weaknesses? Where are the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in your own combat technique? How might your enemy exploit that? You need to figure these things out before you go into battle, Jolie."

"How do I do that?" Jolie asks.

Athena says, "Give me some time to gather some information. For now, let's get down into the mecha pool and inspect the team's mobile suits. The rest of the team won't be back from their weekend leaves for another four or five hours, and the mechanics team is understaffed. I'll tell you more as we're working."

Athena puts a reassuring arm around Jolie's shoulders. The partners make their way to the mecha bay to assist in the maintenance of their team's mobile suits.

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

At an apparently abandoned warehouse in Anman City on the surface of the moon, three people gather for a furtive meeting to discuss equallly secretive plans.

"This is the place, eh?" Mugabe Gazi says, looking around the cavernous hold, "Doesn't look like anybody's been here in years."

"Exactly what makes this a good place to meet," Hyo-Kyun Song replies, "we don't exactly want to advertise our presence."

"After this job," Dirk Kirscher comments, "we can all disappear for a long time...into retirement. There's this lakeside in Switzerland where I'm really looking forward to building a house, with a private boatdock and all."

Mugabe smiles, "Last time, you said you'd be building it on Maui. Why doesn't this dream house of yours ever get built, Kirscher?"

"Probably because he blows every one of his paychecks on wine and women," Hyo-Kyung muses.

"You two know me too well, don't you?" Dirk says with a killer handsome grin.

The three old friends laugh. Ever since the demise of the Titans, the Blackbirds have made themselves considerable personal fortunes as mercenaries. Charging one million credits each for an assassination or ambush job, they've only needed to work sporadically over the years. Gazi and Song's joking allusions to their friend Kirsher's spendthrift habits aside, they were comfortably wealthy and didn't need to take on jobs for money anymore. It was the thrill that brought them back into the game again and again. What greater ecstasy could life offer than hunting down and smiting an enemy from the sky with a well-placed beam cannon shot or missile? The only downside was the diminishing level of challenge offered by opponents.

"That must be our man," Dirk remarks, as he and his comrades note the approach of a shuttlecraft.

A thin man in his late thirties emerges from the shuttle, his greyish hair complementing his beady eyes. In his hand is a black briefcase.

"You must be Kai Shiden," Dirk says, offering his hand, "it's a pleasure. Heard a great deal about your exploits during the One Year War."

Kai shakes Dirk's hand, then offers it to Mugabe and Hyo-Kyung as well, "Heard alot about you three too. It's funny. Ten years earlier, and we'd be on opposite sides."

"Yeah, well. Times change, and so do loyalties," Dirk replies, offering Kai a cigarette.

Kai declines, "No, thanks. I quit smoking two years ago."

"I suppose you need to be more health-conscious these days as Director of the ISRLA's Intellingence and Information Bureau, eh, Mr. Shiden?" remarks Hyo-Kyung Song.

"Actually," Kai replies, "I just got sick of the taste of tobacco smoke."

Mugabe says, "You've brought the information we requested?"

Kai opens his briefcase, "Yes, along with the first part of your agreed pay. One million credits each, with two million more after the successful completion of your mission."

Kai delivers a sealed pouch to each of the three members of the Blackbirds team.

"Open those," Kai instructs them.

The three pilots do. Within each pouch is a package of money, and a dossier of photographs.

"Your objective will be the Federation space shuttles Centennial Eagle and Night Sky," says Kai, "these shuttles will be departing Side 7 for Shanghai, China, Earth at precisely 23:18, Side 7 local time, on May 11. The shuttles will be carrying Federal Forces generals Bright Noah and Manron Blackhead, respectively. Your assignment: eliminate both shuttles and all passengers, no survivors."

"Two of the top commanders of the Federal Forces, eh?" Dirk Kirscher says, stubbing out his cigarette, "you ISRLA characters are pretty ruthless, which I can respect. But wasn't Bright Noah your commanding officer on the White Base during the One Year War?"

Kai replies, "As you said yourself, Mr. Kirscher, times change and so do loyalties. Besides, Bright Noah and I never got along. I didn't like him, and I figure he wasn't too fond of me either. In any case, it's nothing personal. Just war. If he were on our side, I'd work with him."

"But since he's not," Hyo-Kyung says, "you're perfectly willing to kill him, if that's what your goals call for. Still, I'm surprised that Sayla Mass has agreed to it. Isn't she kind of close to Noah?"

"I never told Sayla about this operation," Kai confesses, "she would have never consented to it. She'll probably never forgive me after she finds out, but she will agree that it's necessary. In any case, it needs to be done."

[Buried Alien]

"What's all this other stuff, then?" asks Mugabe, looking at the photographs in the dossier file.

"Whoo-wee!" Dirk exults as he studies photographs of Captain Athena Ibaz and 2Lt. Jolie Minh, "who are these lovely creatures? Are these babes a bonus for Mugabe and me, here, Mr. Shiden? If so, what about poor Hyo-Kyung over there? She still isn't married yet, and she's pushin' 40!"

"You'll be pushing up weeds if you make another remark like that, Dirk," Hyo-Kyung says with a voluptuous grin. Although she lacks Athena and Jolie's fresh-faced youthfulness, the more mature Hyo-Kyung Song is a highly attractive woman in her own right.

Kai, ignoring the banter, says, "The Asian girl is Jolie Minh. She's probably the Federal Forces' top ace pilot right now. She's only been in the service for a few months, but she's already taken down a Byg-Zam and the elite team we sent to capture the Moonshadow. The kid is lightning in a bottle."

"She's the one who took down O'Rourke and Sinclair?" Dirk says with surprise, "Those two kids were damn good. We took part in some war games with them about two years ago, and we were pretty impressed by them. In a couple of years, they could have been as good as we are."

Mugabe says, "With that little experience, she took down two top aces. This Minh girl is dangerous."

"Yeah, but nothing we can't handle," Dirk protests, "Experience trumps raw talent anytime, and we've got way more than just experience working for us, right?"

Mugabe and Hyo-Kyung nod in agreement. As veterans, they are extremely proud of and confident in their abilities. This upstart Jolie Minh fails to intimidate them.

"And so who's this other hottie?" Dirk asks, turning the photo of Athena to Kai.

"Her name is Captain Athena Ibaz," Kai says, "she's Jolie Minh's commanding officer. She's an excellent tactician...maybe the best in the entire Federal Forces, including the senior officers. She's the brain that directs Jolie Minh's deadly skills. We have...a special interest in Captain Ibaz. It's important that you NOT, I repeat, NOT kill her, people."

"Oh?" Dirk says, "She somebody important?"

"You might say that," Kai replies cryptically.

Hyo-Kyung interjects, "But we don't need to take any such precautions with Jolie Minh, right?"

Kai replies, "Right. Jolie Minh, you may liquidate as you please."

"All right then," Dirk says, "it's settled. We'll report back to you here twenty-four hours after the mission is completed."

Kai shakes hands with the Blackbirds again, "Here's to your success, my friends."

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued...

Athena and Jolie are in the mecha bay of Garrison Noah, performing maintenance on Jolie's Centurion Gundam. The pair have exchanged their smart officer's uniforms for work coveralls, whose tight fit only helps to accentuate and flatter the two young women's appealing physiques.

Athena is seated in the Centurion Gundam's cockpit, hatch open, uploading data on the Blackbirds trio into the Centurion Gundam's combat computer. From the Federal Forces' central computer databank, Athena has extracted past combat logs from the Black Boxes of Federal Forces mobile suits wrecked by the Blackbirds over the years (and there have been plenty).

At the same time, Jolie is wielding a crescent wrench to secure a vital nut on the Centurion Gundam's left arm joint. The mechanics had replaced the arm entirely after it had been mangled in Jolie's battle against Jordan Sinclair and Caitlin O'Rourke, and although the mechanics had done good work on the replacement, Jolie doesn't want to leave anything to chance. Athena had taught her not to.

Satisfied that the nut is secure, Jolie floats down from the Centurion Gundam's left shoulder to the open cockpit hatch, "Hey, 'Thena!"

Without looking up from her uploading work, Athena asks, "Have you got that arm joint secure yet?"

"Yup," Jolie replies, "it's on tighter than a corsage around the belly of a sumo wrestler!"

Athena is amused by the image, but says nothing in response.

Jolie follows with, "So while I was working the wrenches and screwdrivers, you've been down here playing computer games?"

Athena says, "I'm uploading data on the Blackbirds' past attacks on Federation mobile suits into the Centurion Gundam's combat computer."

Jolie blinks in surprise, "Really? How'd you get that stuff?"

Athena replies, "After the One Year War, the Federation has made a point to store all of the Federal Forces' combat data into its data network. They have literally every piece of data from every piece of mecha ever deployed by the Earth Federation Forces since U.C. 0080."

"Cool," Jolie says, "so when I go to fight the Blackbirds, I'll have the inside track on all their tactics?"

"You might say that," Athena answers, wrapping up the upload, "but like I've been telling you: you need to think your way through it. I've forwarded the data uploaded into the Centurion Gundam's combat computer into your personal Datapad. I want you to study that information carefully, taking note of the enemy's strengths, weaknesses, and habits, especially in comparison to your own. While you do that, I'll have to get you more updated information."

"More updated info," Jolie wonders, "from where? Isn't it all in the data network?"

"From past encounters with the Blackbirds," Athena points out, "but as Colonel Cairlay told us, they're using new mecha now. That information won't be in our database."

"Then how are we going to get it?" asks Jolie.

Athena shows a cryptic grin, "There are ways."

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

Meanwhile, in his office elsewhere at Garrison Noah, General Bright Noah is speaking to his wife and daughter at their home in Shanghai, Earth via videophone.

"I'm hoping to have at least a day to spend with you two after the conference wraps up," General Noah says to his wife, Mirai and their teenaged daughter, Chieming.

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General Bright Noah's wife Mirai and daughter Chieming in U.C. 0093. Mirai was the helmswoman of the White Base during the One Year War.

Mirai smiles at her husband from tens of thousands of miles away, "Well, at least in a year from now, Chieming can see her daddy more often. Your little girl has just submitted her application for the Federal Forces Officer's Academy, Bright."

Bright beams proudly, "That's my girl."

Chieming, a cute, vivacious girl of sixteen who has inherited her parents' modest good looks, appears from behind her mother, "Mom says that you won't have a moment's peace after I go up there to look after you, Daddy."

Bright grins, "Actually, you'll probably be the only peace I get up here. Seriously, sweetie, maybe we should change places. You can join the Federal Forces and Daddy will retire, how does that sound?"

"Think they'll give me a battleship to command?" Chieming teases her father fondly.

"With my reputation in the Federal Forces, not likely," Bright returns, "they'll probably assign you to a garbage scow somewhere in the Asteroid Belt..."

Mirai, who has been watching her husband and her daughter share their first conversation in months with fondness, suddenly turns serious, "Bright..."

"Yes?" Bright responds probingly, his instincts alerted by the sudden change in the tone of his wife's voice. Bright already has a sense of where the conversation is about to turn.

Mirai says, "We...we've heard from Hathaway. He recently..."

"I don't want to hear about it," Bright says darkly, "we have no association with that person anymore."

Mirai says pleadingly, "Bright, Hathway is your son! No matter what he might have done..."

Bright cuts his wife off bitterly, "He's a traitor, Mirai, and a murderer. If I ever see him again, I will make sure he's prosecuted for his crimes."

Mirai tries imploringly again, "But Bright..."

Bright says, "I don't want to discuss it anymore, Mirai. I look forward to seeing you and Chieming later this week. We'll enjoy some time together. I need to get back to work. Bright, out."

Bright turns off the videophone and sits brooding at his desk. The subject of his son, Hathaway, has been a sore point for the past four years.

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Hathaway Noah in U.C. 0093, when he was thirteen years old

Bright had once been very proud of his son Hathway...a bright and talented boy, very devoted to his family and good at heart. When Char Aznable had attempted to drop Axis Fortress on Earth in U.C. 0093, Mirai Noah had only been able to secure passage into space for her son, Hathaway. Hathaway rejoined his father aboard the Federation Forces' battleship La Kailum, of which Bright was the commanding officer. There, Hathawy had met the legendary Earth Federation Forces' hero and ace pilot Captain Amuro Ray and Amuro's then-lover, 2Lt. Chan Agi, a Federal Forces' engineer responsible for the maintenance of Amuro's mecha, the RX-93 Nu Gundam. Hathaway also met the Newtype girl Quess Parayana, with whom he became infatuated immediately.

Quess, a fractious and unstable young woman, was seduced by Char Aznable and recruited into the Neo Zeon Forces, where she was trained to pilot the mobile armor NZ-333 Alpha Azieru. This powerful mecha caused terrible casualties among the Federal Forces until it, along with its pilot, were accidentally destroyed by a Federal Forces mobile suit piloted by Chan Agi. In a fit of rage over Quess' sudden death, Hathaway Noah killed Chan Agi. It was his first murder.

Quess' death devasted the young Hathaway. His hope had been to run away with Quess, where they could start a new life together free from the warfare and strife caused by adults. Hathaway blamed Quess' death on his father, on Amuro Ray, and on Char Aznable. It was because of the Earth Federation and the Archduchy of Zeon that Quess, like so many others, was dead.

Hathaway's killing of Chan Agi subjected him to charges of murdering a Federal Forces' officer...a crime entailing a penalty of either life imprisonment or death. Against his sense of duty and priority, Bright used his influence as a senior officer and Federal Forces hero to help Hathway flee from the authorities. At that point, Bright was still able to see his son as a good man, albeit one who had been misled by his own passions into a tragic mistake.

In the years since, however, Hathaway Noah has resurfaced as a mercenary, spy, and assassin for the ISRLA, with whom he began associating two years earlier. Hathaway has been connected to a string of terrorist attacks on Earth Federation targets during the past two years, and his hateful anti-Federation screeds have been published in both fringe Contolist pamphlets and mainstream media outlets. Hathaway Noah has become an embarrassment to his father, to say nothing of a dangerous potential enemy. Despite the shame with which Bright has come to view his son, he acknowledges that Hathaway remains a brilliant and talented young man, with a natural charisma and a gift for strategy.

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Hathaway Noah now (U.C. 0097). Eighteen years old and a fierce Contolist idealogue.

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

At a bar in Shanghai on Earth, a young man orders another glass of scotch, his third of the evening.

Another, somewhat older man pays the tab for him.

Hathaway Noah, a handsome eighteen year old youth, thanks the man paying for his drink with a nod, and says, "So if your three little birdies up there somehow don't manage to get the job done, you want me to finish it down here?"

The other man, Kai Shiden, replies, "The White Wolf will back you up."

"So the wolf has come down from the North," says Hathaway, sipping at the scotch, "to prey upon the creatures of the meadows."

"Given your connection to one of the targets," Kai says, "your role is an important one. Few know Bright Noah better."

"So you're asking me to commit patricide," Hathaway responds.

"I'd have never asked if I thought you were incapable of it," comes Kai's answer.

Hathaway is indeed capable of it. After Quess died, he had come to hate his father. His father...the hypocrite. Loyally serving the corrupt and cowardly Earth Federation Government after all that he had seen them do to Spacenoids. Hathaway would call no such man "father." Indeed, Hathaway had kept his father's name only to bring shame to it.

"The man gave me life," Hathaway admits, "but I will give him death. What does family matter in the struggle for humanity's future? If I survive, I'll live a better life than he ever did."

Kai Shiden grins, and places a briefcase on the bar counter, "Everything you need to know is in this briefcase, including the location of and activation code for a mecha we have prepared for your use, if necessary. With the White Wolf covering the actual execution, however, you probably won't need to use it. Just a precaution."

Kai calls for the bill and prepares to leave. He turns to Hathaway one more time to add, "It's best that you keep a low profile until the operation is over. I know that there is family that you still care about here in Shanghai, but it would not be a good idea for them to see you before our work here is complete. If and when you do see them, however, say 'hello' to Mirai for me, for what it's worth."

Hathaway smiles bitterly at that, "You're making plans to assassinate her husband, and you're still offering greetings to her? Mixed signals, Mr. Shiden."

Kai replies, "Wars upend everything, son. Friendships being the first casualties, typically."

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

The next day, Athena has the Centurion Team gathered in their own conference room at their residence facility.

"Generals Noah and Blackhead will be attending an unannounced security conference with the heads of the Earth Federation Government in Shanghai, China on Earth," Athena tells her team, "our team and four other teams have been ordered to provide security for the generals' transports on the way down to Earth. We'll be escorting the transports to the edge of Earth's atmosphere. As a precaution, all of our mobile suits will be equipped for atmospheric reentry and terrestrial combat."

The members of the Centurion Team understand that to mean that their mobile suits will be fitted with Vollute systems, a combination parachute/ramjet that would slow their mobile suits adequately enough that they do not overheat and disintegrate from the friction of atmospheric reentry. Atmospheric reentry is undoubtedly the most dangerous conditions for mobile suit operations, especially if actual combat occurs simultaneously.

Athena continues, "We're anticipating a possible attack by a team of soldiers of fortune called the 'Blackbirds.' They are former Titans ace mobile suit pilots who have caused a great amount of damage to the Federal Forces during the past twenty years. Records of their past actions against Federation targets have been uploaded to your MS combat computers and personal Datapads. I want you to study them carefully."

Corporal Anna Horowitz asks, "What about the generals' security after they enter Earth's atmosphere?"

"A special escort squad from Shanghai Whampoa Base will be handling that," Athena replies.

As the members of her team study the information in their Datapads, Athena adds, "Supplemental information will be provided to you shortly about the enemy's mobile suits. They will be using a new model designated AMX-030 Gellond, produced by the Phobos Zeon Principality."

"Alexander Miguel," Jolie snarls under her breath.

Ignoring that, Athena tells her squad, "All right. You're dismissed until 18:00 tonight. Before that hour, I want mobile suit maintenance checks and all other equipment checks completed and documented."

The Centurion Team salutes as one, "Yes, ma'am."

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

An abandoned warehouse in Industria Colony...

A large, unmarked transport docks with the colony...typical of the spacecraft used to haul in unprocessed scrap metal or haul out recycled materials from Industria on a regular basis.

This particular transport, however, carries a cargo that is anything but typical.

The pilot of the shuttle disembarks, and is greeted by two men and a woman.

"Recycling business pays well these days?" Dirk Kirscher asks the pilot casually.

"We all pay and pray, eh?" the pilot answers.

The proper pass phrases exchanged, the men shake hands.

"I'm 1Lt. Adam Storm of the Army of the Principality of Phobos Zeon," says the pilot, "Colonel Davenport ordered me to deliver these mecha to you."

Dirk leads his comrades Mugabe Gazi and Hyo-Kyung Song into the hold of the enormous transport craft. Within the hold are three sleek, black-colored mobile suits.

"They're just...beautiful," Kirscher enthuses.

"Powerful," Gazi agrees.

"But how do they perform?" Song thinks to ask.

"You may test them out immediately," 1Lt. Storm replies, "all three units are ready for full operation right now."

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

Ten minutes later, Dirk Kirscher fires a shot from the beam rifle of one of the Gellonds at a floating piece of space debris. The explosion of the debris causes other nearby floating objects to move about. After destroying the first piece of debris, the beam arcs towards a second target, then a third, a fourth, and finally, a fifth...disintegrating five large, mobile-suit sized pieces of metallic space debris before petering out.

"That's frigging awesome," Kirscher says, opening the visor on his normalsuit helmet.

"Yes," 1Lt. Storm says from the mobile suit's passenger seat, "Phased Tracking Beam Weaponry. Allows you to track and strike five targets in succession on a single shot. The beam tracks motion to hit the nearest moving target."

"Excellent," Mugabe Gazi comments, "we can't fail with these new weapons."

"General Miguel looks forward to your success," Storm adds, "and hopes you will consider entering his service after you've completed this operation for the ISRLA."

The Blackbirds look at each other as if to consider it. The Principality of Phobos Zeon is wealthy, and General Alexander Miguel is known to be generous to those who serve him well.

Retirement could wait.

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

0330 the following morning at the Centurion Team's barracks. Captain Athena Ibaz enters 2Lt. Jolie Minh's private quarters.

Jolie is fast asleep. Athena turns on the room's overhead lighting, filling the small space with white illumination.

Jolie buries herself in the covers, wrapping her blankets around her as if she were a mummy...or a human burrito.

"You got something against sleep?" Jolie's muffled voice comes irritably from under the covers.

"You'll be sleeping for a long, long time if you don't get up now," Athena replies, "I've gotten the data on the Blackbirds' Gellond mobile suits."

That arouses Jolie. The pretty teenaged mobile suit pilot pokes her head out of the covers, long, luscious hair all askew, "Data on the Gellonds? Really? How did...?"

"Never mind that," Athena says, "get dressed and report down to the conference room."

Fifteen minutes later, the Centurion Team is gathered in its conference room. They are all somewhat bleary-eyed from having been roused from their sleep, but Athena figures that cutting short their sleep by thirty minutes is definitely worthwhile if it means keeping them all alive.

Athena has a graphic of the Zeon mobile suit Gellond on the holographic display, "The Gellond is the latest upgrade of the Gelgoog series mobile suit. Its engine output is thirty percent greater than that of a Geara Doga, and its speed and maneuverability are more or less equivalent to those of our own Jegans. The three units that have been assigned to the Blackbirds are probably upgrades on the standard model, with improved avionics and combat data processors."

The Centurion Team members take notes...except for Jolie, who appears a bit spaced out.

Athena notes that with mild irritation, but continues, "What you'll need to watch out for is the Gellond's multi-target tracking beam rifle system. This new weapon enables the Gellond to hit five separate targets in sequence with a single shot from its beam rifle. It accomplishes this with a new kind of motion tracking device that our scientists and engineers haven't been able to completely figure out yet."

The Centurion Team members mumble nervously among themselves about the enemy's fearsome new weapon. They are apprehensive about going up against this new technology against which they have no counter or protection.

Jolie yawns softly, but audibly.

Athena says, "Lieutenant Minh, do you have a question or comment?"

Jolie stretches before answering wearily, "No, ma'am. Just need to watch out for this multi-tracking thingamajig..."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes and shake her head, Athena goes on, "Lieutenant Minh and I will take the point on counterattack if we encounter the Blackbirds during the operation. The priority for the rest of you will be to support the other Special Forces units in protecting the Silverthread and the Nightwing. Generals Noah and Blackhead must arrive on Earth safely, is that understood?"

The Centurion Team salutes as one, "Yes, ma'am!"

"All right then," Athena says, "you're dismissed to breakfast in the commissary. We'll reassemble at Garrison Noah at 0600. We'll be spending the day making final inspections on our mobile suits and reviewing procedures for atmospheric combat."

As the Centurion Team begins to depart, Athena turns to Jolie, "Lieutenant Minh, I'd like you to stay behind for a moment."

Looks like my English muffin and orange juice will have to wait until after the lecture, Jolie sighs.

"Yeah, what do you want, 'Thena?" Jolie says, "Little pre-breakfast yelling to start the morning off right?"

"I never yell at you," Athena says softly...which is a fact that Jolie must concede. Constantly nag, yes, but Athena never yells at her.

Athena tells Jolie, "This operation is important. Generals Noah and Blackhead will likely be receiving new orders from the Earth Federation High Council regarding the ISRLA and the Zeon remnants. The ISRLA and Zeon know this too."

Jolie replies, "Are you so sure there's going to be an attack? I mean, this whole thing is top secret, right? Even the press doesn't know about this conference."

Athena shakes her head, "Federation security has been like a sieve lately. The Gundam-100 was supposed to have been a secret too. Look what happened."

"And," Jolie points out, "you were able to get classified information about the Gellond mobile suits. Even I know that you don't have the security clearance for that info, 'Thena."

Athena grins slightly, "You're learning."

"So then just how did you get the data?" Jolie asks.

Athena says cryptically, "Special Forces officers are like magicians. Both conjure things impossibly out of thin air, and both will never tell you how..."






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


Eighteen hours later, the Earth Federation Forces space shuttles Silverthread and Nightwing sit in a launch hangar of Garrison Noah, their fusion-powered engines warmed up and awaiting ignition. Maintenance technicians make final checks on both spacecrafts' external shells, which must be in optimal condition for atmospheric re-entry.

General Bright Noah is already aboard the Silverthread, as is his counterpart, General Manron Blackhead, aboard the Nightwing.

In the cabin of the Silverthread, General Noah records an entry into his personal log, "...hoping the conference on Earth will be productive. The ISRLA insurgency is spreading...growing stronger by the day. Our greatest fear is that it will ally itself with the surviving Neo Zeon elements in the outer solar system, particularly Phobos. I...I'm still hoping that Sayla Mass will be able to steer the ISR movement towards a more peaceful approach. Ms. Mass served under me on the White Base during the One Year War, and I trust her. Nevertheless, the need to remain vigilant is urgent as always. My hope is that the Federation High Council..."

Nearby, the Centurion Team and four other Special Forces units are making final checks on their mobile suits. Particular attention is given to the MS's vollute re-entry packs, which they don't plan on using because the Special Forces have been assigned only to the edge of Earth's atmosphere (at which point, security forces from Earth will take over).

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued...

That evening, at 23:05, Side 7 local time, Captain Athena Ibaz, 2Lt. Jolie Minh, and the twenty-three other mobile suit pilots from the Aragon, Centurion, Gallant, Moscow, and Xerxes Teams seal the O-rings of their normalsuit collars and the reinforced Plasglas visor shields of their helmets. Combat computer systems are engaged. Twenty-five mobile suits step onto hydraualic catapults that hurl the armored combat mecha from the airlocks of Garrison Noah into the black emptiness of cosmos.

At precisely 23:18, Side 7 local time, the Earth Federation Forces space shuttles Silverthread and Nightwing launch from Garrison Noah in Side 7, en rout to the Federation's Shanghai Whampoa Base on Earth.

During the past forty-eight hours, reconnaisance flights of Federal Forces AWAC units have swept the re-entry azimuth that the two shuttles would be traveling upon during their descent into Earth's atmosphere. The reconnaissance crews have detected nothing amiss...nothing that would pose a threat.

In this era, however, in which the Minovsky particle has rendered long-range monitoring and tracking all but impossible, dangers often go undetected until they strike. To venture into the cosmos is to venture into potential ambush.


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

An unassuming commercial cargo craft approaches LaGrange Point Three, apparently on course to Side 7. In thirty seconds, it will come within range of the Side 7 Zone, at which time it will likely be intercepted and ordered to turn back by Federal Forces patrol units.

In less than a third of those thirty seconds, three mobile suits rapidly disgorge themselves from the cargo bay of the shuttle. Three mobile suits painted the black of the endless cosmos.

Dirk Kirscher, Mugabe Gazi, and Hyo-Kyung Song - Blackbird Leader, Blackbird Two, and Blackbird Three. The three are silent as stones as their triplicate mobile suits speed toward their targets of destiny. Radio silence must be maintained to avoid prematurely revealing their presence, but there is really no need to communicate - at least not verbally. Three minds had become one through years of cooperation. Three sets of deadly reflexes. Three heralds of hell.

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

"Re-entry azimuth attained," reports the Silverthread's navigator from the shuttle's cockpit, "will make contact with outer atmosphere in T-Minus 600 seconds and counting."

Aboard the Nightwing, another navigator issues a similar report.

The navigational control tower at Shanghai Whampoa Base acknowledges the twin reports, "Roger that, Silverthread and Nightwing. Escort squadron from Earthside will be making contact with you in T-Minus 0480 seconds and counting."

Inside the cockpit of the Centurion Gundam, Jolie suddenly experiences a throbbing headache, "Oooooh."

Hearing Jolie's moan, Athena opens communications to the Centurion Gundam's cockpit, "Centurion Leader to Centurion Two. Are you all right, Jolie?"

"Bad headache...all of a sudden...heavy pressure...in head," Jolie replies.

A few seconds later, Athena begins to feel it too, albeit at a lesser intensity than Jolie does, "You're right...I'm also sensing it here."

Athena has a strong hunch about what her and Jolie's sudden headaches mean.

Athena quickly issues an order to Corporal Anna Horowitz, "Anna, position your AWAC unit directly above the Silverthread."

"Yes, ma'am," Anna replies as she complies with her commanding officer's orders.


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

At a distance of 10,000 meters behind the two shuttles and their escort squads, Blackbirds Two and Three draw beads on the engine blocks of the Silverthread and Nightwing, respectively. The beam rifles of the two Gellond mobile suits, primed and charged, are a heartbeat away from unleashing their lightning.

Swift execution from the heavens.

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


"Detect anything?" Athena inquires.

Anna replies, "Nothing, ma'am. Just some...wait a second. Heat source building at my 12 o'clock position."

Alarmed, Athena transforms the Cour De Leon from Waverider into mobile suit mode. Athena points the beam rifle of her mobile suit in the direction being fed into the Cour De Leon's combat computer from the computer of Anna's GM-IV AWAC. Even as the Cour De Leon fires a ruby red beam from its rifle, Athena notices that Jolie's Centurion Gundam is doing the same.


Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued...

Blackbird Two and Blackbird Three narrowly dodge the incoming beams of the Cour De Leon and the Centurion Gundam's cannon. Gazi and Song's own beam cannon, already primed, must fire...but the shots go astray.

"We've got to retreat!" Gazi bellows, breaking the radio silence that is now superfluous, "Got to abort the mission!"

"No," Dirk Kirscher replies calmly, "we've lost the element of surprise, but we can still accomplish the mission. Spread out. Don't let them concentrate their counterfire on us."

The three Gellonds of the Blackbird Team vector away from each other, Kirscher to the vertical twelve position and Gazi and Song to the respective nine and three positions.

Song points out, "Did you two feel a sudden pressure in your heads about an instant before those two shots came at us?"

"Newtypes," Gazi agrees, "the mobile suits guarding those two shuttles are piloted by Newtypes. It's probably that Jolie Minh and Athena Ibaz that Shiden warned us about!"

Kirscher smiles, "You're probably right. The Federation's White Phoenix and her commander."

Another shot lances forth from somewhere among the Federation convoy; Kirscher senses it a split second before it arrives and narrowly dodges the strike.

"Enough talk," Kirscher says, "Mugabe, Hyo-Kyung: keep the enemy occupied. I'll go after the shuttles."

"Roger, commander," Gazi and Song reply.

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

"Anna, can you confirm a hit?" Athena asks her reconnaissance specialist.

"Negative, ma'am," Anna replies, "my sensors register negative evidence of impact."

"Damn," Jolie grates, "how could both of us have missed?!"

"Calm down, Jolie," Athena says, "remember what I told you."

Athena opens communications channels to all Special Forces mobile suit units, "This is Centurion Leader. All of you: fall back and form defensive perimeters around the shuttles. Centurion Two and I will identify and neutralize the sources of that beam fire. Come on, Jolie: you're with me. Let's go!"

The Cour De Leon and Centurion Gundam vector away from the convoy.

Jolie tries hard to calm herself and follow Athena's directives, but it is very difficult for her to resist the urge to charge forth and turn the black skies white with bursts of fusion-powered lightning. She can take the Blackbirds...all three of them at once. She knows she can.

Calm, calm, calm... Jolie whispers to herself, fighting the urges burning within her.

Jolie's tiny, silver-gloved hands shake violently even as they grip the control sticks of the Centurion Gundam tightly. Jolie feels her bloodlust rising like a ravenous beast from the depths of her soul.

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

Aboard the Silverthread, General Bright Noah watches the developments from the window of his seat with concern, but not alarm. A veteran of nearly twenty years of war, Bright has been in numerous situations as perilous as this.

An aide enters the passenger cabin of the shuttle from the spacecraft's cockpit, "General Noah, sir. With all due respect, sir, you should be getting yourself to the emergency escape capsule...just in case."

"No, Lieutenant," General Noah replies, "I don't think that will be necessary. The Special Forces will be able to handle this."

"But, sir..." the aide protests.

General Noah holds up his hand indicating his wish for the aide to let the matter drop. The aide reluctantly complies, and stands by to receive further orders.

Watching the explosions of beam fire outside the nearest viewport of the shuttle, Bright offers a silent prayer, "Mirai...Chieming...one way or another, I'll see the two of you soon..."

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

The situation is not nearly as calm aboard the shuttle Nightwing.

"Dammit, Lieutenant!" General Manron Blackhead rages, "What the devil is going on out there?!"

The aide replies, "The captain reports that there's been some beam weaponry fire nearby, sir. The Special Forces are now trying to secure the situation."

"Secure the situation?!" Blackhead roars, "The situation should have been secured long before we left Side 7! How could our intelligence people have NOT seen this coming?!"

The aide has no answer for the angry general, "I'm sorry, sir."

Blackhead lights a cigar and grumbles, "Whole lot of people are going to be sorry when this day is done!"

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

Dirk Kirscher, Blackbird Leader, has the Nightwing bracketed squarely in the scope of his Gellond's beam rifle. Calmly, the veteran mobile suit pilot and assassin opens the safety on the trigger mechanism of his cockpit control.

His finger just begins to tighten around the trigger switch when an overwhelming sensation of stabbing pain fills his head.

Momentarily surrendering the initiative of striking at the Nightwing, Dirk Kirscher twists his Gellond away with acrobatic agility, narrowly avoiding two thirds of the half dozen missiles that vector onto the scene abruptly. Two of the missiles find their mark. The Gellond's tough Gundarium armor is able to absorb much of the damage, but the Gellond nevertheless begins to leak sparks and hot fluid.

"Port side maneuvering thrusters damaged," a synthesized voice reports from the Gellond's combat computer, "mobilty of unit compromised 30%, but still functional."

"Lost some of my speed," Kirscher remarks quietly.

Kirscher feels the pressure in his head again, less stabbing this time, but more clearly defined.

The beam rifle of the Gellond rises and arcs 44 degrees to the right, 14 degrees up.

"Die," Kirscher whispers coldly.

Bright yellow light erupts forth from the muzzle of the Gellond's beam rifle.

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

Psychic lightning bursts forth in a silver spark from Jolie's helmeted forehead.

Jolie gasps. She senses deadly beam energy reaching forth for her Centurion Gundam.

Like an enormous armored athlete playing a game of cosmic dodgeball, the Centurion Gundam spins and dashes away from the path of the incoming destructive beam. Shockingly, although the beam misses its target, it does not continue on its path, but arcs around, once more towards the Centurion Gundam.

Jolie senses the deadly energy approaching again and maneuvers the Centurion Gundam through a zero-gravity backflip, the killing beam missing her mobile suit by less than a meter.

It's the multi-tracking beam weapon Athena was talking about... Jolie realizes.

The enemy's lethal energy beam, having missed its target twice, arcs around once again directly towards the Centurion Gundam's cockpit.

Within the last ten seconds, Jolie has already miraculously escaped fiery death twice. But is it possible for her to do it a third time? A fourth?

The beam, superheated nuclear energy at temperatures that rival the heart of the sun's, closes in at multi-mach speeds towards the Centurion Gundam's cockpit, whose armored shell, tough as it is, cannot survive such heat and impact.

Jolie stares into the face of death, but feels no fear.

Episode 6 to be continued

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

Per Athena's orders, the Centurion Team and other Special Forces mobile suit units form a titanium-clad defensive perimeter around the Silverthread and the Nightwing. They will only be able to maintain this perimeter for another 540 seconds, however, before the mobile suits' thrusters will be unable to push the suits out of the grasp of Earth's gravity. Word is received that the escort squad from Shanghai Whampoa Base is being delayed by extreme weather conditions.

Athena has broken off from the defensive squads to seek out enemy targets. In the distance, Athena sees the flash of beam rifle fire exchanged between Jolie's Centurion Gundam and at least one of the enemy units. As much as Athena wants to help Jolie, it's imperative that Athena locate and neutralize her own targets.

The interference of Minovsky particles renders the radar of the Cour De Leon useless, and even the sensors of Cpl. Anna Horowitz's GM-IV AWAC offers Athena nothing of use. Athena is forced to rely on her sharp eyes and the reach of her Newtype mind.

Athena decides to not wait for the enemy to come to her. She sets the missile pack launcher of her Cour de Leon, a payload of 54 short-range high explosive missiles, for wide dispersal, and opens fire.

Four and a half dozen missiles burst forth from their containment nacelles in the Cour de Leon's thruster/backpack unit. These arc omnidirectional from the Cour de Leon, rocket contrails exploding forth like a spiderweb of hellfire from their erstwhile host mobile suit.

Multiple explosions rock local space, detonating silently against the field of stars. Soon, the thruster contrails of Blackbird Two and Blackbird Three's Gellonds become evident.

Her enemies now exposed, Athena takes aim at Blackbird Three with her beam rifle and opens fire.

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

Blackbird Three reacts quickly, but not quickly enough to dodge Athena's shot completely. The beam strikes the Gellond's left arm, tearing it off and denying the Zeon mecha its arm-mounted defensive shield.

"Mugabe, I'm hit!" Hyo-Kyung Song calls out to her comrade, terror evident in her voice.

"Hang on, Blackbird Three," comes the large, dark-skinned mobile suit pilot's reply.

Mugabe Gazi's Gellond fires its beam rifle to where Athena's Cour de Leon had been, but the Federation mobile suit is gone.

To Gazi and Song's surprise, the beam does not arc in another direction to seek its moved target, but proceeds straight ahead into infinity.

"What th...?" Gazi rages in confusion, "Did Miguel's people sell us duds? This weapon is supposed to track moving targets!"

Gazi is correct. The Phased Tracking Beam Weapon is indeed designed to track moving targets. Knowing this, however, Athena fired her mobile suit's beam weapon, quickly vectored away, then cut the mecha's thrusters to rest it absolutely dead still in space...using carefully balanced and modulated vernier thrusters to maintain a relative stillness that renders the mobile suit undetectable to the beam's tracking mechanism.

Athena sees sparks leaking from Blackbird Three's damaged Gellond. Her target is easily visible now.

Athena levels the beam rifle of the Cour De Leon at Blackbird Three.

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

The beam fired from the rifle of Blackbird One's Gellond is almost upon Jolie's Centurion Gundam. Already, the cockpit of the Centurion Gundam is flooded with a hellish white light.

Aiming the Centurion Gundam's own beam rifle downward past the mobile suit's feet, Jolie takes a blind, desperate shot...her aim guided by something past her consciousness, but somehow, paradoxically, not past her control.

The collision between the two streams of powerful kinetic energy results in an explosion whose shock force throws the Centurion Gundam into a wild tumble.

Gripping the thruster controls tightly, Jolie fights to regain control...to regain balance. She scarcely has time to do so before another beam lances towards her.

Unconsciously mimicking Athena's earlier maneuver, Jolie fires off half of the Centurion Gundam's missile payload in random directions, at the same time bringing the Centurion Gundam itself to a near halt.

The beam of the Gellond arcs away from the Centurion Gundam to chase the Federation mobile suit's dozens of discharged missiles, finally expending its energy on the projectiles to leave the Centurion Gundam undamaged.

Can't play this guy's game, Jolie tells herself, his tracking beam is going to get me sooner or later. I've got to get in close and take him down now.

Using her powerful Newtype PSI-abilities, Jolie pinpoints the location of Blackbird Leader. It doesn't take long for her to locate him: she fixates on the darkest soul in the area.

Jolie unloads the rest of the Centurion Gundam's missile payload at the Blackbird Leader's Gellond.

Dirk Kirscher, not quite ready for Jolie's move, but nevertheless quick enough to counter it, raises the Gellond's beam rifle and opens fire. The beam disintegrates Jolie's missiles before they can strike his mobile suit.

An instant later, Kirscher comes to the realization that the missiles were not necessarily meant to destroy him. Instead, the harsh light and impact shock of their explosion mask the rapid approach of Jolie's Centurion Gundam.

The Centurion Gundam crashes armored feet-first into the Gellond of Blackbird One. The Zeon mobile suit is thrown backwards in space.

Inside the cockpit of the Gellond, Dirk Kirshcher is thrown around violently. Were Kirscher unhelmeted, the back of his skull would surely have been fractured. Were he not securely strapped to the seat, he would surely have been thrown head first into his mobile suit's forward monitor. As it is, Kirscher's breath is pulled from his lungs and the reinforced plastic of the restraints dig painfully into his flesh as the bone-crushing impact of the collision causes his mobile suit's internal systems to briefly short out before they cycle to life again.

Jolie presses the advantage. With a savage battle cry, Jolie unleashes the Centurion Gundam's beam saber and raises it for a merciless downward slash.

Kirscher, seeing his dark life flash before him, responds in kind, drawing out the Gellond's own beam saber to parry the incoming slash, a mere two meters from the main body of his mobile suit.

The Centurion Gundam and Blackbird Leader's Gellond are saber locked. Beneath them, the great blue mass of humanity's mother planet, its placid white clouds and tranquil turquoises ocean juxtaposed against the violent scene hundreds of kilometers above it.

Aboard both mobile suits, computer-synthesized voices issue a warning to the much-occupied pilots, "Warning: orbital integrity decaying. Complete orbital integrity loss in precisely three-hundred and twenty seconds."

Episode 6 to be continued...

[Buried Alien]

Just a brief update for today. The battle in the upper atmosphere continues! :)

Episode 6 continued…

Even as Athena's gloved finger tenses around the trigger mechanism of her Cour de Leon's control stick, she is rocked by the piledriving force of Mugabe Gazi's Blackbird Three ramming shoulder-first into her Cour de Leon. The Earth Federation Forces mecha is sent plummeting towards Earth.

Have to regain control before I get too far ensnared by planetary gravity, Athena thinks to herself.

Athena switches the Cour De Leon from mobile suit to Waverider mode. Now in the form of an aerodynamic fighter jet, she soars up away from Earth, past Blackbirds Two and Three.

Blackbirds Two and Three level their beam weapons in the general direction that Athena had soared towards, but their weapons are unable to draw a bead upon their fast-moving target. Mobile suit beam rifles are designed primarily for use against other mobile suits and space battleships. They are of limited use against fast-moving fighter air/spacecraft. Even the Phased Tracking Beam Weapon of the Gellond is no exception to this general principle.

Athena's Cour De Leon Waverider rushes back onto the scene like a vengeful jet-powered falcon. Before the two enemy mobile suit pilots can react, she transforms her Cour De Leon back into mobile suit mode, firing two shots. The first shot destroys the beam rifle of Blackbird Two, and the second shot forces the already damaged Blackbird Three further into retreat.

Deprived of his mobile suit’s most potent weapon, Mugabe Gazi is forced to rely on the Gellond’s close-in combat weapon…its double-bladed hyper beam naginata. This weapon similar to the one employed by the Gellond’s ancestral mecha, the famous MS-14 Gelgoog deployed by the Archduchy of Zeon during the final month of the One Year War. The Gellond’s beam naginata, however, has five times the power output of its ancestor’s, and a few other nasty surprises as well.

Gazi raises the Gellond’s beam naginata as his foe approaches.

Athena, knowing that her Cour De Leon’s forward momentum is too great to reverse or stop in time, draws her own mobile suit’s beam saber.

Mugabe Gazi proves to be highly skilled in the use of the Gellond’s beam naginata, wielding it less in the traditional style of the Japanese weapon as in a similar, but somehow even more deadly style based on the spearfighting technique of Gazi’s African ancestors…a skill that Gazi had mastered as a boy under his father’s tutelage in their homeland in Earth’s Serengeti region.

Athena, whose own skills with a mobile suit’s beam saber are more influenced by European combat styles, finds herself hard-pressed to parry. Mugabe Gazi’s intricate and complex swordfighting style is too refined and too aggressive for Athena to handle effectively.

He’s too good with that weapon, Athena reflects, I’m not going to beat him like this..

In the distance, Hyo-Kyung Song’s Gellond arcs back onto the scene, headed not for towards the Cour de Leon, but past it towards the space shuttles Silverthread and Nightwing.

Athena attempts to give pursuit, but is forced to parry another slash from the beam naginata of Gazi's Gellond. Athena knows she will be unable to lend any direct assistance to the shuttles until she can shake off her attacker...a prospect that looks dubious at best at the moment.

Athena opens communications to the other Special Forces pilots, trying to maintain her focus on defending herself from Gazi's relentless attacks even as she gives orders, "Centurion Leader to all units! Incoming enemy unit! Protect shuttles at all cost! Repeat: at all cost!"

All cost...even the lives of two Special Forces officers, if necessary.

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

Nearby, the beam saber of Jolie Minh’s Centurion Gundam disarms and removes the left arm of Dirk Kirscher’s Gellond.

Jolie draws the Centurion Gundam’s beam saber back and prepares to plunge the energy blade into the main body of the Gellond, Got him!

Not quite. In her rush to finish off her damaged and apparently vulnerable enemy, Jolie forgets that Kirscher still has his mobile suit’s beam rifle, now fully recharged and ready for another shot…at point blank range.

Inside the cockpit of the Gellond, Blackbird Leader smiles, Got you now, Gundam.

Jolie jets the Centurion Gundam backwards a mere second before the beam erupts forth from the Gellond’s beam rifle. White death approaches Jolie.

Episode 6 to be continued…

[Buried Alien]

Episode 6 continued

The Guncannon 100 and Jegan mobile suits of the five Special Forces Teams assigned to escort the Silverthread and the Nightwing continue to blast away in the general direction of the Blackbird Team. Captain Athena Ibaz has instructed her fellow mobile suit pilots to disregard the possible danger to her and 2Lt. Jolie Minh and protect the two shuttles at all cost.

Aboard her damaged Gellond, Blackbird Three (former Titans 2Lt. Hyo-Kyung Song) refocuses on her team's original objective. With Blackbird Two (Mugabe Gazi) occupying Athena and Blackbird Leader (Dirk Kirscher) battling Jolie, Blackbird Three breaks off to attack the space shuttles bearing two of the Earth Federation Forces' senior officers.

Although her Gellond is heavily damaged and has lost its left arm to Athena's Cour de Leon, Song proves to still be more than a match for the Special Forces pilots left guarding the shuttles. Deftly dodging the fire from the Guncannon-100s and GM-IVs, Song unleashes a quick succession of beam rifle shots that immolate nine of the twenty-three mobile suits left guarding the shuttles. One of the beam rifle shots even scores a glancing hit on the Silverthread, causing smoke and sparks to pour forth from the hull of the shuttle.

Aboard the Silverthread, General Bright Noah grits his teeth through the impact. Peering out of the window nearest his seat, the general notices the smoke and sparks trailing from one of the shuttle's wings.

Bright uses the ship intercom to contact the cockpit of the shuttle, "Captain Donatelli! What's our situation?"

The pilot of the Silverthread replies, "The damage to our wing is pretty severe, sir. I recommend we abort the landing and call for help."

Bright agrees with the captain's assessment. In atmospheric re-entry, even the slightest damage to the re-entering spacecraft could have catastrophic results. It would be beyond foolish to attempt a re-entry with the damaged Silverthread, and Garrison Noah back at Side 7 is too far to attempt to return to now.

It becomes a moot point, however, as Hyo-Kyung Song's Gellond closes in on the already damaged Silverthread, once again leveling its beam rifle at the burning space shuttle.

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

Above, Athena struggles to maintain her defense against Mugabe Gazi's deadly beam naginata strokes. Gazi's attacks are swift and relentless. Athena can only parry; she is unable to break free.

Jolie... Athena's mind reaches out desperately.

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

But 2Lt. Jolie Minh has her own problems.

Contrary to the perceptions of laypersons and civilians, the beam energy weapons used by space battleships and mobile suits do not fire beams of laser energy, but high-velocity megaparticles. Were the beam rifles of mobile suits truly laser-based weapons, Jolie would already be dead, because not even she is quick enough to dodge an incoming beam of light.

The hypercharged megaparticles that constitute the beam of a mobile suit's long-range beam weaponry move at a relatively modest velocity of 1/100 the speed of light....which, in practical terms, is still pretty damn fast...many, many, many times more than fast enough to be absolutely lethal at point blank range. Far, far, far too fast for any human being to react to after the fact, let alone attempt to evade.

2Lt. Jolie Minh, despite her superlative talents as a mobile suit pilot, is only human. Newtype though she is, even Jolie requires time for her brain to process incoming sensory data, process that information, and transmit that information to her motor muscles to maneuver her mighty Centurion Gundam.

The Newtype, however, sees past the dimension of time. Seconds before Dirk Kirscher squeezes the joystick trigger for his Gellond's beam rifle, Jolie senses the enemy pilot's intent. Instantly, Jolie jets the Centurion Gundam back away from the Gellond, putting hundreds of meters between the two mobile suits in the seconds that she has.

1.5 seconds separated the beginning of Jolie's reverse blast from the firing of the Gellond's beam rifle.

As she thrusts the Centurion Gundam backwards at the top of its fusion-powered rocket engines' throttle, Jolie raises the beam saber of her mobile suit in a gesture not unlike that of a baseball player preparing to knock an incoming pitch out of the ballpark.

When Jolie was a little girl, not many years ago, she had been a supremely talented athlete. Her father, Dominic Minh, had dreams of his little girl growing up to someday become a professional baseball star. Indeed, in the two years that Jolie had played competitive little league baseball at her elementary school, she was known for having never missed when at bat. To pitch a baseball at Jolie was to have her send it out of the ballpark for a home run...sometimes when it seemed like she was barely paying attention at the moment the pitch was thrown.

The Centurion Gundam raises its beam saber like a baseball bat. In her mind, Jolie sees images of those baseball games of her bygone childhood days.

The Gellond's beam of white death approaches silently, swiftly, inexorably.

The Centurion Gundam swings the beam saber in a graceful sidelong arc, even as it continues to jet backwards.

An instant later, a deadly explosion ensues. A mobile suit is vaporized; its gifted pilot nothing but memories.

Episode 6 to be continued!