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Gundam Crucible - [An AU Universal Century Quest]

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Chapter 51: Cry of the Phoenix-Part 5
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    • A/N: .... Yeah, I had a bad case of Writer's Block. Sorry.

    [X] Play the mid-range game. You'll be under more fire, but you have confidence in your ability to dodge, plus you have two shields.


    View: https://youtu.be/eyW8Ny2hts8


    Staying locked blade-to-blade with Luke won't get you anywhere. You need him to exhaust his arsenal so that the others have a good chance at taking him down. With tug of the control handles, you put some distance between yourself and him and stow your Beam Javelin. Both of your shields rotate into parallel with your forearms, and the Beam Cannons on them begin their charge.

    "Ohohoho~!" You laugh with comms open, "Do you truly think that you can defeat me, Katarina Eirkuchen?"

    There's a spike of rage from Luke as he fires his Beam Rifle at you again, forcing you to dodge. You're much more mobile than him, especially weighed down as he is. While he surpasses you in sheer thrust, his AMBAC is slower. Whereas with you…

    "Heh, if you're going to put in the effort-" You deflect a beam off of your left shield and fire at him with the right, "-then I need to match you blow for blow!"

    To your delight, he takes the bait and continues unloading munitions in your direction, eating through his finite stock of missiles. He launches his Fin Funnels too, prompting you to do the same to counter him. The two of you blast at each other at range while Fin Funnels swarm around the area, dueling in pairs.

    That's it, Luke, waste your ammunition and energy on 'Katarina'.
    As for the rest, it's up to the others to pull their weight.







    The Mk.III is a pretty good Mobile Suit. You'd like to say that this one being intended for the Red Comet made it better than most, but given that he never received it, it was completely standard when you got it, sans the red paint job.

    Sure, you've customized and tuned it yourself, but you are no Char Aznable. All things considered, you're the new kid. You're a piranha swimming with sharks.

    Which is something that this guy in a black REZeL is teaching you. Thoroughly.

    "Get out of my way-" he shouts as he switches his rifle to saber mode and swings it downwards, "-you Char wannabe!"

    Beam sword out in left hand, you block. Blades flare against each other, and you struggle against them in a battle of thrust.

    "I'm not a Char wannabe! I'm a historian!" You retort as you try to kick him off, only for him to grab your leg and swing you around. He moves his grip on his rifle, looking to cut your leg off at the knee. Shit! In a panic, you fire your Head Vulcans, which causes him to shield his head instead. With that opening, you wiggle out of his grasp.

    "It doesn't matter what you are, Londo Bell!" He snaps back, and with a sinking feeling you notice his backpack snap open to reveal shining yellow panels underneath while the telltale glow of Psychoframe pours from around the cockpit "Nobody who clings to the legacy of the Red Comet can defeat the Federation!"

    Ah.

    That is not a normal REZeL.




    You like being a member of Cascadia Team.

    Really, you do.

    Here, it feels like you're a part of something bigger, like you're making your mark on history. Sure, you get dragged along on the craziest shit, since the rest of your team is made up of eccentric Newtypes, but that's just part of the charm, right?

    You wouldn't give up your position for anything.

    Even if it does mean that you have to deal with people like… this.

    "-think yourself clever?! You race traitor!" The optical audio feed from your opponent isn't high fidelity, but you can hear her just fine. Not that you're listening.

    You're too busy trying not to die.

    "Hiding amongst them like a pawn," She snarls as she aims her shield at you, "when we both know what you really are!"

    Shit, that's a Hyper Mega Cannon! You redline the verniers getting out of the line of fire. Just in time too, as a pillar of light from the Delta Kai tears through the space you just occupied. You gotta get this lady off of you! With a few frantic button presses, all the missile pods on your MS snap open.

    "Eat this." You hiss under your breath as you fire off every single missile you have, for a 60-rocket barrage. She immediately goes evasive, and you waste no time beginning the charge cycle on your Large Mega Particle Cannon as you reposition.

    The limited tracking abilities of the missiles try and home in on her as she erratically changes directions, causing many of them to slam into each other or wander into her defensive Vulcan fire. In the end, a good dozen breaks through and impact her shield. She bursts out of the cloud of fire and smoke, down one arm, and ends up straight in your line of fire facing away from you. It'll take her a second to notice you. That second will cost her.

    "Gotcha." You pull the trigger.

    It's your turn to fill the sky with light as a massive beam roars forth from your cannon, hurtling towards her…

    And then you see blue flames gout from the frame of her MS, and she nimbly thrusts out of the way.

    "What the hell?!" You switch to your Beam Guns and start trying to pin her down, but she's like a whole different pilot now, dodging your shots-No. It's like she's anticipating where you're going to aim, and moves before you've even fired.

    She's flying like a Newtype.

    The two Proto Fin Funnels on her backpack detach and flank you. They fire and force you to dodge towards her. Shit.

    You can almost hear her scream of rage as she closes the distance and tries to shoot you point blank with her Long Mega Buster. You move just in time for the shot to core your Beam Cannon instead of your head unit, and retaliate by boosting straight into her and introducing her to the Knuckle Guards on your arms.

    Yeah. This configuration has no Beam Sabers. You were going to try and be a support unit. That didn't work out. But you can still throw hands.

    Your first blow connects solidly, your right arm hitting her cockpit and jarring her. The second swing puts your left Knuckle Guard through her Mega Buster, breaking it in two.

    She grabs your head unit with her intact hand, and her voice comes across clearer than ever with the contact link and-is she laughing?

    "Oh I knew it, I knew I was right!" She cackles in an absolutely deranged tone, "You're the true Ace of Cascadia Team!"

    "Woman, let me say this as politely as I can-!" You yell at this lunatic as you wind up another punch, "Get your crazy ass off of me!"




    The Sinanju Stein responds rapidly to your thoughts, spinning and stopping on a dime as the space you were about to occupy is speared by four thin beams all from different directions.

    Shield up, and you deflect a burst of beams from your opponent, her MS dual-wielding Nu Beam Rifles as her Incoms retract and slot into her backpack.

    "Knock it off!" You snap as you aim your shield and fire off the Beam Cannon. With a burst of her verniers she vacates her position, and your shots soar through empty space.

    It's at times like this that you wish this Mobile Suit had Funnels or Incoms! What was the point of putting Psychoframe into an MS and omitting Psycommu weaponry?! Not that the Sinanju is a bad suit, but still!

    Your opponent's backpack snaps open again and you see four small shapes dart out in different directions. There! You center your rifle on her and fire. Light seems to gather at the muzzle of your Beam Magnum before a large blast of beam energy roars forth. Your cockpit beeps at you, warning of stress limits on your right arm, but it's fine. The Sinanju can take it, if only barely.

    The MP Nu is forced to dodge before she can retract her Incoms, and when the emitters finally reel back in, you notice that one slot is vacant, the cable returning with only a torn end.

    One Incom down, but what a waste of an E-PAC! As if to punctuate that thought, your Beam Magnum cycles to the next cartridge, flinging the spent one off into space. You'll have to be more conservative with your rounds… and that may not be an issue anymore, because she has Beam Bayonets on her rifles.

    Oh joy.

    No time to stow your Beam Magnum properly, so when you input the command for a rapid weapon change, your MS just tosses the gun and switches to melee loadout.

    You barely ignite your Beam Axes in time to catch her blades on yours, the four weapons sparking off of each other. She's fighting so ferociously! But what for? Doesn't the Federation want to kill her too?!

    "Stop this, we're both Newtypes!" You shout as you throttle up your backpack verniers, countering her attempt to push you back, "We're on the same side, aren't we?!"

    The laughter you hear in response is laden with bitter amusement, "Same side?! How naive of you, Londo Bell! I'm a member of Hunting Pack! The Federation tells me to jump-!"

    She breaks contact and spins, verniers flaring.

    "-I ask how high!"

    You have just enough intuition to raise your shield and block the kick that would have otherwise caught you where your shoulder meets your neck.

    "Damn it!" You throw her off and put some distance between you and her, "You don't have to fight for them! Come with us! We can protect you!"

    "Protect me?" She snaps in disbelief, "You can't even protect your friend!"

    Wait, what-?

    A bright blur flies past the two of you, a Mobile Suit clad in glowing red Psychoframe. It jinks around the various pilots locked in combat, bypassing Mort as he fistfights with the enemy Commander (you'll process that bizarre image later), Eris as she tries to hold her own against a glowing REZeL, and Lorelei as she baits Luke around the combat area.

    And now they have a clear shot at Cybele.

    "Cybe-!" You don't even finish saying her name before you're forced to block another charge from your opponent's bayonets. You're a bit slow this time, and your shield is cleaved in half for it. Thankfully your Beam Axes stop them from going farther.

    "Don't get distracted, you knockoff Full Frontal!" She laughs with excitement, "I'm your opponent!"

    Knockoff Full Frontal? Is that what they're calling you?!

    "My name is Theo, and my Mobile Suit isn't a knockoff! It's the Sinanju Cascadia!"

    "Oh, is that so?" Her MS becomes wreathed in a rainbow of lights as her Psychoframe activates and an otherworldly force pushes you away from her.

    "Are we having a Cool Names Party? I can dig that. You already know Luke and his Blue Wolf moniker. Wanna know mine? The other guys in the Corps gave it to me."

    The light of her Psychoframe flows into her Beam Bayonets, and the blades grow to twice their size.

    "I'm Ensign Acothley. Kinslayer."




    Nimble birds, flitting birds, flocks in motion!

    One of the big Wings unleashed a flock of its own, tiny chicks that dart to and fro, pecking at you and your own tamed flock.

    The claws of your giant Wings are too slow too cumbersome to catch the chicks. Their flock flows around your flailing beam cannons and Vulcan fire.

    Irritating! So, so irritating!

    And you have to keep your own flock close, since those big Wings keep hitting you from afar!

    Flock against flock, Wings against Wings. Your skies are burning.

    They keep trying to get close to you, to hurt your giant Wings so that they can't protect you anymore. But you're smart, you're clever, you use your own flock to keep them at bay.

    Still, this impasse… it can't continue.

    You can sense even more Wings hanging behind the ones currently attacking you. They're waiting… waiting for a weakness to show itself.

    Well, you'll show them that you have no weakness. Nothing to exploit.
    These skies are yours.




    It's kind of fun fighting alongside Big Sis when she has a Mobile Armor too! All this firepower the two of you are pumping downrange is downright exhilarating!

    However, it isn't doing much to the Phenex, and you're starting to get a real bad feeling from it…

    You should probably tell Big Sis about it. You toggle optical transmission and-

    A proximity alarm. From above?!

    It's like a crimson blur, racing down from above and firing a barrage of rockets from two Hyper Bazookas! Big Sis returns fire with her Diffuse Beams, but although most of the rockets blow up some of them hit! The enemy zips past her at blinding speeds, tossing aside their spent weapons. At first it looks like the attack only did minor damage, until secondary explosions rock the Fiver II, and you see Cybele eject the Woundwort from the beleaguered MA! No, Big Sis!

    "Don't worry about-…..!" Her transmission comes across spotty, "Focus on-……! You're-….! Last-!"

    Whatever she was going to say is cut off as her attacker loops back around and starts trading fire with her using the beam rifle and shield beam cannon it had stowed on its back. Cybele is quick to go evasive and their fight takes them away from you.

    You want to help Big Sis, but you're the only MA suppressing the Phenex now! You… You have to follow the plan! Gripping the controls nervously, you try to watch Big Sis as you continue to fire on Rita.

    Where's that stupid Sherman Team? They should have doubled back by now!




    Ensign Carter would have doubled back by now. The Phenex had obviously evaded them by pushing forwards, the backup plan had both himself and Ensign Herrera following Rita to hit her from the rear.

    Well, that's not how things turned out.

    Upon entering the operational area, they barely had enough time to determine that Rita had moved before they spotted suspicious activity farther into the complex.

    So of course, like idiots, they had to check it out. What had they expected to find? Carter didn't remember anymore, but he didn't expect to find the Jupitris II hiding behind one of the fuel tank stacks, siphoning it for its own stores.

    Nor did they anticipate the ship's escorts, which promptly began trying to shoot them down.

    Carter was lucky. He was flying the Dendrobium Night Fighter, so when he came under fire the sheer mass of his craft plus the I-Field easily absorbed the barrage, giving him time to duck behind nearby structures.

    Herrera was flying the equally-capable, but significantly smaller Dendrobium II. It had an I-Field too, but proved much less durable against physical munitions.

    Carter caught a glimpse of the experimental MA coming apart in a fiery conflagration, the Core Fighter ejecting on a pillar of flame. Hopefully Herrera would make it out, but Carter had his own ass to worry about.

    Wasting no time, the Londo Bell pilot primed his main gun and swung about, firing at some of the Jupitris II's escorts. Whether by luck or skill, he cleaved one in two, although its explosion set off a nearby tank. Carter had seconds to roll his MA to present the more armored dorsal side and protect the vulnerable Core Fighter. The cockpit rattled around him as the craft shook from the impact of debris.

    Carter glanced around frantically, looking for more cover. He had to get out of this area, this MA wasn't meant to fight in such tight quarters! If he could just find open space-!

    He was nearly out from between two tank stacks when another Mobile Suit slammed into him from above. Looking above, his blood chilled at the sight of an MP Qubeley, its two monoeyes glaring menacingly. Shit. Carter braced himself for the inevitable beam saber through his cockpit…

    …

    And why was he still alive?

    "Hey!" The voice of a young woman crackled over the contact link, "You faint or something? Get moving!"

    "I… what?" He gaped upwards at the MS.

    "I'm hitching a ride! Just follow the others!" She replied urgently. The others, who were the others?

    The answer immediately presented itself in the form of what looked like a Zeta Gundam variant riding the ZZ Gundam in G-Fortress mode. The odd pair blazed past him at full burn, with tons of those MS from the Jupitris II hot on their heels.

    Well, Carter was not eager to get blown up like Herrera, so he did what the nice lady in the Qubeley told him, and followed the ZZ Gundam at full burn. Once out of the fuel tank stacks, both the G-Fortress and Dendrobium Night Fighter utilized their superior acceleration to leave their pursuers in the dust.

    On the bridge of the Jupitris II, Dogatie watched with a frown as his best leverage against Londo Bell escaped, becoming little more than distant specks of light.

    So, the units they had on hand really were too inferior. Now that Judau Ashta and company had slipped his grasp, the clock was ticking. Londo Bell would soon be aware of his true intentions, and the relative ease with which his ship had operated with would come to an end.

    No more flying under the radar. They'd have to fight their way through to the end, and for that, Dogatie needed his forces equipped with Mobile Suits that could stand against contemporary forces. He already had designs, he just needed resources…

    "Hurry up with the refueling," He snapped at one of his officers, "Once the tanks are full, prepare for departure."




    You just lost the Fiver II! Sure, it was still in one piece, albeit mission-killed, but you liked the thing! Now Rhea is going to yell at you for damaging it!

    It's all because of this asshole in a barebones copy of the Nu Gundam, with tons of Psychoframe slapped onto the frame! Who is he even, you've never met him before!

    "It's the Scarecrow-!" Lutetia is cut off as he slams into you, his saber sparking against your heat blade.

    Scarecrow? Who the fuck is that?! You kick him back and lay down some suppressive fire with your Vulcans. All you know is that he's made a shitty situation worse, and you can feel the rising panic coming from Argama and Alex Teams. Sicilia can only do so much in her one MA!

    It's insane, why is he attacking when the Phenex is right there?! Rita is clearly the bigger threat!


    [] Try to convince the "Scarecrow" to postpone this fight until Rita is no longer piloting the giant death machine. There are clearly bigger fish to fry.

    [] Fuck this guy and the spindly-looking MS he rode in on! You'll get to Rita in due time, but first you're going to obliterate this "Scarecrow".
     
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    • Chapter 52: Cry of the Phoenix-Part 6
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    • A/N: So, uh, almost two months since I hoped to have it out, about half a year since the last update. I apologize. This was a very ambitious update and I probably should have tackled it in smaller chunks. Still, it's finished. Enjoy!


    View: https://youtu.be/5qYyGiRQvXw


    [X] Fuck this guy and the spindly-looking MS he rode in on! You'll get to Rita in due time, but first you're going to obliterate this "Scarecrow".

    You've absolutely never heard of this guy, even though he seems to be infamous to the Zeon Republic. Whatever, he'll go down like all the rest of these Federation assholes!

    You keep your distance as you look over what little information you have on this MS. It looks like someone took a Nu and stripped it down till it was barely a frame, put a bare minimum of plating on it, then welded Psychoframe to it like it was going out of style. He has a non-standard Beam Rifle and a variant of the Nu shield. If you weren't so close, you would have mistaken him for a non-MP Nu.

    So that's why he's called the "Scarecrow". You think you're fighting a proper Nu, when in reality it's some kind of barebones variant. Still, Lutetia seems to think he is a threat, and that Psychoframe looks improvised.

    "I take it he's not usually lit up like that?" You ask her as you continue keeping your distance, dodging the few shots he's throwing your way.

    "No, I've never seen that loadout before." Lutetia confirms as the Scarecrow almost seems to back off, while still tracking you, "It usually has two Incoms and two shields, this is new. It looks almost like the Unicorn!"

    The Unicorn, huh? Well, you don't know too much about the RX-0 model, but you know enough to realize that just welding on Psychoframe plates won't let a normal MS reach that performance level. So, a desperation move? The Feds really wanted to give this guy every edge he could get against the Phenex.

    Meanwhile, what do you have? You're down one Mobile Armor, so what's left are the two Shield Boosters strapped to your back pod, a Kehaar II shield, and the Long Blade Rifle. So, not too lopsided a battle… unless he starts doing some kind of superpower bullshit with all that Psychoframe.

    But something is off… he's not pressing as hard. In fact, he's been less aggressive ever since you switched strategy to keep-away while taking his measure.

    Does he… not want to fight?

    Well, maybe he should have thought about that before he smashed up your Mobile Armor!

    "Alright, let's get this done quick," you grin as you attune yourself to the Psycommu, feeling the Gundam move like your own body, "I've got a main event to get back to!"




    It had been manageable, at first. When Cybele and Sicilia were bombarding the Neo Zeong, it could only attack Alex and Argama Team from one direction. It had to keep the control lines for the hijacked MS intact, and as a result those hijacking Incoms could only approach from that direction too.

    Coordinated fire from Christina and the others had kept the Incoms at bay while Elle and Mondo did an admirable job of fending off the enslaved MS from getting too close. The Nemo Cannons probed Rita for gaps in her I-Field.

    It had been going so well.

    Then Cybele's MA exploded in a flash that could be seen from their location.

    Almost immediately Rita deployed an entire hand into the previously suppressed flank, and swept beams through their formation, breaking it. One of the Nemo Cannons lost its head and shoulders, making the pilot eject before the whole machine went up in flames. Christina lost her beam rifle as the tip melted when one of the beams roared by her.

    Sicilia hit Rita again, which destroyed the deployed hand, but it was too late. Their lines were broken, and things had devolved into a brawl.

    "Elle, they're all over me!" Mondo shouted in a panic as two of the hijacked Jagd Dogas grabbed his machine's arms.

    Fire from Elle's Beam Smartgun lanced through the control cable for one of the Dogas, making it convulse and go limp. With one arm freed, Mondo proceeded to punch the other off of him. The control Incom that had been going for him diverted and slammed into the inactive Zeon MS, clamped around its leg, and drilled into it. The machine thrashed almost like a living thing in agony as the cables wormed through it, ending its short-lived freedom.

    Christina blocked an Incom with her shield, and it began to dig in. She jettisoned the compromised hunk of metal just as the cables burst from the backside. She drew her Beam Naginata and spun it, shredding the cables as they lunged for her again.

    Rita may be a powerful Newtype, but even she couldn't coordinate so many weapons systems at once! She was letting the FCS do most of the heavy lifting, and evading such simplistic attacks wasn't hard.

    That being said, nobody in the first wave was doing well.

    Christina rapidly looked around the battlefield, trying to pick out her team amongst the fracas.

    Hector was evading in reverse, having ditched his Beam Sniper for the increased maneuverability while he sprayed his shield's Gatling Cannon at the pursuing Incoms.

    Ishido was firing wildly in all directions, her frantic screams stuttering over comms due to the Minovsky density. Nearby Koike was trying to help, but the limited weaponry of her EWACS Jegan was working against her. What was one Beam Pistol going to do against the ludicrous amount of firepower getting thrown around?

    As Ishido was trying to disable the captured Qubeley, which was approaching rapidly from the front, there was a flash of something behind her.

    Koike noticed just in time.

    "Ishido!" She rammed Ishido's machine aside with her own, the impact smashing her Jegan's sensor suite and mangling her teammate's radiator fins.

    Ishido barely had time to process what just happened when one of the Neo Zeong's control Incoms slammed into Koike. Numerous cables plunged into her Jegan, making it thrash as systems were forcibly overridden.

    "Koike, no!" Ishido tried to shoot through the Incom cables to free Koike, but her own machine was hit in the back and shuddered as it too was taken over.

    One by one, they were falling to Rita's Incoms, adding to the ranks of her thralls.

    Christina couldn't dodge forever. She was getting penned in.

    Then it finally happened. One Incom latched onto her left arm and began to burrow into it.
    No way. She wasn't going to be a burden! She had to make sure she wasn't a threat to anyone!

    Without hesitation she swung the Beam Naginata and cut off her machine's left arm.

    Then two more grabbed her legs.

    She cut off one leg, and was about to go for the other when her controls began to seize up. No, no! She wouldn't let this happen!

    Christina's hands were inches from triggering the eject charges when beam fire cut across the void, severing the Incom gripping her remaining leg.

    Huh? Where did that come from?

    She saw flashes of light all over the battlefield as little craft slipped into the fray. In unison they fired, freeing every machine linked to the Neo Zeong II.

    Funnels! But Sicilia didn't have that kind of control, did she?

    A scream of rage echoed through her head. Was that Rita? The rogue Newtype fired beams at the disabled MS, both friendly and formerly enslaved, when those Funnels from earlier snapped into formation between the disabled groups of MS and the incoming fire. Iridescent barriers shimmered into existence between the Funnels, two of them, and blocked the beams. But there was no protection for Christina. She hit the eject button, only for an error message to flash.

    The Rick Dijeh was still resetting after the attempted takeover. No way out.

    The light grew brighter and brighter, and she closed her eyes. Out of fear? Acceptance? She didn't know. Christina waited… and the end didn't come.

    Hesitantly, she opened her eyes.

    The back of another Mobile Suit filled her vision as it stood between her and the beam, using its shield to ward off the destructive energy. Wait, that machine was-!

    "Captain Amuro!" She felt like laughing. Of course the Captain wouldn't abandon them!

    The beams from Rita petered out, and the Nu Gundam tossed its shield, now slagged into uselessness.

    "Sorry I didn't come sooner." Amuro's voice was clear and resolute, and perhaps a bit resigned, "I was waiting for Kamille, but it's clear we don't have the luxury of time anymore."

    He drew his Beam Saber with the off-hand, the hilt sparkling pink as it ignited.

    "Regroup with the others, Lieutenant. I'll hold her off and give us some breathing room."

    His Fin Funnels darted into the machine's new backpack, giving it the impression of a butterfly with outstretched wings.

    "Rita Bernal!" Amuro called out over open comms and optical as he positioned himself between the disabled Mobile Suits and the Neo Zeong.

    She seemed to hesitate, her machine suddenly pausing.

    There was a spark of connection, and the cockpit around him seemed to melt away, leaving himself and Rita hanging in the void. A connection between two Newtypes. Like this, Amuro could see her clearly. A young woman, once kind, mutilated into a weapon, and now gripped by hate.

    "You… Amuro Ray…" Her voice echoed hauntingly, "You won't stop me. I… I will fly free! These wings will free me forever!"

    "Wanting to be free isn't wrong,"     he spoke gently, "We all want that. But what you're doing, Rita, this won't grant you the freedom you're looking for! All this death and destruction will only make them come after you more! I can feel who you are, you don't truly want this slaughter! What is it that you want, Rita?"

    "What I… want?"     Her voice rang clear through Amuro's mind and was full of static over the radio with haunting dissonance. She sounded terrified. "I want… I want to fly. I want to be free, I-!"

    Rage. Fear. The Neo Zeong was engulfed in it as the Psychoframe went wild, all but poisoning the aura of the Phenex. Rita's screams made his blood run cold. The sea of stars vanished as he found himself in the cockpit once more.

    "Rita!" He moved to go to her, but the Psycho-Energy buffeted his machine, preventing him from getting close. Her wails seemed to go on forever, until all at once they ceased.

    The storm of energy pulled back into a writhing cage around the Neo Zeong, latching onto the Phenex.

    "Ha… Haha…" Rita giggled with almost manic glee. All Amuro could hear was bitter amusement, spite and anger mixed together in a venomous sneer, "You want to know what I want, Amuro Ray? I want this world to hurt as much as it's hurt me. As much as it's hurt us."

    There was someone else in there.

    "…Whoever you are, let Rita go." Amuro demanded firmly, "That girl is amongst the living. She can still be saved. You shouldn't use her as a tool for revenge!"

    "My Wings have shown me the truth!" Rita shrieked, deaf to his pleas, "I'll never let anyone drag me down ever again!"

    "Tch!" He tightened his grip on the controls, "Again… It's happening all over again!"

    Lalah, when would it ever stop?




    Who has a name like "Scarecrow"? Is that supposed to evoke fear or something?
    Aren't scarecrows supposed to become less scary once you know what they are?

    So why is he proving so damn competent?!

    "Lutetia, I need more pressure on him!" You snap at your copilot as you try to capitalize on the evasive maneuvers he's being forced to pull whenever she fires on him with the Shield Booster Incoms. Despite that, he somehow keeps dodging!

    "I'm doing my best! Your Incoms are too slow!" She retorts, "Why haven't you upgraded to Funnels yet?"

    "I'm sorry," you growl, "Londo Bell isn't exactly swimming in resources! We can't all afford custom Qubeleys!"

    "I've had that machine since I was born!" Some grief slips into her voice, "It was mine! It wasn't a handout from Anaheim!"

    Ouch. You feel a bit bad now. But that takes a backseat to the fight as you're forced to lock blades with the Scarecrow, your machines practically nose to nose. He hits his head against yours, and you hear the chime of an audio connection establishing.

    "Cybele Naese," the Scarecrow speaks, strain evident in his voice, "The Black Death. You live up to your reputation."

    "Well thanks. Didn't even know that I had a reputation!" You smirk, "You a fan? Want a signature?"

    "Hardly." He scoffs, doing little other than maintaining contact with your MS, "I know who you are. I'm not letting you anywhere near Rita!"

    Sounds like Luke has been running a smear campaign on you. Figures. Well, you aren't going to cry over spilled milk!

    "Not up to you, buddy! But enough talk!" You switch to Vulcans and unload at point blank. The rounds tear through the Scarecrow's head, annihilating his camera and sensors. The entire head unit vanishes, really.

    Full reverse, you blast him back with your leg thrusters to give yourself some room, then capitalize on the momentum and rush him! You level your blade and go to pierce him through the cockpit.

    The Psychoframe lights up all over him at the last second, holding off your Heat Blade. You bite back a curse and back away, barely avoiding the Beam Saber he swipes through the space you just occupied.

    "Bullshit Psychoframe!" You snarl. You had him! You had him dead to rights!

    "Why are you having so much trouble with one man?" Haman's amused voice echoed through your head, "Is your ambition so weak that you'd let something as small as this stop you?"

    "Small? You're calling Psychoframe small?!" You hiss at Haman, earning you a startled look from Lutetia.

    "You have Psycommu, don't you? Use it." Haman continues, "In a battle between Newtypes, a machine's performance doesn't decide the victor."

    "I'm not exactly a freaking Newtype prodigy here! I can't toggle that shit on-demand!"

    Lutetia stares at you in alarm, "Cybele, who are you talking to?!"

    "Hmph. Very well." Haman sighs as you feel her energy fill the Woundwort, "I will help you for now. But you must learn eventually."

    "This presence-!" Lutetia looks around in shock and no small amount of terror, "Haman Karn?!"

    You ignore her. The battle is what's important, and with Haman guiding you, you're sure to win. As each second passes, the Woundwort feels more and more like your own body, with Haman leading you in a dance.

    "Pay attention, Cybele," you feel her smirk, "This will be your first lesson."







    Cybele Naese.

    The Black Death.

    She's everything Luke Walker told Jona she was, and maybe more.

    As a pilot, she was a menace. As expected of someone who sank two ships and cut down almost an entire team of Newtype Hunters on her battlefield debut. The pressure of her attacks was something he'd felt only from aces. If Jona didn't have his enhancements, he wouldn't be able to keep up.

    As a Newtype, she was probably on the lower end of things. Her presence paled against someone like Rita, and she'd been stubbornly unresponsive to his attempts to reach her through thoughts. However, she was like an open book in terms of her emotions, and they were exactly like how Luke described them.

    A veritable storm of anger and grief, overflowing from the bottle she tried to cram it all into. It showed in her fighting style, with furious blows and unrelenting fire. She fought him like he was the cause of her despair.

    Jona was sad to say that she wasn't unique in that regard. He'd fought dozens of Newtypes, usually unfortunate youths being exploited by various terrorist factions, that had suffered loss and were eager to exact vengeance on the world.

    Couple that drive with skill, however, and you had something else entirely.

    That combination made Cybele dangerous.

    He gave her a chance after disabling her Mobile Armor. Her machine was clearly in a stripped-down configuration for controlling the MA. It didn't have nearly the equipment that the latest Intel showed her having, although he did remember that she supposedly had even less during the massacre at Cascadia. However, without her MA she was at a clear disadvantage. Whatever strategy Londo Bell had been executing was in ruins after the loss of it. Any reasonable pilot would have accepted the mercy and withdrawn.

    "There's no point in trying to reason with someone like her." Luke had said to him during the mission briefing, "She's a murderer. She killed Lorelei without even a hint of remorse! She used an entire colony as a meat shield! Cybele Naese is a monster!"

    Jona didn't believe that. Luke was a passionate kid with an idealistic and simple view of the conflict. The Federation's propaganda machine had worked wonders on him. Plus, Acothley had let him know that Luke had taken part in the operation at Cascadia, and with Cybele striking down Luke's teammate, there was no small amount of bad blood between the two.

    Plus, he'd heard those recordings that circulated after the battle at Hong Kong. The Federation had tried to censor it, but there were enough disgruntled personnel that eventually Jona found himself watching the combat footage on his personal terminal, the data passed to him by one of the enlisted men that shared similar sentiments.

    Jona had watched as Cybele put herself in harm's way to protect civilians, as she all but begged for a temporary ceasefire so that they could relocate the fight away from bystanders.

    Cybele Naese was a decent person, he had decided.

    So, he gave her a chance.

    Jona destroyed her Mobile Armor and didn't press the attack beyond that. He had hoped that she'd understand and pull back. Cybele had no personal investment in Rita Bernal. With no way to continue their plan, she should have withdrawn. Continuing the fight was madness.

    But continue to fight she did.

    "-enough talk!" She shouted right before his main camera went offline, fire from her vulcans tearing through his machine's head.

    She didn't need to keep fighting. But she did. Maybe he was wrong about her. Cybele Naese was dangerous. He couldn't let her near Rita.

    Jona tapped into the Psycho Energy that had grown so instinctive to him. Jona's passion to save Rita fueled his power. Reportedly, Cybele was not experienced enough to do the same.

    "I'm sorry." He muttered as he raised his Beam Sword and imbued it with Psycho Energy, making the blade grow ten times in size and length before he swung it downwards, a pink torrent of plasma to cleave her in two.

    He thought that maybe she might try to dodge, and he was ready to nail her with his rifle when she did. If she tried to block, he was ready to overpower her. If she tried to flee, he was ready to let her go.

    What Jona wasn't prepared for, was for Cybele to catch the empowered Beam Saber. Not with her Heat Blade or a boosted i-Field, but with her Mobile Suit's hand.

    The TR-6 held back the roaring plasma with a single raised hand wreathed in Psycho Energy, almost lazily.

    More alarming, was that Cybele's presence was rapidly smothered by another. A stifling Pressure that he'd never felt before.

    "Curious. Almost like that child back then… but you're a pale imitation." A woman's voice echoed in Jona's head, cold and arrogant.

    Wait, he'd heard that voice before! When he was still in the Titans facility, on the newscast! What was that woman doing here, wasn't she dead?! And yet her presence was all but bursting from Cybele's MS! No, it had to be her ghost, an imprint left on the machine's Psycommu… but why was Haman Karn tied to an old Titans machine?!

    "You have my pity, boy," Haman said as she… or Cybele, he wasn't sure who, flicked the Woundwort's hand and blew away his Beam Saber in a blast of Psycho Energy, "You are about to become a stepping stone for my heiress."





    View: https://youtu.be/uY-1sDmZEPc


    Luke's scream of rage cut through the comms as he fired a barrage of missiles, fully emptying what little he had left in the racks. Lorelei effortlessly spun and twirled between the missiles, firing back at Luke with her Beam Cannons. He tanked the hits on his shield, but the anti-beam coating on it had long since worn away. The HWS cannon unit mounted to it blew apart, leaving a mangled shield underneath.

    He ditched the ruined equipment, and instantly purged the spent HWS modules, all except for the additional thruster units on the legs.

    "Muwahahaha!" Lorelei did her best impression of a cartoon villain, "None can stand against the might of Katarina Eirkuchen! Face it, boy, you cannot best me and my Gundam!"

    "Your Gundam?!" He growled incredulously as the cockpit hatch on his MP Nu started to glow.

    Lorelei could feel his anger and rage, amplified by the Psychoframe. She didn't enjoy hurting him like this. Despite his naivety and misplaced faith, she really did consider him a friend for a time.

    Even so, there was only one way forward for her. To achieve the future she dreamed of, she had to leave Luke behind.

    "That Mobile Suit belonged to my friend!" Luke howled as his Fin Funnels suddenly sped up, rapidly outmaneuvering Lorelei's and blasting them, "How dare you defile it!"

    Lorelei was suddenly on the backfoot, evading madly as she was swarmed by the Funnels, pushing her machine to the limit. How was he doing this? What was happening?! Luke wasn't that good!

    The space around them began to shimmer as the Psychoframes of both machines resonated. Lorelei immediately hid her presence the best she could, but as she did Luke's energies latched onto her Mobile Suit.

    All at once, her controls stopped responding. No Psycommu, no manual controls, nothing. Her Nu hung there while Luke tossed his rifle and drew his Beam Saber.

    "You-!" He snarled, a nova of light blooming behind him as he fired all his thrusters and charged her, "You don't deserve that machine!"

    Had Lorelei misjudged him? Was he really this powerful?

    Her glorious future was rapidly fading from view.

    There was only one path forward.

    She swiftly tapped several of the switches on her controls, praying that Luke hadn't seized up all of her machine's systems.

    At the last second, her Nu's right arm was purged, the push enough to move her MS slightly to the left.

    Luke plowed into her, burying his Beam Saber into her mobile suit's chest, barely missing the cockpit.

    Lorelei's fist slammed down on the ejection button just as all the screens on the right side of her panoramic monitor went dead and began to glow crimson.

    On one side of the cockpit, explosive charges went off, trying to launch it out through the chest.

    On the other, a high intensity beam of plasma was turning the charges, launch rails, and hull of the cockpit itself to slag.

    The cockpit tore itself to shreds, the world tumbling around her as she was hurled forwards from the explosive decompression. Her vision dazzled with incomprehensible flashes of pink and red.

    Lorelei slammed into something. Something hard. Blood filled her mouth. Something broke inside. Cracks spiderwebbed across her visor.

    It all went dark.






    Mort cursed as he saw Lorelei's fight out of the corner of his eye, that Luke kid impaling her machine before the two of them were engulfed in the flames of her unit's destruction.

    That was one member of the team down, either dead or disabled, and he couldn't tell which.

    Still, it felt like an ill omen.

    "Where are you looking?!" The Federation commander rammed him from behind for the umpteenth time with her Funnels, both remote weapons scorched and disabled but not immobilized. He'd hoped that she would have abandoned or docked them after he hit them with his Beam Guns, but she just started using them as battering rams! Unfortunately for him, they were sturdy enough for the job too.

    "If you can't pay attention to what's right in front of you," she sneered as her Funnels looped around and dove at him, "then you should just be blind!"

    The Methuss's already battered head was crushed as the two Funnels plowed into it and finally exploded. The monitors around Mort flickered as the computer tried to patch in auxiliary cameras.

    "Come on, come on!" He scanned the area, watching as the enemy Delta Kai appeared and vanished like a lagging video. She was supposed to be an Oldtype too, right? How was she flying so well with so much damage to her machine?

    The screen flickered once more, and suddenly his monitor was filled with the Delta Kai's face.

    "Shit." Mort muttered.






    Alarms blared all around Eris.
    Lost verniers, overloaded joints, warped inner frame, and hardly any operable weapons.

    "The Federation will bring peace to the Earth Sphere!" The Fed Newtype shouted as he rammed her, his Psychoframe shining so bright it was blinding, "The only thing people like you do is destroy and harm! You're an obstacle to peace!"

    He really, really didn't like Char. Her paint job was like a matador's cloak, and him the bull. It didn't help that his fury activated the Psychoframe of his ReZEL.

    But seriously, who puts Psychoframe on a ReZEL?!

    "What I wouldn't give for a Biosensor-!" Eris hissed through grit teeth as she used her remaining leg to kick herself away from him. Seriously, her whole team was made up of Newtypes! What was she thinking, choosing a Mobile Suit without even that?! This wasn't like the One Year War where pilots like Amuro and Char could get away with a mere high-spec machine! Shit like that was why Char got his ass handed to him by Haman during the Gryps War!

    Oh, right, Eris corrected herself, Quattro Bajeena, the legally-distinct individual from Char Aznable. Who was also legally distinct from Casval Deikun.

    Heh.

    Anyways, weapons. Weapons. What did she have left?

    Beam Saber. Singular.

    Oh joy.

    "Alright asshole," Eris drew the hilt and ignited the blade, "I'm clearly not gonna win this, but like hell am I going down alone!"

    Her fingers flew across the controls as she disabled all the limiters. Her Gundam shot towards the enemy, thrusters throttled so high that the nozzles began to melt into the plume. The beam saber shone so brightly and extended so far that it began to burn out. That was fine, Eris only needed it for a second.

    Her opponent lit his own blade and raised it to meet her strike, just a second too slow.

    He stopped the beam from going through his chest, but it cleaved straight through the head and backpack.

    Of course, Eris's Mk.III hadn't stopped.

    The collision was catastrophic, with both machines experiencing unscheduled rapid disassembly to differing degrees.

    The G-forces had Eris pressed into her seat, and she could hear the frustrated screams of her opponent over comms. Seems she did a number on him, but from what limited data her displays were showing, her machine was done for. Irrevocable damage. It probably was going to blow any second now, if those flashing alarms were any indication.

    It was a shame, Eris thought as she yanked on the ejection handle, the Mk.III really was a nice suit…
    But she was definitely going to get Psycommu on her next one.




    "That machine is wasted on you, Londo Bell!" Acothley taunted Theo as she locked both of his axes with her sabers, and raked the front of his machine with Vulcan fire, "Full Frontal was able to take out most of the General Revil's MS forces with it! And just look at you, struggling with one measly MP Nu!"

    The jab hurt, almost as much as the physical whiplash she gave him as she kicked him directly in the cockpit.

    It was true, he was nowhere near Full Frontal's level. Theo was no Char. He was no Amuro. A high-performance machine like the Sinanju Stein was utterly wasted on an amateur like himself.

    Still, he was a member of Cascadia Team! He had to meet Cybele's expectations! Why else would she keep a hanger-on like him around?! Eris barely tolerated him, Cybele only slightly acknowledged him, he had to prove his worth!

    "Shut the hell up!" Theo snapped as he readied his axes and rushed back in, locking blades, "I'll show you who's the better pilot!"

    They throttled up, fighting each other's thrust. Their MS began to rotate around each other, locked face to face. The world spun around them, the distant sun circling the cockpit monitors.

    "Big words," Acothley snarked as her backpack snapped open again, "Back them up."

    Her remaining Incom shot out, zipping around. Theo broke off from her and tried intercepting it with his head Vulcans. No luck. It fired and half of his backpack blew apart.

    "Whoops! There goes your mobility~" She cackled as she began to run rings around him, "Where am I? Over here! Nope, over here!"

    Theo tried to track her, but the loss of half of his backpack verniers had slowed his turn rate, even with working AMBAC. Too slow to track her. Too slow to dodge when she cleaved through his legs from behind.

    "Hey hey, better learn how to use that Psychoframe fast!" Acothley taunted as she made two passes on him, carving deep furrows into his armor, "Is that all you got? Boo! All bark and no bite!"

    Theo tried, he really did. Light started to gather around the Stein, but it was weak. His emotions were in turmoil, and there was fear. So much fear.

    "Hmph. So that's as far as you can go." She sighed, machine wreathed in Psycho-Energy, "What a pity. Bye-Bye Londo Bell~"

    Her Beam Sabers grew, amplified by the Psychoframe, and she swung them down to swallow him whole.

    She was met by an equally powerful blast which dispelled the blade, emitted by a black machine that rushed into the gap.

    "Alright, that's enough picking on the kids." Riddhe snarled, his Banshee emitting a menacing golden light, "Fall back, Cascadia Team. I've got it from here."

    Acothley laughed, sounding equally exhilarated and uncertain, "Oh, is this the famous Banshee I see? What an honor, sir! I'd ask for your signature, but I don't have anything to sign!"

    Theo used his limited mobility to put some distance between their fight. He held back tears, eyes stinging.

    Useless. He was utterly useless.




    Flocks and swarms, circling and darting about!
    Pecking, swiping, clawing at her!

    Amuro's flock, Sicilia's flock, they tore at her even as she lashed out!

    Her I-Field blocked most of it, but even so, they were annoying! So, so annoying!

    "Leave me alone!" Rita screamed through her tears, wildly swinging beams through space in a useless attempt to swat them out of the sky.

    They wanted to take her back, carve her up, clip her Wings!

    No! No! She wouldn't go back! She'd hurt all the bad men that hurt her!

    Her Wings whispered in the back of her mind. She could use that. The big wings that could whip up a storm. A storm strong enough to blow all her enemies away!

    On command, Rita began to deploy the Psycho-Shard.

    "I'll blow you all away!" She shrieked, the Pressure growing as pain crept into her bones, "Just die!"

    Even as light began to spill from the shining ring around her Wings, Amuro's Wings began to shine too. In fact, everyone's Wings were starting to glow!

    This was-!




    "Psychoframe Resonance." Bright stood up, mesmerized by the myriad of colors flowing in the distance, "It's happening…"

    He'd only seen that light once before. Light like that had enveloped Axis and pushed it away from the Earth.

    But that had been generated by the small amount of Psychoframe in the Nu Gundam and Sazabi, and Axis had been within visual range.

    The fuel depot was far out of visual range, and yet he could see it. The reaction was big enough to glimpse with the naked eye.

    Was it because of all the Psychoframe and Psycommu-equipped Mobile Suits on the battlefield? This was possibly the largest engagement ever with so many Newtype-use MS all in close proximity with each other…

    What could someone like him do? Just sit and worry? As Bright tried to weigh his options, a flash of light much nearer made him flinch. Everyone on the bridge did.

    "What was-?" He looked towards where the light had come from. The Ra Chutter was directly ahead and to the left of the Ra Cailum. The small flashes of thruster fire from their CAP circled the ship like fireflies. Nothing from the Ra Chutter should have been that bright, so what was-?

    Another flash, but this time he was. A salvo of beams lancing in from above, missing the Clop-class by hundreds of meters. Where was that coming from? Wait…

    "Tell the Ra Chutter to go evasive!" Bright barked out at the Comms officer, "The enemy is getting their range! Hurr-!"

    Another salvo, this time it buried itself into and through the flight deck.

    Flames began to billow from the breach, and secondary explosions pushed the Ra Chutter out of formation as the engine pods began to sputter.

    "Enemy spotted!" Sensors reported, "It's the Federation task force! They're charging us! One Gaunland-class battleship, six Salamis-class cruisers! They're being led by Mobile Suit formations!"

    Damn it, the Feds were going for a ship-to-ship action? While he had more ships, and two battleships as opposed to the Federation's one (he did not consider that scrap reconstruction of the Argama to qualify) his vessels were less capable in direct combat!

    Plus, it looked like the Feds had a sizable MS force leading the charge. Bright had sent most, if not all, of their Newtypes to fight Rita.

    "What do we have in the air?" He shouted at Ops.

    "Teams Sierra, Oscar, Yankee, and Romeo are deployed!" The officer in question answered promptly, "They're moving to engage!"

    That was slightly reassuring, but they were all variations of the Jegan! Not a single high-performance model amongst them, excepting a couple of Stark Jegans. If the Federation had any Newtypes in the air…

    "Sir, there are two suits in the hangar requesting permission to launch!" Ops added, "It's Captain Montagne and the other pilot from Zeon."

    Those two? Two Funnel-equipped Psycommu suits… they had a chance.

    "Permission granted, all hands prepare for anti-ship combat! All ships form up on the Ra Cailum, The Bellerophon and Argama are to fall back to the rear of the formation! The Ra Chutter is to exit the combat area at best speed!"

    Bright needed to make sure everyone had a place to land when this was all over. Giving the distant dancing lights a glance, he made a silent prayer.

    A prayer that this light was also a miracle.




    Michele Luio never thought that this was how she'd die.
    It was how she deserved to die, however.

    Alone in the dark, with the cold closing in.

    Was this how Rita felt? Alone and abandoned by her friends?

    Oh Rita… Michele fought back tears as she thought of how she'd forsaken her childhood friend. At the time she had been so afraid… she justified her actions by saying that she'd come back to save them, but really all she was trying to do was save herself.

    Michele landed a cushy position as the adopted child of Woomin Luio, while Jona ended up erasing his records and joining the Federation. As for Rita…

    Rita was carved up and stitched back together in the name of science, in the name of progress.

    No wonder Jona hated her.
    No wonder he'd deceived her, lured her out from under the protection of Luio and Co. by saying that he had a lead on Rita.

    He did… but it came at the cost of handing her over to the Federation.

    She was a "Newtype" after all, wasn't she?
    What a farce. They both knew it wasn't true.
    She was a fake. Rita was the real deal.

    "You wanted to be a Newtype so badly," Jona had said as he held her at gunpoint with Federation soldiers pouring into the room, "Congratulations, Michele."

    The betrayal had stung, but she knew that she was the one who betrayed her friends first.

    So, she deserved this.

    Michele had thought that she'd be carved up like Rita too, made into an abominable Cyber Newtype, but the Federation apparently had other plans for her. Plans involving the Phenex. So she was brought aboard the General Revil, waiting for her ultimate fate. Then Rita attacked the General Revil and slaughtered everyone.

    The only reason Michele hadn't died when the General Revil sunk was that her cell was still pressurized. Perhaps the hallway outside was too, but the power was dead. The emergency lights failed about an hour ago, and she'd heard the constant hum of the ventilation fade away too.

    Suffocating in the dark… perhaps this was karma for what she'd done.
    If so, she'd accept it.

    Screech

    Her eyes shot open, not that she could see anything in the pitch-black. What was that? It sounded like… someone forcing a door open. Was someone out there? Was she about to be rescued?

    Hope flickered to life in her chest, and Michele felt around for the door. Where was it?
    She frantically ran her hands along the wall, and recognized the seams indicating where the cell door began. More sounds could be heard beyond and she began to bang on the cold metal.

    "Here! I'm in here!" She screamed, voice still hoarse from when she'd tried shouting for other survivors earlier, "Please!"

    There was a dull mechanical grinding as the person on the other side struggled with the emergency release, and light flooded in through a crack, then more as they slowly slid it open.

    Michele shielded her eyes, trying to make out her savior as they opened the visor of their helmet.

    "I'm with Londo Bell. My name is Kamille Bidan." He spoke.




    "What is even going on…" Judau muttered as he looked out at the monitors. Dead ahead was a Psycommu Resonance so powerful that he could feel the ZZ's Biosensor all but itching to join in. A bit further beyond that, the telltale signs of a fleet battle could be seen, with firepower being thrown around far outclassing that of MS weaponry. Plus, those explosions…

    "I don't know, I can't make it out either." Roux replied uncertainly, "Too much Minovsky interference. I only have visuals."

    They could feel that whatever was causing that Resonance, however, was absolutely roiling with intense emotion.

    "That must be the Phenex," their Londo Bell tagalong reported, referring to the iridescent lights, "I need to get back to the others. It looks like the Federation might have engaged the Ra Cailum… I'm going to engage the Phenex. You three can join up with Bright. He might need the help. Please."

    Their Puru in her Qubeley took the hint, letting go of the Dendrobium Night Fighter.
    It immediately throttled up and sped off towards the light.

    "Well, Judau?" Roux prompted him again, "Should we go help Bright?"

    That was what they were asked to do, and it's not like they had propellant to spare, so landing was paramount, but still…

    He got a bad feeling from that Psycho Energy.


    [] The three of them proceed to link up with the Ra Cailum, as per the request of the Londo Bell pilot.

    [] Following their gut, the three of them join the battle against the Phenex.
     
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    • Chapter 53: Cry of the Phoenix-Part 7
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    • [X] The three of them proceed to link up with the Ra Cailum, as per the request of the Londo Bell pilot.


    Ple Seven was born knowing three things.

    How to fly.

    What to fight.

    Who to serve.

    Everything she did was the will of her Master. The idea of doing something for herself and herself alone was utterly alien to her.

    That was, until that fateful day.

    Her Master ordered her and her sister's to slay a demon. They sorted, expecting victory.

    That day, as her sisters died around her, the demon staring down at her on its white wings, Ple Seven learned a fourth thing.

    How to run.








    He was shown to her in a dream, a dream given by her first sister. Big brother would give her a home, he would protect her. Ple Seven just had to keep running.

    She ran far. Past the Moon, beyond Mars, on and on until she soared in the vast emptiness between Earth and Jupiter.

    Her pursuers dispatched, Ple Seven left her cockpit and looked upon the man her sister spoke of.

    He was…

    "Hello, big brother." She smiled. He was exactly what she'd hoped for.








    "-Stea? Adrastea?" Judau's voice cut through her idle recollection, "You with us, Stea?"

    Ah. She'd let her mind wander a bit there.

    "I'm here, Judau." The young woman once known as Ple Seven answered, "Sorry. I was just thinking…"

    "Focus, Stea." Roux chided her lightly, "We're coming up on the battle space."

    Adrastea nodded, switching her Qubeley over from efficiency mode to performance mode, a feature most Jupiter Fleet MS had. It helped with the long distances they regularly traversed.

    Her machine's wings unfolded as the reaction thrusters warmed up, and the beam gun capacitors began to charge. Her Funnels came online one after the other.

    Beside her, Judau's ZZ switched into MS mode as Roux's Lightning Zeta powered up combat systems. Just in time too. The Minovsky Particle density rose sharply as the three of them dove into the combat space, already passing smoldering debris. Mobile Suits, crewmen, hull fragments…

    Blood was being drawn.

    "I've got a visual on the Ra Cailum." Judau connected to Adrastea and Roux with cables, sending them his video feed, "That doesn't look good…"

    Adrastea noted the situation with worry. The Ra Cailum was at the front of Londo Bell's formation, but it was also the focus of most of the Federation's fire. The main hull was streaming flames from multiple breaches, and the port engine pod was just straight up gone.

    Space all around the Ra Cailum was ablaze. Londo Bell Jegans could be seen darting about, exchanging fire with much deadlier Silver Bullets and enhanced Jegan variants. There were a few LB Stark Jegans holding their own, but they were few and far between.

    Then there were the two Mobile Suits babysitting the battleship's bridge. An unfamiliar Gundam-type and a Qubeley Mk.II, both using their Funnels to supplement the Ra Cailum's overwhelmed point defenses.

    Adrastea knew. The one in the Qubeley was one of her sisters.

    "Big brother, permission to engage?" She asked, eager to run and help her family.

    "Granted. You and Roux clear the airspace around the Ra Cailum. I'm going to pay the enemy fleet a visit."

    "Affirmative," Roux replied, "Stay safe Judau."

    The communication cables detached and Judau flew off in the direction of the Federation ships.

    Roux and Adrastea shared a look.

    "Most kills gets to pick a restaurant in Londenion," the clone smirked, "Least kills buys."

    "You're on, kid!" Roux laughed as she equipped her machine's back binders on each arm, "Just a heads up though, I've got expensive tastes!"

    The two of them dove at the ongoing fracas, and Adrastea picked out her first target. Two high mobility Jegans ganging up on a single partially-disabled Jegan. They hadn't spotted her. Too bad for them.

    She equipped and deployed both her Beam Sabers and flew straight between them, twirling as she went.

    Her blades cut in spirals, and seconds after she passed, both suits came apart in fiery conflagrations.

    She slammed straight into a squadron leader's ReZEL, obliterating it's head and spearing the cockpit. Turning to look at the shocked remnants of the squad, Adrastea laughed.

    "Hello, everyone! It's nice to meet you!" Her Qubeley held out its arms as her Funnels deployed, quickly surrounding them, "I'm sorry I can't spend more time playing with you, though. After all…"

    She licked her lips and sighed wistfully, her cockpit lighting up with the flashes of their demise as her Funnels eviscerated them one by one.

    "-I really want that parfait."








    Artesia Deikun floated in darkness, the only light being the flashing red oxygen indicator light on her normal suit.

    When the Phenex shot her down, she was able to separate the Attacker from the Nutter, saving the upper half of her suit. The blast took out the power in her half, however, and left her drifting with the shattered remains of the other Neo Zeon pilots.

    The cockpit wouldn't open, and she had no way to signal for help. It would seem like she had hit the end of the line.

    That… That was fine. She did the best she could. Artesia had faith in Amuro to follow through, to create a better world. It was what they'd all been striving for since the One Year War, wasn't it? All of the White Base's crew, each in their own way…

    The oxygen was thinning, and it was getting hard to breathe. It reminded her too much of that fateful day in Side 7. She could remember it like it was yesterday.

    Amuro…

    Amuro would grieve. Of course he would. He'd always cared about her. She'd thought once upon a time that their relationship would develop into something more, but post-war their lives took different paths.

    It seemed almost cruel that after they met once again, they would spend so little time together before this happened…

    "I told Amuro to take care of you, didn't I? I'm rather disappointed in him."

    She recognized that voice.

    "Casval…?"

    "Artesia… It's been a while."

    "That… that it has…" she smiled, trying to envision his face as she remembered it, "All this time and not… not a single call or letter? Shame on you… brother."

    "Would you have listened if he did try to speak to you?" Another voice spoke, a young girl, vaguely familiar from their brief encounter years ago, "Char knew you weren't ready… and he wasn't either."

    "Lalah." Artesia greeted her, "Has my brother… been behaving himself?"

    "As much as can be expected of the Red Comet." Lalah Sune giggled cheerfully, "Not that behavior really matters when you're dead."

    That made Artesia chuckle a little, "Yeah, I… suppose it doesn't."

    Even deep breaths weren't helping. Oxygen levels had finally fallen to a critical low.

    Artesia wheezed, her body reflexively clawing for breath, "Casval… Amuro-!"


    "Artesia Deikun, Sayla Mass, your story doesn't end here." Lalah spoke, "It cannot. It will not."

    "Emergency Power Restored."

    Her machine intoned as the monitors around her lit up, and a gentle whoosh of the O2 filters kicking in filled the cockpit. Frantically, Artesia grabbed at her helmet, yanking it off and gasping lungfuls of air.

    Alive! She was alive!

    The remaining half of the Rebawoo seemed to hum around her as the Psycommu came to life. The reactor was still down, and probably would not come back without extensive repairs. However, she still had the backup batteries. She was so sure that they were damaged when they didn't immediately kick in after the reactor was knocked out.

    "Did you two do that?" She asked as she tried to steady her breathing, checking the Rebawoo's status.

    "I'd love to claim credit, but this was meant to be." Lalah's voice drifted through Artesia's head, "More importantly, take a look."

    She craned her head around the seat, trying to find what Lalah was hinting at. When she saw it, her jaw dropped.

    Londo Bell was engaged in a pitched battle with the Phenex. She could see the Nu Gundam trying to duel it, but between the Neo Zeong's weaponry and the Phenex's destructive light, he couldn't get close.

    Still, he was beautiful. The Nu's armor had opened up to reveal its radiant green Psychoframe. Iridescent light poured from the vents, wreathing his machine in an Aurora as he ran rings around Rita.

    In fact, multiple machines were blazing with light, the entire area lit up with the brilliant light of the Human soul.

    However…

    "Why can't I feel them?"

    "We're hiding you." Casval said, "There's something you need to do, Artesia."

    "Yes," Lalah continued, "Something like that can't exist in this world."

    They wanted her to destroy it with a surprise attack? But it had an i-Field, and even if it didn't, her batteries weren't enough to fire the Beam Rifle even once!

    Wait… Artesia brought up the weapons status display.

    She still had six missiles. Those needed minimal power to fire.

    The batteries also had enough charge to ignite the engines and run them for a few minutes.

    …

    She could do this.

    "We will help too." Lalah provided as the Rebawoo's Psycommu lit up with the presence of two souls, "The living need to decide the future, but…"

    "We've got some meddlers down there." Casval finished, "So we're leveling the playing field a bit."

    Artesia smirked with newfound confidence, "Well I won't say no to help. Let's go."

    The Rebawoo Attacker jettisoned its Beam Rifle and fired up its thrusters, shooting forth like a comet.








    View: https://youtu.be/BFcf8XUQknE


    The Scarecrow put up a valiant fight. He really did. However…

    "This is as far as he can go." Haman said as you plow your Heat Blade straight through the Narrative's head.

    It's amazing. With her help, you can weave Psycho-energy like it's second nature! Even with the difference between Psycommu and Psychoframe, your precision overwhelmed his power. If this is what Haman can give you-!

    "Do not become complacent, Cybele." She scolds you, "You need to remember what this feels like, so you can do it on your own. You're nowhere near my level yet."

    "But I can get there eventually, right?" You eagerly ask, taking the opportunity to deliver the finishing blow, a kick straight down onto his chest.

    "Yes." Haman answers, "With effort, one day."

    At the last second, the Narrative splits, with the top half flying up and colliding with the Woundwort's leg, stopping it. The bottom half pushes itself away before the Core Fighter ejects.

    "Trying to get away? Not a chance!" You level your Shield Boosters at it and arm the beam cannons.

    Then light streams across space, a rainbow of emotion and feelings that makes you hesitate. When you look back, Jona is gone.

    "This is…" Haman stares in the direction of the light's nexus in shock. You follow suit, as does Lutetia.

    A Psycho-Field large enough to swallow the whole battlefield, emitting from the Phenex and amplified by the Neo Zeong.

    The cockpit seems to melt away as the stars swirl around you. You hang in the void, watching alongside Haman and Lutetia as Amuro faces down Rita and the young man standing behind her. The young man has heterochromia, with scars running down through both his eyes. You know him instinctually… That's Zoltan. You saw him die when the Zeon Republic attacked the Phenex.

    "Zoltan! This has gone far enough! Let Rita go, and stop this needless bloodshed!" Amuro orders him, but the man just laughs bitterly.

    "You think you know what's best for her? What's best for all of us?!" He snarls, "Take responsibility for Newtypes, Amuro Ray! You're the reason why we're seen as wonder weapons! You're the reason that innocent people like Goldie and I are carved up in the name of a miracle!"

    "That's only because people don't understand! They repeat the same mistakes, but even so, I still believe in the good of mankind!" Amuro counters, and you can't help but clap with encouragement. So inspiring! So cool!

    He ignores you.

    "The good of mankind? You mean Oldtypes?!" Zoltan snaps, "Oldtypes don't understand us! They can't even understand each other! They never will! The only thing an Oldtype understands is physical phenomena! You can wait forever for them to understand, but they never will!"

    "Even so, change through force isn't the answer!" Amuro insists, "Change through force never lasts! You can't force someone to have a revelation! Mankind needs to come to it of their own volition!"

    "Violence isn't the answer, huh?" Zoltan sneers, "Well, Goldie, what do you think? Will peace bring the world we need, the world we deserve?"

    Rita stares down at her feet, quiet.

    "Oldtypes don't want peace." She whispers, "They see a bird flying free, and they want to chain it to the ground. They want to pluck the feathers from its wings. Carve it up and devour its flesh."

    She looks up, tears streaming down her cheeks, and you feel her sorrow. You all do.

    "I can't take it anymore, Amuro! The agony, the fear, the confusion, it's all too much! I only wanted to fly free, but even that is taken from me! My wings… My lovely, beautiful wings…"

    "That's right, Goldie." Zoltan purrs into her ear with a wicked, spiteful smile, "They cut us up, replaced parts of us until we were no longer ourselves, but imitations of their false god."

    He threw his arms out, laughing, "Don't you see, Amuro?! Just like they tried to turn me into the Red Comet, the Federation made this girl in your image! An innocent defiled and twisted into a faux you!"

    Amuro flinches, grief filling his eyes.

    "I know. What happened to her was awful. But snuffing out more lives won't save her! Misery creating more misery is why nothing ever changes, why the same tragedies and atrocities are committed again and again! Eventually, someone has to say no! Someone has to break the cycle!"

    "And we should be the ones to do that, huh?" Zoltan growls, "We should just suck it up, and accept our fate? Who are you to deny us our vengeance?!"

    Rita raises her hand.

    "I just want to fly free," She says, "and you're in the way."

    The light surged forth, threatening to swallow Amuro and the others whole.

    You rush into the gap and hold up your hands.

    "Why do only your dreams matter?!" You summon a shield of Psycho-Energy and stave off the light, "Just because yours have been trampled on, that gives you the right to trample on others?! That's selfish, Rita!"

    "You reckless little-!" Haman snaps, quickly reinforcing you, "You're not strong enough for this! The Woundwort's Psycommu can't take the strain!"

    Amuro takes your hand, and his light flows into yours.

    "She's not alone! We all have dreams, and we all have a future that we want to see!" He declares, "You can have new dreams, Rita! You have people who care about you! Look at Cybele! She lost her home, her family, but she still has things she wants to fight for, to live for! You can be the same! Don't let the regrets of the dead drag you down with them!"

    "Well said, Amuro." Haman chuckles, "You remind me of a boy I knew."

    "...Aren't you dead?" Amuro remarks as he looks over at Haman, the former leader of Neo Zeon smirking smugly at him.

    "Funny, I thought you were too," she snarks back, "but I guess the rumors were exaggerated."

    "We… We all want a better future! Even with everything that's happened, and everyone we've lost, we still strive to make it come true!" Lutetia joins hands, her light joining yours, "Don't you see, Rita?! Don't listen to Zoltan, his possibilities have ended, yours are still alive!"

    "Each and every one of us." Camilla stands with you, "We all create the world we live in. If you deny possibility, then the Hell you live in will be of your own creation."

    "Listen to Big Sis!" Sicilia hugs you from behind, "She gave me back my life! She gave me hope when I thought I'd lost everything! There's always a light at the end of the tunnel, Rita!"

    You feel Elle's light merge with yours. Then Mondo's. Everyone from Londo Bell.

    Your lights war against hers, your Mobile Suits shining together as if fording a raging river.

    "You don't understand, none of you understand!" Rita shrieks, her rage and despair growing, "Just blow away, all of you! Leave me alone!"

    The energy pouring out of the Neo Zeong increases, and begins to swallow up your own collective light. You all strain against the Pressure, and alarms begin to blare around you. The Psycommu begins to fail. Flames start to pour from the Psychoframe vents in the Nu Gundam.

    You're not enough. The Phenex and Neo Zeong are just too strong together.

    Her light is about to engulf you, when you see it.

    A magnificent swan, soaring high above.

    Amuro looks up, mouth agape.

    "...Lalah?"

    You can see it. A beautiful swan. Not just in your mind's eye, but in reality, a mass of Psycho-Energy shaped like a bird.

    It dives on Rita.

    "You-!" Zoltan curses, "Goldie, heads up!"

    With a scream, Rita cuts off her Psycho Energy and fires up all her Beam Cannons, swinging the pillars of plasma upwards.

    As the beams buffet the swan, eroding it away, you hear a voice.

    "Your destiny is your own, Rita Bernal!" Lalah Sune declares, even as her manifestation is destroyed, "Only death puts an end to possibility!"

    As the beams crush the swan, a blazing red ball shoots out from the remnants, continuing towards Rita. It's almost like a comet. A Red Comet.

    "It may seem like things never change, but that's not true! Mankind changes a little every day! It's the duty of the new generation to continue that change!"

    "Char?!" Amuro looks on in shock.

    "The regrets of the dead have no place amongst the living!" Char continues, before his sphere of Psycho Energy is smashed between two beams, popping. Out of the light a small craft darts out, screeching downwards towards Rita.

    "We'll decide our own fate!" Artesia Deikun's voice rings out clear as her Rebawoo Attacker burns straight for the Neo Zeong, "There's no place for wraiths like you, Zoltan Akkanen!"

    Six missiles streak forth from the Rebawoo's wings, slamming into the i-Field generators on the Neo Zeong. With a dreadful whine, they each fail simultaneously. Rita screams in outrage as Artesia flies past. The Psycho Shard flickers and dims, suffering from some kind of system failure likely caused by the attack.

    You're slammed back into the real world, in your cockpit, with your allies by your side. Before you is the Phenex and Neo Zeong, the latter streaming fire from the now-disabled generators.

    "The i-Field is down!" Amuro raises his Beam Rifle and launches his Fin Funnels, "All units, open fire!"

    Beams and rockets pour into the Neo Zeong, slagging armor panels and melting beam emitters. Rita's shrieks of defiance fill the comms and she tries to fire back. She misses, but even so, the mass of the Mobile Armor is just too big! Even Sicilia can't deliver a kill shot! You'd need a really big gun to take it down!

    "Incoming!" Ensign Carter of Sherman Team screams hysterically as he enters the battle space like a bat out of hell, the Dendrobium Night Fighter bearing down on the beleaguered MA, "All units, clear my line of fire!"

    Amuro and Elle dart out of the way as the Dendrobium fires, piercing the Neo Zeong just below the cockpit.









    "Looks like this is the end of the line for me, Goldie." Your Big Wings sigh as he begins to crumble away, "Sorry I couldn't help you out more."

    "No… No NoNoNo!" You grab at him, sobbing, "You said you'd help me fly free! You were going to carry me and my Wings to the open skies! We were going to punish the bad men who cut us open together!"

    "That would have been great…" He smiles bitterly, "Fly enough for the both of us, will you? I know you're going to go far."

    "So long, Goldie."

    The Phenex is thrown from the Neo Zeong as it erupts, detonating in a massive fireball.
    He's gone.

    They took him from you. They destroyed the Wings that told you the truth, the Wings that were going to carry you to happiness.


    View: https://youtu.be/uV4ZlLnaies


    "You…"

    You grip the controls, knuckles white.

    "You-!"

    The shields on your back fly off, circling you before locking onto both forearms.

    "YOU!!!"

    They will burn for this.








    The Phenex is a golden blur, moving faster than you can track. It slams into the Dendrobium.

    "Holy shi-!" You hear Carter swear right before Rita crushes the Core Fighter and i-Field generator, kicking off from the MA in the same move before unloading multiple Beam Cannon shots into it, blowing it to smithereens.

    Oh god, she just killed him.

    "All units, fall back!" Amuro orders frantically as the Phenex makes a hard burn for everyone else, Rita's screams of rage echoing over comms.

    "I don't think running is an option, sir!" You retort as you raise your Heat Blade.

    It flits around you before ramming Mondo, grabbing his Methuss Kai by the arm and throwing it into Elle's ReGZ-ID. The impact breaks his MS in two at the waist, and heavily damages Elle's machine.

    You think you liked your chances better before she left the Mobile Armor.

    "Rita must still be suffering Psycommu Feedback from the Neo Zeong!" Amuro calls out, "Just hold out until Kamille gets here! If anyone can get through to her, it's him!"

    "We're just going to let her tear into us, Captain?!" You shoot back in disbelief.

    "Of course not! Just don't-Damn!"

    He raises his arms in time to mitigate the impact of Rita hitting him at full speed, pushing him rapidly away from your location. You can see the glare of her Armed Armor DE Shield Boosters propelling her…

    "...You should probably kill her." Haman comments, "I doubt you can save that girl at this point."

    Okay, cold-hearted option from the infamous war criminal. Kind of expected. Still, you have options!


    [] Take Haman's advice. Fight to kill.

    [] Obey Amuro's orders. Hold out for Kamille.

    [] For the love of god, go get some backup!
     
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    • Chapter 54: Cry of the Phoenix-Part 8
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    • Note: Thank you for waiting. Cry of the Phoenix is one update away from concluding. My apologies for the time gap between now and the last update, life has been kind of busy and that didn't help my writer's block. Now, without further ado...


    View: https://youtu.be/2I8m6SES1cA



    [X] Obey Amuro's orders. Hold out for Kamille.

    Sure. Hold out against the rampaging crazed Newtype in the cutting-edge Psychoframe Gundam. Easier said than done. Still, Amuro told you to hold out, so you need to hold out!

    And no, you're not going to listen to Haman and try to kill Rita. Honestly you doubt you could if you tried.

    Still, the Phenex is a much more capable machine than yours, even excluding the amount of pure bullshit that Psychoframe can do. How can you hope to close the gap?

    Maybe… Maybe you don't have to. Maybe you just need to be you.
    Besides, you've got people you want, no, need to protect.

    Your hand goes to the pendant Sicilia gave you. It feels warm to the touch.

    Yes, you can do this.

    "I've got to apologize for this in advance," you remark to your copilot, "This is going to get rough."

    "Rough?" Lutetia repeats with confusion as you enact your plan, firing off both Shield Boosters as Rita does a flyby against some of the disabled Zeon pilots.

    They switch to claw mode in transit, manipulators wide. Rita evades the first, which screams past her. The second is on track to miss too-

    There's a warmth on your chest, and a light envelops the second Shield Booster, making it veer off course and slam into the Phenex with a speed impossible given its specs.

    "Locked on!" You shout as the claws dig into the Armed Armor DE, "Beginning pursuit of the Phenex!"

    "What are you-?!" Rita shouts in confusion as she fruitlessly tries to shake your Shield Booster off. The line almost seems to shake as you start to reel it in at maximum speed.

    "Oh my god," Lutetia's eyes go wide, looking to you in horror, "Are you insane?!"

    "Hahahaha!" You cackle as the line goes taut, "YES!"




    Space was on fire.

    The Ra Cailum was the eye of the hurricane, plowing through space as columns of fire and smoke streamed from multiple hull breaches. Missing the port engine pod, it nevertheless advanced.

    A Silver Bullet adorned in Federation white rushed the Bridge, locking its Mega Launcher in firing position while launching Incoms. The weapon began to glow-

    Multiple slender Funnels surrounded the Mobile Suit and riddled it with beam shots, eviscerating the machine. It all but shattered in a massive blast as the propellant ignited.

    "Guess we owe Captain Montagne a drink for that," Bright muttered to himself as he shielded his eyes from the blast, before turning his attention back to the battle, "Maintain speed! All units, keep the enemy away from the Ra Cailum!"

    Things weren't looking good. The Gaunland had competent pilots, even with their Newtypes deployed away from the ship. The Mobile Suits and pilots onboard the EFSF battleship and her escorts were trained and equipped to keep heavily-armed Newtypes in check. Against Londo Bell's comparatively-standard suits, they had the clear advantage.

    Peche and Rin could keep the Federation suits away from the Ra Cailum's bridge and main hull, but they'd already lost one of the engine modules, halving their propulsion and forcing the helm to use the maneuvering thrusters to constantly correct their heading.

    Their escorts had fallen behind, having been forced back by a separate attack.

    Yes, if not for the two Newtypes from the Republic, his ship would have been reduced to a smoking wreck by that point.

    Still, that didn't mean that they would pull through at the rate things were going.

    He scanned the battlefield, looking for an opening, looking for anything…

    Then he saw it, a Mega Bazooka Launcher being maneuvered into position beyond the immediate fracas. Two Federation Jegans were guarding it while a third lined up the shot.

    "Give me a full barrage on my mark, target these coordinates!" Bright hurriedly entered in the direction manually. He saw the main guns turn slowly. Too slowly.

    By the time they were on target, he could see the faint glow of the enemy weapon charging up.

    "Fire!" He shouted, and the Ra Cailum sent a torrent of energy in that direction. Beams cascaded through space towards the Federation weapon-

    And he watched as every shot missed.

    Shit.

    "Evasive maneuvers!" He ordered the helm, knowing full well that there was no avoiding the coming shot.

    Bright hoped, prayed, gripped his chair in anticipation as he saw the Mega Bazooka Launcher reach its apex, glaring as it prepared to fire-

    Only for a wave of beam energy to wash over the operator, slagging the rear of the gun and instantly making the gun's reactor go critical, engulfing both the user and the escorts in a giant ball of thermonuclear fire.

    "Hey there Bright, looks like you could use a hand!"

    Wait, was that-?

    "Roux?!" Bright gaped in shock as he saw the former AEUG pilot dive into the fray, her Lightning Zeta wielding its wing binders like tonfas as she used the beam emitters on the edges to cleave through multiple units in a single pass.

    "Good to see you too, Captain!" Roux laughed, catching a saber from an enemy Jegan on her binders before kicking it away with a thruster-assisted blow, "Roux Louka, formerly of the Federation Jupiter Fleet, requesting permission to desert to Londo Bell, sir!"

    "Heh. I don't think you ask permission for that sort of thing, Roux." Bright grinned wryly, "Glad to have you with us. Where's Judau?"

    "He's hitting the enemy carrier, Captain. Adrastea should also be around here somewhere."

    Just as Bright was about to ask who that was, an audio channel from Montagne opened up.

    "An unknown Qubeley is attacking the Federation forces, Captain." Peche reported, "It has Jupiter Fleet markings."

    "And that would be our Stea." Roux provided, "Now, back to cleaning house. We'll talk later!"

    She turned her attention back to the fight, and just in time, as she barely dodged a pincer attack from a Silver Bullet and an upgraded Jegan.

    Bright almost couldn't believe it. Roux was back, and so was Judau. Elle and Beecha had mentioned something about them possibly being on that Jupitris II… but it was good to see that their suspicions were true.

    He took a deep breath.

    "Alright. We can do this. If Judau is handling their carrier, then we can take care of the rest." He began to input coordinates and commands into his console, sending laser comms to their laggard escorts.

    "Bring the ship about! All remaining Mobile Suits, form up on the Ra Cailum! Let's clear the skies!"




    The Bridge of the Gaunland was tense with excitement. The Ra Cailum, the flagship of that traitor Bright Noa, was in flames. The battered and bleeding vessel was being swarmed by the Federation's own forces, whittling it down in anticipation of a grand explosion once they finally hit something vital.

    All of Londo Bell's Mobile Suits were occupied with the defense of their motherships, although it wasn't without surprise that the Captain of the Federation battleship heard an announcement from one of their lookouts.

    "High energy signature, closing fast! It's a large Mobile Suit… or a small Mobile Armor, Sir!"

    Ah, so one of Londo Bell's upgunned units was making a run on them, hoping to take pressure off of their lead ship by forcing the Federation to pull back assets. Typical Bright Noa, putting all his eggs in one basket, or rather, one Newtype. The man always did rely too much on those little freaks of nature. Without their power, he would have been a mere footnote in history. Still, the Federation had numbers on their side. Londo Bell would go the same way as the Titans and the Principality.

    The Gaunland hadn't committed all its forces to the attack, and they still had their escort of Salamis cruisers. With an order from the captain, their escorts moved to guard their flagship.

    "Hostile has entered weapons range!"

    "All ships, fire when ready!"

    "Firing solution locked in! Firing!"

    Several bright lances of light streamed out from the fleet, skewering space. The incoming signature merely danced out of the way, spiraling around a few of the beams mockingly.

    "Have our Mobile Suits intercept them!" He ordered, and watched as several thruster plumes vectored in towards the enemy. On scopes, he saw the telltale strobing of multiple small thrusters igniting, followed by a dozen small suns blossoming in the immediate area.

    That hostile just launched a spread of missiles. It was still reading on scopes, which meant that those explosions-

    "Captain, our CAP has been wiped out!" Came the panicked verification of his fears, "Hostile is still closing!"

    "Anti-air combat! Evasive maneuvers! Take it out!"

    The Gaunland lurched to port, while its AA guns began to pour cannon fire towards the incoming unknown.

    It weaved in and out of the fire. Damn Newtypes! Inhuman freaks!

    "Captain!" His officer at Sensors called out, "I have an ID on that machine!"

    He looked at the monitor as the visual came into definition. It cleared up just in time for him to see the glow of a double-barreled beam rifle.

    "It's the ZZ, sir!"

    Two brilliant spears of plasma pierced through the Gaunland's flight deck, immolating entire sections of the interior before blast doors slammed down to stem the inferno. Entire compartments full of men ignited instantly. The ship rocked as the lights flickered and alarms began to blare. Flames poured from the hull breach as the lights cut out throughout the ship.

    "We've lost main power!" Engineering reported, "Switching to backups!"

    "No!" The Captain shouted, "Keep us on emergency power! No maneuvers! Kill all running lights!"

    The crew shared a confused glance before obeying, and with a dull whine the ship shut down most of its active systems, leaving only the dull whisper of ventilation, and the groaning of the hull.

    "Londo Bell is full of idealists," he explained quietly, as if the vacuum of space would somehow carry his voice if he spoke louder, "If they think they've disabled us, they'll leave us alone."

    His XO looked at him from her chair with a concerned frown, "But sir, what about our escorts?"

    "...They're not Carriers." He answered grimly as he stared out the windows at the aforementioned ships, "Our pilots still need somewhere to land."

    The faces of the Gaunland's command crew were a mixture of grim resignation and dawning horror at his words. For a moment, they were all lit up as the nearest cruiser broke apart in a hail of fire.

    "Damn you…"

    The Captain grit his teeth as he watched hundreds of sailors perish, one after the other.

    "Damn you, Londo Bell…!"





    Sayla did her best to avoid Rita. It wasn't too hard, especially since the incensed CyberNewtype was preoccupied with the leader of Cascadia Team, who had decided to grapple the Phenex and ride it like a demented water-skiier.

    She wished that pilot the best. They were going to need it.

    The leader of the Zeon Republic eyed her battery reserves. Almost depleted. She was going to have to find somewhere to land soon, or bail. Probably the latter, there weren't any ships near the combat area, and she didn't have the fuel or power to reach them.

    She grabbed a jetpack and an Emergency Beacon from the survival kit stowed behind her Linear Seat, donning the former and clipping the latter to her belt. Bright would be sure to pick her up, and she had complete faith in Londo Bell's ability to win this fight.

    She moved to open the hatch, but paused. She felt something… Something from over where the Banshee was fighting. Near it…

    Rage and fury, broiling in an unstable mind. Sayla could see it.

    A damaged Delta Kai was grappling a heavily-damaged Methuss. It was trying to tear off the armored cockpit hatch.

    They were going to kill the pilot. Of that she was sure.

    No one else was vectoring in to help, and Sayla was sure that if nothing was done in the next minute, that Methuss pilot was a goner.

    …

    Well, there was only one thing to do.

    She sat back down and brought up the autopilot function.




    Mort was really going to have to blow off the hatch and bail at this rate.

    "Newtypes are freaks! Mistakes of nature!"

    That lady just kept screaming at him as she bashed the hatch, trying to tear it off.

    "You're trying to save them, can't you see they'll destroy us all?!"

    He moved his machine's right arm to try and block, but she just grabbed it and tore it off at the shoulder.

    "But I use the monsters to destroy themselves! We can't suffer them to live! You-!"

    She finally tore off the armor covering the hatch, exposing the vulnerable cockpit. Alarms blared around Mort as he saw her pull back her fist.

    "You're a traitor to every-!"

    Something red and fast slammed into the Delta Kai from the left. It was too fast for him to see what it was, but it exploded against the Feddie suit, taking off the right arm and much of the chest.

    He was thrown away by the blast, and frantically corrected the spin before looking back.

    The Delta Kai was in an uncontrolled tumble, the chest conspicuously empty.

    She must have ejected. But what was that thing that hit her?

    … Well, whatever. He had to regroup with the others. Speaking of the others, where was-?

    Movement caught his eyes. Something tumbling end over end through the void.
    It was a person, and as Mort turned one of his last working cameras towards them and magnified, he felt a weight settle in his gut.

    It was one of the kids.




    Lieutenant Riddhe threw his Beam Magnum away, the last shot expended, and drew Beam Sabers in both hands, catching the strikes from the two members of Hunting Pack that had engaged him.

    "Heheh, what's the matter, Banshee?!" Acothley laughed as she pressured him, despite her machine missing an arm and Incom racks, "You're getting slow!"

    "Riddhe!" The unknown pilot in the Type-N ReZEL screamed, "You goddamn traitor!"

    The Pressure these two were exerting was too much! He could easily take one of them, but both? He just wasn't that good of a pilot or strong a Newtype! His machine could take him far, but the Type-N was no pushover, and the MP Nus were formidable.

    If their machines were at full strength, he would've been done for. Luckily for Riddhe, he'd heavily damaged the MP Nu before the Type-N showed up, and the ReZEL was very, very damaged. It was like another machine had rammed it at full speed. He was surprised that pilot was still continuing the fight, instead of returning to their carrier.

    "Do you need a hand, Lieutenant?"

    A familiar voice echoed in his head, and all around him. He felt something in the Psychoframe.
    Wait, he knew this voice. This woman was-!

    "Marida?" He gaped as the Cyber Newtype he murdered appeared beside him in spectral form, "You're here?!"

    "I never left." She smiled kindly, "But focus, Lieutenant. This is not where you fall."

    Right. He had still so much to do, so much to make right. With newfound determination, he gripped the controls and leaned forward, gunning the main thrusters.

    "You're right, Marida. After all-!"

    With a push, Riddhe overpowered both the MP Nu and the ReZEL, throwing them back.

    "-I still need to redeem the Marcenas name!"

    Empowered by the light of two souls, the Banshee surged forth.




    When she was little, a spider once crawled onto Jona.

    Rita had laughed as he tried to shake it off, but even though it fell off, it was still connected by a strand of web.

    Michele had tried to help, but it stuck to her instead, and the two of them traded it off in a panic as the spider slowly crawled back up the web towards their hands.

    This must be what they felt like.

    Rita threw the Phenex into a hard turn, executing a rapid vector change that sent her pursuer in a sudden, snapping swing.

    She thought that the line might snap, that something might give out on Cybele's Mobile Suit.

    Nothing happened, and she just kept getting closer.

    "Get off!" She shrieked, igniting a Beam Saber and trying to cut the cable free, but a sudden burst of Vulcan fire from the pursuing TR-6 caught the handle, blowing off the emitter and making the weapon fall apart in her grasp.

    Such accuracy! Was Cybele really this good?!

    "Ritaaaa!!!" Cybele screamed with exhilaration as she closed the gap at last, one final burst of thrust making her slam into the Phenex.

    The monitors around Rita flickered from the impact, and she found herself grappling with the other Gundam.

    How was this happening?! Her Wings were stronger, faster, more powerful than hers!

    So why?!

    "I will fly free!" Rita increased the throttle to push Cybele back, "You won't stop me!"

    She began to feel the push of acceleration, only for it to jolt twice, making her whip forward and back in her seat slightly.

    "W-Wha-?" She looked down at the displays. She was out of fuel, running on fumes.

    It figured. She hadn't had a full tank when she took off back at the colony, and so much had happened since then… Now she was finally out.

    Was this… the end of the line?

    No… No!

    "I can handle the force of my Wings," Rita snarled as Psycho-Energy wreathed her machine and Cybele's, "Can you?!"

    Cybele just laughed, smirking in her own cockpit while her copilot had long since passed out, "Bring it!"

    Then the two of them took off, propelled by powers beyond Human comprehension, all around the battlefield.



    Your pilot suit has a wonderful mechanism to help you resist G-Forces. It constricts the flow of blood to your legs during high-G maneuvers, keeping blood in your upper body and preventing you from passing out. Still, as good as it is, it has its limits.

    Rita is showing you those limits right now.

    "GGHHGG!!!" you try and scream in defiance, but instead make a strangled… noise.

    You can't lift your arms. Black is closing in the corners of your vision. You keep your head back against the seat, letting the headrest support you. You're fairly certain that if you leaned forward, your neck would snap.

    Lutetia lost consciousness a while ago, and is currently planted face-first in the airbag, which is barely supporting her body as the high-Gs try to fold her like a pancake in her seat.

    Still, you won't be beaten! You were told to hold the line, and that's what you'll do until Kamille gets here!

    It's impossible to move your hands, so you use the Psycommu to move your machine.

    "Just be a good girl-!" You mentally shout at the rogue pilot, "-and cut it out!"

    You can't fire any beams at her. Firing Vulcans wouldn't work either, you'd quickly outrun the bullets.

    So… you headbutt her.

    CLANG

    On contact, your Psycho Energy clashes with hers, creating a blast that throws your machines apart. You're shaken in your seat at the sudden drop in acceleration, but correcting your movement is trivial.

    Good, you're not about to pass out now.

    Bad, you've put distance between yourself and Rita, and now she has a clean shot on you.

    She aims both Armed Armor DE units at you and fires a salvo of beam energy.

    You raise your shield and most of the shots splash off the anti-beam coating, but one burns through and blows the equipment apart.

    That's fine, you have your Shield Booster. You prepare to throw it again for a second rodeo match when-!

    A thick pillar of beam energy cuts through space between you, forcing the two of you apart. Who-?!

    "Rita!" A woman's voice cuts through your head, and you turn to look.

    It's the Zeta, with Kamille. He's approaching, the woman in the cockpit with him, reaching out with her mind to Rita. That's… Michele Luio. The Zeta makes no move to follow up its interruption, but its clear Kamille is ready to act if needed. He hasn't let go of the Hyper Mega Launcher, after all.

    "Michele?!" Rita looks to her friend in shock.

    In surprise.

    She's distracted.

    "She's wide open." Haman whispers, "Do it now, before it's too late!"


    [] Shoot Rita

    [] Hold your fire




    The hatch sealed behind him as Mort brought the limp body of one of his teammates into the cockpit. He couldn't see who it was through the visor, it's cracked and stained with blood from the inside. Air kept escaping through the cracks, along with droplets of blood that hung in the air like a macabre mist.

    It was definitely one of the girls. Not Sicilia, too old. Not Cybele, no jacket. It was either Eris or Lorelei.

    "Come on…" Mort hissed under his breath, urging his machine to pressurize the cockpit faster. He went behind his seat and located the first aid kit. Would it be enough? There was so much blood…

    A cheerful chime indicated that pressure in the cockpit was now at habitable levels, and without wasting a moment, Mort twisted the helmet and gently removed it.

    It was Lorelei.

    "No… Come on, no-!" Mort frantically opened the kit, searching for something, anything to help her, "Stay with me, kid! Stay with me! Lorelei!"

    Her eyes slowly moved to look at him, and she managed a smile, even as droplets of blood left her mouth with every shaky breath she took.

    "M…M…y…." Her voice was so quiet, almost imperceptible, "f… fu… tu.. re…."

    She could see it even now. A little brick house amongst the trees. A lush forest in a massive Colony. Above her, outside the expansive glass walls, shone Jupiter. She would walk amongst the leaves, in a lovely white dress. No War. No Death. Just… Life.

    It was her glorious, wonderful future.

    It was perfect.

    Lorelei Vogel closed her eyes.
     
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    • Chapter 55: Cry of the Phoenix-Finale
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    • [X] Hold your fire


    View: https://youtu.be/JOdkPvvbKo4?list=PLgBAXaMeVtyqaVpJYAm0e8yCeD3SBXYjc



    You could end her right now. All it would take is a single shot.

    But… No. If this can end peacefully, it should. No more blood has to be spilled, right?

    "Rita, I know you're hurting. You're hurting because of what they did to you… what I did to you." Michele continues, and you can feel the anguish and regret coming off of her, "I'm sorry, Rita. Back then, I shouldn't have done what I did. I shouldn't have given you over to them. I told myself that I was doing it to save you and Jona, but it was a lie. I was just scared, and you paid the price."

    Michele Luio can no longer fool herself. The Titans may have put the gun in her hand, but she pulled the trigger. At least, that's how she sees it.

    "Sorry… You're sorry." Rita repeats, bitterness dripping off every word, "What good does 'sorry' do now, Michele? Does it turn back time?! What I've lost, I'll never regain! You think words will fix that?!"

    "I know that it's too late, that I can't undo the pain and the suffering, but I want to do what I can to make things right, even a little."     Michele continues, "I know Jona feels the same way. We just want to save you, Rita!"

    "Save me? You want to save me?!"     Rita laughs and cries in equal measure, "Look at me, Michele! How much of this is still Rita Bernal?! There's nothing left to save!"

    That… is the most coherent you've heard Rita during this whole engagement. Is she truly crazy?
    Well, probably, but there's clearly still a person in there.

    "That's not true, Rita!" Another voice cuts in, and you look to see the Narrative's Core Fighter approaching slowly, cockpit open with Jona standing on the seat, the Psychoframe on his flight suit glowing as it amplifies his thoughts, "I know you, Rita. I know the kind girl who I grew up with. I see her in you. You're still here with us, Rita, and I won't let them hurt you anymore!"

    "Hey!"     You aim your Beam Rifle at his craft, "Back off, Scarecrow. You Feds can't have her or the Phenex."

    "I have no intention of delivering Rita to the Federation."     Jona replies without slowing his Core Fighter, "You have my word. Besides, my Mobile Suit is gone. I couldn't force the issue even if I wanted, and I don't. Please, let me see her."

    This is a bad idea. You're about to tell him to shove off when another voice cuts in.

    "Ensign Naese, stand down." Kamille orders you, "They know Rita. Let them try to get through to her."

    …. Damn it. This is a terrible idea. But you obey and lower your weapon.

    As the Zeta approaches with Michele and the Core Fighter with Jona, you see the Phenex's hatch swing open. Holy shit, she's actually going to talk with them.

    Jona ditches his fighter and pulls a cord on his suit, and you see the Psychoframe shell fall off of it. Huh.

    The Phenex holds its hands open, palms up in front of its chest, and you see the three of them meet there. Jona Basta, Michele Luio, and Rita Bernal.

    They're talking, but… ah, they must be using local comms. Hm, Jona has a Feddie suit and Rita has a worn civilian one, but Michele is wearing what looks to be a Londo Bell helmet. If that's the case, then you should be able to tap into her comms and do some eavesdropping.

    So, you do, because you've got a really, really bad feeling about this.

    "Rita, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did to you." You hear Michele, "I know that you're hurting, but if you want to take your revenge, take it out on me. This? This isn't the answer."

    She gestures vaguely around her. You assume she means Rita's rampage.

    "Revenge… that isn't the point, Michele. I just want to fly free, away from everything, but they keep chasing me."

    Jona and Michele share a look, and you're not sure what they're thinking.

    "They'll keep coming after you, Rita." Jona said, "The Federation, Zeon, Londo Bell, they'll never stop chasing you so long as you have the Phenex."

    "If that's true, Jona, then I'll never be free." Rita says quietly, "I need my Wings. They keep me safe, they set me free."

    "No, Rita. What you need isn't the Phenex." Jona reaches out to her and opens his hand. You magnify the image, and see he has what appears to be two small pendants in his palm, "I'll take its place. I'll set you free."

    "Do you mean that, Jona?" She asks as she leans forward towards him, "Will it finally be over?"

    He nods, "It will, Rita. Just trust me. I wasn't able to save you back then. I'll save you now. You don't need the Phenex. We'll be your Wings."

    "I…" She brings her hands to her chest, before falling into his embrace, "I'm so relieved… it'll be over… You'll be with me too, won't you Jona? Michele?"

    "Of course." Michele moves to join the hug, but pauses. She's looking at something past the two. You don't follow her gaze, because something else has caught your attention.

    "I'll be with you, Rita," Jona whispers as he slowly pulls his pistol from its holster, "every step of the way. To the end."

    Oh, hell no! You're not letting that asshole murder-suicide Rita! You bring up the Sealant Launcher, to immobilize the two of them and prevent him from-!

    "Jona! Rita!" Michele screams, pointing at something beyond them. Jona freezes to look, as do you.

    It's Luke, approaching fast. His machine is missing a couple of limbs and looks scorched from head to toe. He doesn't appear to have any weapons left, but as he aims his head, you realize that he only needs one weapon to deal with unprotected pilots in Normal Suits. You switch to your Beam Rifle and take aim, but it's too late.

    "Jona, you traitor!" He roars, as he unleashes a barrage of fire from his Head Vulcans, "DIE!"




    Rita could feel Jona's warmth. Even through the vacuum of space, through their suits, she could feel the warmth of his light. He truly cared for her, him and Michele both. He just wanted to end her suffering. She didn't care how he did it, so long as the three of them were together.

    Just like it was back in those carefree days…

    Then Michele screamed their names, and she turned to see her pointing at something, terrified. Rita looked to see what was terrifying her friend-

    Malice. Sheer, utter malice. How could she have not sensed it? Pure killing intent, aimed at all three of them. It washed over her at the same time as the storm of 60mm rounds slammed into the Phenex's hand, sending molten metal flying all around.

    "Get down!" Jona shouted urgently as he acted on instinct. There was no time to think, no time to convince himself of right or wrong. Throwing away his pistol, he grabbed Michele and Rita and pushed with his legs, hurling them all towards the safety of the Phenex's open cockpit.

    Rita felt the wind get knocked out of her as her back hit the pilot's seat, and she heard Michele bounce off of the monitors to her right. She could feel Jona's hand protectively gripping her arm.

    He saved her.

    "Jona," She smiled gratefully as she raised her head to look him in the eyes, "Thank yo-…"

    He wasn't there. There were floating drops of red.

    That… That didn't make sense. She could feel his hand on her left arm. He was there, right?

    As she looked down, she heard Michele's scream of anguish.

    Jona's hand was holding her arm, yes. Her eyes followed it, from the hand, to the forearm, to the elbow.

    It didn't go any farther.

    "…."

    "…. Jona?"




    You curse under your breath as you see Luke's Gundam explode, but his escape pod makes it away from the wreckage. Damn, your shot was off. Looking back to the Phenex, you see a fine red mist travelling away from it. Judging from the amount… shit. He got someone. Who-?

    A howl of pure agony cuts through your mind. Emotions tear through you. Grief. Anguish. Despair. The Phenex almost seems to convulse as blinding light pours from the Psychoframe.

    Rita Bernal has lost it. Pyscho-Energy rushes in to smother her Gundam. It's building up to something.

    "The Phenex is going critical!" Amuro says as he reenters the combat zone, having been pushed far away earlier by Rita, "All units, pull back!"

    "But Captain, can't we stop… whatever she's doing?!" You ask as you put some distance between yourself and the Phenex. You can feel it in your gut. Whatever this light is building to, it's going to be bad. Really bad.

    "I can't get through to Rita, she's shutting me out!" Kamille shouts, the panic in his voice disconcerting, "Amuro, we need to find cover!"

    "Cover? What's going to cover us from that?!" Amuro retorts, "Just get some distance from her! It's all we can do!"

    Other members of Londo Bell shoot at the Phenex, but you see their shots just disperse before hitting it. The Psycho-Energy is dispersing everything.

    You knew it. You should have just shot her when you had the chance.




    "Rita, you need to stop this!" Michele tried to shake her friend, to bring her back to her senses, but the blonde Cyber Newtype was unresponsive, curled into a ball as she sobbed inconsolably. All around them, the monitors flashed and flickered as every status display returned warnings of imminent catastrophe.

    Rita Bernal was making the Phenex's reactor go critical. That, along with whatever she was doing with the Psychoframe, was sure to kill them both and consume the machine whole. Michele wasn't sure if she deserved to live, but she didn't want her friend to die.

    Her friend, whom she had abandoned once before.

    Not again. Never again.

    "We need to go. Come on!" Michele tried to pull Rita out of the seat, but she was stuck fast.

    At that rate, neither of them would escape the blast, and Michele didn't want to be the only survivor. What worth did life have if she had to bear the burden of knowing she let both of her dear friends down?

    "Jona… Jona wouldn't want this, Rita!" She pleaded, "What use was his sacrifice if you die too?!"

    "… Jona was going to kill both of us." Rita whispered into Michele's mind even as she wailed, "He was going to set us free. I want to join him."

    "Freedom… What freedom is there in death, Rita?!" Michele insisted, "That's just giving up!"

    "I don't have anything left to lose, Michele. Not even myself. So much of me has been cut out and replaced. Only a broken weapon remains."

    The Phenex groaned around them as it shook, the light becoming nearly blinding.

    "Let's join Jona, Michele. We can finally become free. This world has nothing to offer us."

    Michele felt so much regret as she looked upon what remained of her friend, the girl whom she owed her life to. If Rita didn't want to continue on…

    "Alright, then." She finally relented, wrapping her arms around Rita as she accepted her fate, "I'll go with you, Rita. I just… don't want to be alone."

    "That's fine, Michele." Rita held her friend, looking to her with tear-filled eyes, "We'll never be alone again."

    The light swallowed them whole.




    Space detonated. Destructive light swallowed any too slow to flee. You ignore the barking of your consoles as they demand for you to slow down, to stop red-lining the engines. You don't, as you see the flames of an aurora lick at the corners of your eyes, a torrent threatening to consume you.

    Ahead of you, Amuro and Kamille race to outpace the tide. You hope that the others make it.

    A shrill alarm announces the end of your fuel supply. Your main thrusters sputter, switching to plasma from the reactor, but it's too weak. The light closes in from all sides.

    "…. I'm sorry, Kaylen, Mother…" You whisper as you close your eyes.

    The roar becomes nearly deafening-

    Silence.

    You open your eyes, slowly. You're still here.
    Amuro and Kamille are slowing down. The light is… gone?

    You rotate the Woundwort to face where you came from.

    Stunning.

    A storm of every color imaginable, and some you've never seen before. It swirls and churns, melting the void as it roils.
    It disperses in four large clumps, heading off in separate directions.

    All that's left is a rapidly-fading sphere in the center of it all, and once the light fades you see two small figures floating in the emptiness, unmoving.

    "The Phenex has been… eliminated." Amuro says somberly, "The operation was a… a success."

    He fires off a few flares, signaling for all forces to pull back. If the Ra Cailum saw that, they'll dispatch Search and Rescue teams to comb the wreckage for escape pods, survivors, and the dead.

    What were those two figures you saw? Debris? People? You almost move to check them out, when Amuro contacts you directly.

    "Return to the Ra Cailum, Ensign. That's an order."

    "I..." You cast a glance back to where the Phenex used to be, "I… understand, Captain. Returning to carrier."




    Rita and Michele held fast to each other, as the last wisps of Psycho-Energy dissipated around them.
    As consciousness began to slip from them, a familiar voice spoke. The voice of a friend.

    "We'll see each other again one day. Until then, Live."

    A pendant, once broken into three, was made whole in a sparkle of light.
    Rita reached out for it as it slowly drifted away.

    "Don't leave… Jo… na…"




    "Holy shit." You gape as you come in for a landing. The Ra Cailum is… well, it's fucked. Very fucked.

    The hull is full of holes, one engine pod is missing entirely, one of the main turrets has been blown off, most of the AA mounts are just scorched craters…

    Honestly, you're amazed that it's still holding together. If the hangar can still pressurize, you'll eat your shoes.

    You notice other members of Londo Bell and Cascadia Team returning as well. Mort, with an absolutely battered Methuss. Theo in a partially-dismembered Stein. Christina, with only one arm left. Riddhe with a one-legged Banshee.

    Then there's Sicilia. The Lord Frith is spotless.

    You don't see Eris or Lorelei, not to mention most of the machines that departed with the strike force.
    Hopefully the SAR teams find them. You didn't feel them die, and you would have if they did, right?

    Lutetia is still out cold as you're brought into the main hangar. Should you be worried about that?
    …
    Nah, she's probably fine.

    The monitors around you go dark as you power down the Woundwort. A lot happened during that battle. You have a lot to process. Is it going to haunt you? Probably, but you'll cross that bridge when you come to it.

    All you want is to take a shower, collapse on your bed, and sleep off this weariness. With a tired sigh, you pop the hatch, stepping out and-what the fuck that's a gun in your face.

    "Ensign Cybele Naese." The ECOAS trooper addresses you, backed up by two other armed soldiers, "Come with us."





    It takes a while to secure the Lord Frith. There weren't many hands to spare from the SAR operations to tie your Mobile Armor back up to the cargo ships, so what should have taken a mere hour takes three.

    You tried to contact the Ra Cailum, but the comms officer didn't let you talk to Cybele! Something about priority traffic. You tried reaching out to Big Sis's mind, but when the Phenex did that big flashy explosion, it got really hard to talk to other people like that. Almost like background interference? You dunno how that stuff works anyways.

    Eventually, finally, the Lord Frith is secured and you depart from it in the Hrududu, navigating over to the Ra Cailum and setting down in its hangar. Ah, you see Big Sis's Gundam! She made it back! Looks like she disembarked a while ago, though. There's also a few Mobile Suits you haven't seen before! A weird-looking Zeta variant, and… oh, that's…

    "…Gundams are the enemy." You mutter as you stare at the ZZ, finger inching towards the trigger.

    The Hrududu rocks suddenly. What was that? You look… ah, it's the technicians securing your machine down on the deck. Okay.

    That Gundam over there is the ZZ, huh? You remember it… Why do you remember it? You've never seen this thing before… you think?

    Your jumbled thoughts are interrupted as one of your grown-up sisters approaches you. She's helping another one of your sisters to walk, as she looks absolutely laid out. Oh, that's Lutetia, isn't it? Who's carrying her?

    "You must be the little one I've heard so much about." Your new sister greets you cheerfully, "I'm Adrastea. You can call me Stea, though. Do you want to come with us? We're hoping a parfait helps Lutetia feel better."

    "World still spinning…" Lutetia groans, "I'm gonna be sick…"

    A post-battle parfait? That sounds excellent!


    [] "Yay! Parfaits! Lead the way, Stea!"

    [] "I'd love to, but I need to find Big Sis. Do you know where she went, Lutetia?"

    [] They're talking down to you, clearly. You must T-Pose to assert dominance.


    Note: And that's the end of "Cry of the Phoenix". Did that seriously take me over a year to write? Damn. I'll try not to have such long pauses between updates in the future.
    The next few missions are little breather missions, and the main "campaign" missions won't become more urgent during them.
    We all need a little break from high-stakes shenanigans, don't you agree?
    Also, I have a Quest headset and I'm playing/watching the Silver Phantom VR "Movie".
    Lots of content and lore I'd like to incorporate. Lots indeed...
     
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    • Chapter 56: Dancing Marionettes
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    • [X] "Yay! Parfaits! Lead the way, Stea!"

    You probably should go find Big Sis and talk to her about the battle.

    Probably.

    But… Parfaits.

    … No. This isn't complicated.
    The choice is easy. It's simple.
    There's only one clear option.
    The only right option.
    The one you know in your heart is the correct one.

    "Yay! Parfaits!" You cheer, hopping up and down, "Lead the way, Stea!"

    Big Sis can wait. She's probably relaxing on a comfy couch right now anyways.




    The metal chair is a little hard under your butt. You swear, this part of the ship is in the centrifuge on purpose. The designers wanted the person sitting here to feel the weight of gravity, artificial though it may be!

    You do your level best to glare at the four men opposite of the table, the only furniture (aside from the chairs) in this almost-cliché interrogation room.

    "So, Ensign," Bright finally breaks the silence, frowning, "When were you going to tell us about Haman Karn?"

    "Eh… Eventually." You wave dismissively.

    "Eventually?!" Kamille narrows his eyes at you, "The former leader of Axis Zeon was talking to you through your Gundam's Psycommu and you were going to tell us 'eventually'?!"

    "What's the big deal?" You scoff, trying not to flinch, "She's dead, and it's not like I'm being mind-controlled or something."

    "Haman Karn was a war criminal." Judau retorts firmly, "She's one of the few people to execute a Colony Drop on Earth. Millions of innocents died in the war she waged. Yet you think that her talking to you specifically is not a big deal? That it wasn't something you should tell Bright about?"

    "Yeah, it's not an issue. She's just giving me pointers and stuff. Mentor shit."

    "Pointers… Mentoring…" Amuro massages his temples in frustration, "Ensign, surely you must know how this looks. You have been working with one of the most infamous Zeon leaders for who-knows how long, without telling your superiors. Hell, you didn't even tell your own teammates! How is Bright supposed to take that? How am I supposed to?"

    Okay, you flinch a little at that. You didn't want to let Amuro down.

    "Haman Karn was fighting the Federation too though, right?" You argue, a little weakly, "Doesn't that kind of make her an ally now? We aren't exactly loyal Feds ourselves anyways."

    "She did help us, and we're grateful for that," Amuro concedes, "but Ensign, this is a matter of trust. You're in the military now, you can't act like a reckless kid. We need to know that we can trust you to do what's right."

    Okay, for the first time in your life, you're glad that Eris forced you to sit through her lectures about the history of Bright Noa and the Aces he mentored, even if you can never remember the third boy's name right.

    "Reckless kid? You three are the last people who should be telling me to sit down and be a good little child soldier!" You jab your finger at Bright, "Besides, results are all you care about Commander, isn't that right? Well, we did our jobs. I've led my team just fine so far, we accomplished all of our mission objectives, and so far no one has died under my watch!"

    Bright stares you in the eye for a long, silent second before replying.

    "Lorelei Vogel might."

    It's like your guts have suddenly tied themselves into a knot.

    "...Say what?"

    "Lorelei Vogel. Your teammate Mort had to rescue her after her machine was destroyed." He explains, "She has suffered serious injuries. Bone fractures, internal bleeding, lots of blunt force trauma… she's in surgery right now, not to mention comatose."

    … Oh.

    "I uh, I didn't know that." You lower your hand, "Fuck, I… can I see her?"

    "In a bit, Ensign." Bright nods, "We need to address your conduct first."

    Ah, right. The thing you were here for.

    "Cybele, we're not here to slap you and tell you to get it together or anything like that." Amuro continues while glancing at Bright, "We're here because we see a bit of our younger selves in you, and we're trying to tell you that you're making the same mistakes that we did."

    "There's nothing inherently wrong with working with Haman Karn." Bright says, which earns him a look from his three protegees, "We're on the same side, nominally. She was a powerful Newtype, a brilliant strategist, and a masterful politician. The main issue here is you not telling anyone. What if she has an ulterior motive? Just because we share a common enemy doesn't mean that all of our goals align, and you need an outside perspective to help you see when she's trying to manipulate you."

    "Manipulate me? She's been nothing but helpful!" You protest, even as you try to forget how Haman kept urging you to kill Rita, "And besides, she can't force me to do anything. I'm in control."

    "The Dead shouldn't influence the outcome of history." Judau says, "Most of the deceased seem to follow this rule, but some don't. A few are obvious, but many use an intermediary. You're an intermediary, Cybele."

    They're calling you a tool? Haman's tool? After everything you've done for Londo Bell?!

    "If you don't trust me, then why not just send me on my way?" You lean forward, glaring at Bright, "You don't need me. I don't need you. Or are you planning on locking me up?"

    "Neither of those options." Bright answers, looking rather exasperated as he shoots quick looks at the other three pilots to get them to shut up, "Cybele, you're a promising pilot, and I don't believe you're a bad person. You're young, and older people like to take advantage of the young… god knows I did."

    He has the grace to look rather ashamed at that, but continues, "We just don't want you to be used. Do you really know Haman's motivations? Do you know what she wants out of you? Your relationship with Londo Bell is, ultimately, transactional, but you know what we need from you, and we know what you need from us. Can you say the same of Haman's 'mentorship'?"

    You open your mouth to shout him down, but pause.
    Um, no, actually, you don't. You don't know what Haman wants, besides from what she's said.

    You only know about her from history books and documentaries. You haven't spoken to anyone who was close to her. You have no way of figuring out what she's planning. She's a freaking ghost, it isn't like you can go digging about in her personal diary or anything like that.

    "… She's said she wants me to be her, um, heiress. To follow in her footsteps." You finally admit, slumping a bit, the weight of it all pressing down on your shoulders, "I don't know exactly what she means by that. However, she's offering me power. She's offering me guidance. She's offering me what I need to keep my friends safe."

    Quietly, you add, "They're all I have left."

    They're silent as they take in what you said. Some unspoken words are shared through brief looks, before Bright speaks again.

    "Very well. Ensign Cybele Naese, this will go on your record as an informal warning, but no further action will be taken. In the future, please be mindful of who you're talking to, and keep Captain Nouri apprised of future developments. I trust you'll keep us updated as well on any further communications with Haman Karn, as well as any directions she gives you. Is that understood?"

    "Yes…. Understood, Commander Bright." You nod, wrinkling your lower lip in confusion, "Wait, is that it? You're just trusting me to tell you what I talk about with her?"

    "Yes, I am." Bright answers simply, "I'm extending some trust here, even when I have no reason to, and you seem to understand that. In return, I'm asking for some trust from you. I want you to trust that we are only trying to help you, Cybele. We're asking a lot from someone your age, we know, but we're not the enemy here. Trust us, please."

    You mull over that for a minute. Trust Londo Bell? You are fighting for them, you guess, and you kind of are starting to consider yourself as a part of this organization, but how can you trust leadership that you can't hold accountable? At the end of the day, Londo Bell is acting as a military dictatorship. They have no real government structure. It's only a matter of time before this goes bad.

    But still…

    "…I guess. I will, for now." You sigh, "But I'm only going to talk to Amuro about Haman."

    Looking at Kamille and Judau, you add, "You two have too much personal history with her."

    "That's fair," Bright nods, "Alright, we're done here for now. You're free to go, Ensign. You can find your teammate in the infirmary."

    "Thanks." You stand, giving them a wide berth as you move around the table and towards the door, "Oh, Commander?"

    "Hm?" He turns to look at you.

    "Why did that soldier shove a gun in my face? Did someone order him to do that?"

    Bright looks distinctly displeased at that, "I'm not sure, I'll have to ask. I only ordered you brought here, I didn't specify the use of force."

    Okay, that pisses you off. Someone down the chain decided to append that… Urgh.

    "…Alright." You close the door and head towards the infirmary. As you grab one of the conveyor handles, though, you notice something. One of the ECOAS guards nearby is tossing a crumpled-up wrapper in a garbage receptacle. The logo on that wrapper…

    "I knew it." You mutter as you let the handle carry you away briskly. MacDaniels. Surely, they must have caught onto your investigation, and they hoped to provoke a confrontation! They hoped you would resist and get shot! Well, you're onto them! You'll blow the lid on this whole conspiracy wide open one day! You just need evidence…







    "Haman Karn wants to train Cybele to be her successor." Kamille mused aloud after the aforementioned pilot left the room, "What do you think that means?"

    "It probably means that she sees potential in Ensign Naese." Bright replied, "I feel the same way."

    "Yes, but potential for what exactly?" Kamille follows up, "Haman wasn't just an Ace, she was a leader. Somehow I doubt she just wants to make Cybele a good pilot. She might be grooming her to be a leader… but a leader of what?"

    Exactly. Leader of what? That unsettled all of them.

    "Axis Zeon no longer exists," Judau thought out loud, "and the Republic of Zeon already has a leader. The Sleeves are basically defunct too. What could Haman want Cybele to lead?"

    "...Do you think Haman wants Cybele to create her own nation?" Amuro ventured, "Now that I'm saying it though, that feels unlikely."

    "She isn't the kind to throw a coup either." Bright added.

    "I don't know about that. She did help an angry mob break into one of our warehouses."

    Judau, Bright, and Kamille turned to stare incredulously at Amuro.

    "When did that happen?" Bright asked, utterly confused. He would have heard if something like that happened!

    "...Oh, right. Sorry." Amuro shook his head, "That was just a vivid nightmare I had. It's been a long day."

    "I would hope so." Judau muttered, "I know I got away with a lot of things back in my day, but damn that would be outright mutiny."

    Bright very much hoped that Cybele didn't turn against them. While he was sure that wouldn't happen, and he had confidence in the rest of his forces, the cost to put down a rebellious Cascadia Team would be high.

    "Make sure she keeps you informed on what Haman is teaching and telling her, Amuro. We'll figure out what she's planning as we learn more." He instructed, "I need to go and contact Luio and Co. Let them know we have Michele Luio. I'm sure they'll be glad to have her back."







    The infirmary is pretty packed. That's kind of expected, really. That battle was brutal. Still, to fill a room with the capacity to rival most mess halls…

    Nurses are running around with bandages, syringes, and other medical tools as they frantically try to stabilize the wounded, many of which look like they lost a fight with a bonfire.

    You're pretty sure not all of them have all their limbs.

    "Is there a reason you're here, Ensign?" The ship doctor asks, his facemask, gloves, and scrubs spattered with blood, "You're in the way."

    Ah. You didn't mean to.

    "Sorry, I'm looking for my teammate. Lorelei Vogel?"

    "Oh. The pilot girl." He gestures to the back of the room, "She got out of surgery a few minutes ago. You can see her, but don't hinder our work."

    You nod and move towards the curtained-off area he pointed to, giving the nurses a wide berth so as not to block their way.

    Pushing aside the curtains, you step through and immediately are met with a gut-wrenching sight.

    Lorelei, whom you last saw whole and upbeat, is now laid out on a hospital bed, with bandages all over her body, many of which are partially soaked in blood. A facemask is feeding her oxygen, and her face is all bruised up. Mort is sitting next to her, looking pensive.

    "You came." He looks up for a second, "I found Lorelei adrift. That Luke kid overpowered her and destroyed her machine. She almost didn't make it."

    "…I see." You mutter, taking in that information. Luke almost beat her? You weren't sure that Lorelei could be beaten, to be honest. She was a powerful Newtype and an uncanny pilot. Does that mean Luke was a bigger threat than you thought? Or maybe you overestimated her?

    "My Methuss is out of action for a while." Mort continued, "Theo said that he doesn't have any replacement parts for his unit. There's no sign of Eris yet…"

    You sigh, "That's most of the team down for the count. I just hope the Feds hurt as much as we do right now… is she going to make it?"

    He doesn't answer for a few seconds.

    "The doctor said she's in critical condition. Could go either way, really, but for now she just needs rest."

    Lorelei could die. Your new friend, and Sicilia's new adoptive big sister…

    All of this for the Phenex.

    "A steep cost." Haman quietly speaks, her voice sounding like it's just behind you, "Was it worth it, Cybele?"

    You… don't know. You don't know if it was.

    The two of you stand in silence, listening to the commotion beyond the curtains.

    Almost a minute later, you hear quiet voices from the next bed over, which is also partitioned off with curtains.
    You probably shouldn't snoop, but…

    You push the plastic sheets aside before anyone can stop you, and you're met with the sight of Rita Bernal on another hospital bed, sitting up with her head in her hands. A hospital gown is her only article of clothing, and there's an IV running into her arm.
    Sitting next to her is Michele Luio, looking a little worse for wear. She's in a gown like Rita, and you can see some bruises on her arms and legs.

    "Oh… You're Cybele Naese, right?" Michele spoke, giving you a grateful smile, "The Black Death? I heard what you did for Hong Kong. I dread to think what would have happened if you and your team weren't there."

    Ah. Praise. You blush a bit at that.

    "It was nothing." You play it down sheepishly, "Just doing my duty. I had the power to help, so I had the obligation. Anyways… How are you two doing?"

    Michele looks at Rita sadly, and you can finally hear the Cyber Newtype talking.

    "What… What have I… What have I done?" She mumbles repeatedly, "Have… Have I… What have…"

    "How much do you know about Cyber Newtypes?" Michele asks quietly, and you pull up a chair as Mort respectfully closes the curtain behind you, leaving the three of you alone.

    "Not much," you admit, "They're Newtypes or Oldtypes who are augmented to have Newtype abilities, or enhanced abilities, right?"

    "In layman's terms, yes." She nods, "If we were to be specific, though, they're not augmented to become a stronger Newtype. They're augmented to be more like Amuro Ray."

    "…Come again?" You ask. That sounds oddly specific.

    "Zeon Cyber Newtypes are a bit different, but Federation ones are all based off of the same template." Michele continues her explanation, "After the One Year War, the Federation studied Amuro Ray. They knew what he could do, and how he was different from other people, but…"

    She scowls slightly, "They didn't know how his differences let him do the things he did. They just knew that if you had a body and brain like Amuro Ray, you could do the things he did."

    That tracks. You're still not getting something though. You motion for her to go on.

    "Children like Rita were gathered and studied, trying to find out what exactly made Newtypes tick. But they still couldn't develop them to Amuro's level. They didn't know why. So rather than wait for development and growth to happen naturally, or isolate the specific genes that made a Newtype a Newtype, they just… brute-force the issue."

    "Wait, how do you 'brute force' someone to become like Amuro Ray?" You ask, still very confused.

    "You cut them." Rita replies, surprising the both of you, "You cut them out of themselves, piece by piece. You tear their Wings from them and stitch on copies fashioned in His image. You replace their insides until they're more Amuro than themselves."

    …
    Oh.
    You feel sick.

    "The Titans… well, the Federation, they 'enhanced' Rita." Michele makes a noise, something between a scoff and a gag, "So, much like most Cyber Newtypes, she has to take a whole cocktail of drugs just so her body doesn't tear itself apart trying to reject the artificial organs and cybernetic implants. She can't remember who she even is without those drugs, her brain can't recognize whole parts of herself."

    Wait, Michele mentioned brains, and they're talking about replacing organs with-

    "No. There's no way." You stare in horror at Michele. No wonder Rita and Jona were complete nutters. The former has been off of her meds for years, and Jona wasn't even entirely himself anymore.

    "I… I thought it would be all worth it." Rita says, "I knew that without my meds, what was left of my mind would begin to go. When the end came for me, when my body shut down, I wouldn't even remember who I was. But… I thought it'd be worth it."

    She lowers her hands and grips the blankets, "I thought that it'd be worth it if I at least died free. But the Phenex kept me alive, and eventually…"

    Rita looks to you, and you see tears streaming down her face.

    "All those lives… It wasn't worth it. Not for me."

    No talk about birds. Only one mention of wings. Rita is the most lucid you've seen her yet, for as little a time as you've known her.

    Must be the meds doing their job.

    You almost want to feel sad for her.

    Almost.

    But then you remember what it cost the Federation, Zeon, and Londo Bell.

    You remember what it cost you.

    "…You're right." You reply, a little coldly, "You weren't worth it."

    Michele looks absolutely scandalized by your words, but Rita just looks down out of shame.

    "Not even counting the pilots you killed, an entire colony was slaughtered at your hands, Rita." You continue, a fury rising in you, "One of my friends nearly died. Sicilia lost one of her sisters. All that pain and suffering, all for you. You're right, Rita. You aren't worth it."

    She chokes back a sob, and Michele starts to yell something at you, but you stand so suddenly that they both freeze.

    "You're not worth it yet." You say with fists clenched as you stare into her eyes, "What are you going to do now, Rita? Now that all these people have died for you, what are you going to do to make that sacrifice worth it?"

    You can almost hear Haman's voice saying this with you as you feel just how right it is to speak.

    "Can you still fly, Rita Bernal?" You address her with a burning passion and determination, "To make things right, to make those lives lost mean something, will you fight to ensure that no one like you is ever mutilated, violated again? Do you still possess the strength to spread your wings, or have they been broken?"

    "That's enough!" Michele interrupts, grabbing your arm furiously, "Rita has suffered enough! She's coming back with me to Hong Kong, where she can recover in peace and-!"

    "No."

    Rita cuts off her childhood friend.

    "I can still fly." She speaks with resolution, with a fire in her eyes that's equal parts indignation and shame, "My wings are not yet clipped."

    "Good." You smile. All according to plan… you think. You have no idea where this plan came from.

    "Rita, you don't have to." Michele pleads with her friend, "You have no duty, no obligation to! No one deserves a rest more than you do!"

    Rita just gives the Luio heiress a sad, reassuring smile.

    "Cybele is right, Michele. I have to make it all mean something. I can't live with myself otherwise." She looks back to you and nods, "I'll fly for you, Ensign Naese, if you'll have me."

    Michele clutches her hand to her chest, her eyes helplessly pleading with Rita.

    You extend your hand, and the Phenex's former pilot takes it.

    "Welcome to Cascadia Team, Rita Bernal." You feel Haman's proud gaze upon you.

    Michele glares angrily at you, "Bright will hear about this, Ensign."

    "I'm sure he will." You say plainly, careful not to appear condescending and insult Rita's friend, "But I think Bright will agree with me that Rita has had enough of people making choices for her. This is, after all, her decision."

    You turn and leave, walking through the curtains and past Lorelei's bed. You feel Mort's bewildered stare as you pass him.

    "Well done, Cybele." Haman whispers in your ear, "We'll make a leader out of you yet."

    Her praise feels so right.

    "I don't know if I'm a leader," you say under your breath, to both yourself and her, "but if I have the power to do so, then I must."

    "La noblesse oblige."




    Parfaits are sweet and good.
    Some may say that you went overboard, but they are all filthy liars who are just jealous of your amazing super-duper parfait.
    Strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and raspberry frozen yogurt in a tall glass cup, layered between blueberries, seedless cherries, and granola, all come together to make the perfect dessert.

    You're in heaven!

    "What do you think?" You look to your sisters around the table, holding up your marvelous creation.

    "Looks delicious." Stea comments, "But can you compete with this?"

    Hers is smaller, but she managed to layer mango syrup in between some of the layers of yogurt! No fair, that looks good!

    Lutetia has her own relatively simple parfait, with vanilla yogurt, granola, and some strawberry syrup. However, she has it set aside and is nursing a mug of warm milk. She said she was a bit too nauseous to dig in immediately.

    Blasphemy.

    Still, you suppose it would be bad if she threw up her parfait, so you'll allow it.

    Nearby, you see Camilla walking past with Artesia. The former has a nice little banana split, while the latter has… a whole tray of food.

    That is a lot of food.

    "Ah, there you are!" Stea beckons her sister over, "Sit with us! You too, Lady Artesia!"

    The blonde seems a bit embarrassed as she sits down and you eye the biblical portion on her tray.

    "…I haven't eaten in almost a day, alright?" She mumbles indignantly.

    Whatever. When you're hungry, you're hungry. You move to dig in, when suddenly a bolt of intuition hits you. Big Sis is incoming! She'll be here soon! You hardly notice that Peche lady and another one of your sisters sit down too, you have to prepare for Big Sis!

    But what should you get her?


    [] A matching parfait. Best Parfait for Best Big Sis.

    [] An assortment of sweets. Big Sis has varied taste.

    [] Big Sis is probably hungry. Acquire sustenance of sufficient quantity.

    [] Oh, MacDaniels sent Londo Bell some provisions! Get her a "Sizable Mac".

    [] A heaping bowl of natto. For reasons.
     
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    • Chapter 57: Spare Tires
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    • [X] Get big sis her favorite food!

    Big Sis is always talking about MacDaniels this, MacDaniels that, and she has that big corkboard thing of ads and string.

    Honestly, you kind of tune her out once she starts talking about it, but clearly this means her favorite food in the whole world is MacDaniels!

    You are so smart! Smartest of your sisters.

    After extracting solemn vows from your sisters to not touch your precious parfait while you're gone, you hop off the chair and run towards the counter, where the chef has just finished serving a tired-looking Zeon pilot.

    "One Mac of Appreciable Size, please." You request of the man, who pauses as he looks down at you.

    "You mean… a Big Mick?" He asks hesitantly. You nod.

    "The kitchen is open, you know." He says, "You don't need to have the instant stuff. I can whip up a fresh burger for you."

    You shake your head, "Big Mick."

    The chef mutters something about kids as he opens a sealed package and pops the desiccated foodstuffs into a machine that begins to hum. You rock back and forth on your heels impatiently as the burger slowly returns to an edible state.

    The machine makes a dinging noise, and the chef pulls out the steaming rehydrated burger, putting it into a branded box before handing it to you.

    "You want a toy with that, kid?"

    You indignantly point at the rank insignia on your flight suit. He sighs.

    "Do you want a toy with that, Ensign?"

    After you nod, he hands you a little toy Haro wrapped in opaque plastic. You don't know what kind it is, but finding out is half the fun!

    "Honestly, the things Londo Bell does for a sponsor…" he grumbles to himself as you skip away, happy as can be. Toy! Toy and burger for big sis!

    Rejoining your sisters, you take a moment to stare at that Artesia lady as she practically inhales her food. She must have been hungry!

    You set the burger aside from Big Sis and finally dig into your parfait!

    So sweet!

    So delicious!

    You let out a happy sigh as the frozen yogurt melts in your mouth, a mixture of strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and raspberry. Practically a dessert medley before you even start on the fruit and granola!

    The obliteration of your dessert is paused as you notice most of your sisters look up and wave, shouting various greetings at someone. You look to see who it is.

    Huh. Isn't that the Judy guy?

    "Is that Juaggu Amygdala?" You ask your sisters. They all give you blank stares.







    As you ride the lift-rail down the corridor, you mull over the recent battle.

    A lot of pilots didn't make it. Way too many of them were allies. Plus, the state of the Ra Cailum… they must have been hammered. It's a miracle there are still any pressurized compartments.

    Speaking of which…

    You come to a halt in front of a sealed bulkhead. The area ahead is breached, so you'll need to go around.

    As you take your detour, you notice someone else coming from the other direction.

    "Theo!" You wave at your friend as get closer, halting using the handle's brakes, "I haven't seen you since we landed! I heard your suit is pretty banged up."

    "Huh? Oh." He starts, almost like he didn't notice you until you spoke, "Yeah… it is kind of wrecked."

    "How bad?" You ask, but you can already tell from his expression that the prognosis isn't good.

    "It's a write-off." He stops himself from banging the wall with his fist, instead gritting his teeth and pushing his closed hand against the bulkhead, "My first Mobile Suit, a high performance one for Newtypes at that, and I wreck it… I guess that's just par for the course though, huh?"

    "What do you mean by that?" You ask, a little worried by how he's talking, "You did pretty well. Not your fault that stupid Fed Newtype team targeted us."

    "It's not that. It's just…" he trails off, shaking his head, "Nevermind. It's nothing."

    As he moves to leave, you grab his arm.

    "It's not nothing, Theo. What's bothering you, man? You know you can talk to me about it."

    Theo stares at you wearily for a silent few seconds, before answering.

    "I'm a burden, aren't I?"

    Huh?

    "Where is this coming from?" You ask, "You're not a burden, what makes you think that?"

    "I know I'm not the best pilot," he continues, looking away, "You and Eris are better than I am, but at least I rounded us out into a team. I was fine in a supporting role, but then… then we got bigger. Sicilia, Mort, and Lorelei, all of them are better pilots than I am."

    "Is there even a place for me in Cascadia Team anymore?"

    …

    You kind of want to slap him.

    "Theo…"

    "Does this boy think you a fool?" Haman sounds almost indignant in your head, "If he were a burden to your team, he would not be on your team!"

    Your thoughts exactly, but that might be a bit too blunt.

    "Do you think I just keep you around for support in combat?" You ask in confusion.

    "It's because I'm your friend, isn't it?" He sighs, "But Cybele, that's hardly a reason to keep me on the team. I should go."

    Okay, he's being dumb.

    "Theo, you're my friend, yeah, but you're not a pity hire or some shit like that." You groan, steepling your fingers in front of you, "You're a good pilot. Stop comparing yourself to the others, everyone on the Cascadia Team deserves to be there."

    "I'm just average, Cybele. Half of my contribution was my Mobile Suit. Now that it's wrecked, what use do you have for a grunt?"

    You lean a little closer, "Theo, you're not a grunt, and I'll be glad to have you fighting alongside me, even if you have to do it in a Jegan. Is that clear?"

    He doesn't meet your gaze and just looks down.

    "Understood, Cybele…"

    Looks like you aren't getting through to him, but you guess you should expect him to work through his issues in a day.

    "Come on, I'm heading to the Mess Hall. We should grab a bite before Bright hauls us in for a debrief or something like that."

    He follows with a half-hearted nod. You're going to have to find a way to lift his spirits…







    "Am I… interrupting anything?"

    You stare in complete bewilderment at the scene before you. Sicilia's older sisters, all four of them, are in the middle of separate speeches while gesturing wildly at an uncomfortable-looking Judau Ashta.

    "Ensign, help." Judau gives you a tired look.

    "Let him suffer." Haman says, "I enjoy seeing that look on his face. His handsome, charming face…"

    If Haman had a physical presence you could look at, you'd be blankly staring at her.

    "Lady," you think at her, "You got problems."

    "Yeah!" Sicilia pipes up, looking at you but not at you, "Judicial Amperage isn't that good looking!"

    Was… was she speaking to Haman? Can Sicilia hear Haman?!

    Before you can address that, Sicilia's absolute butchery of Judau's name spurs her sisters to immediately start talking, and from what you hear it's a mixture of insisting that Judau is definitely handsome, and chastisement for getting his name wrong for what is certainly not the first time.

    Thankfully, Lady Artesia beckons you and Theo to join her off to the side, away from that mayhem.

    "I see you and your friend made it, Cybele." She greets you as you sit opposite of her, "I'm glad. Children shouldn't have to pay the price for the mistakes of adults."

    While she says this and looks at you, you can tell, she's not seeing you in this moment.

    "Thinking of something?" You ask.

    "Yes." She nods, refocusing on the here and now, "Just the past. Anyways, both the Scarecrow and Blue Hound have been shot down, with at least one confirmed dead. You're racking up the accolades, aren't you, Miss Black Death?"

    You blush a little at that. A distinguished war hero, Sayla Mass, complimenting you? It's very flattering.

    "Thanks, but I barely did anything to Luke this time around. He was already basically crippled when I shot him down." You sheepishly admit, "Plus, I only destroyed Jona's machine. Technically, he died to friendly fire."

    "Achievements nonetheless." Sayla reaffirms, "You should be proud. Taking down an Ace is no small feat."

    Sicilia taps you on the shoulder, having briefly escaped the collective lecture from her sisters.

    "For you." She pushes a Big Mick your way, before getting pulled back into a rant by Adrastea about the wonders of Big Brother Extraordinaire, Judau Ashta.

    …

    MacDaniels, it's inescapable.

    You sigh and tuck in. This isn't poisoned. Probably.

    The nearby lecture attracts your attention as you take another bite. It's easy to see how these women are, in a sense, Sicilia's sisters, or rather her twins.

    They've all got that animated energy, to varying degrees. The most subdued member of their group would have to be that Camilla woman. She doesn't raise her voice and acts much more mature than most of her sisters.

    It is kinda funny how uncomfortable Judau is, being the center of attention. Ha. He can suffer. That interrogation was very stressful.

    You're about through with the burger when Theo gets back from the counter with a simple ham sandwich and potato soup.

    "Hey, Cybele, sorry about your loss."

    … Huh?

    "My what now?" You ask, "Who died?"

    "Not someone, something." He continues, "Your Mobile Armor. It exploded, right?"

    "Ah. Yes. That." You shrug, "It sucks, but it's fine. Rhea can fix-"

    Your burger falls from your limp fingers.

    Rhea.

    Oh no.

    You fucked up.

    "I have to hide." You start to stand up, only to feel a hand clamp down on your shoulders.

    "Cybeeeeeele~" the sickly-sweet voice of your Anaheim mechanic whispers into your ear, "What did you do to the Fiveeeeeer II~?"

    Ah. This is how you die.







    "Sicilia! Help!"

    Did you hear something? Must be the wind. You wanna see what you got! The wrapping crinkles in your hands.

    "Rhea! Put down the chair! Rhea!"

    The plastic packaging pops open and you hurriedly pull out your prize. What could it be?

    "Theo, protect me!"

    Ooh! It's a little golden Haro with sunglasses! A rare Quattro Bajeena/Hyaku Shiki Haro toy!

    THWACK

    "Oh shit, Theo!"

    You hold the toy up to the light. Ah, that's genuine MacDaniels plastic! You scored!

    "Stay back, she-devil! Back!"

    You hold the toy up to your sister Adrastea and bob it up and down, "I came here to laugh at you."

    She looks at you, then your toy, and pulls out her own red Sazabi Haro, saying in a forced baritone, "Lalah could have been like a mother to me!"

    "In the name of the White Meteor I command you to-!"

    THWACK

    You two smile at each other. Perfect.







    One session of desperate groveling later, you secure an ice pack from the kitchen and go to greet Eris as the SAR teams bring her back.

    She looks like shit as the hatch pops open on her escape pod. Has she been crying?

    The two of you stare at each other until she says, "What happened to you?"

    "Rhea hit me in the face with a chair. You?"

    "My one-of-a-kind, unique, historical artifact Mobile Suit was just completely destroyed. So, yeah, day isn't going well."

    She glances at your shared friend, "What happened to Theo?"

    "I got between Rhea and Cybele." He offers as he holds an ice pack to his upper left arm, "My Mobile Suit is also a write-off, so yeah, welcome to the club."

    "What about Sicilia?" She asks, looking at the short Cyber Newtype.

    "Spotless. Not a scratch." You inform her as Sicilia lifts up that little golden Haro toy she got.

    "I've never betrayed anyone in my entire life!" She says in a gruff voice. Is she trying to quote Char? When did he say that?

    "Quattro Bajeena. Nice." Eris nods in appreciation. Of course she knows that quote…







    Bright was kind enough to let the entire team have a good night's rest before gathering you up. You thought that Alex Team would be here too, but only Christina is.

    "Heya," you wave to her as you all file in to sit, "Where's the rest of your guys?"

    She glances at you, replying tersely, "Infirmary."

    Oh.

    "Is it bad?" You ask, and she just sighs.

    "They'll make it, but it'll be a bit before they get cleared for flight status again." Christina gives you a sympathetic look, "I heard about Lorelei. She's a good kid. It's awful that happened to her…"

    You can only nod at that. Out of everyone on the team, you didn't expect that Lorelei would be the one to get shot down and injured so previously.

    "Alright, you're all here." Bright addresses the group, with Rhea standing off to the side and Captain Nouri on a video call behind him, "Now, before we begin-"

    The door slides open, and he pauses. Michele Luio wheels Rita into the room in a wheelchair, much to everyone's surprise, except for you.

    "Michele Luio… Rita Bernal." Bright regained his composure quickly, "What can I do for you two?"

    Rita looks at him, "You called a meeting of Cascadia Team, right? So, I'm here."

    At his puzzled look, Michele dryly said, "Didn't you hear, Commander? Cybele Naese extended a gracious invitation to my friend to join her team, and she accepted."

    Bright gives you a critical look, and you just return a hardened stare.

    "I'm in charge of my team's roster," You point out, "and Rita Bernal is a free woman. Are you going to say that she can't join?"

    Captain Nouri groans onscreen, rubbing her forehead, "Ensign, that would involve bringing Rita into Londo Bell. You don't have the authority to make that decision."

    "So, you don't want me in your organization?" Rita asks, to which Captain Nouri starts to reply before Bright cuts her off.

    "No, you're welcome with Londo Bell, Rita Bernal. Your rank can even carry over. It's just… nevermind. Welcome."

    Bright shoots you another critical look before taking a moment to calm himself.

    "Anyways, before we begin, I'd like to commend Cascadia Team on their performance this last battle. Despite the casualties you sustained, you soundly defeated the enemy and completed the objective." He looks towards Rita, "We lost the Phenex, but at least nobody gets it. Rita Bernal was also rescued."

    "For which you have my gratitude, Commander Bright." Michele does a little bow, "Luio and Co. will properly compensate you for your efforts, and you can expect our support in the future."

    "It was our pleasure." Bright nods, "Now, Christina Mackenzie, your team conducted themselves well out in the field, but… frankly, you've suffered severe casualties. Most of your team is grounded due to injury, and every one of your machines is a loss."

    She sighs tiredly, "Yes, sir. It'll be a while before we're back up to strength."

    "Which is why I'm reassigning you." He says, much to her shock.

    "What do you mean, Commander? We're only injured, once we're recovered, we can-!"

    "Just to another ship, Lieutenant. We've got another refit Pegasus coming off the yards and I need a good team for it once it's ready to go. Besides, Cascadia Team seems to be growing. I think they'll need the whole Bellerophon before long."

    Christina relaxed once it was clear that Bright wasn't benching her, but still…

    "Now, this next matter is important and involves Cascadia Team." He said gravely, "Simply put, more than half of you lost your Mobile Suits, and you don't have replacements."

    Oh.

    Theo and Eris pale at that.

    "High-Performance Mobile Suits, especially for Newtype-use, don't grow on trees." He continued, "Eris's machine was lost entirely, and Theo's has no parts commonality with any of our other MS. As of now, the only pilots on this team who can sortie are Cybele Naese and Mort Mallory. One Gundam and a Methuss."

    He shook his head, "To be fair, I've commanded teams with less, but I won't leave half your team benched. I don't have spare Newtype-use units for you, but I do have some in mind."

    "Ensign Kallis, Ensign Gataki, both of you will be assigned Jegan High-Mobility types. I know they aren't at the level you're used to, but it's all we can spare."

    Looking at Rita, he added, "We also have a Stark Jegan I can allocate to you. I'm sorry, but it doesn't have Psycommu or a Biosensor."

    She nods, "I'll make it work."

    Just as he's about to move on, Rhea raises her hand and walks in front of the screen.

    "Just one second, Commander!"

    Bright looks like he's about to shut her down, but a stern look from her and he backs down. That's the power of Anaheim, you guess.

    "Now, Cybele, I know what you're thinking. 'Jegans? Oh no, my friends are going to die!' Am I right? Well, don't worry!" She smiles, "Anaheim can set you up with a set of brand-new ReZELs! We'll even custom-fit them with Biosensors so you can use your fancy Newtype powers with them!"

    "That's… generous." You reply with suspicion, "Too generous. What do you want, Rhea?"

    "Oh, just a little thing." She smirks, "See, you've been super reckless with all the equipment I've given you for the TR-6, and I can see that I need to reverse-engineer it ASAP. So, I've come up with a solution that we can all benefit from."

    Rhea points at you, "Give me your Woundwort for two months. At the end of those two months, I'll have all the data I need to reproduce the whole machine! I'll even see about making replacement machines for your friends, if they still want them! You'll just have to live with that ReZEL for two months."

    You see. So, you'd get a temporary downgrade for two months and an overall upgrade for your whole team, with the promise of more equipment at the end of it.

    "I'd be getting a Commander-type though, right?" You ask.

    "Obviously." She nods, "Standard ReZEL units for the rest of you, but we'll give you the parts to outfit them to Defenser units if you need to. Nothing will change for Ensign Mort, of course, his Methuss is still repairable."

    It is a good offer… It's a bit more risky on your part, but…

    "Got any equivalent MS sporting Funnels?"

    "No… but we do have a modified Jegan with Fin Funnels. I suppose you could have that instead of all those ReZELs, but then only one person on your team gets an upgrade."

    True, but… Funnels…


    [] Accept Rhea's original deal. It's ReZEL time.

    [] You want Funnels. Get a Jegan with Funnels.

    [] You aren't giving up the Woundwort. Your friends will have to deal with Jegans for now.
     
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    • Chapter 58: The Itinerary
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    • [X] Accept Rhea's original deal. It's ReZEL time.
    The Funnels are tempting. Very tempting…

    But no. You need to think of your team, and having them fly in goddamn Jegans is not an option for you.

    "We'll take the ReZELs." You nod, accepting her first proposal, "It'll hurt going without the Woundwort for a while, but I'll deal with it for now."

    "Good." Rhea smiled thinly, "At the rate you were going through equipment, I was worried I'd have to force the issue."

    You grimace a bit at that. Ouch. You didn't think you were that reckless with the Option Parts, were you?
    ….
    Actually you wrecked quite a few pieces and never thought to check if that was sustainable.

    Actually…

    "Commander Bright, why were you offering Jegans to my team anyways?" You ask, a little pissed, "I know Londo Bell is short on suits, but we have to have something better in stock than Jegans. Plus we're all Newtypes-except Mort no offense-so we're wasted on anything that isn't Psycommu-equipped at least."

    He returns your question with an irritated glare.

    "Ensign, I'm sure you'd realize this if you stopped to think about it," he says, "but the Jegan variants set aside for your team are some of the best machines Londo Bell can muster. You are not the only Newtypes amongst our forces, far from it. Most of our Psycommu-equipped machines are already allocated to Newtype pilots, and those units date back to the Gryps War. Frankly, the only machines that I could pull out of storage were a couple of old Jeddahs."

    He frowns, "However, one of the teams attached to the Ra Chutter offered a couple of their suits to your team. I'm sure they'll be glad to know their offer won't be needed."

    Ah…. Okay. You feel kinda bad now.

    "Ah, what does it matter anymore?" Rhea cheers, "ReZELs for them, Woundwort for me! Woundwort, Woundwort~!"

    She happily skips out of the room, leaving awkward silence.

    Actually, if the MS situation is so dire…

    "Commander, how is Londo Bell's stock of machines faring?" You ask, "We lost a lot of people and MS in that last battle."

    Bright looks rather pained as you speak, and after a moment he replies, "Frankly, Ensign? Not good. The fighting has steadily eaten through our stockpile. Even with us dipping into our Titans machine reserves, it's only a matter of time before we no longer have replacement parts. Anaheim hasn't been able to keep up with demand."

    He grows thoughtful, adding, "I've been in talks with them to move one of their production colonies near Londenion, but we're hitting roadblocks with the relocation."

    "Wait, why?" Mort asks, "I know getting permission for relocating a colony is hard, but that was before the war. You don't need to ask the Federation for approval anymore."

    "You would think so," Bright says, "but the production colony is a stone's throw away from a Federation-allied colony, and attaching the engines necessary to move that colony is something we can't hide. We don't want the Federation thinking we're planning a Colony Drop."

    Rita shivers as Bright says that. Michele too. You should ask why, later.

    "We've been picking up orders from Von Braun," he continues, "but we need to arrive in force to retrieve our order. The Federation is operating patrols around the city now."

    Oh? That wasn't there last time. Must be because of what happened when you visited.

    "Because of this operation, arriving in force is now off the table." He shakes his head regretfully, "We no longer have any spare ships to send on an armed convoy to Von Braun."

    Captain Nouri adds, "Ensign, the Bellerophon is being assigned patrol duty while the rest of Londo Bell's forces pull back to Londenion. We will be the only ship available to respond to distress calls."

    "Wait, the only ship?" You stare pointedly at her, "Tell me I misheard."

    She gives you a small shake of her head.

    "You want us to protect all of Londo Bell's allied colonies? No offense, Captain, but that's suicide."

    "Not so." Bright reassures you, "The Federation and Zeon Republic also took heavy losses from the Phenex. They're pulling back too, with only minimal deployments for peacekeeping reasons."

    That is both reassuring and concerning. It does mean that you won't have to deal with too many hostile Feds, but it also means that there is now the appearance of a power vacuum. All the minor league groups are going to come out of the woodwork, smelling opportunity.

    Bright is right, Londo Bell needs to stay on patrol.
    "Please tell me that the Republic is dedicating at least one ship to peacekeeping." You ask, resigned.

    "There is one. The Shalimar, a Tivvay-class. You've worked with them before, when you went to meet the Jupitris II." Bright replies, "Their team is an elite Newtype unit, so they can pull their weight."

    God, you hope so. It's going to be tough enough covering the Earth Sphere with just two ships.

    "I'm also looking into hiring private contractors to shore up our numbers." Bright continued, "We have a few promising leads… which leads into your next mission."

    He clicks his remote and the screen changes to display three very different logos. He pans to the first, a stylized "AK".

    "First off, we have Argent Keil. They were an off-the-books Black Ops group operating under the guise of a private contractor. Around the time of the Laplace Incident, they cut contact with the EFF and went truly independent. They're currently being courted by us, the Federation, and the Zeon Republic."

    The AK vanished, replaced with one in military font reading "PMC".
    …
    My God, they're literally called "PMC".

    "The PMC, yes that's their name, is more straightforward. Everyone knows them, anyone can hire them… I suspect that they're run by Anaheim."

    You raise your hand, "What makes you think that?"

    "Because they operate machines that they shouldn't be able to get their hands on." Bright answers dryly, "But I won't look a gift horse in the mouth in this instance. They'll be on our payroll to help defend some of our allied colonies, but the Feds also have some of them hired to harass us. They should identify their allegiance on approach… emphasis on should."

    He switched to the third one, a bold "B" in purple.

    "Then there is Birnam. They are publicly known, but still rather secretive. I believe your team has actually fought them once, at Axis. I didn't think they'd be receptive to our overtures, but they seemed open to working with us… with one caveat. One of their senior members wants a one-on-one with the leader of Cascadia Team."

    Everyone turns to look at you.

    "...What." You say in complete deadpan. You have no idea how to process that information.

    "They said that they had a quote, 'Score to Settle' unquote, with you." He explains with some bemusement, "They also sent a letter, but not to you."

    Looking at Christina, Bright asked, "Lieutenant, you flew a Rick Dijeh during that mission, yes?"

    She nods and he holds the envelope out to her, "This is for you, then."

    Christina grabs it and rips it open, unfolding the paper within.

    Her face screws up in confusion, "What the hell?"

    Everyone moves to check it out.
    Written on a single sheet of blank printer paper are three words.

    "I LIVED, BITCH"

    Who the hell?

    "Was this that guy in the GM Custom that Christina sucker-punched?" Eris asks.

    "I think so, yeah." Theo mutters, "She nailed his cockpit, though."

    "And yet he lives." You shrug, "Well, I'll just kick his ass properly this time. I assume you want us to meet up with Birnam, Commander?"

    "Yes, although the route is rather roundabout. There's more than a few things to handle on the way."

    He switches to another slide showing a chart of the Earth Sphere, and begins drawing your path.

    "First, we need you to drop by Moon Moon. They're officially neutral, but there are reports of piracy out there, and they only have one Mobile Suit for defense. The Colony Corporation reached out to us to handle this."

    He pointed to the next spot, an abandoned Resource Satellite, "Next, you'll stop by M0-II. A group of Sleeves is hiding out here, and the Zeon Republic wants our help to recruit them. We don't expect fighting, but be ready for anything."

    "After that, you'll head to Sevastopol Station. It's an old Stanford Torus, one of the first habitats during the early days of space colonization. It's been decommissioned and abandoned for decades… or, at least, it should be. The ring is rotating again, and the mirrors are active. You're simply to ascertain the situation. We need to know if it's merely squatters, or if the Federation is plotting something."

    You raise your hand again, "And what if it is just squatters?"

    "Then you leave them alone." He gives you a weird look, "That station is technically still Federation property, so it's their problem."

    "Finally, you'll head to the colony Amelia in Side 2 to meet with Birnam. After that, you'll assume normal patrol duties until we can repair and rebuild our fleet."

    He turns the map off, and Captain Nouri is back on the screen. Looking back at your team, he asks, "Any questions?"

    You raise your hand again.

    "Yes, Ensign Naese?"

    There are a lot of things you'd like to ask, but firstly…

    "We get some time off first, right?" You say expectantly, "I mean, this last sortie was… kind of a lot."

    "Of course, Ensign. You'll get a few days of shore leave once we dock back at Londenion." He reassures you with a slight smile, "I've seen pilot burnout before, and I never want to see it again."



    As you push off of the flight deck, you spin around and look at the Ra Cailum as it sits in port.

    Like a wounded whale, it sits in dock, missing a whole engine pod and sporting numerous deep gouges all along its hull. You see repair crews already moving in, along with small tugs. The huge heavy duty cargo arm trundles closer on its tracks mounted above the ship.

    "Looks like they're serious about repairs." Eris whistles with appreciation. Your whole team is viewing the spectacle as you drift away.

    You wave at Captain Amuro as he floats past, "Captain! We're going to head out into town! Want to join us?"

    He smiles but shakes his head, "Sorry Ensign, I've got work. Bright wants me to lead the Ra Cailum's refit."

    Refit? You thought that they were just doing repairs. Before you can ask, he fires his grapple and heads in an entirely different direction.

    "What sort of refit, I wonder…" Rita muses as you all finally reach one of the walkways around the hangar, grabbing onto the rails and magnetizing your boots to the floor.

    "Ooh, maybe they're going to turn the Ra Cailum into a giant Mobile Armor!" Mort suggests excitedly, "Just imagine it! Unmatched maneuverability, missile silos filled with Bits, maybe even turrets that can act as Incoms!"

    You roll your eyes, "Get real, Mort. A Mobile Armor that big would cost as much as a small fleet. Londo Bell can't afford that."

    A nearby cargo hatch yawns open, and several large cargo containers with the AE logo on the side are pushed through by a small tug.

    "...They could if Anaheim funded it." Eris comments, but you just ignore that and grab one of the mobility rail handles to head towards the inner colony.

    Ra Cailum, a Mobile Armor. Ridiculous.

    You've got other things to worry about. Things like how to spend your leave.

    [] Shore Leave
    -[] Anaheim Electronics is hosting a Weapons Convention a few colonies over. You should check it out.
    -[] Try to do normal kid stuff as team building activities. Go shopping, hit up the arcades, eat some good food…
    -[] Tell your team to go do their own thing. Spend time with your mother.

    [] Mission Prep
    -[] Familiarize yourself with ReZEL specs and operations. It's very different from what you've flown so far.
    -[] Train your Newtype powers with Haman. She can unlock your potential.
    -[] Train your Newtype powers with Rita. Surely the Golden Phoenix has a few pointers.

    [] Extra
    -[] Talk to Artesia and the Zeon Republic pilots before they leave.
    -[] Steal Kaylen's
    letter from your mother and read it.
    -[] Finally build that Amuro-Edition Haro you bought a while back.
     
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    • Chapter 59: A Moment of Peace
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    • [X] Shore Leave
    -[X] Tell your team to go do their own thing. Spend time with your mother.

    "So, team leader, got anything planned?" Eris asks you as you all don't your civvies, about to board the tram to the colony interior, "Team building exercises? Some onboarding for the newbie? Oh, I've got some great ideas for a sim we can run with her!"

    Those are all great ideas. Eris is a great second-in-command, but…

    "No. I'm going to spend time with my mother." You answer tiredly, "You all can use your leave however you want."

    "Wait, seriously?" Eris is taken aback, "We don't even know how well Rita will work with us. If we don't train with her, we won't know until it's time to sortie!"

    Rita smooths out her skirt and runs her hands through her hair. You catch a glimpse of pale scars on her scalp.

    "No offense to you, Eris, but I doubt it would matter." The Cyber Newtype comments nonchalantly, "I'm not much of a team player. We'll figure things out on the fly. I'm glad for this anyways, I wanted to spend some time with Michele before she headed back to Hong Kong."

    Eris looks between you and Rita in exasperation, before groaning in defeat.

    "Fine. On your head be it."

    She moves over to Theo and you hear them talking about checking out a weapons convention a few islands over.

    "And you?" You look at Mort, "What're you doing, Mort? Got a hot date?"

    He flushes a bit, "As a matter of fact… yeah. Yeah, I do. Remember when I went to visit a friend in Hong Kong? She's in Londenion for work. We were going to meet up."

    You were just joking. Mort has a date?! And it's with a girl from Earth? And apparently, he visited the same person in Hong Kong?

    "Wow," you grin, lightly punching him in the shoulder, "How long have you been keeping her under wraps? We didn't know that you had a girlfriend!"

    He gives you a sheepish smile, laughing awkwardly, "Well I wouldn't call us a pair quite yet. She's not exactly exclusive, and we started off as pen pals."

    "Pen pals? For how long?"

    You're awfully curious how long he's been writing letters to this girl!

    "About a year or so before we left Cascadia." He says, "We've been writing more frequently ever since we switched to email."

    Makes sense. The courier shuttle that ran the mail between Cascadia and the nearest intact Side was notoriously unreliable, often delaying correspondence for weeks due to maintenance issues and damage from the debris field.

    "Well, good luck Mort. We believe in you." You give him a thumbs up.

    "Thanks, Cybele. That means a lot." He nods, "Good luck with your mom. Is she doing any better?"

    Your mother…. Well, she's….







    You find her sitting down and staring listlessly out the open window. Her room looks nice, with pale tan wallpaper and padded furniture, one of the more comfortable rooms in the hospital. Still, it is in the mental ward…

    "Hey mom." You rap your knuckles on the open door after she doesn't acknowledge your presence, "It's me. Cybele. Have you been alright?"

    She takes a moment to react, turning to face you.

    She looks tired.

    "...Cybele." She smiles faintly, "I've been fine. How about you, dear?"

    You walk over and lean against the wall, "You know me. Just handling each day as they come."

    You survey the room, noticing the pill bottles on her bedside and a stack of newspapers next to it.

    "I've been following the news." She says quietly, "You've been busy, haven't you?"

    Heh. That's an understatement.

    "Just trying to make the Earth Sphere a better place. Just like Dad."

    "Just like your father, hm?" She reached out to touch your arm, running her hand along the jacket. Dad's old jacket. It's far too big for you, but… it feels right.

    "You know, when your father first told me what he was doing, I told him that he should stop." She sighs, "He had a family, and what he was doing could get him killed. But he said that he needed to do it. To make the Earth Sphere a better place."

    "You mean joining the AEUG?" You ask, and your mother looks at you, almost in… confusion? But it passes and she nods.

    "Yes, yes of course." She says, "The AEUG. The Titans controlled our colony, of course, so he had to be discreet about things. He had to keep up appearances."

    Oh? So he kept his membership a secret from the Titans? You wonder how he pulled that off.

    "Remember Uncle Alexey?" She asked. You nod. Of course you remember him. He wasn't your uncle, just your father's friend. Still, you all treated him like family, and he always brought gifts. Most of your old Federation posters were from him.

    "Well, Uncle Alexey was actually your father's coworker." She continues, "He worked with your father in the Titans."

    Oh. That would explain why he vanished after the Gryps War. Your mother said he moved to another colony.

    "Remember how we always told you and your brother never to mention your father's AEUG work around Uncle Alexey?"

    Oooh. Oh. You get it now.

    "How long was he living a double life?" You ask, curious about this tale of deception and espionage.

    "A while, right up until the Federation disavowed the Titans."

    Guess it made sense to cut ties with the Titans at that point…

    "Must have been pretty chaotic at the time." You reach into your pocket and pull out your father's old ID, "Dad's badge was still valid back in that Titans facility. They didn't even remember to clear him out of their system."

    She looks at that oddly in silence for a few long seconds.

    "Yes." She says, "It was a confusing time for us all… it probably was just forgotten in their panic to leave."

    You hold it out to your mother, who gently takes it in her hand. She stares quietly at the picture of your father on the badge.

    "Oh Silas…" she sighs.

    You let her have a moment as you take a look out the window. She's got a nice view of the hospital's courtyard. There are a handful of patients walking around the small garden, with nurses tending to some of the more immobilized individuals. You think you see a couple of Alex Team down there.

    "So Mom, my day is free. Want to go anywhere?"

    You look at her hopefully as she ponders your question.

    "That… I would like that. The food here is okay, but I'm craving a good gyro."

    "A good gyro? In Londenion?" You smirk, "I doubt anything can beat Old Man Odysseus's down on Fifth, but sure, I'll see what I can find."

    A quick consultation with the reception desk, and you have a recommendation. Excited to spend time with your mother, you head out with her to the restaurant.

    …

    The gyros are just decent. It satisfies a craving, but neither of you will go there again.








    You take a deep breath and rap twice on the door.

    "Come in," Kamille calls from inside his office.

    "Hey doc." You slip inside and shut the door behind you, "Do you have a minute?"

    "I don't know, do I have a minute for the protege of Haman Karn, infamous war criminal?" He gives you a tired look, "I know I have a minute for Cybele Naese, patient."

    Oh. Okay. That's fine, you weren't going to ask for anything even remotely related.

    "It's actually neither. Do you have a minute for a daughter of a patient?" You ask, "I'm just wondering how my mother is doing."

    He sighs, "Ms. Naese, a different doctor is handling your mother. I can't speak as to her prognosis, but I did talk to her recently."

    Kamille leans back in his chair, "She's better than when you brought her in. The Psychiatrist taking care of her seems to be optimistic. She still won't acknowledge that Kaylen Naese is deceased, but she just changes the subject or ignores the topic now, instead of vehemently insisting otherwise. So… it's an improvement."

    An improvement. All this time and only just an improvement?

    …

    Well, you guess it has only been a few weeks. But still!

    "Can't you do anything else?" You ask in exasperation, "Isn't there some kind of pill you can give her, or maybe therapy, or… I dunno, something?!"

    Kamille massages the bridge of his nose, "Ms. Naese, there isn't a pill for everything, and certainly not for this. Mental trauma has no silver bullet. You need to approach each case in a different manner. Trust me, we are doing the best we can for your mother, but she hasn't come to terms yet with Kaylen's death, just as you haven't."

    You bristle at that. How dare he?

    "What do you mean? Of course I've come to terms with it! I'm not fooling myself into thinking he's alive or anything like that!" You snap at him, "My brother was murdered by the little asshole prick Luke! I've totally come to terms with that! Completely! In fact, I'll be even more to terms with it when I tear him out of his cockpit and shoot him in his stupid face!"

    Kamille stares at you.

    "…I see…" He looks away, "Our next session is tomorrow, Ensign. Don't forget."

    "Yeah yeah, I'll be there." You wave dismissively as you turn to leave, "See you later, doc."

    You slam the door a bit too hard on your way out. Oops. You almost turn back to open and re-close the door, but there's no point. You'll just own it, and hope that Kamille doesn't read too much into that.







    He does and you spend an hour the next day talking about anger management.


    [X] Mission Prep

    -[X] Train your Newtype powers with Haman. She can unlock your potential.

    "So, when do I get to summon cool Psycho-Fields on command to make shields and stuff?" You ask your spectral mentor, "I mean, it can't be that hard, right?"

    "Hard is relative." Haman says sternly, "Being a Newtype is more than just about empathy and reading minds, it's also about Willpower. Your Determination to shape the world into what you envision."

    "That's… pretty high level," you remark as you lean back in the chair, eyeing the equipment attached to the headrest as it points lights and various instruments at your face, "but how do I do that, practically?"

    Beyond the room's wide window, you see the Anaheim technician give you the signal to start anytime. He looks kind of impatient. You just give him an irritated glare back. This shit isn't something you can toggle at will!

    "Think of it like this," Haman offers, "Your emotions are the fuel for your power, and the strength of them directly influences what force you can exert. You have plenty of that, but where you currently fall short is your conviction, which serves as the ignition and the control. Without strong conviction, you either can't exert your powers at all, or you run the risk of a runaway Psycommu feedback loop."

    You lack conviction? Like hell you do. You're totally dedicated to being a great pilot and an awesome Newtype!

    "Okay, so I'm not determined enough." You throw up your hands in exasperation, "How exactly am I supposed to fix that?"

    "You need something to focus you. A strong motivation."

    "And avenging my brother's death isn't strong motivation?" You say dryly.

    "It is, but it's targeted towards one individual. Not to mention, what happens when you've finally killed him? No, what you need is something broader. A loftier goal. I know you have the potential for such aspirations. I felt it when we first connected."

    So, your driving motivation is too specific? Well… you guess that makes sense, but you don't want to admit that your resolve is so narrow-minded. Haman is right. Revenge for your brother aside, you need a higher goal. Something to strive for.

    A goal, something to strengthen your resolve and conviction… you lean back in the chair and think, letting your mind wander. The sensors and other instruments begin to beep, and you tune them out as the world fades away.

    You fall into the sea of stars, every light around you a soul. Londenion is a veritable gathering of bright beacons like yourself, Newtypes gathered from far and wide to resist Federation oppression.

    "All these people, all these Spacenoids searching for their future," Haman says, almost in reverence, "Never before has there been a gathering of Newtypes on this scale. It almost galls me to admit that Londo Bell has accomplished something I never could."

    "Well, pretty easy when we're all running from the Federation." You remark.

    "True. You are all running. However, where are you running to?" She replies, "What sort of world do you want to see when the fighting is done? Admittedly, Bright Noa has come far, but he does not have an encouraging track record when it comes to reconstruction. After the One Year War, he was pushed aside and made to do menial errands. When the Gryps War ended, he let his influence slip away and accepted a position hamstrung by skittish politicians."

    You reach out to the other minds in Londenion. You want to know what they think. Most of the other Newtypes barely notice you reach out, but three reply promptly.

    "Bright is a soldier, not a politician." Judau's thoughts drift by, "He's not our enemy, but I don't know if he'll take the lead once we've won. Others may step up again."

    "He's doing the best he can. Look at what he's built here, what he's protecting." Amuro's voice cuts in resolutely, "I trust Bright implicitly. You should too, Ensign."

    You feel something, scorn and distrust, aimed at you… no, aimed at the presence beside you.

    "Haman Karn…" Kamille's light is intense, a bonfire amongst candles that rivals Haman herself, "Digging your claws into Ms. Naese, I see?"

    "I'm simply guiding a growing flame, Kamille Bidan." Haman scoffs, giving him the Newtype equivalent of a death glare, "A rising star like her needs a mentor, and I don't see you taking the lead."

    Kamille replies with something scathing, but you tune them out as they begin to bicker.

    What sort of future are you seeking? What sort of world do you want to live in when the war ends and the dust settles? Will that be your goal, your driving motivation?

    What do you fight for?


    [] [Resolve] The Federation must pay for what it's done to you, for what it's done to everyone. You won't rest until it has been dismantled so thoroughly that nothing will rise from the ashes.

    [] [Resolve] Newtypes deserve a world where they can seek happiness and freedom. You will create that world, no matter what you have to become to make it happen.

    [] [Resolve] You want Sicilia to live a long, full, and happy life. You just want to protect her. Whatever you need to do to ensure her safety, you will.

    [] [Resolve] MacDaniels has controlled the world from the shadows for too long. You will unmask their true nature and reveal them for what they are, before destroying them!


    Yes. That sounds right. You've found your driving force.

    Well, you just need to stay like this for a little longer. Rhea said that she didn't need to forge that much Psychoframe for you, so just 50 or so minutes more and you should be good to go.
    …
    Man, you can't imagine Sicilia will like this process. The girl can barely sit still for a minute. It's all you can do not to let your mind wander.

    "-and what have you done with your potential, boy? Playing doctor? How quaint. Such talent and power, squandered."

    "Maybe, but I'm still alive, hag. Can you say the same?"

    "Such impudence! It's not how long one lives, but what you do with your life that matters! Your actions now hardly-!"

    They are not helping you focus. Not at all.


    [X] Extra

    -[X] Talk to Artesia and the Zeon Republic pilots before they leave.

    Finding Artesia and her entourage of Zeon Republic pilots is easy. Their presence here was coincidental to begin with, castaways that Londo Bell picked up. They were always going to go home, but they had to wait for their ride.

    So as the Astraia pulled into the port, you caught them waiting at the terminal.

    "Lady Artesia!" You call out to her as the Prime Minister and her entourage mill around, gathering luggage and other personal effects from where they were waiting.

    "Oh, Ms. Naese." Artesia nods with acknowledgement, "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

    "I just wanted a word with all of you before you leave." You say eagerly, looking between her, Captain Montagne, and the assorted Puru sisters, "I wanted to thank you for all your help, and… maybe ask for some advice."

    "Fly better!" Lutetia shouts from the edge of the group.

    "I can do as much for the girl who saved my friends." Artesia smiles a little, "It feels odd to have you thanking us when we should be thanking you."

    "We're thanking each other then," you counter, "Allies do that. So… I need some advice."

    It takes a moment to muster up the courage, but… you need to ask this. It's been bothering you.

    "Lady Artesia, how… How can I protect my teammates?" You ask hesitantly, "One of my friends, Lorelei, she was badly hurt in the last battle. She almost died. Most of your fellow pilots from White Base are still alive, though… how did you all do it?"

    She looks uncomfortable at first, then understanding. With regret in her eyes, she shakes her head.

    "Cybele, I know it might seem like that since the exact details of the White Base's journey were never made public, but… I've lost my fair share of friends."

    Artesia motions for you to sit down on the bench as she moves to do so. You sit, hands folded, and look to her.

    "You can't protect everyone. You can do your best, but in the end the battlefield cannot be completely controlled." She takes your hand, "Every time we sit in the cockpit, we're risking our lives. You know that, your friends know that. The reality is, no one is safe. Each time we sortie might be our last… but you can't dwell on that. If you obsess over making sure your friends survive, they might just die because of it."

    "That… I don't understand." You reply, confused, "How can worrying about it cause it?"

    "You second-guess yourself. You hesitate… Cybele, don't you realize it? You haven't lost anyone so far. Even though one of your team members is hospitalized, she's still alive. Most Mobile Suit teams would have lost one or more of their pilots at this point."

    You look into her eyes, "I lost Kaylen."

    "That… is true." She looks away for a moment, "But you've grown since then. You're obviously a better leader than you were back then. I trust you. Don't you trust yourself?"

    You don't have a good answer to that. Do you trust yourself? You guess so, but… if you lost one of your friends the same way you lost your brother…

    "…Thanks, Lady Artesia. I guess I feel a bit better." You lie, "I hope we see each other again… maybe one day I'll fly for you instead of Londo Bell."

    "Maybe," She nods at that, "I have a feeling, though, that you'll excel exactly where you are."

    Your gaze turns to the Astraia outside the terminal windows. Where it was once pristine, like when you first saw it, now it's marred with battle damage that scars its crimson hull.

    You guess it's a bit like all of you. Nothing escapes this war untouched, but… you hope that you're heading down the right path, that there isn't something horrid waiting for you down the line.




    The cavern is dark, yet somehow you can see. Water is slowly flooding into the space, covering the floor. There's a person standing in the middle, and you gradually get a better look at them as they try to back away from the encroaching water. It's… Garma Zabi? And your vision looks like some kind of old timey film…

    "H-Hello? Is somebody there?" Garma calls out, frightened and nervous, "Hello? Someone?! Hello?!!"

    There's movement above, a man stands on a ledge overlooking the flooding chamber. It's impossible to see who he is, but he says gravely, "God rest your soul."

    "Char? Is that you?!" Garma shouts in a panic as the water rises to his waist, "Char, I seem to be in a little bit of trouble! Please save me, I don't wanna die!"

    The man stares silently at the drowning Garma.

    "I'm scared! I'll do anything, Char!" Garma continues to beg, the water up to his chest.

    "Anything?" The stranger asks expectantly with a grin.

    "Anything for you, Char!" Garma smiles cheerfully.

    "Then…" The light pans over the man, revealing Char Aznable as he whips off helmet, revealing the bright blue eyes of the son of Zeon Deikun, "PERISH."

    Garma's head is swallowed by the water as he flails and burbles pathetically. Char laughs and laughs and-


    "Big Sis? Big Sis? Wake up!"

    "Bwuh?!" You sit upright, drenched in cold sweat. You look about in confusion, until seeing Sicilia. She just woke you up… Oh, you were having a bad dream.

    "You were groaning in your sleep," She explains with concern, "Are you okay?"

    "…Yeah. Just a nightmare." You sigh. That's the last time you let Eris show you documentaries on old Earth culture before bed.

    Glancing at the clock, you see that it's almost time to wake up anyways. The last few days have just flown by, and the Bellerophon departs today for the long patrol.

    You really hope that this doesn't turn out to be as boring as you fear it will be.




    Your new ReZELs are being loaded into the Bellerophon's hangar as your team guides them into their new berths.

    "A little farther back-! Hold-! Slowly now!" The technician in charge of the hangar shouts at the other staff using Petits to ease the MS into the docking clamps. You stand with your team by the yawning doors, checking over the manifests to make sure that all your equipment is properly loaded and stowed before departure.

    "Cybele!" Christina calls out as she floats into the hangar, box in one hand and the other arm in a sling, "Catch!"

    She tosses the box your way, and you catch it as it drifts into your group.

    "Just a little care package for you all!" She explains as she uses her freed hand to grab a tool cart and halt her movement, "You're all probably going to be deployed for a while, so just in case we don't see each other in time, I put some Christmas presents for you in there."

    "Christmas? That's still a ways off…" You mutter as you inspect the cardboard box, sloppily sealed with packing tape, "Thanks, Christina."

    She smiles, and you exchange a wave, before she kicks off the deck and heads back out.

    "It's gonna be different flying without her." Theo remarks nervously, "It was always a little reassuring, knowing that we had a veteran backing us up."

    "Don't sell yourselves short," Mort cuts in with a grin, "You four fly better than most of the guys I flew with back in Cascadia."

    "…Four?" Rita does a headcount, "You're missing someone."

    "Um, no offense, but…" Mort flinches with a sheepish smile, "I haven't seen your piloting skills. I didn't fight you during that last sortie, I only saw you in action at the helm of a Mobile Armor, and that's not really a good reference point."

    Rita frowns, crossing her arms as she glares at him, "Well then, I'll just have to prove myself to you. You better prepare yourself."

    He laughs nervously. Poor guy. She's going to wreck him in the simulators.

    "Well, that was nice of Christina to get us gifts," you hand the box to Sicilia who begins to open it with a multitool, "You think she got a gift for Rita too?"

    "I don't mind if she didn't." The Cyber Newtype in question waves off your concern, "I almost killed her recently, after all. Besides, she said it was a care package, right? I'm sure it's got more stuff than just early Christmas gifts."

    Sicilia gets it open and peers inside, "Yeah, it does! Hamburger patties."


    [][Secret] The Wolf

    [][Secret] The Bird

    Merry Christmas, everyone!
     
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