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"I'll be left behind / For war, for pride / I will surely be left behind / For the sake of war / For the sake of pride"
-Lynn Minmay, Love Drifts Away
"Get them before they get you."
-Ancient proverb
It is the year 0087 of the Universal Century. Seven years have passed since the defeat of the principality of Zeon in the One Year War, but peace has not returned to the Earth or any of humanity's far-flung colonies - any more than peace amongst humankind has ever existed. On Earth, the competing empires that make up the Earth Federation grapple with resistance to their rule, and the ever-present jockeying for power between themselves. In Earth's orbit, those few unscarred by the One Year War look on nervously as the Federation's collective boot stamps down on any who would repeat the aggression of the One Year War, while those still loyal to the Zabis' cause look to distant Axis for salvation. On Mars, the Federation's grip has weakened to nothing thanks to the daring efforts of partisans and the sheer logistics of interplanetary empire, but many worry they've traded one master for many in the form of powerful corporations. Amidst all of this, humanity has discovered that it's not alone in the universe, nor even on Earth, and that the other people of the galaxy have their own designs for the solar system...
"The Earth Federation is no prison of nations, nor is it a united humanity. It is a kennel for the rabid dogs of empire and capital, baring their white fangs at each other and consuming the red flesh of history's losers until there is nothing left."
-Quinze Quarante
"Is the Earth Federation a contradiction, a means by which a class of political dogsbodies enrich themselves? Absolutely. Is it also the only means by which humanity can survive its own self-destruction, let alone the whims of the universe? Also absolutely."
-General Johann Abraham Revil
Japan remains the most relevant hotspot of terrestrial conflict, with Britannia's colonization of the archipelago passing the seven year mark with a bang. The Order of the Black Knights and their charismatic masked leader Zero have assassinated two viceroys in a row, both children of Emperor Charles zi Britannia, with the confusing events surrounding the death of Princess-Vicereine Euphemia leading into a revolt in Tokyo now dubbed the Black Rebellion. Though this effort was quashed, the Black Knights were mostly able to escape capture, and that it was even attempted has only emboldened Britannia's other colonies, as well as elements of its rivals who are not averse to a proxy war. At the same time, Britannia's colonial government remains in its tacit standoff with the "Super Robot Labs" in Japan's interior, both of whom seem vital to the defense of the people, both Britannian and "Numbers" from the continued depredations of mad scientists with access to alien technology.
Moving westward around the globe, the Far East Republic remains in a defensive posture against Britannia and the strange phenomena that exist in the depopulated realms of North Asia. The Metal Beasts that attack the Pacific rim regularly are the least strange of the continent's problems, with zones of physics-defying abnormalities being reported with increasing frequency in Siberia. With such dangers to its north and east, the Far East Republic has entered an unprecedented period of detente with its southern neighbor, SATO, which in turn seems content to focus its military-industrial complex inward, other than its barely hidden arms shipments to anti-Britannian rebels.
The "Heartland" of the Eurasian supercontinent remains troubled and without much, if any, influence in the Federation, with the various small polities of the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa still rebuilding after Zeonic occupation in the One Year War. Special economic zones set up and administered by organizations like the Circle of Gaia and the Benerit Group serve to advance their respective ideologies and pocketbooks, but have seen little real development according to outside observers. Arguably the only successful group in aiding this marginalized part of the Earth is the paramilitary organization Karaba, an organization in loose association with the Anti-Earth Union Group which has, if not quelled local violence, at least directed some of it.
The Advanced European Union, meanwhile, remains as it always has, minus a few million square miles of formerly colonized African territory that is now self-governing as the African Union. Protected from nuclear destruction by the Federation victory at Odessa in 0079, Europe's military-industrial complex has grown rich off the continued low-level conflicts. Its subsidiary PMC Trust is nearly as iconic in Earth politics as the barely-secret society that controls its economy, known as the Romefeller Foundation. While its territories are not as extensive as its eternal rival, Britannia, it has nonetheless gone from success to success as the superpower of cool, considerate men. Even its regular forces now boast a sterling reputation, and are rumored to have recruited Char Aznable after his defection from what remains of the Principality of Zeon. The mysterious Count Zechs Merquise insists that he has no relation to the Red Comet, but speculation abounds regardless.
Finally, the behemoth of the Earth, Britannia, a superpower in control of the entire western hemisphere, save for Federation direct-administered zones in the Amazon. Despite colonial troubles, Emperor Charles continues reigning with an iron fist and no lack of pride in Britannia's station. With the largest military of any individual nation nearly twice over, and the recent announcement of the 7th Generation of Knightmare Frame (and 3rd Generation of Mobile Suits), Britannia stands poised to continue dominating the Earth, and beyond it through its sponsorship of the Earth Federation Space Forces and the Titans.
The Earth Sphere
"We are a new people. We live, eat, and sleep among the stars. We live in infinite space, and we will have access to infinite energy until the sun burns out fifty billion years from now. Our consciousness will expand, and infinite space will be our true home. God has given us the stars to live among."
-Zeon Zum Deikun
"'Elite of Earth' my ass. Zekes lived in palaces even before they ruined the planet with their war."
-Anonymous Earth exchange student, Asticassia School of Technology
Humanity began to move to gigantic orbiting space colonies nearly a century ago, and the surface of Earth's moon even before that. Resentment against the population relocation measures and economic disparity even amongst the colonies themselves began almost immediately thereafter, eventually boiling over into the One Year War, Side 3's attempt to bring about a new order. What that new order was meant to be and whom it was meant to benefit is a question with as many answers as there are people, but its consequences are immediate and concrete even today. The Principality of Zeon's occupied remnant, the Republic of Zeon, serves as a material power base for the Titans, an autonomous branch of the Federation military with unlimited policing power over space. Their zero-tolerance violent repression of spacenoid independence sympathies was enough to split the Earth Federation Forces and begin a low grade civil war with the Anti-Earth Union Group, a distributed network of guerillas in space backed by powerful economic interests that seeks a more equitable solution to Earth-Space conflicts. As of now, the Titans retain the upper hand, with the full political backing of the Federation Council and reinforcements coming in the form of new recruits from Jupiter.
The main non-Federation power in space is PLANT, a nation made up of genetically-altered humans that sat out the One Year War other than offering aid to Earth nations against the attacks of strange monsters that occurred near the same time. PLANT's people are almost entirely Coordinators, with their nation in Side 1 practically a democratic utopia compared to many places on Earth. However, the growing power and aggression of the Earth Federation, and the influence of political groups founded on hatred and fear of Coordinators, have led to a growing faction within PLANT advocating for the assertion of military hegemony in space, or at least buildup to the point where the Titans will not be a threat.
Even without the potential for conflict between nation-states, the Earth Sphere remains a dangerous place. The defeat of the Principality of Zeon left many heavily-armed groups adrift in orbit, whether loyal to the memory of the Zabis or not. The former territory of Side 5, located directly between the Earth and the Moon, is a lawless pirate haven despite the best efforts of the Titans. As well, Earth's orbit has come under attack by alien invaders probing its defenses. While the long and storied journey of the SDF-1 Macross managed to make peace with the initial Zentradi attackers, now humanity's allies, a new threat arrived after them in the form of the Wulgaru. Attacking indiscriminately with waves of advanced mobile weapons, the Wulgaru represent a threat to everyone in space, and possibly the Earth as well, with the Federation and PLANT each charging a special task force with defending humanity against the Wulgaru and, potentially, further Zentradi incursions. Both UN Spacy's Macross and the GDF's Star Rose are effectively mobile colonies with permanent populations, making them an impressive sight in space.
Despite all of this conflict, life continues, with Sides 2, 4, and 6 rebuilding after Zeonic attacks in the One Year War and reaping the rewards of the post-war economic boom. Earth's moon is also a center of manufacturing and mining, with the Benerit Group's most lucrative Permet mines competing with Anaheim Electronics's manufacturing plants for the most effective industry in space. Benerit's sponsored Asticassia School of Technology turns out the next generation of space's brightest (and wealthiest), and both reap immense profits from the mobile suit industry.
Mars
"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things."
-General McGillis Fareed, quoting Niccolò Machiavelli
"Unfortunately, you can't survive by eating bullets."
-A Raven
Mars is smaller and far less populated than Earth, but it is no less complex a landscape. Formerly covered by a patchwork of colonies belonging to Earth's superpowers and administered by an autonomous branch of the Earth Federation military, the chain of control collapsed during the One Year War as the homeworld was engulfed in global violence. Three years later, a coup in the EFF autonomous forces, a daring trip to Earth by highly-motivated mercenaries, and the backing of some of the solar system's largest corporations saw Mars's independence recognized officially by an exhausted Earth Federation. While Mars may be free, however, it's no less dangerous or chaotic than Earth. Three competing power groups jockey for influence - the democratic government led by firebrand revolutionary Kudelia Aina Bernstein and her personally loyal PMCs, the Earth Federation defectors led by General McGillis Fareed, and the economic hegemons in the League of Ruling Companies, with their advanced Armored Core mobile units and Raven mercenaries. To function as a nation, the Martian Union is going to have to find a fine balance between these groups, as well as fending off raids from the same aliens the Earth is dealing with, as it's clear that whoever they are, the Wulgaru care nothing for the political allegiance of their targets, nor do the Zentradi.
Stranger Places
"Yak deculture."
-Admiral Vrlitwhai Kridanik
Earth's influence extends out as far as Jupiter, the key source of Helium-3 fuel for fusion reactors, with insular Jovian colonies doing the gathering and the Teiwaz company facilitating its transportation. Even Zeon's influence can be felt in the asteroid belt, with the sprawling mining complex of Axis playing host to the last of the Zabis in exile. Beyond this, however, the solar system is dark and full of dragons. Somewhere in the Outer Planets, the Zentradi Main Fleet lurks, gathering for an eventual attack on the deserters under Admiral Kridanik. They clash with the bulk of the Wulgaru invaders, entering the solar system by means unknown to launch their raids from a hidden base. And even outside the unknown void of space, far down at the bottom of Earth's gravity well, secrets from time immemorial lie hidden, the keys to unlock humanity's future.
"You can't change the world with pretty words alone." - Zero
-- TRANSMISSION BEGINS --
Source: Pirate Broadcast
Location: Black Knights Flagship Ikaruga, over international waters
"Citizens of the world, I am Zero! Know now that rumors of my demise, of the demise of the Order of the Black Knights, have been not just exaggerated, but wholly invented! Though Britannia may claim that the Black Rebellion is over, the truth is that it has only just begun! I and my comrades, fighting in the name of justice and equality for all people, now take our fight to the global stage, to confront the cruelty and oppression perpetrated by the Empire wherever it may reside!
Loyal dogs of Britannia, beware! There is no fortress in which you can hide, no weapon which can defend you, no distance at which you are safe from our wrath! So long as you continue your efforts on behalf of a tyrannical regime, you will know the same fear, the same uncertainty as the people you oppress! Do not doubt our zeal or our dedication to undoing you and your foul works!
Enslaved subjects of Britannia, rejoice! The time of your liberation approaches! Even as I speak to you now, the forces of revolution gather, hungry for the blood of the tyrant! Together, we shall cast off every chain, shatter every yoke, and crush every monument, in our quest for justice, peace, and safety! Rise up with me and secure a future for yourself and your children!
And to our many secret friends and allies, both within the Empire and without, know that the Black Knights are strong, we are capable, and we are ready to continue the fight! With your support, we shall bring down the corrupt edifice of repression that holds a hemisphere in its unjust sway! The day of reckoning comes!
I am Zero! Join me and my Black Knights, and together we will strike a blow for freedom that will resonate throughout the ages!"
FORCE ASSESSMENT: ZODIAC ALLIANCE OF FREEDOM TREATY
Originating from a spacian independence movement that peacefully sought independence from the increasingly heavy-handed Earth Federation regime, ZAFT remained present as a self-defence militia after Side 1 achieved independence for the purposes of customs control and anti-piracy. The run up to the One Year War however saw them rapidly professionalise as Operation British and the Battle of Loum demonstrated the fate of any colony cluster without the ability to defend themselves. Today ZAFT is the military arm of a rising superpower, making up for its relatively lacking manpower pool with advanced indigenous designs and the formidable inborn talents of its Coordinator population.
The core of PLANT's military arm, ZAFT Space Command maintains responsibility for both homeland defense and expeditionary operations in Earth orbit and beyond. With political movements within the Earth Federation becoming increasingly hostile to Coordinators, ZAFT is currently in the middle of a massive rearmament program in case the worst happens and Earth declares war on Side 1. Though their headquarters is officially located in Aprilius Colony, the asteroid fortress of Jachin Due is the site of the majority of their strategic planning and administrative efforts.
Despite the claims of crackpots of covert ZAFT involvement during the One Year War, ZAFT has largely sat out of the main conflict between the Federation and Zeon, mainly cutting their teeth on terrestrial operations during the Dinosaur Empire uprising. This has left them with a growing concern of their relative institutional inexperience despite their cadre of elite Coordinator pilots. As of late this has lead to increasing investment in military exercises to iron out the difficulties of expeditionary warfare, giving planners a stronger idea of their likely limitations.
Doctrinally ZAFT relies on shock and awe tactics, taking advantage of its elite Coordinator pilots to disrupt enemy formations and achieve superior battlefield positioning during the crucial first minutes of the battle. Due to the value of Coordinator personnel and its relatively limited manpower pool, PLANT spends more per capita per soldier than any other nation in the world, ensuring that losses are minimal and that their potential is maximised.
PLANT's first indigenously designed and mass-produced mobile suit, the GINN is developed by Heinlein Design Bureau, one of PLANT's state-run military design bureaus. The GINN is designed to be rugged and versatile, much like the OYW vintage Zaku II it is meant to replace, and beyond that highly responsive to best take advantage of superhuman Coordinator reflexes. Though designed for space superiority first and foremost, the GINN's versatility means that it is able to go toe to toe with modern Federation machines in almost any environment.
Developed by Heinlein Design Bureau as the intended successor to the GINN, this sleek, predatory mobile suit boasts significantly increased manoeuvrability and a overhauled avionics package. However ZAFT's plans for mass production was put to a rapid halt upon receiving intelligence on the intended design specs of Britannia's RPI-212 Vincent, with the CGUE instead put into limited production as a commander-issue suit until a suit with specifications to match the Vincent could be put into production. Despite this the CGUE remains formidable, a fact emphasised that their pilots are some of ZAFT's best and brightest.
Produced by the Clarke Design Bureau, the Laurasia is ZAFT's first indigenously developed warship. Somewhat unusually for ZAFT designs the Laurasia takes more from Federation military philosophy than Zeonic ones, being developed as a warship first and foremost and a carrier second. Extremely heavily armed with two megaparticle cannons, four heavy naval railguns, two light ballistic cannons, four VLS missile cells, and six CIWS guns, the Laurasia can prove a credible threat to battleships offensively. This comes at the cost of mobile suit ergonomics, as its hangar pod is attached almost as an afterthought at the bottom, earning no shortage of pilot complaints.
Developed jointly in secret by the Anti-Earth Union Group and Anaheim Electronics in Sweetwater Colony, ZAFT's acquisition of the production rights for the Argama-class is something of an accident, as a PLANT trade delegation had been scheduled to visit around the same time as the first keels were laid down. Never one to turn down a profit, instead of rescheduling construction local Anaheim representatives met with the PLANT trade delegation to sell the rights for their newest design. Two months later ZAFT officials walked away with the data, albeit heavily modified to fit specifications as a battleship instead of a cruiser weight vessel. Rapidly filling the naval yards of Martius Arsenal, the Matterhorn forms the hardened core of ZAFT's current space fleet.
The single most massive ship ever built by human hands, the Gondwana is a marvel of human engineering even compared to examples of alien overtechnology. It's also a signifier of just how extensive ZAFT's mobile suit corps expansion is planned to be, with a capacity for an astonishing 480 mobile suits, enough mobile suits and supplies to siege an entire strategic theatre. Despite its cavernous hangars and swathes of beam-resistant heavy armour, it is a carrier first and foremost, with a light loadout (for its tonnage) of twenty-four megaparticle cannons and a CIWS array for self-defence. Nonetheless the ZAFT flagship never fails to inspire awe on the rare occasions that it wanders close enough to the colonies for civilians to catch a glimpse.
ZAFT Peacekeeper Command
Commanding Officer: General Alec Lad
The appearance of the Dinosaur Empire, the sapient descendents of the Mesozoic dinosaurs, rocked a world that had already seen some of the greatest atrocities in history a month before. With the vast bulk of Federation forces occupied engaging Zeon in orbit, the governments of SATO and ASEAN officially requested that PLANT intervene in their war with the Dinosaur Empire. May would see the commencement of Operation AEGIS, the ZAFT led counterattack to reclaim Southeast Asia from the occupying Saurians. Securing first the Indonesian island of Java, then a bitter campaign into Indochina, followed by amphibious landings on the besieged Indian subcontinent. The war would reach its peak with the Battle of Singapore during September, where a young pilot named Andrew Waltfeld would defeat and capture General Bat, which would subsequently prove pivotal to finally negotiating a peace with the Saurians.
Officially ZAFT has remained primarily as peacekeepers to augment local militaries in SATO in case of a resurgence by remnants of either the Dinosaur and Hundred Demon Empires. Unofficially, the Britannian invasion of Japan had induced a security crisis in the neighbouring SATO, and its member states promptly invited PLANT to establish a permanent presence in the region under favourable conditions as deterrence from its new imperialist neighbours.
Their primary base is Tekong Base in Singapore, though secondary bases are maintained near Kolkata and Jakarta.
Designed in the immediate aftermath of the One Year War based on feedback from veterans of Operation Aegis, the BuCUE is an attempt to produce an all-terrain terrestrial mobile suit that can navigate the thick rainforests and mountain ranges that dominates most of SATO while possessing enough firepower to penetrate the thick alloy hides of mechasaurus. The BuCUE's lack of utility in space has led some to question its place on a ZAFT military budget, but nobody has bothered to argue whether its monstrous 18-inch railguns poses a sufficient threat to mechasaurus, and for that matter other mobile suits.
Perhaps the most unusual of ZAFT's mobile suit designs, the GOOhN is a high-speed submersible mobile suit whose primary roles are to intercept enemy submersible craft and to support amphibious assaults. Typically carried in the hangars of ZAFT's fleet of Vosgulov-class submarines, the "Squid's" primary claim to fame is being the first ever machine to deploy the phonon maser, a powerful sonic weapon that can distort even luna titanium if fired at a close enough range.
ZAFT's newest terrestrial production model, the AMF-101 DINN is among the world's first atmospheric flight capable mobile suits, succeeding the GINN Tactical Air Reconnaissance Type, and undoubtedly the most blisteringly agile before the introduction of the Britannian Vincent. This enormous edge in agility unfortunately comes with several design compromises. Asimov engineers were forced to reduce the weight of the original CGUE chassis by forty tons to make it flight-capable, and as a result its durability has suffered considerably in comparison to the more rugged and older GINN. These flaws however are irrelevant in the hands of a skilled pilot, as few machines can match the dance of the DINN in the sky.
A BuCUE derived prototype built to the specifications of Commander Andrew Waltfeld, now a senior commander of ZAFT's Peacekeeper Command. Though ostensibly a testbed for advanced beam weapons and enhanced close combat characteristics on a quadrupedal mobile suit, in practice it is just as much the personal machine of the Bengal Tiger as it is a prototype. Constructed using more efficient myomer fiber-bundles and high-performance thruster units to propel it along, the LaGOWE is a mobile suit whose speed and decisive aggression is second only to the pilot behind its controls.
Like most of ZAFT's terrestrial equipment, the Lesseps was introduced in the aftermath of the OYW, as the logistical frustrations of operating in large, heavily forested areas often became the primary hindrance in ZAFT liberation efforts during Operation Aegis. Propelled by a indigenous derivative of Britannia's Float System to navigate the vast wilderness of India and Southeast Asia, the Lesseps is as much a mobile supply depot as it is a gunship and mobile suit carrier. Its logistical utility means that it forms the backbone of ZAFT security operations in the region today, with convoys of these floating behemoths still considered something of a novelty to locals.
A licensed derivative of SATO's Mysore-class cruisers modified for ZAFT use, the Tambora is the versatile workhorse of ZAFT's surface navy, assigned to anything from humanitarian work to rapid response vessels to the reemergence of any remnants of the nonhuman invaders present during the One Year War. Equipped with VLS cells, twin-mount railgun and a helicopter hangar, these vessels can contribute to almost any situation should they be properly supported.
The pride of ZAFT's surface navy, the Vosgulov is nothing less than a purebred weapon of war developed as a result of the hard-earned lessons of Operation Aegis. Though bristling with VLS cells and a massive salvo of torpedo launchers, its deadliest weapon are the seven mobile suits it carries within its hangars. Able to transport and deploy mobile suits to any coast in the world while stealthily remaining under the sea for months at a time, this array of undersea mobile weapons ensures that the element of surprise is maintained during a ZAFT assault.
Some of the facilities in the Photon Power Laboratory had not seen active usage since the Mycenae War. True, they had been maintained over the years, should such an apocalyptic threat ever come to menace Earth again, but that was taking its due time. In the meantime, however, they lay in silent repose - or so the public thought. Vice-Director Koji Kabuto and Director Gennosuke Yumi, however, knew better. They sat opposite of each other in the conference room.
"Hard to believe it's been seven years," Koji said bitterly. He was no longer the callow youth who'd fought against Dr. Hell. "I wonder if I could've stopped all this madness back when it began." The old fire was still there, of course, but it'd been tempered. "I chose not to sortie against the invasion, and look where that got us. The Britannians don't consider us human beings…"
Yumi looked at him concernedly. "Mazinger Z is not something one deploys lightly." He simply replied, letting Koji's better angels wrest back control. "Atami would've been in ruins!" The older man said forcefully. "As it is, our research can benefit all mankind. Isn't that what your father, Saotome-san, and your grandfather wanted?!"
"..." Koji was silent for a good minute. "In any case, the past is the past. To business, then. How goes the MA Protocol, Doctor?"
"The first phase will hopefully be active by the end of this month. Sayaka is making good time thanks to parts commonality." Yumi rattled off. "The majority of the first production run of the Ichinana is reserved for our usage, but as you know…"
"The Black Knights will receive their "de-branded" versions." Koji finished the thought for him. "I know you have your second thoughts with regards to Zero…"
Yumi grunted. "An understatement there." He furrowed his brow. "We have no idea who this man is, and he suddenly leads the rebellion against Britannia. He strikes me as a Char, personally."
"War makes strange bedfellows of us all, Yumi-san."
Lynn Minmei, the de facto mascot for the UN Spacey, has once again had a successful concert, this time at Side 2, performing in front of a packed auditorium filled to the brim with over 85000 people, and a reported 800 million watching live. Attendees ran the gamut, ranging from residents of the Side 2 colonies, Coordinators from PLANT, eager fans from the surface of Earth, Zentraedi and Meltrandi fans from the UN Spacey, diehards from Mars, and even a handful of admirers from the Jovian colonies.
The program for the concert included old standbys such as 'My Boyfriend is a Pilot', 'Zero G Love', and 'Sunset Beach', in addition to new fare, most notably 'Little White Dragon', the same song from the film Minmay recently starred in. After the encore, Minmay hinted that she has several new songs in the works, but refused to say any more about them, only that she hopes that her songs can contribute to peace in the Solar System.
In the past, Minmay has expressed a desire to collaborate with PLANT singer Lacus Clyne, although circumstances have prevented this happening so far.
-Excerpt from a speech at the Military Pre-Junior Academy in UC 0087
Many years ago, George Glenn pushed for the creation of a Coordinator defense force, dedicated to protecting the solar system from external forces regardless of affiliation. Was it something he saw during his trip? A sense of caution of what was out there in the universe? We will never know what was driving him during what would become one of the last actions of his life.
Post mortem, PLANT worked to realize his last wishes. The formation of the Global Defense Force represents PLANT's commitment to the defense of the Earth Sphere from extrasolar threats, and ever since that day we have committed all of our efforts to prepare for the day that the Global Defense Force would be needed. Five years ago, that day finally arrived.
The Wulgaru have tested our strength in the past five years. For every act of bravery done by the members of the GDF there are countless lives that are lost in the fighting, and every passing day they threaten those who cannot fight back.
But that is why we must fight. For the sake everyone at our side holding that burden, for the sake of everyone behind us holding their breath in fear, and for the future of humanity itself!
The Anti-Earth Union Group is hereby established in the whole territory of the Earth Sphere in order to abolish the evil at heart of the Earth Federation by the name of the Titans. We struggle accordingly to create the conditions of true equality before spacenoids and earthnoids.
A Federation, equal, sovereign, and independent with neither prejudice nor social antagonisms, will be our motto. Our name is in opposition to the Federation as is; our goal is to reform the Federation as it should be.
We will aim for the removal of all barriers to those who are worthy to serve in the government so that the Federation may be represented as it really is.
We favor a fair trial by jury in all matters of justice. The juridical abuse of the Titans in their star chambers will no longer be afforded any sense of legitimacy. They will be tried for their manifold crimes as well. It would be the ultimate reparation to their victims.
The creation of modern justice in our laws will be the light of our activities, for there is no future in the Federation if there is no justice in fact and in theory.
In the name of justice first and equality second, then, the one-sided focus on Earth itself cannot continue. The ravages of the One Year War must be healed, but the costs cannot be borne by the neglected space colonies for the enjoyment of the few.
The return of immigration to space is the only means to escape the ultimate destruction of humanity's cradle. All able to should ascend in amicable brotherhood and contribute the development of the public weal there.
Convinced in our cause, in our identity as the future, and in what needs to be done to achieve it, we say loudly our intentions: we want to redirect the public affairs of the Federation, so that all are governed well by a democratic system. This new government should be founded on the grounds of equality, on the reality of equity that should unite everyone in the Universal Century, where the preservation of hierarchy is sent to the dustbins of history with men like Bask Om!
We are beset on all sides by enemies external to us. The Zentradi, Wulgaru, even living fossils of the mesozoic age. In a sense, we find ourselves back in that same situation the very first Homo Sapiens were in, huddled around campfires. Fearing what the shadows conceal.
Yet we continue to fight each other. Millions dead with the push of a button, and for what? The Zeons and their dreams are broken. Humanity is more divided than ever.
Yet ultimately, that distant war did prove something. For as trapped as we are in struggle and conflict, that war proved two things that humanity has above all else: Love and Grace.
Love, for we were so overcome with our capacity for it that we defied cold reason and fought each other to protect what we loved. Even in the face of the monsters at our gates.
Grace, for the war was not ended by nuclear massacre, but by machines cast in the shape of humanity.
These Mobile Suits are our chosen weapon, and as their pilots, we must embody both love and grace. Remember, the battlefield is a place of beauty and horror. Our burden as soldiers is to take on that horror so that those who do not fight may live free of it. But by shouldering that burden, we become beautiful.
-Excerpt from Senior Colonel Treize Khushrenada's speech held shortly after accepting command of the Special Mobile Suit Troops.
In the war-torn world, there are always places for those with the means to continue enjoying luxury as if nothing was happening. An exclusive high-rise club, for example, playing host to one of the wealthiest heiresses in the Far East Republic and a Federation representative.
"I'm afraid I've brought some bad news for you, miss," the ambassador says over his glass of wine.
"Oh? What's that?"
"Your fiancé. I'm afraid he met his end in an unexpected workplace accident."
"Ah, really? Well, I wasn't really planning on going through with it," the young woman replies, nonchalantly. "I can't stand men who use their father's name for everything and do nothing themselves. Should I take it to mean that I won't be getting my engagement fireworks, then?"
"There's been a change of plans. One I think we'll all approve of, though...well, everyone except your ex-future-father-in-law and the old man."
"Ah, the precision faction's won out, then. Honestly, I'm glad. This should prove much more entertaining."
The ambassador nods. "It's not like there will be any shortage of targets, either. We've already identified a dozen potential flashpoints to plan for in the next month, only about half of them Zero's shenanigans."
"Aha. I'd better get ready to go to work, then. So...am I managing four pieces, or nine?"
"Well, as for the other five...'managing' might be a strong word..."
Commissioner Emilio Marindar, commander of the Gaian Circle's paramilitary forces, was not born a citizen of any nation but a Number. A 6, in Britannian South America. But, at his late 50's, he had never known a world before the Universal Century - so he had always been a citizen of something greater, the planet Earth. As a child the Federation was God in his heart, and while time had taken off the sheen, his loyalty to the sanctity of the Earth had only burned brighter into an unwavering flame.
Seven years ago, while participating as a senior engineer in efforts to save the Amazon from damage wrought by the One Year War, he had been recruited by AEU citizen and celebrity biologist Auden Dominica to put his leadership and skill with a mobile labor to the test. Veterans of the war were all around, without them he would have never had the talent pool to train a Mobile Suit corps even with his experience as a civilian pilot. So why not simply let a decommissioned Feddie run the Circle's operations arm?
Dominica never answered that question, instead she had been putting him to work, running him ragged for these past seven years of peace.
How strange it would look to someone that the first time these words of approbation left her lips was as I held a MMP-80 90mm Machine Gun directly to her cockpit ?
But to those people each step I have taken must have seemed as queer as this situation ; why enroll under Zeon banner which left us in slums , why eschew safety or ideals to seek so desperatly the company of a fleet of stateless war criminals ?
It is something that neither Earthnoids or Spacenoids elites could easily understand , the satisfaction and pride in taking something which you desire with your own hand rather than taking the scraps offered in open hands.
My brother and me joined Zeon to tear ourselves a citizenship and the respect that came with it , and we carried on beyond the One Year War because we took our own cause out of the screens repeating speeches of Supreme Commander and Admirals , stealing ideology from their hands and leaving them behind in the dust.
I am not content to accept the luxuries that the Federation could lavish unto traitors with easy tongues , I refuse the orders of distant figures larger than life battling for the legacy of Zeon Zum Deikun , I alone choose.
I choose my Home , the one I found in the colony of Mahal and in the company of those who lived there , I choose the place where I was taught more than I could ever have learned elsewhere , I choose a ship sailing through the stars , I choose to fly alongside a most graceful creature of flesh and wings of steel , I choose Home , which always be at her side.
FORCE ASSESSMENT: SAOTOME INSTITUTE FOR PARTICLE PHYSICS RESEARCH
The Saotome institute was initially constructed in order to undertake research into the Getter rays, a seemingly infinite source of energy that flaunted the laws of physics. While it's initial proponents touted it's utility for everything from civil power generation to humanities burgeoning expansion into space, none but it's eponymous founder could have expected it would one day house a military force that even superpowers treat with trepidation. Shaped in the fires of humanities first war against another species, the Getter team proved decisive in it and future conflicts against the strangest enemies the earth has ever known. Despite suffering from severe funding issues, an unsteady relationship with the occupation forces of it's native Japan, and recovering from the disaster that killed it's namesake the Institute has never been mightier.
Having sponsored and cultivated strong ties with super robot teams across the globe under Director Jin's tenure, the recent rise of Professor Lando's Vega Zone has led these informal alliance to culminate into a Super Robot Army under the institutes leadership. Some of the solar systems brightest minds are hard at work on the next generation of Super Robot and rumors abound that the Getter Team is dutifully tracking down thier own successors after fading into semi-retirement from their piloting careers. Working in tandem with it's twin in Atami, many expect for a swift end to the newest Mechabeast threat to plague earth, a small spot of hope in a Solar System wracked by conflict and misery.
Yet for all their heroic reputation, questions abound about the Saotome institute among the conspiratorially minded, even in the days before it had it's own private military in all but name.
Despite presenting itself with a veneer of apolitical futurism, a number of political commentators noted at the time that Saotome's promise of cheap, clean energy could have shattered the power of Japan's aristocratic Six Houses, who held the nominally democratic countries politics in a death grip via their monopoly on Sakuradite mining that enriched them till the ill fated Black Rebellion revealed they had collaborated with Zero.
Meanwhile, the facility itself has consistently maintained that it built the original Getter Robo in response to the rise of Doctor Hell and the Dinosaur Empire, a claim few bothered to question during the chaos of the One Year War. Why look a gift horse in the mouth? Yet those well acquainted with the field can often prove skeptical of the claim, with at least one Federation after action report on the conflict speculating the Getter Robo would have had to began construction well before the humanoid reptilians first battlefield appearance to have been fielded as soon it was.
When pressed on the issue, Saotome maintained this was a result of proprietary construction techniques pioneered by the lab and lessons learned from the Mazinger's creation via their mutual benefactors in the Japanese government. Unfortunately, records and officials within the Japanese Government that could have corroborated or contradicted his arguments had been destroyed and lost their lives respectively during the Britannian invasion.
As much bait for crackpots as the last will of George Glenn or the Bermuda Triangle, the incident in 84 is perhaps the blackest hour in it's history despite most information on it being censored by the Federation Council under the auspices of national security. What is available paints a worrying picture, but little else. A direct attack on Mt.Asami from as yet unknown force not consistent with any active combatants at the time was met by the original successor of the Getter Robo G, built to counter the alien threats amassing in the outer solar system, barely ready to be fielded. The resulting cataclysmic battle led to the deaths of the entire Saotome family, many of it's original staff, the disappearance of Getter 1 pilot Ryouma Nagare, and orders to put the prototype involved under seal from on high. Just what had spooked the same council that had authorized a solar death laser into halting usage on a potential asset against the worrisome Wulgaru and Zentraedi threat?
But of all questions, a single one dominates the halls of real power. The stellar radiation known as Getter Rays is, by all appearances, ubiquitous throughout the observable universe rather then a localized phenomenon. Despite this and the sheer power or myriad uses found for this reality warping energy, none of the several nonhuman civilizations encountered by humanity has shown any sign of it's usage. Some point to this and suggest that despite the general advanced technology their enemies possess, there is something fundamentally special about humanities lust for progress, a living example of it's indomitable spirit in the face of so called superior civilizations. Others find it ridiculous far older species with much more comprehensive understandings of physics or technological prowess couldn't manage the same breakthrough as Professor Saotome once did.
To those who dismiss the idea of the other species being unable to harness Getter Rays, they ask themselves just why even beings like the war obsessed Zentraedi would reject it's utility, and what road the Power of Evolution might drag it's beneficiaries down if they don't reject it in turn?
Conventional Forces:
1 x Special Operations Group - "Chicxulub" - Generation 1 Mechanized Company
While most history of the One Year Wars pacific front focuses on the horrors of Mechabeasts, in many ways just as disruptive to traditional military doctrines as the invention of the mobile suit, it would be a mistake to discount the more 'conventional' forces that the Dr.Hell-Dinosaur Empire Alliance fielded. Unfeeling Iron Mask cyborgs with physical abilities that would give coordinators pause and Dinosaur soldiers wielding equipment far beyond 0079 standards were the least of the 'conventional' threats that gave mankind's military strategists sleepless nights after nights. Compounding this, the enemies use of everything from strange mutants, to mind controlling bioweapons, human shields, alien viruses, and even turning the very weather to their side proved difficult to counter even where the Federation was capable of massing overwhelming numbers or firepower.
Due to the Getter's team familiarity with dealing with the problems not only in their Giant Robot but on foot, Prime Minister Kururugi ordered the Saotome Institute to draw up a comprehensive crash training program to ready Mechanized Companies to face these abnormal challenges head on. The original beneficiaries of this training was the JSDF's elite First Airborne Division and select teams within it's Special Forces Group, who went on to be assigned as support elements during Getter Robo's operations. This training ended up paying high dividends during the war despite their assignment, going on to become one of the most decorated units of the south east Asian campaign. Their brutal effectiveness against Dinosaur Empire hardpoints earned them the moniker Chicxulub among Federation strategists in Jaburo, named after the meteor that was once theorized to have killed off reptilian megafauna before the discovery of Getter Rays.
Among those Earth and Plant troops on the ground they earned a very different reputation as diehard fanatics able to keep taking land even in the face of losses that would render comparable units combat inoperable, often citing the Getter Team as inspiration behind their do or die attitude. Despite heavy attrition the SOG would find itself periodically reinforced by units 'graduating' from the Crash Training Program till it's numbers were comparable to a entire regiment. Though the world had already outphased such combatants as the primary war making capabilities many point too Chicxulub's garrison of Mt.Atami, having received final orders to hold the Saotome Institute at any cost from the remnants of JSDF High Command, as the main reason Britannians never managing to occupy the facility prior to Saotome repairing the Getter Robo G.
Today the Special Operations Group is a shadow of it's former self. . The long war against the Hundred Demon and Mycenae empire, along with their losses during the Shin Getter incident of 84, have not been easy to replace in a post-occupation environment leading Chicxulub to be attrited into a single company. In the years that followed they've kept up admirable reputation of being one of the most experienced units for operations against abnormal enemies, having kept their skills sharp during the interregnum prior to Prof.Lando's rise by offering to run rescue missions for scavengers in Anomaly Infested Siberia willing to make generous donations to the institutes upkeep. Yet all their bravado, it seems unlikely any amount of skill or fighting spirit can overcome the fundamental weaknesses in the formation. Despite fielding everything from armored corps, artillery batteries, gunships, and transports of all kinds nearly all of it's equipment is a decade out of date. Still, SOG Chicxulub seems as willing as ever too waltz into hell in support of the Getter Team, having long since incorporated the ideals of protecting mankind from evil at all costs as part of the Saotome Institutes mission.
With the state of the Earth Sphere as it is, this cost may be high indeed.
Composed of air support seconded to SOG Chicxulub during the One Year War, the Hell-Dinosuar Empire front was one of the most hazardous for Federation troops. Whereas terrestial pilots elsewhere dominated the skies against Dopps built by Zekes unfamiliar with a atmospheric theater, the mechabeasts were poised to dominate the air as easily as the earth or sea. Flocks of relatively smaller, flying versions of the same monsters that devastated cities were just as quick to tear apart people with equal abandon. In the early days of the conflict, before the intervention of ZAFT peacekeepers, sorties to drive these menaces off had some of the highest attrition rates in the one year war. Meanwhile prior to the intervention of super robots or the ability to field masses of mobile suits to take regular Mechabeast attacks, Aircraft wings were often the first sent to engage these sudden attacks due to quick response times and alongside artillery barrages, being one of the few conventional weapons able to carry enough firepower to elicit a reaction from such a creature. Pacific Air Forces scrambled to seek new designs that would allow them to level the playing field with the monsters arrayed against them, or at least serve as more survivable distractions, but little progress would be made given the resources invested in setting up terrestrial mobile suit production which has begun to steadily obsolete most other weapons of war.
One of the few Aircraft to buck this trend was one of the Getter Robo's most used support craft, known as the Command Unit. A shuttle like craft reminiscent of the Getter Machines in their vehicle mode, some points to it's success as a result of the bulky design allowing it to armor itself up or carry weapons then it's more standard cousins. The failure of serious Arms Manufacturers to try iterating on this design has led to most to conclude it's performance instead came from the small Getter Amplifier installed, primarily installed to to help it recharge Getter Energy in the eponymous super robot out in the field. Michuru Wing's name comes from the pilot of this Command Unit, the daughter of Professor Saotome. A skilled pilot, Michuru often acted as flight leader for air support operations in battles where the Getter Robo was fielded, a name that's stuck even after the the demise of the entire Saotome Family in the Shin Getter incident. Plans to enter the Command Unit into limited production for Michuru Wing was continually pushed back due to budget shortfalls and eventually shelved entirely when the disaster in 84 led to the destruction of the Lady Command unit, the deaths of it's engineering staff, and major data losses that included the technical data behind the machine.
Today the Michuru Wing prides itself on daring air raids against biomechanical horrors that can potentially wipe whole squadrons out in moments and lightning quick response times, having mastered the art of sudden notice emergency sorties over the last near decade with the Institute. Efforts to modernize their equipment have hit as many bottlenecks as with SOG Chicxulub, especially with recent bans of importations of military equipment into Area 11. Widely seen as a PR move too boost sales in a mecha obssessed military industraial complex, fortunately the Hervic Company has granted the Saotome Institute a limited license to produce necessary parts and new models of it's existing workhorse frame, the FF3-Saberfish, on site. While outdated even before the OYW ended, the ease and cheapness of maintenance along with it's modularity. Michuru Wing Saberfish has been seen acting as everything from torpedo bombers to help harry aquatic Mechabeasts to employing 'Flare Missiles' in attempts to blind ones believed to be using normal senses over cybernetically integrated sensors. A favorite weapon of theirs in the rare occasions they are able to engage a Mechabeast outside of populated areas has even been employing thermobaric warheads, finding that fire often serves as a useful irritant against them even when conventional weapons are incapable of piercing their hides along with the difficulties employing most sensors while being coated in a sea of flames. Rumors claim that the Saotome Institue still has enough stockpiled kits to allow the whole Michuru Wing to be refitted into the FFS3 variant in the event their needed for operations in space, a ludicrous notion if not for the infamous over-preparedness of it's current Director.
Super Robots
Allied Robo Corps: While the Saotome Institute's Getter Robo and the Photon Lab's Mazinger are perhaps the most famous examples of super robots, their far from the only ones. Both the Britannians and the FER have rolled out their own since programs, with rumors that the PLANT's GDF following suit, though none seem as of yet to match the performance of the original twos current iterations. While it make sense that vast majority of Super Robot are fielded by powerful state actors, the effective of the Japanese labs inspired similar efforts across the globe, at times to rousing success. Most of them coming into existence due to Super Robots being one of the few effective responses to mechabeast threats, the Saotome Institute with quick to build strong ties with their counterparts across the globe, a policy that was only intensified under Director Jin. While collaboration during the one year war as well as the ones the ones that followed led to natural bonds of comradery and networks of coordination to spring up, one of the most valuable things the Saotome Institute was technical assistance.
While lacking most traditional patronage, especially after the occupation of what is now area 11, what the Institute did have was the most advanced robotics division in the solar system. Seeing these foreign teams as natural assets in their mission statement of safeguarding the world and their advancement one of the best ways to help it's defenses as the Institutes own growth had been inhibited by vice-royal policies, their data helped their counterparts advance in leaps and bounds. In some cases, allowing them to even get off the ground in the first place. The sudden appearing of Prof.Lando's forces around the globe and their targeting of the institute, the first such threat since the defeat of the Great General of Darkness years ago, has caused over a dozen super robots from across the world to be based in Mt.Asami in order to cooperate against this new enemy, with many expecting Director Jin to announce the transformation of these informal ties into a true consolidation in the coming days.
3 x Beetle T23 - Gen 1 Super Robot [10P, 1M]
Built during the earliest days of Super Robot development, it certainly shows to anyone with a peak at the product. Building something at such immense size at the same price tag as a cruiser or surface battleship for the purposes of reconnaissance is a absurd idea, but the One Year War often drove its combatants to absurd lengths. With Mivonsky Particles battlefields making most indirect methods of observation obsolete, the Federation found itself in desperate need of reconnaissance units. A need that was very quickly becoming unfulfilled, chiefly due to most models they used exploding from a mere glance by any of the weapons that dominated the new modern battlefield. Inspired by Japanese success stories to turn to super robot development as a potential remedy to their militaries inferiority to both mechabeast and mobile suit forces, the crazed developers of Project T thought to kill two birds with one stone.
Built to resemble in many ways to the previous, pre-humanoid generations of Knightmare frames, the similarities end with aesthetics. With it's lower half sporting slash harken-like grappling hooks and treads on its feet, the beetle combines the sheer durability of a super robot with impressive speed and maneuverability. This remarkable agility can even be taken into the skies owing to the mecha's retractable helicopter rotors and the twin rockets attached to it's back. In a pinch the Super Robot is even capable of splitting in half in order to attack from multiple angles or for it's pilots to make a quick escape. It's 'head' can act as makeshift gunship capable of raining rockets, while the main body fights on with cannon and claw. Later on, spare space was used to integrate equipment used to perform field repairs on the japanese super robots or even each other as they became increasingly seconded to the same operations due to being one of the few mobile assets capable of seriously damaging mecha beasts.
Forces in the pacific were known to cheer when their arrival was cited given this and their ability to act as scouts or spotters even over the most fortified locations, often saving local units from missions that would be a death sentence for them. Despite the technical marvels performed by the Beetle T23, Jaburo began to consider it a overengineered waste of money due to it's price tag, high maintenance cost, and tendency to break down if not heavily serviced after every mission when it's more finicky parts are put to use. With the runaway success of the far more cost effective Project V, Project T was quietly shuttered, with the Kururugi Administration using Japans immense Sakuradite based wealth in order buy out the units for Genbu's vision of a Super Robot based military. Integrated within SOG Chicxulub by the time of the invasion and having already having outsourced their maintenance to experienced engineers of the Saotome institute, it was no suprise when the pilots ended up making the same choice to integrate into its forces after retreating to Mt.Asami from losing battlegrounds. Losses, cannabilisations, and decommissioning due to cost have put their number down to only three, while the institutes understanding of Super Robots passing them by making it unlikely for new ones to be built, they represent potent force when fielded alongside the flag unit of the Institute.
3 x Barzof 8000D - Gen 1 Super Robot
Despite obvious cues from certain aquatic mobile suits of Zeonic design, the Barzof 8000D represents Hayato Jin's first foray into robotics design alongside the then living Professor Saotome. Seeing that the Mt.Asami facility itself was their biggest vulnerability given their strongest units inability to be multiple places at the same time, this design was built chiefly for rear guard duty for it and further off impromptu operating bases during the war. Made with the intention of driving off or at least holding the lines long enough for more capable units to return or be called in, any super robot is a decisive weapon that can't be underestimated. it was designed to be relatively cheap, easy to service, and standardized, words that had never entered the Super Robot Production Lexicon before and seldom had again, its a simplistic design. Sporting highly layered armor, integrated vulcans and incredibly strong claws, this is often all it's needed to deal with interlopers who thought Mt.Atami undefended. Though all destroyed by the time of the invasion, the needs of the war against Mycenae and the Hundred Demon Empires saw three more constructed prior to most funding being shuffled into the ill fated Shin Getter Project...and most after that dedicated to the Institutes fight to keep the proverbial lights on in the face of intense scrutiny by the Federation council.
1 x Jikyo Type 70 - Gen 2 Super Robot
Built by a very successful Scavenger too help survive the Siberia Wastes during expeditions, a desperate encounter with a powerful anomaly led to a chance rescue by the Getter Robo after said abnormality followed the pilot in a rampage through the Sea of Ohtosk all the way to the Kuril Islands. Never one not to repay a debt, the pilots attempt to discharge it during a fight against the Hundred Demon Empire led to retaliations from Hyakki Mechabeasts that all but forced them into the war. The Jikyo Pilot has been a stalward ally of the Institute ever since, having even offered the usage of a upgraded version of the type 70s design as a mass production model for the institute should it ever renew its plans for a larger force. Wielding two large turrets within it's torso, Jikyo often prefers to rely on it's trusty dao in a scrape.
1 x BB-5 - Gen 2 Super Robot
Despite her reputation as a incorrigible womanizer, Linda Tiramis was one the most skilled pilots of the AEU's infamous PMC Trust, given a absurd budget as a contract to put together a private force capable of defending the AEU's then colonies in the pacific while most of the regular forces dealt with invasion from space. Rather then hiring a army of her fellows with the blank check from the Romefeller foundation as they expected, a chance view of a battle between the Getter Robo and a Mecha Beast inspired her to use it commission her own Super Robot that's only been upgraded more and more as time passed. Built by the best engineers money could buy and with technical advice offered by the Saotome Institute, the machine relies on it's powerful body and integrated beam weapons to take on any comers. After the war saw the AEU release it's colonies and Japan turned into one, they offered their services to to the Institute and the affected nations at a much reduced price to help fight the twin empires that arose in the aftermath. Fading into a cushy retirement afterwards that's only served to bore Linda to tears, the rise of Prof.Lando has saw her jump at the chance to once more offer her services to her former comrades, having grown quite fond of her role as a hero.
1 x Kingdom-007 - Gen 2 Super Robot
A twin to the BB-5 in most ways, Linda had this commissioned in the lead up too the final conflicts of the wars with the Thousand Demons and the Mycenae empires as someone to watch her back. Rumors that it's piloted by a former AEU black ops agent are highly exaggerated.
1 x Robo Sun T-520 - Gen 2 Super Robot
Another creation of Project, the fact it ever managed to get greenlit is oft used retort on message boards by Zekeaboos confronted with federation mocking of Zeons own troubled procurement during the war. While in most ways what you'd expect from a Super Robot, both sides are attached by axel to a pair of huge paver wheels. Despite it's laughable appearance, the wheels do provide quite a boost in speed and can be pushed together to provide extraordinary defenses even for a cutting edge super robot. For ranged combat, a old staple of the original Getter Robo, it's been provided a handheld chaingun using missiles as ammunition.
Piloted by the Hoss Twins during the one year war, sons of a wealthy commoner family in Britannian canada often snubbed for it's lack of noble status in imperial high society, they cooperated with the Getter Team numerous times to protect the Britannian's pacific coast and later in counteroffensives in Asia. Quitting the Federation Military in protest of it's acceptance of their home countries invasion of Japan, the Hoss Twins lost half their fortune buying out the contract for the Robo Sun from a federation military in the process of reorganizing it's military to fight the new war raging along with it's old super robot comrades. They lost the other half upgrading it the standards of second generation design, but have never looked back, seeming much happier as world saving heroes then jet-setting playboys or decorated NCOs in the federation military.
1 x Gustav-H24 - Gen 2 Super Robot
A super scientist in the vein of the Saotomes and Kabuto's of the world, the Gustav-h24 was a late addition to the war for humanity's survival, but a welcome one. Built with Saotome assistance to combat the Hundred Demon threat after said empire forcibly cyberized his former research partner to misuse the man's genius, Herr Shatner's Gustav-H24 has been a stalwart defender of mankind ever since. Despite the strange glances it gets for building the mecha's pelvis out of tank treads, supposedly some form of injoke between him and his ill-fated life partner, it's as capable as any of the new volounteers especially with the use of it's shoulder mounted cannon.
1 x Volga 80000
A gargantuan Super Robot with a design reminscent of a medieval knight, the 'Mobile Fortress Volga-80000' was built by a descendant of Russian refugees with the hope of it aiding his lifelong dream of seeing their homeland reclaimed from the anomalies that plague it. Aided early on in it's design with help from the Saotome Institute, eager as any to see any progress in taming that horrifying wasteland as humanitarians, the Volga pilot struck up a close a friendship with the director over in the midst of their work. Having long admired many of their heroes in the Getter Team and foght alongside them, the threat of Prof.Lando has been enough for them to eagerly offer their Super Robots aid to this purpose, with the hope that such a confederation might be able to turn their attention to the problems beyond the FRE's great wall in more peaceful times. While it's powerful body is a potent combat option, it's transformation into a cannon is a devastating weapon even on the scales they fight.
1 x Getter Robo G - Gen 2+ Super Robot
A contender for the most powerful mecha in all of the Earth Sphere, only rivaled by the Photon Labs own Great Mazinger for the title. Composed of a combination of three combining jetlike machines, it's ability to quickly disconnect and recombine on the fly to evade attacks has frustrated more then a few foes. Even more famous is it's ability to change form once combined, from the classic flying Getter Dragon, the shockingly fast Getter Ligier that moves through the earth as easily as it dos anything else, and the hulking Getter Poseidon. Their are too many myriad weapons to name, from the Getter Tomahawk, to laser rifles, finger nets, and even drills. Of course it's most powerful weapon has always been it's titualar usage of Getter Rays, whether it's the Getter Beam, the Stoner Sunshine, or just it's general propensity to do things far beyond it's specifications when the chips are down.
Built at the tail end of the OYW, the Getter Robo G represents the Saotome Institutes first attempt at a true combat optimized Super Robot rather then a mere vector to exercise the power of Getter Rays. Despite it's tremendous power, it's no wonder that only the Photon Power Labs has built a comparable war machine. Boasting a production budget on par with a modern Battleship and requiring truely staggering requirements to pilot lest their users fail at the complex combination maneuvers or fail to withstand the sheer density of Getter Rays, it's said that Saotome scoured through dozens of Japans physical and intellectual elite before finding acceptable pilots. While this Getter Team is often named alongside luminaries such the legendary Amuro Rey or Koji Kabuto as heroes of the Earth Sphere, today the members have either sacrificed their lives in the lines of duty, dissapeared off the face of the Earth, or faded into Semi-Retirement as they settle into leadership positions left unocupied in the Saotome Institute after the Shin Getter Incident. In the past few days, a new Getter team has been brought together with the hopes to carry Saotome's legacy into a new era...
Getter 3 Poseidon Pilot - Gai Daido: A lumbering and boisterous man, few would expect him to hold the mind of a shrewd academic by his appearance or demeanor. Idolizing his father, one of the original chief mechanics for the institute, he spent his youth studying everything he could about mechanics and Getter Energy in the hopes of following in the footsteps. When he was finally became the youngest Head Engineer for Getter 3 it was a bitter victory, largely owing to the deaths of a number of his seniors in 84, including his own father. No one alive knows the ins and outs the Getter 3 machine better than Gai, who was flummoxed by Benkei Kurama as his successor.
Getter 2 Ligier Pilot - Sho Tachibana: Daughter of a genius scientist, the same events that caused him to forsake his pacifism to help with the Getter Project sent her racing along her own path. Having always been close to her older brother Shinichi, when a Hell-Dinosaur alliance strike moved to kidnap thier father in a operation too steal humanities brightest minds to force them to slave away under their own cause, Shinichi Tachibana sacrificed herself so his family could escape. Both heavily aggrieved by her brothers loss and inspired by his example, she dedicated her life too training combat the monsters that terrorized humanity. Having joined SOG Chicxulub as soon as she was of age, her dedication over the years saw her rising through the ranks and her skill soar. Sho displays similar capabilities as the nigh superhuman displays the original Getter Team often got up too on foot as they subdued humanoid Dinosaurs and Iron Mask Cyborgs with nothing but their bodies as often as with weapons, showing off a supernal skill with a traditional japanese sword. Cool headed and professional, Director Hayato Jin put her at the front of the list when she offered to take up a piloting position in the new team.
Getter 1 Dragon Pilot - Go Ichimonji: A relative unknown to most of the Institute and the world at large, Go Ichimonji is a high school delinquent not much older then the original Getter Team when they started their careers, his hotblooded nature and sense of justice getting him into more then a little trouble in the current state of Japan. After his home was directly attacked by one of Prof.Lando's cyborg infiltrators, Institute assets on the scene saw him fight them off with astounding physical ability and cleverness before ending up in there custody. After getting a first hand look at the threat Prof.Lando's poses to the world and the Saotome Institute's place in fighting it, he consented to a number of tests that showed he had a physique and Getter Ray comparability comparable to former Getter Team lead Ryouma Nagare. Seemingly not surprised in the slightest, Director Jin has seen fit to give him the Getter 1 and a place in the new Getter Team, one they've accepted even in the face of the necessary sacrifices. Unbeknowst to him or most of the institute, his connection to Saotome reaches far beyond this incident.
REDACTED Getter Candidate - Kei Kuruma: - Classified under orders of Director Jin
Accessing classified file
Dossier: Genki Saotome
Warships
1 x Texas - Gen 1 Battleship
In many ways a embarrassment of the haphazard procurement system of the One Year War, the suprise attacks by the Hell-Dinosuar alliance at the opening of the war left the traditional naval powers of the pacific floundering. As the federation overwhelmingly prioritized shipbuilding capacity for the war in space, the FRE caught in the death grip of a two front war while anomalies spilled over the undermanned Great Wall, and Councillors in Jaburo took a dim view of nations that had called for PLANT intervention, asian navies found themselves stymied in critical attempts to regain dominance over the pacific oceans. Meanwhile, as the war dragged on, the Japanese Super Robot Labs found themselves deploying farther from their main base as their remit changed from mere defense to support efforts to retake occupied land across the Pacific front. Unfortunately, increasing reliance on vulnerable forward operating bases was often exploited by the enemy to force Getter Robo back from the frontlines and destroy crucial parts or engineers for their continued operation. Calls to be assigned a battleship capable of warding off Mecha beasts to protect key personnel, shorten the Getter logistic's trail and allow faster deployment times were increasingly made by the institute.
Despite his patronage of the lab, Prime Minister Genbu Kurugi was under pressure from his own naval command to keep as many of it's slowly rebuilding fleet in Japanese waters to ward off potential surprise attacks. Attempts to procure a Giant Class from AEU shipyards, it's heavy armor and paucity of firepower seen as a perfect fit for the job, ended up nixed due to Federation priorities on the eventual counterattack into space. Given a flippant response to professor Saotome that the best he could was a old surface battleship in the process of being mothballed in the face of technology advance, Genbu Kurugi was flabbergasted to hear them actually give a enthusiastic response. Before long, the Earth Federation Navies Texas was in Institute hands, who worked miracles to bring it up too the standards necessary for a modern battlefield.
Ripping out internals for redesigns, upgunning reinforcing the hulls, and more were on the table as Saotome engineers applied the same genius that had created one of the world's most complex mecha designs to this arena. The Texas underwent periodic refits over the course of the war as new capabilities were added, from using the experience with Getter 3 to add retratable treads for land operations,to using similar propulsion systems and creating air tight seals to make it submersible, to even adding a prototype Mivonsky Craft system to allow it to float over obstacles or into the Saotome Institutes mountain facility. It's cannons were refitted into gyrojets to pierce Mecha Beast hide, maintain precision during long range barrages, and fire underwater with special torpedo shells constructed just for such a occasion. Armor was reinforced, with empty space and miniturized parts being used to create redundencies, while internals were separated into layers with bunker doors that could be sealed to deal with underwater holes. By the wars end the Texas was living ship of theseus, though its outside rarely changed from how i was delivered. The battleship has served alongside the Getter Team for years, and though battleship has past it by, may yet have more years left in her.
FORCE ASSESSMENT: THE ORDER OF THE BLACK KNIGHTS (黒の騎士団)
Ground Operation Forces
2 x Special Operations Group (特殊作戦群) - Generation 1 Mechanized Brigade [1P, 4M]
The Order of the Black Knights began as an urban guerrilla force, and the Special Operations Groups are what remains of that heritage. They're equipped with conventional assault weapons, man-portable launchers, and a variety of ground vehicles, mostly either foreign military surplus or otherwise 'liberated' from Britannian troops.
Mobile Weapons
20 x Type-1R Burai (無頼) - Generation 1 Mobile Suit [1P, 1M]
The original purpose-built Knightmare Frame of the Black Knights is little more than a copy of the Britannian Glasgow with a new paint job and a remodeled head. Though the Glasgow-type is a venerable and time-tested design that has served the Black Knights well, it is clearly out of date in the modern era, and has now been mostly relegated to second-tier operations and defensive actions.
10 x Type-05 Akatsuki (暁) - Generation 2 Mobile Suit [1P, 1M]
The Akatsuki is the Black Knights' new mainstay Knightmare Frame and is a simplified version of the Guren Type-02 (and its later derivation, the Gekka) suitable for mass production. Unlike the Burai, the Akatsuki is a wholly Japanese design (if not necessarily Japanese-produced) with cutting-edge weaponry and systems. It is optionally compatible with an Air Glide System, allowing for unhindered aerospace movement, and comes equipped with a Gefjun Disturber stealth suite.
1 x Type-02/F1A Guren Aerial-Type (紅蓮可翔式) - Generation 2+ Mobile Suit [2P, 1M]
The most well-known of the Black Knights' units is the infamous Guren Type-02, now upgraded to bring it fully into the seventh generation of Knightmares with a remodeled Radiant Wave Surger, an Air Glide System, and the newly-designed Gefjun Net, which has been augmented to bypass Britannia's anti-Gefjun countermeasures. Unfortunately, its idiosyncratic design and increasing levels of customization mean it's only pilotable by one woman, though she shows no signs of wanting to give it up.
1 x Type-04 Zangetsu (斬月) - Generation 2+ Mobile Suit [2P, 1M]
An intermediate-stage prototype between the Gekka and the Akatsuki, the Zangetsu is another heavily customized design built for an ace pilot, in this case the leader of the legendary Four Holy Swords. It is unique among the later Black Knights designs in its use of a Brake Sword, which mounts its own thrusters to allow for mid-slash maneuvering or increased cutting power. It is also equipped with the Radiant Wave Shield standard to the Akatsuki Zikisan and the Gefjun Disturber stealth suite.
4 x Type-05S/G Akatsuki Zikisan (暁直参仕様) - Generation 2+ Mobile Suit [2P, 1M]
The "commander-type" Akatsuki is much the same as the mass-production model, but features a higher degree of personalized tuning and more elaborate systems than would be found on a machine built for standard deployment. This includes the Black Knights' signature Revolving Blade Sword, an energy-reinforced melee weapon capable of standing up to a beam saber or MVS, as well as Radiant Wave missile launchers and a Radiant Wave Shield. The four models currently in use are piloted by the Four Holy Swords.
1 x Type-0/0A Shinkiro (蜃気楼) - Generation 3 Mobile Suit [2P, 1M]
Zero's personal unit is just as anomalous as the masked man himself. Capable of transforming into a submersible aerospace Knight Fortress form, the Shinkiro possesses unmatched tactical and strategic flexibility. It is capable of deploying a comprehensive Absolute Defense System of interlocking energy shields using its integrated Druid System supercomputer, allowing Zero to conduct battles with minimal personal risk. It also mounts integrated Hadron Cannons and a Phase Transition Cannon, which can be fired to create either a single penetrating ray or a scattering blast of dozens of lesser beams. The latter effect has, against the masked man's wishes, been dubbed the "Zero Beam."
1 x Type-5R/11G Raiko (雷光) - Generation 1 Mobile Armor [5P, 1M]
Whether kept for sentimentality or simply because no one has had the time or energy to get rid of it, the Raiko is a bizarre kludge of a Mobile Armor dating back to the Japan Liberation Front. The bulk of the unit proper is a high-caliber coilgun, itself the size of a Knightmare Frame, and that weapon is in turn supported by four integrated Burai KMFs, each of which lend their Landspinners and Sakuradite powerplants to the coilgun's operations. That the original was built is baffling; that there were three made is truly mystifying.
1 x RPI-13J/X Sutherland Sieg - Generation 2 Mobile Armor [5P, 1M]
Continuing in the same vein of outlandish Mobile Armor designs, the Sutherland Sieg is a rebuilt version of the Britannian Knight Giga Fortress Siegfried, integrating the upper half of a Sutherland KMF to replace its ruined cockpit and control systems. Armed with two giant cone-shaped Slash Harkens and a belly-mounted Hyper-Velocity Cannon, it is perhaps meant to be an anti-KMF interceptor design. Then again, who can say what the mad designer of the Black Knights truly intends for it?
Naval Vessels
1 x Kokuryu-class Submersible Carrier (黒龍) - Generation 2 Cruiser [10P, 2M]
The Kokuryu is a foreign-built Submersible Carrier designed to silently and steathily convey and deploy Knightmare Frames where they're least expected. Having briefly served as the Black Knights' headquarters until the Ikaruga's completion, it is now a secondary asset that nevertheless provides them with a surprising degree of operational flexibility.
1 x Ikaruga-class Flagship (斑鳩) - Generation 2 Flagship [???]
A truly all-environments vessel, the Ikaruga can traverse the sky, the vacuum of space, and the depths of the ocean with equal ease. It has a surprisingly large carrying capacity, owing to its reliance on an anti-gravity Float System, and is the beating heart of the Black Knights' operations. It is capable of providing fire support through its integrated armaments: Slash Harkens, Radiant Wave missiles, medium and heavy coilgun turrets, and two Heavy Hadron Cannons mounted in the bow.
[Treaty of Granada]
-The Earth Federation recognizes the Republic of Zeon as the legitimate successor of the Principality of Zeon, and as an autonomous dominion of the Federation as a whole.
-The use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons is prohibited under Federation and Zeon law.
[31 July Proclamation]
-The Titans Autonomous Corps is responsible for international peacekeeping in space the Earth Sphere, and is immune from prosecution or censure for actions taken in pursuit of this goal
-This Resolution may only be repealed by unanimous vote of the Earth Federation Council (Britannia, AEU, and FER)
[Cathedra Accords]
-The use of Permet in human interface devices such as cybernetics, otherwise known as the "GUND Format" is prohibited
-All such technology is subject to seizure and destruction by the EFF. Enforcement of this is contracted to the PMC Cathedra (Benerit Group)
The Federation Council
Holy Britannian Empire
Advanced European Union
Far Eastern Republic
South Asia Treaty Organization (non-voting NPC)
African Union (non-voting NPC)
Affiliated Factions
Earth Federation Forces (NPC)
Titans Autonomous Corps
United Nations Spacy
Circle of Gaia
On behalf of the Martian Union and the League of Ruling Companies, we are pleased to announce the creation of Raven's Ark.
Raven's Ark will be THE premier brokerage firm for anyone in need of professional, private security contractors.
Based in Chryse, Mars, with satellite offices attached across LRC offices across the solar system. Each and every registered 'Raven' will undergo routine vetting to ensure that they will honor all legal contracts brokered by Ark staff with customers. In turn, the Ark offers arbitration to settle disputes between contractors and employers on neutral terms.
For Security Professionals we offer access to the markets and networks of League Member businesses.
For Employers in need to fulfill security needs, we offer a curated list of security contractors vetted for legal work and customer satisfaction.
For business inquiries please visit or contact your local LRC branch office or call....
Despite ongoing security concerns over threats of Blue Cosmos sympathisers, singer Lacus Clyne has reaffirmed her commitment to her charity campaign on Earth, with the intent to raise money for post-war Reconstruction and refugee resettlement programs. Ms. Clyne, whose meteoric rise to popularity has stunned industry watchers over the past few years, has also accrued a reputation as a fierce philanthropist who regularly donates most of her earnings towards humanitarian organizations. She is also a known critic of the Earth Federation's forced resettlement programs, with much of her money going to programs supporting families she claims to have been abandoned by the Earth Federation after their resettlement in space. General Alec Lad, commander of the ZAFT Peacekeepers present with allies on Earth, has promised that he is "working closely with local law enforcement" to ensure Ms. Clyne's safety.
Having teased the reveal of several new songs during the course of her consecutive concerts from Jakarta to Delhi, tickets to Ms. Clyne's concerts are rapidly in the process of selling out at venues worldwide. Proceeds are currently estimated to break $1 billion should the rush continue.
Ms. Clyne's father, Supreme Chairman Siegel Clyne, has expressed his support for his daughter despite the danger. "Though I will always worry for Lacus, she is brilliant and responsible and has assessed all risks beforehand. She goes to Earth with my blessing to do what she can to achieve her dreams of making a positive impact on the world. My role as a parent is to ensure that those dreams are fulfilled."
Though she has emphasized that nothing has been set in stone, Ms. Clyne hopes that her schedule will be available in the future after the charity campaign to collaborate with Lynn Minmei, who she has cited as a artistic inspiration...
Chinatown Complex Food Centre, Singapore
January 4th, 0086 UC
Living on Earth was a riot.
Not a literal riot, though Andrew Waltfeld had the misfortune to see several food riots in his time, but a riot in every other way that counted. For all that refugees on Earth rightfully envied the peaceful and orderly life in PLANT, living on Earth had the zest of life that Andrew was certain that he'd never fall out of love with. A sky whose horizons stretched out into infinity, unrestrained by the limitations of mankind's astral engineering. Sparkling rainforest that stretched out thousands of kilometres, unbowed by even Zeon's assault on the planet. The riot on his senses, where the enticing smell of food, the hawking of merchants, the crowded roar of packed in motor vehicles, and colourful buildings stacked on top of each other like demented jenga towers, so unlike the painstakingly engineered urban spaces of PLANT.
"Sir, why are we here instead of training to take the fight to the Vega Forces?!" Yzak Joule slammed a fist next to his untouched black chicken herbal soup, ignoring the fragrant steam curling out invitingly. "And you two!" He pointed his finger accusingly at Rusty and Dearka, who looked up simultaneously from slurping down their food. "The hell happened to your discipline?! How can you call yourself soldiers?"
"What? Don't appreciate my picks? I think the food's pretty great myself, especially if you've been shoved into a shuttle for the better part of the week getting to Earth." Andrew cracked some crab meat out its claw, savouring how the tanginess of the black pepper contrasted with the sweetness of the crab. "Earth has a lot to enjoy, if you're willing to go out and look for it."
"But-"
"Andy, we're back!"
"Aisha!" Andrew turned around and waved enthusiastically at his fiancee, watching with amusement how heads around the food court turned at Aisha Lettou's approach. Trailing behind her were Dacosta, Amalfi, and Zala carrying what seemed like an entire wardrobe of bags.
Aisha's eyes lit up as she spotted the gathering. "You were able to grab the duck? Nice!" She cheered as she grabbed a chair. Her unfortunate escorts for the day followed her much more wearily, setting the enormous haul down.
"How does Lacus have the energy for this…" Athrun groaned as he slammed his head down on the table. Nicol laughed nervously as he patted his friend on the back.
"It's your kids' fault for coming down to Earth in only your dress uniforms and fatigues." Aisha chided, helping herself to a large helping of duck rice. "Honestly… Singapore may be largely peaceful, but Blue Cosmos terror attacks aren't unknown. What were your parents thinking, sending you all over here without even a basic means to disguise yourselves?!"
"What, the entire base full of soldiers isn't enough to do the job?" Dearka commented as he swallowed the last of his noodles. "Is the situation really so bad that there's still terror cells right next to a ZAFT base in allied territory?"
"It's precisely because there's a ZAFT base that we've got Blue Cosmos scurrying around in the corners." Andrew waggled a fork in Dearka's direction. "Not much point in being a terror cell if the people you want to bomb aren't around. Anyway, we work with the police, that doesn't mean we are the police. Britannians and anything that smells of them aren't welcome around here, but that doesn't mean that we can guarantee that there isn't anyone that might want to try to take a crack at the kids of multiple Supreme Council members."
"Then what are we doing out here?!" Yzak spoke up again. "If we're such a security risk, then why out here in a public space?"
"You can say that I'm a big believer of expanding your horizons," Andrew chuckled as the team looked at him in varying states of confusion (or in Yzak's case, mounting frustration). He picked up another piece of crab, dripping with black pepper sauce. "Alright, here's one of my own then."
He gave them an expectant look. "How do you end a war?"
"Um, what?"
"Indulge me, there's a point to this." Andrew sipped on a thermos. Oh yeah, the Arabica was a good choice for today. "As mobile suit pilots… and the children of Supreme Councilmen. What do you think it takes to make it all stop?"
"The answer doesn't need to be complicated does it? All we need to do is to beat the enemy, no matter who we're told to fight at the time. That goes to both soldiers and politicians." Dearka said after a moment's hesitation, scratching his neck..
"Even I know he wants more of an answer than that Dearka." Rusty deadpanned next to him. "You've got to cripple their military industry, take away their ability to both mobilise and organise. The Zekes did plenty of damage to the Earth Federation, but Earth industry just let them bounce back at the drop of a hat."
"Even those fanatics at Zeon surrendered when the Earth Federation overran them at A Baoa Qu," Yzak sneered. "All that chestbeating about the superiority of 'spacenoids' based on the words of a two-bit lunatic, and all they accomplished was getting themselves and a bunch of others killed. And now they've made the Titans everyone's problem."
"Did Zeon really surrender though?" Athrun frowned. "The Principality might be gone, but there doesn't seem to be any shortage of terrorists willing to fight in their name. A lot of their armed forces just disappeared before the peace treaty was signed."
"So what? That just made them weaklings who've resigned themselves to rotting on some asteroid somewhere. We've barely heard from them since, no treaties, so mass movements, not even a mobile suit that's not some One Year War antique. Just excuses for the Titans to press the boot on more throats."
"More of a sign that the Federation Council must be afraid of something to keep tolerating the Titans like this. They're a self-fulfilling prophecy, with the way they're managing to turn the Sphere against Earth even after Zeon went on their rampage."
"Damn Athrun, putting a lot of faith in the Feddie council there. You're not going Natural on us are you?" Dearka laughed as Athrun shot him a poisonous glare.
"H-Hey, hey guys, I think that's enough." Nicol laughed nervously as he tried to calm down the brewing argument. "The Commander was nice enough to buy us lunch and everything, let's not spoil that…"
"Victory is something that will always be denied to you so long as someone is willing to fight." Andrew interjected with an approving nod at Nicol. "Not just Zeon, but Japan, the former Saurian occupation zone, Krugis, if you're angry enough then you're able to impose a cost on your enemy even with sticks and stones. No matter the cost to yourself and others."
Athrun froze. "Are you saying that the Britannians are right then? Damn everyone else and just kill them?"
"War is a inherently cruel business kid, and hate only makes it crueller." Andrew sighed and put down his coffee. "Singapore is a nice place. It's come a long way since the occupation."
"The Saurians…" Aisha smiled sadly. "Back then, they were a lot like the Britannians. No concept of the value of human life. We discovered that they liked to take the easy route when it came to occupation problems. Coordinators like to scoff at Naturals for being worse at everything, but being able to bounce back from that is just incredible."
"The beaches are nice," Andrew leaned back in his cheap metal chair. "The botanical gardens are gorgeous. You kids should go out to see them sometime. Nothing like it even in Junius. And I don't know about you, but I personally think the food's amazing. Aisha here isn't a huge fan of the weather, but you can't win 'em all."
"Shut up!" Aisha laughed and pushed Andrew. "I know you use the aircon just like me!"
"Hah, guilty as charged. Point of the matter though is that there are healthier reasons to fight a war, reasons why you should think of reaching out with words instead of bullets. People talk about my duel with Bat like it's the most badass thing I've ever done, but personally I think my most valuable contribution was bridging dialogue between us and them. Words ended that war, not bullets."
"Soooooooooooooo…" Rusty murmured. He grinned. "Are you voting for Chairman Clyne next election Commander? Miss Lettou?"
"Damn, rascal, that's private information! Try practising thinking for yourselves instead." Andrew smirked as he grabbed himself some more duck rice. "Eat some more. See the sights. Flirt with some local girls. It's your first time on Earth, and you won't be left to enjoy it forever. It won't be long before you'll find yourselves back in a cockpit, there never seems to be any shortage of malcontents on our little spot of dirt."
Developed long before the outbreak of the One Year War, the backbone of the AEU airforce remains the conventional EUF-77 Gryphon fighter. They also operate a decent number of EUG-12 Harpy VTOL gunships.
A simplified and cheaper version of the Hellion's fighter mode, the Bomber type now serves as the premier ground attack craft of the AEU airforce. Despite its role, it remains a capable dogfighter.
The signature Mobile Suit of the OZ design bureau was first mass produced during the closing months of the One Year War. Rushed into production to meet the demands of war, quality control was sacrificed, leading to the Leo acquiring a reputation as being made of volatile material and exploding if the enemy so much as looked at it. Compared to the GM, the Leo has a weaker generator keeping it from using Beam weaponry, but is far more versatile due to having the capability of being fitting with a variety of mission backs for different environments. It's this versatility that keeps the remaining stock of Leos in service, albeit after some refits to increase survivability.
The Leo's major competitor amongst the AEU's forces during the One Year War, the Hellion possesses a great number of advantages over the Leo, most notably flight, but also being a much lighter and more agile machine. Its most notable trait though, is being able to be refitted between a Mobile Suit and Fighter mode before combat. Despite this though, several disadvantages kept it from seeing widespread adoption. It's armor was much lighter than the Leo (though this is not as notable due to the Leo's own survivability issues) but more than anything else, the Hellion and its transformation was a maintenance nightmare compared to the simplicity of the Leo.
During the One Year War, it was taken for granted that the Federation would remain dominant on the world's oceans. Zeon's development of a wide variety of amphibious Mobile Suits came as a shock to the various nations of the Federation. The Cancer was a crash development in response, and can more accurately be described as more akin to a small submarine with Mobile Suit characteristics than a Mobile Suit proper. Despite its lack of close combat ability, its superior hydrodynamics and cruise ability gave it an edge over Zeon's.
An attempt to create a Mobile Suit that had the strengths of both the Guncannon and Guntank and the weaknesses of neither. The Tragos is a cannon type Mobile Suit capable of using an attached hover unit for rapid travel. Though a fairly capable design, it never truly caught on.
An improved version of the Leo adopted post-war, in addition to having a much higher quality of construction, the Late Type is fitted with a higher output generator, giving it the ability to use Beam weapons.
The OZ design bureau's first aerial combat Mobile Suit, the Aries is widely considered by many to be a drastic improvement on the Hellion. Despite lacking its long range strike capability, the Aries is far more maneuverable and reliable than the Hellion, as well as better armored and armed. It's proven extremely popular with the Specials, to the point of some considering the Aries the face of the unit.
Despite its stellar service record during the One Year War, the Cancer had some major limitations. Namely, its complete inability to move onto land, or engage in close combat, highly restricting its use in coastal regions. The Pisces is a massive improvement, and a true aquatic Mobile Suit. It has enough close combat strength to counter Z'Goks while maintaining the Cancer's cruise ability through the use of a transformation mechanism.
The AEU's newest Mobile Suit and successor to the Hellion. The Enact improves on its predecessor, in almost every way, most notably giving it a full on transformation mechanism. However, some have criticized the Enact as coming too late, with the recent emergence of new, next generation Mobile Suits that will likely blow it out of the water.
If the Gundam was Zeon's waking nightmare, the Tallgeese was an urban legend spoken of in hushed tones.
The few rumored encounters the Zeonic Forces had with the machine were complete massacres. Few survived long enough to bring back much data on the suit. Some even doubted it existed at all, that it was some kind of feddie scare tactic. In truth, the Tallgeese was a very real Federation prototype, perhaps one even ahead of it's time. Though it was incapable of using beam weaponry, it's sheer mobility dwarfed the original Gundam's. However, one flaw kept it from seeing more widespread use: The extreme strain put upon the pilot by the Tallgeese's power ended up being, in many cases, lethal. Between that, and the war's escalation, the design's eventually production version would be greatly simplified in the Leo. Today, the Tallgeese remains in storage, perhaps waiting for a call to arms...
Rumored to be inspired by the Zeon Adzam Mobile Armor, the Agriss is effectively an large upgrade pack for a Hellion, granting it a large spider like lower body that can transform into a hovercraft. It's most notable weapon is a Plasma Field capable of disabling an enemy Mobile Suit (and it's pilot, very painfully)
The backbone of the AEU's wet navy, the Zonchio is a thoroughly conventional cruiser design, with its main innovation mainly being the replacement of several large VLS batteries with facilities for handling Mobile Suits.
Always an impressive sight for those spending their evening near AEU military harbors, the Malaga class possess a unique twin hulled design. Though it may appear defenseless to a casual observer, in fact this class is armed with a number of 'pop up' heavy gun turrets.
The backbone of the European Army, the Giants are huge moving mountains of armor and artillery.even before widespread deployment of Mobile Suits, they were enough to halt Zeon advances semi-successfully during the One Year War.
The venerable Salamis class of federation cruiser has served in various fleets for years. In addition to the standard upgrades present in the latest upgrade of the class, the AEU's fleet modernization program saw a subvariants with Minovsky craft systems in the hopes of greater flexibility. However, that refit's great cost remains controversial, with some arguing that it would have been cheaper to spend the funds on separate surface and space vessels instead.
Though many navies have moved to abandon the old Magellan class in the wake of the One Year War, the Advanced European Union persists with it (rumored at least partially to be from lobbying by the class manufacturer). The latest variant sees the drastic rearrangement of the class' deck, and the addition of full Mobile Suit carrying capability. It has also been fitted with a Minovsky craft system, which again, proved controversial.
"I remember the goliath raven circling that base many times growing up. The adults called it their super defender, but from whom?"
-- Stained diary
California – 0087 – January
"Raiser two come in." The radio chimed, arresting the pilot's attention. Containing a soul once more.
The golden-haired pilot glanced at the source read out, paused, and relented. "This is raiser two, go ahead cactus club."
"Your guest is arriving, due north-north-east. You are herby transferred and instructed to hot land, belongings will follow. Do you copy." The soft voice stated with a hint of sadness.
"Copy that operator, thanks for everything. Over and out." In more ways than one, an end to a brief spell; but pain did not care.
'Good bye Kat. A murderer does not deserve you.' The pilot shook his head, flipped the eighteen-ton flying machine toward their new nest box. Will he ever be fast enough to escape the shadow? The sounds? The guilt?
~~~~
'Hm. Avalon class. Someone important is onboard, another escort job.'
Schwartz thought as he circled around the vessel, waiting for clearance. Stilva α04 grumbling lightly at the ship's gold-rimmed white coating. 'White bird is weak, thin, frail. The old….' It whispered.
'Hush. No more of this. Do not think about them.' Britannia pilot corp cares little when you are following orders, but negative thoughts was dangerous to have. Always look at the bright side as Britannia rights the world. Moments later, the clearance was given and the ship's bottom hanger opened. A tight squeeze but they managed without chipping paint.
Many claims that hangers are all the same, being inside of one meant you saw pretty much everything there is to see. Those people are fools, incapable of following a laid-out system with belly on display.
Normal hanger of this size can see dozens of Knightmare Frame coming and going during combat. But this hanger clearly reminded visitors that Avalon was not expected to see combat and it is very much in their interest to see it remains that way. Enough Space berths for three units (four KMF per unit) instead sits two oversized and a regular. One for his variable frame, a slightly smaller berth with feeding trough, and one that is currently housed a four-armed purple KMF. The technicians around it all looks as if they are making a live bomb more powerful, which by past experience could very well be true.
"Welcome Schwartz, Stilva's port pass code are the same right?" Lloyd asked as Schwartz climbs out of the cockpit. His bright white lab coat barely stood out among the synthetic white tiles.
"Yes, my lord." Schwartz bowed, relieved by the identical eccentric manners of a simpler time.
"Lloyd is fine. And the reports?"
"Broken out by week, categorized under functions, and kept to a hundred words as instructed."
"Splendid! I knew I can count on you to follow instructions." Lloyd beamed a smile, not noticing or ignoring Schwartz twitch. "Cécile is not with us for this little trip, but Dorothea is somewhere on the ship if you need someone to chat with."
"Knight of four? Then that purple..."
"Palomides, the first of 7th Generation KMF by yours truly." Llyod replies without looking up. "Not a efficient configuration but more than enough to trial run new functions. Integrated hadron cannon, float system, compact ejection system, that kind of thing."
Shocked, Schwartz askes. "Where are we going? Stilva α04, Palomides, and Texas Mack."
"Don't know, don't care. Go ask Guinevere." Noticing Schwartz's sudden lack of breath, Llyod looked up at Schwartz, and mischievously added. "Yes. Our very good benefactor is onboard. I'm sure there's lots she wants to hear from you, Dove Knight. But I wouldn't know."
"You…. I…. We….. had a promise!" He can't, couldn't, not yet.
"A fulfilled one. Six years is a long-time dear Schwartz. You were lucky that a string of sufficiently decent devicers popped up or we would be talking about this three years ago. I do hope you are not thinking about those people. Charming and agreeable in their own ways but thoroughly unsuitable under this." Llyod points at Schwartz's pilot insignia. The words H.B.E glinting under the cold sterile light. "Cogs have no need of conscious, nor super robots."
Avalon class warship is sometimes called the reverse Trojan class, or less charitably the 'glue' class owing to the numerous redesigns and retrofit to elevate it to a proper warship. A sleek maneuverable craft with built-in Blaze Luminous projectors, able to survive attacks that will destroy any ship of similar size. It is also not intended for combat duty, that fact did not prevent it from been pressed into full development during the one-year war, accusators of corruption were unfounded. The first ship of its class was unveiled during the "Black Bandit Surge" event (official name of the "Black Rebellion") of UC 0086 striking fear into the hearts of the god-fearing bandits.
Built completely and independently by Britannia geniuses with no outside involvement whatsoever, the Stilva α04 super combatant is the proof of Britannia ingenuity and integrity. The rumoured involvement of the unit in the pacific theatre and during defense of area 11 against non-human menace are no rumours at all as it's all true. In combat Stilva α04's aerial mode will unleash mind shattering firepower from afar before closing in for the kill with its extreme edge strikes. Only one unit of Stilva α04 was ever produced and no pilot was killed in combat. We will remember John Lambert.
Palomides – Generation 7 KMF pre-production type – Generation 3 MS [1PP / 1MP / 2X]
Dorothea Ernst's personal KMF and the aerial assault KMF first witnessed during operation [REDACTED]. The exact capabilities and development history are closely guarded secret to those outside the aristocracy, but it is the fruit of several rounds of backstabbery, bribery, and earnest negotiations. What is known is that the Britannian military intents make use of the machine and its future to the fullest possible extent by peaceful means.
----------------
Schwartz Koff gritted his teeth. He hated joint operations with this guy. He never dropped the cowboy shtick, even during a major battle.
"Cut the chatter, King," Schwartz replied. "Stilva and I are ready, so you and your sister keep your eyes forward, and we'll have no problem crushing these Elevens."
"Roger, buddy!" Jack King replied enthusiastically, his bravado grating on Schwartz's ears. Schwartz refrained from comment, barely, by gripping his Purist emblem hard enough to cut into his own palm. Just get through this night, and there's one less threat against Britannia's world order, he thought to himself. Something that should have happened years ago will finally be completed.
The Stilva α04 and the Texas Mack, bulky as they were, stood on the deck of the Avalon, name-ship of Britannia's newest airship class and the field command for this operation, as it rounded Mt. Fuji. Below them, cruisers and catamarans glided into Sagami Bay, ready to disgorge Knightmare Frames into the streets of Atami and fully envelope the Photon Power Labs, that holdout of Eleven treachery that His Majesty the Emperor had finally deigned to crush.
There was no way to hide a full corps of Britannia's might from sight, of course, so the Britannians had rolled up with all their usual subtlety, making the sleepy Eleven town the target of a full military occupation. It was, therefore, unsurprising that the Photon Power Labs had sortied its handful of Super Robots and raised its forcefield barrier by the time the Avalon was in position. Its captain - a last minute replacement from Lord Schniezel's stable of toadies, after Schwartz had refused to work under an Eleven - even if he was a Knight of the Round somehow - opened a wide hail to the Labs, along with broadcasting his voice to the city of Atami over the Avalon's speakers.
"Attention, Photon Power Laboratories. Your property, physical and intellectual, now belongs to the Holy Britannian Empire. Lay down your arms and allow our inspectors inside for a peaceful transfer of information, or face the consequences."
The reply came swiftly.
"Britannian Forces. This is Professor Gennosuke Yumi of the Photon Power Laboratories. In response to your request for our surrender:"
"Nuts."
This is punctuated by one of the super robots - Venus A, Schwartz notes - firing a missile at the Avalon. It ricochets off of the Blaze Luminous shields, but Schwartz can't help but smirk at noting that the missile had been launched from the robot's middle finger.
"Heh," Schwartz said. "At least they'll put up a fight."
Britannia had gathered a large bulk of their forces in Japan for an overwhelming assault on the Photon Power Laboratories, with the stated intent from high command being the complete assimilation of as much of the PPL as possible. A full corps of ground forces and Knightmare Frames quickly established strategic control of the city of Atami, and with a flotilla of both air and surface ships controlling the skies and access to the coastline, it seemed there would be no escape for the scientists or their super robots, save perhaps for the Mazinger Brothers and Minerva X themselves, who, for better or worse, were absent from the start of the battle.
However, the five remaining Super Robots of the Laboratories - Venus A, Diana A, Million α, Baion β, and Daion γ - weren't going down without a fight, nor is the Labs' famous force field. As the Britannian warships formed a firing line in the bay to pound away at the latter with coilgun artillery, their mobile units began the arduous process of engaging the former and securing a route up to the laboratory in the foothills behind the city. First into the fray were Britannia's two Super Robots, with the Stilva α04 transforming into an aerial mode to charge the Mazinger Army while Texas Mack stayed on the Avalon's deck and fired its six shooters to box the Japanese robots in. Meanwhile, the large force of Sutherlands and Glasgows on the ground made use of their vastly superior numbers to form a column and begin securing the road to the Laboratories. The Mazinger Army split up to block these two axes of attack, with Venus and Million entering a cumbersome aerial duel with the super robots and the remaining three using their bulk to block the march of the ground forces.
"Captain," a radio officer called out. "We're getting distress calls from a research facility north of Tokyo Settlement. It's Zero!"
"Hrn. What's he playing at?"
"That's a diversion, Captain," a young child standing in the shadows of the bridge said. "Too little, too late, I'd say."
"Whose research facility?"
"Uh...looks like the Titans, sir."
"Tch. We can't afford to get on their bad side. Maintain our ground forces here, but send the VTOLs and the Estoc detachment's carriers to intercept."
"Are you suuuure?" the child asks again. "Splitting your forces is exactly what Zero wants."
"We have overwhelming superiority in firepower already, and we put most of our mobile forces in Area 11 into this attack - no one else is going to be able to respond. Plus, the Estoc troops have already landed. If your guy's as good as he's supposed to be, we won't have any problems."
"Oh yeah? Well, it's your funeral, Captain~"
As part of the Britannian air assets peel off, it's clear why their commander was confident in their ability to spare them. The Stilva α04's superior speed let it deal harshly with the Photon Power Labs' Saberfish complement, even as Venus and Million tried to block it. The land-focused super robots fared better in forcing the ground column to halt with a mix of Photonic Energy and lethal, if aesthetically-worrisome, missile fire, but while Alloy Z was effective at absorbing sparse small-arms fire from Knightmare Frames, the KMFs succeeded in pinning the Mazinger Army down...and kept them in range of the land-fortress artillery being brought to bear from the inland edge of Atami. In a matter of minutes, the Mt. Fuji foothills became a slurry of rockslides and scrap metal as first Baion, then Daion were knocked out of commission by Britannian coil guns. Minutes after the battle started, Sayaka Yumi stood alone between the full might of Britannia's ground army and her home, while Jun Hono and the Million α's twin pilots were unable to prevent Britannia's super robots from doing as they would, even without VTOL support.
"Professor! Send me out in the Ichinana!"
Professor Gennosuke Yumi, already having reached heights of exhaustion and fear he never would have thought possible, was only able to look wearily at the young man who was making impossible demands of him. All around them in the Photon Power Labs' control room, the men and women of the Labs' security forces were hastily setting up barricades and smashing computer hard drives, preparing for the Britannian ground assault and almost certain victory that would happen as soon as the forcefield went down.
"Shiro, what are you even still doing here? You were supposed to be out in the first wave of evacuations!" Yumi said.
"So were you!" replied Shiro Kabuto. "You're staying behind to buy more time, and so am I!"
"Listen, Shiro. The Ichinana isn't ready, and frankly, neither are you."
"I'm as old as Kouji was the first time he went out in Mazinger!"
"Is that supposed to reassure me?"
"Well, I actually know what I'm doing!" Shiro countered.
"Shiro," Yumi replied, quieter, "you have to survive. I don't want what happened to the Saotomes to happen to the Kabutos, too."
Shiro grit his teeth at that. After everything they'd gone through together during the One Year War, losing Professor Saotome, Michiru, and especially Genki all at once still haunted him.
"I could say the same about you and Sayaka," Shiro countered. "And anyway, I can't just run away! We just need to buy Kouji and Tetsuya more ti--"
In a space shorter than a blink, a dozen and a half gunshots rang out, the soldiers in the room collapsing with screams as bullets from an unseen assailant suddenly struck them. In the same breath, Shiro went from looking at Professor Yumi alone to seeing a young man around his age with the professor in a headlock and a gun pressed to the older man's temple.
"Hey," the boyish assailant said. "Are you a researcher?"
Shiro was too shocked to even draw the photon energy blaster at his hip. "Wh-what? Who the hell are you?"
"I really don't think you have time to be asking these questions, but you can call me Rolo if it makes you feel better," Rolo replied. "Let me ask you again: are you a researcher?"
"Yes!" Professor Yumi replied on Shiro's behalf. "In fact, most of the computers are keyed to his biometrics, so you'd better take him alive."
"Hmmmm, that sounds like bullshit, but I can never tell with you super robot types--"
Shiro drew his blaster simultaneously with Rolo moving his gun to point at him instead of Yumi.
"Why are you still here, anyway?" Rolo asked. "I could have killed you a dozen times by now. I expected you to take the chance and run."
"Like hell! I'm not going anywhere while my brother's still on his way!"
Rolo paused at that. "Your brother, hm? Is that all it takes to inspire this kind of devotion?"
At this point, a radio on Rolo's belt crackled to life. "Estoc-R2, quit messing around and get that forcefield down. We're behind schedule."
"Well, I suppose that was enough of a break. It was nice to meet you, Shiro Kabuto."
Once again, the world changed before Shiro could blink, with Rolo and Yumi both disappearing in an instant. Shiro only had time to notice one other change - the demolition charge placed on the Lab's forcefield controls - and dive for cover before an explosion filled the control room with shrapnel.
Photon Power Labs
Mechanized Companies: 1 Gen 1 Destroyed
Air Wings: 1 Gen 1 Destroyed
Super Robots: 2 Gen 2 Destroyed
Holy Britannian Empire
Mobile Suits: 20 Gen 1 Destroyed
Atami secured (Britannia)
Photon Power Labs Forcefield down
Professor Yumi captured
Meanwhile, elsewhere in Japan:
The fireworks had been spectacular. If only anyone had come to the party.
"Zero, why the hell are we still here?" Kallen called out, barely needing to focus to cook another APC with her Radiant Wave Surger. For what had been a top-secret research lab, defenses here were rather sparse, with the Titans relying on a Britannian garrison that had been called up to go kill off real heroes instead of protecting fake ones, and the showy force of Gurren and the Four Holy Swords had made quick work of what was here. "We should be at Atami yesterday!"
"Well, Kallen, you know how much I love a good trap," Zero admits, "and so does Professor Yumi. I was hoping they'd take the bait, but in the end, two castles are worth more than a queen...barely."
"Zero I don't actually play chess."
"They're going to be running into our contingency shortly. Now, since this went better than could be expected for this team..."
Zero pushes a button in the Shinkiro's cockpit, looking over the ruins of the Murasame Newtype Research Institute.
"Zero, come in. This is Zero."
"Ha ha, very funny," a man responds from inside the ruined facility. "Thanks for the assist, but you missed the latest prototype by about a week. Get us out of here and we'll tell you all about it..."
Titans
Mechanized Companies: 1 Gen 2 Destroyed
Murasame Research Institute destroyed
Zero Murasame extracted by the Black Knights
Leila Raymond extracted by the Black Knights
Duke Dermail Catalonia, head of the Romefeller Foundation
The chief executive of the Romefeller Foundation, through which he wields a great deal of influence over the Advanced European Union.
Dorothy Catalonia, Granddaughter of Dermail
Daughter of the late Chilas Catalonia, the former head of the Special Mobile Suit Troop before his recent tragic death in battle.
Tubarov Bilmon, Chief engineer of OZ
Head engineer of the OZ design Bureau. Longtime advocate for automation of warfare.
Special Mobile Suit Troops
Treize Khushrenada, commander of the Specials
The ever elegant head of the Special Mobile Suit Troops. Veteran Soldier since fighting in the One Year War at the age of seventeen.
Lady Une, Treize's second-in-command
Specials commander. Notable for her ruthless reputation and loyalty to Treize.
Zechs Merquise, Specials Ace
The top scoring ace of the Special Mobile Suit Troop. Dubbed the 'Lightning Baron'. Eternally dogged by accusations of aping Char Aznable's look.
Lucrezia Noin, Specials Piloting Instructor
Former Spacian runaway turned Specials Pilot Zechs' closest confidant. Harbors a thinly veiled crush on him.
Trant Clark, Specials Officer
Younger brother of the late Seis Clark, acclaimed AEU military architect.
Oswald Walker, Specials Officer
Specials officer in charge of the restoration of the Tallgeese.
Otto Richter, Specials Pilot
Sanc Kingdom native, and Zech's Vice Commander.
Nichol, Specials Pilot
Vice Commander to Lady Une.
Alex, Specials Trainee
Student of Noin. Friend of Mueller.
Mueller, Specials Trainee
Student of Noin. Friend of Alex.
Rou Cernan, Specials Mechanic
Tech officer, subordinate of Nichol.
Task Force 'Prize'
Valder Farkill, Prize Commander
Specials Captain and Commanding Officer of the Prize Task Force. Nicknamed the 'Dark General of Destruction'. Unsurprisingly brutal.
Luna Armonia, Prize Pilot
Former guerilla recruited by Valder Farkill. Younger sister of Soris Armonia.
Soris Armonia, Prize Pilot
Former guerilla recruited by Valder Farkill. Older sister of Luna Armonia.
Roche Nattono, Prize Squadron Leader
Leader of the Stardust Knights Team.
Kratz Silvy, Prize Pilot
Member of the Stardust Knights Team.
Broom Brooks, Prize Pilot
Member of the Stardust Knights Team.
Alyssa Walker, Prize Officer
Ship Captain of the Prize Task Force.
AEU Regular Army
Noventa, Field Marshal
Supreme Commander of the AEU Regular Army. Advocate for taking a lighter hand in the space colonies.
Septem, AEU General
General and Commander of the European Army of Africa. Notable for taking a hardline stance against colonial independence and his rather… unique voice.
Gene Smilas, AEU General
General and Commander of the European Continental Army. Frequent critic of the AEU's 'democracy'.
Gerald Garcia, AEU Major General
Commander of Artemis Fortress and its attendant fleet. Constantly railing at the strategic irrelevance of his posting.
Canard Pars, AEU Special Operative
Mysterious agent, rumored to be a Coordinator.
Meriol Pistis, AEU Lieutenant
Commander of the battleship Oetygia.
Balsam Arend, AEU Pilot
Self-proclaimed 'Fierce Eagle of Artemis'. Patrick Colasaur's eternal rival for the highest scoring pilot in AEU training exercises.
Kati Mannequin, AEU Colonel
Veteran Commander, currently in charge of the Indian Ocean Fleet.
Patrick Colasour, AEU Ace
AEU Mobile Suit Pilot, notable for being the reigning AEU champion for simulated victories.
Morgan Chevalier, AEU Pilot
Former Tank Commander and One Year War Veteran turned Mobile Suit Ace. Nicknamed the 'Moonlight Mad Dog'. Has demonstrated a great deal of spatial awareness, leading some to speculate he is a newtype.
Sally Po, AEU Soldier
Banished to a backwater posting at an AEU hospital for rumored AEUG sympathies.
Gary Biaggi, AEU Pilot
AEU Mobile Suit Pilot with an incomplete service record. Has never been seen in the same room as Ali Al-Saachez.
wZERO Unit
Leila Malcal, wZERO Commander
Newly appointed Commander of the wZERO unit. Daughter of a pair of exiled Britannian nobles turned pro-democratic radicals who later died in an assassination.
The main branch of the regular forces present in Europe proper. Under the command of General Gene Smilas. Has recently created a secret special forces unit designated 'wZERO' made up of Japanese refugees no one will miss.
Giant class Land Battleship Lipiriz
Giant class Land Battleship Calezo
15 x Medium class Land Cruisers
30 x OZMS-06A Leo Early Type
10 x OZ-08MS Tragos
10 x AEU-09 Enact
50 x Mechanized Companies
20 x Mechanized Companies (Knightmare equipped)
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
EUG-12 Harpy Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
4 x AEU-MA0707 Agrissa Type 7
Special Mobile Suit Troops Northern Division
The European branch of the Specials, the Northern Division is under Trieze Khsurenada's direct command.
15 x OZ-07AMS Aries
20 x OZ-06MSD Leo Late Type
PMC Trust
Headquartered in a European Microstate, the PMC Trust is an organization of skilled mercenaries popular for their services worldwide.
10 x AEU-05 Hellion
30 x OZMS-06A Leo Early Type
2 x AEU-MA07013 Agrissa Type 13
European Army of Africa
In charge of providing security to the AEU's North African territories, the Army of Africa has seen a great deal of combat with Zeon remnants and other such groups.
Giant class Land Battleship Polyphemus
Giant class Land Battleship Hamlet
Giant class Land Battleship Typhon
25 x Medium class Land Cruisers
30 x OZMS-06A Leo Early Type
10 x OZ-08MS Tragos
50 x Mechanized Companies
20 x Mechanized Companies (Knightmare equipped)
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
EUG-12 Harpy Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
8 x AEU-MA0707 Agrissa Type 7
Atlantic Fleet
Carrier Strike Group Malaga
Malaga class Aircraft Carrier Malaga
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
6 x AEU-05 Hellion
4 x OZ-07AMS Aries
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
Carrier Strike Group Pierremont
Malaga class Aircraft Carrier Pierremont
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
6 x AEU-05 Hellion
4 x OZ-07AMS Aries
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
Carrier Strike Group Foch
Malaga class Aircraft Carrier Foch
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
6 x AEU-05 Hellion
4 x OZ-07AMS Aries
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
1st Surface Action Group
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
North Sea Fleet
2nd Surface Action Group
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
3rd Surface Action Group
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
Mediterranean Fleet
Carrier Strike Group Heinemann
Malaga class Aircraft Carrier Heinemann
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
6 x AEU-05 Hellion
4 x OZ-07AMS Aries
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
4th Surface Action Group
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
Special Mobile Suit Troops Lake Victoria Division
Under the command of Zechs Merquise, the Lake Victoria Division of the Specials provide rapid response capability across the Pacific and Africa and into LEO.
15 x OZ-07AMS Aries
20 x OZ-06MSD Leo Late Type
1 x OZ-00MS Tallgeese
Indian Ocean Fleet
Lake Victoria Base Garrison
10 x OZMS-06A Leo Early Type
10 x Mechanized Company (Knightmare equipped)
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
Carrier Strike Group Athens
Malaga class Aircraft Carrier Athens
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
6 x AEU-05 Hellion
4 x OZ-07AMS Aries
EUF-77 Gryphon Wing
AEU-05 Hellion Bomber Type Wing
5th Surface Action Group
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
6th Surface Action Group
6 x Zonchio class Cruisers
4 x OZ-08MMS Cancer
4 x OZ-09MMS Pisces
Special Mobile Suit Troops Space Task Force 'Prize'
Theoretically a joint command between the AEU Space Force and the Specials, in practice Task Force Prize entirely falls under the latter's umbrella. Though even that's become increasingly uncertain, as rumors spread of the Task Force's commander having a strained relationship with the Specials leadership.
Magellan Kai class Battleship Garibaldi
4 x Salamis Kai class Cruiser
40 x OZ-06MSD Leo Late Type
4 x AEU-MA07013 Agrissa Type 13
4 x AEU-MA0707 Agrissa Type 7
Artemis Fleet
The garrison for the Artemis Space Fortress, the Artemis Fleet is effectively the last remaining naval element the AEU regular forces have under their direct command after the formation of the Titans and Task Force Prize. Commanded by Major General Gearld Garcia.
Magellan Kai class Battleship Oetygia
Magellan Kai class Battleship Mjolnir
8 x Salamis Kai class Cruiser
20 x OZ-06MSD Leo Late Type
4 x AEU-MA07013 Agrissa Type 13
4 x AEU-MA0707 Agrissa Type 7
Eight hundred meters below the surface of the water, a man looked at a picture of his wife and child for guidance, despite them being safely 400000 kilometers away. The situation, as usual, had rapidly turned into something no one was prepared for, and as a field commander, he needed to take serious consideration before making a move that could start a war.
"Sir," his aide began. "Task Force Red confirms that the Photon Power Laboratories have evacuated most of their civil assets to their escape craft, but several VIPs and 100% of their combat assets are still ashore, and taking heavy losses. If we launch mobile suits, we can take the naval cordon by surprise and assist in their breakout."
The commander nodded in acknowledgement, but continued staring at the photo.
"Commander...they're going to get killed up there. They've been our allies for seven years against the Saurians and everyone else. If there's any chance we can help them, we have to--"
"Hans," the commander says. "You're right. We have been their allies for that long. Do you know what I've learned in that time?"
"Sir?"
"I've learned to believe. Not in miracles or God or anything like that," the commander clarifies, closing his picture locket. "But in one particular thing."
The situation on the ground was dire for the Japanese defenders once the lab forcefield was down. With communications cut from the Labs' command center, it became clear that the main force of Britannian troops had been a diversion from a smaller, more subtle force codenamed "Estoc", incorporating unknown commandos and the elite of Britannia's elite mobile forces, including...
"Attention, Eleven rebels," a voice rumbled out over the radio broadband, echoing from a floating Knightmare Frame equipped with a truly enormous sword, hovering over the now-vulnerable Labs and backed by a pair of floating orange mobile armors...although not the cruisers previously assigned to his group. "This is Bismarck Waldstein, Knight of One. We have secured Professor Yumi, and are pacifying the remaining resistance inside the Labs as we speak. If you value the lives of your comrades, surrender immediately."
"Hypocrite," the young boy aboard the Avalon couldn't help but comment privately. "He thinks he can just roll up and 'win honorably' after his men sacrificed themselves for a sneak attack?"
"I understand that one of the remaining pilots on the field is Professor Yumi's daughter. I ask you to please consider your father's well-be--"
Bismarck audibly sighed as his speech was cut short by a beam of photonic energy forcing him to sidestep his Galahad.
"If you think I'm going to surrender when you monsters are hurting my father, you haven't been paying any attention these last seven years!" Sayaka Yumi called out in response.
"Strength that knows no boundaries is merely violence," Bismarck intoned. "And you don't even have strength anymore. Why do you persist?"
"Because," Jun Hono replied from the air, "you people won't stop talking, and that makes it really easy to perform a delaying action."
Without any further warning, a red streak flies through the air out of the west, preceded by a beam of light, and followed by am impressive bellow of
"Getteeeeerrrrr...BEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAM!"
Both of the Siegfried mobile armors behind Bismarck exploded at the same time, only compounded by the sonic boom that washed over the labs as Getter Robo G arrived on the scene at a truly unsafe velocity.
"Damn, you Britannians went all the way here, didn't you?" Go Ichimonji asked as Getter Dragon pulled into a hover and Bismarck readied his sword. "Too bad it's not gonna help!"
"God damn Eleven traitors," Schwartz groused from the other side of the battlefield, breaking off from fighting Venus A to charge at the Getter. "This didn't concern you. Shut up and go home!"
"Like hell," Sho Tachibana replied from Getter's secondary cockpit, followed by, "OPEN GET! CHANGE GETTER LIGER!" to avoid the Stilva's laser fire and fire missiles at it as the recombined machine dropped to the ground.
"Stop standing around and secure the facility," Bismarck instructed the diversionary force. "We can handle one more 'super robot'!"
Bismarck grit his teeth and charged as yet more reinforcements arrived.
Getter Robo G was the first sign of every super robot in Japan converging on Britannia's invasion of Atami, with the missing Mazinger machines - Great Mazinger, Mazinger Z, and Minerva X - returning to their home base almost immediately afterwards, all three wreaking havoc and sowing chaos among the Britannian ground troops to allow Venus A, Diana A, and Million α to fall back to an ad hoc perimeter in the mountains near the lab. While the Glasgow detachment was rapidly depleted by a Thunder Break and rocket punches smashed into the land fortress artillery, Britannia's forces rallied around their own super robots, Bismarck's Galahad, and the other half of the Knights of the Round that had been kept in reserve aboard the Avalon for just such an emergency. Gino Weinberg's Tristan, Dorothea Ernst's Palomides, Luciano Bradley's Percival, and Monica Krushevsky's Florence all sortie to bring the number of elite machines on the field back to parity, with the much smaller Knightmare Frames taking advantage of their agility and Float systems to stay out of reach of the Super Robots' attacks. The Stilva α04 transformed and descended to the ground for a slugging match with Getter Liger, supported rather half-heartedly by Texas Mack, who notably got into an extended argument with the Liger's pilot throughout the battle.
"Jack! Mary! What the hell are you two doing, anyway? You were Kouji and Tetsuya's allies just as much as you were ours!"
"S-sorry, Sho," Mary King answered back. "You know how orders are, right? Maybe y'all can break off and we can pretend this never happened?"
"Hell with that!" Go chimed in. "Get down here, we'll take you and this asshole on."
"Gomenasorry, can't do thatjanai. Can't be helped, yeah!"
"Jack still hasn't learned a word of Japanese, huh?" Sho observed while drilling away one of Stilva's guns.
"Not a blessed one."
Meanwhile, in the air, Bismarck matched up with Great Mazinger in a sword duel, helped greatly by the fact that his Galahad's Excalibur MVS was as big as the Knightmare Frame itself was.
"You've got an objective here we aren't seeing," Bismarck observed. "There was no need for you to return here instead of fleeing to the FER."
"You're attacking our home and family," Tetsuya replied. "Is there any greater reason needed than that?"
Bismarck kept his tone urbane even though he was flitting around the much larger machine like a mosquito, trying to get a clean hit at the cockpit - the only vulnerability he could see in the massive fortress of Super Alloy Z. "Maybe that was Kouji Kabuto's answer, but you're not a foolish romantic. You think we don't do our research, Tetsuya Tsurugi?"
"Heh. You don't have a heart, so you think I don't either? Well, maybe I just wanted to fight the best swordsman on Earth to see if he could keep up with me and Great Mazinger!"
"Well, then, that's at least something I can sympathize with!"
Kouji Kabuto in his Mazinger Z, unfortunately, found himself more outclassed than the Great and its contemporary machines when dealing with the Knights of the Round, and he, unfortunately, attracted the attention of Luciano Bradley.
"Hehe, found the outdated hunk of scrap!" Luciano said. "Tell you what, let's make this interesting. Every 30 seconds it makes me to kill you, I'm gonna burn down an apartment complex in the town down there!"
"Tch! Normal Britannians are bad enough without them hiring sick bastards like you," Kouji replied, grazing the Percival with a Breast Fire close enough to melt part of its left side. That didn't stop Luciano from charging in with a drill lance that pierced enough to do serious damage to Mazinger Z's arm and caused the followup left-handed Rocket Punch to miss, however.
"AHAHA! Don't you get it? We don't even need your shitty labs! We're the masters of your so-called "Photon Power", not you Elevens! We're gonna use it to take on the whole world! It'll be just like the good old days before the Federation. World wars, atomic destruction, all of it! I can't wa--OOF!"
Luciano, having forgotten that Rocket Punches can hit on the return, too, sees his Float system knocked out of commission long enough for Kouji to disengage and drop to the ruined top of the Photon Power Labs, detaching Mazinger Z's hover pilder to bring it to ground level.
"Shiro! Shiro, you still here?"
Coughing and limping, Shiro Kabuto nonetheless makes speed records as leaves cover to join his big brother in the pilder cockpit.
"You're late."
"No joking around, we need to get you out of here. There anyone left?"
Shiro shook his head. "If there is, the place is crawling with commandos. It's time to leave, bro."
While the fighting between the Britannian elite and the Super Robot Army was at a stalemate, it was clear that the Britannians had already won the field through superior numbers. The Photon Laboratories were taken, their leader captured, and while the super robots were causing major losses of materiel, they had flown themselves into an effective encirclement to no clear gain, and would need to both disengage the Knights of the Round and break through multiple Britannian capital ships to make their escape, which looked increasingly unlikely. However, this would be resolved when the final wave of reinforcements arrived - the last half-dozen super robots of the Saotome Institute's "Allied Robot Corps" arrived from over the sea - something that would have necessitated an unseen mothership for most of them, but that would be a matter for Britannia to investigate later. With all of Britannia's forces ashore or tied up fighting super robots, the Jikyo Type 70, BB-5, Kingdom-07, Robo Sun T-520, Gustav-H24, and finally, the massive cannon form of the Volga 80000 arrived unopposed at the end of the peninsula to Atami's north, and with no preamble and little showmanship, simply opened fire on the Britannian naval cordon, sinking the surface cruisers left and right. Their arrival wasn't unaccounted for, but the Britannian commander aboard the Avalon hadn't expected a breakout toward the sea. After all, where would they go, especially the remaining landbound robots?
It was at this point that the Photon Power Labs' final trump card was revealed. Not a new weapon or more reinforcements, but the real goal of their evacuation - the Science Fortress Laboratory rose up from Sagami Bay, a massive complex akin to the Photon Power Labs, rebuilt with technology salvaged from Dr. Hell's defeat seven years ago into a mobile submarine fortress, and now home to most of the former residents of the Photon Power Labs.
"Confirmed, Zero! The Gefjun Disturbers worked perfectly. Total surprise for the Britannians, they had no idea any of the sub assets were here, even the Science Fortress," Rakshata Chawla said over the rather staticky comm buoy connecting encrypted communications to her boss. "Man, this is the best heist you've pulled yet, and you didn't even show up!"
"Thank you for your vote of confidence, Doctor. How much of the Photon Power Labs made it aboard their new home?"
"Around 75%. We're not sure what happened to the rest, but half the Knights of the Round showed up, sooooo"
"Hell. Well, it's better than nothing. The super robot pilots?"
"They're all stuck in, unfortunately. I don't know how they're going to get out unless you've got another m--"
The call cut off with the shriek of electromagnetic interference.
"...doctor? Did the comm buoy drift into the Disturbers' range, or...?"
As Britannia struggled to adjust to the new presence of unknown submarine assets counter-encircling them, or whatever chaos Zero had shown by rendering their underwater sensors useless enough to miss a giant fortress submerged in the ocean, a final wild card was dealt from the deck that no one on any side of this conflict could have predicted. Radios went silent with the shriek of Minovsky interference - completely against all Earth-surface doctrine from either Britannia or her enemies. In fact, it shouldn't have affected hardened, Sakuradite-based systems at all, unless it was more of Zero's Gefjun Disturber nonsense. But, as it turned out, it was something else.
"Hey, what's that light?" Gino Weiberg asked, pausing mid-air to look at the new interlopers on the battlefield. "Is that a Gunda--"
The Tristan's head, right arm, and Float system were separated from its body as a sword collided with it at high speed.
Absolute chaos ensued on the battlefield as threeunknownmecha emitting massive amounts of electromagnetic interference tore into the Britannian lines - one mobile suit using swords, one mobile suit using a long-range beam rifle, and one mobile suit that fired a single shot of a particle-beam cannon strong enough to overwhelm the Avalon's Blaze Luminous system by itself. With radio communications offline, it was impossible to respond to the rapid injection of violence. The super robots made a spirited attempt to turn the tables on Britannia with their new apparent allies, but also came under fire from the sniper rifle-equipped unit when they continued engaging the Knights of the Round. Tetsuya, as the senior pilot, assessed these to be warning shots, and gestured for his compatriots to make a break for the Science Fortress Lab while the Britannians were unable to maintain their lines, and they did so, with Great Mazinger carrying the landbound Diana A off with it.
The mysterious attackers were only on the battlefield as long as it took for the super robots to make their escape, boxing in the Britannians with their speed and electromagnetic jamming. Once the battlefield had dissolved entirely, the two mobile suits fled at high speeds in opposite directions, leaving the mobile armor to fly up into a stall over the Photon Power Labs, transform into a humanoid shape, and then fire its beam cannon straight down, destroying most of what was left of the laboratories in a massive explosion, before transforming again and flying off.
The consequences of this bizarre interference would be felt throughout the Earth Sphere in the coming months, but as for the Battle of Atami, it ended as suddenly as it started, with Britannia holding the field and some important Photon Power personnel, but losing access to most of the research data therein and most of the super robots escaping. A followup invasion of the Saotome Institute found their base an entirely empty shell, with even the creepy Getter Prototypes in the basement relocated somehow, and the only items of interest being extremely destructive booby trapps left by Dr. Hayato Jin.
Photon Power Labs
Super Robots: 1 Gen 1 Damaged To The Point You Might As Well Just Rebuild It, 1 Gen 2 Destroyed
Holy Britannian Empire
Mobile Suits: 10 Gen 1 Destroyed, 5 Gen 2 Destroyed, 1 Gen 2+ Destroyed
Mobile Armors: 4 Gen 1 Destroyed
Cruisers: 4 Gen 1 Destroyed
Battleships: 1 Gen 1 Destroyed
Celestial Being
No Casualties
Black Knights
No Casualties
??????
No Casualties
Photon Power Labs effectively destroyed
Britannia retrieves partial research data
Remaining Super Robot Labs evacuated and research records destroyed/relocated
Atami under martial law
Rolo's arrythmia pills supply: 9/10
Further results will be presented in the turn-end report.
Translator's Note: never expect this level of detail again
Eight years ago, I made a promise to my grandfather that I would safeguard not only Japan, but the secrets of Photonic Power. I have henceforth always sought to honor his dying wishes. But, Charles vi Britannia would see both Photonic Power and the Getter Rays perverted to his own selfish ends. His lust for conquest knows no end, as shown by the illegal invasion and continued military occupation of Japan. He would have Mazinger Z become not a symbol of hope, but a true devil!
With this potential terror in mind, I have chosen to leave Japan and keep the secrets of Photonic Power away from those who would misuse them for evil. I have done this, not out of disappointment or disillusionment with those I leave behind. But rather, I did it out of love for not just Japan, but all mankind.
To those who can hear me in Japan - I say, do not despair. Do not despair! The misery that is now upon us is the passing of bitterness, the bitterness of small-minded brutes who fear human progress. The hate these men bring will pass, and these dictators will someday die. And as long as men die, liberty can never perish!
And as long as liberty lives, the name of Mazinger Z will never die!
"Gato, when did I stop being an general and start being a mayor?"
The unexpected question as Anavel Gato and Aiguille Delaz shared a drink in the latter's private study surprised the younger pilot. Much of the past week had been full of various meetings after Gato's return from a month-long undercover mission to the moon and the talk between them in the after-hours session had been idle.
"A mayor, your excellency?" Unsure what had suddenly prompted the Zeonic general, Gato hazarded a guess. "Have you been listening to that Zabi woman again?"
"Every day, Gato. She never stops." Delaz gave his glass a gentle swirl, considering taking another sip of the smuggled Earth alchohol, then placed it onto the table. "I was the general and she the figurehead, after all she's still a Zabi even if it's a distant relation. It seemed like a good idea at the time. But no, that's not it."
Alicia Zabi certainly had the same fiery orange hair as the Zabi heir Mineva on Axis, a trait that Alicia also shared with her ten cloned sisters created out of PLANT science before the One Year War. The 'leader' of the sister-clones, Gloria, was generally considered the Delaz Fleet's best pilot alongside Anavel Gato himself. They were hardly close but their paths crossed regularly enough in a professional capacity.
"It feels like life itself has been on hold since '83, since Konpei Island. For one moment it seemed like we might finally get true spacenoid independence and equality in the face of those damn aliens." Delaz drummed his fingers on the glass that was slowly collecting a ring of water around its base. "And ever since, the same thing on different days. The job of mayor."
Delaz picked up the glass and saluted Anavel Gato with it. "But with what you've brought back, all that changes. To Operation Stardust then, and perhaps to operation Stardust in the future."
There was a clink as the two glasses me. "Sieg Zeon, your excellency."
"For the freedom of space!"
Late September, UC0083
Anavel Gato flicked the last few switches off as he shut down the Gelgoog, then exited the mobile suit's chest hatch and pushed away. As he flew sedately through the microgravity of the hangar he returned the salutes of the pair of maintenance crew, then landed on the walkway and engaged his boots. Entering the ready room just off the hangar he prepared to log the short mobile suit shakedown mission before changing out of his pilot suit and hitting the showers. This familiar routine was interrupted by one of the operators who looked up as he entered.
"Major! General Delaz has ordered you to report to the strategic command center immediately upon arrival."
Operation Stardust was still more than a week from kicking off and the General rarely issued orders of this sort unless it was urgent. "Understood."
Stopping only long enough to grab a towel to brush the sweat worked up from high-G maneuvers off his face and promptly disposing of it in a laundry bin, Gato exited the ready room and grabbed one of the floor tugs towards the elevators that would deposit him in the gravitated region of the Garden of Thorns.
"Major Anavel Gato, reporting as ordered" he announced as he entered the strategic command center. Huddled with several other officers by the central display table, Lieutenant-General Augille Delaz looked up briefly and nodded at Gato, then returned to what was going on. As Gato approached, he began to pick up the quiet conversation, though much of it was lacking context. Among the various staff officers and assistants that Gato recognized from his regular time in the strategic command center, an unknown redhead stood out.
"Major Gato, this is Captain Gloria Zabi. Captain Zabi, Major Gato." The redhead wearing a red Zeonic uniform as opposed to standard green gave Gato a cool nod and then the General continued. "At ease. Captain Zabi arrived late last night and has hand-delivered critical information to us, while Colonel Watts' teams have done stellar work analysing it." There was a beat, as if the General was psyching himself up. Anything that merited hand-delivery by a captain, and a captain Zabi at that was important. "And it's not good."
Gato instantly knew what the General meant. "The intelligence we were using to plan Operation Stardust was false?"
"No and yes." Delaz rubbed his eyes and Gato suddenly realized he'd probably been awake for thirty hours or more by this point. "It's much more significant than that. Captain Zabi, if you would."
The redhead adjusted her glasses and cleared her throat. "I would like to begin by saying that as far as the Alicia Group has been able to determine, the information I have delivered is authentic in its entirety. It was leaked to us by a sympathetic source and we believe it was done so in order to warn us.
"The information pertains to a second militaristic alien species, one that has recently arrived in the outer reaches of the Solar system. They are codenamed the 'Wulguru' and like the Zentraedi are humanoid, though they do not exhibit the Zentraedi's giantism. Unfortunately while the documents we received discussed Wulguru motivations, it was couched as pure speculation. To put it simply we - or more correctly, the authors of the documents - know essentially nothing about these Wulguru beyond their general M.O. and that they are allegedly unremittingly hostile.
"The Federation has not made any announcements regarding the Wulguru, be it official or unofficial, but it seems they have been keeping a long-range covert watch on their identified fleet cluster."
At that point Delaz stepped in. "And recently their movements spooked the Federation enough to scramble the security around a number of critical projects, including Anaheim's GP program."
A little voice in Gato's head concluded that Operation Stardust had become so much stardust. But something nagged at him. "That's not all, is it your Excellency?"
The General's habitual stoicness cracked for a moment as the ghost of a tired smile flitted across his face. "Sharp as always, Gato. No, it's not all. Show him."
One of the assistants tapped a command into the keyboard and the display table changed. Gato instantly recognized it as the feed from a FLIR. It was clearly heat signatures, though nothing that seemed familiar. The tech began to speak. "Our detection system picked them up this morning and at their current decceleration curve they should intersect our outer perimeter in roughly fourteen hours. We believe they might slow down more once they hit the edge of the shoal zone though."
"Major Gato, these are your orders. We know next to nothing about these Wulguru. But if they're coming here they're probably expecting to just quietly set up in a shoal zone. It's an opportunity to set up an ambush and turn the element of unfamiliarity on its head. Familiarize yourself with what we do know then brief your pilots." Delaz looked around the strategic command room and at the people inside it, most of whom had been awake for as long as he had. "And make sure everyone gets a rest cycle before the operation begins." He looked around. "Everyone is to be back at their posts by 2400."
